☆Happy Merry Christmas☆

Yes, they actually say Happy Merry Christmas here.
Just pick one way guys. American or English. Don't mix it up.

So today I went with my host family to the big illumination at Seagaia (which is a big resort hotel in Miyazaki).

They've been showing commercials for it on TV so I had been wanting to go, but unfortunately I did  not get to eat the delicious looking berry waffles they showed on TV as well D:

It was really pretty, and I got got to watch the butterfly light show :D
These girls are dressed up as butterflies, but the wings are made of lights and they dance around the "flower" field.

We had Christmas the Japanese way with chicken and Christmas cake with a strawberry (or two) on top.
We also had sukiyaki<3
I had some kids champagne (no alcohol) which was just sparkling juice, but that's okay because I freaking LOVE sparkling juice.

And I got a  present from my host mom~
A body lotion and perfume set.
Not to mention the new camera I got from the host aunt and uncle, and thy also gave me a thing full of chocolates and sweets today!
I have been eating them and they are so delicioso.

I made Christmas cards for my host family and extended host family out of construction paper and glue and the help of my handy dandy scissors, I can tell you that my room is a a complete mess of small paper scraps and that my fingers are covered in glue.

I bought myself my own Christmas present as well :3
At TSUTAYA they were selling some of the CD's they rent out for really cheap, so I got myself 2 Nishino Kana albums!

They albums when new, are like over 3,000 yen and I got one for 1,000 yen and the other for 600 yen. The 1,000yen is actually her new album from this summer and I had been wanting it so I was excited to find it there!

My Christmas Present★

They also had some other fairly recent CD's for like 100 yen, such as Ikimonogakari and Perfume and Arashi but I didn't buy them. Have to save my money for Karaoke next week with some other exchangers!

We are on winter break for school now as well! The last day of school though we had a big Hyakunin Isshu ,or Karuta, competition. Unfortunately my class lost, but it was a lot of fun!

They also had the band playing Christmas music during lunch the last 2 days of school. It was really neat, everyone was standing on the balconies watching.

Oh yeah and the 23rd was the Emperor's birthday, which means we had no school!

Next up is New Years, which is a big event in Japan!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Or whatever you celebrate~

Bye bye☆

School Trip & Jeneseys

So I went on my school trip week~
We went to Hokkaido for 3 days and Tokyo for 2 for a total of 5 days (and 4 nights).

Hokkaido

We went skiing in Furano, to Asahiyama zoo, and Sapporo.
I have ski experience but, many of my classmates did not. So I was one of the best ones there...eheheh ;3

The snow was so fluffy and white! It was so much fun XD We played in the snow in-between skiing and made snow men and castles and mountains.

I lost my camera in Hitsujigaoka (Boys Be Ambitious!) so I only have pictures taken with my phone D:
Luckily I got a new camera as a present from my host uncle and aunt!! They were already planning to give it to me though. I am really grateful (-v-)~<3 ありがたいなぁ～
But I'm really sad I wasn't able to take many pictures on my school trip... ;o;

Tokyo Disneyland

I really wanted to go to Disney Sea :P
Rode some rides watched the parade and had lots of snacks :3
We didn't have much time here though...
And I actually ran into another AFS exchanger here! She is from the same place I am, and it was great to see her again!!☆


Tokyo - Shibuya

I went to Shibuya and shopped in the ever famous 109 (Marukyuu)!!
I wanted to check out Harajuku too, but we had to stay in groups and we didn't have much time T_T

Well there's not much to say, but it was really fun! I wish we had had more time though, everything felt so rushed...

I got back from my school trip Thursday night, and on Friday the JENESEYS students came and there was a welcome party~ And today we went to a school in my city (which we will be going to for 2 days) and were on NHK news :3 and we'll be in the paper tomorrow, but of course since I'm (and the other Miyazaki exchangers are long time exchangers they didn't need us ;_; :P lol

Tomorrow I'm going for Purikura with the other long term AFS exchangers XD

Also today I was told by a boy from Indonesia that my English sounds like Japanese Enlgish.
I assure you it does not, but it is hard for me to speak English after speaking straight Japanese for 4 months. It just feels foreign and wrong XD Haha or as AFS would put it, different.

Kyoto

I went to Kyoto.

I'm too lazy to write anything so here's a vlog.

Skipping a Grade!

Today was a very amazing day.

We had an official examination for Kyudo, so we went to the Miyazaki Gymnasium’s Kyudo-jo.

There were 305 people there for the exam.  About 110 were taking the shinsa for classes (kyuu) and the rest for groups (dan). A Dan is above Kyuu btw.

The amazing thing is that I got Class 2 (2kyuu)!!!

That means I skipped classes and went to a higher class! I was trying to pass 3 and passed 2!!!!

4 is the lowest, 1 is the highest, and after 1 there is the groups (dan).

There are first years who having been doing Kyudo since April, and they only got Class 3, and I have started in late August and learned everything to do for the exam in just 5 days and got a higher grade than them.

I am super shocked and super happy!!!

Here’s me wearing a hakama.

Please ignore my face.

After that I went with some friends to the mall. We did some shopping for our school trip in December and took purikura and went to Mister Donut~

There was a Kyushu Milk event going on in the mall and we got free balloons and milk. lol

P.S. Happy Pocky Day! Yesterday 11.11.11 was pocky day in Japan. Everyone brought pocky to school and ate it :D

On The Farm

Sorry for not posting lately! I’ve been really busy and focusing more on my vlogs as well!

About 2 weeks ago we went to a farm (I forgot the name of) and had milk ice cream. (Why don’t they make milk ice cream in Amercia? *shakes fist* It’s so good!) They had some sheep and other animals there, but we just stayed in the touristy part with all the shops.

It was really pretty~ 

On Thursday (11/3) it was Culture Day (Bunka no Hi) so there was no school. My host mom’s dad had this birthday celebration and a lot of relatives came, and I talked with the girls there close to my age.

Although I’m not sure what it was really for, my host mom told me but I don’t remember. Because I know that my host grandpa’s birthday is in September, because we went with him and my host uncle and aunt to a restaurant and it’s already November… ‘_’? But he was saying things like “Thank you for being here with me as I turn 88…” so idk.

One girl wanted to try out her English on me, but then the English turned to Japanese because it’s so much easier for both of us to use it. Haha~

The fish (Ayu) was so good! The girl next to me had 3 of them!!

But before that we went to my host mom's cousins bakery Fukutomi Farm Garden Aya (Aya is the name of the city) and they make cake and bread out of rice instead of wheat.

It was easily some of the best cake I've ever had in my life.

Uniform Change

We changed from our summer uniform to our normal/basic uniform, which is worn in the spring and fall. It's kind of sad knowing that I will never wear the summer uniform again.

Basic Uniform 合服 aifuku

 The normal uniform (as I call it) feels more JK like. (JK means joshikousei, female high school student)
Only my sleeves are too short. Now everyone rolls their sleeves up since it's still pretty warm, some days are warm even hot, while other days are cold and rainy. But I'll be in trouble when winter comes. :/

The point is the ribbon!

We also had a lesson on bicycle safety. They also did a computer bicycle simulation game. One person rode safely, while the other person (2-D's Gisshi) rode badly. Everyone was laughing at Gisshi's because it was really hilarious. Although then the teachers were saying how even if it was funny in the game, in real life you could get hurt.

They also showed us a slideshow. Notice the girls eyebrows.

Part 2: Onsen and Japanese Temple

Inside Bath

Part 2

Onsen.

We went to the Shiratori Onsen in Ebino.

Pictures courtesy of the internet :D Because for obvious reasons I can't take pictures inside myself.

It was pretty embarrassing and I kept my small towel covering myself the whole time (except when I was in the water and you can't take your towel in there).

There was an indoor and outdoor bath and a sauna as well as a jigoku "hell" sauna (it's just really hot, and it's muddy water so you don't actually go in it). I didn't go to the hell sauna though, although I wish I had because I wonder what it looks like in person.

So yeah, after this we headed to Kobayashi to go a Japanese temple (they were having some sort of event, only we didn't get to stay for the fun part since Kobayashi is pretty far from Miyazaki (the city) and we had to head back.


Japanese Temple.

Chanted some prayers.
Listened to old people talk.
Bought some stuff at the bazaar.

Outside Bath

Yeah, that's pretty much it :D

Here's a short badly done vlog about all this.
Starting with Part 1 (Aoshima & Haniwa) and then some temple chanting footage with a Korean song in the background. An American in Japan with Korean music. Yeah, it's just so international :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gbssqo5Gvs

Out and About... (Part 1: Aoshima + Heiwadai)

Peace Tower

 ...is a horrible blog title, but oh well :D

2 weeks ago I went my my host family to Aoshima, Heiwadai, an Onsen, and a temple.

SATURDAY

Heiwadai Park 平和台公園

First we went to Heiwadai and saw the Peace Tower. It's made of different stones from all over the world.

If you stand on the stone in the picture to the right and clap your hands, you can heard a "Biin Biin" sound. I think it's the echo of the clapping resounding in/off something.

After poking aroung the tower we went to the nearby Haniwa Garden. It's full of statues such as the one in the picture below.

Creepy Dancing Woman

Me and my host mom

Aoshima 青島

Aoshima

Aoshima is an island in Miyazaki. It's pretty small, but has a shrine on it and you can see the famous Oni no Sentakuita (Demon's Washboard) and there is a beach and lots of touristy shops on the land before the island, if that makes sense.

You have to cross a bridge to get onto the island.
The wind was really strong that day too so people's umbrellas and hats were flying all over.

Oni no Sentakuita

Shrine Entrance's Torii Gate

Aoshima Jinja

Throw money in here and pray

To be continued...

Culture Festival, Sports Festival, 2-B Class Gathering, etc.

We had our Culture Festival last week. It's called the Ootori-sai (鵬祭) literally Phoenix Festival.It's not like the festivals you see in dramas. At our festival, all the students go to the community culture hall, which is luckily very close to my house so I just walked, and we watch performances.

The first day was the choir competition, each class sung a song, my class sang "Kimi to Mita Umi", I sang alto which was pretty hard >_<

We watched the dance club dance to High School Musical and one song from Burlesque, the Acting Club put on a play, 3-E put on a very hilarious play, some speeches, musical performances, and had some free time to go see performances, and see club exhibitions (art club, picture club, Japanese history club, etc.).

It was 2 days long, and the 2nd day was the best one, we saw the plays and had free time that day.
The sports festival was held at the Sports Park which was farther away so my host parents drove me.

My team (Ao-dan; Blue group) won! Ki-dan (Yellow group) won cheering. Because of that our teacher bought us all drinks the next week at school :3

I took tons of video footage so I will make a vlog soon about the Ootori-sai and Sports festival~!

But because the Sports Festival was on a Saturday we had Monday off, so our class 2-B got together and went to a Viking at Aeon (pronounced Ee-on, spelled Ion in jp), the big mall in Miyazaki. Out of 38 of us 23 went. Viking in Japan = All you can eat buffet. Which I already knew, so there was no confusion XD
I went by bus since my host parents were at work, and Aeon is pretty far away to walk or bike to.

The day of the Sports Festival was actually an AFS orientation, only I didn't go because I wanted to participate in the Sports Festival instead. The other exchangers went to the zoo and bowling. But after the festival I stayed at my LP's house for the night. And the next day I went shopping with my LP and her daughter who is 19. We went to Shimamura, Pura Vida, Miyako City (a small mall), and ate lunch at Joyful.
I also ran into a classmate at Joyful.

Also had my first Shodo (Japanese Calligraphy) class this week. The ALT at my school came in to show the shodo teacher the shodo we was working on, and I had to help translate for him because my Japanese is better than his. All the kids in back me were whispering "How cool!" when I started speaking English. They all think English is the coolest thing ever. Sometimes I'll put on a really bad American accent on my Japanese to amuse them. lol

And remembering names is not hard at all, I know all the girls in my class, first and last name, which I remembered within a week (the print out I received from my teacher was helpful). And I know all the guys last names at least. Also everyone who comes up to me and says "Hi!" etc, etc. and tells me their name I remember too :D I'm very good with names though.

I take all the classes my classmates take. The class I least understand is Math. The class I understand most is Biology, especially since I've already taken Bio Acc in 9th grade and AP Bio in 11th grade (although I can say I payed no attention in AP Bio).
I'm not including English, Shodo, or Computer in this btw, which I classes that I of course understand.

This is getting pretty long so I'll end it here!
Byebye☆

Ame ame fure fure...Kyuudou!

It's been really rainy here lately. A typhoon is coming soon!But for the most part of the past week it was clear. Only it's funny because it seems to be clear and sunny only over our school, which sucks because we have practice for the Sports Festival (Taiku-sai) everyday, so we're out in the hot sun all day.

We also have group practice. There are 4 groups, Red (Aka-dan), Yellow (Ki-dan), White (Shiro-dan), and Blue (Ao-dan). I'm in the Blue Group. We have been learning 2 dances for the past week. GReeeeN's UNITY and AKB48's Everyday, Kachuusha (<3) which I also took video's of as well. Only I only got the last part of the GReeeeN one because I thought I was recording, but my camera was still on standby ;__;

I also joined the Kyuudou-bu (Kyuudou Club)! I didn't have any intentions of joining it when I first came, but it's really fun so I'm glad I did!

 

Inside the Kyudo-jo

 

 

Arrows (矢 ya)

Bows (弓 yumi)

 One of my senpai's drew this :3

It says 'Welcome to Kyudo-bu!  Welcome Safya'

Lol, but he didn't finish before I got there so Hello Kitty was half colored in and I added the stars and blue to the US flag myself XD Oh and the 峯岸 pointing towards Hello Kitty says "Minegishi". She's my AKB oshimen (Minegishi Minami aka Miichan) :3 We were talking about AKB the day before~

 I also went to an AFS orientation last week (where I got my cell phone :D)

On the way to Nichinan

(Taken from the inside of a moving car.)

 The 3 in the middle (including myself) are the Miyazaki exchange students (except for one girl who couldn't make it).

Today we're going to Aoshima and tomorrow we're going to a temple.

First Day of School

Am I updating too much?
Well, I'm mostly just putting the big stuff that happens.

Today was my first day of school.
I rode my bike there.
I got lost. Twice. Thank god I can read Japanese because I use the shop names to know where I'm going.

I got lost even more on the way home. I went one way, and passed 3 boys who were most likely in the baseball club, then I turned around because I realized I was going the wrong way, and they kept looking back at me which was embarrassing. Then I had the horrible luck to run into them again in front of the train station coming from another direction (I made a big circle), at which they started pointing at me which was horribly embarrassing. They probably recognized me so fast, due to the fact that I was wearing a bright pink raincoat over my uniform, which made me stand out even more.

-__-;

Well, today Libra had an unlucky horoscope on TV... #11.... Yesterday it was #1 though.


Anyways, I got to school late on account of being lost, but I didn't miss anything big or something. I went to see the ALT from America who lives here with his wife and we talked in English for a while. Then there was the opening ceremony where I had to make a speech.
As soon as they announced me the gym suddenly got louder because all the students were commenting about me. That made me even more nervous. I kept pausing during my introduction (at the end of sentences) because I saw so nervous.

Then the 2nd year girls had a uniform check where they check skirt length, if you plucked your eyebrows, the length of your bangs, if you hair is tied up if it's too long, and if you are wearing make up or not.

My skirt was a bit too short because I have long legs compared to my torso (on a Japanese girl of my height it would be just fine). The skirt went halfway to my knees when it's supposed to cover them, but they said that because it was a borrowed uniform and not my own it was okay. More like, there's nothing that can done about it so I would be allowed to have it at that length.

Then I went to my classroom and talked with some girls for a bit, and then I introduced myself to my class and one of our teachers told them to ask me questions. I was asked by one boy if I like hamburgers. lol

Then I went to go buy my slippers and went home because everyone had tests.
They have tests tomorrow too so I get to go home early again. Also I don't have school on Saturdays either because that day is mostly for extra studying (my school is for people aiming to get into college).

Bleh I feel all embarrassed and nervous even now.

Oh and Japanese summer uniforms are amazing, they like don't absorb your sweat or something. The summer shirt is made from a different material that a regular shirt.

I also did some stuff yesterday, but I'll save that for another post!

byebye★

Cicadas are loud

I got to Miyazaki 2 days ago~
The plane ride from Haneda took 1 hour and 45 mins. but I slept the whole way, and when I woke up we were starting to land.

We (Me and 3 other exchangers from other countries) got off the plane and could feel the heat right away.
We went to baggage claim and went to the bathroom, and we could see our host families on the other side of the glass which made us really nervous. My host parents had a sign:



Then we went back to their house which was a like a 10 minute drive from the airport.

Yesterday I went to visit my school with my LP and her daughter Yumi who is 19.
We met the principal, an english teacher, another teacher which I don't exactly know what she does, and my homeroom teacher. Then my homeroom teacher showed me around the school. I am in 2nd year Class B.
There were a lot of kids there even though it's summer vacation because of club activities, etc.




Then my LP and Yumi took me to Mister Donut were I had a maccha (green tea) donut with milk. Japanese milk is very creamy and sweet, while American milk is more salty because they take fat out of it. I prefer American milk.

After we went to the book store next door under TSUTAYA and I bought a magazine and book. I used my Tosho card so it was very cheap.
And then they dropped me off at home.

I also got my uniform. Yumi's friend graduated from my school and is letting me borrow it.
I have the summer uniform, normal uniform/winter uniform, minus the blazer which my school will prepare for me, and the summer PE clothes, and shoes.

summer uniform

Tomorrow school starts. I have to make a speech that day.

I go to school by bike, and it takes about 20 mins, so it's pretty close.
Today I practiced how to get there~

I also made a new vlog.

Oh my gosh, I never want to leave Japan, I love it here so much.

byebye☆

Orientation

We had our Orientation in a hotel near Narita for about 3-4 days, plus the orientation is the US the night before we left, for a total of 5 days. (If you count the days we actually had orientation (otherwise we were traveling) it was 3 days).

We were split into 3 groups, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, I was Osaka. The Tokyo group went to Tokyo for their orientation, and Osaka and Nagoya stayed in Chiba. Narita airport is in Chiba prefecture, but I think many people think that it is in Tokyo.

I mostly hung out with some of the US kids, but I also met a really cool girl from Australia as well some other people from different countries.
Even though we only knew each other for a short time, we became really good friends! It probably has to do with being together 24/7 and having a lot of the same interests. We all act really similar too, so it was a lot of fun!

The Japanese student volunteers taught us about Japanese life and what to do, what not to do, etc etc. The whole orientation was in English though.

I will make a vlog about the orientation soon!

I arrived in Miyazaki yesterday, it's really humid, and I feel tired early and wake up early because I'm not used to the time difference yet, but only by a couple hours. I can't sleep properly quite yet (it takes me a while to fall asleep and I wake up at random times sometimes) but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon!

Today I'm going to visit my school with my LP and they will give me my uniform and info, etc.

I will talk about my host family and Miyazaki in a later post! This one is getting long!

byebye☆

We're in Japan!

We're in Japan! I'm tired and jet-lagged, and we've been having orientations every day. I'll make a more detailed post later!

But everyone is really fun to talk to here so I'm having an awesome time!

Airplane

 

Airplane Food

 

Hotel Room in Japan

 

Outside the Hotel

 

Lunch

partenza

Partenza means "depart" in Italian :3
I'm not going to Italy, but there is a Japanese song called partenza, so... :D

Today I'm off to Japan!

I've got all my stuff packed except for a few last minute things I couldn't pack till now~
I finally bought the rest of my host family presents a few days ago too~

My schedule is like this:
17th - Overnight Orientation in LA
18th - Fly to Japan
19th - Land in Japan, stay at hotel near Narita for a night
20th - go to Osaka Orientation (it's a 10 hour bus ride :P)
20th-22nd - Osaka Oreintation
22nd - Fly to Miyazaki

We're about to drive to LA in an hour~
It's only 2 hours away.
I'm leaving Southern California for Southern Japan!

I'll try to update soon~☆

It's that time of the year again!

Yes, it's the time to go on exchange!
With only 16 days left till I leave, I have been getting all my final stuff together.
It's going to be harder to pack now...I've bought a lot of new clothes this year that I really like D:
Plus I have to plan for bringing clothes I buy over there and gifts back. I'll probably have to ship some of it then...
So I've been eliminating my clothes one by one.
It's so hard to pack because not only do I have to bring my summer clothes, but I have to bring winter clothes too. My winter coat takes up half of my big suitcase, so I will have to ship it over.
I have to finish getting host family presents as well!!

I know a lot of kids are worrying about the language, so I feel really lucky that I don't have to >__<
I'm looking forward to no English! However I have been practicing kanji. I really don't like to study kanji that much, but I do anyways. I can read 700+ now, that's not that much when you consider it's 700/2,200 about 31%. I'm really behind because I don't study enough, so I want to be at 1,000+ by the end of my exchange, maybe even more.

I hope I can get out my country at least this time. -_-;

お久しぶりですね、、、

I haven't posted for months!!!
It's not like I had anything to post about though...

Now it's already July. It's been approx. 113 days since the earthquake, and now I have 46 more days to wait for exchange.
I've gotten my new flight info from AFS and I leave on the 18th of August.
But honestly...I have no excitement for this at all. It's not that I don't want to go, but after all that happened...my feelings of excitement have severely dropped.
Not because of worry or earthquakes or radiation (which I am not even worried about in the slightest), but because I was so looking forward to it and then my dreams were crushed so suddenly.
Back in Late February, Early March, when I was getting ready to go, I was so excited I couldn't even concentrate on anything, I couldn't sleep, I remember going to the movies and thinking about exchange the whole time I was watching it, I was that excited.
Now I just feel...sad. Looking at my flight info saying August....
My excitement was drained out of me, so I have none left (for now).
I really do want to go, but I don't want to set myself up for disappointment, so I wont get excited till I'm actually there.
But I won't get into all that again.

I've been e-mailing my host mom occasionally, and IM-ing my host sister in Brazil on Facebook occasionally as well.
They seem very nice~ :)

I'm also wondering what club I should join at school.
I've been thinking since way back that I wanted to join the Broadcasting Club this whole time, but then recently I was thinking, joining something like the Tea Club would be fun too~
I really hope my school doesn't try to make me join the English conversation club. Anything but that >_<
I don't like English!!
But yeah, the Broadcasting Club is first on my list!

I'm glad I won't be missing out on my schools culture festival or school trip though!
I am excited for the school trip~ (Like a mild excitement. I'm not even letting myself get too excited for anything right now.)
I think I mentioned this before, but we go to Hokkaido & Tokyo.
They have pictures from last years trip on my school's website.
Last year they went for 5 days in December. They went to Hokkaido for 3 days and went skiing, made ice cream, and went to a zoo. Then went to Tokyo for 2 days. Toyko Disneyland one day, and touring around Tokyo the second, which was the last day of the trip.

I start school on Sep. 1 there and my last day will be Jan. 30. Only 5 months T_T
I feel like I'm missing out on SO much...
But my school here starts on the 20th of this month D:
And I have summer homework (for English >:P)! I don't want to do it! I don't need to do it (since I'll be leaving)! I'm debating what I should do about it...

Oh! A couple of days ago, my mom gave me ¥2986 (approx. $37)! My mom's friend had went to Japan a couple of years ago, and had it left over and didn't need it (although I don't know why she just didn't exchange it), so free money! Yay!


Oh yes! AFS told us that they would be providing us with cell phones for safety because of all that happened. I was planning on getting a cell phone anyways, but now I get one for free! Yay! I do hope the model isn't too outdated though...
According to some students it will be this one.
It looks decent~ I want light pink >_< But apparently we only get the choice of black or white, so I'll choose white then if that's true.


This has ended up getting pretty long so I'll stop here!
☆bye bye☆

Blerghenheimer

Sorry for all the posts. I'm just gonna go in August. I don't want to give up my host family!!!! They're the best! Worst case scenario is that Japan's not better by then and I still can't go. I'm gonna be bitter and depressed about this the end of March, then try to just let it go...

Every time I think about how it's canceled, my chest hurts, my pulse races, and I feel like bursting into tears (I almost did in class today)...I don't want to believe it. But that's life. And it sucks. A whole lot

I'm not sure anymore...

I'm not sure whether I should go in August, or go for the 2012-2013 year...I thought I should go in August, but...I'm really lost now...I want to keep my host family, but I want to go for the whole year! This is a really difficult choice as it affects my whole life....WHAT SHOULD I DO???

Pro's to August:
-same host family
-I get to go sooner
-I graduate with my friends (not that I really care either way)
-I'll be with a class my age at school

Cons:
-LESS TIME!!!

Pro's to year:
-I'll be there a year like I wanted
-I'll get to be there in the summer and for the beginning of school
-MORE TIME!

Cons:
-probably have to change host families
-graduate late
-have to wait longer to go
-I'll be the oldest in my class...

I went back to school today feeling like I shouldn't be there...

Stupid complications. I don't know what to do anymore.

Semester.

This is painful, I've been crying all day....
So I've decided to accept the semester program that leaves in August for 6 months.
I'm really depressed, and I'm going to miss on some really amazing experiences.
Hopefully my host family and school will still want me. I bet my host family will since they wanted me for a whole year anyways...
August is 5 months away...so far!
I'm ready to leave now!!!

So here's my plan, be depressed all March, then in April through May work my ass off so I can fix my grades, and take an online health class to get my credits in. Then in the summer get my community service taken care of. You know, I might even try to aim for A's in my AP classes now, but knowing how lazy I am I'll probably just end up with B's again.

It's over.

AFS Japan has canceled the Spring 2011 program. FML.
I've been crying for the past hour. There's the option of going for the semester in August. This is NOT happening. FML. Why me?? I didn't even get a chance to go yet...

Postponed...

I am a selfish selfish girl. I really want to go on exchange.

So I've heard from other students in other countries that AFS is postponing our exchange. I don't know by how much, and I've yet to receive a call of e-mail from AFS USA. The good news is they said they aren't canceling it. But I already left school, so I'm worried how this will affect my school year...

Also, as of today I got my visa and finished paying the last bit of my full tuition. Yay... I've also been talking to my host mom and sister.

I've been reading really sad stories in the news, and really touching Twitter posts about people helping one another out. The Japanese are amazing...I really hope Japan recovers fast...

I'm feeling really depressed right now and I can't concentrate on anything...I just wish I could sleep until this is all over...

大変なことが起こりました。。。

I’m sure by now everyone has heard about the 8.9 earthquake that hit Japan. I hope everyone in the affected areas and all of Japan is okay and I hope for their safety.

Luckily my host family lives in the south so they should be okay. I have a friend living in Fukushima though, I was worried, but luckily she's far enough inland that the Tsunami didn't reach over there.

The tsunami was strong enough that it even reached California.Damage was done to a northern city, but in the south we have only had 2-4 ft waves, but all the beaches are closed.

AFS called me and said that they wouldn't cancel the program, but that they were working closely with AFS Japan, and if there are any delay's in the flight schedule, then they will let us know by Monday.
Even though it's selfish, I really hope our exchange isn't affected.

What happened is just too sad...I want to cry. I hope Japan can overcome this devastating disaster soon.
がんばって日本！Do your best Japan!

Edit: I contacted my host sister, and she said there have been no earthquakes in Miyazaki, so not to worry. I am glad they are safe! But Miyazaki is on tsunami warning so I am worried...a big river goes through the middle of the city, and if there was a tsunami that would be dangerous...

Detailed Information ^.~

I got my detailed host family and school information today!
My school is letting me go on my school trip! They go to Hokkaido! (And on the school website it said they went to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo as well). It's about $1,000. I really wanna go~ I will also be the only exchange student at my school! I don't know if that's a bad or good thing though yet lol. My host family has hosted 3 times before. Once for a year, the other times 4 & 5 months. Ahhhh, I'm so excited.

I'm so anxious to leave! I really can't imagine that I won't live here in another 2 weeks...It hasn't hit me yet, and I don't think it will until I'm already in Japan.

Today at school I had to turn in a math test I was supposed to do over the weekend. Of course I didn't do it (except for the easy ones). There's only a week of school left and none of my grades this semester count. Why should I? I was explaining to my math teacher that I didn't finish because this is my last week of school and my grades don't count because I can't get credits for this semester. I told him 2 weeks ago I was leaving before, but when I handed him the mostly blank test "Do you want to go to college?" I was thrown off a bit because I wasn't expecting this kind of response. My APUSH teacher didn't care if I made up a test I missed, and doesn't care if I don't do my homework. Usually there's lunch detention if you don't do it. My Chinese teacher said I didn't have to do my HW. My AP Bio teacher understood that I don't care about test grades anymore. Then he asked if I was okay with getting a 0. I said it was fine, and he was dumbfounded. It wouldn't matter even if I got an 100!! And yes I do, and will, go to college, thank you very much.

On a side note, I just bought Pokemon White yesterday XD Yay.

Some info...

Lol, so I found out a bit about my host family from another exchange student who had been to Miyazaki. My oldest host sister lives in Oita prefecture for college, I didn't expect her to live at home though, but my other host sister is currently on exchange in Brazil. I'm guessing it's a year program, which comes back January next year according to the AFS site. :P Too bad they aren't there...but the person said that it seems they are a good host family so yay~

Nothing in Particular...

Did anyone else's host family come with a description? Mine had none T__T

I looked up my house on Google Maps XD There's a an100yen shop right next to it!! Also a 7Eleven very close by. How convenient~ I also mapped the distance between my house and school. It's about 43 minutes by walking, less by car or train. That's actually closer than my real house is away from my current school! (If I walk it's about 1 hour and 15 (or was it 45??) minutes, I get driven though of course).

I think my 17 year old host sister may be involved in AFS somehow because her e-mail is through them. I wonder if she has been or is going on exchange...I hope at least 1 of them will be living at home! I wonder if my older host sister lives at home or not...I wanna know more about them (>_<)

I am starting to love my school uniform, but I'm a bit worried because they changed it 3 years ago, so they might not have old ones for me D: It'd be cool buying one because I could keep it, but it'd be so expensive...but I wanna be able to wear it!! I REALLY do not want to wear a fake uniform!

Now that I have my family and city, I can't wait to go!! I'm so excited!!! I've been looking up Miyazaki-shi a lot, and I can't wait to go there!!!

Miyazaki Hello Kitty!

HOST FAMILY!!!!

This is best Valentines Day ever! (So far ;D)
I got my host family today! I'll be living in Miyazaki-shi in Miyazaki prefecture! It's in Kyuushuu :) My mom texted me during 6th period and told me, and since I have Computer Art that period, I was able to check my e-mail right away! I was crying and trembling from the excitement!

I'll be living with the Koga family! I have a mom and dad, and two sisters ages 17 and 20. I can't wait to meet them all! I hope we get along! There was no host family description though ): Too bad... I'll be sending them an e-mail later today!

I'll be going to Miyazaki Minami High School! The uniform looks plain, but I'm okay with that, I think plain ones are a bit cute! They have a whole web page just for the girls uniforms! XD (p.s. when you click on the uniform link you have to scroll down) I wonder what kind of school it is!

Miyazaki is famous for it's shrines and it is known as "the land of the gods"! They are also famous for mangoes, Aoshima Island, and the Nichian coastline (as well as a lot of other things)!

I was scared I was gonna end up in Okinawa or Hokkaido! Hokkaido is too cold for me, and Okinawa is so different from the rest of Japan! Most Japanese people can't even understand their dialect! It's funny because just the other day I was thinking, "Going to Kyuushuu would be nice..." since I know people from/who have lived there. I originally wanted to go to Honshu, but Miyazaki looks amazing and beautiful!

Ahhhh I'm so happy! Here are some pictures of Miyazaki :)


Also, I've eaten so much chocolate today I could burst D: I can only eat small amounts of chocolate in the first place, or I feel sick because I don't like that much (if its too sweet), but if it's in the form of cookies, brownies, or cake, I'll will gobble it down! Especially cookies! I am addicted to cookies! I hate peanut butter, but I'll eat peanut butter cookies. I hate oatmeal, but I'll eat oatmeal cookies. My love for cookies is infinite! I made some chocolate cookies for my friends that turned out really yummy! Also my friend gave me some chocolates, and my other friend made brownies, I also got kisses and chocolate cupcakes. I am full of chocolate -_-... Happy Valentines Day!

P.S. I've started a vlog! The link is in the page directory at the top of my blog! I'll be posting a video soon :)