Whoa,
it's been quite a long time. Now that things have sort of calmed
down, and I've finally managed to work out a decent daily schedule, I
can finally type this out.
First
things first: Speaking or writing in English has turned into quite a
difficult task. It's to the point that when I saw another exchange
student a while ago and tried to speak English with them, I stuttered
out one sentence that didn't quite make sense and then ended up
speaking in Japanese. I have to somehow force my brain to put forth
English so that I can write this post!
My
Daily Life
5:20
A.M. – This is the time I wake up at every morning. Getting dressed
in my school uniform consists of putting on a regular T-shirt and
shorts of my own, a blouse that I have to button up all the way to
top, a skirt, a vest or sweater, and my school socks. Before, I had to
put on a blazer on top of all this, but now that it's getting warmer,
the school allows you to take it off. I also take out my earrings at
this time, because they aren't allowed at school. In the morning, I
always have to think hard about what I absolutely need to bring,
because I have to bike to school and I need my backpack as light as
possible. Something you have to make sure and pack is a
handkerchief/hand towel to dry your hands with, and tissues because
you won't find either of these at school. Another thing you should
bring is a pencil case of some sort filled with every color of the
rainbow of pens, highlighters, and maybe a marker or two; pencils; an
eraser; a small ruler; notepad or sticky notes, scissors, and glue.
Trust me, you end up using all of these things at school. My school
has us students doing extremely colorful note-taking. We also often
have to grade our work with a red pen by drawing a circle on the
answers we got right and some sort of check mark on the the answers
we got wrong. The glue is mostly used to glue worksheets into our
notebook. Most of the worksheets we receive are about double the
length of regular paper, so we have to fold the sheets to fit them
into our notebooks.
Makeup,
or anything flashy, like hair ribbons, is not allowed at school. Any
hair bands or bobby pins must be a color that doesn't stand out, like
black or brown. I don't really mind these rules because it just means
less to worry about in the morning. My breakfast is usually a slice
of toast, which sounds small, but the Japanese bread (shoku pan) I
eat is thicker and fluffier than the bread I usually ate in America,
so I'm usually pretty full after one slice. If there's no bread, then
I either eat tamago kake gohan (a raw egg and soysauce or soup broth
over rice), or leftovers from last night's dinner. Sometimes, if
there's curry left over, I put some on my toast and eat it that way.
Then, after washing my own dishes, I take my backpack and bento and
head to school on my bike. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes of going
up and down hills, and sweating in my seifuku (school uniform) to get
to school. A large percentage of school students in my area go to school by bike, or take the train and bike to school from the station. I'm not all that athletically equipped for long bike
rides, nor am I used to being encased in layer upon layer of clothing
while doing so. However, I'm a lot better than the first couple
weeks, and by the time I go back to America my legs should be
extremely buff. Something I really have to pay attention to is my skirt. Even though I always wear shorts under my skirt, it's still embarrassing when the wind flips up my skirt just as I'm passing a large group of boys headed for the all-boys school in the opposite direction. Setting that aside, I'm always amazed by a particular stretch of road I
go through on the way. Even though there's four lanes and it's
surrounded by stores and restaurants, when all the cars stop at the
stoplight, complete silence envelopes the entire area. Suddenly the
only thing you can hear is your own feet on the pedals.
When
arriving at school, I put my bike with other first year students' in
a long line of hundreds of bicycles. After doing what we call “Two
Locking” (taking the key out of the ring lock and putting another
lock on the front wheel), I enter the school building, put my shoes
in my assigned box, and take out my school slippers. Excluding the
ones I use to go to and from school, I keep 3 pairs of shoes at
school: my school slippers, my gym shoes, and my ground shoes for
when gym class is outside. Then I make my way up to the forth floor,
which is extremely difficult after the bike ride, and to my
classroom.
~To
be continued~
Food
I recommend to try in Japan:
Nomu
Yo-guruto (Drinkable Yogurt): It's yogurt you drink!
Bread:
Any kind of bread. Even when the bread looks like normal bread I can
find in America, it's not. It's better.
Peanut
butter (cream): I know I already mentioned how peanut butter is
different in Japan, but seriously, it's good.
Strawberries:
I cannot stress enough how delicious strawberries are in Japan. I
drool just thinking about them. I don't even really know how to
explain why they are so much more delicious in Japan.
Matcha au lait: It's a drink with matcha in it, as included in the name. I
usually find this drink at karaoke places.
Saki
Ika: It's like beef jerkey, but squid instead of beef.
☆～Flowers～☆
