Down the Rabbit Hole!

It was my first day of Japanese High School today. >_<
Needless to say, it is VERY different from a normal school at home, let alone Carroll! I think the only similarity was the time schedule, school starts at 8:55 AM, lunch is at 12:55 PM, and the day ends at 3:20 PM. (8時55分から3時20分までです。） Other than that, I think my entire school lide was nearly turned upside down!

A list of differences:
School uniforms (せいふく)
No makeup, but I'm not sure how leniant they are about this. I was told no makeup, yet I saw many third year students with false eyelashes, eyeshadow, liner, blush, etc. Either way, I still plan on wearing foundation, or at least cover up for those large undereye bags left over from jetlag and camping.
No piercings, or jewelry, except for watches. Once again, I'm not too sure about this rule. One boy in my homeroom was definately wearing a necklace, and another I saw in the halls right after school ended had a chin piercing! Oh how a long for a visible tatoo now! ^_~
The class doesn't move, rather the teacher moves from class to class in order to teach.
During school assembly, no one sat. They stood. I wonder if it's like that when the assembly is longer than a half hour?Imagine standing during our liturgies!!!! >_<
Social is an elective, or optional class. PE is not.
Lunch is held in the classroom.
Cellphones are openly toyed with during class, but perhaps only because it was the last period on the first day back. >_>
There is a scheduled check made by teachers to make sure that students are wearing their せいふく properly. ie. no short skirts, jewelery, dyed hair, etc.
This check happens during the second last period of the day, and once we've been checked, we roll our skirts back up. ^_~
First and second year students are required to take tests on the first day back from first to third period. =[ The poor souls.


So, first thing's first. I was told to get up at 6:30 to get ready for school and.... no one was up! Haha, I was already dressed by the time okaasan was making our bento and breakfast for the day. (They were the same; rice, spinach with sesame dressing and boiled bean sprouts and chicken. The only difference with lunch was that okaasan dressed the chicken and sprouts in the sesame dressing, and mixed bonito with the blanched spinach. An easy way to use leftovers I suppose. =])
So, trying on my uniform for the first time and looking in the mirror, I wasn't exactly pleased. The skirt is long, past my knees. Ok fine, I can deal with that, actually I was kind of expecting it, although hoping for it to be a little above the knees. Secondly, the vest is too big. Thusly, I'm already wondering if I can get away during the routine check if I tailor it a bit with some pins. >_> Either way, I dutifully have my picture taken adn get ready to drive to school with Mioka and her mother. However, I do notice that her skirt is considerably shorter than mine, a difference I could have sworn wasn't there the other day when she picked it up from the cleaners'. >_<
Once at school, I'm ushered into the staff room, to perform my jikoshoukai, じこしょうかい, or self introduction. I hate making speeches. I get nervous, and thusly start to feel sick. Knowing that I would be expected to do it, the stomach pains came on early, right after last night's dinner of curry. Such a self introduction should not be called じこしょうかい, but rather jigoku shoukai. Jigoku means hell. My first attempt at this, and I failed, badly. Right after Naganuma-Sensei, my liason teacher, was rushing me out of the room to meet my hoomroom, 1-4, of which she told me I would need to introduce myself again. Great. Happily, the second time was much better than the first, and I was starting to feel better. Soon after, we're called to the gym for assembly. I'm taken away from my homeroom, and brought to the stage in order to... you guessed it, perform another jikoshoukai. At least the teacher's warned me about this one a few weeks before. >_>
I didn't too badly, partly because I was allowed to speak English at first, and then translate some of that into Japanese in order to awe and amaze. =/
After assembly, Naganuma-Sensei brings me to the library for self-study, aka my spare. And a lovely reminder of the way Carroll works. She tells me that she'll come back in an hour to take me to her third year English class, where I'll introduce myself for the fourth time. =[ She also tells me that after lunch, there will be a second assembly and uniform check for the first years, where I'll have to introduce myself for the fifth, and thankfully last, time.
The English class was a nice break. I said my jokshoukai, and afterwards, Naganuma-Sensei had her students introduce themselves in English, as well as ask me a question about myself or Canada. Everyone was very pleasent, and I would ask a question about each student after they had finished introucing themselves. One girl asked me who my favourite singer was, and when I replied ALI Pro, or ALI Project, no one knew who they were, despite being a japanese group. However, one girl came up to me after, saying she knew who I was talking about. We were able to discuss some of there songs after class, and I found out her friend also reads my favourite manga, Spiral Suiri no Kizuna, which is more often called Spiral no Kizuna. Another girl wanted to take me shopping at Parko, a large department store, with me. I hope I'll be able to see them all again. Everyone was very pleasent! ^_^
I was starving aftewards, and luckily it was lunch. (Thinking makes me hungry I think. >_>) Unfortunately, i couldn't find Mioka. >_< So as I more than likely looked completely lost, one of her friends called her, and she rushed over to the classroom. =]

While eating lunch two older students came to greet me. Both boys came to me with holding their Japanese-English dictionaries and began to flip through, until they found the phrase, "Hello, nice to meet you."
Here's a rundown of our conversation:

"Hello, nice to meet you."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you too."
[Shaking of hands, and more page flipping]
"I am Japanese."
"...Ummm, I'm Canadian. =]"
[I'm feeling very awkward at this point. Both boys are looking very nervous, and their friends can be seen hovering outside sliding door, laughing shouting encouragements (or perhaps mockery?)]
"If I were you, I'd be..."
[Both are giggling, and flipping though the dictionary like mad men. They don't find what they're looking for.]
"Be?..."
[More giggles and nervous laughter.]
"Cute girl."
"Ummmm, arigatou.] >_<
[They run off, while I turn back to Mioka ｆeeling very, horribly, awkward.]

This will probably be the highlight of my day, as the rest was very laid back. We had our uniform check, where I dutifully unrolled my skirt so that it became the full length (it isn't longer than anyone elses. >_>). Howeever, like every other girl, including Mioka, who had rolled up their skirts as the day started, then unrolled them when the announcement for a check came on, and as soon as I exited the gym, the skirt beame miraculously shorter again, just like everyone elses'. ^_~
After school, Mioka and I were left to wander the halls trying to find her PE teacher and find out if the bikini I brought with me would be ok for swim lessons. There were many girls waving at me, and I waved and smiled back of course. There was also one boy who actually said, "Hello, nice to meet you," and then bowed. He said hello again on our way back through the halls.

However, the oddest thing about today, was that I felt like an exhibit on display at some museum. At least Musselman-Sensei warned me about that feeling. Everyone was whispering, and calling me cute, etc. And I endured it all, with a polite smile (or at least I hope it was polite not creepy looking! >_<) I will never get use to being called cute. Ever. And I wonder if I'll be relieved or a tad bit disappointed when I come back home to a very subtle (compared to this anyway!) greeting from my own school. Hugs from close friends of course, and "hello"s and "how was you trip"s from classmates, while the majority of the school won't even know or talk to me! I think I'll have to have a party with some friends, considering it will almost be Halloween! Trick-or-Treat-ing anyone? ANd haunted houses of course!!!
Or perhaps I will become used to this, and have a horribly inflated ego coming back home. >_< Let's hope not. =]

じゃね。

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