Random pictures & MeySen (明泉)

School has been [moderately] fun... but not really much to write about. :) Instead, pictures:




Not going to try this-- especially since it has ION ELECTROLYTES in it.


NHK, a childrens' television network. only in Japan...


On the way to school outside of a store named "JUNKs" ..... yeah.


This is why MeySen exists (second part of this post for more info)


One of my favorite pictures so far :)


I sent out four postcards today. :) Also, I really wish schools in America had 校歌 (kouka, school songs). Seibun's is really nice I think-- I got a copy of the lyrics yesterday and we sang it today in music.

Hmm, also, just 'cause Google Maps is fun to play with... here's a map of where my school is. :D

View Larger Map

Tomorrow and Sunday I'll be going to the MeySen high school camp with my friend Shun and staying overnight there next night... I think it will be quite fun. :D MeySen (明泉 - the 'sen' kanji is the same as 'Izumi,' which is the prefecture it's in!) is... well, it could definitely be a big evil institution corrupting the minds of Japanese children. :P It's a kindergarten, but also an "after-school academy" (not a juku/cram school) for elementary through high school students. It's a normal kindergarten, but from elementary school and up it's basically an English-studying and conversation school (though they refuse to identify as that). It's very... conservative (aka Christian) too... like, HIGHLY. For example, I went yesterday to see what it was like with my mom, and some teacher (who are all外人 - foreigners, by the way) asked my my name... the conversation went a bit like this:

Teacher: Oh hi, nice to meet you... what's your name?
Me: Eli.
Teacher: Oh! That's a bible name.
Me: *breaks out laughing*
Teacher: I mean it. Are your parents Christians?
Me: Uh.... Um.... They're not practicing, but yes. (kind of a lie)
Teacher: Oh I'm glad. But of course what is most important is your faith to the Bible and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Though I think I'll have fun. we get to read the bible too. :) (Michael - THE MOUND OF OLIVES!!!! :D ) ...don't get all religious on me, Mom.


I just checked out their website and found that the school motto is "Mercy and Truth," lolwat.

Oh also, THE PRINCIPAL BY HIMSELF gives all the children [very strange] English names so the teachers don't have to struggle to remember and pronounce their Japanese names... my host brother's name was Brad... oh, and also, the parents never meet the teachers. When my mom took me last night, she met Taiga's teacher for the first time... "Are you Brad's mother?!" ... I facepalmed (used that word just for you, Mom). Also, my friend from YFU goes with her host sister sometimes... she told me she had a conversation somewhat like the following:

Teacher: What do you think will happen with the world in the next 20 years?
Friend: Well, related to politics, I think democratic governments will become more prominent in some countries.
Teacher: *looks disapprovingly* Uh-oh. Well, we don't want that to happen... anything else?
Friend: *thinks 'what the hell'* Flying cars.

MeySen-related pictures:



Accept the truth. You like to fly kites.


Not oversimplified at all.


My favorite book.


Will post about it when I get back. :)

Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. --Job 1:21

^{(If you get the reference, you're cool.)}

Some school stuff & some not school stuff

Yesterday we had "Oral Communication" with Bushaa-sensei... and that means watching Avatar in English with Japanese subtitles all period. :) All the Na'vi language also had Japanese subtitles which made me go "lolwut" since you're not supposed to understand it. (Which reminds me: check out the Wikipedia article on the Na'vi language, and look at all the information they have... jeez.) Next class we get to analyze the dialogue. Too bad the class is only once a week. :(

In other news, there was a loose stone in the path I ride my bicycle on to 旭ヶ丘駅 (Asahigaoka Eki, Asahigaoka Station) (which is the station I take a bus or subway to school)... so yeah, I fell over and now my knees and one of my elbows are all hurt and stuff. BUT DON'T GET ALL WORRIED MOTHER because that was yesterday and today it's fine. well it still kinda hurts, but it's fine. The bicycle parking people along with my school was all nice and gave me gauze and wrapped stuff around my leg so now people pay attention to me EVEN MORE (not that that's a bad thing).\

I also had a bunch of sushi yesterday and some other stuff that wasn't sushi but somehow sushi-related the other night and it was pretty good. Well, most of it anyways. (I'm glad tuna is always cooked in America.)

The day before yesterday (I'm going in reverse order here, it seems...) Ryosuke and Shun and their mother came over for dinner... so we cooked a lot of stuff and it was very delicious. :)



Oh, also, I forgot to mention earlier... on the plane ride to Japan (A LONG TIME AGO) we watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and it was fantastic. Go see it if you haven't. You should also go see 宇宙ショーへようこそ (uchuu show e youkoso, Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW) which I mentioned earlier because it will for sure be fantastic... BUT YOU [PROBABLY] CAN'T SINCE YOU'RE [PROBABLY] NOT IN JAPAN SO HAH. ...not that I've seen it yet, though. :< (website)

Kay, picture tiem:



\
I'm ラブラブing the name of these strawberries.


If schools in America had posters like these I would just melt.


I don't even know what to say about this.


Japanese textbooks tell the world who's boss.


Japanese textbooks probing the minds of students.


wat


Last one. My friend from YFU Isaac took it and posted it to his Facebook, and I'm posting it here 'cause I thoroughly enjoyed it. so fantastic.



Hmm, that's basically all for now.

See ya. :)

Badminton!

Today I woke up at 8:30 AM to watch プリキュア！ (PreCure!) and it was pretty awesome. Then my mom and I biked to a nearby elementary school for a city-wide badminton tournament. :)

...well it wasn't really "city-wide." There were probably about 35 or 40 people there, and most of them played. In the end, my mom and I ended up getting first place :D ...though I think three other teams also got first place, as there were multiple groups. :P First prize included a towel that had some brand on it that my mom didn't recognize, and a "Mikasa" bag, which is a famous Japanese company that makes all sorts of sports goods, though everyone only knows them for making volleyballs ...But anyways, it was super super fun. :)

I also met two junior high school (aka middle school) girls named Sae and Kaide ('saa-ay' & 'kye-day', JUST IN CASE YOU CAN'T PRONOUNCE NIHONGO)... who by the way were OMFGWTFラブラブ　スーパーかわいい～ ヽ(*´∀`)ﾉﾟ 　（*´▽｀*） 　Like seriously. oh my god. <3 (Disclaimer: as Japan's education system is laid out differently than America's, Sae was 14 years old and Kaide was 15-- around my age; that means the YFU police AREN'T GOING TO HUNT ME DOWN FOR SAYING THAT, MOTHER. but yeah. Sae had super cute dimples when she smiled, too. :3 they were really nice and funny, and we talked a lot for a long time... when we weren't playing badminton. :) Everyone (especially Sae and Kaide ~desuuuu ( ・ω・) ) was super nice. :) A man named Nakamura-san also gave me one of his 団扇 (uchiwa, fans)... which by the way IS SUPER AWESOME 'CAUSE IT HAS POKÉMON ON IT AND THEY'RE ALL SMILING. :D


(ANA is a Japanese airline company... and they have these kinds of awesome planes - each of those blue words is a link to an image, if you didn't notice)

And I'm off to school tomorrow. （￣□￣；） lolol look at me with all these fun nihongo emoticons.

kbai for now. :3