Aisatsu: A Farewell to Mishima

Dear Mishima High,
Well, we had our month together and it was wonderful. We made many good memories that I will remember for the rest of my life. Now I am turning the page to a different chapter in my life.

I am very glad that I got to experience Mishima High school. My first day of school was terrifying but you all welcomed me with open arms. I improved my Japanese a bit during that short time period but I still had a hard time understanding when I left (Which is code for, I absolutely had no idea what was going on most of the time). I didn't talk much because I didn't know how to say what I wanted to and I wasn't exactly the flamboyant outgoing person I am when I actually speak the language. In fact, I don't think I have been that quiet of a person since I was born.
I appreciated everyone who had the courage to come and say hello and I felt so bad when it took me so long to learn names. All you boys seemed to shy to really talk to me much but those of you who did were highly appreciated and all the girls who surrounded my chair on my first day of school and continually tried to communicate with the gaijin even though we all know it is difficult made my stay at Mishima even better.

I will miss you all but as we know, I am not leaving Japan till July 22nd. I hope to receive emails from every one of you (yes, this includes you boys too). Maybe, just maybe, yesterday will not be the last time I see you. ;)

sincerely,
the gaijin

QUIET! Testing in progress.

Mishima just finished quarterly testing on Wednesday. Let me just say this, as a gaijin these 4 days were lovely! As a student who actually has to take, and pass, these tests, it must be hell on earth.

My days played out nicely during this week: wake up, go to school, sit in the library and listen to music for 3 hours, go home and play for the rest of the day. It was perfectly relaxing and a well needed break. I just count my lucky stars that I don't have to take those tests otherwise my schedule would be completely different. If Airi is any indication my day would probably be as follows: wake up 2 hours early, study, go to school, spend 3 hours wracking my tired brain for the answer to each grueling question, go home, study, eat lunch, study, eat dinner, study, take a shower, study go to bed as late as humanly possible probably still studying even in my dreams. At least I get a good 3 hours break from studying in there. Then again, does bedtime count as a "break"?

So there you have it, testing week. Or should I say Satan's days? I must say, my hat is off to all the superhuman students who attend, and pass, a Japanese high school. I guess there is a reason all Americans assume that if you are Japanese you must be a genius...it's probably true.

Inside barbecue. hmmm....

We went to an interesting restaurant as a family today. Our table had a little pit in the middle of it with a grate over it. This turned out to be a mini fire pit although it was either electric or gas operated because we didn't have to build the fire itself.
The restaurant was buffet style so we paid once and got to order almost whatever we wanted (mostly meat but there was some vegetables available as well). They brought us our orders cut and seasoned but not cooked. That was our job! You know, people always say that Japanese people don't eat very much but oh boy when it comes to barbecuing I think these people could give even an American teenage boy a run for his money. We ate, and ate, and ate, continually adding more and more meat to that little grate over our fire until I felt like I had just finished Thanksgiving dinner and when we were all done with our roasted meat and veggies we ordered some ice cream to top it off! It was now that I realized that all of you who are expecting me to come back to America several sizes smaller are in for a surprise I have a feeling that the food here will do just the opposite to me!!

I did notice one thing today though that you all might find interesting and that is the tiny beverages. Here in Japan you have the option of water or soda or tea most of the time but the difference is the cup size. America's cups are huge. It takes me almost the entire meal to finish off my glass of water (for it is always water) but here my cup was tiny and there are no handy waiters to fill your glass as soon as they see it is empty. There is simply a spout where you get your own. Needless to say my family was astounded and amused as I got up 4 times to refill my teacup sized water glass and then promptly downed the whole thing in about 2 minutes. I guess they just don't understand an American's need for their beverages.

Rain!

I don't usually like rain. The freezing cold rain that cuts like a knife which we get just after winter ends in Utah is not my idea of a "nice day". Once spring sets in you might get one or two 10 minute showers of perfect rain here and there but it never lasts. As soon as it's warm in Utah you can bet that there will be very little moisture till it's snowing again so I haven't really developed the greatest love for rain.

For some reason, all that changed today. Here in Japan it will start raining and continue for hours and hours on end. It could even last all day!
Before I thought of this as a hassle. I mean who likes putting on a huge bulky raincoat every time they go outside?! I certainly don't, and today I was just too lazy for any of that. As I unlocked my bike to return home from school I debated for about 3 seconds as to whether or not I wanted to go through that trouble and came to the decision that rain can't be that bad.
By the time I got home 20 minutes later, not only was I utterly soaked to the skin but I was enjoying that rain so much I didn't want to go inside. It was perfect! It wasn't cold rain. There was no freezing wind to drive the droplets straight through your clothes and chill you to the bone. Feeling the little splashes of water on my face and hands seemed to wash away all my thoughts about anything and everything and I reveled in the pure enjoyment of it!
I must have been a poor sight to all those passing me. The only one on the street without a raincoat or an umbrella smiling like a retard and riding her bike as slowly as possible, but who cares! This gaijin likes the rain and let's just say this, once rainy season comes on I think I will come home soaking wet a lot more often!

just "hanging out"

In America when I tell you I am going to go "hang out with my friend(s)" I usually mean sit at home chatting for 4 hours. Maybe we will take this chatting to the mall but that is about as exciting as it gets in Utah. Hanging out with friends in Japan is an adventure and a party that can take up an entire day without you getting bored! For example: Yesterday.

Yesterday I got to hang out with a friend from school, Masami. Let me just say this, I have not had that much fun "hanging out" in a long time! It was the start of testing so we got out of school at about 11:00, (as soon as the tests for that day were finished) and we headed out to lunch first. I have been craving greasy American food like nothing else lately so we went for some McDonalds. (How much more American can you get?!). We spent the next 5 hours singing Karaoke, eating some donuts (sugar to contrast the previous grease), and shopping!

Karaoke in Japan is amazing. This was my first experience with karaoke and let me just say this: WOW! Why in heaven's name do we not have one of these places in Utah?!! We got a little room to ourselves with a huge TV and a huge, and I mean HUGE, book of songs to choose from. We rocked out to The Beatles, Franz Ferdinand, Blue Hearts, and much much more! Eventually our time ran out and we had to leave that little room of awesome but that is OK because in Japan, there is ALWAYS something else to do!
We went out for donuts!! There are no words good enough to describe these delicious circles of goodness so you will just have to use your imagination.

Following the donuts came shopping!! We rode our bikes down to the closest shopping mall and stayed there for an hour or so. That is the one thing that is the same in America and Japan, Shopping. You can probably figure out what that was like without a lengthy description.

To end my day after returning home from my awesome adventure with Masami I went to eat Ramen for dinner with Airi! Now if you think those little packages of dehydrated noodles and salt that call themselves ramen are tasty after eating ramen in Japan I think you need to get all your taste buds removed for you are not worthy to have them anymore. This ramen was SOOOO good and that bowl was HUGE. This is probably the only thing in Japan that comes in a huge serving size. A huge delicious serving size. ^^ It was the perfect end to a perfect day!

Irony Slap In The Face!

Today I attended a meeting with my next host family and a possible school for the months of June and July. I experienced my first subway ride all alone. This was extremely nerve-wracking as I was absolutely positive I would get on the wrong train and end up who knows where!

Anyway, the meeting itself went very well. We discussed what classes I would attend and buying a school uniform and various other things. Apparently I have been accepted at that school. Wow lucky! The rules in this new school are much more strict than at Mishima. It is a private school so students cannot wear any jewelry, nor can they have a part time job, or even a boyfriend. I decided I can live with this though because it will be interesting to compare private schools to public schools.
However, it was as we left that the surprise came. Michiru (my future host sister) turned to me and said, "So, I didn't know this before but apparently Takii High School is an all girls school."

The exchange program I applied for was for an all girls school but I got rejected and so I looked on the bright side with "well, maybe at least I can attend a co-ed school!" and I have enjoyed my co-ed experience. Now as Michiru pointed this out it was so funny to me that even though I got rejected from the exchange program before, the new "home-made" exchange program is starting to look scarily similar to what I would have experienced...huh.

Looks Tasty!

Japanese food always looks very tasty. They are much more conscious of the physical characteristics as well as the taste so everything must LOOK just as good as it tastes. However, sometimes you have to be careful because not only are they good at making real food look delicious but they have a strange obsession with making FAKE food just as tasty looking!

Japanese souvenir shops have some strange obsession with inedible but extremely tasty looking food! I have seen food magnets, food erasers, food coin-purses, candy that looks like sushi, and pointless imitations of food which have absolutely no use! The freakiest part about this is that they are so very good at making this food look real. Many of the things I run into look quite edible and in fact, extremely delicious. I guess the shop owners just love laughing at my dismay when I realize that bento is not even real. *sigh*