Big in Japan - Hiragana

Although I attempted learning Japanese some 3 years ago(during which time I learned only a bit) it is now that I am trying for the first time earnestly, very systematically and with motivation to learn this language.
For fact, my first Japanese textbook and grammar I bought in 1992, which was more than 15 years ago. It shows that my intentions go way back...

Although,frankly speaking I'm feeling very low in spirit and feel rather depressed (for very personal reasons I feel very sad and lost), starting having a schedule in which learning Japanese is the main objective is sort of a positive thing. It will give me some focus and will engage my time and thoughts, and since it's an intensive course it will be a challenge...
Today, was my second time in this intensive course (last Friday was the first and yesterday, Monday was a national holiday,so we didn't have classes) and apart from learning Japanese I had two hours in a course dedicated to Japanese society and culture. This class is taught in English, and I'm very hopeful not so much as to what I'll learn as information but the way this course is presented is good. Today in the recess I had a chat with the teacher, Ms. K (she speaks just excellent English, the best I've heard a Japanese speak, very impressive) and just from a few minutes of talking with her I understood that it is COMPLETELY different how she views my wish and obvious motivation. It is very different from the lack of enthusiasm, with the complete lack of curiosity and appreciation I have met with in China throughout the whole 8 years...But I will talk about Prof. K. and her classes in other posts I'm sure.
By the way Intend to audit another class of hers which is on Classical Japanese Literature. Well, what can I say, it's a dream come true for me. After 15 years!

So back to my Japanese language classes. We have classes each day from Monday through Friday, and each day we will have a different instructor. This obviously has it's great advantage since the style of each tutor is quite different. The big thing we are currently learning is the first of the two Japanese phonetic systems/'alphabets' (linguistically more correct to say syllabary'), the Hiragana. (The other is the Katakana and we are yet to learn that.) Hm those two are of course in addition to the Kanji, i.e. the Chinese characters. My advantage in that will be that I already know the meanings of the kanji. It remains for me to learn how to read them in Japanese. It will be very confusing, not only because I will mix them with the Chinese reading, but also because the Japanese have two readings!!! Crazy people!
So, back to Hiragana, the 'big thing' from my days now. The above pic. is actually not the complete list of all Hiragana, but what remains are variations to those. As it is,the Hiragana origin is calligraphy of kanji (Chinese characters) see Where do the kana come from.

A very funny (and very weird thing indeed) was told to us by our Friday tutor Ms.H.
She said that as a little girl she used to write Hiragana mirror-wise, and actually that this is a very common occurrence among young Japanese children when they start studying how to write...Its a very strange phenomenon that is associated with dyslexia.The interesting bit is that our Friday tutor claims that mirror-writing is a very common thing among Japanese children.Very very strange and interesting...

OK, I have to go back to learning the rest of the Hiragana. I'm somewhere in the middle yet...Have to know all 50 by tomorrow.