Michi ni Mayotta

This morning I got lost. Okay, this is what happened: I made plans with Shiori (suet-yee) last night (via text) to meet at Ichinomiya station in front of the Mos Burger. When I got there, I texted her saying “are you here yet” and she replied like 5 minutes later with “I am at the bike parking” so I went to the place where bikes are parked and unlocked my bike while looking for her, she wasn’t there. So after I unlocked my bike, I called her to ask where she was. She said “I’m in front of aichi bank, it’s right across from the station. Hurry up, it’s hot.” So I went to the bank, and she wasn’t there. I decided to give up, and go ahead to school by myself. I assumed that they (she was with Victoria) were in front of the bank because it was on the way to school, so I continued that way, but that was actually the opposite direction from where I needed to go. After thoroughly freaking out, I remembered that my host mom told me to ask someone if I got lost, so I asked an old couple that was walking by. (it was 8:40 at this point btw, and school starts at 9:00). I showed them my map, and a woman who worked in a coffee shop nearby came out to help also. They told me to go straight and then left, but I didn’t understand why they were still thinking about it… it took like 7 minutes for me to be able to leave. I went straight and turned left like they said, but nothing looked familiar, so I called Nissa (Fukutomi sensei’s assistant), but she didn’t answer her phone, so I called her again (while walking my bike), still no answer. I kept going, and then I called the SYA Japan office, a Japanese teacher answered, so I said “anii desu. Michi ni mayotta.” She then got Fukutomi sensei (the resident director) and she was like “where do you THINK you are?” so I started reading signs to her. Then she said “what did you do differently today that made you get lost?” so I told her about trying to meet up with Shiori, etc. While I was telling her this, I 1. Was completely freaking out, like about to cry. And 2. Was looking around at everything around me. Then I saw the coffee shop where my host mom and I had stopped for juice on the day that she took me on my route to school, so then I knew where I was. I felt so stupid, I apologized a lot to fukutomi sensei, and then started biking very fast to try to get to school on time. While I was doing this, I ran into Shiori and Victoria, who apparently also got lost. We all arrived at school about 5 minutes late.
So, today was the first day of classes, but it was really really weird. My first class was English, where we read two poems, wrote a reflection for the first one, and an essay for the second. After that was Japanese…. Okay, so the Japanese classes were split into two: the beginning class and the advanced class. In the advanced class, everything we learned today was stuff I knew, but other people in the class apparently didn’t know it. Later I found out that the textbooks we will be using are the Genki textbooks. The advanced class is using the Genki II textbook….. that is the textbook I used last year in Japanese 3. Even thinking about this now, I want to scream at someone! I came here because I wanted to learn MORE Japanese, not re-learn what I learned last year!!!!! I talked to my English teacher about it, and he told me to talk to the Japanese teachers about it, and they can probably give me more difficult assignments, I hope that’s the case…. Anyway, so Japanese is a doubled class, it lasts twice as long as other classes, so our English class only lasted through half of the beginner Japanese class, the rest of the time was a free period. I used that time to do stuff online, since I don’t have internet here at home. I posted some blogs, put pics up on facebook, spent forever adding captions to them, and responded to emails and stuff. After Japanese class we had lunch, we were free to go anywhere, but we only had an hour. We went to a close by ramen shop, and it was completely full. After that we tried a nearby Udon shop, where the teachers were having a meeting, and we weren’t allowed… Kiara and I ended up going to the drug store (it is very big!). I got some chocolate chip melon pan, and a pack of like 5 mini anpan. Together that was less than 200 yen. Then we went and got some coffee out of the vending machines. This was my cheapest lunch in Japan so far. Also, I could only eat the melon pan, it was very filling, So I gave the anpan out to anyone that wanted it.
After lunch, we had an assembly sort of thing. Everyone was already sitting in the same room chilling, so the teachers came in and started talking to us. I found out that there is a school opening ceremony thing at masumida shrine on Saturday. That should be cool. We also talked about a lot of different things.
After that assembly thing, we broke into our advisory groups. My group is only for seniors, so there are only 7 of us, but one wasn’t there today. We had to write about our host families, how we get to school, and three things about our lives in Japan. Then we talked about some other stuff.
After school I rode my bike back to the station with Shiori, Victoria, Paul, and Hunter. I didn’t realize before today how glad I am that I don’t have to walk to the station. At the station I ran into Javier, we did a bit of shopping together, and then decided to go back together (we live very close together btw, and very far away from the school). I called otousan to tell him that I was coming back with Javier, and he told me to take Javier with me to my stop, and he would take Javier home. After that we made plans to go to school together tomorrow, because otousan is going to play golf with friends from high school early in the morning, and it is easier for okaasan to take me to the station where Javier catches the train than to my usual station. Also, Javier and I made plans to go to the mall together this Sunday. I’m excited about that, because I hear it has a very good school supply store :D
Oh yeah, in my Japanese class, my teacher would write just about every word that was said on the board, in kanji, and I would write it down. When I got home today, otousan asked me if I had any questions from Japanese class, so I showed him my notes, and he explained to me the kanji, showed me the stroke order, and showed me kanji with similar radicals. Man o nam, I love having a Japanese teacher for a host dad. Also, he had me teach him some English again today, which was also fun, because I explain meanings and nuances in Japanese, so it’s good for both of us :)
Oh, and okaasan gave me a schedule for the month of what okaasan and otousan are doing. I get to go to their grandson’s undoukai with them. :)
Oh yes, my Japanese homework for tonight is to memorize my address. Done!
Man, I keep writing so much, I’m not going to be able to keep this up when I get real homework. Unless I start spending less time with my host parents :’(