1 Year In Ehime, Japan — #3 Memory Lane & Highlights of 2017 😳
What!? It's already been a year? 🤸🏼
I was shocked upon realizing that 1 year had passed since me and my brother have permanently moved here in Ehime, Japan. One of the changes that I've noticed in myself is that I don't contemplate in great depth of my past and my future, as much as I used to. I also began to read books for self improvement. I used to only read textbooks from my school; my friends can be a great testify for this lol. Ever since I have started reading Eckart Tolle's book, entitled as Power of Now, I have been tremendously influenced by his spiritual teachings. His book is divergent, I must say. He taught me not to identify myself from the past and also not to dwell excessively on the future. The important lesson is to focus on what I can do right now and the rest will follow. I only visit the past and the future when it is needed for me to deal with the practical aspects that I have to face. I am eminently blessed by what I have now. All I can say is that I am grateful, and so I thank every person who has selflessly helped me to get into where I am today. You know who you are. 😚
Looks can be deceiving 🤔
I took this picture a year ago in the car. The lighting was great, and so I took the opportunity to take a selfie. I may look fine and happy on the outside, but deep inside, I FELT VERY HOMESICK. 🤒 So much has changed even though it's only been a year. I used to eat less on the first couple days of my move here in Ehime. Back in 2016, I remember on how scared I was, solely because of my uncertainties and my worries about my future. I was pondering if I made the right choice of permanently moving in Japan. All the what if's and "I wish" thoughts began to occupy my mind. It was poisonous to my soul and my brain. Thankfully, I was able to elude from this danger, because really, overthinking can take a toll on you. It's unhealthy and it only makes you feel frantic. To those of you who feel uneasy about your future, STOP ⛔️ right there. Don't think of negative thoughts. All you have to do is to work on your present and strategize your goals. I'm sure that you'll get there at the right time, as long as you're consciously present in the moment. Give your trust to God. If it worked for me, it'll work for you, too. I was unsure at first, but God made me focus on my goals and helped me make practical steps to get into where I am today.
"Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. - Psalm 37:5" 💕
Oh no, here comes Kanji 😵
You can't certainly live in Japan if you don't learn any of our 3 writing systems. You can get away with it as a tourist only if you visit places where foreigners like to flock. Meaning, there will be English translations in almost all of the tourist spots. In my case, learning Kanji was such a dismay. Luckily, I don't think of it that way as of now. But back in 2016, knowing the fact that I had to learn hiragana, katakana, and kanji all over again from scratch just made me feel so dreadful. I do have some merits ,though, because I used to live in Tokyo from the point that I was born there, until I reached the age of 7. I left Tokyo when I was in the middle of learning basic kanji for first graders in elementary. JUST WOW. By the time that I arrived in the Philippines, I only knew how to speak, read, and write in Japanese. Well, I can only write in hiragana, katakana, and a tad bit of Kanji back when I was 7 years old. I just had to face the reality last year that I have to study all of those writing systems.
I used to be so furious whenever I forgot what I've reviewed in Kanji. After a long while, it made me realize that Kanji is, after all, all about FAMILIARIZATION. 😎 Repetition also helps too, but not as much. If there are any of you who are learning Japanese, my tip for you is to buy a whiteboard and a whiteboard marker, and start practicing writing Kanji over there, rather than writing it in a piece of paper. You can also purchase colored pens, too. Based on different researches, colored pens will help you remember better about the things that you have studied, especially if you're a visual like me. 😉 (You may want to take a test in the net to find out on what specific type of learner you are). Reading a book that's specifically made for kids will also help, most especially if you're a beginner. Read it until you don't have to read the furigana anymore. If there are available study buddies, you might want to study with them or maybe if you have a native Japanese friend, you can casually talk to him/her to improve your language proficiency. And my last advice is for you guys to study Japanese at least once a day. You'll eventually get a gist of it. Good luck to those who study Japanese! You got this! 👊 ✨
📔 Motivational Quote: "Success is the sum of small efforts— repeated day in and day out." - Robert Collier
Enrolled as a night time high school student aka - Teijisei 📚 🙋🏻
caption: Class picture of grade 10 senior high students, together with their parents
PS, I purposely blurred out the faces of my classmates and their parents except for my brother, my father, and ofc myself. I wanted to respect their privacy, so I hope you understand.
PPS, if you're wondering why we are wearing formal suits, it's because we don't have uniforms at night time high school. For normal school days, we wear our casual clothes. There's no rules like banning wearing sleeveless tops, skirts or shorts, as long as we're not going to flash our bodies lol.
🤷 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 🤷
Why did you choose to enroll in a night time high school/ teijisei?
I became a night time high school student by the recommendation of my father. I initially wanted to enroll in a day-time senior high aka zennichisei in the course of general education curriculum, but time didn't permit me to apply there because I arrived in Japan last November of 2016, therefore I didn't have much time left to prepare for the entrance exam in day-time senior high. To sum it up, I didn't have any other choice anyway, so I chose the safest choice of enrolling in teijisei since they accept 80% of the students who seeks admission in the school provided if a student has a good conduct, a special skill or good grades back in junior high.
How did you prepare for the entrance exam?
I only had almost 3 months to learn all the kanji that I could possibly squeeze in, in my brain. To prepare myself for my entrance exam, I studied in a community center with a volunteer teacher. He taught me everything from the basics to the advanced level. I go there for about 3 times a week, 3 hours per day. My teacher used to be an elementary teacher. He's retired now, so he catered his time to teach us Japanese. Honestly speaking, I didn't exert much effort in studying at that time, since I knew that my school is easy to get into because it's teijisei, after all. PS, don't be like me even if you knew that you'll pass. I just hoped that I could've reviewed more. Nevertheless, I was able to do my absolute best, so I shouldn't regret anything.
I was also recommended to buy textbooks of junior high school students and a mock test books. The ones I bought were pretty expensive, so we made sure to make use of it.
This is an example of a textbook for junior high students. (We also had to buy these textbooks from our own pocket). You should be able to read and understand all of these contents or at least most of them, to be able to pass as a high school student in zennichisei or day time high school students. The standards are high for admitting students in daytime HS, than at teijisei who accepts most of the students who took the entrance exam. Therefore, in teijisei, even if you won't be able to read all of them, chances are high that they'll still accept you.
How do the teachers decide on admitting the students?
The teachers will decide by having a one on one interview with the student, examine the student's grade back in their JHS years, and they will also check your entrance exam results. If you're an outstanding student in academics or if you're a great athlete, chances are high that they'll accept students like them. Also, it's a huge advantage to also be fluent in English because some of the schools let their students join English competitions.
What subjects did you take in the entrance exam?
For the students who want to take the exam as a teijisei, they have to exactly
choose three subjects from the five subjects. It is mandatory to take up Kokugo or also known as the Japanese language. Here are the 4 subjects that you can choose from,*excluding Kokugo since it is required by the Japanese education system. * CHOICES: Science, Math, Society of Japan (contents include 1/3 of civics, 1/3 of Japanese history, and another 1/3 of Japanese geography), and English. If you choose to take up an entrance exam in zennichisei, you will still have to take up the exact same exams as the teijisei ones. The only difference is that you have no choice but to take up all the 5 subjects in the entrance exam. It takes lots of hard work, especially if you don't have much bg in Japanese. In my case, I had to exert x5 efforts compared to the regular Japanese students.
Here are a few of the pages that composed my English entrance exam for this year, 2017. This is already the HS level of English for the Japanese students. It makes feel disappointed because this is for a grade school student if you were to compare it in the Philippines. This is the time that I realized that the PH education system isn't bad at all. If you're confident of your ability in English, I highly recommend you to take the English exam.
PS, this entrance exam is only exclusive for Ehimeken, Japan. Per prefectures, the Japanese Ministry of Education prepares different kinds of entrance exams.
Once you're admitted ... 🙆🏽🤙🏻
Our school starts at 5:50 pm that lasts up until 9:05 pm. Basically, our school hours are only for roughly 3 hours a day (almost 4 hours). In between the subjects, students are given a 5 minute break. Since we have 4 subjects, we only have 15 minutes of break in total. During the break time, we are allowed to use our phones. Every subject lasts for about 45 minutes.
Did you like your schedule and your subjects? 🤔
2017-2018 Grade 10 class schedule
Overall, I certainly did enjoy my subjects! 🤗 I don't have any control of choosing them, but luckily, I liked all of the subjects that I took. For the grade 10 students, the subjects consist of the following: English (twice a week), Kokugo/Japanese language (thrice a week), Japanese History (thrice a week), Math (thrice a week), Science (twice a week), Arts (twice a week), and PE (twice a week). As much as I mentioned that I did enjoy all these subjects, I also find that they are not as interesting as the ones that I took back in PH. In the Philippines, there were lots of topics in every subjects that make you think critically. Yes, there were hard at times, but those times made me grow as a person. I had more thrill in every day life. That honestly made me motivated to study more. Ok, back to the main topic. There wasn't much challenge to begin with when it comes to studying as a teijisei. We didn't have any homework in consideration for those students who have jobs that are either full time or part-time. We don't also have projects because our curriculum sucks, umm, I mean that our curriculum sticks to the traditional Japanese education system. 😒
For my schedule, I find that attending classes for 3 hours a day is too short. It was my first time enrolling in a night time course in HS, so my body clock wasn't used to it at first. Back in the Philippines, I had to wake up at 5:30 am and go to school by 6:30 am and arrive there by 7 am. My classes start at 7:30 'till about 3:30 pm. That's about 8 hours a day in school. Though I spend my time at school even after class hours. *I honestly can't believe that I'm saying this now lol. I remember how much projects and hw we had back in the PH. I was relentlessly complaining back then haha 😂*
In Grade 10, there are 17 students in total. Most of my classmates are ranging from 15-16 years of age. One of them is 19 years old. That person apparently chose to work after graduating in JHS. I find that being in a co-ed teijisei school is kind of similar to the daytime ones. There are groups formed depending on your personalities. It's kind of sad that not all of us are together as one. We're separated by the people that we only want to be with.
For the senpais', they're mostly friendly and super chill to be with. They're loud as heck and they get along well with the teachers. Since there are only 50 students in total, from grade 10 to 13, rumors spread like fire. Everybody knows it all lol. So there's not much privacy.
As per the teachers, there is only 1 faculty member that's a lady and the rest of them are guys. Most of them are understanding, some of them are lenient, while the others are just plainly strict.
After school club activities 🎭
In teijisei, students are not required to join in after school activities. Our dismissal time is at 9:05 pm, so most students prefer not to join because after school clubs last until 10pm. It might be too late for them, considering that they have to commute/ride a bike going home. The ASC consists of the following: track and field, table tennis, softball tennis, and badminton. Every Friday, however, students are required to attend sougou for 45 minutes. From here, students can choose to join/play badminton, computer lab activities, and English club. I personally have joined the English club; I actively became the leader in conducting games for the students. T'was pretty fun acting like a teacher.
School field trips 🎡 🎢 🎠
There is only 1 school excursion in teijisei for all the year levels. For the grade 13, there is a retreat of their choice. They can choose any places in Japan for their retreat and stay there for 3 to 4 days. Of course, all the expenses are paid by the students themselves.
If you want to know my experience for my first excursion trip as a Japanese high school student, I recommend you to watch my most-watched video on YouTube of all time! ☺️ *shameless self promotion lol*
*PS, I know that my classmates' faces aren't blurred out in this vid, but that's mainly because I got their permission to be featured in my vlog. Others preferred to show up, too but I was asked to cover their faces.*
⛹🏽 Sports Fest! 🤸🏽♀️
We had our sports fest in November 1, which is pretty late, considering the fact that other schools have it in September. If I were to rate our sports fest, I rate it 4.5 out of 10. D-day was ok, but I honestly had more fun during our practice. There were lots of games like knock down the plastic bottles, dice's eye, jumping rope and a lot more! They were played by the students and the teachers. Since we only had 50 students in total, the teachers decided to have our sports fest with the zennichisei teachers. I'll be posting a video about this by next year! Stay tuned!
🎓 Verdict 🎓
I'll be turning 19 years old by next year and I know that for other people, going to a senior high at this age may be thought as "we're lagging behind." To be frank, I personally think that there is a reason on why my brother and I are going to high school at this age. I had to go one year level down when I first arrived in the Philippines at 7 years old. I didn't know how to speak Tagalog or English, that's why I had to go back to grade 1 even if I was supposed to be in grade 2. I was also about to have my moving up ceremony *a ceremony held for grade 10 finishers* by this year (2017), and was finally supposed to be grade 11, but Yuma (my brother) and I have boldly taken risks and decided to drop out, even if we knew that we had to start from scratch in Japan. And since we grew up for most of our adolescent years in the PH, it's given that we are more fluent in English and Tagalog. Going back to Japan meant that we had to relearn the culture, understand the people and the language, and also study the writing system. So we have decided to study in tejisei in Grade 10 by this year as well. As what I have mentioned, at the end, we decided to drop out again with our own choice because teijisei isn't enough if you have plans to study in college. I know that there may be a small age gap for my classmates next year *cough ... 3 years of age gap ... cough* 😅 but you see, my dear, everybody has their own race. By no means, no one is lagging behind or far ahead of you. I believe that I am in my own pace and also in God's pace. If he made this happen, it means that this is what's best for me. So, being a 19 years old going to senior high and graduating HS by 20 years old is not something to be shameful about. I believe in my God's plan. I believe in Him. 👆🏻 💖
Summer in Japan
This was the day when I turned 18. 🥂 Yes, it's my birthday! Feeling old yet? YES lol. *sings happy bday to myself* * shamelessly throws confetti all over* I didn't have my debut, it was my personal choice. My only wish was for my lola to come here in Japan and spend it with me on which she agreed. I love her to bits and pieces. She's one of the people whom I love the most. Spending time with my lola is all I could ask for. 💛
This is a gift from my two girlfriends. I was sooo touched when my lola reached this out for me. They asked my lola to give this to me. It's supposed to be a surprise, but I knew it days before lol. Anyway, it was such a precious gift. It hits me right to my heart. 💘
Feel free to watch my 4 days of vlog in Tokyo! 🍓
Foods that I tried this summer!
This Samyang noodle that I've tried is the perfect level of spiciness for me 🙃 My brother and I also tried the times 2 version of it and what can I say 😱 I guess you have to watch it yourself lol
I also have to mention this burger because it 👏🏻 deserves 👏🏻 a 👏🏻 10/10. This is what I exactly look for my perfect burger. It has to have a soft meat inside that melts inside your mouth right from the moment you bite it. It should also come with a balanced flavor of barbeque sauce that goes well with a firm patty. This is it guys! Once you visit Japan, I totally recommend you to try these ones in MOSS Burger. It'll leave you craving for more bwahaha. 🤤
Short hair, don't care! 😜
Ya'll, I was so obsessed with Dua Lipa when her hit song called, New Rules came out. I love everything about her, especially her hairstyle. This was the primary reason on why I wanted to cut it on mid length.
I WAS ABOUT TO CUT MY HAIR ... BUT!!!
SO WHERE DID THE OTHER 40% COME FROM?
The other 40% will power came from none other than, my queen, Suzy! 💛 was watching her drama, While You Were Sleeping, which is also lead by Lee Jong Suk. I realized that short hairstyles are getting popular these days. So, I thought to myself that maybe, I'll look decent in a short hair.
LO AND BEHOLD ...
Ok, I didn't cut it as short as IU or Suzy's hair, but cutting my hair this short was a HUGE decision for me. Fortunately, my brother, Yuma didn't mess up and so I survived haha. What do you think?
TOP 9 Youtubers for 2017 💖
STUDIO86
JENNY CRUSH
HANNAH MELOCHE
LAVENDAIRE
NEW AGE CREATORS
TESS CHRISTINE
VALERIA LIPOVETSKY
JOAN DAY
SIMON AND MARTINA
My Outlook of 2017 🐔
I am so grateful for everything that has happened in 2017. It was indeed a roller coaster ride for me. To be brutally honest, it wasn't the best year for me. There were countless blur of uncertainties, but with the help of my God, family, friends over the PH, and new friends here in Japan, I was able to enjoy every process of my journey. Thank you Lord for making 2017 a challenge for me. I learned so much and I believe that I was able to mature even a little bit more. Hope 2018 will be a better year for me and for you, my readers! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
As always, thanks for dropping by!
Take care,
Mata ne!
PS, I won't be posting a blog post not until the second week of March because I have to focus on my Senior High entrance exam for day time
HS (zennichisei) next year on March 8 and 9 to be exact. Hope you understand. XX
SHORT ANNOUNCEMENT: 03/19/18
I PASSED THE ENTRANCE EXAM GUYS! ALL MY SACRIFICES WERE PAID. THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US. MOST OF ALL, THANK YOU PAPA GOD! ☝🏻
"and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them." - John 17:10
SHORT ANNOUNCEMENT: 03/19/18
I PASSED THE ENTRANCE EXAM GUYS! ALL MY SACRIFICES WERE PAID. THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US. MOST OF ALL, THANK YOU PAPA GOD! ☝🏻
"and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them." - John 17:10
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR 🍋
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