the last few weeks have been really good. school's been a definite change though. previously, before coming to japan, i thought i had a pretty good idea of how japanese school worked. i was wrong. yet, at the same time, i was pretty much on the ball in regards to some things. some things though are really strange. for example, in japan, they don't have recess. they only have 10 minutes between lessons, and a 40 minute lunch. so by the end of the third lesson, you're both starving and drained, because you haven't had an opportunity to relax for long enough. i definitely prefer the australian method atm, but it is nice to not have to go from one class STRAIGHT to the next, and to instead have a bit of a break.
at school, i was a bit of a super star, but now it's starting to wear off, which is nice. for a week, i was riding some serious novelty factor, but now, as i become more of an everyday thing, it's not so prevalent, which is nice. but the japanese teenager doesn't seem to gawk or react to a novelty person in the same way that an australian would. i think australians in general would at least attempt to talk/communicate with them, and maybe mention to their friends as an aside a difference between them and the novelty person. here, though, it's more like: 1) a japanese girl sees me. 2) she quickly mentions to her friends that i'm there, and they start screaming/giggling. 3) they wave/laugh towards me, if they're brave enough. 4) i wave back, sending them into more hysterics. on occasion, they'll actually approach me, and attempt to say "herro! my name is *insert VERY forgettable name here*" (btw, japanese names are SO hard to remember! i can remember all of about 4 people's names in the whole school atm, because they all sound so similar. many girl's names end in "ko" and are 6 letters long, as are many of the boy's names, minus the "ko".) it's pretty funny watching the girl's reactions, but sometimes, it get's a little repetitive, but still fun. the boys often want to shake my hand, and will usually go "OOHH! BAEN!!" no body's able to pronounce my name here… it's kind of funny, especially as it's not like it's very difficult for them, not something like liam or laela etc…
because the year 12s had exams this week, i had three days off from tuesday till thursday, which was great. on tuesday, i went on a very scenic route to Mago, the main/only shopping mall in Seki, on my mama chari. i also went to the only gym in my city with my host brother. it's strange; in adelaide, there are heaps of gyms, all of which you must pay for. but here, there's only ONE gym in the whole of the city (yes, i know i'm in a much smaller city here; but there's more then 11 gyms in Adelaide!!) and it's free. as in, if you're a citizen of the city, you can go to this gym as often as you'd like, for nothing, ever. all you must do first is go to a safety demonstration where they show you how to use the equipment properly. so, that's what i went to on tuesday evening.
on wednesday, it was my birthday, so i relaxed for most of the morning, had some nice lunch (i think it was a japanese version of chinese fried rice, some miso soup and salad). then, i went to the gym, and when i came home again later, i relaxed, and then called my australian counsellor, my grandparents and my own parents, before having dinner.
omg it was so good!! there was sashimi (tuna and squid sashimi is like heaven from the sea!!!), purple-y rice with soy beans, a cooked vegetable dish with sauce, ebi-furai (literally: prawn fry, or deep fried battered prawns, which are so good!!) and ham-furai (fried centimetre thick pieces of ham battered and fried, delicious!!). there was also salad, which, like everything else made by my host-mother, was delicious!!! :D
i was given a REALLY nice wallet by my host parents, which was ridiculously unnecessary, and a nice beanie from my host brother, which i plan to use next month when i go skiing again!! :D
btw, i went skiing on sunday by myself. i got up at sparrow (like 5:15am) and caught a bus from seki to hirugano and was skiing by 9:00! :D the actual ski resort was fairly small, (ie two 1km long lifts equivalent) but the weather was INCREDIBLE, and the powder snow was to die for. i even made myself a powder snow angel! haha it definitely beat 35˚C in Adelaide!
the weather here atm is really cold. i literally breathe out steam in my room in the mornings and evenings, it's so cold, mainly because no-body in all of japan has ever heard of central heating. instead, they all use these piss-weak gas space heaters, and so everyone's freezing, all the time, unless they're next to the "stove" (as they call them, except that japanese people can't pronounce "v" sounds, so it comes out "stobe"! haha), when they're too hot. i think i'm getting used to it, and it was snowing for a couple of days last week, which was awesome, and most definietly made up for it! if you're my friend on facebook, check out my photos, i believe they're worth your time! :D
anyway… i think i'll go to bed now. the olympic ceremony is from 11am japan time, so i'm getting up for that. can't wait!!
let me know what you want to hear more of, and i might put it in next time, if i can be bothered.
btw, to leave you with a smile: i was in a drug store the other day looking for gum, but i had some real trouble choosing which type i should get. i mean, do i go for "Black and Black"? or maybe "SPASH"?? or how about "XYLISH"??? some of the names of products, t-shirts and shops here are absolutely ridiculous, including a shop called "crack step" and a tshirt that simply said: "parent's are sure hard to raise". ok then… :D
Friday, February 12, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
the long fabled "hello from japan!!" post
yes, it's that time of my life, where I'm able to write the previously mentioned, very important, "HELLO FROM JAPAN!!" post, so here goes.
in a couple of words: I'm having an awesome time.
my host family is really kind and down to earth. i had read some things about japanese families in general about rules that every single person seems to follow, but they seem to be a bit lenient, which is great. i'm talking about japanese specific bathing rules etc, not major "oh, you can break every rotary D if you want…" hehehe
my host mother and father are in their early 60s, and my host father is still working. We live in Seki, a small city of around 100 000 people, and it's a nice town, but SUPER cold. like, as in, it has never been; and never will be this cold in Adelaide ever. in my family, when it's cold in the morning, you breathe out mist, it's called "dragon breath". well, i have that in my room!! there's a heater, but i don't want to be using heaps of energy, wracking up their energy bill this early.
japanese language wise, i'm improving. currently, i feel as though i'm only getting better at the things i already know; ie i'm SO much better at plain form, after speaking almost entirely in plain form for the last few days. but i'm not actually currently learning any new sentence structures or the like. but soon, i hope that will change. to give you an example of how my japanese is currently, when i watch ANY kind of tv, be it those strange panel shows that you never see anywhere else but japan, or a drama, or the news (which is the hardest) i might understand the occasional word, but nowhere NEAR the level i need to be to understand it. i can have broken conversations with my host mother quite easily, but they're almost constantly punctuated with *new word i don't know* はどういみですか？ (what is the meaning of *new word i don't know*)
i'm currently sitting next to my host nephew, who's 9 years old, and he's SOO good at reading. the book he might take an hour to read; i still might not be able to read at the end of the year!!
i've done some stuff already with my host family. with my host mum, i went to uniqlo, where i bought a super nice polar fleece hoodie for only ¥980, which is about AUD$12, so an absolute bargain. just before, i went to a paper museum, where i got to make some traditional japanese style paper using traditional techniques, and to the library, where i borrowed some super basic picture books, and some bilingual manga. doraemon ftw! :D
the food is awesome!! a note to the potential future exchange student heading to japan. your host family WILL be worried that you won't eat japanese food, and THEY WILL feel frustration towards you if you don't like the majority of the food they eat. and yes, they WILL tell their friends and other exchange students once you have left about how you didn't like the majority of their food. so maybe, if you despise fish, tofu and rice, you should maybe choose somewhere else to go. but if you like japanese food, welcome to heaven. it's incredible. the stuff my hostmum can pull together in a couple of minutes is better than almost every japanese food you can buy anywhere in australia. but toast? the japanese have never, and will never do bread properly. their toast is strangely fat/tall, super white and soft, and has way too much sugar. so, i'm not sure what american bread is like, but for an australian who's used to good quality italian infused bakery bread, it doesn't compare.
i'm about to go do some kanji practice with my 7 year old host nephew, so i'll post more tomorrow, or in the next few days. but i don't start school until monday, so don't hold out for that just yet!
cheers
in a couple of words: I'm having an awesome time.
my host family is really kind and down to earth. i had read some things about japanese families in general about rules that every single person seems to follow, but they seem to be a bit lenient, which is great. i'm talking about japanese specific bathing rules etc, not major "oh, you can break every rotary D if you want…" hehehe
my host mother and father are in their early 60s, and my host father is still working. We live in Seki, a small city of around 100 000 people, and it's a nice town, but SUPER cold. like, as in, it has never been; and never will be this cold in Adelaide ever. in my family, when it's cold in the morning, you breathe out mist, it's called "dragon breath". well, i have that in my room!! there's a heater, but i don't want to be using heaps of energy, wracking up their energy bill this early.
japanese language wise, i'm improving. currently, i feel as though i'm only getting better at the things i already know; ie i'm SO much better at plain form, after speaking almost entirely in plain form for the last few days. but i'm not actually currently learning any new sentence structures or the like. but soon, i hope that will change. to give you an example of how my japanese is currently, when i watch ANY kind of tv, be it those strange panel shows that you never see anywhere else but japan, or a drama, or the news (which is the hardest) i might understand the occasional word, but nowhere NEAR the level i need to be to understand it. i can have broken conversations with my host mother quite easily, but they're almost constantly punctuated with *new word i don't know* はどういみですか？ (what is the meaning of *new word i don't know*)
i'm currently sitting next to my host nephew, who's 9 years old, and he's SOO good at reading. the book he might take an hour to read; i still might not be able to read at the end of the year!!
i've done some stuff already with my host family. with my host mum, i went to uniqlo, where i bought a super nice polar fleece hoodie for only ¥980, which is about AUD$12, so an absolute bargain. just before, i went to a paper museum, where i got to make some traditional japanese style paper using traditional techniques, and to the library, where i borrowed some super basic picture books, and some bilingual manga. doraemon ftw! :D
the food is awesome!! a note to the potential future exchange student heading to japan. your host family WILL be worried that you won't eat japanese food, and THEY WILL feel frustration towards you if you don't like the majority of the food they eat. and yes, they WILL tell their friends and other exchange students once you have left about how you didn't like the majority of their food. so maybe, if you despise fish, tofu and rice, you should maybe choose somewhere else to go. but if you like japanese food, welcome to heaven. it's incredible. the stuff my hostmum can pull together in a couple of minutes is better than almost every japanese food you can buy anywhere in australia. but toast? the japanese have never, and will never do bread properly. their toast is strangely fat/tall, super white and soft, and has way too much sugar. so, i'm not sure what american bread is like, but for an australian who's used to good quality italian infused bakery bread, it doesn't compare.
i'm about to go do some kanji practice with my 7 year old host nephew, so i'll post more tomorrow, or in the next few days. but i don't start school until monday, so don't hold out for that just yet!
cheers
Friday, January 22, 2010
I'M GOING TODAY!!!
hi everyone,
in 5 and a bit hours, my plane will depart from adelaide international airport, heading to Kuala Lumpur, and then on to Japan for me! :)
i can't believe how quickly the last 2 months have gone. but at the same time, it's felt like an eternity waiting for this day to finally arrive!
i got a phonecall from my hostmum yesterday morning, my japanese is getting worse by the day. since i haven't been doing it almost every day for school, it's deteriorating at a serious speed. :/
yesterday was fairly hectic. I got up early (for me, ie 10am :D), and then started preparing to pack. i don't think i've ever spent that much time with my mum as i did yesterday, packing my suitcase. A word of advice to future exchangers, do several practice packs, and write a list of what you think you want to take before you start actually packing. that way, you'll remember what you think you needed when it comes time to do the real pack, and it's easy to have a list to look at to see what can be taken out.
but i doubt i've ever been as happy as i was last night! i called up malaysia airlines to request a lactose-free meal (thank god… haha) and i sort of jokingly asked the woman on the phone if she would be able to give me some extra baggage allowance. and she's like "oh, if you're a full time student, then you get 10kg extra, when you show your student ID card". when i was told that, i don't think i've ever been happier/more relieved in my entire life!! but, it would've been nice to know a couple of days earlier. so another word of advice to future exchangers: call up your airlines (unless you're an american, who probably gets about 40kg/88lbs anyway, compared to us civilised people, who are only given 20kg/44lbs) and ask for extra baggage allowance. if you mention that you're a rotary exchange student, you'll often be given extra allowance for free!!! that news seriously made my year!
in other news, i had my first drive ever last night, after getting my learner's permit on wednesday! it was pretty good, only very short, driving around one of the almost empty super markets, but i really enjoyed it! :D
anyway, the next post you read from me will be the long fabled "hello from japan!!!" post! hahahaそれはとても楽しみ！！：D
cya!!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
happy new year!
ok, so what's been happening?
well, i've been working, xmas and nye are now finished, and i'm starting to get my head around the fact that i'll be going to japan in 21 days and 23 hours! :D
xmas was good, but fairly quiet. usually, my mum's brothers are in adelaide so we'd have afternoon tea/dinner with them, as well as mum's parents, but this year, they're both overseas, so we had my mum's parents for lunch and afternoon tea instead. i got some good stuff, including some money, a 4GB memory card for my camera, a laptop case, some hugo boss shirts and some PS3 games, among other things. so all in all, a great haul, if i don't say so myself! :P
i'm not sure if iv'e written about work before, but i'll do it again anyway. for three weeks, a group of 10 japanese highschool students are living in host families in adelaide, intensively learning english. during the day, they have classes and excursions to various touristy things around adelaide. so when they go on these excursions, i and one other person join them. really, all i'm doing is facilitating english conversation with them, while being a tourist in my own town! haha the kids are really nice and polite, and the pay is much better than at previous jobs i've had, so i really enjoy it! it's exhausting though, especially when we went to Glenelg (the most popular and accessible beach in adelaide) and it was 40˚C. the sand was almost burning my feet!
actually, i sort of have two jobs. once a week, i also tutor a family friend's kid in japanese. he's in the year below me, and isn't going too well in japanese, so i'm sort of helping him to try and bump up his knowledge before he gets back to school in about a month.
NYE was great. i was planning to be going only to a family friend's place, where another family would also be. we're all scotch families, and the ages of the kids all roughly match up. so after dinner, us three eldest kids went to another party in unley. i had a great time welcoming in 2010! :D although, i did sort of hit my finger on a fan though, and there's a blood blister on it now, which isn't that great, but otherwise, i think everyone had a good time.
rotary wise, i finished the first draft of my presentation, and showed it to my rotary club, with honorary members being the mayor of marion (a local council mayor) and a parliament representative, among many other rotarians and their spouses. otherwise, i saw caity and trephina at the house that caity's currently looking after, which was great fun; and we went to a rotex bbq thing as well. while dutch liquorice may not be my ideal lolly of choice, it was fun to hear about other people's exchanges.
i've also been emailing my host brother a bit; and i'm able to understand almost all of what he writes, which is great! :D
btw, how on earth are you supposed to work out what should and what shouldn't be packed?!?! it's so difficult trying to pack up your entire life for a year! :P
well, i've been working, xmas and nye are now finished, and i'm starting to get my head around the fact that i'll be going to japan in 21 days and 23 hours! :D
xmas was good, but fairly quiet. usually, my mum's brothers are in adelaide so we'd have afternoon tea/dinner with them, as well as mum's parents, but this year, they're both overseas, so we had my mum's parents for lunch and afternoon tea instead. i got some good stuff, including some money, a 4GB memory card for my camera, a laptop case, some hugo boss shirts and some PS3 games, among other things. so all in all, a great haul, if i don't say so myself! :P
i'm not sure if iv'e written about work before, but i'll do it again anyway. for three weeks, a group of 10 japanese highschool students are living in host families in adelaide, intensively learning english. during the day, they have classes and excursions to various touristy things around adelaide. so when they go on these excursions, i and one other person join them. really, all i'm doing is facilitating english conversation with them, while being a tourist in my own town! haha the kids are really nice and polite, and the pay is much better than at previous jobs i've had, so i really enjoy it! it's exhausting though, especially when we went to Glenelg (the most popular and accessible beach in adelaide) and it was 40˚C. the sand was almost burning my feet!
actually, i sort of have two jobs. once a week, i also tutor a family friend's kid in japanese. he's in the year below me, and isn't going too well in japanese, so i'm sort of helping him to try and bump up his knowledge before he gets back to school in about a month.
NYE was great. i was planning to be going only to a family friend's place, where another family would also be. we're all scotch families, and the ages of the kids all roughly match up. so after dinner, us three eldest kids went to another party in unley. i had a great time welcoming in 2010! :D although, i did sort of hit my finger on a fan though, and there's a blood blister on it now, which isn't that great, but otherwise, i think everyone had a good time.
rotary wise, i finished the first draft of my presentation, and showed it to my rotary club, with honorary members being the mayor of marion (a local council mayor) and a parliament representative, among many other rotarians and their spouses. otherwise, i saw caity and trephina at the house that caity's currently looking after, which was great fun; and we went to a rotex bbq thing as well. while dutch liquorice may not be my ideal lolly of choice, it was fun to hear about other people's exchanges.
i've also been emailing my host brother a bit; and i'm able to understand almost all of what he writes, which is great! :D
btw, how on earth are you supposed to work out what should and what shouldn't be packed?!?! it's so difficult trying to pack up your entire life for a year! :P
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
time to do a blog post then…
so… what's been happening?
well i love holidays. a lot. i'm really not sure how i ever lived doing school work everyday. also, we get our results back in about a week. that's kind of scary… up until a couple of days ago, i wasn't worried at all; but now i'm quite nervous, worrying about what i'll get. but i did some estimations of marks, and that sort of calmed me down quite a bit. so all is fairly good. :)
rotary wise? well, on sunday, there was the final briefing, where we, with our parentals, were given lectures on various things, such as travelling/packing, quarantine, insurance, mental and physical health, host families, etc. it was actually fairly interesting, and we also got our blazer and rotary rugby top. the rugby top's a good size, but the blazer seems quite big! apparently i'm gonna become a porker while i'm overseas and put on several kilos, but i still don't think that will cover how much bigger the blazer seems compared to any other jacket / blazer i have! :D
This week, i've also got a huge amount of info from rotary about my exchange. Apparently, i've changed high school, and I am now going to Sekiuchi high school, not the technical college like i previously thought. The photo to the right is my new highschool! i'm really excited about it. it's a coed highschool, started in 2004. Apparently, the translation google gave me of the school's motto was: Creative self-worship… so i'm a little unsure about that… :) but otherwise, i've got pretty much no info about the school, like how many people etc. but it should be good! i'm really excited to go, i can't wait!
Currently, it's only 44 days (i accidentally typed in 33 days just then, and it looked like such a small amount of days!!! but that'll be really soon! aahh!) until i go, and 16 days until xmas. the year's almost over! i can't believe it really… it should only be about july, not mid december already!
Also, i sent an email off to my first host family! it was predominantly in japanese, with two lines in english of things i couldn't say in japanese. :) but they haven't responded yet, so i'm stuck here, waiting for a reply. Rotary has only told me their address, but it hasn't been said whether i have any host brothers/sisters. I've also been told of my counsellor's name, so i guess i should make some contact with him too! :P
wow… this is a dis-jointed post if i ever saw one… hope you enjoyed it! :P
PS: how am i supposed to make a 20 minute keynote about my life by the 21st of december?!? not likely, me thinks! :P
well i love holidays. a lot. i'm really not sure how i ever lived doing school work everyday. also, we get our results back in about a week. that's kind of scary… up until a couple of days ago, i wasn't worried at all; but now i'm quite nervous, worrying about what i'll get. but i did some estimations of marks, and that sort of calmed me down quite a bit. so all is fairly good. :)
rotary wise? well, on sunday, there was the final briefing, where we, with our parentals, were given lectures on various things, such as travelling/packing, quarantine, insurance, mental and physical health, host families, etc. it was actually fairly interesting, and we also got our blazer and rotary rugby top. the rugby top's a good size, but the blazer seems quite big! apparently i'm gonna become a porker while i'm overseas and put on several kilos, but i still don't think that will cover how much bigger the blazer seems compared to any other jacket / blazer i have! :D
Currently, it's only 44 days (i accidentally typed in 33 days just then, and it looked like such a small amount of days!!! but that'll be really soon! aahh!) until i go, and 16 days until xmas. the year's almost over! i can't believe it really… it should only be about july, not mid december already!
Also, i sent an email off to my first host family! it was predominantly in japanese, with two lines in english of things i couldn't say in japanese. :) but they haven't responded yet, so i'm stuck here, waiting for a reply. Rotary has only told me their address, but it hasn't been said whether i have any host brothers/sisters. I've also been told of my counsellor's name, so i guess i should make some contact with him too! :P
wow… this is a dis-jointed post if i ever saw one… hope you enjoyed it! :P
PS: how am i supposed to make a 20 minute keynote about my life by the 21st of december?!? not likely, me thinks! :P
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
just a quick update
ok, so a couple of weeks ago, i was given my draft itinerary. I'm going Adelaide > Kuala Lumpur direct, and then Kuala Lumpur > Narita Airport (the international airport of Tokyo). On the itinerary, it says that it's at narita that i'll be picked up. So, just for kicks, i had a look at how long it takes to get from Narita to Seki on google maps. If we're driving, it'll take about 6.5 hours, and if we're taking trains, it'll be about 3.5 hours, including several transfers.
I can tell you now, i'm going to be tired, because the Kuala lumpur > tokyo flight is overnight. the people are gonna want to talk to me, and i'm gonna be like: uh………… ぼくはねたいです… (ie. I want to sleep……) and it's not gonna make a good impression.
Or, it could be like dad thinks it'll be like. I'll be picked up by my host family, and they'll take me to their car in the airport, and it'll be some microscopic keicar (a 600cc micro box car) and i'll get in the back, and they won't even be able to see over the top of my head, because i'll be too big, compared to them. dad then goes on to think that they'll be like: "oh god, what have we gotten ourselves into??!?!"
either one of those situations don't seem particularly appealing. fingers crossed i'm not too bad that morning, because i land at 7:15, tokyo time, according to the itinerary.
btw, i love will and grace. it might be one of the best tv shows i've ever watched. I love it! :)
oh, and a couple of days ago, it passed below 2 months to go! currently, i've got only 58 days, and 13 hours! it's not too much longer to go now! ahh! :D
I can tell you now, i'm going to be tired, because the Kuala lumpur > tokyo flight is overnight. the people are gonna want to talk to me, and i'm gonna be like: uh………… ぼくはねたいです… (ie. I want to sleep……) and it's not gonna make a good impression.
Or, it could be like dad thinks it'll be like. I'll be picked up by my host family, and they'll take me to their car in the airport, and it'll be some microscopic keicar (a 600cc micro box car) and i'll get in the back, and they won't even be able to see over the top of my head, because i'll be too big, compared to them. dad then goes on to think that they'll be like: "oh god, what have we gotten ourselves into??!?!"
either one of those situations don't seem particularly appealing. fingers crossed i'm not too bad that morning, because i land at 7:15, tokyo time, according to the itinerary.
btw, i love will and grace. it might be one of the best tv shows i've ever watched. I love it! :)
oh, and a couple of days ago, it passed below 2 months to go! currently, i've got only 58 days, and 13 hours! it's not too much longer to go now! ahh! :D
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
something miraculous has happened
I can't believe it.
this day has finally arrived. I've finished year 12. I remember, in the first week of school, when it was still late january, i started a countdown on my dashboard, counting down the days until year 12 would be finished for me. it was like 220+ days. and now, it is -8 hours! :) i can't believe i'm finally finished.
I remember talking to a few people who finished last year, and they all remarked on how quickly it went past. at the time, i couldn't believe them; it felt like this year would go on forever; i'd have no free time, i'd spend every waking moment doing solid work all year. that didn't happen! :) instead, i worked a little, and wasted a huge amount of time, but i enjoyed myself. and i think i actually went OK! :)
i had a moment just now, where i had a thought of "ok, what is expected of me now?? what is somebody demanding of me at this moment??" and i realised, there's absolutely NOTHING i need to do. I leave for japan in only 65 days, (AAHHH! :D ) i've probably got a job lined up, and tomorrow morning, i'm gonna buy Modern Warfare 2. Life is good! :)
oh, exchange wise, i got an email last week; i now know what high school i'm going to. It's in Seki, which, i think, is a small city close to gifu. don't quote me though! :P It's a technical/commerce highschool, and i was sent an email, asking which school section i would like to be part of. I had a look at the school's website, and I've decided that i'm going to be part of the commerce section. It should be good!
anyway, i've got NOTHING to do,
so cya! :)
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