Okay it has been a month since I first arrived in Japan so I think a report is due in. I'll start of where I left of last time, my school. The first day of school, I put on my new uniform, the infamous Japanese uniform which is the long black pants, the button up white shirt and a belt. And then I was off to school with my host father on our bikes, I got to school and I met my homeroom teacher and then he took me to present myself in front of all the teachers, then in front of my homeroom class, and then in front of the whole school (900 or so students and the teachers together), no biggie though I was able to use the little Japanese I had to introduce myself and everyone was very nice. My classes are really hard; the good thing is they are so hard I don't understand them so the teachers just let me study Japanese by myself. My schedule is too complicated to explain, everyday is different and there is a different schedule for "A" week and "B" week. And recently 3 teachers were nice enough to offer themselves to teach me Japanese on certain days: My homeroom English teacher who converses in Japanese with me or tries to, my Japanese classics teacher, who sits down with me and jots down various random Kanji (a form of Japanese writing) symbol after symbol after symbol, but it helps me a lot and gives me something to do in my classes because I have already finished my Japanese text books, and last but not least another English teacher who has a love for the Spanish language so I teach him Spanish and he gives me simple kanji I can understand, and goes over speech and those things so I think it's pretty much a perfect triangle of Japanese learning. After school I was tempted to join the track team because it is something I am okay at, and the track team is nice and everything, but instead I decided to try something new and typical of Japanese culture, something I might not be able to do anywhere else so I attended almost all the clubs and made tons of friends, but eventually I joined the kendo team which is Japanese fencing. Everyone is really nice and the teacher told me that if I go constantly to practice I can get a first grade kendo license (whatever that is). And my Japanese is still slowly improving, I am practicing with everyone I get a chance to, and coming up with the most incoherent sentences you can think of but I am trying. The worst that has happened is that I have received some friendly laughs.

Oh and as for the bike ride, in the morning I bike with a friend who lives by my house, but he has basketball practice in the afternoons so I come back by myself and I have only gotten lost once but I eventually located myself by finding the giant shopping center by my house.

As for friends I have tons, the only problem is that I don't understand them yet. I became famous at my school ever since the speech I gave and almost everyone waves and says hi to me in the halls and addresses me by my new nickname, (given to me by my host nephews) "AK." A couple of weeks ago there was a rock concert at my school, my new friends raised me on their shoulders and took me to the front of the stage, everyone cheered for me and then threw me into the moshpit, no worries though no bruises, it was all in good humor, and the band was good and I made a lot of new crazy rocker friends. My homeroom teacher was nice enough to sit down with me and let me choose all my classes regardless of year or age so I take classes with all years 1st 2nd and 3rd years, my homeroom is with 1st years and that is what I am considered. 1st years are kind of shy especially my class I feel like they are scared to talk to me in fear that I won't understand or something, but there have been a couple brave enough to approach me and I have befriended them, but I cannot fully understand them yet so we are limited to simple questions. As for the 2nd and 3rd years, most of them are not shy at all, a lot of them approach me, and when I approach them they don't have a problem trying to talk to me, I can practice my Japanese more with them and they correct me and try to talk to me more in Japanese. Oh and whoever thought Japanese girls were quiet and shy was dead wrong, the girls at my school have been the ones to approach me the most, they went to my homeroom class to catch a glimpse of me, and are the first ones to come up to me in my classes. I am currently going to 6990 inbound Maiko's high school, and 2 of the girls to first approach me were her friends Kiumi and Maya, who are both really funny, nice, and a little crazy.

Now my family, I can understand them more now, they have been incredibly nice and understanding. Two weeks ago they took me to Kyoto for 2 days, because they have a "mansion" there which is a small apartment in a nice area, and next week there is testing at my school for 5 days so I get a little holiday!!!! When I first got here I told my host family that I ran half marathon, which was a big mistake!!!!!! There is a huge marathon next year in May and they want to sign me up for it because it starts by the beach, which is really close to where my house is. I have a lot of time so I guess I can sort of prepare for it.

Oh and I forgot to say I went to the initial inbound orientation, all the inbounds hit it off perfectly. It was 8 of us and it's the same district as last year's outbound. It's pretty much the same country line up Korea, Australia, Russia, France, Brazil, Taiwan, Canada, America, and Sweden, but Nelson didn't make it to this orientation, and we met the rotex (former exchange students) from their area, one of which is former 6990 inbound Mayuko!!! We received a Japanese class consisted of usual orientation stuff, then a competition that rotex set up for us to practice our Japanese and have fun. I was teamed up with the girl from Korea Minnah who is already fluent in Japanese, so with her smarts, and my strong American determination and competitiveness, we won the competition and took home the gold!! But I promise I kept America's integrity and wasn't arrogant about it, I actually shared my food prize with my roommates for the night.

Okay I think that's all for now and I'm sorry if I wrote a lot but I had a lot to write.

Rotary I thank you once again for making this possible and good luck to all the other inbounds and everyone else that is able to read through this whole report.


And pictures are coming soon