Today we went to the Jr. College
to see all of our student friends. When we arrived they took us up to the room
where the English classes were held. Everyone was so excited we were there. It makes
me feel like a celebrity. They make such a big deal when we come to visit and
they make such a big deal of taking pictures.
We talked with the girls and they asked us about our families. I
told/showed them my family and said all their names. I have the biggest family
by far which is so surprising… not really. But everyone thinks it is so
incredible. The director of the English department talked to us and welcomed us
to the school. Then two second year girls did presentations about their home
towns. The cities they showed us were extremely pretty. One of them was Matsue
but the other one was closer to the ocean. All the students as well as the
professors were very giving to us. They gave us some Japanese orange and apple
juice and crackers. Both of them were very delicious. I feel like they all have
been raised as a giving community and people. I think America would be so much
different if they did that. All of the girls were extremely knowledgeable and
wanted to continue learning. Something I learned is that they never have
breaks. They all go to school 24/7.
After we finished visiting with them we all
went to play dodge ball. Dodge ball here is a very big sport. They play it
differently than we do in the states. Generally, they only play with one ball.
People run around the outside of the court and can hit out there too. It
definitely is an extremely fun game. Everyone gets very into the game and the
competition of it. After the games we all took pictures. Here in Japan they
love pictures and they always hold up the peace sign. It almost makes you feel
like you have to hold up the peace sign in order to fit in. Multiple people
commented on how much they loved my hair. It made me realize that they don’t
see very many naturally blonde haired people. All the girls in my group told me
that they envied my hair. I guess it would be much harder to die their dark
hair blonde because it is so dark.
After dodge ball we all went to the
cafeteria and ate lunch together. It was so good! I absolutely loved it. I had
some meat on rice and a salad. One thing I hate is that they don’t eat very
much meat and they only eat very small proportions of it when they do. I love my meat so that is one thing that was
really hard. I also noticed that most girls bought lunch at the school, but a
few did bring lunch to the school. After that we went to the park to play on
the playground. It was like an adult sized playground. The slide was like one
on an airport belt. As we were leaving all the girls wanted to add us as
friends on Facebook so they could communicate with us again. They were
extremely sad to let their American friends leave. It was so nice to meet them
I learned a lot about their lifestyles and I do believe a lot of them are a
very reserved people, but some of them wouldn't fit the typical lifestyle of Japanese
people.
Later that night when we got to
the new hotel we were able to go to a bath house. It was a really great experience.
At first we all were a bit skeptical, but when we got there it was great. I
think that bath houses are just a way of their culture. To go to a public bath
is what they would consider the normal.
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