foggy

moegi and i got to school by 8, a half hour early.

a girl i recognized from friday tapped me on the shoulder and quizzed me on her name. haruko immediately came to mind. i didnt think to check her shoes since she put me on the spot like that.

turns out her name is harumi.

my first class was calculus. within minutes it was clear that calculus would be the first of my classes to get the axe.

second period was "english reading," which is exactly what it sounds like. taniguchi-sensei had everyone stand up as soon as class began, and a mini dialogue took place:

tanaguchi-sensei: good morning, class.
class: good morning, mrs. taniguchi.
taniguchi-sensei: oh, you remembered my name! thank you. how is everyone this morning?
class: fine, thank you. how are you?

i burst out laughing. it sounded well-rehearsed and perfectly in unison, and as a result it came across as being totally insincere.

anyway, i LOVED that class. i finished all the in-class assignments and tonights homework in about five minutes. everything is at about a fifth grade reading level.

after class taniguchi-sensei and i discussed possible curriculum alternatives. ill probably end up writing book reports on a mix of american and japanese literature.

third hour was world lit. i think im going to stick with it, even though i understood next to nothing. i really like the teacher, although i cant put my finger on why.

next, english grammar.

the only good part about studying english grammar is that it constantly reminds me of how lucky i am to be a native speaker of english. suckers!

i hate sitting in on foreign english grammar classes, though. there are so many sentences that, while technically correct, are incredibly awkward. plus, in half of the examples ozawa-sensei put up, two or three words couldve been omitted. i feel like announcing, "hey, dont study this. youre never going to use it," or, "you could cut this sentence down to three words." but i know that if i teach students the "right" way, it will probably end up being marked wrong on a test or something. its really frustrating.

people usually eat lunch in between class periods so that lunchtime can be spent practicing dance.

every year on sports day, in june, each grade choreographs and performs their own dance routine, and all students are required to participate.

at first i was kind of bummed about it, but moegi showed me tapes from last year and now im actually looking forward to it.

moegi tried hunting down imazeki-sensei so she could introduce us, but apparently he wasnt in his office.

i had JSL (japanese as a second language) fifth and sixth period. morimoto-sensei, a teacher from an all-boys high school (kobejogakuin is all-girls), will come in three times a week to give the foreign exchange students special japanese lessons. it was really fun, even though i pissed ashley off at one point.

i guess she offended her host family or something, and i said, "its probably not a big deal. they know youre a stupid american."

and she said, "you cant think that way here."

i said, "what? im not saying youre stupid. its just that theres certain cultural things you cant understand because youre american. thus, stupid american."

she said, "i think thats a stereotype."

"kind of, yeah." then class got started and i got cut off, so i didnt get the chance to break it to her that she doesnt know everything. whatever.

she also took a look at my schedule and saw that i chose oral english and english reading for my electives. she said, "oral english and english reading?! why arent you taking french and german?"

and i said, "because i want to focus on japanese right now."

and i didnt say, "and you should, too. your japanese fucking sucks."

the first time i met her i decided i didnt like her. shes somewhat of an elitist snob. i cant remember what she said, but it was something like, "i went to a private girls school in virginia that was really nice, so i was afraid that going to school in japan would be..." she trailed off, but you can pretty much fill in the blank. and as a sidenote, her voice is breathy.

unfortunately, ill be seeing a lot of her over the next few months, so ill have to suck it up.

on the way home i had a nice conversation (in japanese!) with moegi. she gave me a mini japanese lesson, so now im addressing her completely in casual form.

we hit a bookstore in sannomiya. i picked up norwei no mori ("norwegian wood") and geisha, a life, and special-ordered kuroi ame ("black rain"). all three are relatively famous. the total came to 3,900 yen, or roughly $39.

by that time it was almost five and i was getting really hungry. i bought a pastry at the train station, but due to some unwritten rule, it is impolite to eat in public. i tucked the pastry in my backpack for later. it broke my heart. that little pastry was calling to me.

i plowed through the first hundred pages of geisha, a life on the commute home. so far its very interesting.

as soon as i got back i ate my pastry and read some more.

tomorrow i have kanji class, which is also just for foreign exchange students. also, moegi invited me to attend shodo ("calligraphy") club with her after school. im really excited about it, even though i suck at calligraphy.

speaking of clubs, im planning on joining shashin ("photo") club and sado ("tea ceremony") club. im a huge fan of tea ceremony. its soo relaxing.

anyway, its almost 11 and, once again, i have to get up at 5 tomorrow morning. bedtime.