routine

HI!! Month and a half of my life here is gone, and I can`t believe how fast everything have been going on. But now, things go slower, and actually I am glad it is on this way. I have started to worry about how fast my experience was going, and if I was going to have time to do and learn everything I want, but now I think there is a lot of time. My routine has started, I go to school 6 days a week,I have my Japanese teachers who come 3 times a week to teach me some kanjis and grammar, I have joined the volleyball club ( but I have not been practising because they have important games this month so they are busy). Weekends are pretty cool here,since there are a lot of things to do and a lot of places to visit. Now I am in the school library,writing this post, because my classmates have world history which I don not understand :) So today I decided to write about some "different" habbits that they have in Japan. 1. When you go shopping and you want to try some clothes,there are 2 things you should do before: put some kind of bag on your head and put off your shoes (both for hygyene reasons). 2.When you go to public bath with termal water, NEVER go in the bath with the towel, you should go NAKED :) 3.Be sure you do NOT live any rubbish ANYWHERE! Japan is so clean, it is so beautiful.You can not see　　any rubish on the floor, and any dustbins too.They just keep everything in their pockets till they get home. 4.Some japanese schools do NOT allow their students to wear tights in winter,even it is snowing.SO girls go with their legs naked and the school uniform skirt. 5.Japanese girls are really into fashion, and it is really difficult to see some japanese girl with jeans on the street.All of them wear skirts or shorts with long socks. In winter the same, but they don`t care a lot. 6.It is unpolite to blow your nose in public, even there are some people who does it. 7.Japanese men bring the money at home,even most women have job,their salaries are lower. This is changing now,but it takes its time. 8."Ofro" is really important part of the japanese culture.Everyday after work or job, people fill their baths, and everybody has a rest. The strage thing is that everybody uses the same water,but before using the bath,they have a really good shower so they are very clean when they go in. 9.JAPANESE TOILETS AND BATHS! I completely love them. The toilet has a lot of things,it can clean your ass,xD turn hot the seat,etc The bath is more complicated: you can determinate the degrees of the water, you can turn hot the water wchich is in the bath, you ca use the phone( actually I did that without knowing,hah I called to the kitchen phone) and some other things that I do not understand(everything is in kanji). 10.It is extremely difficult to know what a japanese person is thinking or feeling. They are like stones. My hostmum told me,the people of my prefecture does not show they feeling almost never,but that in other prefectures like Hokkaido or Osaka they do cry or laught. But here they just smile. In my home is a little bit different because my host mum is from Hokkaido so she does laught, but for example my grand mum is always smiling and it is just impossible to know what she feels. Right now there are no more things in my head to say. I hope people who reads this ( my mum, grandad, friends,etc) enjoys it and does not worry a lot about me. I know I am so far ,but I am OK :))

Freedom

Hi everybody! Today I am going to speak about Japanese teenagers. Actually about their lifestyle. So Japanese high school students are treated like little children even they are 16,17,18 even 19. Actually from what my host family told me till their 20 they are told what to do.When to study,to eat, to clean, to go out, where to go, when to have a shower,everything,just like 7,8 years old children. But actually most of the high school students behave like they are 11 or 12 years old,so maybe this is why they are told what to do. Most of my host family's friends are surprised how could my natural family let me go to the other side of the world,and most of them are surprised of how mature and adult I am, that I behave like a 20 years old Japanese girl. So all my family thinks I am really mature and so....but they do not bring it to practice, they just treat me like 16 years old Japanese girl... for girl coming from Europe and that had been treated like an adult,having her own choices and building her life, is pretty difficult to get used to behave like 11 years old girl,and to have the same freedom like one at that age. Actually I think this is one of the most difficult things to get used to. In Europe high school students are responsible for their actions and here if you do something wrong, your parents are the ones that have to apologize,like you are not too mature and grown up to know what you have to do,and you do not realise that you have done a mistake. Parents just tell almost everything like, put on the light when you read, or use a futon is cold, or put another jacket its cold, or wash your obento box ( and most of the times they say things like this to me I have already done it ) so they are surprised how did I do it by myself. So that is all, just wanted to share..... Have a nice day :)

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Hi everybody :) Well I am in Japan since 1 month and almost 10 days. This time just went so so fast. It seems like a week to me. Maybe because I had too many things to do, maybe because everything was different( and it is still different)but this 40 days were really important for me! I have learned a lot of things since I am here. Like I said everything is really different and everyday, I learn something new about Japan, its culture and people.I can say my Japanese is getting better, since my host family does not speak English, so all our comunication depends of my Japanese skills and an electronic dictionary. School is OK, classmates are really nice ( communication so so,no English or only a little bit). Last week they had their terminal exams so I was given a holiday :) I had 10 days holiday,which is pretty cool,since I had to rest all the excitement and change made me reaaly tired,and to visit a lot of things. So during my holiday I studied kanjis, read some English books which i got at the prefecture library(the biggest one ) helped my hostmum a LOT, cooked "tortilla" for my HF,listened to music,went out,had an AFS orientation, spent some time with my host grandma, and slept( in Spain I would not say that I have slept because there I used to sleep till 11,12 am and here if I sleep till 9 I am the happiest person on the world).This last days the weather is rare, we had a typhoon (its name was Jalewat) when it arrived my city it was 3 am so I was sleeping,but when it arrived sleeping finished!!! It was raining and raining without stopping and wind was reealllyy strong, so you can imagine that I spent a couple of hours laying in my bed. I had gone to bed at 7 pm that day(which is really early) because I had spent the day helping my host mum at the seaside. She supports the volunteers who help to clean the seaside after the tsunami,so we cooked and cleaned.It was a really good experience, I had the opportunity to heard about the tsunami,they told all that happened,and after that I spoke with my host family who explained me how they lived the tsunami. I was listening and could not imagine what they had lived.Here goes a little bit of what they told me: All my family was at home, my host mum,dad,grandma and sister. My host mum was at the second floor,cooking,when everything started to shake.She ran under the table, and everything fall down, forn,pictures, frige,everything! When it stopped( it was about 5 minutes) she ran down stairs where the rest of my host family was. It was cold,March. They turned off the gas stoove and went out,like the rest of the neighboors did. They had no electricity, no water,no gas, and outside was really cold. More and more earthquakes happened,hundreds of them, some even more than 7,5 in the Richter scale. So my host mum and dad decided to sleep in their cars,where it was more safe and hot, but my host sister and grandma decided to stay in the house. From the radio they knew that a tsunami was coming but nobody was nervous,they have had tsunamis before,but only a few centimeters or a meter.Nobody expected that a huge tsunami was coming. Soon the news arrived and everybody was shoked. Volunteers from all over the world came, in my neighboorhood they were from America.My host mum showed me the blankets they gave them. She explained me they gave them food(easy to cook) blankets water,etc.After the house passed the revision and they said it is OK ,no danger to live in, they were less worried. Then my host mum have given more than the half of her kimonos to sell, to win money for the people who lost their houses. She really helped a lot,and still doing it. I am really happy to be in this city,with this people and this Host Family . Thank you for reading Have a nice day :)