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.