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.