#29 Handa High School

For the past two weeks I have been attending Handa High School. Handa KoKo is the best high school in the city. It is a private school you go to if you want to get into the good universities. Apparently they have the best basketball team too… Honestly, I was a little intimidated.

This is my uniform. (Yes uniform!)

My first day was… shocking. I think that’s the best word to describe it.

First of all, for my very first day I would be joining basketto bukatsu’s (basketball club) morning practice. It started at 7:00. My host dad and I left at preciously 6:50. *Every day after this I walk to and from school and because it was up and down many many hills it usually took me 25 minutes.*

We met a boy, probably 15 years old, at the front gates to show me to the gym. The poor guy was so awkward it was ridiculous. I didn’t even try talking. I obviously disturbed him that much. My host dad left with a quick “Good Luck” and Mr. Awkward and I walked towards the gym (in silence) and around it until we got to what was obviously a locker room. He kind of just pointed and then yelled something inside. A bunch of girls poked their heads out of the door with obvious surprise at the huge white person standing outside. The boy quickly explained (I think) about who I was and left me with the girls.

Basketball… Okay, so I haven’t played in a year. That makes me really out of shape. In Japan, there is basketball club every day, before and after school, all year. Let’s just say I wasn’t looking too pretty for my first day of school after practice… It doesn’t help that Japan is extremely humid and their gym has no air conditioning!

School started at 8:45 and I had to get inside at 8:25 to make an awkward speech in front of all the teachers. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone. Claudia is another 6 week student that went to Handa with me and had to make a speech too. I’m sure we had similar introductions. The only difference was that she spoke in Japanese…

Claudia :)

In Japan, (I think I have explained this before) they have a different system than America. The teachers don’t have their own rooms. All the teachers get is a crappy desk in a crowded staff room. It’s more like the students get their own room. They have one homeroom where they have all of their classes (except for like PE and Home Economics). The teachers go from class to class instead of the students.

This was on the CHALKboard when I arrived. :)

This was my class schedule.

Yes there is an allotted time for cleaning.

Basically, this is what I did in class: A) Slept! Extremely tired after morning practices B) Stared blankly in the direction of the teacher. Or C) Doodled in my notebook. A common doodle.

I did memorize the Hiragana alphabet during those 2 weeks. Be proud. Something productive. :)

I met a lot of cool people. This is Yu and NaNa, they were the best English speakers in the class and consequently my guides.

Lunch time!

Notice we’re in a classroom. They have no cafeteria and they bring a Bento every day. A bento is a Japanese Lunch Box. This is the usual O-Bento. (Yes, their mother's make their lunch everyday!)

This is my whole class, taken on my last day. You can atually see the clear division between guys and girls. Yeah, it was always like that. Japanese boys are incredibly shy and innocent… It was annoyingly cute.


Basketball, I went to every practice for two weeks. It was crazy. But, I did it. In the end, I even got to play in a couple games.


I’ll miss my Handa High comrades. :’(