Long Time No Update

     I haven`t updated this blog in a while, and for that I appologize. A lot has happened since I arrived in Japan, so I will try to cram it all into this one post. Hopefully it won`t be overbearing! So to start with, I arrived in Tokyo the evening of March 20th. The group of twenty adventurous American teens, including myself, filed into Narita airport and proceeded to get our residence cards. It was a long line of gaijins, but we managed to make it through. One of the AFSers was half Japanese, so she had Japanese citizenship and therefore did not have to wait in line. Sure sounds nice, huh? After we got our residence cards, and they are by no means the most flattering pictures either, we trollied on down to the first floor to claim our baggage, then hopped on a bus outside the airport that took us to a fancy dancy hotel. Riley Keenan was so tall that he had to bend down on the bus! Once the bus pulled into the driveway of the hotel, we again claimed our baggage and dragged the blasted things into the hotel lobby, where we waited for further instructions from the AFS volunteers. It was here in the lobby that I met my Norweigian friends in-person for the first time. Oddveig and Carina and another girl whose name I can`t recall greeted us warmly! Riley, Miranda, and I were so happy to see them. We would often have google chats with them, and to finally see them in-person was pretty awesome. My other Norweigian friend, Serina, was somewhere else. I can`t remember! Whoops!

     At the arrival orientation the boisterous group of twenty Americans met the rest of the world going to Japan. Never in my life have I heard so many languages spoken all at once in the same room. It was mind-boggling, to say in the least. There was Spanish, French, German, Italian, Norweigian, Danish, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai, just to name a few. Well, and English as well, of course. We met girls from New Zealand and Australia! After we loaded our plates with whatever food there was to take, we sat down at a table with some other teens. It was quite an eclectic group, let me tell you. We talked about our reasons for wanting to go to Japan and compared our flight lengths. 

     The next day we were grouped according to our regions. The newly made friends said their goodbyes to those who were placed far away, and we all got on our respective buses and were soon on our way. My bus was headed for Osaka. The drive was about seven hours, I believe. On my bus there were Americans, Thai, Norwegians, Mexicans, Danish, New Zealanders, Russians, and one girl from Paraguay. We sang the popular songs of our countries the whole way there. I`m sure the bus driver wanted to throw something at us!

     Once we arrived in Osaka, we parked the bus and walked to yet another orientation site. This time, the orientation was three days long, I believe. We stayed at a youth hotel, and here we were instructed on how to take on the world of Japan. We recieved two booklets; one booklet was on Japanese grammar and the other contained around one hundred kanji to be learned. We discussed Japanese manners, customs, and language. The volunteers gave us tips on how to handle various situations, and we discussed what to do in an emergency. All in all, it was a fabulous time. Inside the hotel was an onsen, and all of us girls didn`t know that we had to take off all of our clothing. It was a nice start to the many culture shocks to follow.

     Once the orrientation came to a close, the group was again separated, but this time it was according to our chapter. Some of the chapters left with other chapters because they were close together. That was the case with mine. In my chapter, Mishima, there are only two AFSers: myself and Hao, a boy from Malaysia. We commuted to the station with an AFS volunteer and another small group of a different chapter. From here, each of us branched off to where our host families would meet us. I was the first to go in my chapter. I was greeted by my liason, Sugo Hiroe, and my translator Hitomi Matsumoto. We exchanged greetings and talked for about a minute or so before my host sister arrived. This was the first time I saw Nao. She had seemingly just finished with a club activity, for she was wearing her school uniform. She walked up to me, played with a couple of strands of my hair, and said, "Kawaii!"

     Together with my host sister, my liason, and my translator, we walked to where my host mom had parked her car. We loaded in and my host mom drove us to her house, where we all sat in the living room and discussed AFS things. After my liason and translator left, it was just my host family and I. From here began my new life in Japan.

      I also met Nao`s cousins,Yosuke and Kosuke. Kosuke took us to Starbucks and bought us coffee. Well, he bought me coffee and Nao a shake of some sorts. Nao doesn`t like coffee! The following evening Yosuke took us to a large city called Shinsaibashi. It`s really like a huge shopping area of the city. There are so many people congregating in such a small place. I saw gang members, lolita, and all sorts of people. It was wild. Yosuke took us to take purikura, which are like cute versions of the photobooths in the USA. They make your skin lighter, and your eyes bigger. I kind of looked like a blue-eyed catfish, but it was fun, nonetheless.

     So after a couple of weeks, school started. I had to write a speech for the opening ceremony. I stood in front of around eight hundred students and faculty and delivered my elementary level self-introduction in Japanese. It was nerve-wracking, but I managed to do it. The next day was my first day of school. I swear, you would have thought that I was Harry from One Direction or Beiber, because the girls nearly passed out when they saw me in the hallway. I`m not exaggerating, they literally screamed. Some even begged me to take a picture with them. I gladly did so, I mean, what could it hurt? My class is ２年８組、or second year, class eight. There are forty-one students in my class, including myself. I take chemistry, bioligy, computer, health, PE, math 2 & B, classical Japanese, modern Japanese, home economics, calligraphy, geography, and English W and 2. I always take notes, because I want to bring them back to the USA and show everyone what the work looks like in Japan for high school students. In English class I participate fully, but as for classes like chemistry and math, its too difficult for me to comprehend. I understand single words and sometimes full sentences, but the chemistry lingo in Japanese is way over my head! I at least know how to say `oxidation reaction` in Japanese, but I`m not sure how useful that will be in the long run.

     All in all, everything is as it should be. My host family is more than what I could have ever asked for, and my host sister is a riot, I love her to death. On weekends we often go hang out with other nearby AFS students and go to amusement parks or go shopping in the big cities. The best part is eating dinner at Nao`s part-time job, Kiraku, which specializes in ramen and udon. I hope someday I can bring my family and friends to Kiraku!

    Until next time!