A Record Setting Post

I have so much to say. I could have blogged for the last three days, and still have enough left over for today. But due to time constraints, and regulation of Internet, I haven’t been able to sit down for long enough until now. I don’t like going this long without blogging when I have so many events to record. I feel like I forget all the little details that make this interesting to all of you, so I’m writing this with my journal next to me so that I can remember exactly how I felt on Thursday or Friday. I think I’ll start from Thursday and work my way to the present, but before I do I want to thank everyone who reads my blog and leaves comments. They’re always interesting and I take great pleasure in your feedback. The last post’s comments were especially uplifting and helpful. Thank you.

So Thursday, it feels like a long time ago. Thursday had its ups and downs, like every day here. I felt a cold developing, so I bought some Vitamin C drops at the convenient store. I looked for zinc or airborne but I didn’t see any. I was really tired on Thursday, and kept falling asleep in class, despite the fact that it was an interesting schedule. It was an S day, which means the schedule was changed up slightly. I had gym and calligraphy, which is great because those are my two favorite classes. At least I get to get up and get out of my classroom. I didn’t realize how much I like moving from room to room. It keeps things interesting if you move around, much more boring to sit in the same seat next to the same people all day, but that is how much of the world does school. The gym teacher told me to ask my homeroom teacher, who is also the basketball coach, if I could join the basketball team. He was very impressed by my basketball skills. It helps to be two to three years older than everyone else in your class. In calligraphy I finished my first project, far behind everyone else but it looks really cool. It’s lines of kanji and I have no clue what it says, but it was fun to write.

When I got home Thursday, I had a discussion with my host mother about setting goals. I told her that so far I had felt unsatisfied with Japan, and slightly frustrated. I’m not getting the sense of accomplishment from school that I’m used to, and I’ve got all this motivation with no outlet. Or that’s how it feels. I’m getting better at Japanese but that comes so slowly it’s hard for me to take satisfaction in it all the time. I told her I need to set some goals for myself, and she seemed to understand. She sent me straight out the door to a local Japanese for foreigners class. When she originally suggested it a few weeks ago, I though it was a bad idea. I figured I wouldn’t want to go to more school, but I was wrong. This class is exactly what I need, because the expectations are there. It’s much more helpful than sitting through lectures I don’t understand. And it highlighted some of my weak points, specifically reading. So I’m going back this week. Plus I get to stay out past 7, which is a rarity.

When I got home I wanted to blog and asked if I could use the computer. This is when I found out that I have been further restricted to twice a week plus weekends of Internet time. Why is contact with home a crime? It is certainly how they treat it over here. I don’t understand the rational; the somehow telling people I love how I feel and what is happening to me will detract from my experience. I agree that if I am on the computer all the time, then I’m clearly not getting out and doing things in Japan. But I think it’s up to me to develop that balance, and it wouldn’t involve not using the Internet during the week. I don’t believe that this has helped me adjust, if anything, the frustration and resentment it has created has made my transition harder. I think that my host mother and CIEE have this completely wrong. I’m not going to flake out and go home. It’s just weird how I’m treated. It’s because they don’t know me well. I spent years building up that level of trust with my parents so that I could do pretty much whatever I wanted. They trusted me to make good choices, and learned how to make them. That’s not to say I could stay out till 4 am on a school night, but I was trusted to get home on time. I was given that freedom. I haven’t had the time to build that relationship here, so they don’t trust me to make the best decisions for myself. I’m sure that Tomoko thinks this is best for me. I’m also sure that it is not.

But, I have to accept and move on because I don’t get a say so it does not good to dwell. Friday was a good day in school. I have a better idea of what I’m supposed to do. I studied my own material during Japanese Classics, and got very far. I learned a lot of grammar, much more useful than not understanding anything for an hour. I was supposed to have a meeting with my counselor the second week of school. I’m now going into week 5. He promised this week. We’ll see. I want to ask him all these questions; will I get homework? Do I take tests? What do you expect of me? What does the school want out of me? Will I get any grades? What am I supposed to do during classes I don’t understand? These are topics I believe should’ve been discusses already. Can I take time off of school if I want? If so, when? Lots of questions. Friday I discovered that the activities that make me the most uncomfortable are often the most rewarding. Mostly talking to people or injecting myself into conversation. I went searching of a student during my lunch break to ask about the river clean up on Sunday. Then I invited a student to my house to watch the fireworks. Both were pretty nerve wracking, both worked out great.

So Saturday, the day of the Tsuchiura Fireworks Competition. It’s hard to describe just how busy this town was. My day started when fireworks went off at 6 am to mark the beginning of the day. It started again at 7 when the fireworks woke me again. It really started when my host father got me up around 8 to help work in the garden. I cut the grass. It took me nearly as long as at home, despite only 3 inches of grass to cut. I’ve never used a manual mower before, nor have I trimmed the grass with hedge clippers. It took forever. But it felt good to do some work outside. While we were working in the garden, people in the street were setting up stalls. There were a billion stalls, selling many delicious treats or hosting games. My street was THE main street for the fireworks. The launch sites were just a few hundred meters away, and everyone was getting ready. I went to track, and when I came back in the mid-afternoon the whole city was swarming. Japan Railways was running a special service with trains every few minutes. All of those trains were completely packed. People poured into the city from noon till six, when the fireworks started. I’m sure some people arrived late. It was crazy, it was like Taste of Chicago except Japan style. The crowds were similar too. I had some lunch and helped my mother make sandwiches for dinner. We set up tables in my driveway from which to watch the fireworks. I left the house again and walked to the station to meet some new friends (almost friends). I felt like a salmon swimming upstream. I had to fight my way to the station, because I was walking from the fireworks. What a silly thing to do.

I met my group at the station. They’re kids from the English Club who usually hang out in the counselor’s room. I can always find them there, and they’re really friendly. Hazuki is kind of the leader; he spent a year in Australia as an exchange student. He’s not quite fluent at English, but he’s very good. He knows enough to keep me in the conversation. And because he’s been an exchange student, he knows how it is in the beginning. He goes to a lot to make me feel included, and it worked. If felt like a part of the conversation instead of just watching. There were seven of us, Hazuki, Hiroshi, Kohe, Marika, Ayano, Ayako, and me. Get why it’s a bit difficult to remember names? Unless I know someone’s name I can’t pick it out of conversation. They sound like every other word to me. We all walked back to my house and sat outside on the deck and watch the fireworks. Dinner was snacks from the street, and lots of candy and sweets. There were a dozen stalls selling chocolate covered bananas, so I indulged. They were very good. The fireworks were extremely impressive. They lasted two and a half hours. Wow. In the summer there are lots of firework festivals, but Tomoko told me that this is the only one in the fall, so everyone turns out. It certainly seemed like all of Japan was there. It’s a competition so all the firework makers have routines, then the firework retailers come and watch. They all get sheets with the routine and the firework names. As they watch they can go, “I want 20 of those blue ones, 6 of the red, and 2 big fizzers.” The result is endless fireworks. Each participant has a finale, so they’re impressive all night long. I finally remembered to take pictures after forgetting all day; they’ll go up eventually.

It was really fun just chilling, watching fireworks, eating, and talking with my not quite friends. I’ll definitely have to go out with them again. It was a very enjoyable day, but very long. The fireworks ended at 8:30. My friends left a little after 9. Then I helped Tomoko clean up, because I wasn’t the only one with friends over. Her friends, her daughters, their friends, and her sons’ friends were all over. It was a miracle they all fit. But the result was I didn’t get to bed until after 11.

Just a quick bit about Sunday because this is already a record breaking post. Woke up early, 5:30, to go help clean up after the fireworks. There was trash everywhere, and my high school had many students show up to help clean up. Yay community service. Then off to track, where I participated in a vigorous workout. 50 one hundred meter dashes. Whew. That’s three miles on 100s. We had to rake the field afterwards, because it’s sand. That’s a lot of area to cover. Came home, took a much needed nap, ate lunch, watched some of the VP debates, and now I’m bloggin. Most of the day is gone, but I still want to get out to the library to read some of the newspaper, and then go sit outside and write in my journal, although it’s pretty late. I may have missed my chance to sit outside, so I’ll go somewhere and journal, study and write letters. And tomorrow is another day off of school, my school’s incorporation day. Yay! Okay, off to take advantage of the sunlight.