Monday 1st June and Tuesday 2nd June
Monday was the first day that we had to wear summer uniform. Well what I have dubbed semi summer uniform because it’s still long sleeved, skirt that’s as far as looks goes is the same but its thinner and thus cooler. And a shirt that has the collar and cuffs the same as winter uniform but a white body instead. School… pretty much as normal with a few lots of time allocated to getting ready for the sports festival

Wednesday 3rd June
Rotary meeting and then off with another half day host family! Today it was off to Kanazawa we went. There we went to an old geisha house which is now set up as a museum and then we went up a mountain to a park and cool look out before heading to a steak house for dinner and back home to my house. I then attached my new things to my blazer did a bit of study and went to bed

Thursday 4th & Friday 5th June
Nothing much school and more practice for sports festival. I haven’t mentioned yet that our school has been swarmed with lots of student teachers from Kyoto at the moment. My home class teacher is being followed by a guy who lived on the gold coast for a year as an ALT he’s really cool and it’s nice that someone else actually knows where I am from! He will be teaching my English reading classes while here but I didn’t have any this week due to timetable changes and when I have my lessons with my Japan tutor and that I leave school on Wednesday afternoons for Rotary.
Friday night I enjoyed a chat with my pook via Skype which was lots of fun discussing various things and looking at childhood photos! Love you pookie (that’s my sister for any of you who didn’t know)
Saturday 6TH and Sunday 7th June
Headed to Kanazawa for a weekend orientation. And I must say it was the least oritated I have even been at an orientation! (i.e. we did nothing in that respect but it was a great weekend none the less) was very cool though that I just so happened to get on the same train and carriage as the other in bounders from toyama prefecture so got to enjoy the ride with them had that not been the case there would have been no way I would have found them on the train. It was packed!
We got there and the in bounders were all handed 2000 yen (almost $30 with the exchange rate… $20 if you look at what you can actually buy for it) and told to be back in 5 hours. There was a festival on so everywhere we went was very crowed. But we just chatted and walked around, venting about what is annoying us ECT. At one point I did think that being back with the exchange students was really bad because some of them are just ready to go home. They have enjoyed it but want to go home, and they bitched about some things more than others. I won’t hide it that I also did some complaining here and agreed with some of what was being said but in that I do totally acknowledge that it is their lifestyle it’s how they do it and in all that’s what we came to Japan for, to experience that. The main point within that is that a lot of the kids our age do what they do because it’s what’s expected of them not because they really want to do it or enjoy it in the least. For example some people do club because they think they have to I spoke to someone who told me they don’t enjoy their club but they can’t quit coz then they would have spare time. And that would be boring! They don’t seem to realize that if they had spare time they could do some things that they enjoy!
During this time Riley helped me pick out some books designed to help me study for the Japanese profiency test I will be taking later in the year… she took the easier one last year. The one I got I got mainly for the kanji side of it coz it uses pictures and the history of the kanji to teach you as well as having the stroke order and things. And then I got a copy of a previous years test. All for less than $25! Books here are cheap!
After the festival we went back and met the out bounders and moved to our hotel. I shared rooms with one of the out bounders Risa; she is going to Redcliffe and will be at Southern Cross. Ayumi as a rebounder had spent the day with the out bounders and then continued with us for dinner and to Round 1.
Round 1 is a huge game/sports center, where you pay depending on how long you are going there for, rotary covered this but the other exchange students have been there before and I don’t think it’s too expensive… Ayumi and I are gonna go there again next time o go visit her as it is really close to her house. There I played badminton did a bit of roller skating (so much harder than ice-skating!!!! Though once I got my balance on them I could still do some tricks (backwards cross over’s)… not bad considering I haven’t skated in 3 and a bit years)
After that it was back to the hotel (that’s when Ayumi went home) as normal we all crashed in one room and as last time I ended up leaving fairly soon when they all started pushing some of the rotary rules but also some other moral boundaries that I didn’t feel comfortable with.
Sunday morning we had to do a translating exercise paired with an out bounder…it was the first night questions for host families. From Japanese into English. It was interesting to hear how Mike (American) who was sitting behind me translated differently to how I did. Just in differences in what sounds natural to us in the countries that we are from. It was weird to sit and directly translate something. Not a thing I have done in a while. We then signed the Americans and Canadians flags as they are leaving soon and headed off to lunch. Another buffee meal! After which we were dismissed. We all went to the station and no one could make up their mind what they wanted to do but josh and I both felt like going for a walk so that we did. Note neither of us live in Kanazawa, josh has only ever been to Kanazawa for our 2 orientations nor the only other times I have been to Kanazawa I was either with Ayumi or my host parents…. I.e. neither of us had any clue where we were going and did happen to get a little bit lost a one point but we knew which generally direction the station was in and found our way back in plenty of time for our train. The train ride back was rather boring for me though coz Josh slept the whole way after having not gotten much sleep at all the night before.
Once home I attached my new additions to my blazer and spent some time with my hosts before getting an early night myself.