A day in my life

The day starts at 7:25 when Nao's mum knocks on the door to tell me that breakfast is ready.

the clock in my room is 5 minutes early, it's actually 7:20! *gasp*

I quickly get dressed and head downstairs for breakfast.

A typical breakfast

Breakfast usually consists of Japanese scrambled eggs (they have lots of butter in it), rice and miso soup. Sometimes we get small sausages instead of scrambled eggs. Natto is always on the table. Natto is quite possibly the worst thing i have ever tasted. Its beans with a slimy sauce that you put on your rice. I've had it once and never since ;)

I always take my bike to school, like everyone else who doesn't take the train

I usually leave the house at 8:05. Nao often leaves later because he has a hard time getting up. Every morning, just before homeroom, I go to the staff room and check if there are any classes that I can get out of to do calligraphy instead.

School starts at 8:30 with 10 minutes of book reading time. I'm still reading my Peter Rabbit, but i am making some considerable progress!

After reading time comes the actual homeroom where the teacher outlines all of the day's swapped periods (and there is usually 2 of them).

English reading class

At 8:55, the first period starts - in this case, English reading. I'm reading my 'peter rabbit' still. Other students are either listening, half listening or sleeping (students often stay up working so late that they have no more energy left for school). The teacher explains why 'how far is it from here to the train station' is right and 'to the train station is how far from here' is wrong. It's going to be a long 65 minutes.

I have calligraphy next. Mr. Inomoto, the calligraphy teacher, teaches me about the origins of a few kanji characters. It's quite fun. For example the kanji 'ai' - meaning love - has evolved from a picture of a guy walking whilst looking over his shoulder. Why is he looking over his shoulder? Because a beautiful girl just walked by.

my lunch pack

We then have the 1st lunch break (recess really), which lasts 30 minutes. We always eat in the classroom. Nao's mum prepares us a lunch pack everyday. There is always rice, some fish, some meat and salad or noodles plus a big bottle of Japanese tea.

We have chemistry next. We go to the lab and experiment with a couple of chemicals, observing the change in colour when mixing them.

the chemistry lab

Next up: English Grammar. This is one of the more relaxed subjects in that most students are sleeping. I counted 12 students (there are 40 students in a class) sleeping at the same time today! Our teacher usually stands facing the blackboard so she doesn't notice.

Sometimes the work is just too much. What better time to take a nap than English class?

Finally, the last class of the day, maths. I like maths, always have. What the Japanese do in their maths classes is just so hard though. I don't understand a thing. Luckily my maths teacher took pity on me and gave me some easier stuff to work on.

At 4 o'clock, calligraphy club starts. I usually practice my very basic skills for about an hour or so. I then proceed to watch others; and finally end up playing table tennis with someone. There are table tennis bats and balls in shelves next to calligraphy books and the tables in the classroom are just as long as a normal table tennis table!

The calligraphy club

My school day finishes at around 7. It's been a 10 and a half hour day (that amounts to a 52.5 hour week). Nao's grandma always has a hot chocolate and a biscuit waiting for me when i get home. After the refreshment, I go to my room upstairs and check my emails and do whatever else needs to be done.

Dinner is usually at 7:30 and always consists of a hot meal.

dinner. rice, miso soup and a main dish, usually
fish.

I spend the rest of the day doing homework, reading, writing, talking before i go to bed around 10 o'clock.

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