School

So yesterday was my first day of school.

I have to take a train to get there--or rather, two trains; there's a changeover. They're pretty neat, and way different than the trains in Chicago. I'll take some pictures and post them later.

I got my uniform when I went to school. I didn't know how to tie the tie, though, so when I got to class one of the girls helped me.

They're all really nice, the people in my class. They were very patient with me; I was a little frustrated I couldn't communicate with them very well. Luckily the subjects we're learning about (besides Old Japanese Literature) are ones I've done before (you think Physics is hard? You haven't tried Physics in Japanese).

I had a bento for lunch. It was adorable and delicious. I'm really glad I learned how to use chopsticks before I came to Japan, though.

Gym class was RIDICULOUS, my goodness. There were some very strange stretches we had to do before we did anything. There wasn't any running--I think I'd have melted if there was--but there were enormous jump ropes the entire class had to jump in. It was fun though.

I also happened to join the brass band club. Which, HOLY CRAP, was amazing. Imagine a band where every person practices their music AND tunes perfectly with everyone else. It was glorious.

Some pictures

 A welcome to Japan sign my host sister made for me. She's really nice.

 Some pictures of the neighborhood. Apparently it's pretty old. It would be perfect if there weren't giant spiders oh, idk, EVERYWHERE.

My host sister's old school (not mine) along with some rice paddies and a little clouds from the typhoon that was rolling in. Tres cool.

First day of school is tomorrow. Wish me luck!

so things are pretty awesome

Okay, so my first few days in Japan have been pretty awesome.

I arrived at Kansai International on Monday evening expecting only to see a couple of people, but was surprised by at least 10. There was my host mom and dad, of course, and a lot of Rotary people. They were all very nice.

My host family is good people. Unfortunately I can't talk with my host mom and sister like I can with my host father, but I'm working on that. They have a cute little dog called An-chan.

Yesterday I went out with my host father, and we went to go take a look at the Wakayama Castle, which was gorgeous. And it's nearby, too. I'll post some of the pictures I took as soon as I get an adapter for my computer.

Left on jetplane. Now in Japan.

Just got to Narita in Tokyo. Have defied all expectations and did not sleep at all on my 12 hour flight.

Pretty sure about to die via exhaustion. I'll get back to you on that one.

Leaving on a jet plane....

So, I leave for Japan tomorrow. I've heard that fifteen hour flights are super fun, so that's something to look forward to.

You know, for a while it didn't seem real to me--this whole exchange. I guess I've been existing in a haze of denial for the entire summer. People kept asking me whether or not I was excited, and I would say, 'Well, yeah, I guess.' But I wasn't really feeling it.

However it's really started catching up. At this point my thoughts are bouncing between 'YEEEEEES JAPAAAAAAN' and 'ohmygod why did I think this was a good idea'. I'm just glad I finished packing a week ago; I keep remembering the most random things I need to put in the suitcase.

I hope my host family and I get along. Because it would really suck if we didn't.

CSRYE

                                                           
Me at Calvin College, freaking out because mom was standing in the middle of the road as she took the picture. 

What was pretty awesome was that the Brazilian girl on the right spray-painted that picture, and the woman on the left bought it for $1500. It was to support the eradication of polio. The guy in the middle was John Germ, the president of Rotary.

So in early July, I went up to Grand Rapids in Michigan for an enormous gathering of inbounds (the kids from other countries), outbounds (the kids heading out of the country), and rebounds (the kids who had left and are still pining over the country they lived in). There were around 800 kids there, and a lot of them brought their parents, which of course meant that the auditorium was always absurdly crowded. 

It was awesome, though; I got to hang out with the other outbounds from my district, all of whom I adore. Also I met the other outbounds, rebounds, and inbounds from Japan, most of which were super nice. There were a lot of presentations, which were all very helpful, and fun activities. The highlight was probably the talent show, because all the performances were amazing!