Day 8: High School Class and activities

Sebastian:

Today, we all went to Hakuyo High School as a group to see what it's like to be at school in a foreign country. The school's start time is about an hour later than in the US, where the first class started around 8:30 AM.

Our first class was chemistry, where we did a very engaging experiment testing some of the properties of water, ethanol, and salt water. The things we looked at were density, polarity, and solubility. 

Our next class was English, and we played some fun get-to-know-another games, like 2 truths and a lie. 

Our third class was also an English class, but instead of games the whole time, we went on a tour of the school. Overall, the morning in Hakuyo High was incredible, and I wish I could attend for more in the future!

Hazel: After lunch, we went to physics class.

 

In physics, we tested our reaction speed and then played a traditional game called Daruma Otoshi. In this game, you must try to knock out colorful discs from underneath the Daruma without causing it to fall.

When school was over, it was time for club activities. We first went to the calligraphy club, and we tried writing various characters, such as 侍 Samurai, 福 Fortune, and 桜 Sakura.

Afterward, we learned how to perform a traditional Japanese tea ceremony at the tea ceremony club. 

First, we ate a traditional Japanese sweet, and then we drank tea.

 The room was decorated with hydrangeas to correspond with the season.

Lastly, we went to the Karuta club and played competitive karuta. Karuta are traditional Japanese playing cards. You have to arrange them in front of you and wait until the reader describes your card, so you can take it before your opponent.