The past few days... I've been dreading this.

I've been putting this off for SO LONG. I keep writing too much each day, and the idea of updating the blog just seems to get more and more daunting. Anyway, here goes.

6/12/10

Today was my first day at Yasuda! It was really fun =) I did my self introduction speech thing in front of my home room and the teachers. It went okay... We met Ms Donaldson today, a fellow kiwi working as an English teacher at Yasuda. She gave us the tour and told us about all the rules (I'll do a seperate post later, maybe. Someone email me and remind me!)
Then, we went to the kindergarten, and helped Chucky Gomez (hahaha Chucky) teach an English lesson about USA Christmas The kids are SO CUTE. Then, lunch, where I met lots of Rika's friends. Oh, and we sang Tutira Mai Nga Iwi at the kindy, with the actions. At least, what we could remember of them =P
After lunch, we had a Japanese lesson with Mr Inada. He's 72! Anyways, he's a retired English professor from Hiroshima University, and really nice. And I can understand most of what he says in Japanese!
After that, we went with Ms Ukida (culture teacher) and Ms Okita (koto teacher) to Hondori, Hiroshima's main street. According to a guy we met while we were there, it used to be the #2 route between Kyushuu and Osaka/Tokyo during the Edo Period. Now, it just has heaps of shops. They're all so pretty! Anyhow, we went to buy koto nails. It was a strange experience - this old guy putting paper-type stuff rings on the ends of our first 3 fingers on our right hands, then gluing the pick thing into them. Hopefully, actually learning the koto will be fun =)

Things from today that need to be said:

1. The inside/outside shoes thing is confusing/ANNOYING. Very much so.
2. If one more person calls me cute, I'll die. Seriously. A random down the street actually pretty much yelled it out to her friend as we passed.

My welcome party was really fun! We went to a yakiniku (Korean BBQ) restaurant, and the food was delicious. I forgot to eat my rice =P
So far, I haven't found any foods that I really don't like. I think that's a good thing... Also, I sang at the restaurant - Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I got halfway through, then realised I don't know all the words. Whoops...


7/12/10

Today, we did our speeches in front of the whole senior high school. It went really well, considering.
Oh, btw, there's a TV in the car. No lie. AND I've figured out why everyone drives the weird van-type wagon things: their bikes fit inside without them having to lay them down or dismantle them!
Anywho, a few random things that need to be said:
1. Heated toilet seats are strange.
2. There are vending machines EVERYWHERE. There's one on pretty much every corner, and at least one more in between those. There's so many, I'm actually surprised there isn't one in my bedroom.
3. Yesterday, at the yakiniku restaurant, there was mouthwash in the bathroom. Like, a full bottle, with little paper cups beside it. I thought it was a little bit strange, but very smart =)
4. They have little machines in the toilets (actually in the stalls) that you wave your hand in front of, and they make a flushing noise. Go figure.
5. I walked into my homeroom today, and a girl walked across the room to sniff another girls's hair, then walked back and sat at her desk. I think I'll fit in just fine.

We went to the elementary school today, with Ms Ukida and Ms Inoe (?) to teach another lot of English lessons. To three different first grade classes. I told them I was 102 =P They spent most of the lesson asking us questions. Oh, and we taught them heads down, tails up. It was really fun.
Understanding Japanese is becoming easier now, but I'm still using a mix of Japanese and English.
Ooooh, they have 3D cellphones! In all seriousness. I saw an ad for them on the TV on the way to school this morning. I wouldn't mind one, to be honest.

8/12/10

I could swear the school thinks that I'm a whale. The school uniform coat they gave me is MASSIVE. you could probably fit me in it twice. No kidding.
Also, turns out the apartment is really close to the hospital. Are ambulance sirens really necessary at 10.30pm? I mean, come on!
Oh, yesterday, on the way to school/during breakfast, there was a TV programme on about rabbits. They were really cute. This morning though, the same programme was talking about politics, or some sort of law change. Not 100% sure.
At school, we went to the primary school (again), this time for lessons with the 4th graders. They were a lot quieter than the first graders. It was nice to still be able to hear when I left.
We also had our first koto lesson today. It was really hard! And wearing the nails hurts, BUT it was fun, and quite interesting.
Tonight, I went to an aerobics class with Masumi, at her gym. It was so much fun. I had absolutely no idea what the instructor was saying, but I managed to waffle through it. I think that I'll be quite sore tomorrow.

9/12/10

I totally understand the whole face mask thing now. Ms Donaldson explained it to us. There's this stuff called yellow sand, that's so fine it can pass through a filter, and it gets blown over to Japan from China. Apparently, this is one of the reasons why most Japanese people hate Chinese people. Anyway, the sand gets EVERYWHERE, but the thing is, on it's way here, the sand passes over many industrial areas, and therefore carries lots of harmful toxic chemicals with it. And THAT is why people wear face masks here. Yay!
Also, the school bell sounds like the town hall. Oh, and everyone ALWAYS asks me and Chelsea if we have boyrfriends. No clue why, either, as most of them are girls.
So, at the end of each school day, we have to clean our home rooms. Everyone has an apron, and a certain job to do. I help my friend Ami to clean the desks. The funniest thing about this time, though, is my homeroom teacher, Mr Ishida. He wears a business suit to school each day, but while we are cleaning, he also wears an apron. FUNNIEST THING EVER.
Oh, oh, you can get hot chocolate milk from the vending machines. Like, coffee and mochas and such, but also flavoured milk, in a carton, that's been heated. I'll take a picture at some point. The straws that come with most of the drinks in cartons are SO STRANGE. Instead of folding, they're kind of telescopic.
Today, we had our second koto lesson. We're learning sakura, the really famous Japanese song. Ms Okita made us sing today. Personally, I think it sounds much better as just koto, but we did it anyway.
We also had our first calligraphy lesson today. I learnt how to write the kanji for sakura, or cherry blossom. Today has been very sakura-oriented =P
Tonight, I was going to go to yoga with Masumi, but my legs are so sore from aerobics last night. So, I stayed home to update this blog. I'm watching Finding Neverland (again) on Disney Channel. It's such a novelty to have DC, even though half of it is in Japanese.

Anyways, bed now. Again. BTW, I love the bed. As soon as I lie down, I'm asleep. It might not be the bed, though. It may just be the constanat thinking in Japanese. I don't know.

Toodles!
Anna x