I actually didn’t realize it was the fourth today, but happy Independence Day!

Anyway, today was a pretty normal day. We had English first, then an assembly for the freshmen about their futures, then a math test, which I wasn’t intending to take but ended up taking. It was not too bad, though I think I may have misunderstood two questions which I think were asking for a factorization but I completed the square. (I had asked the teacher and to demonstrate he showed me completing the square — however, as I talked with students after the test I realized that in Japan completing the square and factoring are both the same thing. And I really only partially completed the square because that was all that was possible, so we’ll see.). We also had Japanese, two periods of Computer, in which we are learning very simple stuff such as Excel graphs and useless stuff like making a collage in word (useless because all the computers have photoshop and there is so much more to do and it is so much easier in Photoshop.). Then at the end of the day (I realized they have this most days) we had a lecture, today’s topic being stress.

Anyway, after school I stopped at the Family Mart outside of school to see what other cool stuff Japan had to offer, and ended up buying a really cool and yummy packaged ice cream. And as I was walking home, licking the Ice Cream, I realized it had been $3, which was outrageous! (We buy 12 Drumsticks for $6, this is one for half the price.). Anyway, then I started thinking about prices and realized that it is, honestly, quite strange here. Taxi’s are very cheap compared to American taxis (I have ridden two do far for decent distances and it came to about $10 each time) but busses are very expensive, $5 each way! Whole meals are relatively cheap (I have had a salad and Curry/Rice for $10 and Tenpura and Udon Noodles for about $13) but small snacks are very expensive! It is a strange conundrum how some things can be so expensive in relation to the US while others so inexpensive — probably related to what is considered important in Japanese culture compared to American culture.

BTW, I just found out that there is no such thing as a public high school in Japan, given the American definition of those words (not sure about elementary and middle schools.). Apparently all high schools have entrance exams and tuition fees, and theoretically you could get a job after middle school (9th grade) if you wanted to. That was quite a shock to me.

Oh and it’s funny how the teachers, or at least one teacher, wakes up student — s/he takes a pencil puts the eraser on its back on the kid’s head and turns it back and forth. While I doubt it hurts too much, it is probably uncomfortable enough to get them to wake up, because it works!

Okay I think that is all for now, goodnight!