First day of school! sort of...

Hi again! A very warm gokigenyou from Japan!

>>> Nihon no bunka intermezzo: Gokigenyou: Good day (but rather... old... but also a proof of good education! Absolutely my favorite greeting!)

In this episode:

-School!

-Meeting the parents!

-Japanese food!

Today was my first day of school! But not really. I just went over there to speak with the teacher who's in charge of handling the foreign exchange students. I have to be there at 8.25 tomorrow to do a speach in front of the class I'll be going to and after that I have Japanese lessons. The other 3 exchange students at my school have been having these for 2 or 3 weeks already but as WYS told my homeroom teacher (titularis voor de Nederlandstaligen :) that one of the conditions for entering their program was 2 years of education in Japanese language they didn't think it was necessary for me to have even more lessons at school instead of getting some practical experience by having conversations with my family.

Speaking of family, I saw my second host family for the first time today!!! I met with Yumiko Sato (my host mother to be) and Moeko Sato (my host sister to be) ((someone correct me if that expression is wrong, my english is degrading rapidly here :P (only correct me if you're certain though :)))) Moeko is 19, university student, kind and Really pretty! (on top of that she complimented me on the colour of my eyes! (they don't have green here ;) *dumb birdbrain "I-got-a-compliment-from-a-pretty-girl" grin* (Moeko-sama if you ever read this... well uhm... I have rather nothing to say for myself... :D))

After that plethora of () I must add that Yumiko-san seems like an incredibly kind person. The kind of which you didn't know they existed. That kind. And polite too! Almost too much so.

Anyway I thought I'd add some fun stuff too:

Until now I have eaten: - Natto ((fermented soy beans) is ok... about the same degree of un-yumminess as some french cheeses... I don't really get why people would want to eat it for breakfast though) - Ayu (A river fish that has such a soft head you can eat it... and I did. That was a weird feeling alright... fish brains being mashed in my mouth. I'd rather not but in principle there's nothing really gross about it. ) - Yamaemo (GROSS! The vegetable is called yam in english by the way. If you ever get the chance to eat it... don't) - Red beans for desert - Melon-shaped pears - REAL sushi (homemade) - Tofu (I don't get why I'm putting this up here, I guess because some people really don't like tofu :P I do :D) - Tenpura! (fish (or vegetables) baked in a kind of dough. not what I expected but good anyway) - Devil's Tongue (Good stuff :D It's a kind of seaweed, I just put it up here because it has a funny name :)

Japan, the country where you can pay with both your train card and your cell phone.

Japan, the country where bathtubs speak after playing music.

Japan, the country where once men now women can become celebrities.

Yeah

Ijou! That was all!

Das Jorenness