First day at school!

This morning I woke up at about 6 and quickly showered. There was a delicious breakfast ready when I got out of the shower... Bacon, eggs, yogurt, melon pan, fruit jello, toast, rice, milk, coffee, and more. This seems to be a common theme. For breakfast there is always a big variety of choices. Anyway, by the time I got finished breakfast I was starting to get sort of nervous. I said by to everyone and headed to the car with my host Dad. On the way to school we stopped by my Obachan's house and said bye to her as well. Later on we drove past a group of maybe 20 students walking and he told me they were from my school. I started feeling really excited and we quickly arrived at school. As soon as I got out of the car students started staring and pointing and whispering and waving. It was so crazy! My host father took me inside where we were greeted by a head teacher. I thanked him for everything, said bye, and headed up to the teachers' room. It's a room completely filled with desks and it seems kind of cramped, but it's where the teachers go every day in between classes and before/after school. The teacher led me to a small room connected to the teacher's room and told me to take a rest and relax. So I dragged my heavy suitcase and bag into the room and sat on the couch. The teacher left the room so I sat for maybe 15 minutes just thinking. When will I meet my host brother? What will my family be like? All of a sudden a familiar face runs in and happily greets me with a smile of relief! My friend from YFU Orientation apparently was going to go to the same school as me! It was really nice to see her, and she seemed so relieved! It was a good relaxer! :) We talked all about our families and what we have done so far and during our conversation a teacher walked in. He told us we would have to introduce ourselves in front of all of the teachers and then in front of the whole school. What?! Really?! I had no idea!! I was so unprepared! But nevertheless we started planning what we would say. Quicker than I could imagine he told us to come out and it was time for our introduction to the teachers. Cristin was so nervous, but I told her not to worry and I pretended to be confident. The teacher said something probably along the lines of okay everyone it's time for the exchange students to introduce themselves, and the room fell silent. "Okay えばん、どぞう。" I then introduced myself in front of maybe 70 teachers all in Japanese and it went much much better than I thought it would! At the end they all applauded me! It was such a crazy feeling! After Cristin introduced herself they led us back into the small room where they gave us each a paper with our school schedule and then told us that there was going to be a huge introduction ceremony where we would introduce ourselves on the stage. Once again Cristin and I were so nervous! They told us to relax and gave us both a cup of tea and left the room. Suddenly, someone came into the room and sat on the couch in front of us. He introduced himself. It was my brother! Wow what a crazy feeling! We talked a tiny bit and then there was somewhat of an awkward silence and he left. Soon enough the teacher came back in and told us to remember to wave a lot and that the ceremony was about to begin. They led us to the たいくかん (Gym) where 600 students were waiting for us. When we entered the room the whole band was playing and everyone was cheering! We couldn’t　believe it! It was so amazing! Two chairs were sitting on the stage and the teacher motioned for us to go up on stage and sit. The crowd was cheering and waving and soon the principal came up on stage and silenced the crowd. He said an introductory speech all in English that I had a hard time believing the students understood at all. (His English was really good and he used big vocabulary words.) Basically the message was "We are extremely lucky to have an opportunity like this so I hope you will all use it to your advantage to learn a new culture and share your own as well as practice your English and learn something new!" Then a student came on stage and also said an introductory speech in English. After that it was time for me to introduce myself. I can't really remember that well but I didn't feel too nervous. As soon as I started speaking Japanese some of the students gasped. "Whoa!" "Suge!!!" "Sugoi!!" "Umai!" They couldn't believe that a がいじん could speak Japanese! It was really amusing :P! People still to this day that I meet are amazed even if I say one simple Japanese word! After our introductions we were led into the crowd into two random open spaces between the students and they started an amazing ceremony!! Boy students were playing the drums and girl　students in ゆかた（yukatas- a Japanese style traditional dress) were dancing with fans, chanting/singing, or playing a traditional flute. It was really one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life! After the amazing ceremony we started our first day as students at a Japanese high school!

Some of these pictures were taken from the Kakunodate High School Website! (They made a post welcoming me and Cristin! They spelled our names wrong but it's not a problem haha :D http://kakukou.xsrv.jp/zen/modules/news/article.php?storyid=334 )