Japan Trip 2010! Day 1
Alright, I don't ever post in this thing (which is a damn shame), but now I finally have something to put in! Over the course of the two week Japan Trip my school takes every year, I kept a journal for most of the days. So! I think I'll start posting them here.
Let's start with Day 1:
Day 1 - 5/10/10
Thanks for telling me that Microsoft Office doesn't work on this computer, Mom.
I figure I've gotta use this computer for something after I brough it such a long way, so what not use it as a journal of sorts? It's got nothing better to do anyway...
Alright, so. Let's talk about Day 1.
Oh. My. God. I hate sleeping on airplanes. They're so uncomfortable because the space is so tiny. Every year I thinik I make my back a little worse by trying to sleep on an airplane. Thank God for Brenna and Felicia, my alternating pillows, otherwise I never would have gotten any sleep.
That's not to say I was productive on the plane. When I wasn't sleeping, I was playing games on this computer, reading The Red Pyramid, or watching How I Met Your Mother. Please. As if I would actually do the assigned work for this trip on the plane there to make it easier on myself.
All in all, the flight wasn't too bad. Fun times were had among the Kojimachi girls in cramped spaces 10,000 ft in the air.
When we got off the plane, we grabbed our big suitcases and quickly sent them off without us to Kojimachi (and yet we still got there a day before they're supposed to arrive...huh). I didn't mind because I had to dig out some pajamas that I'd forgotten to pack. SCORE.
After bidding the Kojo kids/ Bunkyo girls farewell, Allison, Felicia, Brenna, Keiko and I were Kojimachi bound. One excruciatingly long train ride later, we were there.
We met a sensei who was carrying 5 umbrellas (one for each of us in case of random downpour) on the platform where we got off. Just when we thought the journey was done, two more trains and a crap-load of stairs jumped from the shadows and surprised us.
The commute itself wouldn't have been so bad if the country of Japan believed in AIR CONDITIONING. My American skin has been spoiled by my people's air conditioning frenzy tactics because unlike us, in Japan, they don't turn on the air conditioner until it's like 85 degrees or higher. Yeah, you heard me. I think it's their calm way of telling foreigners (namely Americans) to go home and the environmetal thing is just an excuse.
Still, we eventually got our sweaty selves to Kojimachi. Awkward glances and "Herro"s abound, we managed to make it up the stairs to the meeting room where I would finally meet Seina.
That green bracelet was working overtime for me yesterday, because it couldn't have been directed any better if it was a movie. Seina, I've come to find, is even more like me that Kanna and Yumi combined. But let's start at the beginning.
In that meetingroom (where it was also as hot as the space between Satan's balls and his sphincter (lol I can't spell)), the hosts sat down in front of their girls as our names were read. When she'd walked in, I saw Seina and somehow immediately knew whom she was. Of course, my name was last, and we finally saw each other across the table for the first time.
A few words (aka a broken Engrish speech and some awkward glances from Keiko-sensei) later, it was time to go home, so the four Americans promptly spit up and went home with their girls.
It didn't take long for me to find that Seina speaks very quickly (a girl after my own heart). This will probably be fine in the coming days when I find my Japanese-sealegs, but for today, it wasn't so fun. Seina's English isn't too hot, and my Japanese (as compared to the AP students I came with) is more like Syberia (ironic, considering how sweaty and hot I was).
On our way home, she started asking me some rapid-fire questions, to which I could only respond with the look I can only describe as the one Phoenix makes when she's peed on something she's not supposed to and is getting yelled at.
My interperating skills (or lack there of) became obvious after a while because we stopped talking. Of course, that took place on a train ride to end all train rides. I'm going to time it tomorrow, because that bad boy is LONG. Then again, I just found out my house is in Chiba, while my school is in Tokyo. That's like saying I live in Norwalk, but I go to school in Queens.
During that ride, all sorts of thoughts were going through my head. "Oh no," I thought, "I'm such a failure at this language. I can't even remember simple words right now. Maybe that'll wear off as the days go on. Dear God it's hot in here. I can't wait to shower. Seina's probably ticked that she has to deal with my fail-Japanese for the next week. Maybe I'll be like Anna and just hide away so she can go about her evenings in peace. I wounder if I can shower somewhere on this train. Are we ever getting off? She didn't say, but I'm too afraid to ask. Let's see... Koko kara... uh... itsu uh.... crap, I don't know. I'll just stay quiet until she tells me to get up. Y'know, at this point, I may just shower in a waterfountain because this is ridiculous."
Finally, after at least 40 min of awkward silence, we got off at a station where my Host Mom was there to pick us up in her car. Kind, sweet, and good-hearted. All perfectly describe her. Just like Kanna and (especially) Yumi's mom, I can tell Seina's mother is going to help make this experience great. :)
Anyway, the car ride home wasn't long or awkward. When we did get home, I was in awe. This house, while not big, is beautiful! It's so clean, extremely modern in design, and downright cozy. Yet, by this point, I was still convinced Seina and I had nothing in common and were going to spend the next 8 days in silence.
A side note, I can't believe how much I've chipped these nails in the past day. I swear that those Koreans gave me a faulty job for not buying their stupid $110 manicure.
Then, something wonderful happened. we toured the house. Mom was all smiles, as usual, and I started to see Seina in a different light. After changing out of her uniform and getting home, she must have gotten more comfortable with her environment because I started to notice a more open side to her. Her gestures are funny, and so are her phrases, something I didn't see in the school or on the ride home. We laughed at their magic toilet that opens by itself (THAT SHIT IS POSSESSED lolpun), and were amazed at her father's freakin' projector screen that decends from the ceiling (that was pretty cool; Francois would be jealous...stupid laptop that doesn't use French accents...).
My room is a beautiful Japanese-style 8-mat tatami room, complete with TV, outlets, and an extremely comfortable futon. It was here that Seina asked what kind of TV I liked. I answered, "Dramas, anime..." and before I could finish, I saw her eyes light up. "You like anime?" she repeated, "Do you read manga, too?" I answered yes. She asked me which ones. When I said Gintama, I though she would explode.
Smiling and laughing, she dragged me upstairs to her room to show off her manga collection to me. It's a giant bookshelf with shelves that move all around the inside, and the dang thing is filled to the brim with books.
We are extremely alike in taste, let me tell you that. She had Ginatama and Love Hina and Urusei Yatsura and a bunch of other ones that I love. Plus, she's a Reborn fan, and I told her that Brenna is, too. It was then that I was introduced to what I will forever refer to as "Seina's gesture". She takes a wide stance, makes a muscle with one arm, puts her other hand over it and says "Oooooo" in an excited mannor. So much love for this girl do I have sitting in my heart, it is indescribable.
There was a little someting I noticed at the bottom of her shelf, though, which I didn't mention but have every intention of bringing up at some point. The chick likes Junjou Romantica. This meeting is nothing short of destiny or the bracelet.
Long story short, the night went off without a hitch. Seina, Risa (Seina's older sister), and I played Daifuugo while we waited for dinner (which was AWESOME by the way) and then Seina and I watched some TV. During all of this, as you might have guessed, my every other thought was "Can I take a shower, please?". Well, after TV, I finally got it (after messing with the hot water controls for a while).
I wasn't sure when to go to bed, so I waited until Mom said goodnight to me and closed the door. I did manage to practice my math for the SATs, though! Yeah, I did "okay"... but that's what practice is for! ... Right?
I'm writing all of this on the morning of Day 2 because I've ceased being able to sleep. All and all, I'm happy with the way yesterday turned out. As if the bonding yesterday wasn't enough, on Day 2 we have Sports Day, which will be perfect for bringing us all together... even if I do royaly suck at a plethora of physical activities.
We shall see!
I'm kind of hoping this journal was so long because it was the first one... otherwise this document is going to be freakin' HUGE...
Day 2'll be up tomorrow!