Every day, school and non-school days, starts abruptly at
6:00 a.m. sharp. The local alarm plays a
song over loudspeakers. My house is
rather close to these speakers. I groan,
roll over, mutter, and fall back asleep.
These days I sometimes wake up only for the last half. Must mean I’m finally getting used to it!
It scared the crap out of me originally.
On Days I Do Have School:
I crawl out of bed at around 7. I wash my face, visit the toilet, and give
myself a once over before I stumble to the table. I’m not much of a morning person, I still say
my “good mornings”, but I’m just half functioning until I eat some food.
My breakfast consists of a small bowl of rice, miso soup or
pumpkin soup, a bit of various meat, and maybe a small pancake. This actually fills me up. I blame it on the rice absorbing the tea I
drink and swelling up to make me feel fuller.
After I give my thanks, I go to the laundry room and grab my
school shirt. I have two shirts, while
one is being washed and dried, the other is worn. I take my shirt to the hallway, plug in the
iron, set up the small table, and wait for it to heat up. I then iron my shirt and take it back to my
room. I pick up my bento box along the
way (Japanese lunch box). That my host
mom makes every day for me.
My uniform consists of a shirt, skirt, and socks. All of which are specific to my school. There are two others, but those are for
spring/fall and winter. The skirt is
thicker, we get a vest for spring/fall, a jacket for winter, and a small tie
that is clipped to the front for girls.
I got smart and bought thin shorts to go under my
skirt. I put on my uniform, shorts and
tank top for under my shirt included, slip on my socks, and start packing my
bag.
My school bag is a traditional high school bag, the same one
all of my classmates use. The only thing
that makes them different from each other is the charms, plushies, and
knick-knacks attached to the handles and sides.
Once the school bag is packed I back my Kyudo bag. This has my Hakama shirt, tabi, school gym
uniform, and my small bag of necessities.
Band aids, tooth brush/toothpaste set, antibiotic cream, extra glasses, my
cute towel, my artificial sweat stuff that smells awesome, and my small inner
gloves for Kyudo.
All said and done I leave the house, get on my bike, and go
the seven minutes it takes to get to the front of my school. My school is up a hill, not fun biking in the
morning but awesome when I go home! I
usually meet up with one classmate or another when biking and go with them.
I place my bike in the back rack with the number 1 over it
and the script that I think reads girls.
I didn’t know this and it was a lucky chance that I put my bike in the
right area the first time around! I lock
my bike with the small key attached to the locking mechanize that wraps around
the back wheel and goes between the wheel spokes. I’m a paranoid American that is used to
having things disappear, my bike is important and I don’t care that no one else
really locks their bikes. Better safe
than sorry!
My school day starts at 8:30, but I like to be there
early. It lets me unpack my bags and
mentally prepare for the day. I like to
be early to just about everything, I love being the first. It irritates me to no end when I am late or
feel like I am running late. I can’t
tell you how many times I got frustrated with my parents or rides when I had to
be somewhere important and they didn’t seem to worry whether or not we were
late.
My daily schedule changes every day, I know a few of the
classes but most of them are over my head thanks to the language barrier. I get science and English class though! The rest, not really. I know I am going to be helping out the
English teachers by sitting in on classes or giving lectures when they
ask. I don’t mind helping them, it lets
me see the rest of my schoolmates. All
two hundred and something of them.
I eat lunch with my classmates in room 1-3. We share food that we’ve bought and food
packed for us. My group sits around a
group of tables pushed together towards the far end of the classroom. You can really eat anywhere though. I’ve eaten in the stairwells, outside the
class, and outside on the walking path.
I also help clean the library with my classmates when it is
time to clean the school every day. That
in itself is strange, in America we have janitors. I like it though, it’s something interesting
that adds new flavors to my day.
My day ends at around 4:30.
My Kyudo club starts whenever school ends. I help set up, clean, and ready the
dojo. I change into my Hakama and
practice the forms needed to fire the bow and watch the others to learn
everything else I need to do. I haven’t
fired my bow yet, I can’t. I can after
competition though, which is only a few short days away. I don’t mind just sitting by and watching,
everything is very interesting to me so far.
Club generally ends at around 7:30 to 8:00, I stay after
that to hang out with the girls before heading home.
The bike ride home is awesome. It had cooled out, the heat during the day is
nearly unbearable with the humidity (my school isn’t air conditioned
either). There are only a few people out
and about. It’s dusk so it’s quiet. I race down the hill, braking constantly but
still moving so fast I feel myself flying.
I take tight turns, three to be exact before I’m spat out onto the main
road. If I time it correctly I can shoot
across the intersection while it is in my favor. If not I brake and wait not so patiently to
fly again. I take one more turn and I am
home. I’m finally getting used to flying
with a skirt, a troublesome piece of clothing I never really wore back home.
Once I’m home I call my hellos and head upstairs to change
before coming back down to eat dinner. I
hang out with my family, play with my Pet-chan cousins, and help out with small
things in the shop. I usually clean, but
then again I like to clean.
All said and done, I retreat from the noise and busy chaos
upstairs where I sit down at the table in front of the TV and study out of my
own Japanese books since I don’t have much in the sense of homework. I study my brains out in school too when I
know the teacher doesn’t care what I do as long as I’m quiet. They are so lucky I’m responsible and want to
learn the language!
When I can’t focus anymore, I give up for the night. I take a bath. I’ll talk about the bathrooms later on. I let my hair air-dry in front of the TV
while I watch some kind of drama, news, or strange game show with my host
family.
I usually call it a night at around 9 and hole up in my
room. I either blog, write, read, and
relax for a little bit before I go to bed at around 10. I’m dead beat most days, my mental
capabilities exhausted on daily conversations and constant translations between
English and Japanese, and back again.
Repeat five times and you have my school week.
On Tuesdays:
I have Rotary meetings every Tuesday without fail. I get out of school at around noon, and don’t
come back till a little bit after 2. I
get fed, get out of school, and get to be around cool people for a few hours. I’m pretty pumped for the meetings! I have a lot of friends and helpers in my
club, I’m grateful for them!
What can I say, I appreciate Rotary and all it has done for
me.
Repeat once a week.
On Saturdays:
I’m awoken by the alarm at 6. I groan, mutter, complain a bit, and roll
over.
I crawl out of bed a little bit after 7 to go through the
morning routine of a day when I have school.
I have club on Saturdays, and I have to wear my uniform even if I am
going to school for a little over three hours.
I leave the house at around 8:30 to get there when the other
girls do. Club starts right at 9:00, and
ends at noon.
Oh yeah, there is also a noon and 5 p.m. chime on the
blasted fog horn outside my house and school.
I don’t hear them most days because I’m out of the ear shattering range,
but if you listen closely at the right times you can hear it.
I watch, practice, and hang out with the girls until
noon. The boys of the club don’t
interact much with the girls, but I’ve noticed that everywhere here. The sexes may basically be equal, but they
don’t mingle. Yes, they are basically
equal. Most of the papers I read on
Japan said how low the females were compared to the men. Maybe it’s because this is a small town, but
they are equals in the work place I hang around in and the school I go to. They just separate by choice.
I race down the hill, flying at top speeds while testing
just how far I can push my tight turns, and go back home.
I change. Eat lunch
in the shop with my family and the assistants.
Help in the flower shop my family owns.
Study for a few hours.
I go on bike rides. I
hang out at parks when I want to go out and do something. Sometimes my family and I go out to eat. A pretty basic day.
Repeat once a week.
On Sundays:
Once again it starts at 6 a.m. sharp. This time I groan and throw blankets over
myself. This blocks out the early
morning sunlight that likes to invade my room at around six too. This action lets me sleep in till about
8. Then I let myself doze until around
9.
I get out of bed, wash up, eat breakfast if it has been
placed on the table or make myself some toast and soup. If I’m lucky there is milk for a bowl of
cereal!
I get dressed and hang out with my family in the shop.
Sometimes I go with them on deliveries, seeing various parts
of the town. I’ve been to shrines, funerals,
traditional arrangement houses, and many other places. I also go to the other flower shop they
own.
I hang out with my Pet-chan cousins. I clean my room. I really do whatever I feel like. I usually study in front of the TV or help my
host sister with her English most Sundays.
I really like going on bike rides on Sundays though, a lot
of people are out and about. I go to
parks and get to enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit before I go back to the hectic
house. I love it though, I don’t think I
could have done as well as I have if I weren’t busy with the Pets.
I eat dinner, either on the main floor in the shop or up on
the top floor with my family.
Watch TV, bathe, and call it a night at 9, going to sleep at
around 10.
Repeat once a week.
On Bathrooms (Toilet Version):
They can be scary if you never opened a book on Japan. I have been here before and was mentally prepared
for the squat toilets, bidets, and lack of paper towels. My first host family has a mix of all three
kinds. We have a normal toilet (no fancy
features), a Japanese bidget one (all those fancy gadgets), and the Japanese
squat one I am terrified to use.
Not for the fact that I can’t use it, but for the fact that
I really just don’t want to have an accident….
It appears the Japanese have a varying sense of humor with
bathrooms. My own bathroom that is just
a door away from my room is strawberry themed.
The toilet looking just like one, the floor mat resembling one, and the
whole deal is pink. Everything. Toilet paper and all. The wall tiles, the floor tiles, the
cupboards, everything is pink. I have
yet to find normal colored toilet paper.
It’s pink, blue, or green.
Public bathrooms are typically a mix of traditional and
Japanese bidget. My school is all
traditional and scares me just a little.
A word on bathroom features.
I have found out recently in my school bathrooms, there is a button on
the wall you press to create a noise similar to that of a toilet flushing. It’s to drown out the noise of you doing your
business. I honestly though this button
was in case of emergency. It’s big, it’s
red, and it has a hand on it. All of the
above in America mean emergency. I didn’t
press it for obvious reasons. Until I
found out what it can be used for!
Sinks are also iffy.
Sometimes there are sinks, sometimes not. And there is usually no paper towels or hand
driers. ALWAYS CARRY A TOWEL ON
YOU! A words from someone who has lived
it, just always have one on. You wipe
sweat with it, you dry your neck, you dry your hands, and you can hide your
face with it. VERY USEFUL!
On Japanese Bathrooms (Bathtub Version):
Bathtubs and toilets are housed in separate rooms. Kind of nice actually!!
You wash yourself before you even think about touching that
bathtub. You never get the water dirty
by putting your sweaty, nasty, and smelly body in it.
There are small stools to sit on, even in the house. There are a multitude of buckets and cups to
be filled with water to tip over your head and body. You can also use the showerhead if you don’t
feel like being adventurous! (Your loss!!)
The washing apparatus is usually something like this. It has three nobs. One for temperature, usually marked with
roman numbers and red/blue markings.
Another is for pressure but also turns off the water when put down all
the way, to put it up higher or lower to suit your needs. The last one is for directing water towards
the faucet for you to fill your buckets and cups with. The shower head typically have a button you
can press to make the water either come out or stop the flow from the head.
The bathtub itself varies.
It can be very deep but not very long.
It can be very long and very deep.
It can be huge but shallow. It
all depends on your home, hotel, or onsen.
My first host family has a very long, very deep, and very green colored
one that I like to soak in. A word from
a long haired girl, women and girls, tie your hair up. No one wants hair floating in their water
when they take a dip! The water is
shared, since you are CLEAN before you get in it. My family runs the bath water once a night,
that’s it. It’s used between all of us.
On Japanese Laundry:
Laundry in my home is done once a day, right at the end of
the day. Everyone in the family, when
they take a bath, strips and puts their clothing in the small washing machine
next to the door to the literal ‘bath room’.
It’s small, primitive looking, and is super-fast. My clothes come out clean and smelling good
so I have no reason to complain!
There are no driers in Japan. Only in launder-mats and that is iffy at
best. We hang our clothes in the morning
to dry by the next night so they can be folded and distributed back out to the
family. There is a room dedicated to
drying clothes in my first host family’s house.
I don’t know if it was meant to be a drying room, but it works
perfectly! On warm days with a slight
wind, we open the glass sliding doors and let the breeze help the clothes
along. On days when it’s raining or no
wind, we use fans. Artificial wind!
The racks to hang and dry the clothes are pretty cool. It’s like one of those fake Christmas trees,
with the arms sticking out from the center.
Except these arms have a folded over end that clothing can be slipped up
to make sure it stays in place. The top
tier of ‘arms’ have small clips hanging from them that you clip small items or
socks to. There is a pole outside the
glass doors that the heavier clothing is put on, or blankets, so they can dry
without tipping over the drying tree.
I hang my hand washed blankets on the outdoor pole, using
clips to secure them, and let the wind do all the work!
There is also a pole inside hanging just in front of the
doors, we put the clothing there when it’s raining that would usually be on the
outdoor one.
Just a a bit on my daily activities. If you have anything you want specifically addressed, leave me a note in the comments! I'm happy to help those that are curious about Japan! I have a few other posts that need to be started, edited, and wrapped up! Be ready to read them!
Thank you!
See You Soon
Mata chikaiuchini
また近いうちに
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