School Life: Uniforms and Classes and Other Fun Stuff!

I figured out how to change the font back to normal, thank goodness for other exchange students that are actually skilled.

So, I feel like I should write about my school life because most people have no idea what Japanese high school is actually like!! (If you've ever watched anime, trust me, it's NOTHING like that hahaha) :D

Well, I go to a commercial business school, so it might be kinda different than some schools. Actually, every school is different..

Uniforms

But, my uniform is very strict. It's kinda like a British school uniform I think! Not very Japanese!

There are two main types of school uniforms (called seifuku or sailor uniforms)

(Disclaimer: most of these pictures do not belong to me)

The first is like mine, usually more business-looking than the other type of uniform but not always since the skirt can vary in length and design and the bow can change size and color. Sometimes the blazer even has gold buttons! My host sister goes to a nicer, newer school, so her uniform is short and  very fashionable.

My winter uniform is similar to this. Mine is navy and the bow is like a black shoelace or something though (weird, I know). The boys at my school wear the male uniform shown in this picture. In summer, there's no blazer and the dress shirt is short-sleeved!


Here's the second version, a true sailor uniform.

Cute, isn't it? My friends Ingrid and Emma both have sailor uniforms like these.

Here's me at school: 

Basically I just do whatever I want in the library hahaha!

(Yes, the high neck and tight ribbon constantly choke me. I actually got a rug burn thing on my neck from the shirt collar)!

My uniform is scratchy and annoying to change in and out of, especially in the super hot weather here. I would give anything to wear pants! But, I think that the summer uniform will be much better :D The long skirt is not so cute, but it's nice to not have to worry about it blowing up so much in the wind (although it does happen a lot, so I wear shorts under my skirt. I'm so glad it's long enough to wear shorts. Oh, and I don't have to shave my legs every day, which is definitely a plus!!)

I see some girls wearing such short skirts here that I can see their underwear!! It's Japanese culture to wear shirts that don't even show a hint of cleavage, so it has turned into leg country here. Interesting, huh!

Also, no makeup or accessories are allowed (this goes for almost all high schools in the country). I secretly wear tinted moisturizer, but no jewelry or eye makeup or anything else. And, no nail polish! Sorry girls! It's actually not so bad at all. Oh, and no dyed hair. Mine has highlights but it's not like anyone can tell ;) Sometimes, at really strict schools, they check the length of your nails, but they don't seem to care at my school!

Classes

Actually, they really don't care at all what I do. I skip a lot of classes (with permission, of course!) and I sit in the library and read books or listen to music or sleep or eat lunch. I skip at least one class a day!

Today I slept all through chemistry (I already took it in America and I still have no idea what's going on here). I also don't do anything during math because I hate math and I can't understand anything so it's fine with my school! I don't need anything except P.E. credit from this year anyway!

Here's a picture of one of the classrooms:

I have three different English classes here. One is English Communication, and the other two are Business English. English Communication is basically reading articles (right now we just finished learning about the history of chopsticks and the knife and fork) and answering questions out loud and on a worksheet. I also had to write a really short essay about my home town in America! Then everyone had to read theirs out loud to the ESL teacher from Jamaica. I got full marks haha! English Communication is taught by my homeroom teacher, who's a nice Japanese man.

Out of the Business English classes, one is basic conversation (taught by a really nice Yale graduate guy from Minnesota) and another is business-related (learning how to answer a telephone for a business, talking about money, etc.) and it is taught by a really funny Japanese man. Usually the teachers ask me for help, which is fine by me because I can actually participate!

Here's　my schedule in English:

And in Japanese:

Also, I have Japanese class. The other students are learning difficult kanji  (Chinese characters) and there's no way I can even begin to comprehend what anyone is talking about, so I fill out a Japanese workbook. It's all in Japanese, and I have to answer each question in Japanese, but it's not so hard for me anymore :D and it really helps to improve my writing skills! I'm a lot faster now than when I first started.

Japanese is taught by a kind Japanese woman, and she also teaches my calligraphy class. Twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday, I go to calligraphy with the first year students. I sit in the back and I work on my own letters, but it's fun nonetheless! Being left-handed, calligraphy is extra hard. The letters are actually purposefully made for right-handed people, so I have to hold the brush in my left hand like a right-handed person would in their right hand. It's super awkward, but apparently I'm actually good at it! :D

Then, I have Home Economics, which is also taught by a really nice Japanese lady. (Okay, can we just assume that everyone is super nice here??) We're making something right now that involves sewing but I can't give it away in case my mom is reading this ;) and then yesterday I joined the third years for cooking! We made spaghetti with meat and vegetable sauce, veggie soup, and strawberry cream jello/jam. I had already eaten my obento, so I was insanely full.　:)

P.E. is really really tiring here!! All we do is run! It's the worst when it's 80 degrees F outside, super humid, and we have to run over a mile on the dusty dirt track. By the end everyone is coughing so hard that we can't even hear the teacher talking. Also, the other day, we ran for 20 minutes straight! I thought I would pass out and die. I was never that great at distance running. But, I get to try soccer soon I think, which sounds good to me :D (I played soccer for seven years, by the way)

Also, one of the (middle aged, male) P.E. teachers said I'm really pretty, which is normal here but it would be creepy in America haha! They're all really nice though. I fell down the stairs at school and he said I didn't have to run, but I did anyway :) I can't let anyone see me sit out! I'm super noticeable. I think it's so great how everyone supports each other here, though. For instance, when we're running and the boys are waiting (we have separate groups), they all yell "Ganbare!! Fight on!!" whenever we pass. They especially yell it at me, and clap and cheer when I pass! It makes me feel so happy. The other day,  I blew a kiss at them when I passed and they went absolutely crazy trying to figure out who it was for. My friends and I had a pretty good laugh about that one. :D

Japanese history is pretty fun, but I don't know what's happening (eh, I don't know what's happening 75% of the time in any situation). The teacher told me (in Japanese) to keep fighting and one day I'll understand everything :D he's really funny and he writes out the reading of kanji for me in the hiragana alphabet so I can follow along in our fill-in-the-blanks worksheet. He doesn't have to do that so that's really kind of him!

Other classes include math (that sensei is like 23 years old and pretty cute actually....everyone is telling me how hot he is), science (no idea what's going on but apparently the teacher is really funny), health (pretty sure it's sex ed and the teacher keeps calling on me to answer awkward questions), and home room.

On Monday, I have an entire extra class (Home Room)!! We meet for an hour in the morning to listen to various teachers give speeches on something or other to the students...while we all have to sit on the gym floor, in skirts. Not good for my back problems at all!

Here's what it looks like in the gym:

Except there are a ton more students on Monday morning, and no chairs!!

I have 4 pairs of shoes for school:  loafers for walking to school in (except they hurt my feet so I wear flats instead), school-issued slippers for inside the school building, indoor gym shoes that are ugly and white, and outdoor gym shoes that are whatever tennis shoes I want.

After school every day, the students clean the whole building. This is called souji and it's at every school in Japan! They never need janitors. I don't take part in it though hahaha! Instead, I talk to one of the English teachers at the school. I meet with her every morning and afternoon to talk about the schedule and my life and anything at all! She is amazingly kind! My host family doesn't give me snacks, so one time when I first met her, she gave me a ton of cookies to take home with me. She always helps me with everything and I'm amazingly lucky to know someone as kind as her :D

Also, I actually don't know what I would do without someone to explain my schedule to me! One time we had school on a Saturday! And once we had no school on a random Tuesday.

My friend Emma in Kyushu doesn't have anyone to help her and one week she biked 40 minutes to school on two separate days and found out that there was no school only because no one was there. That sucks!! But, it makes for a funny story, especially because her bike tire popped in the middle of getting to school on one of the days. If you're reading this, ily Emma and I'm sorry for laughing at your pain :')

School Building

Ok, and I should talk about my school building, too!

My school is in the middle of an urban area, and here are some pictures of the view:

I took these from the 6th story calligraphy room of the main school building! The big building in the previous picture is the gym. 

Yes, we do have a swimming pool, so that's pretty awesome! My school is more business focused, so we sadly do not have a soccer field, though. Our handball team members are national champions though, which is pretty awesome, too!

Under the gym, there is the shoe locker area where we store our slippers and outdoor running shoes and umbrellas and stuff. Since we don't change classrooms really, we don't need lockers for school bags! We just keep everything in our desks. It's quite nice. Breaks are 10 minutes long here and it doesn't take much to prepare for each class, so there's a lot of free time to chat with friends or go to the bathroom or eat lunch in between classes!

Behind the gym and shoe locker building, there is the outdoor dirt track (I hate that track so much oh my gosh). To the side are the tennis courts I think.

There are three grades in Japanese high school (corresponding to 10th, 11th, and 12th grade). I moved up and became a junior (11th grader), despite being 15! That means that I am a second year! So, I'm on the third floor, which means I have to walk up 2 flights of stairs to get to my homeroom class. 

On the first floor, there is the staff room and tatami room for tea ceremony and flower arrangement. The second floor is for the third year classes, third floor for second years, and fourth floor for first years. The fifth floor has a library and various other rooms such as a (really truly awful) computer lab that's so old it's basically unusable and the math classrooms. The sixth floor has the calligraphy room.  Also, on the roof (which you can only get to by elevator) apparently the "AISHO Honey Girls" are raising bees. Freaky! I wish I could see it though!

Well, that's basically all I have right now! I probably should have broken this post up, but it's all connected so oh well :')

Thank you for reading! Drop me a question, any question, in the comments!! <3