May 28th, 2019

This entry will cover my experiences: February 25th - March 3rd 2019.

Monday (February 25th):

• Luckily, in P.E. (basketball) I was addressed by a friend from a different class that I had hung out with before and another girl. We talked about their future (students have to choose universities they want to apply for pretty early I guess) and I got some insight in the busy life of a high school student.
• I wrote something about "jamming my finger", but I think, I had that the week before.
• In chemistry the teacher told us about a difference of the "girl's (doll) day" (Hinamatsuri) in Oosaka were she comes from. Don't remember what it was though. I think the dish they traditionally eat.
• After chorus club, I intended to walk to the station alone (because the other guys take some time to finish and I'm faster alone) but bumped into one member and we did "walkie-talkie" (why should that word's use be limited to one invention? You walk and you talk).

Tuesday (26th): 

• Asked at a hair saloon near the station whether they'd be able to cut my hair on Friday (I wanted to give them time to prepare since my afro hair is without a doubt a rarity especially outside of Tokyo; they seemed a little perplexed but gave the usual polite answer (yes).

Wednesday (27th):

• Having found a captivating book (Nicholas Flamel - The Alchemist) on a shelf in the library of the school I almost even didn't want to go back home.

Thursday (28th):

• We practiced for the graduation ceremony of the 12th graders, which consisted mostly of one speaker guiding us through the struggle of knowing when to stand up, bow and sit down (we were to do that a lot for every time the speakers changed (head teacher, student representatives, etc.) they were to be "greeted" in a certain manner). My description sounds quite military but it wasn't really. Though one cannot deny the uniform feeling that came with the simultaneous movement of the crowd.

Friday (March 1st):

• The actual graduation ceremony took place and one of my 12th grader friends burst out into tears giving the speech as the graduates' representative. It was adorable (though more difficult to understand). Most of the graduates' parents also attended. The most fun part was the video they showed us after the official business had finished. It was a collection of scenes of classes and their homeroom teacher, sometimes in funny outfits or showing insider jokes of them. I kinda wish in Germany we'd have that, too. But it looked like you have to put a considerable amount of work into it.
• Since that one time when I joined the graduates' classes, I had become friends with some of them and naturally wanted to say goodbye to them. They had some yearbooks for other student to write (or in my case also draw) something inside for youth's memories. I drew some animals.
• On my way back home I got my haircut at the saloon near my station. In Japan they have some 10-/11-minute saloons that do what the name promises for a small amount of money ("Just Cut"). Waiting for my turn, I went to the nearby library to browse (read the book I had with me though) and then waited in the saloon where a nice, elderly woman spoke to me and told me how she had learned English by foreign teachers when she was in school (very sweet of her to just go up and talk to me). The hairdresser, a middle-aged, fashionable man, seemed to have had experience with my kind of hair or at least with something similar. It took 20 minutes and I felt rather refreshed after some of my burden was lifted off my head. There was so much of my hair on the ground and I felt guilty and sorry to have bothered them with my request. 

Saturday (2nd):

• This was the day I'd move to my next hostfamily (number 5, if you will) but only in the afternoon so my hostfam, kind as they are, for our last activity together we drove quite a while to Hakone which is such a lovely, beautiful place. It's near a lake, which is famous for a ship that looks like Ruffy's ship from the anime "One Piece" (sorry, I couldn't get a good view). We visited a popular bakery/café, that usually has a nive view but that day was a little foggy so we couldn't see Mt. Fuji. The bread was delicious and the midday dishes as well. It had a really relaxed and kitschy (in a good way) atmosphere and there was this one cool song playing that I tried to record (why did I delete Shazam on my phone?!). On the occasion I bought some bread for my new hostfam, too. We then drove back; I enjoyed the view that is so different and mountainous that I couldn't help but gaze out the window. 
• After that we went to a small farm where you could see and pet cute cows, bunnies, horses and goats (and my hostfamily's dog ;)). I couldn't have spent that last time with them in a better way.
• They escorted me and my enormous luggagge to the station where my Ayusa area coordinator fetched me up and brought me to the station of my new host family. The hostfamily's "father" waited for me and I embarked on my next (not so) glorious adventures in Japan!
• That new hostfamily consists of only two people, if you will: The hostmother and the hostfather, who are both retired seniors with yet a quite busy and very colorful life. The both are skilled artists (paintings and crafts) and have travelled many places (including Germany last year!) and have had many exchange students (when they were a little younger) starting when their daughter went to Australia and "exchanged" with a girl there. They are very nice people and supported me very much while I was there. They also have 2 children and three (I think??) grandkids, that are a little younger than me, that sometimes came over to visit,
• The first strong impression they made on me probably wasn't so good because in front of their garden the hostfather showed me a tree with round yellow/orangeish fruits that are called Kinkan (Fortunella spp., cumquat), that I unfortunately confused with Ginnan (ginkgo/gingko nut). The reason that was unfortunate was that Ginnan are very smelly (they smell like feet and since gingko trees are very popular, there are a lot of them, which might cause you to step onto one such Ginnan and have that unpleasant smell on your shoes. In other areas like parks, you can find people collecting Ginnan because many people despite the smell like the taste. I've heard all this from my first hostfamily by the way, when they had it. I ate, too but do neither particularly hate nor like it. And the smell isn't that bad (DEFINITELY better than Nattou) you just get used to it). So I, assuming that the fruits in their garden were Ginnan, was like "Don't they like, you know, smell real bad, though?" (I try to make the words sound more impolite than they were since the message probably was) And my hostfather was like "No, our fruits do not smell bad." And I was confused and he was confused and was like "They taste sweet!" And I got even more confused and was like 'Okay, I obviously must be confusing something here... So what was the name of the other fruit then?' and was like "I think I'm confusing something here, but there is a fruit that is also yellow that smells bad!" My hostfather, though didn't quite get it and just when he opened the door to the house and the hostmother waited for us at the entrance, I almost "yelled" out: "AH! The smelly, yellow fruit, I meant is Ginnan!" So that "outburst" didn't really leave a good first impression on my hostmother. Luckily, that didn't seem to stick with her, eventually.
• I was shown to my room, we talked I packed only few things out (I'm lazy) of my suitcase, gave them my hostfamily presents and so on and so on..

Sunday (3rd):

• I found a workout video that promises to get you abs like a Kpop idol, that motivated me to try it out although I've never been a fitness person and don't want Kpop idol abs but I started my first session.