Schoool!

Okay, finished my first week of school! Now I would like to share what happened.

The school system is very different so please be patient on how I explain it. 

Japanese school starts in April (August/September for Americans). Japanese school ends in March (May/June for Americans). You must go to school Monday through Friday, and once or twice a month you have to go on Saturdays (Actually I think it depends on the school). For the most part you have Saturday and Sunday off. My school starts 8:15am. When I get out of school depends on the day. For Monday and Friday, I have 8 periods I have to go to. Tuesday through Thursday I have 7 periods. On Saturday I have 3 periods. One period lasts 50 minutes and you have a 10 minute break between periods. Unlike school in America, you mostly stay in one classroom. That means the teachers go to the students instead of the students going to the teachers. Depending if you go to an afterschool activity, you can go home early or late. When I stay after school, I usually leave school at 6:30pm and get home at 7pm. That's a long time!

*Phew* Now to me...

The school I am in enrolled in is called Kasukabe Kyoei Senior High School (it's a private school). 

 I am in the second grade of high school, three in total class 12 (14 in total). Two years ago, when I was in the third year of middle school (9th grade), I made lots of friends and decided to go there again. So on my first day there were tons of familiar faces but names that I have forgotten long ago...

Here is a list of what the first day was like:

-Arrived at school (A 25 minute bike ride for me)

-Meet my homeroom teacher, Sato Sensei, and wait for 8:30. 

-At 8:30, Sato Sensei takes me to a teacher meeting. I introduce myself for roughly about a minute on the mic and meet with principal. He is a cool guy!

-After the meeting I am taken to my classroom. As soon as I walked everybody's eyes all looked towards me and some people made "Woah!" sounds. Two years ago when I was there, I was a bit chubby. Now I have grown taller and have become skinny. I introduced myself with the same speech I gave to the teachers.

What's really funny is that when I start talking everybody is like, "Woah, his Japanese is good."

After I introduced myself, my homeroom teacher Endo Sensei asked the class if they have questions for me. I immediately laugh to myself. I know exactly what questions they are going to ask.

The first question was "Do you have a girlfriend?" I replied "I used to" and everybody made another "woah" sound. I wish I had this all on camera :P Next question, "How tall are you?" "I am 6 feet tall, so 1meter and 82 cm?" "Wow, he's soo tall."

-For the rest of week when anybody approached me they will say "Herro (Hello)" and I'll reply with a Japanese pronunciation of "Konnichiwa (Hello)." That always gets them laughing :P

-During lunch, we changed the tables so that we could see each other's faces. Everybody took turns introducing themselves. Japanese names are so hard to remember!

-After school finished, I went to band for my after school activity. It sucks that I can't play any sports or anything that involves movement because my right foot is still a bit sore.

Here are some pictures that are school related:

My high school uniform (white dress shirt, gray pants, yellow shoes (to represent what grade level you are in)). The bicycle I use to go to school with as well (backpack goes in the front carriage). Raincoat since it is rainy season and my bento box in the back.

Remember when I made that locker video in Japanese class last year? Thats because Japanese people have only lockers for their shoes and a tiny one for school. I have to change shoes when I get to school.

Hallways and classrooms

Took a picture from the back of the classroom in Physics class. No projectors, all written by hand on the chalkboard.

A picture from the front of the classroom. The desks and chairs are so low that they hurt my legs :P You can also see the saxophone that I am borrowing.

And a closer look at my uniform. "ゲッツ！" ("Gets")