Randomness

So this is a random post, but I figured I’d talk a little bit about the daily HIF schedule/my schedule. I guess that’s kind of important. But first, a random insertion – I can’t get the song “Rock Star” by Prima J out of my head. For the last week, I’ve been singing it to myself and doing part of the dance. Yes, yes, I know, it’s the Bratz song. But come on, it’s catchy. Seriously, stop mocking me. I mean it. So the problem is: usually, if I want to get a song out of my head, I listen to it and then quickly follow with a better, fun-to-sing song – however, I do not have Rock Star on my iTunes, so the only way to listen to it is online. The only place I can get internet is the school building, in the public computer room. Should I just bite the bullet and listen to it in the computer room (without headphones), killing any reputation I might have, or should I suffer silently and try to get it out of my head gradually? Please, share thoughts. Side note number two – I’ve demolished about a full pack of “Uzumaki Karintoh,” these little cookie thingers. They’re slightly sweet pinwheels, sort of? But like… the dough itself isn’t sweet - it’s glazed over with some kind of light sugar. I was picking up some sweets for Ryuko-san (I figured I’d do something to honor the first week together) and the big pack was only 100 yen, so I figured I’d give it a go. And now I’m like… halfway through the family sized bag. I think I have a problem.

So anyway, schedule! I get up at 6:30 (well, my alarm goes off at 6:30 – I usually crawl out of bed by 6:45), pack up my bed, brush my teeth till 7, when I eat breakfast with Ryuko-san. Breakfast is usually brown rice, vegetables, and sometimes fish. Sometimes, she makes eggs. But yeah, it’s usually a quick breakfast (15 minutes), because at 7:15ish I change clothes, pack up my books, etc., until leaving the house at 7:20. It’s about a 10-15 minute bike ride (4 if I gun it, as I found out this morning when I was running late), depending on traffic/sidewalk problems. On the plus side, I am remembering how to ride a bike! I’m considering trying some tricks, but let’s not jump the gun. For now, I’m happy to be stable enough to use one hand to scratch my face while biking. Anyway, I usually get to Kunebetsu station (久根別駅, for those of you who were curious) around 7:30ish, park my bike in front of Yoshida-san’s barbershop, and wait at my track. It’s pretty unimpressive, but it’s a good time to do some quick review – between that, the train, and the half hour before class, I can usually do some good kanji studying. Elliot and Amanda, two HIFers (way above my level) also take the train from Kunebetsu, so we usually see each other in the morning. Plus, plenty of other HIF students get on the same train at different stops. There are also plenty of Japanese high school students on the train – it’s pretty cool to see how teenagers are the same/different in different countries. For instance, the girls always sit in group of no less than 3, phones or makeup out. The boys, on the other hand, sit there and look bored while (maybe) listening to music. Anyway, the train ride is about 15-20 minutes, so we arrive at Hakodate station at around 8. From there, it’s about a half hour walk to the HIF building. On the way, we pass by the morning market (朝市), where they sell fresh fish and seafood. For some reason, it’s harder to say no when a vendor holds up a crab and its legs move slowly as it tries to get free. Anyway, we get to HIF around 8:30, at which point I attempt to study more, but usually get distracted by the internet. 9:00, classes start. Oh, the joy. 9:00-9:10/15ish is nicchoku time, during which a preselected member of the class will give the weather forecast for the day, any announcements there might be, talk a little bit about something they did over the past week (you only go about once every 8-9 days), and field questions. After nicchoku is the daily test – the length and subject changes every day. Some days it will be a short 15-minute quiz covering just the kanji or vocabulary for the chapter, while others will see full out unit tests that take a little over an hour. So far I’ve been doing alright. So anyway, on short quiz days, we have three instruction periods of 50 minutes each (on test days, we only have two), broken up by 10-15 minute breaks. Afterwards, we have any cultural courses that we sign up for. Annd that’s pretty much it for this pointless post.