Karate, Karaage and Class

           Hello everyone, sorry I have been busy being awesome (that and my power adapter was wrong -_-) so I haven't updated for longer than I would have liked, so hopefully you all haven't disowned me by now. Anyway! Got to my new host family on Saturday (A week and a bit ago) and it turns out Wataru (my host brother) is 7, not 3... which was a bit of a surprise. But he is still pretty awesome, if a bit odd, but what 7 year old isn't over-excitable and a bit crazy? Other than that, my family is pretty cool.
            Masafumi, my host father, is a nice guy, tall, wears glasses and doesn't come home until fairly late in the night, and seeing as school is damn tiring I don't see that much of him. Who I DO see however is my host mother, Meiko, and she is pretty damn awesome. She is about 5' 4", so fairly short compared to me, and she speaks Japanese, Italian, and a bit of english, so there is a lot of gesticulating and dictionary use in our conversations. But we have fun :P
            When I got to my new family, we just hung out for the day, talking about myself and me learning a bit about their life and what they do (All in Japanese, of course) and we discussed the plans for the week etc. other non-blog-worthy things. In the morning however, we got up late, and then met with the Takei family for a picnic lunch in a park with a whole row of Sakura (Japanese cherry blossom) trees. Sakura are damn pretty, and they only last for a week, this is why the Japanese love them. A burst of bright lovely flowers that fall like rain and then it's over. Much like life. And stuff. But the park was nice, we hung out and played soccer and I introduced myself in Japanese (starting ton see a bit of a theme here eh?) and just general chilling. After that, return to the apartment, and then to bed, because in the morning, FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
           My school, Seiritsu Gakuen, is 4 stories high, and made of cold, unwelcoming bricks. Good thing the international department is awesome. The two international teachers, Peter, the British karate sensei and general englishman, takes the international students for high level english and Japanese geography. Richard, the Canadian, is also a karate sensei, and he takes us for Japanese and Japanese history, and is the leader of the international department. The other kids that I am currently with are, in order of age, Tatiana (France), Gabriel (Sweden), Anariina (Finland), Pop (Thailand) and Nicolas (Denmark). They are all pretty cool (damn awesome) , and they really made coming into a foreign a lot easier. Last week, we didn't really have any classes, because the schedule wasn't QUITE ready yet, so we just did a lot of catching up on what the other exchange students have been doing. Lots of "free study" time, so now I know these people like the back of my hand.
          But one thing I CAN describe, is the Japanese school system (to some extent). So we rock up here at 8:20 for home room, that goes for 20 minutes, then second home room (20 minutes) then four 50 minute periods in a row, then a 35 minute lunch, where most kids go to the canteen and get "karaage" which is what we would call fried chicken. And rice. Honestly the most delicious thing ever after 4 hours of classes. After that we have two more 50 minute periods and we and school at about 3:15, and then we can hang out or whatever until 4:00, which is when the clubs start. Currently, I am in two clubs, the English club, which goes  4:00-5:00 on a Monday, and is a requirement, and I am also in Karate club, which goes 4:00-6:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. English club I am yet to experience, but last year there was only one person other than the exchange students who came, so it will probably just end up being more hangout time :D Karate, on the other hand, was bloody hard. After about an hour and forty five minutes of techinical training and drills, we then do fifteen minutes of intense fitness training. Safe to say, when I get back to the great land of Oz, I will be made entirely of karate hardened iron muscle (or just a bit less skinny).
         So that pretty much sums up the week, and all that you guys really need to know of it. Oh, and everyone here knows about memes, it's damn amazing. More to come on my weekend of awesome, that was just a post about the week. Good luck, have fun, and may the odds be ever in your favour.
         -Jesse