Well, it's pretty much over now

I'm back in New Zealand now. Dead tired cos I only slept about 2 hours in the past 30 with major stress to the head. Probably gonna take tomorrow off school too cos otherwise I'll be double dead.


...

The end.

I may have had one of the best days of my life today.

Even though it was a Saturday, we had school (or more specifically, the big singing competition) today, so I still had to get up at 6. The morning was pretty norma routine (get up, have breakfast, get dressed etc), but when I got to school was when the good day started. We practiced hard-out in the morning for about an hour or two, then competed. We were going to wear matching hair ties, but one of the teachers stopped us at the last minute (probably breaking school regulations, even though they don't usually care about the hair ties), so we had to leave them behind. We competed. I can't remember how it was cos I blanked. After that we went back to our seats, and watched all the other performances. It wasn't too bad, but there are 12 classes, and they all sing two songs; 'his yoke is easy and his burthen is light' and one of their choice (we did Shinjiru). 'His yoke is easy and his burthen is light' isn't too bad, but the only words in it are those in the title. Repeated over and over again. With 12 classes doing it. I got a tad sleepy. The girl next to me was fun to watch cos she would fall asleep then shoot back up again (Vicky - never again will I be able to say I haven't seen people do this, the students at this school need more sleep). I had some nice weather/tiredness/musical awesomeness conversations with her in the intervals though. I nearly lost my hair tie cos I only found out at the last minute we weren't using them, so put it on a random chair, but I found it again ^^ (yes, I will go into this much detail :P). In the end, two senior teams won (not surprising).

At homeroom afterwards, I was presented with a book with individual messages from all 50 students in the class. That's a lot. It's so sweet!! If anyone from 1C is reading this, I love you guys so much!! I didn't cry, but I was shaking really badly the whole time. I had no clue what to say, so I said thank you and that I love them all (which is true). After that, a bunch of people came up and hugged me goodbye (long hugs, cos that's how we roll in Japan). A few gave me birthday/going-away presents too. 

After that, Risera, Leona, Yuuri, and Mipi helped me clear out my desk and return everything to Ms. Takamine. Risera, Leona, and I went to Kichijoji together after that. I bought a pair of pink nerd glasses (don't judge, they said everything I wore was cute, so it was disorientating), and then it was on to my goodbye/birthday party. 

We went to this place where you have big boiling pots, and assortments of raw meat and vegetables to put in them. It was so fun (but I ate WAY too much). At the start, there was a good 20 minutes of photo taking ^^ 'Twas heartwarming it was. Everyone had loads of food and talked lots. I was really tired, so I spaced out quite a bit though. I got some more presents there too. The most heartwarming ones were the ones from people I hadn't talked to that much, but still had the aura of 'we're gonna miss you' around them. That was two or three hours. At the end, when we were saying goodbye, Megu cried. It was the cutest thing ever. I think I didn't cry today because I found it a happy thing. It's not like we're never going to see each other again, and I felt really truly loved, I have no reason to cry. It is a time to be happy.  

Afterwards, Leona, Risera, and I went to take purikura. It was really humid, so my hair was a mess though. They put me middle centre for all of the purikura, so I felt a bit Gwen Stefani (not sure if it's in a good way or not). We didn't really have anything left to do after that, so we went to meet my host mother (to take me the rest of the way home cos it seems I'd get lost otherwise). Here's where it really gets lovely: Leona, Risera and I were doing our Ippatsu Gag rituals and having long hugs to say goodbye. I got on the train with my host mother. I waved to them from the train, they waved to me from the platform. We saluted each other. My train pulled away. They started running after it. They were running and waving until we were fully out of sight of each other. My heart is actually aching remembering this. Shit, I'm not going to see these people for a while, am I? NOW I'm sad. 

I walked to the Conbini with my host mother. We talked. Probably the best talk we've had. We continued talking until Haruna got back about an hour later. I gave the family their final omiyage. They liked them ^^ They also gave me a birthday present. It was indescribablubble, but awesome in it's own way. 

For dinner, we went out to an Italian restaurant. There was only a bit of chatter (I was tired, so I couldn't think of much to say), but it was comfortable. I didn't eat too much, but added to the lunch eaten not too long ago, I didn't feel particularly great afterwards. Especially when we returned to the house, and I had chocolate cake (with cream in it) for dessert. Cream doesn't do much good for a bad stomach, I must say. 

I know it doesn't sound that interesting here, but trust me when I say this day was truly awesome. 

Ok, so basically I have nothing to do right now, so...

I shall write a final list of things I miss and things I'm going to miss.
The teachers/family goodbye party was yesterday. So fun, but Sarah and I were shaking the whole way through, and at a party like this where you have to balance your eating utensils, food, presents, and programme all at once, shaking really doesn't help. I dropped one of my chopsticks and a piece of egg, and sarah got water on her shirt, dropped various utensils etc. It was wonderful though. We got the most beautiful (and expensive) music boxes as a going-away present. For some reason, only the bible studies teacher seemed to know what heads, shoulders, knees, and toes was though... In any case.

I'm almost all packed now, and I've been given about thirty Japanese and Korean CDs to download onto my computer, so I'll write this list while downloading them.. all thirty.

Things I miss:

• The ability to sing without worrying about people hearing or caring (I'm unable to do this anywhere. House, you can hear every little sound. School, people everywhere).
• My guitar
• Friends who I'm able to talk with without translating it in my head first
• My mum and her awesomeness
• My cats (shocking)
• Being able to understand what's going on in a conversation without having to focus all energy towards that understanding (if I space out when they're talking, then stop spacing out again, even if it was only a few seconds, I'll be completely lost)
• Not having to be smiley and 'first-impressiony' all the time
• My mum's cooking
• Non-bipolarity
• My room!!! (rather than sharing with others)
• Not feeling like I'm in the way all the time
• Taking five minutes at a slow-paced walk to get to school
• Having none of a specific teacher.

Things I'm gonna miss:

• That sense of overwhelming friendship every time someone talks to you
• Long hugs (they hug for longer in this country it seems)
• Being overwhelmingly 'odd one out'
• The fast-paced Japanese classes (they're annoying when you're doing them, but you learn so much more, so it's worth it)
• Everything being new and interesting
• The ability to so easily walk down the street and buy so many awesomely cute books for shockingly low prices
• The ability to so easily walk down the street and buy so many awesome manga volumes for shockingly low prices (about five bucks per)
• The knowledge that there's a Vivienne Westwood store in the same city
• Bentou + moving desks together to have lunch (just gives a strong sense of family)
• My new Japan friends!!! 
• The possibility of making new Japan friends
• The having to squat and call out your name for roll-call at PE (don't know why though...)
• Being allowed to wear mufti to school
• Writing letters instead of emails
• Being called skillful if you do something well, and being called cute if you don't
• The feeling of absolute improvement at any moment.

There's more, but I'm nearly out of battery, so that's all for now. And I'm not even through all the Arashi CDs yet. 

So...

My exchange has less than a week 'till it comes to the end. Wow. I quite honestly can't remember what life is New Zealand is meant to be lived like. It'll be interesting...

Today I went with two of my classmates (Nozomi (who is going on an exchange in the Summer to Oxford), and Yuuri (who used to sit behind me)) and Haruna to Aoyama and Kichijouji. We went to Aoyama specifically to go to a shop I wanted to go to, namely VIVIENNE WESTWOOD!

Ok, so her stuff is bloody expensive, but I love it to bits, so I had to buy, even if it was the cheapest necklace in the shop (すみません、どれネクレスがいちばんやすいですか). So happy! So no one ask about the specific price >: |

It was this one though:




Not quite, but something quite similar.







...

I'm sorry Mum!! Your darling daughter has become someone who frugally spends money on brand items!!! > <

In any case. Next week is my birthday!! YAY!! Because the singing competition is then too, next week every day we are having practices after school. It sounds ok though. Last week was my last week of art club (because of next week's practices). I'm not really sad to say goodbye to art club. You ever get that feeling where you've been doing something for a long time, then suddenly realize you haven't talked or been talked to for two hours? Twice a week, art club. I'm not upset about it, but a tad confused, cos the first time I went, they wouldn't stop talking to me, but the next time, nothing. Some people's interest is the foreigners (Sarah and I) have petered out, but I'm shocked how nosedive that particular relationship was.

I gave out souvenirs (NZ) last week, well, started. I know people are going to compare each other's, but only a small part of my mind cares any more. If they judge theirs against each others, then I really don't care about having anything to do with them after next week anyway. But there were these two uberly sweet girls (the ones who I first gave souvenirs to). I gave them them as thank you, because they sit next to me in chapel, and always help me find my page, and also are altos with me and are always lovely to me etc etc. Anyway, that afternoon at music class, they turned around (I sit behind them) and said to me in English (simultaneously) 'we will give you something also'. Warm fuzzy feeling to the max. But (back to the negative) the two girls who I know will judge their presents badly, were actually pretty much ignoring me in the last few weeks, but the moment I gave them the presents, they started talking to me like they did at the very beginning again -.-; whatever, I won't think too hard about it.

At this point though, I can't wait to get home and hug my cats (it must be dire if I miss THEM), play guitar, sing offtune loudly as much as I want (sorry mum!), and be able to say anything I want, but not having the expectation to say anything.

What else is there to say? Sarah beat my butt in the Chem exam, but I got one point higher than her in both the Japanese exams we've done so far, so whatevs :P Shame Sarah.

I'm planning to do a mad NZ homework rush on the plane back to New Zealand. There's 10 hours and not much else to do anyway. Good idea? I probably actually have to much to fit into only 10 hours though.

Is there anything else to say right now? I dunno. I lost 20 000 yen. Hoping I left it at school, but apparently, a lot of money tends to get stolen from students' bags at Rikkyo. Shitzu.

I think that's it.

MY NEW ZEALAND FRIENDS MAY ALSO GET ME TO JOIN A CULT!!

That's my way of saying you guys are AWESOME!!! Thank you for the card!!! Love you guys!! 'Specially Kate Stuart who started it out!!! You're cooler than L and Kira and Johnny Rotten and MatsuJun combined!!

Another letter adaption

The morning was a bit odd to begin with. It started out as usual, but Sarah didn't come to school, this time because she had a fever. I hung around my own classroom that meant (usually I would visit Sarah in hers). I gave a reply letter to Haruka and one to give to her sister. She was super happy > < I love it when the small things count ^^ I also gave Nozomi a letter cos her email address that she gave to me in a note on Friday didn't work. Apparently I made some really stupid mistakes, but Nozomi called them cute, so it's ok ^^ 

About cuteness:

I'm gonna come back to New Zealand, then trip over or something and wonder why no one's say how incredibly cute I am CX 

I love this country!! If you do something remotely well, it's Jouzu (skilled), and if you do something badly, it's chou kawaii (super cute). Sarah says she can see why exchange students come back with a swelled head. 

I had Japanese in the small room by myself cos a certain SOMEONE didn't come to school. It wasn't so bad actually. It was actually about the same. I got my new textbook!!! That means I've moved up in the world!!! We still haven't finished the kanji from the old book though DX

At math I was a loner, so I wrote my creative writing idea. It's six pages in a small book, so it's probably about three pages. The problem is it has to be a description with an optional bit of story, but I always end up focusing on the story, so I'm gonna edit this one so it's mostly description, but keep this version for future story necessities. 

I finished it and had an awake nap during study period. Didn't think just until now that I could have done my homework during that period.... whoops. 

Then was lunch. I <3 lunch. I sit with Haruka (who as you may remember, sits to my left) and a gang of them. It's awesome. Super happiness. Before lunch ended, Haruka helped me find out where my PE class would be (cos it's an outdoor class, and it was raining today). I met her best friend along the way too ^^ Just before we left, Reona, one of the ones to first talk to me, said that her favourite senior is in my PE class. 

Science was boring, cos I accidently brought the pile of finished work, rather than the pile that is unfinished, and the one thing in the pile that I actually did need help with, I still don't understand. Basically I spent an hour on a problem I still haven't finished. 

PE was awkward as always.

I had fun talking with people in homeroom, and had cleaning after school, which is always fun. I hung out with Nozo for cleaning. 

For some reason, even though Mondays suck by far the worst in terms of classes, Monday always leaves me feeling refreshed. I think somewhere in the back of my mind, I always think people will have forgotten me over the weekend and gotten bored. It's like in Judaism where when you wake up you thank god for still being alive, you know?

I'm quite stressed right now.

That's all I have to say really. A big 'thank you' to the New Zealand teachers that didn't give me homework.

Let's do the time warp again/in the past week I've read Death Note, Kimi Ni Todoke, Yankee kun to Megane Chan, and Beck as far of the way through as they've gotten/is this header too long?

For me right now, the world is divided into two spaces: Things I miss, and things I'm gonna miss.

Things I miss:
Not having to be self conscious all the time,
my mummy's food,
my guitar,
my New Zealand friends,
not having to say 'no thanks, I'm really ok' every couple of minutes,
being able to choose when to wake up rather than a fruggling awakening from the mother (farrrr too chirpy in the mornings),
being able to say what I want to say immediately without worry of miscommunication,
The knowledge of how to leave the house (I seriously have no clue),

Things I'm gonna miss:
Everyone always seeming happy to see me, even though we can barely communicate,
being so excited to talk to Sarah because it's the time to let everything out,
only having to follow and get homework in two or three subjects,
the feeling that every day, you can understand a bit more of what's going on around you than the last,
The rituals (eg: at the end of the day we have to stand and say a simultaneous 'sayoonara' to the teacher, then drag our desks to the back of the classroom. Freaked me out the first time, cos I didn't understand straight away),
The cheap manga (five bucks per volume. I know I can't read it but still),
The presents people seem to constantly surprise you with (especially after golden week),

There's more, but that's all I have off the top of my head.

It's a shrimp eat shrimp world.

Yesterday, my host family bought two turtles (tiny ones). The fish shop was awesome, and I had officially decided to own many shrimp when I grow up, until I saw something... Disturbing.

In one of the shrimp tanks, there were a bunch of them clustered together oddly. Upon further inspection, it looked like a bunch of the big ones were gang-bashing another one of their own. Haruna and I concluded they were either trying to kill it, eat it, or clean it. Either way, I stood there watching them do this for a very long time while the rest of the family bought the stuff. I gotta say, it put me off the 'buy a bunch of shrimp' idea.

Yup.

Today was the second day of golden week, and Rikkyo's health check up day. It was odder than the shrimp thing...

First we went to school late. When we got to school, we had to change in the classroom into PE clothes. That was fine, until I found out that we also had to go bra-less... awkward stuff. Also, your jacket couldn't be a pullover. If it was, you weren't allowed to wear it. Guess what kind of jacket I had? I ended up wearing my blazer with it instead.

The tests were odd, and the attempts to translate the question sheets for me were even odder. One question about my period, a really lovely girl in my class thought was appropriate to translate as 'blood festival' o.O

The main weird test was the one where you sat on a chair and they spun you around to examine your ears, mouth, eyes, and nostrils. They actually had something to stretch the nostrils open wider. Yup.

It was fun though, teambuilding again (in a way...)

A really long post about my day based on a letter to my mummy.

I wrote a really long letter today, so instead of starting from scratch, I'll modify it and put it here ^^ That might be why it seems jumpy at times...

Last week it was the first Spring snow in Tokyo for forty years. Today, the rain was super heavy, but next week, the weather is meant to get better, I don't know which I'd prefer...

It's Golden Week as of tomorrow! Yippee! But we still have to go to school on Friday for a health check-up. There are three parts to the check-up, but we're only doing one. One part is x-rays (not doing that), another is a heart check up for a specific thing (can't remember what that thing is.../not doing that), the other is a general health one, like testing strength and reaction times etc (i think...), which we are doing. We go home early though.

English is once a week and I've only had it once, but it's really fun. It's with a Hawaiian lady as the teacher. They're practicing for a skit, so what I have to do to help them is sit there and draw a car... yup.

Science is good. The science teacher is also my homeroom teacher. When he helps me with my work, he sometimes speaks a bit of English. It sounds like he has a German accent ^^ I feel very advanced and Megu says she's jealous of my science skills ^^

Math, the teacher pretty much ignores us (Sarah and I are in the same math class), so today at advisory, we asked our 'guidance councellor' type person if we could do our math homework during that period instead at least until we start a new topic. She said OK, but I'm never 100% that she knows what we're saying... I think our math teacher would be a really good teacher if we could understand him though... He looks kind of like an ex-yankee ^^; Except short...

Shodo is fun. The students don't really speak to us (Sarah and I have shodo together too). It's two periods in a row once a week. There are two different classes for the two different periods, and they get taught the same thing, so for the first lesson, we go with the class, then the next, get shown how to write words we want to write (i did 'fun' last week), The students in Shodo don't seem to pay attention to us though, so Sarah and I just go by ourselves ^^

Cooking is fun. Sarah and I are in different groups, but in the same class (two periods in a row, once a week). My group gives me little jobs to do, so I can help out ^^ They're really nice (seniors).

Bible studies is boring. I think I'll start doing other homework during that period... The teacher doesn't pay any attention to me anyway.

Music is last period on a Friday, so everyone is always quite hyper. It's nice, but it's hymns, so I don't really enjoy it... But everyone is really friendly during that period, so I still kinda like it ^^

Self study is at least once a day (we get one alone self study day a week, so on that day, there are two self study periods). It's fun cos Sarah and I chat. It's like our lunch time back home. The chance to get everything we want to say in English out. That feeling of being able to say anything you want to anyone with ease, i miss it...

I think I'll type up my schedule ^^ Unless I say otherwise, you can assume the class is with Sarah.

Monday:

Japanese

Japanese

Math

Self Study

Chem (With Sarah's class, with Sarah)

PE (with the seniors, by myself (Sarah has self study at that time))

Tuesday:

Chem (With my class, with Sarah)

Japanese

Japanese

Math

Self study (without Sarah (she does PE at that time))

Self study (together)

Wednesday:

Japanese

Japanese

PE (by myself, with my class (Sarah has music))

Chem (by myself with my class, Sarah has bible)

Self study

Advisory

Self study/long homeroom (if long homeroom doesn't concern us, we study in the library instead)

Thursday:

Self study

Math

Shodo

Shodo

Cooking

Cooking

Friday:

Japanese

Japanese

Oral communications

Bible (Sarah has chem with her class, but still the same teacher at this time)

Self study

Music (Sarah has PE with her class at this time)

OK, my day:

The day starts with Homeroom. Normal stuff. I have to be really concentrated though, cos everyone is really loud, and he goes through the roll, going "mumble mumble saaaaaaaaaaan" to which "mumble mumble san" must respond 'hai'. To understand which "mumble mumble saaaaan" is me, I have to concentrate very hard, even though the teacher looks at me when he calls my name, cos he knows I'm lost ^^;;;;;;;;

After that is morning worship. We have to kneel at points for it, and I can never tell during the kneeling whether or not we're meant to have our eyes closed... I also worry about falling asleep during it, but I've managed not to as of yet. I feel sorry for the girl next to me (she sits in front of me in class and seems to be one of the quieter ones). I'm ok with finding the pages for the hymns, but in the actual bible I'm lost, so every day, she has to find the page for me ^^;; We have to sing two hymns every worship. It helps with my speed reading though... 

After that is Japanese. I kind of sleep walk through Japanese now... Have I mentioned we have ten minutes between each class for getting to the next one etc?? It's such a good system! 

In PE, we did more rhythm dancing, building up on the dance we began last lesson. We also presented them to the class. I don't think I messed up too much, and apparently some people told Haruna I was really good... I haven't gotten the PE uniform yet, so I'm using my black leggings and my school jersey as a temp uniform. I always forget that's a bad idea though, cos their uniform is white top and blue short shorts, so my dark, full body uniform sticks out like a sore thumb.

After that was chem. Not much to report there, I finished another couple of pages, but I don't know if it's right... All I really care about at the moment is keeping up with Sarah.

Self study and advisory, not really much to report.

During long homeroom today, we had a dodgeball tournament within the year. Haruna was dreading it cos her class last year was really aggressive. In the end I think it was a really good teambuilding exercise though. It's quite funny with Japanese culture. Apologetic nature of many Japanese women + the country's competitiveness = interesting dodgeball, you know what I mean? 

Basically, people would go hard out aggro on anyone the could hit, but then bow their heads violently in apology for many minutes afterwards. I was specifically aimed away from cos I'm the foreign kid who it's uncool to pick on, but in the end, for all three games I played, I got out. The first time, I was hit out by Sarah's host sister. Uncool. roru, just joking, she's lovely. The other times too, the person who got me out apologized a lot after...

I think the dodgeball was really good for me to make friends though ^^ it was fun and everyone gave me high fives after. Basically  they say stuff, i repeat it, they find it cute ^^ I love this place.

Afterwards, the girl who usually goes home the same was as us was going to a concert so we went home without her. She is really shy. The first time we met, she (obviously) hid behind and clung to Haruna the whole time. She's opened up now though, and gives me sweets ^^ Apparently she's an otaku. Awesome ^^ I seem kind of otaku-ish too probably, cos I come home, email people, have dinner, do my homework, then read manga till i go to sleep ^^;;;;;

Today we went out for sushi for dinner. We went to a place with one of those turning conveyor belts for the sushi. It was really yummy. I had crab, tuna, gratin, takoyaki, that tofu thing I like, and other stuff. I basically ate whatever they decided to give me ^^ It was all really good though. The booth also had these games, where you order a certain amount of food, then a game of chance appears on the little screen (like slots or a wheel of chance) and if you win at it, you get a capsule toy that is sushi themed. We won two and they gave both to me ^^ On the way home we stopped at a conbini for dessert. I got pudding and a milk tea (cold). When we got home, the most amazing thing happened, the brother gave me my dessert!!!!!!! Gasp! I said arigatou and he mumbled something in response! Progress!!

Later (while I was writing this (I think it's been two hours...) The mother gave me two pooh bear charms (you know the ones I used to get?) and three more of the fish charms ^^ :D She's soooo lovely ^^

And that was my day ^^

I think I'm making lots of friends, but what would you define as friends? Cos Sarah's about the same as me but doesn't think she has any friends. I don't know. I think my friends are friends.

Haruna's really lovely, but I'm starting to occasionally sense my burdensomeness ^^; I don't need Haruna's help to talk to people SO much, pretty much the only thing I socially rely on her for is someone to sit with at lunch. And even then, if I had to, I could get up the courage to ask to sit with a random group if i needed. This whole 'exotic foreigner' status makes me very welcome with most people at the school.

I think of home and school as places of equal happiness, so I don't really mind about that 'yay, it's the weekend' stuff. Except for the fact that I don't have Japanese on the weekend. Plus it's golden week, so I have a week-long break (if you count friday). 

My piercings are going OK, I'm getting better at taking them in and out. Today though, my right ear piercing won't go in, even though I tried to get it in for like ten minutes. I tried to force it, but not to the point of breaking skin. Finally I gave up and tried the slightly more painful way (from the back) and it went in. I'm going to make when I have them in as long as possible now. The ears still sting a bit. The left ear (it seems to deal better) didn't have TOO much trouble getting in, but it still hurt more than usual. I blame the fact that i didn't put them back in until after dinner (around twelve hours out). They always seem to break a bit of skin when I put them back in, but today by far was the worst. Second worst may have possibly been the day where I wore the disney earrings. It didn't hurt very much, but when I took the left one out, it started bleeding. Those earrings hurt more to take out cos they were butterfly backs, which meant the bit that goes through the ear had bumps. 

And that was my day!

I definitely don't regret going on this exchange. If anything I wish it were longer. In terms of New Zealand, it's really long, but in terms of Japan, it's far too short, if you understand what I mean.

The exchange is also making me far more aware of the fact that my youth is fleeting. It feels like sand through my fingers. I know it sounds cliche, but that's how I feel. Do you get what I'm saying? I just think there are so many experiences that I'll never be able to experience past a certain age that I know I'm going to miss out on. Like participating in a Japanese high school cultural festival. By the time I come back to Japan, if I come back, I'll be too old. I just feel like I'm slipping...

T.E.A.M.

One thing that really impresses me about the Japanese is that sense of team. I see it most obviously at cooking class. Where People don't do things for themselves, but rather what's useful for the group at the time. The same with if you drop something, how most people will generally tell you you've dropped it straight away. Again, another example is when people line up in two lines for the train, then step to the side, so people getting off can go through the middle. Also, when on escalators, the left is for people standing still, and the right is for people who want to walk down the escalator.

I know a lot of that is just good organization and common courtesy, but you don't find that everywhere. It kinda makes you feel part of a country-sized family... Anyway, before I get all mushy, I'll stop.

My first days of school were lovely. The classes were a bit tsumaranai though... The only thing is that I can't remember everyone's names, so about twenty times a day someone will point to themselves and say 'remembered?' (in Japanese) and I'll have to apologize and say I don't. That will get better though... deshou...

Een Rasha, Ai voz vizzisizt. Een America, Ai em Janitor.

 The above quote was in an attempt at a Russian accent (can't remember what that type of writing is called, theatre people, help me out). I think it's a very fitting quote for today. I spent most of my time relatively sane-seeming, but the problem came at the end of the day. This campus is huge, and I forgot how to get to the place where I was meant to meet Haruna. Remember, O my brothers, that today was the last day of the trip, which meant I was carrying three bags and an umbrella with me at the time, wandering around a huge building, looking for the exit. When I finally found the exit, some teacher was blocking my way. She would NOT let me get out without finding out first who my host sister was, and where I was trying to go (apparently sick bay doesn't make sense here). I looked like such a tourist walking around with the random teacher helping me. I finally found the place I wanted, at which point I realized that I wasn't sure if it counted as a place you're meant to put on your outdoor shoes or not... I chose the former and found I was wrong when I saw 'that's not what you're supposed to do' looks on my host sister and her friend's face, so had to stumble to get my right shoes on while trying not to think about how clunky I am ><

Apart from that, it was a good day ^^

I spent most of it in a windowless interview room with Sarah. That is the place that I will be practicing my Japanese in. Two hours a day. No light. Literally. I felt happier about it, though, when I got my Japanese workbook and saw a note from the previous user ^^ Thank you previous person (if you're reading, which you may or may not be...)

We got our schedules today (still two periods of PE a week :( ) and did other orientation stuff. I made Japanese conversation too ^^ It's made less spectacular by the fact that the whole basis of the conversation was poking fun at the suggested 'get to know your host sister' questions in the tour diary. It makes it a lot easier to speak Japanese at least.

I went to Harajuku on Sunday and Disneyland on Monday. Harajuku was... disappointing... It wasn't that interesting in the end for me. I think I hyped it up too much in my head first.

On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised at racist bastard land. The rides were fun and there was cool Alice in Wonderland stuff. I bought too much though. Not regretting the purchases yet... yet... Especially not regretting the ID holder purchase... It squeaks ^^ :D

That's all I'll write for today cos I feel sick now... Hope I don't cough and splutter my way through my first day.

Everyone's so nice that I'm starting to wonder if they're gonna invite me into a cult... it could happen...

OMG, EVERYONE IS SO NICE!!! People came up to me when I was having lunch and started (trying to) speak to me in English. A girl I met yesterday, today handed me a 'nice to meet you' note with her email address in it, Kawaii!! I'm not sure if my message got through though, so I'll try on the computer next.

I went to art club today also. Tanoshikatta! My host sister introduced me to one of the members in her year and it made me automatically a part of their group! Ara! They were all so nice, but slightly out of the ordinary, which I was glad to find so easily. They mostly spoke to me in English though. It was ok, it made the conversation easier, and I still spoke in Japanese mostly. It was a lot easier than in Cooking class, where the seniors in our group just decided to not speak English at all. It took 20 minutes to translate their questions and another 10 to figure out how to answer in Japanese -.-; I feel like I know more Japanese already though... mostly cos whenever I hear a new word that sounds important and repeated, I write it down and look it up. I usually can't remember what it means afterwards, but it makes me feel smarter, maybe.

Japanese and morning worship make me so sleepy... About ten percent of people in the auditorium fell asleep during worship, and not subtly either. At least two people in our group fell asleep too. You could tell because you could hear them drop their music ^^ (Ahem Jess and Sam)

In English, they messed up, so we got there at the wrong time and walked in unexpectedly. We ended up attempting conversation with the class, doing our self introductions, and playing hangman (the hangman was a cat though, cos Zoe thought a hanging man would be too gruesome to people who hadn't played the game before).

There's more to say, but I won't bore further, so Ja Mata ne.

Homestay for a short while (my English is deteriorating faster than my Japanese is improving).

Ok, so I'm pretty much doing my mini homestay right now. It's with the family I'll stay for a long time with though. They're so nice! It's mindblowing ^^

So basically thus far, I've been to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and back to Tokyo again. It's been really awesome. I've loved Tokyo the most though. Hiroshima and Kyoto were good but Tokyo is ichiban. Right now I'm listening to ARASHI on my host sister's cd player. Yes, that's right Kate, ARASHI. There was this shop in the market outside Asakusa on the first day FULL of ARASHI stuff. Mind blowing. There were watches, fans, posters, stickers, keychains, everything.

I won't post anything more right now but know I'm doing well and more interesting stuff will happen later. I'll also put photos up soon.

日本に行きます！(I'm going to Japan!)

Started packing so I thought I'd start blogging too. My bags are wayyy too heavy right now. I'm definitely going to have to pay for them being over the limit. I blame homework DX

To summarize my trip: First I'm going on a school trip with 24 other senior Japanese students all over Japan, then I will be staying in Japan for another term as an exchange at the same school as my peer and friend Sarah (http://jjjapanesejourney.blogspot.com/)

So, follow me and my travels through Japan... but mostly Tokyo.