More Japan updates

Hello everyone,
Things here in the "Land of Tomorrow", as Zac puts it, are good. I'll tell you a little about my classes and my teachers since I officially have gone to all of my classes now.
There are 5 periods in a day, each period is 1 1/2 hours long with a 40 minute lunch break at 12:40. Classes don't start until 9:30 in Japan (I love the late morning starts!) so the last class ends at 6:10.
Everyday I have Japanese with a new teacher, so I have five Japanese teachers, all women. They only speak Japanese to me in the class so my listening skills are getting better. Each of them are very nice and patient. Some of them teach a little better then others and some of them are very relaxed and fun. It's difficult to say which ones because all of the week seems to blur together. Learning a second language is exhausting! As I get to know them better I'll tell you about them.

So Mondays: I have Japanese at 11:10 (second period) and then an 1 1/2 break during 3rd period. Then at 4th period, 3:00, I have Japanese Management. This class we're talking a lot about famous Japanese businesses that are very successful. The first day we talked about famous Japanese people we know. My teachers name is Mr. Miki. He's Japanese and was very happy that some of us knew a lot about Japan. Finally 5th period, at 4:40, I have Japanese Literature, which I'm very excited about. Only Dan (one of the Aussies) and I are taking this class. In walked our teacher, Mr. Herrick. He's a HUGE old white man. He was easily 6'4 and had to duck to get into the door way! His skin is very tan, piercing blue eyes, and yellow blonde hair. He is probably in his 50's, maybe even 60's and he's American. The scariest part was the fact that, since he's been living in Japan for 20 years, he's skinny like a Japanese person. This EXTREMELY tall man is as thin as a twig! Seriously, he made Trevor look fat! (No offense Cheba hehe) He speaks very softly and calmly. It was a little funny considering how big he is. He really stand out though. Dan and I both agreed that he's a little scary looking lol.
Tuesday I only have Japanese at 2nd period so it's an early day for me. I'm not sure what I'll do with all the free time. . .
Wednesday I have Japanese at 2nd period and then a 3 hour 40 minute break until my next class . . . it kind of stinks. I usually end up in the International Center for most of it and then the lunch room with everyone on their break. Finally, at 5th period at 4:40 I have Sogo Shosha. Sogo Shosha is a saying that describes a specific type of business in Japan, it's kind of confusing to explain. But overall these businesses, the Sogo Shosha, bring in A TON of money for Japan so they're a big deal. My teacher is a retired businessman from one of these companies. We will be having 8 different lecturers this semester he said, all retired businessmen. The class was . . . REALLY BORING! I'm not much of a business person but I was trying to enjoy it. Some of the statistics were impressive but overall the class dragged on . . . I hope it gets better.
Thursday I have Japanese Affairs 1st period (my only early day) with Mr. Tamburini. He's a half Japanese half Italian guy who has worked as an interpreter in the US so his English is PERFECT! He doesn't even have a Japanese accent. His first name is Dino and he's really funny. In this class we've talked about the culture of Japan and it's differences to our own cultures. I really like this class, it's one of my favorites. Then I have another 3 hour 40 minute break (it happens to me twice in a week) until Japanese class at 4th period.
Friday I have all three classes in a row, from 2nd period to 4th so it goes quickly. First I have Japanese Science Fiction with Dennis, the French dude. That class is fun. Then I have Japanese History, Customs, and Culture. Last week it was canceled so yesterday our teacher arrived. . .20 minutes late. She's a large black woman that's British. She immediately started telling us about her personal heartaches, mainly she has a broken neck. She told us about the accident and how she's too frightened to have surgery because she might become paralyzed. Originally I was really excited about this class but now I'm not so sure. We spent most of the class talking about what she hates about Japan. Basically if anything bad happened to her she immediately stated it as if that's just how foreigners are treated in Japan by the Japanese. . . it kind of got on my nerves. Not to mention the fact that we then started talking about how women get groped on full trains, which I knew about. But she got into it REALLY deep and told about. . . you know what, I won't repeat it but lets just say I was physically ill. More or less she made it seem as if this experience she went through was standard dealings with Japanese teenagers and their mothers. I'm worried that the class that is supposed to be about Japanese History is going to turn into a grip fest about her horrible experiences in Japan, which apparently she's had plenty of. I hope I'm wrong though.
So that's my school week. 7 classes, not too bad :)

Personally I'm doing really well :) I'm making better friends with everyone and I think I know who my favorite people will be here from the other International Students. The other day Xay, the British Chinese boy, offered to buy me lunch. I felt so bad about it that I tried to pick something less expensive. He complained and made me order something bigger. So we had lunch together for a short while until the others got out of class. When I told my host parents about it they called it "the first date" which I assured them it wasn't. Xay is just a ladies man hehe. He's always being extra sweet to both Sarah and I, despite the fact that she has a boyfriend and I've more or less been red flagged by all the guys because I'm religious. He told me that he's a heart fixer and I insisted that that's a nice way of saying he takes advantage of girls when they're most vulnerable. He complained that I made it sound so bad. I think he likes that I don't believe all his romantic attempts on me. But he did threaten to "break through" all my religious barriers over the next four months. He said that before I leave I'll be drinking and smoking. I accepted his challenge, so he gave up pretty quickly.
Sarah and I get along so well! She's absolutely wonderful. The other day Ismail, the boy from Morocco, insulted me in Japanese thinking I wouldn't understand. He told some of the students that I can't speak any Japanese, in a really rude way. Sarah jumped all over him and told me that's not true. She then asked me to leave with her, so we did. She's really sweet. The next day I talked to Ismail about it and he apologized. He thanked me for being so blunt about it and straight forward and promised he would try better to not compare everyone to him, as learning a language is not a competition.
Louis, the French guy, is also a lot of fun. He is ALWAYS picking on me, since I'm American. But when it comes down to it, when we're both calm we can sit and have a really good conversation without being mean to each other. Last night we all went out and he greeted me with two kisses, one on each cheek, before recalling that he's not in France anymore lol. So then he greeted Sarah the same way, for fun. It made us laugh really hard because I'm sure it freaked out some Japanese people.
Sheng, the Chinese boy, is really fun. He's always on the look out for attractive Japanese girls and says they are prettier then Chinese. But he's always complaining that he doesn't get the same amount of attention as the rest of us because he's Asian and they can't tell he's a foreigner. So Sarah and I have become his wing men and whenever the Japanese girls start talking to us in the International Center we have Sheng come sit with us. He's always really happy about it. Plus he has a lot of Chinese friends so I'm meeting a lot of them too and they love to practice their English with us. They are really nice and one of them, Colin, has come out with us a few times so I've been getting to know him pretty well.

For some reason everyone in Japan likes to tell me how "Kawaii" (cute) or "Kirei" (pretty) I am. It's so embarrassing sometimes! If they say it in front of other Japanese people they all start agreeing and everyone will stare at me. I don't know what to do half of the time. I usually just turn red lol. The other day I walked into the office of the International Center, where the Director and all the assistance's work, and said good morning to them. Fukuda San, one of the main guys, told me that one of the other guys said I was very pretty. This embarrassed us both and they all laughed at us because we turned red. I'm becoming a little shy in Japan, shockingly.
Last night on my way to catch the train to meet up with everyone I was stopped by a Japanese guy who said, "Hey!" in very clear English. I turned and he walked up to me. He asked me, again in English, where I was going. I told him to meet up with some friends. I immediately got creepy vibes from him and knew that he was trying to get me to go out with him by the way he was asking me so many questions. He asked me if I was meeting my friends now or if I had time, if I was studying Japanese, where I am from, etc. He then asked me my age, insisting that I look very young. I used a line that Yuka taught me (thank you so much Yuka! This saved my butt!) "I'm 17 forever!" He left me alone after that and said goodbye. So, I'm grateful that Yuka taught me that trick because it scared the guy off :)

Ok! For your reading pleasure I'm going to give you a short of list of absolute random things I love about Japan! Here we go:
*Elementary school kids with matching hats.
*The fact that everyone in this country is overworked yet they are always polite.
*When I catch someone staring at me and can smile at them before they look away.
*When I see other "Whities" and we smile at each other as if we're in a secret "Japan Fan" club.
*The organization of everything!

There you have it :) I'll try to keep adding to the list each week. Sorry that this email was so long. It's so difficult to tell you guys whats been going on without writing a novel! Hope you're all well. Much love and hugs!