11/30: fall-color matsuri!

Yesterday we got to go to a fall-color matsuri, where we were bombarded with green, then as we got closer to the festival grounds, the leaves on the trees slowly turned red! It was called the momiji matsuri!

Let me back up, because some cool things happened yesterday. When I woke up, I found that my host-father had already made these perfect little omurice plates for each of us, and it tasted wonderful. I hadn't had a really good omurice before, so it was really impressive.

By then Satoshi hadn't already left to work at the festival, so I started helping Haruka label the sweets to sell and for him to take to the festival. Then he left and I began working on day one’s journal.

Itoha insisted that instead of working alone, she help me by bringing her toys over to my futon and playing with me. She was very helpful in that. Then she insisted that we watch E.T. together, which was adorable, so I gladly watched with her.

Me and Haruka took a walk around their house and towards their restaurant where I stepped foot in it for the first time, and it was really cool. It was made of rocks and bricks and covered in moss. It felt like I stepped into a structure that was very old but people still took great measures to take care of it. From what I learned about the building, how the Mine family has run it for a few generations now, that is exactly so.

Then, me and Haruka went across the rice fields behind the restaurant to the small river and the nearby forest. We didn't walk on the path, but we marveled at the view and enjoyed the crisp air. It was a wonderful walk.

After that, I finally got my work done, and by that point we needed to go to the festival, so off we went. But before that, I met Isla, who was a good dog. We left for the festival, and after getting a little carsick because of the winding roads, we finally arrived at the festival grounds.

I couldn't believe how lush the forest was. It was so beautiful, I was totally enthralled. The little river that ran through the mountains made a soothing noise, and was beautiful as I looked down into it. It was framed nicely by the surrounding green foliage, and as we descended further towards the festival, the forest around us became more and more red and orange.

When we got there, music was being played and vegetables were being given out. I got some sweet potatoes, I think Nanoha got a daikon and everyone else got some sweet potatoes too. We entered the place where food was being sold, and we offered to help Satoshi, alone at the curry stall and slammed with customers, with making the curry to be sold.

I helped scoop the rice, Satoshi poured the curry, added the egg and seasonings, and Haruka sold it and counted the money. We worked together well! But then Itoha wanted to take a walk, and us girls were hungry, so we decided to get something else to eat and then go for a walk and enjoy the beautiful colors.

We walked down towards the river that flowed by us, and I got to touch the water. For me that's something special I do to ‘get to know’ the water, or greet it. It wasn't very cold, but everyone around me was all like “oh wow it's so cold!”

I had to explain that where I come from, the rivers are from snowmelt, and the oceans are ice cold. To swim in those rivers, you must develop a tolerance to the cold, so it becomes easier to bear.

The festival was fun. I trapped a murder-hornet, then realized there was another one right next to it and freaked out. That was scary. I talked to a nice old lady and showed her and her grandson pictures of san fransisco, which was fun. I also talked to a nice old lady who spoke tagalog, english, and spanish. She was very nice.

I ran into some foreigners who spoke English. They messed up my Japanese skills considerably because they rewired my brain for English-speaking and I had to think in Japanese. From then on, actually, I had some trouble speaking Japanese, which I found weird because I had the words on the tip of my tongue.

After we got home, I decided to take another walk with Nanoha, this time into the forests and rice fields that me and Haruka stopped at. We walked for a long time, and I very much enjoyed the nice talk we had, but when I got home, I hadn't realized I was so tired.

I fell onto my futon and immediately fell asleep. That was nuts because I didn't really think I was so tired, I thought I would just close my eyes for a little while and I would be fine. I was not fine! I woke up when everyone was having dinner!

For dinner, we had takoyaki, which I groggily stumbled over to and discovered, and after taking a few bites solemnly decided it was not for me. I usually don't eat octopus, but I ate a piece for the Mine family! Mom, dad, aren't you proud? (冗談)

After I told them that I usually didn't eat octopus, I started eating their fish cakes and cucumbers and kimchi, and they were excited that I liked kimchi. I explained I was just about the only person (except for my dad) in my family who really liked kimchi. They were really glad, and gave me a lot!

We decided to make kimchi and cheese-yaki, some of which fermented the tako in the takoyaki. We had the エバリン・ゾーン where no tako was allowed, which was so nice of them! That was so considerate, I thought, to take my preference and allow me to be my picky-eater self.

After dinner, we decided it was present time, so I brought out all the gifts that I brought for everyone, and I gladly gave them out. Everyone was especially happy about the chocolate, and Kotoha was very happy that I brought raspberry chocolate. That's a win for my grandma, who was correct in thinking those were a great idea!

I have no idea if they've opened the see’s candies box yet, I have no clue if they will like them, but when they open it, I will definitely take one or two. They know I have an allergy to chocolate. It isn't a terrible allergy, though. I can eat a little bit and be mostly fine.

Anyhow shortly after that I took a shower, which was weird because I wasn't expecting the shower to be one where you sit on a bench and spray yourself with water. We do not have that in america, i thought that was weird at first then absolutely loved it.

It was so nice sitting down and also showering because at that point my whole body was tired from doing different things all day. The hot air vent built into the ceiling was nice, but I overheated very easily and it made me drowsy. After that, I went to sleep. I didn't sleep well, but that was my fault.

Note on the day skip: i accidently put yesterday’s date as 11/28 instead of the local time of 11/29.

12/1: Today, we began with an awesome breakfast!! Haruka and Satoshi decided to slice up the sourdough loaf I brought and toast it, and they served it with Avocado (my favorite), cucumber, lettuce, ham, cheese, mayo, and egg. Everything was delicious, every combination was incredible, I thoroughly enjoyed this morning’s meal.

Yesterday I was informed that today would be my reconing: the first day of school. I was not nervous then. I am nervous as I type this now, and I'm almost done with the day! After we had breakfast, it became this rush to get our stuff together in the correct order and get out the door.

I felt like i forgot something (here is a list of what i forgot: toothbrush+toothpaste because i misplaced them at home and i didn't know we needed them at school?, my large water bottle because i became very thirsty)

Haruka gave me a nice bento with the bag she gave it to me as a picture of their youngest Itoha. It was really cute. We piled into the car (with Itoha, who wasn't actually going anywhere but wanted to come with mom anyway), and began the drive to school. It wasn't very long, about the drive to the matsuri yesterday, but without the long winding mountain roads. It was a nice drive.

When we got there, we saw the homeroom teacher walking across the road, but weren't able to talk to her. Me and Kotoha walked into the school- massive by the way, and five stories tall, and were immediately stopped to wait in the office.

We waited there for a few minutes until we met the homeroom teacher- whose name I forget, sorry!- and then we waited some more. Me and Kotoha became nervous. We eventually went up three stories and entered our homeroom class, where I introduced myself the best I could.

So it turns out that this school has a morning period, a sort of ‘focus’ as we called it back at my middle school. That ended quickly, then we went to geography, where I was bored for a long time writing yesterday’s journal. Then, I got approached by the teacher to introduce myself again.

He gave me a textbook that was flipped to the page with california on it, and so i instructed the class to do the same, and explained a little about Sacramento and California. Really, I lied and said I was from around Sacramento, which isn't technically a lie because I am from around Sacramento but I do not live in Sacramento. I just couldn't find Folsom on the map, so I went with Sacramento.

Actually I'm not even from Folsom! I'm from El Dorado Hills! But that's just such a small town it wouldn't show on any map, not even the smallest regional maps. That's another lie, it probably would be, but El Dorado Hills is small compared to Sacremento, so no wonder it wouldn't show up on a world atlas. It makes no sense why it would, if it did.

Anyhow, rant over, we went to math class next. I will not elaborate how because of a year-long break from math I got laughed at softly by a whole class of these kids and had to explain I knew how exponents worked- then immediately messed up a crucial step. It was incredible. I spent the rest of that class spite-drawing in my journal.

Speaking of drawing, the next class was art! And little did I know, art took up two periods. I thought that was really interesting. Anyhow, as I sat twiddling my thumbs while everyone got out their shining canvases and oil paints and started to smell up the room, 先生 came up to me, introduced himself, and offered me an alternate activity. I gladly accepted, and so I began on filling in a scene with GODZILLA IN THE MIDDLE…??

I really didn't expect to draw godzilla blasting a beam of fire- wait no! Trick’s on you, because the fire turns into green foliage! He’s chillin’ in a nice field, and where he steps green grass overtakes the yucky brown grass that once was there!

Let me be absolutely clear in saying that I had no idea what I was doing. I just started drawing with color; lots and lots of color. I don't really like using pencils, I think it's stupid using something that smudges and smears so easily just to get a base? Why would someone do that?? Use pen! Use a light, neutral colored pen that disappears under heavy colors, Especially outlines where you can easily ignore the neutral sketches underneath.

After i finished, i waited a while before i started on the next one because 先生 dissapeared, but when he came back he assigned me another art project. This one was one for what I thought about Satsumasenndai, or what I liked about it. For now i just have 緑森，友人，and something else i don't remember. It may have been おいしい食物 because i forgot to add the べ in 食べ物. I am borderline fluent.

Finally after that it was lunch, and at that point I knew I was hungry, but really I was more excited for english class. I enjoyed the bento that was packed for me, which contained rice, chicken, some avocado, cucumber, tamago, and some delicious mushrooms. I also had some rice crackers that were insanely good, but they got stuck in the crowns of my teeth. That was a nice reminder of how I did not bring my toothbrush.

I packed it, but as of now I have no idea where it is. I found out today that I need it after lunch at school, which is something nobody prepared me for. Aside from not having that and that subsequent embarrassment, me, Kotoha, and two other girls actually walked across the school bridge to get to the other bathroom for them to brush their teeth.

That was fun because at the end of this long hall, I saw a gundam figure made of cardboard, which I thought was cool. So I ran over to it and said hi, which prompted the two other girls to follow me and come say hi too. Then we looked out the window at the town below us, noted the drugstore and how I could read all of the signage (incredible), and then we went back.

The class after lunch was english. But it wasn't english time yet! It was time to clean!! I felt like a buffoon, how I did not understand anyone requests of me, and how it felt like i wasn't needed and that they did this all the time without me (which they did).

Someone told me that we communicated well together, which we didn't, because I know for a fact I only understood about 20% of what he tried to tell me. That was not communication good. That was communication bad.

Anyhow, finally after that we got to talking in English. I got approached by a dude from Alabama- which is exactly the terminology I would use when referring to someone (male) with origins in the American state of Alabama. I was later informed his name was Carl or Craig or Daniel or something really really white. I cannot stress enough how he looked like a dude from Alabama. This was the perfect way to describe him.

He and I talked a little bit about how nice it is to be in Japan, and how he’s a JET program teacher. He’d been in Japan for two years. That's cool for me, because one day I think I'd like to become a teacher in Japan, I don't know if I can, but I'd like to try.

He wasn't our teacher. His class was on the first floor, we were on the third, I have no idea what he was doing up there with us, but he was. Our teacher came and introduced himself, and his English was wonderful.

He and i talked from across the class (rude where i come from, i guess they don't care here? Does it not bother the students?) about different things, including where I was from, how hot California gets in the summer, and how he also lived in Sacramento for a while. I thought that was really cool, so I tried to explain how I lived near Sacramento in Folsom, but he had no idea where Folsom was. It's only like 30 minutes outside of Sacramento! Whatever. Its fine, folsom isn't really that special.

The class after that was Japanese. It wasn't easy Japanese like I was used to, it was big kid 文学. Thankfully, I did not have to introduce myself to the class. Actually, the teacher seemed not to bother with me at all, which me and the girls joked about. On one hand I was relieved I didn't have to speak my terrible Japanese again, and on the other part of me craved that stupid attention that I shrivel up when I got my hands on it! Attention is not good for me, I don't know why I ever desire it. I had really odd mixed feelings about not introducing myself for that last class.

Finally, I'm writing these paragraphs in (what i hope is) the last class of the day. We are sitting here. Doing nothing. Someone was watching tiktok a while ago when the teacher wasn't here. The girls are playing with each other’s hair. Absolutely no instruction is happening, and this teacher is standing at the front of the classroom cutting paper. We are sitting in silence.

I have no idea of the academic merrit of this time, because surely nobody is using it to finish homework, but really I am bored right now. If there is another class after this I might lose my mind. It's almost four! Back home, we get out of school at 2:55 right when the minute turns.

Everyone is saying 疲れた and i totally agree. I too am つかれた. I'm just waiting for the chimes to ring- the ones that go doo dooo doo dooooo- so i can finally go home. I mean I think the sun is starting to set, that's how bad this is. How many more days of this…?

^^^

I went on about that too long. I was just getting antsy. After school finally ended, I parted with Kotoha- she was going to hang out with her boyfriend- and I got picked up by Haruka and Nanoha, and we went to pick up Itoha.

When we got to the daycare, everyone was very nice, especially this lively dog that I met who insisted on biting my hand very hard. That hurt. I kept on getting “あっ、大丈夫でしょうか？” from everyone, but really, i was 大丈夫.

After that, we went to a family mart! As an american looking into japanese living, all i had heard about life here was “go to a コンビニ”. That's it. That's just about the only advice that I've really gotten over and over again as of things I absolutely have to do.

Not to be ungrateful, but i found the コンビニ to be just about regular. Their selection of snacks was incredible, their drinks were half tea, half alcohol, and there was some availability of warm food, but I found that it felt like an average convenience store in America.

I really don't mean to sound rude! It was cool, I got a grapefruit drink (which was delicious), a small coke for later (because coke runs in my veins, I'm an American), an annko daifuku, and a 3-flavored hi-chew pack. All that- especially the small Coke would be totally unavailable in America. Really, it was neat.

After that, we went home. The gradual changing of the weather throughout the day had finally settled into a dense cloudy sky, which eventually started sprinkling rain.

For dinner that night we had Oden, which was actually the first time I ever had oden. That was really cool. It was good, but kinda fishy. Who could have guessed fish broth with fish cakes and shrimp balls and tofu skins and such would end up tasting fishy?

Personally I thought it could have used a little salt but that might have been my inner American talking.

After dinner I couldn't stand being awake any longer. I was so tired, I flopped down onto my futon and immediately fell asleep. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was day three.

Fourth day: school assembly.

We woke up, and for breakfast we had fish, miso soup, rice, cucumber, and I actually forgot what else but it was a very traditional breakfast. It was delicious. I think the dashi in the miso soup was the same soup base we had from the oden the night before.

Anyhow, the day prior Kotoha told me that she’d wanted to take her bike to school like she usually did, and so she left earlier than we did in the car, but not by much. She got to school on time, though, so either she teleported, took a short cut, or really booked it.

Anyhow I went to school and finally had enough with not being able to get any proper work done, so I went downstairs to the office and asked for the wifi password. I ended up talking to the vice-principal, and he gave me this little square router that could fit in my pocket. I named it the ウイフィブリック and we became best friends.

Me and the wifi brick went everywhere together, including to our next class, where I found Kotoha waiting for me. I introduced her to the wifi brick, and she was impressed. Our next class was math, which I skipped (of course) because last time I participated I was rightfully laughed at. The last time I did math was almost 7 months ago! I don't even know if that number is right- because I don't want to subtract!! That's how much I hate math!

After math was P.E., and here we go. This was a nightmare. Let me just preface this with the fact that at my high school- not in America in general, but a special thing we do at my high school- 3rd year students and 4th year students do not have to do P.E.

I have not had to do P.E. for almost 2 years now, and the last time i had to, i was in weights class. I was lifting weights instead of playing games and running around. So it's been two years since I had to bring my P.E. clothes, 2 years since I had to bring my P.E. shoes, and two years since i had to worry about how i smell after a workout (and also around people).

I forgot to bring my sweats; I forgot to bring my shoes; I forgot to bring deodorant, which was terrible because I've heard white people sweat worse than the Japanese, and we were playing basketball, a sport I'm famously bad at.

Not only was I running around in socks for a good portion of that time (I was eventually given shoes, whose laces I couldn't tie because I might be stupid), but I was running around in my uniform too. I'm writing this the next day- I have not yet washed this blazer. I'm getting worried about how I smell.

Of course I took my blazer off- i would have overheated otherwise (actually I almost overheated as I was, with just the shirt under), but I felt like a buffoon. Not to mention that everyone kept on passing me the ball-

Why would you pass me the ball? Why? Just because I am an American does not make me automatically good at basketball. Now 野球- no im not good at baseball either. I'm not good at any sport other than karate, and I haven't done that in almost 9 months now. My forms probably all messed up and my katas probably look so terrible I would be thrown out of the dojo I usually train at for trying to make them better.

Out of all the shots I attempted, I made 1. One singular shot. I felt like a god in that moment, and i shouted: 「バスケットスター!」the good players on my team probably felt pity for my sorry state. I mean me and another girl passed the ball back and forth almost 7 times before she relented and made the shot, because I refused to do it (at this point in the game I had missed almost 9 shots in a row. Absolutely not. Not again- no- no- no!!)

After that nightmare I smelled terrible, felt tired, and was glad to return to our homeroom class. Our next class was Japanese, but I didn't mind. We then proceeded to do nothing for about two hours.

I later found out it was free time instead of the scheduled period I was led to believe it was, which threw me off. There was no teacher in with us. We did not れい. It was weird. The chimes rang to signify the time passing, and we still sat there. Everyone else was doing something, and I was left working on my computer like an idiot.

Finally after what felt like forever, it was lunch time. Haruka made us pork and kimchi stew!! It was so incredibly good, I would have eaten the whole pot if given the chance. I've got to ask her how she made it, but i don't know if i can find such thin pork in america..

I also had this odd layered fish cake/egg white and mayo almalgomation thing. It wasn't the fish cake (or the egg white, i wasn't sure which one it was). I can't take that much mayo in my life :(

After lunch, I don't really remember what we did. We stayed in the same class, I don't know bro. But after that, we all evacuated the class and went outside again to go attend the school assembly, where I learned a school trip was coming up. I'm not invited, by the way, they didn't foresee my arrival.

So they're going to Osaka, and I want to go so bad I cannot even believe it. I want to waltz on over to the ticketing counter at Kagoshima airport and ask them to move my flights until after they come back. I'm not going to do that, but I want to.

Literally it's just on the 12th, which would be a tight squeeze and I have no idea if I'd be gone by then, but I really really want to go and see Osaka. Kagoshima is absolutely beautiful and it's everything I could have asked for, but personally I need to do some shopping. I brought some serious money- and sorry mom and dad- but some of it needs to go.

I mean they got credit cards. Who uses credit cards in Japan?? I'll tell you who: big-city dwellers. I wouldn't mind just popping over to Nagasaki for a day out, maybe just once. It's closer than Osaka or Tokyo.

So I was a sad panda for a while, until I realized the room we had the assembly in was the same room they did the judo and kendo in! Ooh! And they left the swords out! Now I did not get to touch them, but god knows I really wanted to. Like, I really wanted to run around with a sword.

After that, that was pretty much it. We didn't have to do much after that. We sat in class, if I remember correctly, and then we got out of school. I had to give back the wifi-brick, which at this point I'd grown attached to and started calling wifi-brick-chan, and give back the shoes that I borrowed for P.E. to the teachers I borrowed them from.

Then, finally, we got to do the thing: we got to go to コスモス! コスモス, or Koss-moss, is a drugstore, but i was promised it had an extensive candy isle, so i insisted that i wanted to go. I went with Kotoha and a friend, and we entered to be immediately impressed and disappointed at the same time.

The candy aisle was fine, I guess. Again- american candy isles are insane, and we have a smaller focus on nuts rather than pure sugar because our population overdosed early and now we need insane amounts of sugar to taste anything.

What I was really impressed with koss-moss, was the sheer selection. This was not your regular wallgreens, people, this was an extensive selection of many different items from a whole sock section, to baby food, to fresh vegetables (!!! WOW! I can't believe that!! What drugstore stocks fresh vegetables???), and frozen food!

In america, drugstores sell -perscription drugs (of course); -non-perscription medicines (of course); -candy (to an insane extent, we have two isles at our small local one alone); -and stupid little throw-away gifts. They also sell cards for some reason, and they develop photos, which is very convenient.

They usually don't have a real selection of food. It's all snacks. At koss-moss, it was stocked so that someone could actually do shopping there. And it was cheap!! The big pink sign outside said 「毎日安い」”Everyday cheap”, which i belive. I got some soda (Momo flavored! I love white peaches!), some macaroni for tomorrow’s dinner, some gummies, two packs of macha bamboo-shoot chocolate-cookie snacks (I'm glad I got two, I ate one that night), and another pack of hi-chew. That one was lemon-flavored.

(note: after writing so much about snacks, i want candy. So bad. You don't understand, I don't have access to any right now, it's like I can't drink water. You think my usual sweet tooth is bad? This is a whole other level of ‘i want snackies’)

We looked for some cheddar cheese, but it was nowhere to be found. It was all mixed with mozzarella and a mystery third cheese whose name I have no idea. That cheese blend intimidated me, I was not ready to take-on the mystery cheese blend alone. Especially with all that cornstarch on it? It would ruin my macaroni recipe. It's better not to use it.

Anyhow, after we paid, and I got yelled at by the machine to take my change, we waited a little while for Satoshi to pick us up- oops sike! Pick me up! Kotoha rode her bike, and the friend who came with us wasn't coming back with us. So when she arrived we bid adieu, and I left with Satoshi, Haruka, and Nanoha.

Except someone (Kotoha) told them I was looking for cheese. And so began the quest for cheese, where we went to two different stores where I was assured cheddar would be- and it was not. We were a little disappointed, but I assured them I could settle for the cheese mix and it would be just as good.

Finally we went home, and we ate tempura for dinner. I didn't eat a lot, but it was really delicious. We dipped the crunchy (and hot) tenpura into (cooler) leftover dashi broth from yesterday’s oden, and it not only soaked up the flavor but also cooled it off. It was really good.

I took a shower then went to bed. Yeah that was it, but I had fun. I can't wait to drink that soda I bought with my friends.　

Fifth day:

Who eats sandwiches for breakfast!?!! Because we do??? Apparently? I got up, said おはよう, and everything was great, but then i noticed Haruka making sandwiches. Lots of them. I sat down in front of her, and she asked me whether I wanted the sourdough bread I brought with me for my sandwich or the shokopan she had. I chose shokopan, assuming it was for lunch.

It was not for lunch. She explained to me that she had made us a bento for lunch as usual, and the sandwiches were for breakfast. I had to explain that that was weird, nobody does that, who are you people to go breaking the laws of sandwich timing?

It wasn't really that serious, actually, I really enjoyed the sandwich she made me. It had lettuce and ham and wet scrambled egg and cucumber (I love cucumber. I love how we eat it with every meal) and a little bit of mayo and everything was YUMMY. I can forgive how we ate it in the morning based simply on the merrit of that freakishly good sandwich.

Anyhow, then Kotoha went to school on her bike, and I've accepted that I want to go with her now because me, Satoshi, Haruka, and Itoha were late getting to the high school. We were only a little late pulling up to the school, but I was really late getting to class.

That was partially because I also had to go downstairs and talk to the office about once again obtaining wifi-brick-chan so that I could work efficiently today, but guess what? Too bad for me, the vice-principal is out today until 3:00! No wifi-brick-chan until 3:00?? My heart melts!

Fine. whatever. I'll just go to class- and guess what's waiting for me? Actual work. No thank you. I don't like that. The teacher wanted me to complete a sheet of notes with the class and follow along with his lecture about 国際関係学; こくさいかんけい; international relations.

This, for me, was a kanji lesson. I got to review a bunch of kanji like 人、入、国、外国人、出入、会員、社会生、二つ、止、年、子ども、明、新、and of course, 日本.

(dear english-speaking family, if you're reading this, and you're wondering what’s the difference between 人 and 入, the answer is simple. One is backwards. 人 reads ひと, “hito” by itself, meaning person, and 入 is often いり or “iri” for to enter. Yes, they look the same. It's the stroke order that gets you. The first one the long stroke is /   <- that one and for the second one the long one is \  <- that one. And yes, they are usually easily distinguisable. Japanese really isn't that hard.)

Next up was japanese language. I got to put the sheet of kanji away and bring out my computer again, and finally begin writing for today. Can't do much without wifi-brick-chan, but I'll get by. Goodbye spell-check!

Nothing happened. So guess what class is next? Also japanese- who scheduled that…? I do not understand this school’s schedule. Whatever. Now we get the cool 日本語の先生. She is like a jolly woman, but I guess she’s just been enjoying the foods of this country. I don't know why more Japanese people aren't fat like Americans- but maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm just special.

I thought I liked her as a teacher, but she made me talk aloud to the class. I did not like that. I didn't know a lot of the kanji she made me read, and my peers around me didn't know one kanji either, so I had to ask her, and she told me. That was difficult for me.

Luckily I only had to read twice, so we were mostly good. The class after that was English, where I also had to do things. There were a lot of if statements that I had to fill in the words for, which was easy for me since I'm a native English speaker, but I felt like it was a little contrived. The class was really weird in that way.

I also made the grave mistake of making an odd noise after defining the syllables for the USA, and the teacher took it to mean I thought it was an obvious abbreviation. I tried to clarify that I thought that the USA was boring, and not that the abbreviation was obvious. I really didn't mean to be rude.

Finally, lunch. At this point my stomach was rumbling, and I was really hungry. We had minced pork and egg over rice, and it was delicious. After we ate, though, there was some time to spare. I thought we should have gone right into cleaning, but we didn't, which confused me.

A brief note on cleaning (get ready for this to take up half the page), we clean after lunch. Which i think is weird, why not clean at the very end of the day? Preferably when I'm not here? Truly i must be the laziest american ever conceived. But it's not like this journal is being broadcasted to the world- these thoughts are personal… anyhow im going to tell a story about my regular そうじする experience.

So. Apparently I'm on super-sweeper duty. Which super-sucks because i suck at sweeping. It double-sucks because the brooms they have are old as dirt itself, and the bristles are dirty like they are made entirely of human hair. If it was being touched with that thing on the cheek or death, I'd choose death. They're that bad.

Anyhow I'm brooming around with this instrument of dread, and someone keeps yelling at me to do something. Now my brain- in its infinite wisdom and thousands of years of evolution- tunes all of this instruction out because it is in a foreign language. I missed 100% of everything they said to me, which was terrible because it was probably critical- and now I look like an idiot and don't even know it.

Now I've picked up on something wrong- and guess what- they try their english skills on me- and someone hits me with the ‘Good communication!’. I want to translate ‘sarcasm’ into Japanese, but I feel like that would be a terrible thing to do. I just hit him with the そうですか and keep on sweepin’.

Now all the crud in the world is in a corner, and I swear nobody in this class smokes but it looks like pure carbon smoke crud is lined up on the floor, and it is what we- in america- call ‘Yucky’. Now i have to sweep it into a sweeper pan- i have to explain for the Nth time that yes, we call sweeper pans “pans”, and yes, it sounds like パン (bread).

And I miss the mark. I don't know how you sweep over someone’s hand. I did. It was almost graceful how bad at that i was. I mean it almost went everywhere but the pan! That was fun. I might be a moron, but I'm getting better at it as the days go by.

The class after cleaning- im begining to consider cleaning its own class- was earth sciences. This was something I took when I was a

Day 6:

 Let me just preface this one: it's a regular school day. You can take most of the past 3 days and combine them into one, and you get the sum of today. Regular things happened; but I did mess up a little.

 Before all that, before I went to school, I woke up and we had breakfast. It was good. Fish, rice, a little chicken, furikake, cucumber (as always), and today I learned I would get some chiffon cake that was gifted to us by our guest Kotone (not Kotoha) last night. I chose the tea and lemon flavor. It was really good!

 First of all: I said I would talk about chalkboards yesterday. Fine, yeah, they're cool. They're more satisfying than the whiteboards we have in America, and I like the chalk colors we have, but I have a new thing to yap about, get ready!

 Bathrooms. Oh boy. First of all, at home, I was afraid there would be a squatty-potty or something. It might be worse: when you open the door, the lights turn on, the seat starts heating itself, and the lid of the toilet lifts up to reveal the throne.

 It's weird. It actually frightened me the first time I entered the restroom (I want to make the distinction between bathrooms and restrooms; bathrooms are where you take a bath, restrooms are where you rest your colon.)

 The bidet is not required. This is important for everyone’s information. I have not tried it yet- i am too scared- but i promise i *might* in the future. And at school- oh boy- the restrooms are odd. There is a sensor to turn on sounds of nature while you dump (that you can press a button to shut up) that is so sensitive that it keeps on going off even if you're standing there, just trying to change your clothes.

 I mean seriously- in america, we just deal with our *toilet sounds* being awkward. I think it's more awkward to announce to the entire restroom “Hey!! This stall is having a brief moment of relief!!”

 And when it goes off as a mistake, it's really annoying. I am trying to change back into my uniform from my P.E. clothes, i tell the sensor to please stop. The fun thing is that when you press the button, because it's across from the overly-sensitive sensor, it will just go off again.

 Anyhow, in school we had that crazy biology teacher again, and most of the class was fine. But when he ran out of teaching material for the day, he turned to me to entertain the class. He asked me questions about California, and about where I lived. He drew a map of the California coastline, including L.A. and San fransisco, and I talked a little about those cities.

 I gave mostly the pros and cons of the cities. Then he asked which one was california- which i had to explain that both of them were california- which got some laughs, and then he asked where I lived. I didn't live in either San Fran or Los Angeles, so I told him I lived much further to the right. He asked which highway- which I was absolutely not prepared for, so I just said 80. Or 60- I don't remember. That was fun.

 You know what’s funny? More than ever, when I look in the mirror, I feel weird. I've always had this level of weirdness when I perceive myself- faceblindness does that to a person- but now I'm looking around and I'm not seeing a mix of people. All around me are Japanese people.

 I'm sticking out like a sore thumb, and I feel like it, and I feel like I look like it. I feel inadequate, like every conversation I miss out on is something I could have reached if I just studied harder.

 The truth is that I've been ignoring my other studies to work towards this scholarship. I wanted to become a 留学生 so badly i forgot to be a 学生. Now I find myself to be one of how many white people in this town? You could count all of us on one hand, maybe two if it's a weekend. I just feel weirdly out of place.

 I feel fine when I'm observing, though, this level of misunderstanding is familiar to me from America. The background noise of people going about their lives is usually tuned out, leaving me with a nice white noise for my thoughts to swim in. It's like that here.

 If they're not speaking directly to me (and sometimes when they're speaking to me, I'm having some trouble understanding everything), I tune a lot of what people are saying out loud. Certain words and conjugation forms get through, and I understand them.

 Whatever. I talked to my friends online, and that was nice, and I found out that we are having sashimi with kimchi stew for dinner!! Yum!! After the colossal mess-up that was today’s day of school, I'm glad to have a normal, comforting meal.

 It was wonderful. In the stew there was pork, clams (which I tend to avoid because I don't like the texture but I'm eating some on this trip!), tofu, kimchi (of course), daikon, two kinds of mushroom, tukkbokki (small cylindrical rice cakes- i only know how to say it, i don't quite know how to spell it because i've seen it spelled many different ways,) and more!

 There was so much good stuff in that soup- I loved it. Then, the sashimi. Oh. my. God. Saatoshi prepared it right in front of me not 45 minutes before we ate, and that fish was delicious. There was a white fish- whose name I forgot- and there was maguro. I loved both equally. The white fish had some tough parts towards the skin parts, though, but I ate them and enjoyed them.

 After dinner, Satoshi, and Haruka talked about various things. I showed them the devastating presentation from today, and explained about where I live. I showed them where I lived on a map. I think they were happy with it. Earlier they were asking about our cars, and i told them all about dad’s project car, which they were very impressed with.

 Yeah, today was an odd day, but I still had fun. Im just glad i get to sleep at the end of everything.

Day 7: FRIDAY!!

I woke up late. Usually I'm rather punctual in waking up, I guess I thought it was already the weekend. Whatever. We had udon made from the leftover kimchi soup we had yesterday. I wasn't able to eat a lot because I had something crunchy in it (it was not supposed to be crunchy), and I felt bad that I didn't eat much. Whatever.

We raced out the door, I nearly forgot my umbrella, lunch, and I totally forgot my P.E. jacket even though it is totally raining outside (P.E. jacket is different from Uniform jacket), and we started for school.

Midway through i forgot to bring -cough drops (my thought hurt, there was a thing going around); -a mask (my face looked like hell, and i didn't want to spread the thing going around); -tissues (for my snotty face); and i also forgot to brush my hair.

So I am a wreck today. Welcome to it. On top of all that, my shirt is wrinkled beyond recognition. I look like a total snob. I got to school, asked the office for wifi-brick-chan, and the vice-principal wasn't there. That was cool. Then I went to the nurse’s office to get the masks I lacked, and got a few (one of which I dropped.)

I had to borrow a hair comb- which wasn't that bad, but it felt weird using someone else’s hair comb- and when i opened my chromebook to start working guess what? I forgot to charge it last night!! I am a complete wreck! There is no hope for me! We were chilling at 35%, now it's down to 26%. I'm not even doing anything, I have the lid closed!

The first class is English. I am typing in english. I am worried that because everyone’s trying to think in English, they will be tempted to look over my shoulder to read all this. I hope they don't. I want my inadequacy to be a secret.

For P.E. class, this time I was mostly prepared for today’s class (except for the jacket) and it went mostly smoothly. I actually remembered to bring a water bottle, which I think might be weird because nobody else did that.

But when everyone was getting changed back into their regular school uniforms, I was offered an umeboshi gummy. I told her I liked gummies- a mistake looking back- because she had some umeboshi gummies on her.

I do not like ummeboshi. Sweet salty sour pickled plum, and it overloads all of those flavors 300%. She told me it was umeboshi- and internally I panicked because I do not like them. Uh oh. Outwardly i said “uhhh.. I'll try it. Thank you” (in japanese), and popped the little thing into my mouth.

Yuck. I chewed it and the sugar on the outside did nothing to aid the taste. It was weird. Too salty, too sour, too sweet, it was yuck. I told her “mmm it's delicious” and then told the girl next to her “I am lying” and everyone laughed because they knew I was hesitant to try it.

I explained that it was a new gummy for me, and that although I usually don't eat umeboshi, I was glad to try this one. I told her thank you, then waited outside awkwardly. (let me be clear- i totally did not swallow that thing. I happened to have an extra tissue on hand that a friend gave me. I discreetly spit it out- i didn't want the girl who gave it to me’s feelings hurt- and tossed it.)

That was fun. Next was math. You know how math goes by now. Nothing happens, I sit there, eventually everyone turns their desk to face each other and work together, and I continue to do nothing. They don't do much of anything either- not that i can tell- i think they do other homework.

I will say that these kids are working on concepts I never learned, though, with notation I barely understand. Is this the dreaded math without numbers everyone keeps telling me to look out for..? On top of that, it's in Japanese.

A while ago I had the opportunity to apply for a three month scholarship in Japan where I'd be a full-time scholar at a high school. That was a while ago, when I wasn't as sound on these linguistic concepts as I am now. I still find myself stumbling through each sentence.

I guess thats an understatement, because i have found i *can* communicate. I have wonderful conversations with the people I meet, who are happy to meet me. I talk a little, I try to understand what they tell me, and all is well in the world.

I wonder, if I went on that scholarship trip, would I have gotten by? Would it have been google translate for me, or would i have been sound in my skills so that i don't need language translation?

I haven't used it as much as I thought I would. I thought I would be translating complex sentences so that people could hear my voice, so to say, in better eloquence. That isn't the case. I've found I don't need it, other than the few cases when I need a word here and a word there.

People offer translations to me, and I respond in Japanese. It's all japanese to me. I'm thinking in Japanese now, and even typing on my computer makes it difficult to return to that state of mind, but I do eventually return.

My dad told me to be confident in everything that I do. He told me that I have to trust my own skills, even when I think they are inadequate. He told me to replay and replay these things in my head, and I have. His words have been bouncing around my thick skull this whole time, and it's comforting to know someone trusts my skills.

I can get 上手’d left and right, but I will not believe it until I prove it to myself. So far in this trip I have not proved it to myself.

The rest of the day was fine, but what was funny about today was that after lunch, we did not clean like we were supposed to. Kotoha explained to me that we were to have a fire evacuation and disaster preparedness drill today at the end of school, and so I waited nervously for that.

Oh, for lunch we had a wonderful teriyaki chicken sandwich with egg, cucumber, lettuce, and wasabi taste lingering. That was odd to me, I'm not sure where it came from. I'm sure it was fine, actually it added a pleasant taste to everything, I kinda enjoyed it.

The evacuation drill itself was fun, the alarm was an odd noise though. It was also weird how we were supposed to run outside- in America we are told to walk in an orderly manner. In Japan they have it right. If there is a disaster, run.

I have shoes that do not work with me, though, and barely stay on my feet. Through the week I kinda got the hang of walking in them, but running in them is a totally different thing. It was so difficult, I was behind everyone else.

Then we sat on the ground and watched firemen put out little fires. It was cool. I played in the dirt while they were talking. We sat there for a little while, I got increasingly uncomfortable in my ill-fitting school shoes (we aren't supposed to wear those outside!), and waited for everyone to finish. We bowed, then went back inside.

Back in the homeroom, we (finally) cleaned, and I can't believe cleaning can come as a relief. After that, while all the desks were still at the back of the classroom, we took a group photo as a class. I sat next to our class representative-

Before I go on, let me get this straight. When I heard the words ‘class representative’ in anime, I thought ‘Grade representative,’ with ‘class’ being a synonym for ‘grade as a whole.’ That was not the case. There was one boy in our homeroom who told us to 起立する and れい when the teacher said 始めましょ and 終わりましょ. *He* was our class representative.

There were more than one, too. I saw most of them at the assembly when they got materials for each person according to the class. So there are a lot of different class representatives. I also met the 2nd year representative, who was very nice. He represented everyone in the grade, not just the class.

So we took the photo, and I was next to the class rep. And Kotoha, and behind us was everyone I'd gotten to know. One day, I'll be happy to meet them again. Monday is my last day before everyone takes their school trip, so I'd get all my goodbyes out then.

After school, I parted with Kotoha, and got picked up by Haruka. Nanoha wasn't in the car, though, like she usually was, so we went to go pick her up from her middle school. It was really cool, there was a green-yellow spiral staircase that looked neat. Also, young kids went to that school, but that just might be the american in me talking.

Then we finally went home. For dinner that night, honestly i forgot what we ate, but it was probably delicious. Keeping with the theme of forgetting everything- I forgot to take a shower before I went to bed, and slept pretty well.　

Day 8: 神社、みかん、マカロニとチーズ

I woke up late, but not as late as Nanoha, so I wasn't super worried. After all of it was over, I think Nanoha finally got out of bed after 12:30, which was honestly impressive. I wish I could sleep until 12:30. Kotoha left early, and so left me, Itoha, Satoshi, and Haruka alone to our own devices.

I already knew today was the day. We would go to the shrine. Finally, There was a temple/shrine in the forest that I asked if we could go on like day 2, and my host family told me we needed kimonos to go up there.

Well, I got a kimono. I don't remember whether I mentioned that, but I sure did show pictures of that. Well let me just say, they let me borrow one of their family kimonos! It was beautiful. Dark blue base with rectangular diamond shapes sewn into it with golden-yellow and brown thread.

With that, I wore a red obi, and off we went! Kotone (again, not Kotoha.) helped me put it on because that one was rather complicated- thanks past me for picking it- and she rode with us to the shrine.

Up there was beautiful. In January, the plum blossoms of the temple bloom and apparently the area is totally crowded. That's really cool. We walked past the dormant trees towards a few statues, one of ツン, a dog statue that people loved (I understand why, he was so cute), and one who was dedicated to studying.

You better believe homegirl gave the studying guy a 5円 coin. I need to learn this language and fast- im not understanding like 60% of what people say to me. That is bad. Also, I'd like to pass this semester, so you know. Please. Please please help me 神様.

Then, we entered the gate (which you had to bow before entering) and went wandering through the grounds of the temple. I washed my hands in some water- that was cool- then I was informed I also had to swish the water around in my mouth.

I saw a dead bug in the water. Leaves were floating in this- ill give it to them- perfectly clear water; I still don't trust it. When was the last time this holy shrine was clorox’d? I took the smallest, miniscule amount of water into my mouth, and swished like once, then spit it.

That was a little weird for me, but it was fine. We approached the temple entrance, bowed, clapped twice (?), then finally put our hands together to pray. I prayed for better studying ability, and then I prayed for better understanding of japanese. I wonder if the 神 of the shrine even understood me because i prayed in english…

I hope they got the gist of what I needed. I'm sure everything will be fine. After, we gave the shrine a coin, then turned and immediately considered giving away more money at the gift shop. Their おみやげ were cool! I got both my brothers a studying charm, and Haruka got me a plum flower charm that i considered giving to my Japanese teacher, but i decided to put on my own bag.

After that, we went to lunch! On my first day of school, I pointed out a sign that read ‘cream udon,’ and mentioned how that sounded good. Well today I got to try that! It was really delicious! It was almost like a light, soupy carbonara, except the meat was beef. It also had seaweed. It was really good.

I also got a croquette to go with it. It was so incredibly good. The outside was so crispy- it was incredible. I gave half of it to Itoha, though, and she barely ate it- so at the end of the meal I took it because she didn't eat it, and Oops! She noticed!

She started crying. I felt bad, so I offered her the lollipop that I got (they usually only give them to children, but I got one because I was a foreigner). She eventually stopped crying, and we started towards the house of the lady who’s farm we would pick oranges at.

We got to meet her and her children, then surprise to me, she came with us! And her kids! All of us together! In two different cars! Sike! You thought we took the same car? Too many people! We went up and up on this long twisting road, it was nuts, and finally we got to her farm. It was expansive- so many orange trees!

We left around 12:30, and we got back around 4:00, so we stayed there a while. I'm glad we did. I had fun picking the oranges, and I think I picked the most. Then, I picked up the heaviest basket because I felt bad that the oldest man there would have had to pick it up otherwise.

Yes- he was a worker there. He was wonderful. I told him it was fine, I got it. Because you're an older person, you shouldn't lift something so heavy. But that basket of oranges- wow that thing was heavy.

I was later informed that it was probably around 20 kilos. That kind of annoyed me at the time because I didn't have the translation in my head ready. I have it now! It was like 44 pounds! Or more! That thing felt like 50 lbs.

It was awesome. In the end, we all picked almost 4 baskets of oranges, and we got to keep two of them! It was awesome. After, we went to a convenience store. It was cool. I got some snacks, and by chance I got the last melon bread (does not taste like melon, by the way guys, just looks like melon) that Kotoha probably made. It was delicious.

We then went home, and I began the hectic process of making macaroni and cheese. It was strangely difficult to find cheddar cheese in japan- the only ‘cheddar’ lookin’ cheese we could find out here was what we would classify as ‘american’ cheese, or ‘plastic’ cheese.

That kind that comes in wrappers? The kind that never melts onto burgers right? They looked like kraft singles. That's what I'm talking about. I made my dad’s special macaroni with *kraft singles*.

What I'm saying is that I committed a sin. It actually turned out fine- that was probably the other kind of cheese and the onion pulling heavy weight. Everyone really enjoyed it, and I was glad, even though to me it tasted a little off (kraft singles) and the sauce was a little clumpy (kraft singles).

It came out fine. We all ate it. If my family gets a big check in the mail, well, we will all know what happened. It was the kraft singles. Anyhow, we had a great day today, even if Kotoha and Nanoha were not with us.

You know, I've always really wanted a younger sister. Itoha can fit in my suitcase, right? (note how i slyly append something heartfelt with something silly so we don't get too sappy up in here)　

 Day 9: working!

 I woke up especially late, which was cool because it felt like I didn't get any sleep at all. I did, probably, but it felt odd. By the time I got up, Kotoha was already out the door, and I don't know when Nanoha got up.

 I sat around for a while, enjoying a nice and slow morning. I had another sandwich for breakfast, which I think I'm getting used to, and I also ate my cheesecake from yesterday. That was delicious.

 Japanese cheesecake, by the way, is light, fluffy, and so delicious. I love it. Alright back to your regularly scheduled program: after eating breakfast (and an orange we picked yesterday that was delicious,) I proceeded to do nothing and wait for Haruka to come back.

 I played with Itoha, actually. We built a lego set together. It was the same Lego set she likes building, and I think I've seen various people build it about 5 times now, but that's fine. It was fun. We built it, then watched howl’s moving castle together because that was what was on TV.

 Finally, Haruka got back, and I got to put on both of my aprons! One i got yesterday- one that had the words “Mine shop” (峯商店、みねしょうてん）, “Evelyn” spelled out in kanji, and “Kagoshima 2025” in plain english. I love that apron. I love it so much. I almost cried when they gave it to me when I was making the macaroni and cheese.

 Anyhow, Me, Haruka, and Itoha made our way over to their restaurant across the street, and I helped set up shop  for the day. I helped sweep the floor and wipe down the tables, and it was cool. Then the first customer came in.

 It was a friend of Haruka’s. She came with her two children, and she was very nice. Her kids played with Itoha while she and Haruka talked, and I tried to chime in when I could. They talked very fast, though I felt like I couldn't really get what I wanted to say in time.

 When they were leaving, though, one of her children dropped the milkshake that Haruka made for her. She didn't cry or anything, but everyone felt bad about it, so Haruka insisted on making them a new one in the house. Afterwards, I went out there and splashed the remaining milkshake away with water.

 What's funny is that the first customer she didn't know personally came in when she was helping Itoha use the restroom. She was away at the time! So I was alone in the store, working on today’s journal, and then this dude walked in.

 Like, sorry im a 外人, dude. Like 少々待ってください bro. Got him a seat, got him some water, got him a napkin and a menu, and I flagged down Haruka and told her someone was here. She thankfully took over with her superior japanese skills- and i was very glad.

 Anyhow, working like that went on for a while. I really enjoyed it, actually. It was fun! I loved talking to the people who came in, fascinated with the white girl working at the rural curry shop nestled between rice fields and forested mountains.

 I talked to a nice woman (who’s english was absolutely excellent- i absolutely couldn't believe it- apparently she was a native to Satsumasendai??) who had recently moved to a place near russia. She had a costa-rican boyfriend. She was really cool. I was really happy I got the chance to meet her.

 At some point, I think poor Haruka had had enough of me getting in her way, and told me it was fine to go back across the street and relax at home. I took the hint- if there was one, i wasn't really sure- and went home to relax. I had a little bit of a difficult time.

 I have been listening to the same tune for two hours. It's the same one we have in America to give to kids. I don't know how long I can tune it out- not for much longer.. I have just been sitting here.. Listening to my own music, but not even headphones over earbuds, fixes the ever-looming presence of baby media.

 Finally, some relief, as Haruka asks me back over to the restaurant to come and talk to some people who are curious about me, and so i got to come over and talk to them. I had a wonderful conversation with this couple about various things, including:

 -how they were both twenty, and the significance of that in japanese culture; -simalarities and differences in japanese culture and american culture; -our curry vs. their curry; -what i think of Japan thus far; and other things. I really enjoyed our conversation.

 At some point it was closing time for the shop, so i walked Itoha out of the store, and we went to the car intent on going over to a コンビニ after work. We said our goodbyes to our new friends, that nice couple, and then we took off.

 We got Kotoha from the house and picked up Nanoha from Mc Donalds somewhere in town, and we all proceeded to go grocery shopping. That was cool, that was something I actually wanted to do. I got myself some rock-hard mochi, a peach jelly bowl, and a souvenir sumo wrestler udon cup for my uncle. I thought he would find it hilarious- he and I really like watching sumo together.

 Afterwards, we went to Lawson. That was cool. I got a *LOT* of snacks. Like, a lot. It came out to like 4000 yen. That felt like i was overspending on snacks, but i swear im not gonna get any more. I think i have enough as souvenirs and gifts now.

 Now that I've visited all three of the big chains, I'd like to say this about them: my first impressions were wrong. I'll admit that. I went to a family mart for my first time going to a コンビニ, and i was really not that impressed. Maybe it was the family mart I went to, but I thought the ones we have in America are much cooler.

 Second on my tier list is Lawson. They're cool. A little expensive, but a better selection. They had hot drinks and lots of cold drinks, a good selection of snacks, and a fine fried-food section, but everything was soggy. It was fine.

 And at #1: Seven eleven! I really liked it. It had a great selection of baked goods, frozen goods, some fresh goods (Wow!), and a great selection of cold drinks. I don't think there were a lot of hot drinks, but that's fine, i wasnt looking for them, and i guess if you really wanted a hot drink just go to a vending machine.

 And then the fried-food and freshly made food: The Melon-Pan!! I had a 7-11 Melon pan that was really cool. It was delicious!! I liked it. 11/10 it was yummy.

 But back to Lawson, it was nice. The boy at the checkout was kind, and packed everything in my basket into the little plastic bag in one go! I was really impressed. After that, we left. I ate my curry spring roll, Itoha ate her Korokke, and the other girls were good, and we drove in peace.

 For dinner, we had (something whose name I forgot, but I will describe it now:) a big pot of boiled cabbage, topped with thinly sliced pork, some mushrooms of various kinds, and fish balls. The broth was unseasoned, but we had ponzu, so we dunked everything in ponzu and it tasted wonderful.

 There was also this lovely sesame sauce we had, it was thick and creamy, and it made everything it came into contact with it umami and nutty. It was delicious. What's terrible is that I had a little stomach ache from the odd curry roll I ate from Lawson, and so I didn't eat a lot, but I really enjoyed what I did eat.

 We also had kimchi with it, so I ate cabbage on cabbage, which I'm not complaining about. It's funny, my family (for some reason) does not like cabbage. My dad says he can taste things in cabbage, which sure, that's a reason not to like cabbage, but you don't have to eat it. I'd like to eat cabbage once in a while. I'm enjoying my cabbage while I'm out here in Japan.

 Anyhow, after dinner, I decided to take a shower then go to bed. I was really tired from doing basically nothing all day, and I had been having some issues sleeping the past couple nights, so I took something to help me sleep.

 It not only did not kick in in time, but took forever to wear off, leaving everyone waiting for me to wake up the next morning. Next time, I'll just stick to my regular borderline-insomnia routine, and save the pills for the plane ride back.

 Day 10: Last day of school!

 Today is the last day of school! Woopie!! And it's easy too, we don't have 5th, 6th, or 7th periods. And we have art, which takes up two periods!!

 Ok let me paint you this scene: im having a strange dream about something regarding my mom and dad. They're doing.. Something.. To the house, and I'm trying to help. And all of a sudden, my English dream switches to Japanese mid-way through.

 My mom starts speaking japanese (??) and my dad’s voice starts sounding like Satoshi’s voice telling me to wake up. Well it is! People are telling me it's time to get up, that everyone needs to get going, i need to get dressed and get out the door, 時間がない...

 So I groggily got up, a little annoyed because I'm still quite tired and everyone’s keen on pointing that out, but I got through it. Shirt: on! Wait no- this is wrinkled. New shirt: On! Pants: on! They have a stain on them! I do not care! Blazer: On! I can't fix my collar now, I don't have time!

 Get my stuff together, grab my breakfast, and were out the door. At the time I didn't fully understand why I only got breakfast, but I understood that after school we would go to a bread shop run by one of the two nice people we met yesterday, the couple who was interested in me.

 So I'm fine to go. I have two rice balls, one with wakame seaweed and edamame, and the other with nori seaweed and salted-salmon filling. They were good. Me and Nanoha ate in the car because she needed a ride to her school too.

 When we got to her school, she got out, we said いってらっしゃ～い, and we kept on driving. I thought that Sendai high school was so far away the first time we drove there, now it's just a regular commute to me.

 I got out of our high school, and made my way up to our homeroom. I asked Kotoha why today’s schedule looked to be cut in half, and if today’s 5th, 6th, and 7th periods were cut. She told me that we didn't have them! I was really relieved.

 First was Geography, which I studied the textbook through and looked at the kanji, then math, where I spent the time typing up this report and studying, and after all that, Art. I love art. Back at my high school in America, I didn't have enough time in the day to take art. It's really too bad because I really like art, and I wish I was able to, but I'm not, and it's been bothering me.

 The Japanese and English classes are my only creative outlet, and I would love to be able to take a real art class. This is a nice reprise from my day-in day-out sameness.

 Anyhow, for art i got to make a box for a local type of おかし. It was called かるかん, and apparently it was another mochi-derivitive. It was cool. I didn't get to try  any, but I got to design a box.  I submit a pic with today’s pictures, if you're wondering what the box looked like.

 I spent too much time designing the cover, so I only had a little time to work on the sides. That was fine, I think it turned out fine. After art, everyone gathered in homeroom one last time to discuss leaving for the school trip one last time.

 I'm too hungry right now to be jealous of them, even though I know the food in Osaka would probably be better. But wait no! They want me at the front of the class! They want to give me something!!

 They end up giving me three things, a framed photo of the picture we took together as a 2nd year class, what i believe is something they all signed (i haven't properly opened it yet, it's too nice to touch), and something else im hesitant to open because i feel like its very very special.

 I tried to say something to the class about how this had been my dream, and how i had wanted to be a 留学生 for a very long time. But I don't think I got the message across. I felt really bad about that, making a fool of myself.

 After that, we took some pictures together, and I finally got to leave school. But not after being informed I had another week of school left.. That which I was not aware of. Today was not the last day of school after all. It was the last day with the 二年生, but not with 川内高校. I was informed I would be placed in the first-year students class, which I was not thrilled about, but I'd make it work.

 After school, we piled in the car, (i will note that this was a different car. This car I later learned was built in the 90’s and looked it. It looked like a station wagon and smelled like old leather in the way that only well-loved old cars can. I loved it the minute I climbed in), and we headed to the bakery shop that someone we met yesterday part-time at.

 Remember the nice couple from yesterday? The ones who were curious about me because of my 外人 status, and asked me a billion questions? Well the girlfriend, she part-timed at a local bakery and invited us to come and take a look. She seemed quite proud of it.

 When we got there, I walked past a Mosburger-! Wow! I've only heard of those in legends! (Actually, in our Genki textbook, the one I use to learn Japanese, there are a few different mentions of Mosburger. It's really funny.)

 Then we got to the bakery. I got a mentaiko bread roll- that i did not like- a strawberry doughnut that i loved- a melon-pan, a cinnamon roll that was better than anything i've ever had in the states, an odd-tasting bread with a korokke in the middle (and baked mayo on top? It turned into mayo jelly. I did not like it.) and something else.. It was all delicious.

 Then, we decided to drive to the coastline. Even though it was a cloudy day, I still enjoyed the drive there, and when we got to the ocean, I couldn't have asked for a better day. The sea was beautiful, and it wasn't too bright so that you had to squint to see out onto the water.

 There were large pillars of rock that were carved away by the sea, and they stood in defiance of the rocky reef-like tide pools that swirled underneath. Above us, hanging onto the freestanding cliffs, plants hung onto the sandy overhangs. They swayed in the mild wind as me and the ladies hopped from rock to rock, navigating our way out further into the tide pools to better meet the waves at the water’s edge.

 The water itself- crystal clear, and beautifully blue. For a moment I forgot where I was, and started believing I was walking on the rocks in Hawaii. I was entranced for a little while back there. I found a cool bug, i picked up some awesome shells, i ate some nice bread, it was a good day.

 Then, they insisted on bringing me to Don Quixote, the discount store of madness. This store had everything someone could or could not want. They had dog treats next to the bike section (not kidding) and stationary next to lingerie (also not kidding).

 I saw this odd mix before, in Lawson, because it was the same brand. It was food-stuffs like packaged cakes next to socks. That was weird, but not as weird as their place. Everything was loud, vying for your attention. The constant background noise of the store’s theme still reverberates in my skull, along with everything else that was going on.

 Bright colors lined every square inch of that place. Banners hung down from the ceiling, and in a way, I was glad I could freely turn off the part of my brain that understood Japanese at that time, because it was too much. Color, sound, too many people, and the isles were cramped and crowded with too much stuff.

 I'll give it to the store, it was cheap, but I ended up buying way too much. That… made me feel guilty, how I put everything on a credit card. I have the means to pay it off later, but I feel like I committed a sin by using one. (fun fact! Did you know that was the first time I ever used a real-life real-life credit card? Wow! Borrowed money! I'm now officially in debt over a discount store!)

 After all that, We went to pick up Nanoha from her middle school, and at this point I was falling asleep. My school bag at my feet, and I was clutching my yellow plastic bag filled with snacks, feeling like Santa Claus with his massive pack of toys.

 Finally we returned home, and I put on an audiobook of something I needed to read for school (it was fine. I asked my teacher, he said it was fine because he knew i was busy,) and let it play for a while while everyone had a grand old time talking and socializing. I felt a little bad that I wasn't out talking to people, but I was far too tired to care.

 I'm just happy I got to go to the ocean today.. That was the main thing for me. The ocean was incredible. I guess it's the same water I know, but it's a different place. It's special to me. We talked about that over dinner, which was okonomiyaki. Cabbage-filled pancake batter, which is thick and tastes like cabbage and we had pork cooked onto the top of them- yummy. So yummy.

 I ate mine with some kimchi, a little bit of mayo, and a lot of sauce. I really enjoyed it. There were also little sausages, i didn't like them so much, but i tried them, and they were fine. Just not really my taste.

 Everything was delicious, and then I went to sleep. I enjoyed my sleep. I am glad I got to sleep. I was happy to sleep.

 Day 11: not the end of school…

 Woke up. Slept okay. On the futon I have, I feel like I can feel my hip bones when I turn on my sides- and I'm very much a side-sleeper. I can't stay on my back for long, otherwise I feel restless. I'm restless anyhow, but on my side I guess I feel better. Dang hip bones.

 Anyhow, I got up, had breakfast, forgot what it was but I remember we ate miso soup with it, and headed off to school. Today I was instructed to wait by the main office, where I'd waited with Kotoha on the first day of school, but now I was alone.

 Satoshi ran over to tell someone I was waiting there, and then he left me to wait. Eventually I was greeted by someone, and he was apparently my new teacher! I was glad to meet him, and he guided me up to the class where I'd be spending the rest of the week.

 Everything was cool. I got seated in the middle of the class, which I really didn't like because I felt like everyone was watching me, but the people were really nice and tried their best to communicate with me in English. That was very nice of everyone.

 The first class was English, and the teacher who guided me into this class earlier showed up again and said hi to the class. He told me that since english was my native language, i shouldn't use it, and instead work on my japanese skills while in english class. That was fine.

 I wrote a few paragraphs in Japanese, and my new peers had to bear witness to my atrocious handwriting, and I had to explain that my handwriting is bad no matter what script I'm writing in. English also looks like chicken scratch. I'm actually glad my Japanese print is looking worse now-a-days, because to me it means I'm becoming more familiar with the script I'm working with.

 Next was Japanese, ironically, and in my brain I had enough Japanese- but jokes on me! It's all Japanese! I sat patiently, listened to a lecture, and picked out what words and what understanding I could from it.

 It is really more difficult than it lends itself to be, especially when the teachers are speaking lightning fast. That's the most difficult part: how fast everyone talks to me. I wish I could tell everyone to slow down, but then I feel like I'd be losing something from this trip.

 It's fine. I'm pretty sure that the teacher told the class to slow down on my behalf anyway. That was very nice of her. The class after that was actually cooking! I hadn't had that class yet, I wasn't expecting to take that class, so I was excited to walk over there and get my apron on-

 Their aprons were too tight for me. Correction: they were too tight for my *chest* region. You know what I mean. That was terrible. I was really embarrassed to need to ask for help, especially for something so simple as putting on an apron. But it was one of those complicated ones!

 It had buttons in the back! And at the top of the back, behind your neck! That, my friends, is not fair. And what I didn't know is that you had to unbutton two side buttons to make it looser, then re-tighten them after. But for me- and my American proportions- I just needed to loosen them and keep them loose. I felt like a whale.

 Anyhow, we started cooking. I was assigned with a team of people who I didn't know, but I got to know them, which I was very glad about. There was a long, lanky dude with a fresh scar right by his nose (it helped me identify him), there was a very enthusiastic tall boy who talked to me about the different foods he liked, and a girl who wore glasses.

 I thought she didn't like me at first, but she seemed to loosen up and become relieved after a little while of working together. I think that she was worried I would be no use in the kitchen because I'd never cooked Japanese food before, but when I told them that back in America I was something of a chef, I guess she was happy to be in a group with the foreigner.

 We made tamago-yaki (egg rolls), onigiri (rice-triangles) filled with ume-boshi (salty-sour pickled plum) or wakame (pickled thick seaweed). We also made a delicious salad of boiled spinach with a peanut-sesame sauce, our own Miso soup, complete with fresh dashi (small dried fish and konbu [dried seaweed] broth), daikon (long, mild radish), some cabbage, and other vegetables. It was delicious.

 And I got the honor of showing off my grilling skills. Well, it wasn't really grilling, but I got to stir-fry a whole lot of pork. It was all my responsibility. I went and got the sauce together, someone got the pork for me, but I added the oil and got the fire started, and then I started cooking.

 I was glad to use my cooking skills. The food turned out really good- I was especially proud of the tamago-yaki I made. We all got to make our own tamago-yaki, and unfortunately we had to let it sit until we could eat the rest of our food- which was a while- and mine came cold as ice.

 But the egg itself, it was beautiful. It was my first time making a proper, square-panned, rolled-up, properly-seasoned tamago-yaki. I thought I did a good job on it. I was pretty proud. When we were eating, I had to try a little bit of the ume-boshi onigiri, and although I knew I wouldn't like it, I tried it anyway.

 That wasn't yummy. I ate the rice around it, and afterwards discreetly tossed it. To be fair, other groups noticed us using our ume-boshi, and literally gave us theirs.

 So we ended up with 4 extra whole ume-boshi, on top of the ones allotted to us, our 4 ume-boshi. We tossed most of the pits into the sink, except for mine, and it looked like none of us used ours. I hope our teacher wasn't offended.

 Anyhow, everything was yummy, and when we went back to class, it was actually lunchtime. I hadn't realized it, but the cooking period had taken up 2 periods, and we’d eaten lunch over the course of it. And at that moment, I realized I had an issue.

 I had eaten a bit too much in the cooking class. We all got equal portions, which was cool, but part of me wishes we could have shared the pork, sesame-spinach salad, even our own tamago-yaki among each other, because I felt like I had too much on my plate.

 And that morning, Haruka had packed me a Bento. Uh oh. I absolutely did not want to make her mad, or sad, or disappointed in my not eating the food she made. I told myself that I'd eat it later, and try to make it seem like we didn't have the cooking class.

 Now would be a great time to mention that at the time, Takato from MNCC came to Sendai high school. That was cool. He and I got to have what I told him was the longest English conversation I had in a week. That was neato, but after that, I needed to go back into japanese-thinking mode.

 Later that day, it was English class again. Sometimes there are repeated topics in a single day, like today, there were two english classes. It was cool. I got to see that dude from Alabama again. He was wearing a Santa hat today, and both of the teachers were speaking English- not only to each other, but to the class.

 Finally! These kids understand what it's like! Only understanding about 20% of everything said! It's incredible. It's nice to see the looks of confusion on their faces when someone who’s a native English speaker talks.

 Anyhow, for that class, I was surprised to learn that everyone had put together slideshows for me about special things about Satsumasendai. One was about a famous samurai who came from here, another was about an awesome park, and another about the history of the Satsuma orange and how it made its way to America.

 The rest of the school day was fine. It was a little bit boring, but school all over the world is always a little bit boring. At the end of the day, Haruka messaged me and told me that she’d be a little late. I got my stuff together, almost forgot my bento, and stepped outside.

 I got a little confused when the door I usually left out of was locked, but it was fine. I actually left next to the school’s vending machines. In America we also have vending machines, but they're only for chips, snacks, and drinks.

 These ones had three distinct purposes: drinks, calorie-mate, and an ice cream vending machine. I went for the ice cream one. One of my new friends passed by and gave me a recommendation, which I bought. It was good.

 After that, I saw Haruka drive in, and we went to pick up Itoha, but first discussed dinner.

 We decided on sushi! Perfect. Nanoha loves sushi, Itoha wanted sushi, and Haruka was tired from work. We changed clothes and went.

 It was cool. Definitely that famous sushi place people post on TikTok. The fish selection was good, plus ramen and fried foods.

 The coolest part was the double-layer conveyor belt system delivering food. I wondered if I could steal sushi by putting my hand in the way, but I'd definitely be penalized.

 I ate maguro, inari, edamame, fried lotus root (my new love), and some fries and ramen from the girls. Afterwards I was full. Too full for dessert.

 After that, we went to a bookstore. The manga section was huge. I bought mystery manga, Doraemon, a book for my uncle, and a Kyushu guidebook for my grandma.

 Then we went to the convenience store (コンビニ love!!), and I got cheesecake, a drink, and candies. Haruka got steamed meat buns for tomorrow’s breakfast.

 Finally, we went home, tired. I brought in my books and snacks, and we got ready for bed.

 After learning I had more school coming, I didn’t want to go. I even asked to help at the restaurant instead. But today, I'm glad I went. Today was fun.

 P.S. Dear diary: today I got told I was fluent. I was so shocked I froze for a second. Someone might think I'm fluent, but I know I'm barely following along. Still, at least my sentences make sense.

 Day 12: 骨 and 骨: whats the difference?!?

 Woke up. Actually, got up. No sleep. That's fine. Ate a steamed meat bun, those were good. Everyone got in the car (only Satoshi and Itoha now, Kotoha was very much gone on her adventure), and we went to school.

 Got here, barely on time to hear the “whole new world” jingle that rings, and entered the 1-4 class to the usual stares. I should be used to it after a week and a half, but I'm really not. The first class was P.E. and half the class was already in their clothes, so I went to get changed.

 The P.E. class was different from the 2nd year student’s. The 1st year students had a mix of boys and girls, all with the same teacher, while the 2nd year students had distinct teachers for the boys and girls.

 Well, it was fun to deal with the drama of the boys from a distance (in japanese high school, boys are very dramatic. Rolling around on the floor for a missed pass, and such. I was very impressed. Really, I wanted to join that drama club. It looked fun, but I was playing a dedicated game with my new friends.)

 We got up to badminton together, which was one of four options. There was badminton, outdoor soccer (cold, I don't think anyone picked that,) volleyball (aforementioned drama club), and ping pong. I didn't know ping pong was so internationally popular.

 At our school, we have a ping pong unit. It's a filler unit during the worst of winter when nobody wants to do anything outside. We still make the freshman run out there, though. It's just funny to see the ping-pong kids upstairs when I look up to hit back a birdie, it's really funny.

 Most of the day passed as usual, I worked on my American school work (finally), and things went on just fine. Except for Japanese class. Our teacher was determined to have me understand the material they were reading, which I was privately told by my classmates they didn't understand themselves.

 It was an old way of writing, with old words, and segments of the sentences missing. That was fun. I at least understood the kanji- most of them- and some, when read to me, i fully understood. The sentences, however, flew past me like the laws of aerodynamics. Not a clue. Anyhow, i give you this gem i wrote directly afterwards:

 Dear diary: today i mixed up the words 骨 and 骨. One is pronounced ほね, “hone”, and the other is also pronounced ほね, “hone”. What's the difference?? I don't know. We were chilling in japanese class when the teacher stopped to check my understanding- very very nice of him- and asked if i understood the kanji 骨. Yes, I understood it, or I thought I understood it. It was part of a sentence, that read something like:

 （だれか）骨を見たことがあります。
I read it as “I have seen (someone’s) bone.”

 I had to be informed, through a series of gestures and confusing explanations, that no, we were not talking about someone’s bones. We were talking about someone’s fan. The bones of the fan. What… the-

 I also told this poor teacher that WIT was not a word in English, the word he was looking for was WHIT. He was trying to explain something to me, and I was really confused because… “wit..?” what's that? That was funny. I love this school. I'm really glad I got accepted into this scholarship.

 After school, I got picked up, and Haruka asked what I wanted to do. Nanoha was at home, chilling, Itoha was still at daycare, and Satoshi was going to be at work for a while. I asked if we could go back to the Gacha center, with the snacks and the test-your-luck pokemon cards (ill get to that), and she said sure!

 We got back home, changed into our regular clothes (which I'm starting to consider more fancy than my school uniform,) and we headed off to pick up Itoha. I love that daycare. I'm glad I get to go there almost everyday and pick up Itoha with Haruka.

 Afterwards, we began the drive to the center. It's always a little long, but it's fine. I enjoy the view. When we got there, the sun had gone down, and it was cool to look at the flashing lights and bright signs of the shopping center.

 When we entered, I had one goal. Pokemon. My mom is nuts about Pokemon. I told my host family, always on her mind, it's pokemon- pokemon- pokemon! She specifically asked me to find her some cards while I was there. (I've gotten more than just cards, but cards were what she really wanted.)

 Let me explain this to you, because I think this is so annoying. Gacha Pokemon. The first one, you put in a whole 1000円, and you get a ball. It has a number in it. If the number is high- congratulations! You've won a whole box of cards for only 1000円! But if the number is low…

 My ball was number 1. Lowest of the low. Bottom shelf. I had the choice between a whole row of 5-pack cards, and I got two of them. Now i don't know how much they usually go for in japan, but 1000円 feels expensive.

 What's terrible is that I had access to the 10-card packs. I could have only taken one, but there would have been a better pull rate. That's the thing about 10-card packs. They're just intrinsically better than 5-card packs. My mom told me, if i had the chance, only get the 10-card packs, if i could.

 I had the chance! I could have grabbed one 10-card pack! But the guy wouldn't let me trade my two 5-cards for the 10-cards. That wasn't the best.. I was kinda disappointed. I went and found another place where I could possibly buy card packs. It was the same thing. I rolled a 1. This time I only got one.

 At that point I was done- I didn't want to deal with any more of this Gacha-poke-nonsense, and so I gave up and started looking at the candy aisle. I got some chips- “バベQ” flavored, which i think is just the funniest thing- and some more of the tiny little cheap cylinders of soda-flavored candies. I love them. They're so cheap, they're so good, they are my friends.

 After, i kinda wanted to try my hand at the real Gacha thing (like i hadn't been burned enough by the pokemon), and so i exchanced 1000円 for 100円 coins at this little machine they had. Very convenient. I did go to the cash register, because that's how we do it in America, but he showed me the machine, and I was like “Yeah! Automation!”

 It was cool. I actually ended up getting 100% dogs. I got a corgi wire-holder that holds the wire in his mouth, a corgi-statue that is textured to look fuzzy (my favorite), and a black dog that had yellow leaves for his ears. He was really cute.

 After we left the gacha center, we went to this place called Seria. Now this place- it was cool. Everything was either 110円 or 108円 a pop. it wasnt just the small little nothing things I bought either- i did buy those- there were whole pots and tableware and some articles of clothing. It was cute. A regular dollar store.

 Except, there wasn't a lot of food. The food was advertised to be just 108円, but the only food-adjacent thing i saw were confictionary adornments. That's a fancy way to say I saw a lot of sprinkles. That was really interesting. Anyhow, even though it felt like I had a lot, it didn't come out to much. That's the magic of a dollar store, I guess.

 After that, we all went home because we were ravenously hungry. We ate salmon-mushroom rice, some miso chicken, and a soup with various things in it, including Satoimo. I was excited to try it! Until I took a bite.

 Now I cannot stress enough how this boiled sweet-potato tasted like the dirt around the house I grew up in. I told my family in the nicest way i could possibly muster, ちょっときらい。。。 and Haruka was like “its fine.” i told her it 土味ような.. And her face lit up!

 She told me it really did taste just like dirt! Google translate will tell you 土味ような is “an earty taste”, but it means dirt. I tasted dirt. Haruka understood dirt. We, together, thought it tasted like dirt. That was funny.

 We laughed together because it really was an acquired taste for the starchy mass that sank in my soup. I'm glad I tried it, though. At least I know to avoid Satoimo in the future. I really did enjoy the dinner we had together. I'm starting to think of these people and this place as more than a host family.

 The ‘family’ in host family is pulling some weight. They took me into their lives. I know the inside of their house, their lives, I've pet their dog! I've begun to feel some homesickness, but it's strangely detached. I don't yearn for my bed, or my room, or my city.

 I want to see my family, and especially my dogs, but I wonder if the Mine family will miss my absence. I don't want them to. I am temporary here, and my home is across the world, but in a way I've found a place here. I don't want to leave these trees that cover the forest floor, or the birds that are always in the same place, flying happily over the river on our way home from school.

 I took a shower- i love those sitting showers, absolutely a dream to sit under the warm water and enjoy it. When I got out, I saw that Satoshi had gotten home, and I greeted him, then promptly went to bed, but not before asking for another pillow.

 The one I was using had deflated in a way I couldn't fix, so I asked if I could borrow a pillow from the couch. That was fine. It was nice, it helped me sleep. Or maybe it was because I was exhausted. I don't know. Anyhow, I had a good sleep.