Originally posted 2009-09-11 at https://inpixels09.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/24/

School uniform

School uniform

Now, now that things are more calm, i have started school, this time my actual school. ‘actual’って何だろう？？

chances are, you have heard of swine flu. has it touched your life?

There is a hypersensitive repulsion from disease and general uncleanliness in japan. you take off your shoes when entering most any building and put on slippers, which you exchange for new ones when you enter a new room. my highschool was closed for a week due to the swine flu, and so, in the time i had free, I went to my sisters all girls school. all girls, all 18, all eager to ‘practice english.’ it was pretty damn cool.

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and now, i have spent a week in Matsushou Gakuen Koukou, my actual high school for the duration. as far as i know, im the only foreigner in the entire school. I’m getting to know the way things get done around there… its coming slowly:

we change our shoes/slippers whenever the opportunity presents itself. when the teacher talks, he stands on a stage and speaks down while the students either listen or sleep, but say nothing unless adressed, in which case they usually answer a question or read a passage. between classes, the boys are rowdy and noisy but respectful whenever the teacher is in the room. and finally, its totally cool to wear a mask. a mask?

I walk down the street some times and feel like i am living in a country of surgeons. the japanese obsession with cleanliness extends to facial masks worn everywhere but marriage ceremonies, at least to my knowledge. i have no idea what the teacher is saying 75% of the time anyways, but with a mask to muffling everything as well, i usually turn to Atlas Shrugged and just chill.

so, on my first day at the school, the principle presented me with a facial mask, while he smiled behind his thick glasses and said,

‘Welcome to Matsushou Gakuen.’

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starting next week, ill be taking real classes, too.

Comments (1)

Ellsworth T. — 2009-09-11

So… Why haven’t you poured a vial of swine flu-infected fluids on a drinking fountain at your school yet?