Shaler Area In Japan: 6/20 Thursday

Jason Grieco, a senior at the high school here. Today for breakfast the Morisawa family made us a traditional breakfast of fish with rice and miso soup. As with all of Mrs Morisawa’s cooking it was delicious. The trip to school was uneventful, but when I got to homeroom, everyone was waiting. They all seemed genuinely happy to see me. It was nice to be welcomed so warmly so far from home. I went to a typing class first period where most students had to take a test (I opted out). Second period on the schedule was Japanese literature. I thought studying Japanese was hard until I found myself in this class. Now I know what hard is. They have been reading and discussing a book, and I can’t even figure out the name of it. According to my new friend Mitsuki, it is some kind of old horror story.

Third period was a lot more interesting as we had English. Students were working on writing stories, and I walked around the classroom helping different groups. I felt like an assistant teacher. During lunch I talked with a variety of my classmates, and am still amazed at how nice everyone is. After lunch, all eight of us joined the entire first year class for a presentation on college. We think. None of us were quite sure, and like many of our Japanese classmates, some of us fell asleep.

Once that presentation was over, we were invited to the Sado, or Japanese tea ceremony, club. Participating in Sado was a nice slice of traditional culture, though we had to sit in seiza (traditional way of sitting) the whole time. Most of us couldn’t do it (I’m proud to say I could) but my ankles hurt so much afterwards. The tea was delicious, by the way. Lastly we went to the kendo club. Students there taught us the fundamentals of kendo, including how to hold the sword, how to move our feet, and how to hit someone in the head. It was exhausting but a lot of fun.

By the time Tommy and I got home, it was dinner time. The Morisawa’s took us to a local Chinese restaurant called Shell. The food was more like traditional Chinese food than the American variety we can find in Pittsburgh. When we got home, Mr Morisawa chalked Tommy and I to a game of Shogi, Japanese chess. We have played with him every night since we got here and are getting better, but I’m the end he beats us every time.

In short, it was another good day in Japan.