http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVNxvMWqZtg
Cool the Heat- Disney (My class is dancing to this song(s) in our school festive.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD0wbPrAPgQ
Tonight- Big Bang (This is the only Japanese group that I have been able to find out about as slightly popular among some students, and it is still in English! Otherwise my classmates just mention American musicians.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d5QEWdHchk&feature=relmfu
So, I have decided to tweak the title of the movie, "The Princess Diaries", and use it as the title of this post! I found that so many of the quotes from the movie correlate with my life right now- all of the quotes I use in this blog to help describe my school life (which is the main point to this post) are from "The Princess Diaries".
Transportation
First, let me start with how I even get to school. It depends on which bus I am able ride but overall it takes me just over an hour to get to (or come home from) school by one bus and two trains. I have to say, I was definitely not a fan of public transportation at the beginning of this week. It is a very stressful situation trying to navigate through a packed train station and not being able to understand any of the Japanese signs. Seriously, if you are claustrophobic or a germaphobe I would not recommend you to go to a Japanese train station during rush hour. People are packed in so tightly as they all try to get through the ticket gates and onto their designated train gates. Once in the train it is literally like being a package of sardines- so many people are very close in a little metal box. I should also mention that what train I ride completely depends on if the public bus is on time or not. I have missed trains and had to wait an extra 20 minutes because my bus was 2 minutes late- this has been an extremely difficult concept for me to accept, not being able to control what time I get to places. At home I am used to being able to jump into my car and make it to school 10 minutes later. Here it is stressful for me to not have that control- I had to really focus so I would know when to get off of the bus or train and realize that I can't always rely on public transportation to be on time. I definitely have to plan to be somewhere early just in case the transportation is running late. By Friday I was definitely starting to get the hang of this form of traveling. I can now hear and understand the announcements for the names of the towns that I transfer my trains at. I can also recognize where I am during the bus ride and know when to push the button to signal that I need the bus to stop as I near my neighborhood. Overall, it is getting easier and will hopeful become second nature soon.
Why must I travel over an hour to get to school? Good question- it is because in Japan students test into which high school they will attend. It is like applying for colleges and having to take the ACT/SAT and the scores you get will determine the schools you can attend. Being a Rotary Exchange Student in Japan, I am "replacing" my host sister who is now living in Minnesota- this means that I am attending the high school she tested into and has been attending (Kanan Prefecture High School). Rotary is very good about making sure exchange students are placed in medium to high level schools and I found out, from a part time Irish English teacher at my school, that Kanan ranks pretty much smack dab in the middle. This is good because it narrows the differences in skill levels among students, allows for students to stay together in one class while the teachers move from class to class (no separation into advanced and regular classes), and it eliminates most bullying. This was an interesting experience for me, it was like going back to elementary school where everyone is friends with everyone.
Uniforms
Kanan Prefecture High School means that it is a public school. So, believe me when I say I was pretty surprised to learn about all of the rules my school has, mostly around dress codes: no earrings, no nail polish, no make up, you can't curl or straighten your hair (it must be in its natural form), and you must wear your school uniform to and from school (you can change once at school to participate in certain school activities but otherwise you must always wear your uniform). There is also a uniform for everything!
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| This is my regular summer uniform minus my black loafers (they aren't allowed on the tatami mats). I have a winter uniform that is almost the exact same (it is packed away right now) except the skirt is thicker and I have a long sleeve blouse. I am also allowed to wear a vest or sweater in the winter. |
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| Gym Uniforms.... "Mia: [in her green bathing suit] Okay I look like an asparagus. Helen Thermopolis (mom): But a very, very cute asparagus."- note my black and red swim suit and red swimming cap, I laughed the first time I saw it because it looks more like a wrestling uniform than a swim suit to me. The other gym uniforms are personalized with my last name in kanji! |
As for making friends in school... I have to use a quote to explain (I think it is a pretty funny connection to the movie): "You're the most popular girl in school. Everybody wants to take your picture. Everybody wants to be your best friend." I swear I am not trying to seem full of my self but this is actually what it is like for me at school and a week of attending hasn't changed a thing. I still get stared at as I walk through the halls, everyone knows my name and they always say "hi/goodbye Kiana" to me as I pass by. There have been countless pictures taken with and of me- with and without me being aware of the picture being taking at that time. I have been told that I am kawai (cute, pretty, and beautiful) multiple times everyday so far by my friends and I now notice kids at my school, that I don't personally know, that whisper amongst their friends that I am kawai as I walk by. Simply waving or smiling back at somebody gets me a "KAWAI!!!". My closer friends wont say it as much anymore and I believe it is because I am finally being accepted as a true friend and classmate! This is great because it is uncomfortable to be called kawai all the time and it means that I am making actual friends- not just people who want to meet the exchange student and take a picture.
The other day I also had a new first- for the first time a boy at my school, who I do not know, confessed his true love for me... ha yeah it was a bit awkward. It has happened a couple more times since but it is all in good fun and the most recent ones have been from my guy friends joking around with me.
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| Taku and I just chillin'- he is one of my guy friends who likes to joke around, talk to me, and just have a good time. The first time I met him he told me that he is the #1 boy at Kanan and of course I had to snark back (in Japanese!) that I am #1 person at Kanan. We laughed and Taku decided that I can be the #1 girl and he gets to be the #1 boy. Jokes, I have decided, are one of the firsts signs of acceptance. |
Being that I have attend a full-ish week of school (some half days in order to prepare for the school festival) I am able to better pick out certain friend groups in my grade. Like in Northfield, I am friends with many different groups which is nice because it means I get to know that many more people. I feel like I am starting to fit it pretty well with my class and I am really grateful for the class I am in. Everyone is very nice and kind to me- they take care of me:
- Someone always makes sure I know where my next class is, in the rare cases that the students are the ones to change rooms
- I am always invited to sit with people at lunch
- They seem to be accustomed to having me around. This creates a more relaxing atmosphere and we are better able to communicate. They have been studying English for 5ish years now and they know that I am trying (and slowly improving) but am still not very good at Japanese, so we converse in a Japanese/English mix. This is great because it allows me to get to know them better and they are helpful when in comes to me being completely lost in the language- ex. if a teacher or someone who doesn't know me comes up and starts asking me questions and speaking very quickly in Japanese any of my classmates have willing step in and help either by just answering the questions themselves because they know me so well or help interpret (in our Japaneses/English) so that I can understand what is going on.
- I have been invited to go out and do things with friends from class
- There is always someone from class to travel to and from school with, the one time there wasn't they made sure I understood exactly what trains I should take in order to get home.
Here is a class picture from our school festival:
Classes
Being that I have attended all of my classes at least once this first week of school I now get to choose which ones I want to go to and which ones I would rather go to the library during and study Japanese instead. It will not be a difficult choice- the difference between the classes I like and can kind of understand verses the classes where I didn't understand a single word of is substantial. I feel it should be pretty obvious when I say I enjoyed math and science the most- there are a lot of diagrams and examples which help overcome the written language barrier of Kanji. I also really like gym- no Kanji and it is physical activity which is great! Gym class separates boys and girls (different teachers and classes completely), and I can't say that many of the girls in my class would agree with my enthusiasm for sports and competition. "Mia: I can't do this, I'm a girl. Gym Teacher: What am I? A duck?" That is pretty much the feeling I get when I mention gym class, which is a bit disappointing and unfortunate because it is not co-ed and I can't just go compete with the guys. It was exciting though because I was the fastest swimmer in my gym class for the backstroke (the only event we timed)! As I understand it, the pool is 25 meters and I swam from one end to the other in 22.59 seconds. I felt really slow but hey that just means that I have a self goal to go faster than my first time. I just have to remember that "Joe: Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent" so I will just keep on pushing myself to do better even if the other girls think it is strange/different.
I have three English classes (basic, grammar, and reading), all of which are pretty boring but I think I will stay in them because I get to help in those classes and I have even had the opportunity teach my class about the US, Minnesota, and more specifically Northfield. English classes are also a lot like beginners language classes in Northfield, where most of the class is actually taught in the students native tongue with only a little dialogue here and there with the new language- this means I get to practice listening to simple Japanese as the teacher is explaining to the students how to do the simple English.
I will be talking to my home room teacher, Kita Sensei, and will hopefully be able to drop Japanese Classics and Japanese History. Two classes in which I have understood absolutely nothing this entire week. I think my time would be better spent studying and learning the Japanese language rather than sitting in a class that is all Japanese with no pictures, diagrams, or examples to help me understand what is going on.
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| My schedule for the time being. |
Here are a couple more quotes that I thought deserved mentioning:
- "Mia: Shut up! Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Grandma): I beg your pardon, 'Shut up'? Consulate: Oh, your majesty, in America, it doesn't always mean to be quiet. Here it could mean 'Wow, gee whiz, golly wolly'." This just goes to show how different words or phrases can mean different things to people, especially from different countries.
- "Joe: This is between a waltz and a tango. Mia: It's a wango?" This made me laugh because of all of the unique dancing I have been doing lately at school in order to prepare for our school festival.
- "Prince of Genovia (dad): Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all."
Sayonara from Osaka, Japan.
Big Bang is Korean :p
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