Zoe Taber, YE student in Japan, sends greetings
Posted by Zoe Taber on Oct 01, 2016
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こにちわ、(Good Day),It is hard to believe it has already been a month since I've been here! These weeks have flown by and I am already starting to feel very at home. I am attending Osaka Sumiyoshi high school, and I am happy to say the students as well as the teachers are so incredibly friendly, never once have I had to sit alone, or to walk to a class by myself.
On an average school day I wake up at 6:00 and eat breakfast with my host family, I try to leave the house at 7:00 And begin my walk to the train station, I take the train to school for about 45 minutes (as I have had little experience with trains, this took some practice). School starts at 8:30 and goes until 4:30 most days.
During the school day the students stay in the same classroom for most of the day, and the teachers come and go for each lesson. I attend all the classes accept for modern Japanese and Classical Japanese literature , during which I study Japanese in an unused classroom, Soon I will have a Japanese tutor to help me learn during these periods. Classes are very difficult for me to understand — especially our textbooks which are filled with unfamiliar kanji. But I am already making good friends that help me in school and teach me new words.
After school I am a member of painting club, which meets every weekday, as well as tea ceremony club, which meets on Thursdays. After I expressed an interest in Japanese calligraphy at a rotary party, one of the Rotarians (a well known calligrapher) offered me a place at his weekly lessons! I feel so lucky. Not only is this a chance for me to learn a new art form, but also it's an excellent way for me to learn kanji!
By the time I get home everyday, after club activities/lessons, it is usually around 7:00P.M. and already getting dark. I arrive home just in time for dinner with my host family. The food is very very different here and I am enjoying trying all sorts of new things. My host mother is an excellent cook, and her ramen noodles are possibly the yummiest thing I've ever tried! After dinner, my host mother and I do the dishes and clean up the kitchen. This is where I get some of the best Japanese practice by talking with my host mom and dad — although my current language skills are as much charades as they are Japanese. When I think back on how little I could speak and understand upon arriving, it is encouraging to see I really have made progress.
Everyone has been so kind to me since I arrived, my host club is so friendly and welcoming. My host family is so sweet and comforting and my classmates have already invited me to so many things! I feel very lucky to be around so many wonderful people, and even though I am far away from my old home, I am beginning to make a new one here.