Something just struck me as odd

Firstly, let me just say that I'm now on break THANK GOD! I can finally get some sleep. But moving on...

It seems like all the other exchangers I've talked to or heard about always say that there's nothing to do in school, so just study the language or something. Funny thing is, I don't ever really recall having nothing to do in class. I hate studying, and I don't do it often, but occasionally I do in class. And by study, I don't mean I sit down with a textbook and go crazy; I mean I take out my iPod and either do kana/kanji flashcards to my heart's delight, or go insane with my iPod dictionary because it's like Wikipedia and I just keep clicking things and one thing leads to another, so where I may have started with "to leave", I end up with "a manner of walking practiced by the ancient Japanese". When I do get out a textbook (really just a little grammar handbook I'm borrowing from a friend), it's only so I can copy some info onto my hand for later use. Studying is the bane of my existence- the only things I ever remember REALLY studying for were Latin root tests. I thank my mom everyday for forcing me to practice violin when I was a kid, because I'm convinced that gave me a good ear for remembering things.

On that tangent, I guess you could technically say that I study Japanese in class quite frequently- but I just do it by ear, not by the book. Although I've started sneaking manga into school and reading it under my desk, which is hilarious to me because manga isn't allowed at my school, but since it's in Japanese I can get away with it being "just so I can learn kanji!". Oh, the joys of being an exchange student :D

Other than that, in class (when I have class and not a Japanese lesson with the teachers), I often actually do the material. Or I ask around and try and figure out what the material is. But, say, in math, I do everything. Gym too, but that's pretty obvious. The teacher yells, points, and then I copy everyone else. In English I help other people out, and in Kokugo (like a Japanese class for the Japanese), the teacher usually has special assignments for me because she really wants me to learn kanji. I have textbooks, so I can follow along, too.

Sorry this post is a bit random, but I just think it's funny how exchange students are always like, "School is sooooo boring!" (or at the beginning, anyways), and while I wouldn't say I like my school heaps, I'm only ever bored when I'm tired and can't focus on anything (aka last week T_T), so then I just sleep. I'm sure part of it is my class, because they all have attention spans about as long as a line of retarded ants, and that makes for some amusing situations. Like the day they got into an eraser-throwing contest and made little catapults out of broken rulers (and then proceeded to throw the rulers when they ran out of ammo). Or the lovable not-so-bright kid who used to sit next to me when he tried to do the "rub your belly and pat your head" thing, and ended up smacking his face multiple times (Oh, Mineo-kun...). See- my class can be fun, but it's a matter of befriending them that's the trouble. Although I found out today part of my trouble has been the girl who sits in front of me- I discovered she's the resident playgirl, who's gone through a quite a few boyfriends. So all of the guys flock to my area of the room and girls (aside from her, of course) stay far, far away. No wonder I can only talk to other girls during lunch O.o

Oh, and just going back to the Japanese study real quick: I can understand a lot of what people say (if they speak Kansai-ben, I HATE formal Japanese), and when I speak, I just say whatever comes out first. Nobody understands my grammar if I think too hard about it, so I just spin things off however I like, and they understand. Weird, how that works... But when I was at the Rotex party the other day and met up with the other exchangers, I found out that I can't listen to strongly accented Japanese for more than a few minutes. It makes me want to rip out my ears and cry. I like the other exchangers tons, I do, but when they're with me, they speak English or I refuse to talk to them. I know that sounds mean, but strongly accented Japanese just sounds so painful to me, like slowly dying chickens, or something. It's not like English where you can have a cool British accent or amazing Spanish accent- no, Japanese was not made for accents other than ones specific to dialects, and I don't care if I come out speaking perfectly fluent Japanese or not by the end of the year (well, I do, but that's irrelevant right now), but I will have a damn good accent. That I will study whole-heartedly.

I have to go to sleep now. I'm so tired, so glad I'm on break :D :D :D I'm hanging out with school people over break and going to Osaka, I'm really excited! And hopefully seeing Avatar. But yeah-

G'night! Mata ne!