Daily life blurb 1

Random blurbs from daily life in Japan.

Got back the results of a test I took on my second day of school. Came in 4th out of 359 students. Like a boss.

Sometimes during lunch some kid gets hold of the PA system in the school and plays JRock the whole time. nbd.

"You must swing your Shinai at a 45 degree ankle so that when you hit your opponent on the head you cut through their skull and their brains flies out." -My Kendo teacher.

The guys in my school enjoy poking me in the back for their amusement.

Beating people with a bamboo stick for 2 & 1/2 hours every day definitely helps with the exchange student frustration.

You see, unlike Florida where it gets cold for a few days and then warms up again, here it gets cold and stays cold. I guess this means it's fall. I was not prepared.

So the only English saying my little sister knows is "Oh my god" but the way she says it, it sounds like: "Oh my gut!"

Once in Japanese history class, my teacher asked me if all the schools in America taught kids that god created humans. I replied with, "No, only religious schools." Then the students laughed and one kid remarked, "What kind of idiots." Then the teacher went on to talk about evolution and how we came from monkeys, and humans are descendants of an ape named "Lucy" and then he started singing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles. After which he drew a foot and an arm on the board and told us that your foot is as long as your forearm. A good amount of guys in my class had to see for themselves. Normal day in Japan. nbd

During the sports festival in school I ran a 100 meter race. Even though I didn't come in 1st, it was pretty cool to hear the entire school cheering for me before, during, and after I ran. Pretty cool. nbd

Out of the ~13 years I lived in CS, on the rare occasion that I walked or biked to and from school, I was always very wary of my surroundings and acted rather paranoid.
Out of the 2 months I've lived in Ageo, I bike to and from school every day, dodge cars and people, and not a single worry crosses my mind, even when I'm coming home from school in the pitch black night.
It's the mindset of the people that create the safe environment. I give the props to Japan.

I'm a 2nd year. One day after Kendo, the captain (2nd year girl) gave me a thorough explanation of how I should treat my Kouhai (younger than me). Apparently I've been treating them too nicely. I don't have to return "konnichiwa's", I can just grunt at them as an answer, and if I bring snacks I don't have to say, "please eat" I'm supposed to say, "Eat it." While they have to be polite as possible to me. Then she made me practice on the first year girls in Kendo. Being Sempai is cool. Why don't we have this system in America? Or the rest of the world?

Exchange Students will probably be the coolest group of people you could ever hang out with.
Find an exchange student near you and be their friend. I promise you, they will be awesome.

It's interesting how it's perfectly okay for rotary to stick you in a hotel room for a night with someone who you've never met in your life, comes from a different country, and speaks a different language, and the only thing you've got in common is that you are exchange students. Sometimes trust take years to build up, between exchange students it's that special bond that makes it instant, even if you've only met the person five hours before.

Once when I was watching TV with my host mom and brother. There was this show on about some guy in the UK who was in jail. When I asked my host mom what he was in jail for, she and my brother struggled to explain it to me for a good few minutes. Then finally she said “Do you know Hamburgler? Like that. Taking things.”

There was a guy in my class straightening another guys hair with a mini straightener during lunch.