There's just no other way to describe it. Today was a happy day. Life could not get better than today.
First of all, the third and fourth periods of our normal Saturday half day was the speech contest that I'd written my lovely rock-paper-scissors speech for. Needless to say, I was sweating bullets. Despite the freezing weather, the contest was held in the gymnasium. Fortunately, everyone was allowed to bring blankets and scarfs so we wouldn't freeze. I was glad of my shivering for one reason: it hid my shaking and gave me an excuse. Of course, as the exchange student they put me as the last person.
There was lunch, and then cake, and then everyone brought a bag of chips each so we passed around 37 bags of snacks. That picture is everyone doing rock-paper-scissors to see who gets to choose their piece of cake...ahaha!
From top to bottom: everyone eating away, me with my four best friends here, and then our class photo. (Yes, I know there's some issues with it...but you can see everyone so it's all good!)
Then they gave me presents (which they REALLY didn't need to do) but the best one I got was this book they made, where they put everyone's picture next to messages they'd written. I am going to treasure it forever and ever and ever and EVER. It pretty much sums up why I wanted to travel abroad in the first place. I nearly cried when I opened it, and I can't wait to take an hour or so to go through them really carefully.
The third awesome thing was I got my grades for the classes I had here, and I gave a huge sigh of relief when I got them because it seems that getting credit for classes should be alright:
Math -B (I half expected this; it's hard enough for me to understand math in English, let alone Japanese...)
Biology -A+ (they actually wrote the plus)
Integrated Science -A+ (kinda like Earth Science)
English -A+
Japanese -A
Home Economics -A+
Calligraphy -A
Art -A
Music -A+
P.E. -A+
Computer -A
WHOO! I don't feel like a failure! Yeah!
On top of all of this, (as if this weren't enough!) the extended family got together for dinner as a combo goodbye to me/welcome back to Ryo. We ate, and talked, and laughed and generally had a great time. And now it's now...and I don't quite know what to think. I'm still a little bit in shock. What should I feel right now? Happy? Sad?
T-7days!
First of all, the third and fourth periods of our normal Saturday half day was the speech contest that I'd written my lovely rock-paper-scissors speech for. Needless to say, I was sweating bullets. Despite the freezing weather, the contest was held in the gymnasium. Fortunately, everyone was allowed to bring blankets and scarfs so we wouldn't freeze. I was glad of my shivering for one reason: it hid my shaking and gave me an excuse. Of course, as the exchange student they put me as the last person.
It went rather well. When it came time to announce the winners (first, second, and third in both English Speeches and Japanese) for some strange reason they announced that I was the second place winner in the Japanese Speech category.
Go figure...
Then, my friends told me to wait in the classroom once class was over. They contrived something about Gashosai (Music Festival) singing practice, but when they led me down to the first floor I began to get suspicious. They had me go into a room that has a bunch of tables used for the cooking class and I was met with this:
They threw me a SURPRISE PARTY. I didn't have a clue. For such a talkative group, they are surprisingly great at keeping secrets. 
Then they gave me presents (which they REALLY didn't need to do) but the best one I got was this book they made, where they put everyone's picture next to messages they'd written. I am going to treasure it forever and ever and ever and EVER. It pretty much sums up why I wanted to travel abroad in the first place. I nearly cried when I opened it, and I can't wait to take an hour or so to go through them really carefully.
The third awesome thing was I got my grades for the classes I had here, and I gave a huge sigh of relief when I got them because it seems that getting credit for classes should be alright:
Math -B (I half expected this; it's hard enough for me to understand math in English, let alone Japanese...)
Biology -A+ (they actually wrote the plus)
Integrated Science -A+ (kinda like Earth Science)
English -A+
Japanese -A
Home Economics -A+
Calligraphy -A
Art -A
Music -A+
P.E. -A+
Computer -A
WHOO! I don't feel like a failure! Yeah!
On top of all of this, (as if this weren't enough!) the extended family got together for dinner as a combo goodbye to me/welcome back to Ryo. We ate, and talked, and laughed and generally had a great time. And now it's now...and I don't quite know what to think. I'm still a little bit in shock. What should I feel right now? Happy? Sad?
T-7days!
"What should I feel right now? Happy? Sad?"
ReplyDeleteEverything, yes, and yes, to answer those questions in order.
Hey! I think I met your host sister today... I went to some orientation thing for AFS and met a girl named Minami. She said her host sister was studying in Japan and that her name was Claire Williamson...
ReplyDeleteSo hopefully that's you. Otherwise I'll feel really silly.
Yup, that was her! She's really nice, isn't she?
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll get to see her pretty soon, since I come home on Saturday. (Gah...I can't believe it...)
Hey so I've been following your blog since the beginning and I have to say- its been one of the best exchange blogs I've read. I always looked forward to your next post~ You posted a lot xD ( a very good thing). I hope you had a great time in Japan! I'll be sad that I won't get to read about your adventures anymore but I'm glad that I found your blog and was able to "tag along". I know this might be a bit awkward because Its kind of random xD
ReplyDeleteIts also strange to think that as your exchange comes to an end, mine is starting. Its just a really strange though.
Thank you for keeping such an awesome blog!