Today--

wasn't too much fun. and I really don't know why. Today I felt just plain tired and maybe a little cranky. And overall uneasy. It's hard to explain. My classmates thought I was homesick but I think its a little deeper than that. The overall feeling of knowing you don't fit in, never know what's going on and are an outsider is not a good one. It separates you from what seems like the entire world. It's overwhelming.
I'm beginning to see why people say exchange students come back more mature. one reason I think is because when you come back (I can imagine) you're comfortable and confident. You know exactly what to do in each situation you come across. When you're in another place like Japan its constantly "how the heck do I eat this?" or "What am I supposed to say?" or "which side of the staircase do I walk on?"
You lose your identity as well. At home I'm the weird, funny, rather be outside, studying, non girly one. Here I have NO IDEA. It's a cross between I want to be "myself" and I don't know if people will like "myself" and I don't want to be alone for 6 months. It's a state of constant confusion and overall being unsure. Like right now, I'm unsure if I should be on the computer right now. Most of me knows its OK, but part of me thinks is it REALLY OK or is my host mom just being nice.
So that was today, all day, and in fact the last several weeks, and probably the next several months.
I guess I'll get used to it.

typhoon

today was typhoon day. I had little to no idea what a typhoon was untill today. But it rained the majority of the day today-- which would be no problem except I go to school via bike...and i have a rain jacket that goes down to my waist...not the egde of my skirt...and umbrellas dont really work with wind...or bikes...

So i got to school soaking today. All the people that took the bus or were dropped off by their parents laughed. I joined the few people that took a bike and dryed off via washcloth.

oh, and I forget my obento (lunch box). (okaasan brought it to school for me though (THANKS!))

That was the most eventfull thing today.
I also learned some kansai-ben! Kansai-ben is kind of like a southern accent...except they use completly different words while US south uses the same words...differently I guess

Ex:
omoshiroi (interesting -> omoroi
wakaranai (i dont know) -> wakarahen
arigatou (thank you) -> ookini

The best english example i can think of would be like hello-> howdy

Alright, that's all for today
included are pictures of kyudo club. I'm still working on "air kyudo" and "elastic band kyudo" (like the workout bands) maybe MAYBE I'll try really kyudo in the next six months...if I'm lucky. And the clouds covering the mountains/hills/lumps of dirt by my school

today...it rained?

yes. today it rained. THANK GOD. now its nice and suzushi as opposed to atsui. (nice and cool, not hot)
i wore my hair down today, and normally this would not be a big deal. but seeing as no one at school had seen me with my hair down it was like the first day alllllll over again. awwwww kawaii!! (cute) uh. thanks? its not that big of a deal. or so i thought?

Today was fairly normal. tomorrow i have a kanji test though on providence names in kyushu. sort of a random topic for kanji
(by the way kanji are chinese characters mixed in with japanese hiragana and katakana)

oh! so, basiclly i love the crossgaurds here. LOVE them! they're always so nice!!! they dont even say much besides "good morning" and i know they're super nice. they stand there all morning making sure tiny japanese kids on bikes dont get run over by crazy japanese adults in cars..or bikes i guess too.

and another thing i've been meaning to mention. Japanese kids are not as bell-twitchy as americans. yes. bell-twitchy. everyone knows waht im talking about if you've been to an american high school. that 2 minuets the teacher is starting to pack up after a loooooooonnggggg lecture about protists and their eating habits and you hsve all you're stuff packed ready to dash out the door the second the bell rings.
not in japan. some teachers for starters think that the bell means "wrap it up in the next 3 min" which i KNOW would drive american students crazy. also even after the teachers wraps up, students take time to actually finish what they were working on! not just scribble something down for later. EVEN THE FINAL BELL where in american EVERYONE is dying just to get out of the classroom at least, even if they have clubs or sports after. Japanese students HANG OUT IN THE CLASSROOM (whaaaaatt?!) yes. they HANG OUT. they arn't hard wired to jump at every single bell.
and i think this is why:
1) Americans change classrooms (most of the time)--> Japanese stay in homeroom (again, most of the time)
2) Americans have and ANNOYING BELL-->Japan has nice bells that calmly let you know its time to change subjects
3) Americans have 5 min between classes-->Japan has 10

This, i think, explains why bells in japan ACTUALLY MAKE ME ANXIOUS. I have to stop and ask myself why am i getting stressed out that no one is moving?! 17 years in america will do that to you, no matter how calm you think you are.

Also, something surprising. Bible class. (weird enough that i have a bible class in a japanese school) (its protestant by the way) (Christianity is 1% in japan) Bible class happens to be one of my favorite classes too! which is also weird...because i never liked psr....at all...and i never really cared for church, except at christmas time...
maybe because I know the material (and its not english) and also the teacher...father...protentant...involves me in class! even though i take forever to read one sentence.
FINALLY-- I don't like the way they changed the alphabet. yes. they changed it. they separated lmnop. NOT. COOL. i like lmnop being one word! its not abcdefg, hijklmn, opqrstu... NO! its lmnop!!!!
or
abcdefghijkelephantpeeqrstuvwxyz
that's the preferred way.
get it right japan!!!
yes yes AFS says "its not right, its not wrong, its just different"
NOT IN THIS CASE!

＊おわり＊

japan...china...korea??

so, nothing too exciting today.
EXCEPT!

I go to japan...going to learn Japanese...alright sounds good.
get there
have a lesson in Korean
AND
am going to China for 5 days this fall.

Heck
Yes.

안녕하세요？ 저는赖诗婷입니다。很高兴见到你！

score.

oh right! pictures. lets seeeeee....
we've got....
a panoramic of the view outside after rain (hope it works) and a chalkboard full of cartoon characters including sponge bob and Patrick(?) and Ariel
(CLICK THE PICTURES TO SEE THEM BETTER)

Video time!

first video: bike ride home and vending machines its pretty short because 1) its hard to bike and video 2) standing in front of a vending machine with a camera is a bit abnormal (but hey, so am i)

9/3/10 because i cant think of a better title

soooooooooo
yeah. today i fell asleep.
often.
in class.
because im really really tired for some reason.
i go to bed at 9:30 basiclly and then get up around 7. leave for school at 7:45. school starts at 8:30 (sooooo much better than 7:30) and then depends on what day it is what time i leave. dinner. dishes. shower. blog/read/fb/whatever. sleep.

sure im probably missing some details...but no one will notice.

Ah! i also met the new exchange student from Belgium.

oh yeah. I forgot to mention the french guy first. right?
whatever. I DONT LIKE HIM. he dosnt shut up! and hes twichy! and wosrt of all hes good at japanese! so hes loud, talks a lot, in japanese, while twitching.
hnufdjlvgslgtfinglfd
that was my frustration in words
so of course hes going to be bad at caligraphy! (yes, i have a caligraphy class every friday) caligraphy requires relitive scilence and no twitching.
it WAS my favorite class because it required the least amount of talking. but nooooooo french guy has to be all...FRENCH GUY!
but anyways, just so everyone knows, its not that I dislike french guyS. just french GUY.

so, there is a new student from Belgium who speaks french so now french guy has even MORE of a reason to run his mouth off.
but she seems nice. her name is Marie. (french guy will remain french guy)I hope I can somehow talk to her (without consulting french guy). her japanese is limited (much like mine) and her english even more so. not to mention my french is limited to `potatoe` (pomme de terre) and some other random food.

I also attempted to take more pictures today and some video while just riding my bike so I`ll try and put that up tomorrow when i`m not falling asleep on the keyboard.

alright thats all.
Oyasumi!

book stores, kyudo and stuff

alright. so.
...i forget what i was going to say...
ah! book stores. so basically my host mom trusted me with going to the bookstore by myself and making it back in time for dinner. I thought it was going to be a tiny hole-in-the-wall store but nooooooooo it was huge! the bottom floor was books and magazines and office supplies? and such and the top floor was movies and cds. it was AWESOME. I got stationary, a pen, and yotsubato (i have the english version back home).
today, school was much better. I showed people pictures and ate lunch in the cafeteria (usually eat in homeroom) and ran around school with people. AND we had kyudo today. kyudo is japanese archery where they have tall tall tall bows and a whole preparation ritual almost. its pretty serious stuff. and its also really hard. because the bow is pretty heavy and then the string is really tight and they hold it up pretty high...that combo is purty harsh.
i had a total "when in Rome" moment today too. during the beginning of kyudo club everyone lined up. and then all of a sudden someone said something (no. i don't know what) and everyone kneeled down all at once. so i basically faked my way through some ancient japanese starting-kyudo-club ritual i think. something like kneel with your left foot forward, sit on your knees, hands sorta by your hips, bow, yell something, roll call, yell something again, pray?, yell, bow, stand up.

yeah. faked it all. stood up confused.

kyudo is pretty interesting though. I didn't get to try it yet but i tried "air" kyudo hahaha. I also got to watch everyone. and I had to introduce myself in front of everyone. and then they all bowed in unison...and it scared me. HOW DO THEY KNOW TO DO IT?!

anyways. that's about it. kyudo goes until 6:30pm and then it takes 15min to get home via bike. and its already dark by then.
so I'm obviously tired.
in fact.
so tired I'm not going to reread this or spell check.
you all know what i mean anyways!
(sorry. no pics)