Skip to main content

Birthday and School

Hey everyone! First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone for the birthday wishes, whether I recieved a letter in the mail, or an email, or a facebook post. It means a lot to me that everyone was thinking of me. (Sorry, wanted to get the mushy bit out of the way first.)

My birthday was pretty nice. It was the day before school started, so I pretty much just chilled out. Midday, my grandmother called me up to her apartment, where one of her friends presented me with this:
They hadn't meant to give it to me on my birthday, so it was really just a very lucky coincidence. It's a beautiful kimono, and I'm really lucky.

That was the cake I had for my little family celebration. Much as I would have, I didn't eat them all: I had the shortcake, my mother had the mont blanc and my grandmother had the chocolate (Ayuko was in Osaka, so it was just the three of us.)

Then here's the picture you (might) have been waiting for: *drumroll*
TADA! Summer school uniform! It's a navy pleated skirt, white socks, loafers, and the sailor-ish shirt. There's a sweater you can put over it, but it's so ridiculously hot I didn't bother. The navy bag is the school's bag too. Girl's definitely get the short end of the stick for uniforms: a guy's uniform just looks like dress pants and a nice white shirt, which isn't such a bad thing, but girls get the whole long-skirt shebang. But I have to admit, it's kinda fun to wear (no, I didn't just say that).

Today was just the opening ceremony, so I met my homeroom teacher and class, and then had to go to this Buddist temple-place where the principal was going to talk to the whole school via wireless TV (like they have at Payton) and then I had to get up and give my little speech thing, which went well. Everyone in my class is so LOUD! It seems like my all-girl's school life is going to be energetic. Classes start tomorrow; and here's a list of what I'm taking (but first, pity me people, I have school on Saturday's too since it's a private school!)
PE
Math (unspecified)
Science (unspecified)
Art
English
Japanese
Home E.C (aparently I'm sewing a yukata...ulp!)
Biology
Calligraphy
Music
and there's some Self-Study periods thrown in there as well. Which is what "Reading" and PC (computer studies) will be.
Labels:

Comments

  1. EthanSeptember 8, 2011 at 7:16 AM

    First off, that uniform is awesome, and you wear it well.

    Second of all, CAKE!

    Third, you have 10 classes...10. That's a lot.

    Fourth, give me your goddam email, woman.

    Fifth, miss you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. skrentzSeptember 8, 2011 at 11:45 AM

    I love the uniform -- I think you look great in it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2011 at 4:18 PM

    I haven't been on FB & didn't know it was your birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!...late.

    Gotta say, you look darling in that uniform! I'm sure you'll get to wear jeans during down time.

    We start youth group next Tuesday. We'll miss you but, boy what an adventure to hear about now & later.

    Love to you, Clare

    ReplyDelete
  4. wizardonskis22September 8, 2011 at 8:36 PM

    Happy Birthday again, you're awesome, kimono and uniform both super cool, miss you, you rock that uniform :-D
    Lauren :-D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Josie To The EastSeptember 8, 2011 at 9:55 PM

    CUT THE SKIRT CUT THE SKIRT! and you look amazing in your kimono :) wish you were here at Payton cause it feels like our little group is incomplete without you :'(

    ReplyDelete
  6. wizardonskis22September 9, 2011 at 8:08 PM

    I'm with Josie on that one! It's so weird! I can't wait to have you in my lunch period (6th?)...

    ReplyDelete
  7. northsidemomSeptember 10, 2011 at 2:33 PM

    Claire,
    Happy belated Birthday! Your kimono is beautiful and you look beautiful in it!
    Your host family seems quite lovely and it's nice to see faces to go with the names. I am glad that you like them!
    Your school uniform is cute! If the skirt was shorter and you had on knee-high socks....well you know!
    I have so enjoyed reading about your adventure. Thank you for taking the time to share the experience with us. I have been reading since the start, but now I can post to you! Yeah me!
    We miss seeing your smiling face at church! I look forward to reading your next entry. Take care, and don't work too hard (that class schedule looks like a lot of work!),
    Sharon (White)

    ReplyDelete
  8. ZakiyyaSeptember 11, 2011 at 2:40 PM

    That cake looks really delicious! Haha and it's so awesome that your birthday is the day before school starts. Time to super chill. :) Cute uniform by the way. :D

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Homecoming

This is it. It's Friday, February 3rd and in less than 24 hours I will leave this house for Tokyo train station, which will take me to the airport, which will take me...home. Most of this week has been taken up with goodbyes: to schoolmates and teachers, and later, close friends. There were tears involved. I think the photos will do it a lot more justice than I could: Kohei, from tennis group. All the tennis people got together for dinner at an okonomiyaki (think cabbage pancake, with yummy stuff like shrimp in it) but first we went to a boardwalk which had nighttime light shows. Top: Anime Club. They threw a small party for me, where we ate lots of food and watched (what else) anime and talked. Bottom: one of my English classes. They asked me to teach them an American game for the last day, so I taught everyone how to play Heads-Up 7-Up. They were pretty good at it. The other exchange student, Nom, and my Japanese teacher. The last view of school: the walk leading u...
13 comments
Read more

Enoshima: The Heavenly Maiden and the Dragon

This past Monday was a national holiday -- Mountain Day -- so, of course, Troy and I headed to the beach instead. Well, to an island near a beach since (as some of you may know) I'm not exactly the beach-going type. Plus I'd just climbed Mount Fuji, which was more than enough mountain for me. Enoshima is a small island off the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture, fairly near Kamakura. It's connected to the mainland via a bridge, so you can just stroll on over from the train station. The entire island is dedicated to Benzaitan, the goddess of everything that flows -- time, water, speech, music, and knowledge. According to the "Enoshima Engi," (a history of the shrines and temples on Enoshima) there's also a legend associated with the creation of the island involving Benzaitan and a dragon. In brief, the area around Enoshima was once wracked by violent storms and earthquakes. Eventually the tumult ended and a heavenly maiden (Benzaitan) descended from the clouds....
2 comments
Read more

In Praise of American Teachers

SPOILER ALERT: This post is going to be part rant, part commentary and part revelation, so be prepared for a lot of text and some opinions (which may be rather harsh). Since I've had about a week of school I think I'm just about qualified to make comments about the type of education in Japan, and a bit of confusion I have about world education rankings. Let me be rather blunt at first: a dull teacher at an American school is already more intersting than a teacher at a Japanese school. The best examples I have for this is comparing American math and science classes to Japanese math and science classes. Science and math classes that I've always had have been very teacher-student and student-student interactive, with discussions, questioning, and interactions with the material. Japanese math and science classes are completely lecture based, where the teacher either reads directly from the textbook or instructs the students to. Even when the teacher wrote on the chalkboard (y...
6 comments
Read more