yes, green

moegi and i arrived at school extra early today and figured out our class assignments. as it turns out were in different homerooms.

because of the abundance of free time moegi ended up introducing me to a number of her friends. one girl introduced herself as midori, which, in japanese, means green. so i said in an inquisitive tone, "green?" everyone immediately burst out laughing and started teasing her.

later on, in an attempt to confirm that i had her name right, i said, "midori?" and she said, "yes." then she paused and added, "green."

i discovered much later that most people write their names on their shoes to prevent mix-ups, since everybodys shoes are school-issued and therefore identical. anyway, that makes things infinitely easier. if i ever forget someones name, chances are i can just glance at their shoes.

eventually school started and everyone dispersed and reported to their designated homerooms. there was a ridiculous amount of hand-outs and i didnt understand a word the teacher said, which is what i expected.

chapel was incredibly boring. i had to sit on stage with the other three exchange students (one from america, two from australia) and countless number of teachers. everything was in japanese, so i was completely lost.

i was appalled to learn that people eat their lunches during homeroom. like, in the classroom. even though everyone around me was eating and it was obviously okay to do so, i was very hesitant.

throughout the day people frequently approached me and introduced themselves in english, but when i spoke english in return they totally freaked out. apparently english is cute. whatever.

after school i met up with kawamura-sensei and we had a nice long conversation. she took a photo of the two of us together with her cell phone. you can see it here.

more later.