First Day of School!

I will wright more about this later!

*Later*

Ok, the first day of school... was pretty easy. After the nerve-wracking, speech-giving part.

In the morning, I went to school with my host father, as his work is one stop before my school. To get there, I take the Hankyu line from Ishibashi station to Umeda station, and from there transfer to the JR loop line (which calls the Umeda station Osaka Central Station) and ride that train to Teradacho station. By the way, this is during rush hour. The second train is ok, but the first! Let me say, I have never seen so many people crammed into one space, let alone been a part of it.

At Teradacho, I met up with Ms. Masuda and the other three international students starting this semester. Melinda and Ruth are from America, and Clara is from Poland.

All the Japanese students had exams, so after the international students gave a speech at the opening ceremony (nerve-wracking!), we went to go get our uniforms. This consisted of standing around in various states of uniformedness while the teachers helping us tried to find Summer, Autumn and Winter uniforms, as well as warm and cold weather exercise clothes in each of our respective sizes. At one point, I was wearing exercise shorts, a blouse and a clip-on tie. Lovely, no?

After that, we had a long meeting with Mr. Hijiya and Mr. Alexy discussing host families, school, staying safe and answering any questions we had.

For some reason (I'm not sure exactly) full time classes haven't stated, so we go home at around noon. Going back home, I went most of the way with Nato, an exchange student from Thailand. Miu, Kaede and Hiyori, three other students, helped us buy our train cards. After getting a little lost at Umeda station with Nato, I made it home safe and sound!

San Francisco in Japan?

I said a post or two back that I got to go to Universal Studios Japan, right? Interesting thing: inexplicably, there was a part that was made to look just like San Francisco. I saw Fisherman's Wharf, the Ghirhadelli (sp.?) factory, Pier 41. It was all quite disorientating!

Also, earlier today, we visited Mama-san's father, who travelled quite a lot when he was younger. Apparently he had been to San Francisco, Monterey and Los Angeles. From what I could understand, he thought San Francisco was a very wonderful place indeed!

Konnichiwa!

Today I got to wear a yukata. I took a picture wearing it along with Riho, Fuka and Obaa-chan. Riho was wearing a yukata as well. Mine wasn't yukata exactly, I forget what it was exactly. School starts the day after tomorrow. Sorry if my writing isn't very up to scratch; I'm kind of tired and have been speaking Japanese all day.

See you next post! (hopefully that's soon...)

Japan!

As I write, I am right now sitting in Japan! How awesome is that? I still can't quite get over it.

I had a few minor panic attacks on the plane, but I needn't have worried so hard. An eleven hour plane ride and an hour and a half bus ride later, I arrived at my host family's house safe and sound.

It's very hot here, and things such as sitting on the ground take getting used to. Even things like the shower and the toilet take getting used to. Earlier, I showed the scrapbooks I had brought of my family and friends to Mama-san (my host mother) and Fuka-chan (the 12 year old daughter). They enjoyed them very much. After pronouncing the pictures of me as a little kid "kawaii!" and the pictures of my cousin Steven and friend Jeremiah "kako ii, nee!" I got to see photos of them.

This afternoon, we're going to Universal Studios Japan. School doesn't start for a couple more days.

Well, wish me luck (though Mama-san did give me good luck tea at breakfast) and I'll see you at the next post!

Finally...

After three cups of coffee, five minor distractions, one almost-meltdown and part of a roll of duct tape, the packing is finally finished! As in, pick-up-my-bags-I'm-walking-out-the-door finished!... Yikes...

P.S. By the way, I now know that if one usually does not drink coffee, it's not a good idea to drink three cups in a row. Especially if one puts sugar in it. Don't try this at home, kids!

Preparation Butterflies

**originally posted Tuesday, August 18, 2009**

I leave Friday! It's really hard to wrap my brain around the fact that next week, I'll be half-way around the world.

Almost all my time right now revolves around saying good-byes and getting ready to leave. Clothes, toiletries, gifts for my host family; everything is being located and laid out to be put into my suitcase. In my room are two door hangers that hold the clothes I'm bringing. I won't need too many, as most of the time I'll be in my uniform. The dress code is very strict. Here are some samplings from the school rules (specially translated for international students):

• "Wearing the Uniform skirt too short (appropriate length of the skirt in under-the-knee length) is the violation of School Dress Code and would disgrace the school."
• "Stockings are allowed to be worn during winter (November-March) and the summer period during which the air conditioning is on. Wear only Hadairo or the color similar to your skin to avoid being fashionable, which does not mach the school uniform. *Wearing black tights is also allowed during winter. Do not wear socks when wearing black tights.
• "Too fashionable a hair style which school regards as inappropriate for an OGSHS student is not allowed."
• "Do not change your hair color by any means. (Do not blow dry your hair too much since it would deteriorate your hair color. Pay attention to your conditioner use for the some reason.)"

That's only a little bit of ten pages of rules and regulations. Needless to say, I'm a bit nervous about messing up.

One source of comfort is the fact that I have been assigned a host family and have swapped emails and photos with them. In their family is the eldest daughter, Riho, who is sixteen; The father; the younger daughter, who is twelve; and the mother. I'll help them with English while I stay with them, and they'll help me with Japanese.

I'm really nervous, but so, so excited! I'm going to miss people very much. I'm not completely ready (and I doubt I ever will be), but at the I same time, I can't wait!

Hello, Dears!

**originally posted Monday, August 17, 2009**

Well, I've decided that the easiest way to chronicle my time in Japan (short of publishing my diary; so not happening!) is to start a blog! Perhaps I shall stun and amaze you all with my witty commentary and daring adventures; perhaps I shall simply inconsistently post before petering off into the wild yonder of the internet. Wish me luck, my friends, for only time shall tell!