8/30/2010

I’m actually a day behind. I lied yesterday, saying that it was the 29th, but I actually typed that on the 30th, and now it is the 31st, and I am blogging about the 30th… Hopefully today I can catch up… but a lot happened today, so maybe I won’t finish it… Not that any of this matters to anyone reading this, because you won’t be able to read it until I find some internet. (Which may be tomorrow, if I find time at school).
When I was leaving my house today (8/30, yes, actually yesterday, but I’m lying) my host parents kept asking me to take more things with me. They gave me cakes, candy, tea (as always), an umbrella, and they made me take a hat. Otousan drove me to school today, because he had to drop off my bike with me. (I drive my bike from Ichinomiya station to school in the morning, and then from school to Ichinomiya station in the afternoon). Today was the first day that everyone had to get from their homes to the school by themselves, so when everyone arrived, they looked super exhausted, except for me and a couple of other people who were fortunate enough to have their parents drive them.
We didn’t have actual school today, but we did have to take two tests, placement tests for Japanese and math :’( On my Japanese written test I was not very confident in my answers, because it was multiple choice, and most of it was like a sentence, and then you fill in the correct particle. I was so angry with myself, because I would understand the whole sentence, but then could only narrow the answer down to 2 of the answer choices. I wanted a way to show my knowledge of Japanese accurately, and I felt like I let myself down. Anyway, there was a conversation portion of the test too, and the teacher that was interviewing me said “jouzu, jouzu” a lot, so I think I did alright. My math test on the other hand……… It was not fun, like at all… after the test the math teacher came to talk to me and another girl, he told us that we did not do well on the test, and he would allow us to take calculus, but only AB, and we have to study extra hard. Ugh, I hate math…
After the tests we split into groups and went out to eat. I went to an udon shop that was very interesting. There are machines that look like vending machines right when you walk into the restaurant, and that is where you place your order and pay. The machine gives you a ticket which the server picks up as he/she is giving you a drink. It’s very easy and efficient. I ate some cold soba, I think my otousan said it was called zarusoba. It was yummy, and good on a hot day.
When we returned to the school after lunch, they told us we were free to go do whatever we wanted, and come back at three for a meeting. I went with a group of people to a school supply shop near Ichinomiya high school to buy some school supplies. There were a lot of cute things in there, but they weren’t exactly cheap. I ended up getting some pretty plain looking notebooks, and no pencil case. The shop owner was really nice though, and his daughter appeared to be studying English, she would try to correct him when he spoke to us in English. He gave us some sweets to eat together later, and he gave each of us a free mechanical pencil.
So my okaasan told me that if I have a bike, I should take a different route than the one she showed me, but that I can’t take that route by myself, because I’m a girl. Or at least that’s what I understood, she said it all in Japanese. Anyway, so after school I went with Javier, Javier’s host dad, and Brendan to the station, but I was the only one on a bike, so I had to go very slow to keep pace with them, and I kept almost falling over. So then when we got to the station, and I went to wait for my train, Javier and his host dad were also waiting there, that’s how I realized that Javier and I ride the same train. From now on I’m going to make him go home with me! His host dad was very helpful, and he made sure I got on the right train.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention something very important! I found out today that I will not be switching home stays, I will stay with the Yamaguchi’s for the whole 9 months. This made me quite happy, not that I wouldn’t love to become very close to another family, but I’ve already become close to my otousan and okaasan, and thinking of leaving them already was too sad. So, after finding that out, I decided that I should give them the gifts I got for my host family. They seemed to like my gifts a lot. I gave them a bandana thing with a map of Texas on it, and they hung it up in the dining room.
For dinner tonight we had pumpkin soup, rice, and salad. Then we had fruit for dessert.