First Week of the Second Semester!

This week was the first week of my second semester. Whooo time goes by fast!

The first day was absolutely crazy fun! I brought Tootsie Rolls and Hot Tamales that my mom sent me to give out to my friends, and boy that was a LOT of entertainment. It may seem like it would be a simple interaction when giving American candy to Japanese people, a simple little "Oh thank you!" And normally that's the way it is.

Not with Hot Tamales.

Japanese people cannot eat them. They absolutely despise them. I had a whole box, and I gave a bunch of people one hot tamale each. How many people ended up like them? TWO. 2. When I started giving them out in my class, people would chew off a tiny bit, chew silently with a face full of dread, and then start yelling out "Spicy!!! Spicy!!!!!" I managed to trick a few of my friends and say, "Oh no, it's not spicy at all! It's just cinnamon flavor!" Once that hotness hit them, they died.

My class/department is full of girls and few boys, so there weren't any super drastic overreactions. I still had a lot of tamales left over, so I decided to head down to the sports department, which has a ton of boys. The reactions there had my doubling over in laughter. One of my friends ate it and then ran into the bathroom, and another ran to the sinks in the hallway. And it was not a leisurely jog, oh no, they sprinted. One kid threw up a little bit into an old newspaper.

I wanna try giving them out again!

The other days were not quite as fun as the first, but they were still nice. I got to see all my school friends after summer, and it was just as great as I thought it would be. It helped me realize how much I grew even in the six weeks of summer; the way I treat people and handle situations definitely changed, as well as some goals.

It was a bit tough getting used to arriving home at 8 pm everyday again. Showering, eating, and sleeping is all I can do.

Now that I'm in the second half of my exchange, I'm really trying to make every day count. Here's to more happy weeks!