It feels like summer, but it's JUST SPRING.

Hello friends, it's been just over a month since I said I'd start updating more frequently. Hahaha. Sorry about that, I really am, and I'd like to say I have some excuse like only getting half an hour to myself everyday or I've been frantically translating for everyone in my city, but I haven't. That's okay.

Also, I've been aprehensive about updating here because, well, I'm not really sure what I want here to be. Before I knew what it was like to be an exchange student I had all these plans for things I'd do, and would still like to, without knowing the complete exhaustion that comes with only understanding about 55% of what's going on when you're not being talked to with a clear voice using vocabulary you understand. It's rough, and I'm always tired, but I've found that spending time actively talking in Japanese and enjoying myself, whether it's in Kendo or making jokes with friends or relaxing with my mom, it really helps dull the exhaustion. Sometimes it's still there and I'm unable to remember a single word, therefore losing the meaning of an entire paragraph, but it's manageable and getting better everyday.

To combat the confusion and exhaustion, I've been writing a lot more. I don't know, maybe it was two years of being taught to the AP test exactly what writing should look like (which I did voluntarily), but I haven't been reading or writing much for myself since Freshman year. Now I am, and I'm singing at karaoke clubs, and exploring cities with a friend on the back of my bike. It's nice, so I would like my blog to reflect that. Maybe I'll be updating with weird thought processes, or an essay I write in class about something that happened that day, or an open letter to people who talk about me thinking I don't understand them; maybe it will be art, maybe it will be angry. The only truth I can offer to you now is that it'll be honest, and hopefully you'll come to understand what I'm feeling like, here in a big city where I think I belong.

To end, I'm including my daily schedule because maybe I play it down, it's pretty crazy, but it's better then a lot of Japanese highschoolers.
My day is very busy, I do have some down-time. Here's what it looks like:
6~7 - Wake up! (5 or 6 times, I am not a morning person.)
7~7:80 - Get ready and eat breakfast, chat with my mother.
7:45~8:25 - Meet my friend Yumi a couple blocks away and we ride to school together.
8:30am - Change shorts in the bathroom, bicycle shorts are not comfy in this heat.
8:40~12:40 - School! There are four blocks in the mornings and then lunch in the classroom. My classes are crazy and fun.
12:40~13:15(ish) - Lunch! Yum! My mom makes me amazing bentos (Japanese lunch boxes) everyday and they're delicious!
13:20~16:10(15:10 on Thurs. & Fri.) - More school! There are either two or three classes.
16:10~16:20 - Cleaning! I don't have cleaning duty in May, but I had it all last month and will have it for the next few.
16:20~18:20 - Kendo club! Sometimes we get out a little earlier, but I never mind staying late. I absolutely love Kendo and all the people in my club, everyone's been so amazing.
18:40~19:00 - Bike home, route varies on whether I'm alone or need to pick something up.
19:00~20:00 - Dinner! I get to chat with my host family and relax after our days. Usually we're watching news too, so it is really interesting and I can ask questions about what I don't understand.
20:00~23:00 - Relax and bath time, usually we eat some ice cream and I do some homework, chat with my AFS and Japanese friends, check Facebook, and try to focus on college a little.
23:00 - NIGHTY NIGHT!