Second Day at School (and some other stuff)

UPDATE²: Oh, another huge difference between American and Japanese schools that I forgot to mention earlier: your homeroom teacher is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT. They're basically another parent to students. For example, if you get caught shoplifting in another city, or even another island in Japan, guess who's going fly out to pick you up and take you home before your parents do?-- that's right, your homeroom teacher.
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UPDATE: I'm back from the bank, yay. Biking is kind of strange when you bike on the left side of the road and the sidewalk. :P Anyways, I saw some elementary school kids on the way home-- one was wearing a shirt that said "JOY☆BRIGHT SHINE" or some sort of badly mutilated English phrase. I also learned that in Japanese, you say "hoipu" (ho-e-pu) instead of "uipu" (wii-pu) for "whip" (as in "whipped cream") Well, it makes sense, as you also say "howaito" (ho-wye-to) instead of "waito" (wye-to) for the color white. But either way, throwing those extra H's in there sounds really weird.
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So today I learned that my school is where students go when they fail their entrance examinations... or something like that. I'm not really sure though. In Japan, the passing grade is 40%... yeah. If you fail (meaning under 40%) a test for the first time, you get an easier re-take test. If you fail that test, you get another retake. If you fail that retake you get a bunch of homework and if you do it all you pass.

Yeah.


Anyways, I forgot my camera battery at home today so I didn't get the chance to take many pictures... but that's okay, you're not missing anything. Literally. Today was a testing day, and school only lasted until 11:00 AM. I got to sit in the library all day and "study" ... and by that I mean make origami, play word games and talk with other YFU students. The art teacher (倉本先生, Kuramoto-sensei) also came in to the library where we were spending all day and gave us a school calendar, some stickers for the calendar (which were in kanji and I could not read :D ) and a book with drawings and paintings done by his university students-- the artwork was truly amazing.

Oh, and speaking of art, turns out my two YFU friends who are attending the same school are in art courses, while I am in a ............... nursery course. Or something like that. My reaction is: "UGHHH, WHAT THE HECK, WHYYYYYYYYYYY" >__> but I'll manage. somehow.


I also got a bus pass today, so from now on (well, once I know the route) I'll be walking to the bus station and then taking the bus to school with my (and my host brother Taiga)'s friend Mami-chan who by the way is like super friendly omgwtf.

I probably have more to say, but I don't remember as I'm pretty tired-- I had to wake up at 6:30 AM today for school (don't worry mom, I'm going to bed early)... And tomorrow, I get to wake up at around 4:45 AM as we leave for Tokyo Disneyland right after 5:00...!!! D: but it'll be fun, so yeah. :B


And now I'm off to bike to the 銀行 (ginkou, bank -- not a ginkgo tree!) to cash some travelers cheques before it closes IN LESS THAN 30 MINUTES!

kbai for now.