Ceremonies and ditchdiving

Alright, trying to do as I said in the last update and try to post updates more often.

Today we went to school for the opening ceremony, which started at 11. This time I managed to get up in time (yay!) so we had plenty of time. However, when we came to school it turns out there was a lesson that morning prior to the ceremony, which we never knew. There were 3 out of all of us who showed up for that lesson, so at least we weren't the only ones.

Once we got into the auditorium it dawned on us that the Japanese way of coming formally dressed, and our way of coming formally dressed were two very different things. If we gaijins weren't easy to pick out before, we certainly were now, since everyone else were wearing black suits and skirts and we were all wearing relatively colorful clothes today. I guess we can write it off on our gaijin-quota for now, though that list has become remarkably long in just two weeks,.

The ceremony itself...well, I can really say anything about the contents of the speeches (and there sure was plenty of speeching going around) since they were all spoken in Japanese, but the mood itself was rather like going to church. The whole thing was solemn, elevated and ceremonial, and no one knew the lyrics to the songs. It made me wonder how they would react to going to a school ceremony on Blindern, though I'm not sure such a thing even exists. It was amusing to notice that more than one of the people gathered on stage (teachers I would assume, though I could see none of ours there) actually feel asleep during the speeches. However it served the purpose of instilling in us some pride at coming to Josai, and a sense of school spirit, I suppose. And we did get to bow a lot :) I realize as I write this that I make it sound sort of bad, but it really wasn't all that bad. It was interesting to see the ceremony as a cultural event, it's just a shame that I couldn't understand anything that was being said. Also, they gave us sweet rice :)

After lunch we all marched off to Kobayashi's office to get our bikes. It turned out to be a big affair, where we had some sort of lottery to decide who would bikes that would be «Good bikes, or really good bikes», as the man himself put it. I think I ended up getting a good bike :)
However it was then that I realized that, with the exception of my adrenaline-fueled ride yesterday, it's been about 12 years since I last rode a bike. Needless to say I fumbled quite a bit before we all rolled out of school grounds. Ten minutes later I'm hanging head first down a deep ditch on the side of the freeway, thanking the powers that be that I didn't skid another 2 meters into the wooden fence there. After having Karianne help pull me back up, and after having been giggled at by the guys and ogled by the people driving past (did I mention I was wearing a dress? Thank god tights are in fashion!), I gathered up myself, the bike and a severely wounded pride and headed back to the safety of my appartment.
Oh, I did not get hit by a car if that's what you all thought. I managed it all on my own. That is to say, another woman on a bike was coming in the opposite direction, and I swerved to the side to let her pass. However there's a large amount of roadwork being done along this stretch, and though I managed to avoid crashing into the cone on the side of the road, I failed to notice some random piece of wood sticking out of the ground. And off I went! I don't suppose I looked or sounded very elegant during my flight, but Karianne assured me that I had fallen in a very ladylike fashion with my knees together, thus sparing me the experience of mooning Toganes rushour traffic. The whole thing rewarded me with a giant bruise on my inner thigh, and an ancle that for some reason didn't start hurting untilt tonight.

I feel a distinct need to complain about traffic and sidewalks in this town. Because there's a whole lot of the first, and the latter is significantly narrower than the ones back at home. Also, they place the traffic lights on the sidewalk instead of next to it. Add 30 cm of concrete railings and pedestrians and old ladies on bicycles, and the whole thing looks alot like a gauntlet at times. Also, people here drive like madmen, going full throttle seemingly at all times, in particual when coming from small roads leading into the freeway. I swear, between my cycling skills and the condition of the sidewalks I'll be greatly surprised if I manage to complete my jlpt with life and limbs intact. There, rant over.

In other news; I was so thrilled to hear that Molde will be in the cupfinal this year. Gogo MFK! And that the match will be against Ålesund makes it all the better. I'm seriously considering staying up late the night of the match so I can watch it on webtv; I hope tv2 sumo works outside Norway. I hope alot of my friends and relatives will be going to Oslo to see the match live, and that they will cheer the team on for me as well :)

Also tried KFC for the first time today (haven't bothered before, since it's a long walk) and I really enjoyed it, though next time I'll skip the Coke since my food got tossed about so much in the basket on my bike on the way home, that half of it was soggy :S Still good though!

Karianne and Bjørn and I spent a few hours at the local arcade today, where I very determinedly set about getting a teddybear to replace my husband. I suspect the whole thing is rigged though, since it was damn near impossible to even move anything. I did have a lot of fun trying one of the games, though I have no idea what I'd be able to win. If anything. I started to try and describe to you guys what the game is about, but it sounded like nonsense even to me, so I'll skip it :)

I was thinking about going to Tokyo Gameshow this weekend, but I decided against it since the trip is relatively long and costly, plus I'd definately be wanting to buy something. So you FFXI guys are just gonna have to pay attention on various websites; you won't be getting any first-hand news from me :(

I'll finish today's post by stating that it's still sunny here, and I bet it averages over 25 degrees celcius. I've even gotten a tan! Well, it only looks like a tan when you compare it to the places on me that hasn't been exposed to the sun, but still, tan, yay! I bet it's cold and wet in Norway now, so sucks to be you! :D