School day two

I just passed 50 blog posts, yay for me!

Today was awesome and really interesting, but man am I tired! I've heard, spoken, written and read Japanese all day, and my brain has turned into a soggy mass quite, but not entirely unlike tea. I'm beat! OK, so 6 hours of sleep, studying and then staying at school to watch club activities was probably not the best combination either...

Francesco and my schedule differs a bit from that of the other students in our class, so we're taking a lot of different subjects. Japanese dance, tea ceremony, art, aerobics, counceling and cooking (both cake baking and regular cooking) to mention some. Awesome, I know! A couple of girls take us to the different classes for the time being so we won't have to run through the entire building on our own. I also discovered, by looking at our timetable, that I've been spelling "Daisy"-sensei's name wrong. It's pronounced like "Daisy", but is actually written "Dazey"!

Today started off with meeting Francesco by the shoe box. (The black leather loafers are only used outside - everywhere else we wear those slippers that I have trouble walking in...) We found our classroom, and sat down. One of our classmates was practicing kanji, and we asked him about some of them and found some of those we knew. It said "English" on our timetable, but it turned out we'd be having a kanji test instead. Francesco and I got the same as the other students just for fun, but I wouldn't have stood a chance even though I knew the meaning of some of them. We did one for elementary-school children instead. XD

After this we watched the Japanese dance lesson. It was pretty amazing, and quite unlike anything I've ever seen before. The students all wore yukatas (which they put on themselves, btw,) and they had fans that they used to make a rhythm with. I think we'll be dancing with the first years (easier), but it was really fun to watch.

The third period was art (in a class with only girls except for Francesco!), but today we listened to the teacher telling us about colours and contrasts. I understood the very basics of what he was saying (combined with what he wrote on the blackboard and what I've learned in art class in Norway), which made me pretty happy. Still, I wish I could have understood more. He wasn't just talking about colours, but he talked about contrasts concerning makeup and accessories too, which I think I would have liked if I had more of a clue as to what he was saying. (The girls in this class study makeup and nail art too, which explains why he'd talk about such things and why there were no boys there.)

He mentioned how dark colours makes things look smaller and light colours make them look bigger. Then he said "for example, if you've got dark hear, your head may appear small". When he said this my hands immediately flew up to touch my own blond hear, my eyes slightly widened. "Eh?! Jya, watashi no atama wa... ookii mitai desu yo ne?" (Well, then my head... looks big, doesn't it?) Then everyone in the classroom, myself included, started laughing. I' not sure if everyone heard what I said, but my reaction would have spoken for itself anyway! :P

At around 11:15 it was time for o-hirugohan, lunch (finally!). Some of the students in our class invited us to put our tables together and eat our obento, lunch boxes, with them. We talked to them and tried to learn their names. Names are hard for me to remember no matter where in the world I am, so it was quite funny. XD We also told them about the whole Daisy/Dazey thing, which was quite funny once we managed to explain it to them. I had just written "DAISY" with big letters on a piece of paper when Dazey-sensei entered the room. Everyone looked up at him and immediately started laughing. He stood in the doorway looking puzzled and quite amused. Francesco and I couldn't stop laughing, nor could any of the others. Dazey smiled and said "well, I'm glad you're getting along!" and told us that it was time for our counseling "but just take your time, it's OK". In the hallway on the way to our class, we told him what had been so funny. He laughed and told us not to worry about it. "I'm not sensitive about that at all!" Great guy! (^^)v
"Impeccable timing, your majesty!" -Zazu

The counseling itself was spent talking about a lot of things and Dazey telling us about himself and how he ended up in Japan, ending with "That's me. I'll shut up now. Go ahead!" XD I really like him. He also told me that "You're doing fine. I mean - you're like a sponge, just soaking it all up and enjoying it. (About being in Japan, the culture +) You're riding this!" I think he's right - I really am enjoying myself right now. Although I'm sure I'll meet difficult things and things I don't feel as comfortable with, right now I'm fine, and I'm enjoying this to the fullest! With this feeling and everybody's help, I'm sure we'll make this a fantastic year! \(^^)/ -☆

Our last lesson was tea ceremony, which was basically spent introducing ourselves to our teacher and, well, drinking tea. I also tried to stir the maccha (green tea you stir into this green, foaming, delicius drink), which I managed to do very ungracefully I'm sure. (I did, however, manage to sit in seisa through the class whenever the teacher was in the room. Although she didn't require it.) Our teacher, Hideko-sensei, was really nice - I think this'll be fun!

When we finished school around 3:00 PM, Francesco and I decided to have a look around the building. I'd told my host family I would, so they were fine with it. All the floors have basically the same layout, but it'll take time to get used to it all. We also went to watch most of the different clubs (sorry, sport teams) around the school. We only wanted to watch a bit of it, but everywhere we went people pulled up chairs for us, which made us feel really rude when leaving to look at the next. Eeehhhh! The karate club was pretty amazing, but I don't think I could train as hard as they do every day. Besides, these kids are really good to begin with, and they want to become the best. Yeah, you can see where this is going. ;) Probably not my cup of o-cha. Kendo looked fun, but I'm not sure about it. Sebastian (the Swedish guy from last year) found it too tough and Vero-chan has suggested I try something else since she thinks I might find it boring after a while because of all the constant repetition. Kyudo looked fun too, but it was in a kind of remote place with just one guy practicing when we watched it. Quote Dazey: "It's kind of like you join a club without getting all the benefits of being in a club." (Friends, etc.) Also I think I might find it kind of repetitive after a while, I'm not sure. Dancing actually looked really fun too, and there were several students from our class there. Still, I'm not sure how often they train. They might be upset with me if I can't make it to their trainings that often when I have things like Rotary meetings and so on. Ah, what to doo... Well, we'll find out eventually, I guess.

Tomorrow's cooking - ugh. I hope I don't burn anything! XD

Edit: my last post is updated with pictures of my school uniform!

Location: Japan!
Mood: beat
Listening to: the clock playing music, again, because it's 9 PM.
Eating: Soon! Oh, food, glorious food...
Drinking: In a moment. Tea~ (Which means I'll be up peeing at 5:30 AM again. What a drag.)