Adjusting to School Life

This morning I was a little stressed when I woke up since we had our first quiz today, and I still hadn't fully memorized all the vocab! I'm pretty sure we have a quiz everyday, so I better get used to it! I got ready quickly today, so I could study a bit before and during breakfast. However, I am pretty used to studying and eating breakfast simultaneously! During the school year, I had Japanese at 9 am every morning with quizzes almost everyday, so multitasking in the morning is now the usual! There is one main difference though: the quality of my breakfast! My host mother is kind of a super mom. I don't think I could pull out the cooking skills that early in the morning, while juggling two energetic kids!

A generous piece of grilled salmon, rolled Kamaboko made in Kanazawa, daikon tsukemono, small smelt fish tsukudani, miso soup with nameko mushrooms, and of course, rice with natto! 

My friends at school = jealous. 

Time to go to school! I realized that I haven't actually commuted to school in about year! It's so strange to think that a year ago I was graduating from high school and living at home, and now I'm living in Japan! Crazy stuff! So many more great things have happened to me this past year than during my four years of high school. Life is pretty great right now! 

But I still had to study while I was walking and riding the bus to school. So. many. words. In niheigo, my portmanteau combining nihongo and eigo, I'd say, "Daijoubs." It's ok. And it was! The quiz wasn't too bad, and we all even got a present from the Ishikawa prefectural Government Officer of the International Exchange Division! 

 The envelope says, "Ganbatte!" meaning something like, "Do your best! Good Luck!" 

Along with scholarship money the program received to go to our various after school cultural activities, we each got a little box with this little paper mache, roly poly okiagari doll which always returns back to its upright position when tilted over (due to the weighted bottom). According to Wikipedia, the best sources of all sources, oki means to get up, and agari means to arise. At the ceremony, the Chief Officer said that these dolls symbolize his hopes that we recover from whatever problems that life presents to us! So cute too! Symbolic and pretty? Yes please! What a great omiyage!

After class, some of us went across the street to take advantage of a grand opening sale at a new market! There were so many bento choices that we all took a while deciding what to get! Although everything was tempting, I thought this one was just so colorful! いろいろないろ！It was only about $5 too! 

Balanced meal time! Get it? Ice pop in one hand, chopsticks in the other...

After lunch, my friends and I continued to sit in the TV lounge and do homework/ study for the afternoon. Take a look at our textbook, written by Makino-sensei!

DON'T be fooled by the cute little pictures. I got slapped by them this morning in class. 

I had to have a conversation with another student, pretending to be the guy in the picture who wants to open a bank account. He needs a special stamp with his name on it in Kanji to open his account for some reason, so he has to go to the store, order the stamp, then go to the bank with his passport and gaikokujintouryokusyou (crazy word, desune...)...I was kind of a messy struggle fest. That was a no for me. Around 5 o'clock, I couldn't look at any more Kanji, so I decided to go home. Apparently, 5 pm is rush hour because the bus was crowded! 

While taking this picture, I almost fell over. Wolens-san, who was riding the bus with me, said that that was one of the most gaijin (foreigner, touristy) things I have ever done. I'd have to agree; almost falling over while taking a picture in the bus was not my best moments of blending in. oh wellzies. 

The home stretch! Almost there....

Tadaima! I'm back home! 

Great to see little Kaho again, even though she climbs on me nonstop like some kind of monkey!

Osaru-san mitai!

Soon enough, it was dinner time! 

The meal above is very similar to what I sometimes eat at home! Some miso soup, salad with vegetables, hot rice, Korean style marinated bean sprouts, and Tatsuta age (basically, chicken nuggets taken to the Japanese level of awesome). Dat ain't yo mama's chicken nuggets! 

(Well maybe my mom's...)

While fried chicken is pretty safe territory, we got a little freaky from there. Actually only I did. My mom and the kids wouldn't touch this. It's strips of squid in its ink! I ate it on top of my rice. It was good. and really really black. Cool. 

But that's not all, folks! We got a Russian crab on our hands! (now in my stomach!!)

My mom gave me a little lesson on how to eat the legs! Oh what messy fun. 

Now eating crab legs is pretty normal, but what about...the crab's innards?! Again, no one wanted it, but my mom offered, so I was like, "Why not?" YOLO. Haha. My mom was surprised. I actually love eating shrimp heads, so I didn't think it was too strange. At Chinese banquet dinners, my grandpa also likes the crab guts, so no bigs.  

Tada! I got the whole crab, in my hands! I got the whole crab, in my hands! 

Except for the legs. Who needs them anyways?! They're a pain to eat. Give me da bod-ehhh! 

That was a fun dinner. Back to studying now! Friday here I come!