First Day of School

Today was my first day at school! I rode the bus all by myself to school without any problems and arrived to find the kiddos all out practicing their wacky sports for the sports festival this weekend. originally thought this was going to be like an American track meet, but today I realize that's not quite it. I would compare it to a crazy olympics type of gaming event. They play all sorts of crazy games, most of which involve serious physical threat to the students. :) Seriously-- I would rename it from "sports festival" to "lawsuit waiting to happen festival." The kids play games like, "spin around with your forehead on a bat then tie your foot to another persons and the two of you run 100 yards", "everyone hunch over and let a classmate run on your backs" and my personal favorite, "hold a bamboo pole and throw one of your classmates on it to climb and stick a flag in the top." They are truly hard to explain, but I will take pictures and video of it to prove the madness.
I also got a tour of the school, which seems really nice. The teachers were all very nice to me and the kids seemed excited to have a new gaijin to play with. I had been forewarned that you'll be treated like a super-star for a while and all the kids wave and stare and giggle and yell "HELLO!" :) I also got told twice that I was beautiful, which I think was very sweet. :) I ate lunch with one of the classes and partook (?) of my first school lunch. Everyone got this huge piece of bread (which was very good), a fried fish triangle that had a fish tail coming out one of the corners, and a medly of mushy vegetables. Overall it was very good. Once again we ate in a super-hurry, but then the clouds opened (another typhoon is coming... oh joy) and I spent the rest of the day at my little desk in the teachers' office. I was supposed to have a big introduction assembly, but it was going to be outside, so it was postponed until tomorrow. And of course I forgot my umbrella, so Oishii-san who sits next to me, lent me hers, which is good because it poured on me between the bus stop and my apartment. Of course my clothes were hanging out to dry, and are now wetter than ever. How do you dry clothes outside during rainy season?
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about the prime location of my school. Denver had told me that there's a great view as I wait for the bus, and boy was he right. Looking west is a beautiful view of the mountains covered in lush green and hazy mist, and on the east is the Pacific Ocean. Mountains and ocean... simply beautiful. I'll take some pictures.