p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I let out a low groan. I definitely did not get enough sleep last night. The traveling wore me out enough to sleep through the night, a rare occurrence in and of itself, but I still only caught five hours. What a great way to start my first day back in school./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"My fingers seek out my phone and pull up the weather app. It was really nice out yesterday, but living in a new place, I don't want to make any assumptions about the weather. After confirming that it would, in fact, be nice enough out to not wear full nylons, I get moving through my morning routine. Bathroom, get dressed, make up, breakfast, brush teeth. Forty-five minutes after waking up, I slip into a plain pair of flats, grab my bookbag, and hurry out the door. The twenty minute walk should be enough for me to mentally prepare to start a new school./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"And that's how I find myself standing in the vice-principal's office, receiving a speech about how amazing their school is and how I'll be expected to upkeep that excellence. Then, I get even worse news. I'll have to take exams to determine my class placement. I haven't been in school for a year! How am I going to manage to not look totally stupid?/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Now, if you'll just follow me, Jackson-kun, I'll lead you to your exam room. Takeda-sensei will be administering the exams, so if there are any problems, please inform him." With that, he leaves me standing outside the door, not even giving me a chance to tell him to call me Winnie. I don't think I'll ever get used to the last-name thing. I lift a hand and knock on the door./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Excuse me," I call softly, sliding it open halfway, "I'm looking for Takeda-sensei?" A man with black hair and a baby face runs over to me./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""You must be the new student, Jackson-san! Please, come in. I'll be giving you your placement exams. Please, don't stress too much about them, they're really just a formality." He keeps chattering and I feel my eyes getting bigger and bigger with every sentence he says without pausing for breath. Finally, he does./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Sorry, sensei, but please, just call me Winnie," I force myself to flash a friendly smile, "I'll really never get used to being addressed by my family name."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""O-of course, Winnie-san. Well, then, would you like to get started? This shouldn't take too long, the tests themselves are rather short." So you say. But, and I know I'm getting redundant here, I haven't done any schooling in a year. My gut is screaming that this is not going to go well. Well, that, or it's telling me that I'm really, really nervous about starting school in a new country. To be honest, it's probably a mix of both./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Since you're the only one taking the exams, I'll allow you to move at your own pace. You'll have three hours to finish them all, alright? You can begin whenever you're ready. When you finish an exam, just hand it to me and I'll begin scoring it. All I ask is that once you start one, please finish it before moving on."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Of course, thank you very much." In front of me are exams for math, science, social studies, Japanese, and English. I lift the English one first. Might as well get the easy one out of the way. It takes me barely fifteen minutes to finish, and most of that is just writing time. I choose Japanese next. It has a short written section and a passage to read and answer questions on. Again, not very difficult for me, seeing as it's basically what an English exam would have looked like at home. The last three, though, I know are going to be difficult. And I've only got two hours, fifteen minutes to get through them. I feel like math is the most cut and dry, so I choose to force myself through that one next. Out of the corner of my eye, as I set to work on the science exam, I can see Takeda marking my math exam and I am struggling to focus. Let's just say math was never my best subject. Not that science was either. Still, I turn that one in, leaving myself forty-five minutes to try to get through the social studies exam. It's literally Japan's history. I know nothing. I'm from the States, for crying out loud! How am I supposed to know any of this. My fingers scrub across my eyebrow and I work through the questions, making my best guess on more than I'd care to admit./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Well done, Winnie," Takeda says once he's finished grading, "You scored very high on most of them. Social Studies was a bit of a low score, however."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I kind of saw that one coming," I reply with a dry chuckle./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I suppose it makes sense," he agrees. "But in any case, with your scores, you'll be placed in class 4."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I'm sorry, I'm not really familiar with how the class system works here," my voice trails off and I tilt my head to the side. Takeda laughs apologetically./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Of course, of course. I forgot," he smiles rather politely, "why don't I just explain from the beginning, then? Our high school has three grades, each broken down into five classes. Classes one to three are normal classes while four and five are college preparatory classes. It is the same for all the grade levels. Grade one is the youngest and grade three is the eldest. Does that make sense?"/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Yes, thank you," I take a deep breath and flash a nervous grin, "well, then, why don't you lead the way? Guess it's time for me to start school." I laugh and he joins in./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""You'll be arriving just in time for lunch," Takeda informs me as the bell rings, "so you'll get a chance to talk to some classmates before classes begin. Before you go in, I want to mention that you may want to consider joining a club for the first two terms. It would allow you to meet other students with the same interests as you. But I won't press." He holds his hand out to an open door. "This will be your classroom. I'll just show you to your seat and then make my leave." Every eye in the room is on me as he guides me to a desk in the back of the room. It takes all my willpower not to run out of the room or breakdown right there. Crowds really aren't my thing./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I let out a low groan. I definitely did not get enough sleep last night. The traveling wore me out enough to sleep through the night, a rare occurrence in and of itself, but I still only caught five hours. What a great way to start my first day back in school./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"My fingers seek out my phone and pull up the weather app. It was really nice out yesterday, but living in a new place, I don't want to make any assumptions about the weather. After confirming that it would, in fact, be nice enough out to not wear full nylons, I get moving through my morning routine. Bathroom, get dressed, make up, breakfast, brush teeth. Forty-five minutes after waking up, I slip into a plain pair of flats, grab my bookbag, and hurry out the door. The twenty minute walk should be enough for me to mentally prepare to start a new school./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"And that's how I find myself standing in the vice-principal's office, receiving a speech about how amazing their school is and how I'll be expected to upkeep that excellence. Then, I get even worse news. I'll have to take exams to determine my class placement. I haven't been in school for a year! How am I going to manage to not look totally stupid?/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Now, if you'll just follow me, Jackson-kun, I'll lead you to your exam room. Takeda-sensei will be administering the exams, so if there are any problems, please inform him." With that, he leaves me standing outside the door, not even giving me a chance to tell him to call me Winnie. I don't think I'll ever get used to the last-name thing. I lift a hand and knock on the door./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Excuse me," I call softly, sliding it open halfway, "I'm looking for Takeda-sensei?" A man with black hair and a baby face runs over to me./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""You must be the new student, Jackson-san! Please, come in. I'll be giving you your placement exams. Please, don't stress too much about them, they're really just a formality." He keeps chattering and I feel my eyes getting bigger and bigger with every sentence he says without pausing for breath. Finally, he does./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Sorry, sensei, but please, just call me Winnie," I force myself to flash a friendly smile, "I'll really never get used to being addressed by my family name."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""O-of course, Winnie-san. Well, then, would you like to get started? This shouldn't take too long, the tests themselves are rather short." So you say. But, and I know I'm getting redundant here, I haven't done any schooling in a year. My gut is screaming that this is not going to go well. Well, that, or it's telling me that I'm really, really nervous about starting school in a new country. To be honest, it's probably a mix of both./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Since you're the only one taking the exams, I'll allow you to move at your own pace. You'll have three hours to finish them all, alright? You can begin whenever you're ready. When you finish an exam, just hand it to me and I'll begin scoring it. All I ask is that once you start one, please finish it before moving on."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Of course, thank you very much." In front of me are exams for math, science, social studies, Japanese, and English. I lift the English one first. Might as well get the easy one out of the way. It takes me barely fifteen minutes to finish, and most of that is just writing time. I choose Japanese next. It has a short written section and a passage to read and answer questions on. Again, not very difficult for me, seeing as it's basically what an English exam would have looked like at home. The last three, though, I know are going to be difficult. And I've only got two hours, fifteen minutes to get through them. I feel like math is the most cut and dry, so I choose to force myself through that one next. Out of the corner of my eye, as I set to work on the science exam, I can see Takeda marking my math exam and I am struggling to focus. Let's just say math was never my best subject. Not that science was either. Still, I turn that one in, leaving myself forty-five minutes to try to get through the social studies exam. It's literally Japan's history. I know nothing. I'm from the States, for crying out loud! How am I supposed to know any of this. My fingers scrub across my eyebrow and I work through the questions, making my best guess on more than I'd care to admit./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Well done, Winnie," Takeda says once he's finished grading, "You scored very high on most of them. Social Studies was a bit of a low score, however."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I kind of saw that one coming," I reply with a dry chuckle./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I suppose it makes sense," he agrees. "But in any case, with your scores, you'll be placed in class 4."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I'm sorry, I'm not really familiar with how the class system works here," my voice trails off and I tilt my head to the side. Takeda laughs apologetically./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Of course, of course. I forgot," he smiles rather politely, "why don't I just explain from the beginning, then? Our high school has three grades, each broken down into five classes. Classes one to three are normal classes while four and five are college preparatory classes. It is the same for all the grade levels. Grade one is the youngest and grade three is the eldest. Does that make sense?"/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Yes, thank you," I take a deep breath and flash a nervous grin, "well, then, why don't you lead the way? Guess it's time for me to start school." I laugh and he joins in./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""You'll be arriving just in time for lunch," Takeda informs me as the bell rings, "so you'll get a chance to talk to some classmates before classes begin. Before you go in, I want to mention that you may want to consider joining a club for the first two terms. It would allow you to meet other students with the same interests as you. But I won't press." He holds his hand out to an open door. "This will be your classroom. I'll just show you to your seat and then make my leave." Every eye in the room is on me as he guides me to a desk in the back of the room. It takes all my willpower not to run out of the room or breakdown right there. Crowds really aren't my thing./span/p
