Shopping is a universal thing

So I've just finished spending the remainder of this month's allowance. I really didn't plan on spending it all so fast, but when Okaasan mentioned that I have absolutely nothing I can wear in the Autumn (I thought any of my clothes would suffice), it kinda all went down the drain from there. But it went far! For being in a notoriously expensive place, I'm doing well. With close to $85, I bought ten letters worth of stamps, a really cute skirt, a dress marked down from $50, three pair of shoes (!!!), a long sleeved plainish shirt, a really cute jacket that would go for like $80 in the States (here too, only I got it at a second hand shop for like $4!), a pair of tights, a very Japanese style peachy shirt, a navy blue sweater, and a pair of really cute longish shorts. How's that for good. The bad thing is I can't show any of you guys :(. That's one of the best parts about shopping. But my Okaasan is properly happy for me. And yesterday when I got the cello (Woo!!!!), I said I was happy and she said she was too because she knew I was happy. Aww. I can't believe how sweet she is too me.

On another note, my shoes are all size LL and most of my clothes are size L. It's a nice change. I showed them a picture of me with all my friends and they were surprised that I wasn't the tallest one. Haha, I love it here.

A cello!!!

So today I'm getting a cello from a monk who is a professional cellist. Or maybe it's a professional cellist that plays for monks. Or maybe there are no monks involved and I have no idea what I'm talking about. I do like the cello, though I'm pretty terrible. Too bad. I think he wants me to play for it (it's his cello that he's lending me, as far as I understand). I hope it's not if you stink, no cello for you. It'll be good to have something familiar to do with all the time I have without resorting to my own language.

Languages are funny. I would like to study how they came to be. Who decided that verbs have to go at the end of the sentences? Who decided the Japanese need three different "alphabets" and a million different forms of every word?
I like learning Japanese a lot. It's fun and new and a little exciting. The best feeling is making myself understood with Japanese. It's especially cool when I can make complete sentences, instead of "Me tired now. Where sleep?". Hah, who would have ever thought it'd be me using caveman speech? I wouldn't have ever guessed it. Japan's doing funny things to me. It's messing up my spelling, for one. And it's making me think with an accent every so often. And words, which have always been my medium, are not mine any more. Sometimes they're there and sometimes they aren't (in either language), and I don't have that precision of words I so love. I can't meander or stroll or skip or anything. Just walk.

I sympathize with foriegners speaking (or not speaking) english in America. We're all just a bunch of two year-olds, aren't we?

Holiday!!

So, while my poor classmates have been spending weeks pouring over books and memorizing every fact presented to them, I have been running around Kyoto, tossing coins into bins and lighting inscence. It is now Test Week and they are all at this very moment racking their minds for answers to their monster Tests. I am goofing around on the internet, playing on my sister's piano, and decorating my trash with spit wads. I am obviously having a much more productive day then they are.

Because I'm not really in any real classes, my teacher told me I should just stay home this week and "study" on my own. So I've been "studying" what Japanese students do when they are home alone with boring trash and an empty piano. It's either that or read and I shouldn't start another book. Not unless it's in Japanese, which I unfortunately don't know. Studying Japanese all day long gets so tedious. In the States, I was such a model student. I did all my homework on time, studied rigorously for every test, hated missing school (well, that changed a little Senior Year), and read everything I could get my hands on. Now, I feel guilty reading in English, and studying gets boring and I have sooo much time. The change is pace is refreshing, but a little daunting.
In two weeks, I will start kendo. That will bring a little normalcy back; it's every day until seven. At home, I was just getting ready for adult class at seven. Or else teaching beginners' class. Now I'll be leaving school at seven. How wierd. Everything is wierd these days.

I'm so glad I'm here, but it seems that every single thing around me is different. I didn't even know that there could BE so many differences. I'm glad I'm not in Europe right now, like I thought I'd be. Or South America. Or West Virginia, for that matter.

I guess I ought to study. Or make more spit wads. Have a splendid day.

Buses and school uniforms

Okay, so it's my first night on the job. I'm fresh from the airport. Tired, but with enough adrenaline and excitement to keep me up for a week. I have been travelling for days (literally - gotta love those time zone transfers) and my clothes are sweaty and gross and, while I want to do is see the world, all I also want to do is sleep. I collapse on a chair and zone out while my host councelor babbles to his daughter. Finally he looks at me.
"Okay, take a bus," he says to me.
"Uhm, now?"
"Yes, now."
"A bus?"
"Yes, a bus."
"To where? By myself?"
"The house. Of course by yourself."
"A bus? To the house?"
"Yes, take a bus." I nearly burst into tears from fatigue. He wants me to take a bus! I'm so tired!
"Uhm, okay. I guess. A bus? To the house?"
"In the house."
"A bus in the house?! THat's awesome!"
"I'd better show you." And he takes me to the bath. A bath. The Japanese have a hard time pronouncing the "th" sound, I now know. Still, every time someone tells me to take a bus, I have to stop and think. Thankfully, I now know the word for "bath" in Japanese.

I got my winter uniform today. It includes a tie. Yeah, a tie. That's amazing. I don't even know how to tie a tie. My host mother was really surprised when I told her that. My uniform makes me look like Harry Potter. Seriously, except I'm like a girl.

I've been reading a lot since I got here. I have so much time and books are written in real english, with no confusion between busses and baths. I've read my first Robert Jordan book, "American Gods" and another book that I can't remember.

Dinner time. Dinner is huge, always. I can never eat as much as she cooks. I might marry Japanese food.

Really good and interesting questions I've been asked:

1.) Why do Americans have middle names?
2.) Why do American schools allow makeup, cell phones, and nail polish?
3.) Do teenagers really babysit little kids? By themselves? Do they need lisences?
4.) Why is West Virginia east? There can't be a West Virginia if there is no East Virginia and it's an eastern state.
5.) How do American mothers have jobs and take care of kids simultaniously?
6.) What is a Fraternity? Hahaha. I love answering that one.

That's all for now.

Week One of School: Complete

The most noteworthy thing about my life these days is how absolutely tired I get. It takes all of my mental energy and some to follow a conversation. And there are two different ways to listen to a conversation. There's the kind where you hear lots and lots of words and you wonder what in the world could possibly be being said and how anyone can possibly understand all that jibberish, and there's the kind where you listen really hard and try to pick out words you know and put a meaning to what you hear. I am guilty of favoring the first kind, as I am so tired that the idea of finding words I know is ridiculous. Who would think just listening to a conversation can wear a person out? And I have so much stamina. Not here I don't.

That's another thing. I feel like I've completely fooled the people here. They think I'm a really great student and really smart. They're super impressed that I knew hiragana and katakana before I came, but everyone does. In fact, at the airport, I knew the least amount of Japanese out of all four of us. They all know everything about me it seems. They totally talk about me to each other (the other day I realized they were discussing me right in front of me!) a lot, and if I tell one teacher something, it's silly of me to be surprised when a completely different teacher brings it up. Everyone knows how long I've been studying Japanese, what words I know and don't know, what I like to do in my spare time, how many siblings I have, whether or not my birds can talk, what time I like to poop, and my best friend's mother's sister-in-law's name. Okay, little exaggeration. But only a little. David, the english teacher from New York, told them he thinks I'm really smart and expects that I should have the langauge down in no time. How in the world did I impress him? No idea, but now all the teachers hold the same opinion. Great. I feel a little silly pretending I'm really that great, but hey, everyone likes. I can't complain.

And they ALWAYS watch me. Everyone. When I walk down the hall, everyone looks at me to see how I'm walking and whether or not I'm carrying my backpack on me and how my hair is up. Holy cow. Not a moment of rest! Teacher's greet me just to see what I will say back, there are always students smiling and waving and being super friendly, but it's just exhausting always saying "Ja" or whatever and smiling and waving back. Why is that so tiring? I don't know, but I definitely feel the pressure of being The Foreigner. It's better than if nobody liked me, but I'm so so so tired. It's a good thing the weekend is finally here, except I'm going out with Rotary tomorrow! It's going to be a long day.

I need a nap. Is it rude to take a nap in the middle of the day? Dunno.

Woooo! I did it!!

Guess what? Yeah, I made it all the way to school without having to retrace my steps or ask anyone for help! And I made it on time! Woo! You have no idea how proud I am of myself. I get lost every single time (except today) in this uber big station - Kyoto Station. And the signs are decieving. You can follow the signs just fine and you think you're doing great, and then, bam! They're gone and you're on your own. The only thing to do is turn around and try another fork and hope more reliable signs will magically appear any time. But I totally have it figured out now and can make it all the way there on time and by myself! Woooo!

In other news, it's been an entire month since my last karate class. That's 31 days. I think I might go insane. And my body is more desperate for karate now than it usually is. I use karate to sort all the crazy stuff out in my mind, and boy could I use that now.

Ohmygosh! Today I had my first calligraphy class. It was freaking amazing! The teacher gave me the name of my school ("Toba") to try and I totally bungled it up. But I'm not ashamed. It was my first try and I had absolutely no idea how to do it. He laughed and took it away. Instead, I pretty much spent the class practicing different kinds of strokes while everyone giggled at me. It was fun. At the end, we all bowed our heads and meditated for like a minute. Calligraphy is supposed to be a meditating activity! How amazing is that?!

Anyways, it's getting late (9:30 - if I was in America, I wouldn't have even gotten home from karate yet, much less started my homework, but here, I'm awefully tired really early) so I should go. It's great to be back online.

I]m here!!!

Hey all! I made it and finally have access to internet. I think I will regularly soon, but for now, I]m borrowing a computer from my teacher until the period is over. Today is my first *real* day of school, though you can see how real it is yourself. I]ve had an english class, a private class with a really nice teacher that wants to help me, another english class, gym, lunch, another private class, and now this, my study period. I do love being me. The Japanese people are incredibly nice and I am so super happy that I]m here. They all go way out of their way to help little old me, and even the students are really nice to me here. They all say *cute* whenever I pass and some of them asked me if they could touch my cheek or my hair. (??) Uhm, okay, I suppose. But they are nice. They like to speak english with me and enjoy hearing me pronounce things in Japanese. Oh yeah, I met some really great kids like myself from all over the world staying in Japan.

Anyways, I think the bell will ring soon (the bell is amazing, sounds like a catholic church almost) so I should go. Maybe I]ll be able to tell you more later. See you guys and wish me luck getting myself home!