10th Year Anniversary, Culture Festival Prep, and Band Practice

This past week has been very busy, but super rewarding. Everyone at school is super busy preparing for the school festival, and my class is no exception  Our school also had it´s tenth year anniversary this Saturday, celebrating the time when our school and another school in town joined together and became one school, with two different campuses. I was going to play a role in the ceremony, so I had to put off some time for practicing. Monday was the last day of exams, so I finally got to to Kyudo practice after two weeks off. The skin between my thumb had gotten soft during that time, so I got a enormous blister by the time we finished. It was really nice to be back though.

When I came to school on Monday the student council was in our classroom taking pictures of everyone doing cute poses. 

Nothing brings the class together like a spontaneous photoshoot.

There was no school on Tuesday, to give everyone a well deserved rest after all the exams. I managed to catch a cold, so not only did I have to stay inside, but I also had to wear a mask. It´s normal to wear a mask like this when you´re sick in Japan (and other asian countries) because it helps stop the bacteria from spreading to other people. It gets a bit humid when you´re breathing into a mask all day, which also helps against the cold. I felt pretty badass wearing it, maybe like a zombie apocalypse survivor.

By Wednesday, school was back to normal. I could´t help but notice this charm my friend had attached to her pencil case. "It´s a poop! Isn´t it cute?" she said. Everyone answered "NO" loudly and clearly. We had a pretty good laugh.

In homeroom we got to work on our display for the school festival. Our theme is "A Norwegian Town". My classmates came up with the idea themselves, and other than asking me what Norway is famous for, and what the landscape and buildings look like, I have very little to do with it. So far everything is looking amazingly accurate.

I´m really looking forward to seeing the end result! I think my bunad would really have come in handy for this!

At Kyudo practice a salesman came to sell us equipment. The first years were going to buy their arrows. I might have gotten a little carried away, and ended up buying some too. I also got fitted for the hakama, yugake, and tabi (the robe, glove, and socks), which I´m also going to buy. There are kyudo doujos in Europe, and because I would really like to continue with it when I go back home, I thought I might as well get my own equipment.

Since we finished club early, two of my kyudo friends and I decided to go to McDonalds for a snack. We ran in to some of their classmates, who asked if they could take a picture with me. All three of us were wearing medical masks!

Matcha latte and chocolate frappes. Delish.

Kyudo buddies, Runo and Haruka.

It was a really nice way to end a good day of school. When I got home I had to prepare for my first dance lesson, which was so much fun. I made lots of new friends there too, but taking pictures with them didn´t even cross my mind.

We found a huge spider in the girls bathroom the next day at school. I was surprised that nobody screamed when they saw it. This sucker was enormous.

The end result of our class´ welcome sign. They found out how to say "welcome" in Norwegian!

After dance practice, I came home to a whole band in our living room. My host dad plays the keyboard in a jazz band, and since they have a live show coming up they had to practice. My bedroom is usually where they play, but since I´m staying there now they had to fit everything into the living room. It was quite wild hearing live music when I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. I´m going to sing back up for two songs, so I had to join in on the practice session. I am not too confident in my singing, so I´m crossing my fingers that I´ll do well.

On Friday I was part of a select group of students who would be playing a role in Saturday´s anniversary ceremony. My job was to give out flowers to the guest of honor.

Anna and I became really good friends, because while I was going to give flowers, she was going to give a speech. We spent a lot of time together, and she tought me how to bow and hold the flowers properly. While we were watching the run through of the ceremony, both of us fell asleep! Luckily we didn´t get in trouble. I got to know the other members of the student council better as well.

Woke up way early on Saturday, and went to the city hall.

The Japanese traditional drum club opened the ceremony, and it was amazing! Not only was the sound of the drums cool, but the drummer´s movements were so powerful yet graceful. The picture is a little unclear, but I wasn´t really supposed to be taking pictures. The performance gave me shivers.

After the ceremony. I don´t have pictures of me giving the flowers yet, but there was a photographer there, so the pictures will come eventually. Anna and I posing after a successfully completing our job. I was pretty wiped out by the end of it.

Before going home I went to Green Hotel and bought some "Hida Good Taste Ice". Despite the engrish name, this ice-cream was amazing. I don´t know what it is about cows from the Hida region, but everything they produce tastes like heaven.

When I got home my host mom had made me ramen for lunch, which was exactly what I had been craving. I started to suspect that not only is she an amazing cook, but also a mind reader.

I went for a longer bike ride to go shopping and just explore town. After buying some convenience store goodies, I tried to find my way to Uni Qlo. I ended up next to a river, so I took a picture of it. I found Uni Qlo eventually. There were so many things I wanted to buy there, for example a Moomin sweatshirt (Mummitrollet was a huge part of my childhood okay), but I could´t decide which one so I just bought two pairs of thigh high socks instead.

This might be a bit overshare, but I´m gonna share anyway. I went to 7-Eleven to buy melon soda, and ended up buying some feminine hygiene products because y´know. When I went to unpack the bag when I got home, I was surprised to find a brown paper bag. "Where did this come from?" I thought. Apparently, the Japanese pack these sorts of things in bags so us customers won't get embarrassed. Thanks Japan, I appreciate the sentiment.

I came home from my bicycling adventure, and my host mom told me to change clothes because we were going out for yakiniku. I actually thought to myself earlier that day; "God, I could really go for some yakiniku tonight": So when they told me I started to dance around like a crazy person. What can I say, this stuff is so good I can´t help it. Now I´m certain that my host mom is a mind reader.

Hida beef, is literally the best thing ever. It just melts in your mouth. Hida beef is among the highest  quality beef you can find in Japan. I like meat just as the next person, but I could seriously live off of this stuff for the rest of my life.

Sunday I stayed inside because of the bad weather caused by the typhoon, and it was a great opportunity to finish some of the work I had been putting off because of this week´s schedule. I wrote a few speeches, got some studying done, and filmed a video. Today school was canceled because of the typhoon, but I still went to the Rotary meeting to hold my speech. I wrote the speech very last minute the day before, and didn´t have time to have someone look over it and correct any eventual mistakes. I held my speech, and got lots of amazing feedback. My counsellor told me how shocked he was over how good my Japanese had become. Hearing things like that is always very motivating, so I´ll study even harder from now on.

My blazer is filling up quite nicely as well. I haven´t met any other exchange students other than the ones in my district yet, so I haven't traded too many pins yet, but I make up for that with random pins, phone charms, and plushies I´ve found so far on my exchange. I make sure to buy something from every place I visit here to put on my blazer. I´ll give you a tour of it eventually!

The month of October is going to be a very busy month for me. The School Festival, the Rotary Intercity meeting, the Rotary Conference, holding a presentation at school, and changing host families are all things that are happening this month. I´m very exited!