Hy guys!

I could write pages about how sorry I am for disappearing for two months, but then again, I don't have the time for that, which is the exact same reason why I haven't been able to write normal posts. Of course, I am planning to catch up on what I haven't written yet, but ever since I came to Japan, I was either too busy, or by the time I found a spare hour, my mind became like a squeezed orange from speaking a foreign language all day.

To give you a brief image of what I was doing lately, let me describe an average week here: every day, I wake up around 6 AM, get dressed, eat breakfast, all the usual morning rituals. About 6:55 I leave the house and get on my bicycle, followed by a 25 minutes' ride up the mountain, to the Takamizu train station (this time of the year there's really strong wind almost every morning, making the whole going to school process even more challenging). After this, I get on the small diesel train which takes me to Hanaoka station in Kudamatsu city, where another 20 minutes' walk awaits for all the Karyo high school students (of course, the school is on top of another mountain, so by the time I arrive to the school building I complete my otherwise non-existent morning work-out, too).

By the time I get to my classroom, it's 8:15, but the lessons don't begin until 9:05 AM, so I usually pass the time by thinking about "very important, life-changing" things (like, is it possible that I've drunk milk from the same cow twice?). After 4 lessons, each 45 minutes long with 10-minute breaks in between, we eat lunch from 12:35 to 1:20 PM. This is the best part of the day, not only because we get to eat, but because it's the best chance to bond with my classmates, and since everyone's tired, we can't help but laugh for hours at the silliest things. :D

After that, we have another 3 lessons, then 10 minutes cleaning duty (in Japan, the entire school building including toilets and and the yard is cleaned by the students). We finish right at 4:05 PM, and head to home... except that the train just left, so I have to wait until 5:20 PM for the next one. This way, I get home around 6:10, but this is only for Tuesday and Wednesday when I have no club activities. If I do, I go with the next train, which comes at 6:40 PM. Let me point out how you have to wait one and a half hour for another train to come... But what can I say, this is a small rural area after all (the Japanese bullet train passes over Hanakoa station though, so at least there's something fun to look at).

After my club activities (cooking club on Monday, Japanese sign-language on Thursday and English club on Friday... normally, students only join one club, but since I'm apparently a masochist, I joined 3). I drag my carcass home around half past 7. Then I have half an hour to wash my lunch box, change, and sit down for a bit before we eat dinner. When I finish eating and spending some time with my host-family so I wouldn't look so antisocial, I take a bath around 8:30 PM, which means by 9 PM I've brushed my teeth, have my pajamas on, maybe I've even packed my bag for the next day... and so I have an hour to myself, if I want to go to sleep at a reasonable time... except I haven't studied any Japanese or finished my other exchange student duties at all, let alone answer the million questions I get from my Hungarian friends, and of course, it's yet another day without writing my blog... ;-;

You may wonder what these exchange student duties are... Just to mention the recent ones, all the exchange students have to make two posters, one of some basic words in our native language (Hello, yes, no, thank you, sorry etc.) and another one with anything famous in our country. Other than this, we have something to do almost every weekend, like the Halloween party and firework festival we attended last weekend (which I'm planing to write a detailed post about... sometime).

In case I hadn't proven yet how big a masochist I am, for God knows what reason, I also signed up for a speech contest which will be held on the 5th of November. This is not only making my everyday life even busier, but as I have some serious performance anxiety, it also makes me wonder if I left all of my sanity in Hungary.

I wrote this post partly because it was high time to give a life sign, partly because I got lots of questions about what I do on a daily basis, and last but not least, I wanted to make sure you understood that I'm not being lazy (well, not more than usual), I really do have my hands full, and I'm not sure if this will get any better anytime soon. With that said, I really really enjoy my time here in Japan, especially now that I'm starting to get closer to both my family and friends. 

With that said, I hope I showed something new to you about Japan and the school system. For those who imagine my life here something extremely varied and magical, all I have to say is, school is school, it doesn't matter where you are. I study hard, try to build friendships, do my best to breathe in all there is to this country.... and I'm trying really hard not to acknowledge the fact that it's almost midnight and I haven't packed my bag or washed my lunch box yet... D:

 
Ps.: About pictures, I do realize that almost all of the photos on my other posts are not visible, I have tried to fix it only to accidentally erase my Arrival orientation post completely... lest just say I'm working on it.)