Lalalalalalala.

September 8

So today, I went to go watch Hancock... in Japanese. It was pretty amazing. I understood almost everything :D Hahahaha instead of "asshole" they say "kuzu" (trash). I thought that was an interesting way of translating that particular part...

Japanese movie theaters, apparently, have you buy the tickets... but for particular seats. So... you can choose which seat you sit at. I thought that was pretty interesting... The only time I know that we can do that in California is if we're going to the theater or something, right? I'm not a hundred percent sure... but that's what I think.

Other than that, my host sister and I went shopping again... well... at least I went shopping again. I ended up buying like... zero clothes. I was looking for good shoes for a few hours, but I couldn't find any in my size. Apparently I have big feet for a Japanese person hahaha. Some person asked me what shoe size I was, but I only told them that I knew my size for the US and then they gave me an amazed look and asked me a bunch of questions.

I explained to her a million times that I'm studying abroad right now and that I was born and raised in the US and that I've never lived in Japan before so it's not like I'm coming "home" but she kept asking the same exact questions over and over again so I just eventually smiled and nodded. She's extremely young too...

So anyways, all I ended up buying were little gifts for friends. They're hilarious. They're pillows... Bread pillows. With faces. :D And then I bought myself a chair. It's tofu... apparently. And it has a face too... And then I bought keychains... pudding themed. And yes, these have faces too...

I'm sorry it's absolutely adorable though.

Mmmmmmmmm so Monster Parent and Shibatora finales are on tomorrow... I believe... and real school starts tomorrow as well. It should be an interesting day tomorrow :)

September 9

So I'm kind of writing this during class right now... my teacher already told me beforehand that I wouldn't have to participate because it would be too hard for me to keep up with... Apparently it's a computer class. But it seems much harder than any of the computer classes I've taken in the US...

They just had their test right now and they're going over the answers and I'm listening to what they're saying, but it seems amazingly hard. Just... goes into a whole lot of detail and everything.

Oh, before this, we had to go to some thing for the first years again... something about the future or whatever. Yes, the PE teacher that I already don't like was there... We seriously spent like 5 minutes sitting down, standing up, bowing, saying our greetings... because he wasn't satisfied. He spent another few minutes yelling at another student, and then later, when we were passing out papers, he smacked some guy in the head.

Yeah... I don't like him very much. I'm really glad I only have to see him twice a week.

But the thing is... today's meeting really has nothing to do with me. It's not like I'm going to a Japanese university or anything... and I'm a third year (here) not a first year, so it's kind of... pointless for me to be there. So I was kind of getting yelled at for absolutely nothing. So, in other words, I really didn't like that.

I'm supposed to be studying my Japanese right now. I don't feel like it. Kanji is horrible. Hm. What else do I have today... I think like... economics, English, Japanese, and math for sure... there's one class I'm missing.... oh no wait. That's the  class I'm in now haha. 

Let me just say... I think that Japanese textbooks are incredibly skinny. 

And I guess we're switching seats sometime.... Next class starts in about 10 minutes...... so I should go. I'm going to have to put my laptop away.

Oh. And I'm starting to get worried that my English is getting weird. Not written... spoken. I haven't spoken in English for a while now.... Gah! Haha.

September 11

So I just realized that I've still been writing that it's August. When it's not. It's September. Oops. So I went back and fixed it now, but.... Anyways. Finally met my PE teacher today... I ended up not having him yesterday for PE... scheduling mistake. But I ended up having him for health today and then PE tomorrow... But yeah. Two times is too much. Luckily, on both those days, I have something to look forwards to. On Thursdays, my history teacher. On Fridays my class with the 2nd years. Both are FUN. My history teacher didn't know who I was so he comes into class, points at me, and is like, "Who are you?"

And I'm like "The new exchange student..."

And he's like "What?! I didn't hear about this!"

It was soooooo funny. He's hilarious too. And he's been to like 30 countries, apparently. I really liked him. :)

And then... my English class with the 2nd years. That was fun. Really fun. So these two 2nd year girls and then my teacher come to pick me up, and obviously, they're treating me as a first year. And then I mention that I'm 17. They're like "Oh! So we're in the same grade!" And then I said, "No... actually... I'd be a 3rd year. I'm a year older..." They look at each other and they're like "OHMYGOD!" and then they started bowing and apologizing like crazy while kind of laughing nervously.

Jeez. The senpai/kouhai thing... I thought it sounded kind of cool, but I actually don't think that way anymore......

But anyways. Everyone was really fun and nice. There was a Q&A time... and I was asked if I had a boyfriend (no) and what my type was. When I mentioned that I looked (sorta) for pretty eyes... the guy who was sitting in the very front was all, "Do I have pretty eyes?!" and fluttered them jokingly. So I just said yes while laughing. He was really funny. One of his questions was simply, "How are you?" when everyone else was asking me harder questions.

I have that class again tomorrow and I'm really looking forwards to it. :)

But...... not so much to PE. Ok. So the PE teacher... wow. He called one of the guys up and then started poking him with a pointer that the last teacher had accidentally left behind, saying that his shirt buttons and his pants buttons weren't aligned, so he looked sloppy. He ordered these two girls to redo cleaning the blackboard, because it wasn't clean enough... although he didn't use it at all during the class.

And when he saw that I was just sitting there, not doing my work (work pages.... a lot of them...) because 1. I didn't have a textbook, and 2. I couldn't read the kanji anyways... he called me up. Not even by name, he just frowned and sat there and motioned for me to come up.

And then he asked me where my textbook was and why I didn't bring it. So I'm just like "Oh... I... don't have one... I was told to share with someone nearby me." He seriously expects exchange students that are only there for half a year to buy the entire set of textbooks needed for all these classes?! Is he crazy?! So then he's just like, "Oh ok then. Never mind. Just sit there." So I did.

I heard he's worse for PE. ;alskdjf;lakjsd;lfkjak;sjfakl;djf Great. I'm so glad that my PE periods have been cut down from two to one though... I don't think I could stand it...

I think I'm going to talk him into letting me just observe tomorrow... I don't know what to choose and what my host sister is doing seems a bit difficult. Apparently there's swimming, but then I'd have to buy an entirely new swimsuit (apparently, bikinis aren't allowed.....) and that's just bothersome. And... I don't know how to swim properly, so I wouldn't be getting a great grade or anything........ haha. Oh wait. I wouldn't get a grade anyways... but I'd probably get yelled at a lot by my PE teacher. So no thank you......

Mmmmm so I may seriously have to take a kanji test tomorrow. I DON'T WANT TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

Gr. I hate homework... but bookkeeping is kind of fun. :)

September 14

Weekend. Fun :) Well this entire weekend all I've really been doing is going with my host sister to her musical lessons. It's actually been incredible to watch all of them. They're all so young but yet they can still do everything so amazingly. 

My host sister is amazing at dancing... I've noticed. I haven't really heard her sing seriously... I've heard her sing with a whole bunch of other people... and such... but yeah.

Everyone keeps asking me if  sing. Which I don't. So it's been kind of awkward haha. But everyone here is way nice as well... well at least the people that actually take the time to talk to me are... Of course, there are a lot of people, so it's not like I'm expecting to be able to talk to all of them... I've talked to maybe like 15ish people. 

And another thing I've noticed since I've gotten here is that people keep telling me that I have a small face. No one ever said that when I was in America so that kind of confused me.

No school again tomorrow... so I'm way happy. I hate having to sit through the classes... I can't understand anything except for the English classes (I seriously have like 3 different ones... regular English, Oral Communications, and then Business English) and PE. Bookkeeping I'll understand if it's explained to me... and I vaguely remember what we're currently working on in my math class. I think it's like Algebra. But I hate the way the teachers act.......

Oh. PE is going to be FUN. For once. I know. It's amazing. Apparently at Japanese schools, they give you choices for what to do for certain seasons of the year. So the choices for these next few weeks are dance, kendo, and judo. Of course, I chose dance. Because, 1. I would have to pay like $50 for kendo and judo (equipment fees) and 2. Not even joking, my entire class decided on dance. And it seemed the easiest......

Actually though... we apparently have to group up into small groups, and then come up with a dance routine and then present it as a final grade. Do I REALLY have to? I can't get a grade... can I even really get it for credits or anything?

Oh mannn... I hate my Japanese class. I have NO FREAKING CLUE what's going on. Luckily for me (I guess) the teacher is the type that ignores me. So there's no way she'll call on me or anything.....

Gr. I'm way hungry... and it's only like 12:10. 

Ok. So one thing I've definitely realized is the fact that everyone is way majorly flexible. Well... I guess that's obvious. They're in a musical thing. They're going to have to be flexible. And they're also going to have to be able to memorize dance routines quickly. I swear... that should've been way easy to figure out. But I guess that it's amazing to watch anyways. Most are younger than I am. I think there's only like about 5 that are the same age or older. Two I know are older.... but I've only met like three others that were the same age as me... so yeah. Everyone else is younger. And like I mentioned before, there's like 40ish people. 

Sundays are harsh man...... Apparently it starts at like 9 (with individual practice time) and then they moved into voice lessons, dance practice, and then they have a break for lunch. Apparently they're moving into more... I don't even know what practice until about 5 and then after that people can either go home or do what my host sister is doing... continue on to go to tap dance lessons. So I'm here with my host sister until 8 PM.

I know. Crazy.

Ohhhhh. I drank the most amazing drink yesterday. Random, I know. But I don't care. It was amazing. It's Fanta. But not just any regular Fanta. It has jello in it. You shake the can reaaaaaally hard and then when you drink it, it has the drink... and then bits of broken jelly in it. It's sooooooo good. It made me laugh when I drank it haha. My host sister was like "Have you had this before?" and I told her yeah, because I thought it was just regular Fanta.

And then she was like, "Are you sure?" and then explained it to me. And then I was like "Woah."

And it was amazing.

:)

Oh. My host family and I watched Disturbia last night. In Japanese. Yeah. As in... dubbed. Not subbed. They really wanted to watch something. So they ended up getting that... I got my host sister hooked on Rent by the way...

So anyways. Disturbia went on until about midnight. I got up at 7 today... so that was interesting. It's a weekend. I wanted to sleep in... but if I didn't go with my host sister today, I would have nothing to do anyways. Like seriously... nothing. 

My other host sister is at basketball practice and my host parents would be in and out all day. So I'd sit at home all day and do nothing, most likely. I still have a while here, so I figured I'd just come once every few weeks or something. :)