Good morning, or Good evening, depending on where you are reading this from. For me it is about 8pm and I just finished dinner about 20 minutes ago. Curry and naan, the perfect combo.
Okay enough about how amazing the food was, it will just make me hungry again. Let's get to my first day(s).
So, since I arrived at 3pm on Saturday, my first full day was Sunday. My host sister, Satomi, had club activities, so it was just me and her parents until 3 that afternoon. Satomi's mother suggested where to buy my school skirt and socks, so we decided to go at about 11, first to get a bento(lunch box), then to buy school clothes. When it got be be 11, we grabbed our stuffed and walked two blocks to the 100 Yen shop. If you don't know, the 100 Yen shop is the equivalent of a dollar store in America, super cool stuff. We , me and Satomi's Mom, went inside and found some stuff, then Satomi's dad found us and walked around with us. After buying my cute cat bento, we walked the short distance home.
After the 100 Yen shop, we dropped our stuff at the apartment and went to the mall right across from my school, I forget the name of it, but there is a grocery connected to it called Ito Yakado. There were so many stores and they were so different. The store that had the skirt I needed was called Uniqlo ,(yunikuro), and I bought a calf-length, dark navy skirt and socks.
Afterwards, we went and got lunch, Omelet Rice!!! Omelet Rice is the most amazing flavor in the world.
Then, Satomi's mom got a text from Michiko's(Jessica's host sister) about them being at the mall soon. So, we waited for Satomi, Jessica, and Michiko. After they arrived we went to a bunch of cute stores, including Peach Club, one of my favorite stores ever!
That is about it for Sunday, now let's get into the real story, the first day.
I woke up a bit early, so I relaxed in bed for about an hour before getting up.( I am going to skip my morning because it was a very long day) I put on my uniform, packed, and then left for school. Satomi and I arrived at school and went in the side entrance, where we put on our school slippers (Which are so comfy, i want a thousand) and went to the principals office. (Something I noticed while in school, is the amount of respect people use towards each other and teachers.) The principal this year, speaks no English, neither do the vice principals, which is very difficult. He had us( Jessica and I) follow him to the staff room, where there was about 60ish teachers seated, waiting to hear our introductions. After somehow getting a few words right, all the teachers clapped and we left to go to our homeroom class.
After arriving in class, all of the students really wanted to talk to me, and I met a boy sitting next to me, I think he said for me to call him Maru, he is doing an exchange program to Vancouver in July! Our homeroom teacher came running in just as the bell rang and told me to introduce myself, I did my best to say a thing or two about myself. Then, our first teacher came in, she didn't say anything to me, and just started teaching. I am not sure what the class was, Classical Japanese, maybe, but It was very hard, so I just copied our reading.
Next was math class, I don't know what level, but I had never seen it before. After math, Satomi took me , and Michiko took Jessica, to the library to talk about our schedule for classes. We decided on taking the first 3 classes, then after lunch, me and Jessica study in the library for the remainder of the day. The meeting was during 3rd lesson, so then we went and ate our bento with our host sisters in their rooms.
After lunch we were told to meet David-san (Mr.David, the English teacher from England) in the library for a school tour. When he arrived we looked at some magazines they had, and some were pretty cool! Once he arrived, we walked around the school and looked at where important rooms are, such as; the infirmary, our homerooms, bathrooms, and the English teachers. He told us a few important things about Japanese bugs and heat stroke, then we went back to the library to meet two of the English teachers so we could go buy books for studying Japanese. Buying books with your teachers is funny, it is like we went on a shopping trip with them! We practiced paying for our stuff alone, which is a bit different from America, too.
Then , as the very last thing of school, we went to an assembly in the gym room. Jessica and I just thought we were going to listen, then one of the English teachers said we would we introducing ourselves in front of everyone. It was pretty scary, there were so many people, but everyone was complementing our Japanese, which made me feel better.
After school, Jessica, Michiko, and I went to the mall to look at the book store again, and we bought some milk tea!
All in all, today was an amazing day. I got called "Kawaii!" (cute) way more times than I could have counted today. It is very different being noticed so much, like when we were sitting in the library, people would look by, take a double take, and then wake at us. Every one is so happy to meet us and all of them are super excited to be friends with me.
I love Japan so far. It is changing me so much already.
There are a few things I probably left out, but I'm tired !
Goodnight!
Okay enough about how amazing the food was, it will just make me hungry again. Let's get to my first day(s).
So, since I arrived at 3pm on Saturday, my first full day was Sunday. My host sister, Satomi, had club activities, so it was just me and her parents until 3 that afternoon. Satomi's mother suggested where to buy my school skirt and socks, so we decided to go at about 11, first to get a bento(lunch box), then to buy school clothes. When it got be be 11, we grabbed our stuffed and walked two blocks to the 100 Yen shop. If you don't know, the 100 Yen shop is the equivalent of a dollar store in America, super cool stuff. We , me and Satomi's Mom, went inside and found some stuff, then Satomi's dad found us and walked around with us. After buying my cute cat bento, we walked the short distance home.
After the 100 Yen shop, we dropped our stuff at the apartment and went to the mall right across from my school, I forget the name of it, but there is a grocery connected to it called Ito Yakado. There were so many stores and they were so different. The store that had the skirt I needed was called Uniqlo ,(yunikuro), and I bought a calf-length, dark navy skirt and socks.
Afterwards, we went and got lunch, Omelet Rice!!! Omelet Rice is the most amazing flavor in the world.
Then, Satomi's mom got a text from Michiko's(Jessica's host sister) about them being at the mall soon. So, we waited for Satomi, Jessica, and Michiko. After they arrived we went to a bunch of cute stores, including Peach Club, one of my favorite stores ever!
That is about it for Sunday, now let's get into the real story, the first day.
I woke up a bit early, so I relaxed in bed for about an hour before getting up.( I am going to skip my morning because it was a very long day) I put on my uniform, packed, and then left for school. Satomi and I arrived at school and went in the side entrance, where we put on our school slippers (Which are so comfy, i want a thousand) and went to the principals office. (Something I noticed while in school, is the amount of respect people use towards each other and teachers.) The principal this year, speaks no English, neither do the vice principals, which is very difficult. He had us( Jessica and I) follow him to the staff room, where there was about 60ish teachers seated, waiting to hear our introductions. After somehow getting a few words right, all the teachers clapped and we left to go to our homeroom class.
After arriving in class, all of the students really wanted to talk to me, and I met a boy sitting next to me, I think he said for me to call him Maru, he is doing an exchange program to Vancouver in July! Our homeroom teacher came running in just as the bell rang and told me to introduce myself, I did my best to say a thing or two about myself. Then, our first teacher came in, she didn't say anything to me, and just started teaching. I am not sure what the class was, Classical Japanese, maybe, but It was very hard, so I just copied our reading.
Next was math class, I don't know what level, but I had never seen it before. After math, Satomi took me , and Michiko took Jessica, to the library to talk about our schedule for classes. We decided on taking the first 3 classes, then after lunch, me and Jessica study in the library for the remainder of the day. The meeting was during 3rd lesson, so then we went and ate our bento with our host sisters in their rooms.
After lunch we were told to meet David-san (Mr.David, the English teacher from England) in the library for a school tour. When he arrived we looked at some magazines they had, and some were pretty cool! Once he arrived, we walked around the school and looked at where important rooms are, such as; the infirmary, our homerooms, bathrooms, and the English teachers. He told us a few important things about Japanese bugs and heat stroke, then we went back to the library to meet two of the English teachers so we could go buy books for studying Japanese. Buying books with your teachers is funny, it is like we went on a shopping trip with them! We practiced paying for our stuff alone, which is a bit different from America, too.
Then , as the very last thing of school, we went to an assembly in the gym room. Jessica and I just thought we were going to listen, then one of the English teachers said we would we introducing ourselves in front of everyone. It was pretty scary, there were so many people, but everyone was complementing our Japanese, which made me feel better.
After school, Jessica, Michiko, and I went to the mall to look at the book store again, and we bought some milk tea!
All in all, today was an amazing day. I got called "Kawaii!" (cute) way more times than I could have counted today. It is very different being noticed so much, like when we were sitting in the library, people would look by, take a double take, and then wake at us. Every one is so happy to meet us and all of them are super excited to be friends with me.
I love Japan so far. It is changing me so much already.
There are a few things I probably left out, but I'm tired !
Goodnight!
(Jessica and I looking at the man at the mall)
(The school courtyard)
Great post about your first day at school. The gym room assembly introduction sounds so scary and exciting. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!
ReplyDeleteGlad you had such a great first day. I look forward to hearing all about your adventures! Have so much fun!
ReplyDelete