The 27th of August

It's been a while since I last updated - gomen ne! But here's another load of posts (and massive amounts of pictures, as usual.) Rejoice! I thought I's post an entry for every day instead of clashing them all together, so... first up is the 27th!

Madoka and I got up rather early, because I had a Rotary meeting at 11 AM. (I can hear you gasping, yes?)
We first met with Mr. Kamikawa and the Italian exchange student Francesco (who turned out to be half Enlglish - what do you know!). Mr. Kamikawa took us to the bank, where I exchanged the dollars I had brought with me for yen. (Payment for a Rotary trip we'll be taking later this year.) Next we went to his school, Kamikawa English school, where he told us a bit about what we'd be doing that day and the "rules of the road". His main point was that these rules are made to help us and make us happy - not to put restrictions on us and be difficult. Well, no problems there.

After a while we drove off to the Rotary meeting and lunch with Mr. Kamikawas Rotary club. I had expected it to be kind of formal with lots of Japanese speeches I wouldn't understand - but nothing more than that. I hadn't thought I'd be doing anything else but eat... "No, mother, I'm only here for the food!" XD I was clearly mistaken. In the car on our way over to the Royal Sundance Hotel", where the meeting was supposed to be held, Mr. Kamikawa told us that we'd be "making a small speech" in front of everyone. Yeah, OK... Wait, what?!

Kamikawa: "Oh, and I don't want you to get this wrong... remember that ir's "Kagoshima minami Ryotari kurabu no minna-sama, konnichiwa", OK? And then introduce yourselves, ne?"
Helene and Francesco: ". . . OK." (@_@;) *sweaty palms*

Now, what you need to know is that "-sama" is the most polite title you can put after a name. Meaning this would be formal. Also, "minami", meaning south, was a word I wasn't very familiar with. This meant that I now had to remember a new word that I'd just learned, which is pretty hard if you're nervous. And Francesco and I practiced this sentence a million times on the way trying to figure out what to say. OK...

The hotel was really fancy, and I think both exchange students felt the pressure building a bit. This was before we'd entered the room, mind you. Once inside I found... A lit stage with a microphone! Japanese! In masses! In suits! With business cards! Oh, the horror! The horror! ...I feel very out of place as soon as it gets to be a bit formal - I'm more the jeans type. *cough* I only needed to look at Francesco to know that he felt pretty much the same way. Still, we put on our best Rotary-smiles and went in.

The next couple of minutes were spent greeting different people, lots of bowing and "hajimemashite" (something you say the first time you meet someone) and receiving of business cards. After a handshake round ( also known as "find every person you can and greet them while feeling utterly bewildered") we sat down at Mr. Kamikawas table to eat. Let me tell you - the food was delicious! Japanese all the way~♪

After finishing our lunch the dreaded moment arrived all too quickly. Before I wanted to know it I was headed for the stage with Francesco and Mr. Kamikawa. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, and I think I could hear it too: DUMP - DUMP - DUMP... I was, pardon my French, scared shitless. After frantically whispering to Francesco: "What was it? Mi... mi...?!" "Minami!" "O-OK!" I began our speech saying something like this:

"Kagoshima Minami Rotary Kurabu no minna-sama, konnichiwa! Helen desu. Watashi wa Noruue- kara kimashita. Zutto Nihon ni ikitakatta kara*, ima hontouni ureshii desu. Arigatou gozaimashita! Kore kara douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!**"

"Everyone in Kagoshima South Rotary club - hello! I'm Helene. I came from Norway. I always wanted to go to Japan, so now I am really happy! Thank you so much! From now on, please take good care of me!"
* Here I messed up a bit - I meant to say "desukara", which is a more polite form of "therefore". Ah, well...

** I'm not quite sure how to translate this. It's a very formal greeting, and it is often said after introducing yourself for the first time. I think it could be translated as something like this, though. Megumi-sensei?

Yes, I did the whole thing, bowing included, and felt very "Japanesey". :P It was kind of fun after I had finished talking. (Let me tell you - I was relieved to sit down with Madoka, my host father and Kamikawa-sensei again!) Seeing that even the Japanese who came up to speak were really nervous made me feel a bit better too. Madoka had to make a speech as well, and she looked slightly petrified. Ah, the joy of official meetings, ne? XD

After the meeting had ended, we went to Kagoshima Josei High School, my school, to pick up my uniform and meet the teachers. I hardly felt nervous here, except I felt kind of sheepish when I realized I had to take off my shoes - I wasn't wearing any socks in my "kind of dressed up shoes". The slippers we put on when we came in were taken off as we entered the staff room too. Ehehehe... The American English teacher there, Mr. Daisy(!) told me not to worry about it. :P He will be our school counselor, I think, and he's really nice! I'm glad he speaks English, because it's hard for me to express everything I want to say in Japanese. Since he's a foreigner too, it's also easier for me to discuss things with him because he can share some of his experience and help me "process things", as he said. Slightly sidetracked there. Anyway, after meeting and saying hello to the teachers, we sat down and talked and drank green tea, which was nice. Not so formal. ;P

The next thing we did was to go to a different building where they took my measurements and figured out what size school uniform I needed. My jacket is size LL! (But that's because I've got longer arms than them, right? Right? I fit into Madoka's except for the arms!) *ahem* Point is, it makes me feel a bit :/ . (Curious Incident, mom?) Still, it's pretty fun having a uniform for the first time! I'll post a picture when I start wearing it! *^_^*

I talked with Daisy-sensei in front of the school after having tried on my uniform. (Mom, he's lived in Michigan!) We talked about lots of things, and I said I thought youth exchanges were important to promote understanding and openness, and therefore also peace. I said I think people are afraid of things they don't understand, and if they're afraid they more easily resort to violence. He agreed, saying "Yeah, I mean let's cut to the chase - that's what this really is about. Peace." That's part of why I wanted to do this too - although the initial thought was just "I want to go to Japan and learn Japanese!!" This is a something that we as individuals can do for world peace. I don't think friends start wars that easily.

Daisy-sensei also told me that schools in the country side tend to be a bit more conservative than those in the cities. Apparently this school is also more focused on sports - students here are not known to have the best grades, although they are by no means inferior to students at other schools. He said that as an exchange students I could forget about homework - the school here doesn't give much of it to the students, and what I'll do get I'll most probably not understand anyway. Another thing I might find hard, he said, was the clubs. ""Clubs" sound like having fun - really these are more like sport teams." He said some clubs expect very much of you, and can't quite understand why exchange students might not want to meet up 5-6 times a week. ("You signed up, obviously you want to do this...?") "The important thing is that you know exactly what you're getting into before you do it." The karate club was apparently a very demanding one, so I don't think I'll join them. The kyudo club was apparently a bit easier, but I haven't decided yet! So much I want to do~ XD

The place we went to get my uniform. See the palm trees!?

This is the building where people who live at the school because they live too far away to go home eat.

A road near the school.

After chatting at school, Madoka and I headed downtown on foot, which was really nice - to me it's like being in a greenhouse every time I walk down the street. The vegetation, the sounds and the smell makes it feel like... well...a sub-tropical climate. Duh! Point is, it's pretty neat! We bought something to drink at one of the many vending machines along the way (Ichigo Mashimaro!), and once at the store we bought a pair of white socks for my school uniform. Inside the shop was a room that was full of these game machines where you can win prizes and small things - and a photobox were you can take pictures (stickers) and decorate them, better known as purikura! We went in here.

Madoka at the vending machine. Green tea~

The purikura looks like this (although you aren't really allowed to take pictures inside the mall).

You had several options available, and we chose one where you do the poses shown on the screen. Theme? "Love". It was really fun - I'm definitely doing more of this! It's a nice way to remember things too - and very Japanese! XD

On our way home from the store we met some kittens - they were so cute! I became really good friends with one of them, and we had a loong cuddle. (Helene does not get too much physical contact at the moment... XD) I also took a picture of what it looks like around Hioki (sort of):


I also saw a bird with a blue back! Am very amazed by this.

Location: Japan!
Mood: tired (it's late)
Listening to: -
Eating: Green tea pocky
Drinking: water (from the tap!!)