IKE, IKE, IKE, IKEEEEEE HAKUGUN!

Oh boy, Japanese cheerleading is so schmental.

I have to admit I am a pretty bad blogger, seeing as I really can’t be assed writing this (this week has been so hectic YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE) but here I am, writing for the greater good. Um, if you read this shit, can you please comment (DUDE ESPECIALLY IF I KNOW YOU REALLY WELL AND YOU HAVEN’T JUST STUMBLED UPON THIS BLOG BUT HEY STUMBLERS SHOULD COMMENT TOO) because then I know people are actually interested in what’s going on here hahahaha… ha… ha.

SOOOOOOO I started school this week, which was as tiring as FUCK. This was because instead of lessons and studying and shit, we spent a whole week practicing for what is a very important sports day. In Japan, sports day needs a whole week of the whole school preparing. Anyways, like most Japan exchangers I was subject to the gaijin factor. Being the only foreigner in the entire school (a part from Andy-sensei but he totally does not count) I am something of a celebrity. People approach me and are like “DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?” and I’m just all… “I’VE NEVER SEEN YOU BEFORE IN MY LIFE SOB SOB”. The pressure guys, it kills. Anyways, not only am I a gaijin, I’m a stupid gaijin, so this makes me even more entertaining to the Japanese. Well, at least I’m doing okay in the friend department because everyone thinks I’m batshit insane. I have chicks to eat lunch with, and people to talk to and I think I’m doing well but maybe this is just the honeymoon period which will probably go away tomorrow when I go to school again. Waaaah.

So. Undokai, the major Japanese sports day. There are three teams– Sekigun, Shigun and Hakugun. My team was Hakugun, and we were totally the coolest. Most Japanese exchangers will know due to the name that the team was white but FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO AREN’T COOL ENOUGH… my team was white. We wore white baseball caps and everything. Anyways, we spent a week practicing our little cheerleading stint, which was hilarious and also this super cool thing that I don’t know the name of. It was like those typical Asian dances with drums and stuff and lots of punching and kung fu and it looked AWESOME because our senpai are AWESOME and oh my god words cannot explain how absolutely COOL it was. I wish I video’d it but I couldn’t because… well, I was part of it. SOB.

Each second year class (I am in class 2-2 ftw) had to do a wee stageshow thing, and ours sucked. Despite ours sucking, we still came first??? I don’t know how that happened, but who cares we were ICHIBAN. Anyways, that was pretty nerve-wracking (almost as nerve-wracking as the speech I had to give in front of the whole fucking school on Monday but let’s not talk about that) but it was fun watching the other classes UNTIL this one class decided cross-dressing would be funny. Men in womens’ clothing is my one greatest fear so I felt like crying even though it was fucking hilarious. Like, seriously.

This all took place on Saturday which I’m pretty sure was called Bunkasai but ya never know. Nothing much happened then, except watching stage shows and shit and I hung out with my two mates from kyuudo club, Ayumi and Kana. THEY’RE LOVELY. And for those who don’t know, kyuudo is like… archery. In fact, it IS archery only more frustrating because there’s all these different forms and it’s really precise and I just want to shoot some damn arrows already damnit.  But it’s fun and it gives me something to do and on Sunday I am going to kyuudo competition thing to watch and that’ll be AWESOME because if you’ve never watched kyuudo you’re missing out, man, because it is pretty intense.

So, trailing back again, I’ll talk about Friday where I hung out with the Kashima festival boffs. Who are pretty cool, though I can’t for the life of me remember their names. This is why I have fashioned nicknames for all of them. There is Oji– my host uncle; Earring– some quiet guy with one long earring; Baka– this annoying dude who’s pretty dumb and who everyone calls baka anyway; Gorilla– the awesome takoyaki maker; Senpai– everyone calls him Senpai, which makes me wonder if it’s his real name… anyways, he’s the hippest Japanese I’ve met yet; Kuro(black)-chan– thankfully others call HIM that, so I don’t feel as awkward…; Jumpsuit– who’s always wearing a white jumpsuit… seriously; Postman– somehow I remembered his career but not his name; Boygirl– this woman who has reeealllyyy short hair; Shorty– he’s well… short; Delinquent #1– he looks like a stereotypical delinquent; Delinquent #2– he looks like another stereotypical delinquent and finally Scrawny, who is so skinny he looks like he could crack just by walking. There’s more, but I have not yet gotten to know them well enough to give them a nickname. HMMMM. Anyways, me and some peeps were messing about with fireworks on Friday night (fireworks in Japan are waaaay cooler and more interactive than Scottish ones) and then suddenly there’s a ROAAARRRR of bike engines and Delinquent #1 and #2 come along on motorbikes and my friend nearly shot a firework at one of them. Hahaha, priceless comedy.

Okaaaay, so what else to saaaaay… my classmates are awesome, btw! They make me feel really welcome and I think I can become great friends with them. Also, Hakugun lost undokai LOL LOL LOL. And our senpai who had been leading the thing shook of all our hands and the biggest ikemen (popular cool guy in school but I don’t see the appeal…) was crying it was hilarious I was trying not to laugh and my friend was beside me being all like “DON’T LAUGH DON’T LAUGH” but I managed to control myself. Ahurhurhurhur. Anyways, it’s sooooooooo hot here. I’m really sunburnt LOL it like, hurts to walk. And my face is all red and it is sooooo not attractive. Also, my hair always turns curly by the end of school which is frustrating. In kyuudo I have to practice my posture in a mirror and all I can think is “OH SHIT I LOOK AWFUL OH SHIT I LOOK AWFUL” and what’s worse at the end of undokai I was trying to meet my host sister at the bottom of the hill and I ended up being twenty minutes late because every five steps I took someone stopped me and was all like “PHOTO ONEGAISHIMASU” and I had to take like… thirty photographs with people. Now I understand how celebrities feel. And now thirty Japanese people have photographs of me after copius amounts of exercise with curly hair looking pretty frustrated. OH WELL.

by the way, my japanese is improving slowly but steadily… more happened, but I can’t be bothered writing about it hahaha. I’m having a great time, but I really miss you guys– I’ve been craving brawlovers and fish and chips. FISH AND FUCKING CHIPS. I AM SO FUCKING BRITISH LOL.

‘Till next time! PEEEAAACCEEE!

ps. ike ike ike ikeeeee hakugun. woaaah hakugun woaaah hakugun wooooaah hakugun HA-KU-GUN!