Okay, instead of writing this blog today like I planned, instead I spent like, an hour and a half searching through a SHITLOAD of Korean music to find this one song I’ve been hearing everywhere here (at school, in supermarkets, people randomly singing I MEAN EVERYWHERE GUYS SERIOUSLY) and the only clues I had where that it was Korean. Despite my painful search, I couldn’t find it at all, and was determined to get the name of it before I started writing this and then FINALLY I gave up and was all like okay, let’s watch One Piece without subs to see how much your Japanese has improved. Soooo, I click on a random episode and then SUDDENLY THE SONG APPEARS.
DUDE NO WONDER IT WAS EVERYWHERE IF IT WAS A FREAKING ONE PIECE OPENING DSAGDFGSFDS, but wow, what a coincidence. Unfortunately, I realised that now that I’ve found the song, I really have no choice but to write this blog. Also, if you are wondering, it’s called Share the World and it’s by Korean band DBSK. THERE. YOU LEARN THAT IN SECONDS. IT TOOK ME AN HOUR AND A HALF OF FRUITLESS SEARCHING.
Okay, waaaaay too much has happened, so today I’m just going describe my average day. I’ve been up to loads, but to write it all down would take forever and I still have a bunch of e-mails to reply to. So, without further ado, I am going to tell you my daily routine. 8D It should be interesting and if it isn’t feel free to click that little red x– IT’S NOT LIKE I WILL KNOW, RIGHT. 
Usually my day begins at half six in the morning. Actually, it usually begins at six because the whole of Kashima is woken up at this time BY SOME SORT OF SINGING ALARM. EVERY DAY. AT SIX AM. THE WHOLE. OF. KASHIMA. WHO THE HELL DECIDED THIS. I MEAN, WTF. WHAT HAPPENED TO LIE INS. WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN AND ELDERLY PEOPLE AND– okay, it is a great injustice but recently I’ve been so tired that I just sleep through it, hahaha… ha. Anyways, I usually have a shower every morning, which then results in a huge rush to get to school on time. I shove on my uniform, straighten my hair, eat breakfast (which is usually two bowls of cereal– I’ve gone through like, the whole of Kashima’s supply of cereal basically) and then sort of throw myself out of the house and onto my maroon bike. Yes, it’s maroon. It kills the Hibee inside whenever I ride it. Not only that, it is also the personification of death on wheels. Its goal in life is to kill me, and it makes an attempt at my life everyday, usually by refusing to break when I’m hurtling down a hill which leads straight onto a road.
Because I usually arrive at school when the bell rings, the lack of places to park my bike becomes immediately apparant. Most people cycle to school here (dude I remember when it was only Leuty and me cycling to school– THE GOOD TIMES) so basically most of the grounds is made up of bikes. The rest is for a large lake, several ruins and a couple of buildings. My school, Kashima Highschool is actually part-castle. It’s built on the ruins of Kashima castle, so it looks kinda old and very Japanese-y. The thing was, I kept wondering where Kashima castle was and I was all like DUDE I CAN’T SEE IT ANYWHERE DOES IT EVEN EXIST and then my friend just one day dropped into the convo that the school was built on the castle and I was just: SO ALL THIS TIME I’VE BEEN IN THE FRICKING CASTLE? WHAAAAT. What a letdown, seriously.
As soon as I walk into my homeroom class (2-2, by the way, my Persona senses are tingling) I am suddenly greeted by a whole wave of “OHAYO KI-CHAN/BIK-CHAN/ATUKINUSON” (the latter is usually shouted by my friend ayaka YAMAGUCHI) and then I have to make my way through a wave of chairs and tables to get to my seat. The seating plan was recently changed so now my desk is right in The Boy Corner. The Boy Corner is, pretty much, the corner where the boys in my class spend most of their time. It is littered with their sports bags, and their jackets, and their aftershave, and their hair wax, and their playing cards, and the pornographic comic books and I’m just sitting in the middle of it all going WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. On the subject of Japanese schoolboys, their uniform is really hot. Seriously. It’s like this:
except it looks better in real life
My first encounter of this was when I was just wheeling my bike to a suitable parking place and suddenly someone taps my shoulder and I turn around and am face to face with KYUUDO GUY WITH SEXY ARMS. Wearing the cool uniform. It was the best first encounter ever. Anyways, he was apparantly saying ohayo to me and because he’s my kyuudo senpai I should have been all like ohayo gozaimasu back but stfu I had my headphones in.
I have waaaay to many blanks in my schedule, so the majority of my time is spent self-studying in the library. Because of this I am now great friends with the library folk. The librarian and I have constant chat (she helps my Japanese sooo much I love her) and this other guy whose job I have no idea of always seems to buy me stuff. Like, he goes out for a while and then comes back with like cakes which he gives to me. Which is nice and all but usually I’m all like HOLY SHIT ARIGATOU UM THIS IS KIND OF AWKWARD. But who cares it’s free food and even though you’re not allowed to eat in the library the librarian lets me. Being a foreign exchange student is all kinds of awesome, you would not BELIEVE. Anyways, most of the time I sleep in the library. When I’m not sleeping, I ponder my existence. Then I ponder over everyone else’s existence. Then I study Japanese. Maybe. Probably not.
Lunch is the highlight of my school day (Kyuudo doesn’t count guys fo sho). This is because by lunch I am all kinds of starving and am ready to eat small Japanese children. My host mother makes the best bento (boxed lunch) ever. Don’t even try to compete. YOU WILL LOSE. Save yourself the embarrassment, guys. She also makes kickass onigiris. By the time I’ve finished lunch, I’m usually hungrier than I was, which kind of blows but I’ve gotten used to it. Anyways, at lunch I sit with a group of girls which consists of Ayaka, Natsumi, Rei, Yui, Sayaka, Kaori, and two girls I have no idea the name of, which is wierd, because I talk to them loads. I am hoping that one day someone will just SAY THEIR NAME and then I won’t have to be all awkward when they go “KIKI! OSUKARE!” and I’m just like… “yeah… osukare sama… person… girl… SOB SOB”. After lunch we usually brush our teeth which turns into a battle for dignity. After all, it is extremely hard to talk with a mouth full of saliva and toothpaste. I have already gotten over the worst of it when I gave Natsumi a picture she asked me draw and she was like in Japanese “THIS IS MY TREASURE, I’M GOING TO KEEP IT FOREVER” and I was so touched I forgot all about the state of my mouth and tried to say arigatou only it came out as “FUCK TOOTHPASTE EW EW EW I NEED TO CLEAN MY SHIRT”.
My life now revolves around kyuudo. Before I decide to do anything I first contemplate whether it will affect kyuudo in any way, shape, or form. If it doesn’t, I can do it. If it does (such as sacrificing my Saturday mornings) my usual response is SORRY GUYS I HAVE KYUUDO AND I MUST COMPLETE MY SAMURAI TRAINING. My kyuudo club is like one big family, seriously. We have our daddy, who is the Captain, whose name I don’t know but hey, Captain is good enough. Captain is the biggest father figure ever. He reprimands any late-comers and bellows orders and treats us all as his children. His eye is ALWAYS OPEN. HE SEES EVERYTHING. And he’s always correcting people and generally being a good captain and everyone follows his orders because he is the man of the house, bitch. His girlfriend is by default the mother-figure of our little family. Even though I would call this chick one of my best mates here, I still don’t know her name. It’s becoming worse each day trying to avoid saying her name… or well, not saying her name. Anyways, she isn’t so much the mother-figure as Captain’s mischivious fiance that he picked up somewhere suspicious. Still, she’s awesome and I lovessss her. I am the baby of the family for obvious reasons. I’m usually pretty much left to learn by immersion and occasionally fussed over and kawaii’d at. The rest of our female members are like my older sisters, two of them, the female vice-vice-captains our loving elders who spread their wisdom across the young’uns of our club. Ojii-chan, so called because despite only being seventeen he walks like he needs a walking stick and complains about everything, is our actual vice-captain and fills the role of the “WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE WE DIDN’T USE GOMIKYUUS AND WE DIDN’T HAVE FANCY LIGHT YUMI AND YATTORI WAS DONE PROPERLY WITH NO GIGGLING AND THE CLUB ROOM BELONGED TO THE MEN” old geezer perfectly. Neko-chan remains our pet and our prime mosquito killer. Neko-chan, you are a star.
And wow I can’t believe I just made such a huge metaphor with my kyuudo club.
My real family continue to be awesome. I am the laziest exchange student ever. I actually don’t have chores. Even though I ask to help like, twenty four seven and oh my god it’s nearly twenty to eleven at night already and I still have tonnes of e-mails to reply to dsadhgfsgadfgsafdsgfdgsf anyways, the only thing I have to really say about my host family is that my okaasan won’t stop trying to touch my ass. SERIOUSLY. She is always touching my ass and it is starting to get creepy. Anyone who knows me knows that my lower body is extreeemely sensitive and you need a license to touch my butt and KAWAZU YUMI DOES NOT HAVE IT. Fortunately I have now developed the sixth sense from evolution and can now sense whenever that hand is creeping towards the danger zone and have perfected the art of dancing out of the way before disaster strikes.
I have now reached a higher social link level with my host sister. My host sister and I actually talked today. And we both smiled all the way through our little chat– it was like we were both waiting for this moment and when I finally decided that enough was enough and actually talked it felt like our little barrier had disappeared. Now I just have to wait until she feels ready to take a mortal blow for me in battle, or help a comrade up or… okay I’ll stop being a nerd and referencing Persona.
But it has been raining non-stop recently (because there is a typhoon hitting Japan hurhurhur no joke) AND ANYONE WHO’S ANYONE (AKA ANYONE WHO LIKES JRPGS AS MUCH AS I DO) KNOWS WHAT THAT MEANS. I’M CHECKING THE TV GUYS.
Peace out. I miss you guys so much and your awesome parties without me. D: YOU BETTER THROW ME A BIG ONE WHEN I GET BACK!
