Still Alive

So I don`t get WiFi here, and the Higuchi`s computer is kind of slow, so updates will probably be pretty sporadic. Also, go here for pictures: http://chopstickwanderlust.shutterfly.com

June 3: Yamagata City



We left Tokyo around 9:30ish to catch the local subway trains to Akihabara again, so we could go to the Gundam Café there for breakfast. It opened at 10, but they didn’t start selling the special anko-filled waffles until 11, and we got there around 10, so we just had the sandwiches they had out for breakfast. After that we had a lot of time to kill, so we went to the JR office in the akihabara station to change our reserved seats for the shinkansen to Yamagata from Tokyo, because we were in car 14 and Beecken-sensei and everyone else were in car 13.

After we did that we lugged our suitcases around Akiba for a little bit, and Andrew and Will went inside one of the arcades while I waited outside with all the baggage and looked over the book I’d bought the day before for my translation project for my thesis. After a bit they came back out and we headed back to the station, caught the Yamanote line to Tokyo, and met up with Beecken-sensei and everyone in Tokyo Station. We bought stuff for lunch and then went up and boarded our shinkansen. It was a really long train to Yamagata—about three hours—but I slept for a while, watched the first part of the second Neverending Story movie (which is weird because they changed all the actors from the first one, and I hate it when they do that, so it bugged me; especially the new actress they had for the Childlike Empress, ‘cause I liked the first one way better!), and watched the scenery pass by. We went through more mountains and finally got to Yamagata around 4ish; some of the university students were there at the station to greet us, which was really awesome. Then we got into cars and they drove us to our separate homestays. I stayed with a girl named Mika; she was super nice and cute and I think I made a good friend out of her!


I hung out with Mika and her friend Azu, who is also really sweet, for around half an hour drinking apple juice and talking before we went to Yamagata University to watch the kendo practice at the school. It was really amazing! Then they let me, Andrew, Will, and some other of the CSU students try wielding the shinai (the kendo practice sword made out of bamboo), and taught us what to call out when we hit the different parts of the body: men for head, bo for stomach, tsuki for neck, and something for wrist that I forgot.


After that we were on our way to the welcome party, but one of Mika’s friends stopped us and had us come watch their dance practice, which was really cool because they’re club practices a special kind of dance that’s unique to Yamagata. I forget what it’s called, but I videotaped their performance for us so I’ll put that on YouTube and post the link here (with all the pictures) eventually.


After that we went to the welcome party, which was super fun! I ate a lot and visited with a lot of the university students; they had some people who could juggle come in and do some juggling stunts, and one of the teachers did a few cheesy magic tricks (that were still freaking cool to watch!), before the party broke up and we all decided to head out to a place called Crayon for some karaoke and drinks.


Karaoke in Japan is, like a lot of other stuff, way more fun. The rooms are more open, brighter, and they have every song imaginable (almost)! We sang a ton: A Whole New World from Aladdin, The Bird and the Worm by the Used, some Queen songs (of course), lots of Japanese songs (again, a given), Aqua, and lots of other stuff. Beecken-sensei, who had come along, paid for the CSU students as a gift (we have the best sensei in the world, and not only for this), and then Mika and I left around 11 to head back to her apartment.


We drank more apple juice and turned on some TV while I showed Mika all my pictures from the trip so far. We talked a lot about random stuff, and then finally got to bed around 1.






June 4: Shinjo


Mika and I woke up around 6:30 ‘cause the sun was shining super bright through her window, but I felt really refreshed even after only getting about 5 hours of sleep. I showered while Mika made breakfast from some of the leftovers of the party’s food, and then she showered and I blow dried my hair and we ate, while watching the news. She let me borrow some thread ‘cause the bag I’d gotten in Shibuya the other night was starting to tear really badly around the top and I needed to sew it; we were late because it took me longer than I thought to stitch it up (though there’s still a little bit on the other side that needs stitching). We dropped off my luggage in the office of international relations, or something like that, at Yamagata University and then ran to meet up with everyone in the library. They were doing a campus tour and we joined in late, but it was okay. After that they showed us the university’s convenience store, and then we all headed out towards the bus that would take us to Yamadera, the big temple in the mountains.


Yamadera has over 1000 stairs (1015 I think?) and we climbed them all. It wasn’t very hot today, but it was super humid, so by the time we got about a third of the way up we were all kind of sweaty and tired. Nonetheless it was fun, and the view from high up was pretty amazing, not to mention the feeling of accomplishment once we actually got to the top of the mountain.


We headed back down and wandered a little bit trying to decide on what to do for lunch; we tried some sort of round chewy food on a stick made from a special kind of potato, but no one was super hungry at this point so we all got back on the bus and returned to Yamagata U. Then Andrew, Will and I had to leave to go to Shinjo for our volunteer English teaching program orientation, so we met up with Nagai-san, who was driving us to Shinjo from Yamagata, and left. I was sad to say goodbye to the new friends I’d made, but Yamagata City is close enough by train so we can visit on weekends if we so choose to; plus, one of our sempai that’s in Yamagata doing JET has a car and has offered to drive us to Yamagata once in a while if we want, which I think will be fun!


It was about an hour and a half car ride to Shinjo; we were early getting here, so we went to a convenience store and used the restroom and bought a quick snack since we hadn’t eaten lunch (I got onigiri, of course); then went to the government offices and began our orientation.


First we met with the mayor of Shinjo and talked a little bit, and then we went to the orientation with all the schools and our home stay families. We had to introduce ourselves in Japanese, which is kind of scary in front of all those people, but I’d like to think we did pretty well!


I have four home stay families. For the first two weeks, I’m with the Higuchi family; after that, for one week, I’m with the Nishida family; after that, I’m with the Nishida family for two weeks, and then my last home stay family is the Imada family.


I went home from the orientation with Mrs. Higuchi (she told me her first name but I totally forgot it already!). It was dinner time by then, so she drove us to a sushi restaurant and ordered a big platter to go, then we went across the street to the grocery store while they were making it and bought snacks, some alcohol to drink at dinner, and some food for breakfast. She’s so very sweet; whenever I even hinted that I might like something or maybe trying it would be okay, she’d throw it in the cart. I wrote that I don’t really like meat very much on my application too, so she’s going out of her way not to make that for me. Their whole family is very accommodating, actually, and it makes me feel so spoiled (not that I wasn’t already). The room I’m in is huge, at least 12x 12 or maybe bigger because I suck at approximating sizes; their whole house is really large for Japanese standards too, and very pretty. There’s a big garden out front, because Mrs. Higuchi likes to garden, with lots of brightly colored flowers in bloom.


When we got home, I met their grandma, and then Mr. Higuchi (Osamu is his name; don’t ask me why I can remember that but not Mrs.s Higuchi’s name; he’s also a kindergarten teacher, while Mrs. Higuchi is an elementary school teacher) came home from work, and then their grandpa came back from where he was, and then Sayaka, their daughter who’s a high schooler, came home a little after 8, maybe closer to 9. Grandma started calling me “Kuri-chan,” short for Kristin (my name is Kurisutchin, in romaji, so that’s where “kuri” came from), and it’s stuck. I think it’s really adorable! I love getting new nicknames. At the University I had everyone calling me “O-chan,” since that’s kind of my nickname in the Japanese circle at school, but there were like three other “O-chan”s there last night so it got a little confusing.


We turned on the Japan versus Cote D’Ivoire soccer game while we ate, and I stuffed myself silly with delicious sushi and the other food Mrs. Higuchi made for dinner. I’m getting so fat! Luckily I’ll be doing a lot of walking and biking to get to and from the schools, so hopefully I’ll be okay. We also talked a little bit about Japanese slang, once Sayaka got home. A lot of it I already knew, from both personal experience and from talking about slang with the university students at the party last night, so they were pretty impressed. Slang is a pretty popular topic among people learning different languages; it’s fun to learn the colloquial styles of speaking, and also to see their reaction when I use the slang they teach me. They think it’s hilarious, but then again, I think it’s great when the Japanese students use slang we teach them, so.


Quick note about the electronic dictionary I bought: so glad I did, because I was using it every few seconds when I couldn’t think of a word. I’d type the English in and show the Japanese results to Mrs. Higuchi, and she’d do the same (only Japanese to English) with me, and we were able to better understand each other that way. So convenient!


Tomorrow Mrs.Higuchi is going to take me around on bicycles and show me where the first school I’m helping out at is. She says it’s only about two miles from here, and really easy to get to. I’m excited!


I do have to say though, I’m still feeling homesick. I have mixed feelings about being here for a whole nother eight weeks—coming to Yamagata City made it feel like we were just about done with our trip, but being here at the Higuchi’s house makes me realize I still have two more months to get through! It’s very overwhelming to say the least, though I am excited and looking forward to helping out with all the elementary and middle school students, and getting to know this area of Japan better. I really, really like it; it’s quiet and peaceful and very pretty, so I think when I apply for JET I’ll ask to be placed in Shinjo, or at least somewhere in Yamagata, as my number one choice.






June 5: Shinjo, day 2


Higuchi ‘kaa-san (‘kaa-san means “mom”) warned me about the roosters yesterday when she was first showing me my room, but I had no idea they’d be so freaking loud! They woke me up cock-a-doodling around 4:30 this morning, and there’s more than one! One of them has such an intensely shrill call, every time it crowed out I was afraid it was about to die or something.


Luckily I brought my iPod with me, so I stuck my earphones in and listened to some music and got back to sleep. Then I woke up again a little after 8, arrange my room a bit more, washed my face, and ate breakfast when ‘kaa-san called. She made a fried egg and some Japanese sausage for breakfast and some mixed veggies that she sautéed in light oil—onion, carrot, potato, and some other sort of green thing that were really good! Of course she made miso soup and rice too, Japanese breakfast staples. It was metcha umai!


After breakfast I tried to use their computer to update my blog and upload some pictures to Shutterfly, but it wouldn’t read my SD card or RAM stick, so alas. Around 10:30 me and ‘kaa-san set out on bicycles to find my first middle school, which is straight down the main road and to the left, about 15 or 20 minutes by bike depending on how fast I choose to go. We came back a little before 11:30ish; ‘tou-san had bought me a present, a Samurai Blue bracelet in support of the Japanese soccer team for the world cup this year, which I’m wearing with pride!


At first I was going to meet Will and Andrew back in Shinjo at noon, but Will texted and said 1 would be better, so ‘tou-san (“dad”) had me try some Japanese noodles called some, I think, for lunch. They’re thin like soba noodles, but white, and kind of remind me a little of angle hair pasta. What you do is cook them and then put them in a bowl of ice water, then get a bowl with some dipping sauce mixed with a bit of water and some chopped scallions, then grab some noodles with your chopsticks and swish them around in the sauce and slurp them up. ‘Kaa-san says it’s a specialty for the summers In Japan.


Since we had to leave soon so they could drive me to Shinjo to meet up with Will and Andrew, and I wasn’t really hungry yet, ‘kaa-san showed me how to make onigiri. I kind of already knew, but I learned a slightly incorrect way, so this time around I learned how you’re supposed to do it. I made them into triangle-shaped, but they were kind of lopsided since I’d never done the triangles before, only the balls. I made one with umeboshi (pickled plum, my favorite), and another with some tuna-mayo mixture. The tuna mayo one, ‘tou-san made too much tuna for, so we had to use extra rice and it turned out to be some kind of silly-looking gigantaur onigiri monster. It was still yummy though!


After that, ‘tou-san and ‘kaa-san drove Sayaka to meet one of her friends and me to Shinjo, where I met Will. Andrew was still doing something with his home stay family, so Will and I wandered around Shinjo for a while. He showed me one of the schools he’d be helping at, and then we set off in search of the train station since we figured we could find a map of the area there.


When we got to the station we sat down in an outside park area, and I ate my onigiri, which were pretty good for my horrible shaping skills. Then I wanted to try to use the station’s wireless to upload my pictures, but the signal was so weak it didn’t work. Will got soft serve ice cream, grape flavored, for a snack, and I ate this snack that ‘kaa-san had bought me yesterday called Yan Yan. It’s basically sticks of bread that you dip in chocolate, then into sprinkles; really good, and Sayaka’s favorite so that’s why ‘kaa-san got it for me to try.


After that Andrew’s home stay sister dropped him off at the station and we hung out and exchanged stories about our first days. We walked a little more and got maps of the main area of the town from the police station outside the train station, which are pretty useful (except the Higuchi’s live way north, so unless I’m in the main part of Shinjo the map is pretty useless for me). Then we went our separate ways.


I didn’t want to have to e-mail Higuchi ‘kaa-san to come pick me up, so I decided I’d walk instead. I didn’t think it was that far to go, but after about an hour and a half I still hadn’t come nearly close enough to where their house is. I’d texted ‘kaa-san and told her I was walking home though, so when it took me forever to get there she got in the car and met me when I was maybe 30 minutes walking time away from them. I felt so bad, because even though I wanted to avoid inconveniencing her I still ended up doing it, and probably more so than if I’d just called her in the first place!


By the time we got home it was a little after 6, and she’d drawn a bath for me, so I showered and sat in the bath for a little, which felt amazing, and got out and blow dried my hair while she finished making dinner with ‘tou-san.


Dinner was some delicious vegetable soup, white rice and some sort of seafood rice that ‘tou-san fried up, fried squid and chicken, and umasashi, which are slices of raw horse meat (“uma” means horse, and the “sashi” part comes from “sashimi,” like the slices of raw fish you get without the rice at sushi restaurants). I had the soup, white rice, and some of the seafood rice which was really, really good, and a lot of the fried squid. I tried one slice of the horse because they “challenged” me to try it. It was okay, but I wanted to fill up on the other stuff so I left it to them to eat.


I had umeshu with dinner, or plum wine. ‘Kaa-san had bought two different kinds, one sour and one just umeshu, and the second kind was in a huge bottle with several plums in it. With that one I showed them how to take a shot with the Colorado shot glass I’d brought them as a gift. It was hilarious to show them what “taking a shot” meant, because Japanese people don’t really do that. ‘Kaa-san tried it too, which was funny—I had to explain to her that you have to just shoot it to the back of your throat and not gulp it down, because apparently a lot of people make that mistake and end up choking on it. Because I downed a shot of the really strong stuff I ended up getting a little tipsy, which was fine. We talked more about Japanese and English words and differences and watched a TV drama called Tumbling, about a high school gymnastics team. It was really funny for me because it’s all guys on the team but they wear bright pink, sparkly uniforms (while their faces are all manly and serious, so I found hilarity in the irony).


A different drama started, one that was really eccentric and reminded me of mahou (magic) anime. I didn’t really watch it though, but helped pick up the dishes from dinner and then went to my room to write this and then maybe watch some Batman: The Animated Series, or finish the Neverending Story and then go to sleep.


Unlike yesterday I’m really excited for the coming 8 weeks. It’s not so much overwhelming anymore as it is anticipatory; I guess realizing I was going to be in one place for two weeks instead of travelling around every other day kind of messed with me a little and inflamed my homesickness. But it didn’t take me very long to adjust and get over it, and now I’m really looking forward to the weeks to come!






June 6: Shinjo Day 3


Since I walked a lot yesterday I must have been more tired than I thought, because I didn’t wake up until around 8:30, and that was only because Sayaka knocked on my door and called me out for breakfast. It didn’t help that I woke up around 2 or 3 in the morning because I had to use the toilet, and then the freaking roosters were screaming so I couldn’t get back to bed without putting my music on again, and then I only slept for a little bit until some song came on that woke me up again. But it’s all good, I got to have a nice long nap in the afternoon once we came back, but more on that in a bit.


‘Kaa-san had to go in to work today, so ‘tou-san made breakfast. ‘Kaa-san told me before that he was good at cooking, and it’s true! He made tempura for breakfast, which is kind of weird to me since I’ve only ever had it for dinner, but it was really good. He also made some miso soup with both uncooked and fried tofu in it.


After breakfast he drove me to the biggest shrine in Shinjo (I forget what it’s called), and showed me how to ring the bell and pray correctly. You throw in your ichi yen piece (about one cent) and then ring the bell a few times, then clap twice and bow for a few seconds. He bought me an omikuji too, which is a fortune reading that you pick at random. I got a fairly good fortune, and he tried to explain to me what some of it meant (‘cause it’s all written in Japanese, of course, and there’s a lot of it). He said that I won’t be getting married any time soon and also not to have one big dream, but several small dreams to accomplish step by step.


We ran into one of his friends and talked for a bit, then he showed me around a little more. The temple used to be a giant castle, and he showed me where some of the parts of it still stood. Then we walked over to a small museum that’s all about the history of Shinjo, and we saw a lot of cool stuff about the Shinjo matsuri in August (which I won’t be here for and I’m really sad, because the floats look so amazing), some old equipment that people used to use for everyday life, and then some pieces of work from artisans whose hometown is Shinjo. There were paintings, and then metalworks from one guy who takes one circular sheet of metal and pounds it into whatever shape he wants. It was really interesting.


After that we drove around a little bit, and then all of a sudden he stops and backs up on the road and parks next to this little shop. It’s because they were selling a special kind of ice cream-ish thing that’s not quite ice cream, but not quite shaved ice either. I thought it was soft cream at first (like soft serve, but with more flavors), but he said it was different and that you can’t really find it in the main stores. There were two options, three colors or four colors (flavors), and he got me the four color one. It wasn’t thick and creamy like ice cream, but it wasn’t completely watery like shaved ice either. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but it was really cool and refreshing and not very sweet at all (which is good, I think anyway). It didn’t make me thirsty like normal ice cream does, since that’s all milk and sugar.


Then we drove up into the mountains to a place that’s a ski resort in the winter. We went up and up and up, to the top where the ski lift ended, and got out and admired the amazing view. He pointed out where the train station was and where his house was, and then we drove back down.


Once we got back home we had to wait for ‘kaa-san to get home from work. We watched some TV, news I think, and then ‘kaa-san got home and the three of us went to get soba for lunch. I had soba with some squid tempura, and they taught me how, when you’re done with the soba dipping sauce, you pour this other hot liquid in what’s left (I think it was water but I’m not quite sure), and then drink that. It was really good! Then we went to the supermarket to get a few groceries, picked up Sayaka and her boyfriend from the station and came home.


I hopped on the computer for a bit to check Facebook and mess around with my Shutterfly pictures, but since their computer is slow I didn’t get much done except for to set up the initial site. What I want to do is change all the names and descriptions of the photos so you all know what they are, exactly, and also rotate the ones that need to be rotated. I’ll have to wait till I get access to some stronger WiFi though.


After that I was pretty sleepy, so I went to my room and lied down and fell asleep for two hours, which wasn’t what I meant to do. I wanted to sleep for a bit and then go out for a run before dinner, but obviously that didn’t happen.


‘Kaa-san woke me up around 6 so I could take a bath before dinner, so I showered and bathed and then sat down for dinner with everyone, which was curry rice and more tempura. ‘Tou-san had made me an umeshu high baller, and then I had some on the rocks with one of the plums in it, which are so good. I had some watermelon and cantaloupe too, which are so much more tasty here than in the States. At one point during dinner, Sayaka’s boyfriend must have said something teasing to her, because she turned all of a sudden and just sneezed right in his face. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life; even remembering it sends me into fits. I don’t know if it’s the fact that she sneezed directly on him, or the look he gave her after she did it, the most priceless “WTF!?” look I’ve ever seen.


We watched a batsu game show, and then I went off to bed since tomorrow I have to be up early so I can go back to the Shinjo government office for something; I’m not exactly sure what. I don’t actually start helping with the schools until Tuesday. I’m excited, and hopefully I’ll get a good night’s rest tonight!






June 7: Shinjo again


I wonder if there’s ever going to be a night here where I don’t get woken up at the pre-butt crack of dawn by those stupid roosters. If you’ve ever seen a rubber chicken and squeezed it and heard the sound that it makes, then you can imagine the kind of sounds these birds caw every morning. I guess I’ll just have to keep my iPod ready by my futon. It helps a little.


Anyway, I woke up and had breakfast around 6:30 and then got ready for ‘tou-san to take me back to the Shinjo government office at 7:30. I got there early so I had to wait a bit; I played around with my dictionary that I’d bought last week at Akihabara ‘cause I wanted to start working on my translations, but I couldn’t quite figure it out since it’s all in Japanese, and none of the words I was looking up seemed to be in the database. But luckily Will and Andrew arrived shortly after I did, so I didn’t have to worry about it for too long. We were introduced to Junko-sensei, who teaches a group of young women who can’t go to school for whatever reason but still want to learn and be educated with another sensei whose name I forget. Then we went to help out with that “class”—I put class in quotes because it was really just an informal gathering of maybe six or seven girls.


The plan was to go to the Shinjo history center and then make our own curry for lunch, and then after that to make “eco” bags out of newspaper. Since ‘tou-san had just taken me yesterday to the history center, I opted to stay with Junko-sensei and three of the other girls (Mie, Chiharu, and Izumi) to go shopping for the curry ingredients and start making it. Will and Andrew went with the other sensei and everyone else to the history center.


Junko-sensei, Mie, Chiharu and I went to the grocery store and picked up some veggies and the curry powder, then came back and started making it. It was really fun to cook with everyone, and I had an awesome time. The girls were all between 16 and 20/22ish, so they were right around my age group. We talked a lot about anime and Visual Kei, a style of Japanese music, since they liked those things too. We worked well as a team and made some delicious curry!


After lunch we had some free time, so we hung out in the classroom we were using. Will had brought some Air Heads as gifts and let them all try that; they were amazed at how bright the colors were, since Japanese candy is more subtle. Will also thought he’d brought root beer candy (a mean trick; the medicine you have to take when you’re sick as a kid here apparently tastes like root beer so everyone hates that flavor), but it turned out to be just some random cola flavor.


After free time was over, we were taught how to make eco bags out of newspaper—a giant origami project with glue, really. They can hold about 5 kilos worth of weight, so it’ll be good to help carry stuff around for the summer and then recycle once I need to go home.


When that was finished, Andrew and I got a ride home to our home stay families by another, male, sensei who works at the education center in the government building (I think kaa-san said his name was Kakizaki –sensei? But I’m not sure). Andrew has to change families already, and I live about 20 minutes by car north of main Shinjo, which is where we were, so. Will has it pretty lucky for his first family, since he can walk no problem.


When I got home no one else was there, so I used the computer a bit to check Facebook and then took a nap. I heard obaa-chan and ojii-chan come in, so I went out and visited with them for a little; they gave me a banana to eat and some sort of chocolate pastry that was like two light, puffy pieces of chocolate-flavored bread around chocolate mousse-type cream. Yummy! Then I flipped through one of Sayaka’s beauty magazines, got some ideas for how to do the style of eye makeup I like, and then returned to my bedroom to continue my nap. I wanted to take a run but it was way too hot out today, which made me sad.


I woke up a little after 6, took a bath, and sat down for dinner with everyone except ‘tou-san ‘cause he wasn’t back from work yet. ‘Kaa-san helped me figure out my dictionary and also gave me some books of Yamagata folk tales to translate instead of the one I’d bought, because apparently the one I’d bought uses old dialect so it’s difficult to understand—the writer was alive during the late 19th/early 20th century, so there you go. Then I helped her translate the first few sentences of a second grader book from Japanese into English, since she wants to learn English, and then we put that aside for the night and just watched some TV. ‘Tou-san got back around 8ish, and then we watched a show about Japanese music that was popular in the 80s—of which I had no idea since it’s both Japanese and eight or nine years before I was born. I have to wake up early again tomorrow, around 6:30 (which will be no problem thanks to the roosters, of course), so I retired around 9ish.






June 8: Shinjo


I didn’t take any pictures today. Not that I really had a chance to, but still.


Woke up early and had a quick breakfast, than one of the senseis from Hagino Middle School, Kakizaki-sensei, came and picked me up and drove me to school. Haginochuu (“chuu” means middle) is really old and small and doesn’t have very many students, but I like it. All the teachers are really nice, and all the women teachers kept calling me cute, especially the nurse—who is chou genki (super energetic) and reminds me of your typical hyper anime character. She’s adorable and absolutely hilarious.


I got to school around 8, and we started by having a meeting among all the teachers around 8:15, for updates about all the classes et cetera (there are six classes, two for each of the three grades). Then I introduced myself quickly in simple English and the daily routine began.


I didn’t have any classes today, so my time was spent just sitting in the teachers’ lounge either using their school laptop to read manga on onemanga.com, writing a quick draft of an introduction for the classes when I do have them tomorrow, working on some translating, and also talking about preparations for the upcoming week’s classes with the three English teachers I’ll be working with: Yuguchi-sensei, Kusakari-sensei, and Kakizaki-sensei. They’re all women and all very sweet.


I also met Murioka-sensei, who comes once a week to the school to help Yuguchi-sensei and Kusakari-sensei for their English lessons, since they teach the first and second years, respectively. He’s super nice and very good at English; I really like him and I’m kind of sad he’s not going to be around again until next Tuesday. But that’s okay, because then after school is out next Tuesday he’s going to teach me some judo, since he’s a judo master! I’m excited. I’ll also be taking part in the tennis club, which Kusakari-sensei sponsors, starting tomorrow.


The principle of the school gave me a quick tour around 9 or 10 in the morning; and it was really quick, since the school is only two stories and basically straight with maybe two short hallways jutting off from the main building. It’s a nice introduction, since I won’t have to worry about getting lost or anything.


Lunch is provided by the school free of charge, and the students eat in their classrooms; I ate in Kakizaki-sensei’s class today, which was kind of awkward for me. I tried to start up some conversation with the kids but no one really answered me (they’re all shy, Kakizaki-sensei said), so there you have it. Hopefully once they get to know me better through class activities they’ll open up, and I won’t have to feel like a sore thumb.


After lunch I got to go with Morioka-sensei to watch a little of Yuguchi-sensei’s first year class. They were learning about “a” and “an” today, and it was really fun to watch Yuguchi-sensei teach. After that I returned to the teachers’ lounge and just kind of sat, alternating between translating and reading D. Gray-Man.


School ended a little before 4, but I had to wait for Kakizaki-sensei to get back from a meeting about regional sports tournaments (she’s in charge of the volleyball club), because I didn’t have any shoes to wear (or so I thought) for school so she wanted to take me to go buy some before she took me back to the Higuchis’ house. It’s important to have a pair of shoes that you only wear inside the school building because of the whole Japanese tradition of cleanliness, or something like that I think—anyway, I forgot I had moccasins with hard soles that would be perfectly fine to wear since I haven’t worn them outside or anything, and I remembered just as Kakizaki-sensei and I were walking into the store. So she took me home (by this time it was nearly 6), and I took a bath and then lied down a bit before ‘kaa-san called me for dinner. She made me unagi-don, unagi over rice, for dinner as a small celebration for my first day being a volunteer at the school, which was really sweet and cheered me up a lot. Then we planned on going to karaoke on Friday, which I’m really looking forward to—I’ll have to practice some more Japanese songs so I can sing stuff they know, or at least can understand.


Now it’s bedtime. I have to be at school everyday around 8 in the morning, and since I’m riding my bike that means I have to leave by 7:40 every day.