G is for Gakkou, K is for Confusing

Yeah. That's pretty much the sum of my first day of school.

The beginning:

I woke up at 6am, as planned. After a shower, I put on my school uniform. The thing is HOT. I don't mean schmexy hot, I mean nasty, sweaty, gross HOT. It's not so much the shirt as it is the heavy pleated skirt (and the jacket, but that's for winter). The brand-new starchiness of it was rather unpleasant as well, but that will fade with time. It's not really an ugly uniform, for which I am glad, but it isn't exactly flattering. Cute enough, though. The skirt feels straight out of the 60's to me :) What really sucks about the uniform is that I have to bike to and from school in it. First of all, I have to get used to riding a bike in Japan, and secondly, it's a SKIRT. What do you think happens when the wind blows? I've been trying to figure out a way to keep it secured, but for now, I simply have to stop and readjust every few meters.

Anyways, after breakfast, Okaasan and I headed out. I biked while she ran behind me (way behind me...). The bike to the station isn't long or rough, but I still need to get used to riding a bike again. They say you never forget, but I guarantee that while your brain may remember, you still have to get used to it after a long time of no riding.

After we reached the station, we bought tickets and waited for some 20 minutes for the train. People stared at me. I've been able to avoid a lot of staring because my hair color blends in well and I'm not outrageously tall (but still pretty tall here), but as soon as people see my eyes, it's a dead giveaway. I've caught far more people taking double takes at me once they see my face than people just outright staring, like they do at Susan, the blond, super awesome other American exchanger in 2650. But today, they STARED. You don't often see a gaijin in seifuku in Japan. It's quite the sight :)

We got to the last train station (Minami Kusatsu) just in time to realize that my water bottle had leaked over pretty much everything- dictionary, wallet, notebooks, phone, camera, etc. That threw me in to super-intense-stressed-out mode, BIG TIME. It's really hard for me to function here right now without my dictionary, but my phone and camera? NO WAY. Luckily those 2 are alright, and the rest is drying, but then, everything was soaking wet and I couldn't open my dictionary because the pages were stuck together. It was not good. So by the time we got into my school, I was already frazzled.

But there was no time to be frazzled. I had to give a mini speech to the staff, and then I met my homeroom teacher, Shimizu-sensei. She's really nice and speaks very good English. Oh my God, then I had to meet my homeroom class. I was so nervous. Ms. Shimizu had me wait outside while she told everyone that an exchange student was about to become part of their class, and one kid by the door was like "Wait, you mean she's outside right now?" Then he looked over, saw me, and flipped out. I had to try so hard to not laugh! I walked in and introduced myself, and they all were very nice and all that. We had homeroom, which is essentially the teacher talking about the day/upcoming events while the class talks as loudly as they want. They say that as the quality of the school gets higher in Japan, the rules become more lax, and I fully agree. My school is supposed to be a pretty prestigious private school in Kansai, and while rules like "No cellphones" are strictly enforced, talking/etc is not. At all. I just kept thinking that if my American teachers saw it, they would flip out :)

So, after, there was an opening ceremony for the second term, an assembly of sorts. The principal talked for about 25 minutes and I waited on the sidelines. After he was done, he introduced me to the school. SCARY. I had to give (yet another) speech, but this time I spoke more English. I mean, I gave my name and everything in Japanese, but I added a little flair by speaking my native tongue. The principal approved and added his own bit after, which was mostly describing where NC is and telling everyone that I'm a violinist. And there's something else, too- while I was giving my speech, I noticed that the school is, like, 90% guys. Okay, that's an overestimate, but I think it's safe to say there's about 3 guys to every 1 girl. We are a severe minority, which I've never really experienced before. I can add that to my exponentially-growing list of "Things I'm experiencing for the first time". Also, everyone sits apart. Girls sit with girls, guys sit with guys. There's not a lot of mixing. It's very different from the USA!

Then the students had to take a whole bunch of opening-day tests, so I went to the library with an English teacher, and he gave me the run down of the school. Ms. Shimizu came in after and I had sort of a schedule-planning session with her. We mostly talked about my homeroom and the students, though, which was fun :) Then was lunch. I sat with a group of girls in the cafeteria and we (sort of) chatted in broken English and Japanese. They were really excited to talk to me, and I was glad that I wasn't stuck alone for lunch! However, everyone stared at me in the cafeteria. It was known by then that there was a ryuugakusei (exchange student) in the room, and people just stared openly. I kept getting little nods and waves and smiles, which honestly creeped me out just a little. Everyone seems to know me. It's so weird! You know how people tend to act towards exchange students? Like they're foreign and new and interesting, and you really want to make a good impression on them so when they go back to their home country, they talk about you, and so you can be one of those totally cool "friends of an exchange student"? Well, imagine being on the other end. Where everyone knows your name, stares at you in the hall and whispers "Hey look, the exchange student!", where people fight for your attention so much that it gives you a headache, and where you don't really know what's going on around you, but you smile and keep going. It's fun in many ways (like the guy who wanted to impress me so he got his friend to tell me "He is baseball player!" :) but a lot to take in and manage! Being an exchange student is hard work, ya know? Fun work, but hard work!

Anywho, after that I had a mini Japanese lesson with an English teacher, and then I had English Grammar class. SO. MUCH. FUN. The teacher wanted me to have a questionaire with the class, so I stood at the front of the room while the students giggled and laughed and tried to talk to me in English. I was standing there, bright red, and trying really hard to understand the questions. I think my favorite was "Where do you live?" I said "Ishibe (it's a district in my city)," and the class flipped out. They were all like, "Ishibe faa away!!" and gasping and yelling and I could not stand it. I cracked up pretty hard. Their faces! Everyone's eyes were really big and they just looked stupified! And me laughing made them laugh, so it was essentially a super hilarious moment all around. :D

School got out after English, and I took the train home with another group of girls. They were so nice! They try and speak English with me and I try and speak Japanese with them, so we have some vague form of communication. Okaasan and Masami were waiting for me at the train station, and they drove behind me and pointed directions while I biked. It was very tiring!

Now, I have to go to bed before school tomorrow. I have to do the whole train transfer and biking on my own tomorrow, so I'm more than a little nervous... But I think it will be okay!

So that was my first day of Japanese Gakkou. Good, scary, and everything in between. Overall pretty fun :)

Night, y'all! Mata ne!