Second week of School- Aug.30 - Sept.5
Trip Start
Aug 17, 2010
1
5
54
Trip End
Jul 29, 2011
Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Friday, September 3, 2010
The week however was super fun in school and out and I do believe I am in love with school. They have stared at me the entire week and I would of thought it would of died down by now but I guess not. It is especially stary when me and Dylan are walking together as they get a double dose of westerners. I have made BFF's out of the three girls I talked to on the school trip and now even though I don't speak any Japanese we eat lunch together and joke around. It is actually quite funny how we communicate and such, but it is made easier by my electronic dictionary and a translator thing on their phone.
In school I do some classes with my class and then some with the exchange students. The in actual class classes involve mainly self studying for me and Dylan too unless its chemistry or math then it is talking time for Dylan and still self studying for me since I can't talk in Japanese. It's chemistry and math because I don't know if its the teacher or the subject but the class hardly pays attention and it is socializing time. And apparently they don't say gong show in australia, which is pretty much what those two classes are is considering what Japanese school is thought to be. When we have classes with exchange students it is either self study, japanese lessons, calligraphy lessons, and "bonding class". All are quite fun and according to the japanese teacher I am quite fast at learning, but I will give some credit to Dylan who is my portable sensei, and by that I mean he answers all my questions. On tuesday I had music and art but with first year classes instead of my regular class and Muni, the AFS from brunei, is in both. I am glad for the change so I can meet new friends, and I did. Mayuho is one of the volleyball players and she sits beside me in music and we exchanged numbers and have texted a bit this week, in Japanese woot. In art we did a rough draft of a a clay figurine that we will make and Muni and I were a little to eager as we finished an 45 min early. I can't wait for next week when we get to actually play with the clay and knowing me it will go everywhere. On Wednesday I had gym class with the 2E/F classes and that day we did gymnastics! So exciting, they had portable beams that are about as tall as your hip and they are a little skinnier and sketchier but I was still able to do some handstands and turns. I also did some dismounts during the 10 min break for the Japanese kids that stopped by and I do believe they were impressed. Some girls in that class were funny trying to do mounts and such and we goofed around, they told me they wanted to "play" with me and I was so confused until Dylan told me thats what the direct translation from the Japanese word is although it really means hang out. After school that day i went to track and field and ti felt so nice to do some exercise and I could actually keep up! I tried javelin and I mean I'm not the best but I am not horrible either. The stick got 15meters i think. On Thursday was bonding class, where we drew on Japanese tea cups. Mine was a somewhat looking picture of Minto and the dogs name written in Hiragana. After was my first day of Calligraphy were I wrote my name in Katakana! so exciting. Calligraphy is actually a lot more technical then it seems, back straight and certain swooshes. I I had my rotary meeting that day at lunch and I had to take a bus, subway and switch subway to the place. I had done it once before but unfortunately this time I got lost and took the wrong transit line. I had a good 20 minutes of panic at a random station but then I worked up the nerve to ask a security guy and he told me to go back to Odori and take Nanbucku line, which is what I thought I had done. Needless to say I got to the meeting 1/2 hour late and had a really cold lunch. They weren't super mad though, they understood and as long as I am on time next time it will be okay. Friday was just a really sweet day. All fun and games and as a bonus I got asked out as well. I had to say no because of Rotary rules and the language barriers and all that, plus I didn't even know his name which would make things a little awkward if we started dating.
Now to start about my after school times. On Monday Me and Dylan chilled and we went to Odori and I got my electronic dictionary. I also did my first perukura which is so much more intense then the little pathetic photo booths in Canada. It's too insane to explain, I will have to take pictures. On Tuesday it was my Rotary Welcome Party with Host parents, counsellor and any one else involved in exchange trips. There was also my fourth host sister, Mai, who did her presentation on her trip and she helped translate my presentation again for the Rotarians. Muni was there as her parents at the moment will be my third host parents. Her AFS sister also came and us four; Mai, Muni, her sister and me all had some laughs that night. It was quite a formal set up, all extravagant dishes and you weren't allowed to pour your own drink, someone was supposed to see that your glass was empty and pour some for you. One Rotarian took a lot of photos so I will try and get them off him. On Thursday I hung out with three girls from school, Kie, Sakura, and Kimoni. We went to do Karaoke for my first time and it was super fun. There are separate rooms for each group and you can order food and drink, it was quite intense. I sang English songs and they song Japanese songs. On occasion, if they knew the chorus, they would sing along to english songs which was quite funny and if there was any english words in the Japanese songs I would sing those parts too. It was tons of fun and even though we spoke a different language we had some laughs and some good seat dancing. Afterwards we went to this outdoor strip mall near Odori to look at a few shops and to do Purikura. Second time! That was fun doing it with people who have done it for ever and getting to draw digitally on the photos afterwards. I will have a whole bunch of purikura by the end of this trip as it is a tradition among kids to do it after hanging out.
So that was my week :) It has been 2 1/2 weeks since I have been here and I have loved every minute of it. I can't wait for next week.
Comments
Hi from Canmore:
Sounds like you are adapting very well. Barb talked to your mom yesterday and she is bursting with pride about her "little" girl all grown up with a developing British sense of humour
Chloe looked after the cats while we were in Calgary for the day and did a great job.