Hello: it's me again. Haven't had much time to write in the past week (sorry bout that, everyone: homework bites), so I decided to do a little special of sorts and tell everyone exactly what I did while I was gone for that last month ^_^. Try to enjoy, and as soon as this hellish first part of my last year of high school is over I'll try to get the story back on track ^_^. Here, in case any of you are interested, is a somewhat-detailed log of what I did in Japan (for those of you wondering why I didn't use this energy to write the next installment of Hanyou no Kon, I have to write this for Japanese class for my culture project anyways; I figured I may as well kill two birds with one stone). I'll be doing this in installments, and they'll be daily/nightly (in the possible chance that I get a creative kick in the pants, however, this will be replaced by a Hanyou no Kon update).
Well, I left America on July 13th from San Francisco International Airport at about 2 PM, and thus began a seemingly never-ending flight…books are very useful on airplane voyages, as are CDs and mini-video game consoles (I read Harry Potter 5 in a straight shot on this and still had about 4 hours left…you need more than one book ^_^). We watched two movies on the flight, the first being Anger Management and the second being Treasure Planet (which was surprisingly good). After eleven or twelve endless hours, we finally managed to touch down at Narita Airport: only for my friend (also named Josh, heh) to nearly have a heart attack when he realized he couldn't find his passport (technically this is July 14th, but whatever). After ten minutes of searching all his bags, he found it in the space betwixt our seats.
On July 14th, we exited the airplane terminal and went through customs (short and sweet, "Hai, hai, Amerikajin desu; ::stamp stamp:: irete kudasai" (Yes, yes, you're American; ::stamp stamp:: please enter"). After getting our luggage, we met up with our guide, Sho (he's a brother of one of the students that stayed out here last year; it was good to finally meet him, he was hella cool) and he put us on the track aimed to Tokyo. After we got to Tokyo (about a thirty or forty-five minute ride), we hopped onto the Shinkansen (for those of you who don't know what the "Shinkansen" is, it's the famous bullet train) and waved goodbye to Sho…I really hope I get to see him again ^_^. We settled in for a blazingly fast two-hour train ride to Niigata, on the northeastern part of Honshu.
After fighting off the evil demons of sleep while on the train, and trying to accept the reality of "Hey, I'm REALLY in Japan!", we arrived at the Niigata station and exited the train to meet up with our second guide: Kera-sensei. We exchanged hellos and greetings, and I (for the first time…not the last…) was forced into obligation to speak Japanese to Kera-sensei to make things easier on everyone (not to brag, but my Japanese was the best out of the group so I was almost continually pushed to the front of the group to say something or I was called on to come and attempt to translate something…annoying after a while), and we headed to a nearby hotel where we checked in, I used the computer and sent an e-mail to my family to let them know I'd arrived safely, then went up to my room and fell asleep.
The next day (the 15th), I awoke bright and early (for those of you going to Japan soon: try to get tickets that depart America around 2 PM, it causes the least jet lag) and proceeded to explore Niigata for a while until I was sure my friends had woken up. Upon returning to the hotel, I scored some complimentary breakfast (most hotels offer it ^_^) and then, after gawping at a full-size cutout of Inuyasha in the middle of nowhere and buying approximately three boxes of Pocky, we boarded a ferry that would take us to Sado Island.
NOTE: If you're wondering where this is, find Tokyo on a map of Japan. Go north, then go east until you see Niigata. Look directly north of that, and there will be a somewhat large (not as big as the 4 main islands, however) island. That's Sado Island.
After we boarded the ferry, one of the four other people on the exchange program (Mike) found an arcade room. After going there, I deigned there was nothing good to play…until I saw House of the Dead 2. I completely 0wnz3d that game, and that's pretty much all I did for two hours (I only spent about 1000 yen, about 8/9 dollars, though).
It was pretty cool when we arrived at the school: unlike Hayward High, which pretty much gives a rat's ass about Sado Club, Sado High is completely involved in the project: everybody knows about it, nearly everyone participates in it, and everybody knew we were coming. That being said, the WHOLE SCHOOL turned out for our arrival: literally, the whole school. About 700 students were waiting for us out front, hanging out of the windows of the 4 story building, and shouting from the rooftop "YOOKOSO, TOMODACHI!!!" (Welcome, Friends!). It was pretty emotional for me, however, when I scanned the crowd and saw the five students who'd stayed in America yelling, "JOSHU!!!" and I got to see them…if I sound like an emotional sap, so be it, but it had felt like I'd never get to see them again.
Well, the rest of the day was spent getting us acquainted to life in Sado High School, which was basically giving us the schedule of what we were going to be doing for the next three weeks, introducing us to students, showing us around the High School, and telling us how the program would work. (Basically, for the three weeks we were on Sado High (except weekends, which were Host Family days where we'd stay at home with our Host Families and do whatever we decided to do together) we'd come to school with the students, go to two classes per day (most of the time on culture/arts of Japan), and spend the rest of the time hanging out in the LL Room, sort of like a teacher's lounge, wandering around, or being free to leave the school and explore the area around Sado Island.
After this was all explained to us, I finally got a chance to meet my host student's mother and father, who were overjoyed to see me (I hosted my host student last year; her name is Kumiko), and went with them to the supermarket where they insisted that I choose my favorite foods for dinner that night (grrr…they tricked me the first time: they asked me if I wanted sashimi, and I said "It's a little expensive, isn't it?" They then said "Well, what kind do you like, maguro or hamachi?" I said, "Either one is fine"…so they then just smiled at me, said "If you can't decide, we'll just get both" and tossed both in the cart).
When we got home (note: I truly do consider that place my home…my current home is also home, but as far as I'm concerned, the house I stayed at is also home: Kumiko and her parents did everything for me, made me feel like one of the family, and were just some of the nicest people I've ever met), I was introduced to Kumiko's grandmother, and after giving the gifts I'd bought to my host mother, father, student, and grandmother (sorry if I keep getting sidetracked, but just to let you know, in Japanese culture giving gifts is exceedingly important) they attempted to show me how to use the electric toilet, washer, and the Japanese-style shower/bath (and they were very happy I knew how to use the bathroom already…I'll explain it at a later date, this one is long enough ^_^).
After eating dinner (which was marvelous: maguro sashimi, my favorite; miso soup, rice, umeboshi (yick; it's sour and VERY nasty), soba, ramen, and namacha (tea), it was already past 8 o' clock and I was more than ready to go to bed. My host family interpreted my signs (which was good, because I was trying to be as polite as possible and stay up to answer all their questions) and asked me politely to go to bed if I was tired ^_^. I climbed into my bed (it was a futon, but they had the box spring and everything under it so it was still a bed), pulled up the covers, and was out like a light.
On Wednesday (that's the 16th for those of you keeping track), I experienced my first day of life at a Japanese high school: which was very cool because it was Sports Day, a day where EVERYONE in the school participates in sporting events from lunch onwards!
For the first half of the day I was with Kumiko in her extended homeroom, trying to pick out bits and pieces of the lesson and also looking through the "Living Language: Ultimate Japanese" book I'd brought with me. After her homeroom ended, I was free to wander around as I pleased, so I hooked up with a couple other exchange students and we just hung out around campus until Sports Day started. When it started, however, it was so much fun it's hard to say…I only played basketball and badminton, but we were scheduled to play a basketball game against Sado High's basketball team. That was at 2 PM, though, so we had about 2 hour's time before we had to report to Gym 1.
That two hours was eaten up by becoming embroiled in learning Japanese and teaching English to a group of three students that popped up (I have no idea how the conversation started; my role as translator became more apparent when the ass of the group, Alfred, yelled, "Hey! Get over here and translate some stuff!" and I was obliged to help), and when we'd filled up the small chalkboard we followed them back to their classroom to teach them some English. It wasn't boring, just kind of tedious, so I was more than happy when it was time for our basketball game. Unfortunately, me, Mr. Fregeau, and the other Josh were the only ones good at basketball on our five-player team so it was difficult, but we still had a lot of fun in our half-hour game. The final score was 36-22, I believe, and I made friends with the star player of the team: Wataru (we were pretty good friends, actually…we always hung out with each other when we could and played friendly basketball once in PE. We were pretty evenly matched: he's a good shot, I'm really fast ((but a bad shot)). We got our pictures taken by a newspaper reporter, and also were interviewed, and found out that we would be in the paper running the next day (what I didn't know, however, was that I also got quoted: "Utsukushii shima desu ne" (It's a beautiful island, ne?).
We chilled out for the rest of the day, occasionally playing one of the other sports the school had to offer, and then our host families came to pick us all up at around 5 PM; I was grateful, because I was tired and just wanted to shower, and as soon as we got home I changed clothes, we had dinner (I honestly don't remember what we had most nights, either that or I don't know what it was…I believe we had Sukiyaki this night, however), and Kumiko/her family and I spent an hour or two talking before I showered and went to bed at about 9 AM.
Feh…I intended this installment to cover a week, but it was too long for me to write that much, so this ended up as being a three-day cover of my life in Japan. I'll do better tomorrow, I promise, and I supposed I can't really say Read and Review…but if those of you who didn't review for the last chapter I posted (you know who you are…) would review, I'd be happy ^_^. Night for now!