Hello everyone! I am incredibly sorry that I haven't been keeping up to date with this blog, I have been really busy. So, I apologize for all those that have been wondering what has been going on with my life. So! The last 3 weeks have been a lot of fun, but also very tiring. I think in that space we have had two essays, two Japanese tests, a geography test, two excursions and a buttload of homework, and I'm not even sure that is all that we had. I am getting along well with school, and getting home at about 6ish on monday and thursday, 7ish tuesday and friday, and 4:30 or so on wednesdays. On most of the days, I get home, do homework, eat dinner, do homework, bath, do some more homework, and then go to bed (and dream about doing homework). All in all, I have a lot of time to relax :P
I may or may not have missed making a blog post for my first full month in Japan, so... IT'S BEEN A MONTH AND TWO WEEKS SO FAR! :D Which means that I am about an eighth of the way through, but it seriously hasn't felt like that. So currently at school we are gearing up for the end of term, which means... TEST WEEK :O Which is pretty much where we rock up to school, have tests for half the day, then grab lunch at sukiya (a really cheap noodle place, so I am told) and then head home early or hang out for a few hours. So, other than the tests, it's pretty cruisy, and I am probably gonna be able to catch up on skype time with my buddies back in Australia then, so send an email to me at jesse@dent.com.au if you want to organise a cute little skypey date ;) That or sleep :P
As everyone else is gearing up for test week, the amount of time I have to practice for my nyugakushiken (entrance exam) to John Monash Science School for nerds (that last part might not be official...) so I am going through english stuff and maths for that everyday so that I get into that school. It's gonna be a great school if I get in, because not only do they have a super devoted staff of science teachers and thus have an excellent science/maths program, they also teach Japanese, so I won't have to do 3/4 by distance education. Fantastic. Wish me luck! It's on the 28th, so make sure you send your luck for then :P
As some of you may know, me and my host family went camping with one of my host family's family friends... if you know what I mean... And here I use camping loosely, as we went there in a hybrid car, stayed in cabins, went to a properly built onsen everyday for baths, and actually went to a supermarket to get food. But we caught a frog in the little creek at the bottom of the mountain, so that counts as camping. So yeah, that was heaps of fun (which I have now learnt is an Australianism) and as I said, we went to a proper onsen! For those who don't know, onsen are the natural hot springs that are dotted all over Japan, because it is such a volcanically active country. Although most of the time a drill of some sort is used to make the flow of hot, delicious water more steady and predictable, and also a bath is constructed around the flow, so that you can always have a fantasticly hot bath. Note that Japanese people don't really have a problem with nudity, so as I was sitting in this bath with about twenty other naked men, I had an epiphany, a moment of zen if you will, and it was this "I bloody hope I don't drop the soap."
That's all the time I have for now, I will probably update again on wednesday to make up for lost time and whatnot, so I will re-post then! Have fun my super awesome team of super awesome Australians (and others, including for some reason russians...) and look after yourselves until I see you next! Love y'all!
