So many things... Can't even put a title on this one.

Oh hey, look at that; I did. 
 
Ahhhh wonderful air conditioning. You have no idea how much you appreciate it once you don't have it all the time. It's been averaging about 32 degrees Celsius which is about 90 in Fahrenheit. Cue fainting. I know it's cheaper and more environmentally friendly, and I seriously admire all Japanese families that make it most if not all of the day without it. Props to y'all.

Following up on the speeches at school... they went pretty well, actually. I got into school and was told that I would have to do a third speech in front of the entire school. I never thought I'd say this but thank the lord for Sophomore year speeches. It honestly wasn't so bad. And I spent most of the assembly astounded by the difference from an American one. For anyone that hasn't been to an American assembly at school, they're loud, all of the obnoxious people decide to talk as loud as they can, and no one really pays attention to what's happening. An assembly in Japan, on the other hand, is on the other side of the spectrum. Sure, everyone walks in talking loudly and whatnot... but when the principle or whoever is speaking calls for attention they stop. Like, dead silence. It's weird. Even the kids that look like they don't care about school as much as the others. And then the speaker will have you stand and bow... and EVERYONE does it at the same time. At one point everyone had to move up a few steps and since everyone was quiet, all you heard was a soft but definitely audible rumble from all the footsteps (you have to take your sandals off when you enter the gym for an assembly so it's all feet with socks on). When I went to give my speech, I started off with おはようございます！ (Good morning!) and the whole gym said it back. Ahhhh so cool. Honestly, that put me so much more at ease. 

I had this misconception that all Japanese students are all well-behaved and really serious whenever talking to a teacher. The girls in my class are surprisingly... normal. Which should be expected, I guess. A teenager is a teenager no matter where you are. After I did my speech in front of an English class (in English), pretty much every girl in the whole class came up at least once to say hi and introduce themselves. This was totally unexpected because everyone has been telling me how shy Japanese students are and that they won't approach you do you have to do it yourself. If you're planning on doing an exchange to Japan and you're scared of that, don't be. 

Oh, and since I spent an entire book talking about school, I should probably show you what my uniform looks like...

I look legit, yo. Seriously thought it would look ten times worse. It's still hot as a mofo in that thing though. Oh, another thing that I (for some reason) thought... Japanese people never sweat. Like, I knew that they sweat a bit but I never thought that they sweat as much as they do. Most girls at school have a towel somewhere that they can wipe their faces off with every now and then. Yum. ;)

Okay, onto other things (yes, there's more). 

If my grandpa is adorable then my grandma is awesome. I met her on Tuesday (I think). She walked in the door and had this huge smile on her face and she goes "こんいちは！！” Maybe it was something else but whatever it was she said it with such ENERGY. My god, the woman has more than I do. She's 70+ years old but she doesn't act a day over 30... or something. Seriously she looks like she's 10 years younger than she is. And then today she gave me this really beautiful bag for who-knows-what (it's perfect for makeup though...) and some styling wax. Why styling wax? Who knows. But I definitely use it. It's amazing that she somehow knew that...

It may sound like it's too soon to say yet, but I seriously feel my Japanese improving. Not so much my speaking quite yet, but I understand a considerable amount more than when I got here earlier this week. Even if I don't understand everything, all I need is a lot of vocabulary.

My host mom is an amazing cook. Of course there's always stuff that I don't like, but even that stuff I have to admit is good food. She made the most amazing yakisoba earlier this week and for God knows what reason there are still leftovers. Everytime she heats it back up and puts it on the table I'm astounded that there's any of it left. And today she made RAMEN!!! Legit ramen. I felt like Naruto Uzumaki or something. 

Are you jealous yet? And the bowl was a monstrosity. I couldn't even finish the whole thing (which I apologized profusely for). T.T

In other news... I haven't been to school since Tuesday, and tomorrow is my first full day (Tuesday was a super short day). Freaking out just a little bit. :S I have a feeling that I'm going to be totally lost...

-Ellie