Japanese exchange day 2 ...

Japanese Exchange Day 2 Report (NOV 20)

• Speech at the principal’s office: Samantha
• Speech at staff meeting: Cecilia
• Speech at whole school assembly: Felicity and Sally
• Speech at the tea ceremony: Khanh
• 5 students made fantastic speech in Japanese today!! 

Today we woke up early for our first day of school in Japan. Although many of us were not quite used to the public transport system in Japan (myself included), this formed part of our learning experience. After all, we will all be riding on trains and buses and walking up steep hills every day for the next few weeks! Today was not as cold as we expected it to be, so no need to worry just yet! If I haven’t made myself clear yet, we are all happy and healthy and beginning to adjust to life in Japan.

We eventually arrived at school and first made our way to formally greet the vice-principal of Shinwa Girls’ High School. Everyone was warmly received by both the vice-principal and the students themselves, which made us feel more at ease. Afterwards, we split up and went to our individual classes with the help of our host sisters. Most of us had English, some had Health and Physical Education, and others had Physics, just to name a few. In the end, no matter which subject we had, we had fun talking with classmates and were challenged at the same time. For sure, this will become a fruitful experience to all of us.

Later on in the day, we had the pleasure of trying on beautiful kimonos, being part of a tea ceremony and even making the tea ourselves - not from scratch of course. This experience allowed us to experience a part of Japan’s culture firsthand (including learning to put up with sitting in seiza position for minutes on end).

Afterwards, after a day of lessons ended, we were invited to a welcome party just for us! It was so much fun and we ate a lot of food as well. During this time we also had the opportunity to observe the various club activities they had and were amazed at the sports clubs in particular. Some clubs that we observed include volleyball, table tennis, handball, tennis and softball, among many others. This made some of us (like me) feel more motivated to improve ourselves.

Everyone eventually returned home after a long day of classes and fun. Although everyone will probably return home later than they usually would back in Australia, we will be fine. Please do not worry about us too much. To be honest, it was a very long day and now we will rest in preparation for tomorrow.

Written by Chau