Abby in Japan

Last post: Home July 26, 2009

This is going to be the last post for this blog. I am back home, my second full day at home.

On Saturday night, my family and I went to a fireworks festival in Yasu, about half an hour away from where we lived. I got to wear my yukata, which was really cool. My host mother and Chika wore their yukata as well. It took an hour and a half for my host mother to dress all three of us in our yukata. They are not too complicated, but they are still pretty difficult. I have no clue if I will be able to ever dress myself in it. Hopefully I will, or I will never get to wear it again. The festival was amazing, there was so much to see and do, and there were so many people. The fireworks went on for an hour and a half or so, and they were really pretty. They made up for missing fireworks here on the 4th of July. We walked around the festival for awhile, and my host father insisted that I try goldfish scooping, which I am terrible at. The nets they gave us were basically plastic rims with paper stretched across it, so as soon as any weight was on it, they broke. You had to practically throw the fish into the bucket. I was a little bit too slow, so my net broke, but everyone got a fish anyways. So then I was walking around the festival with a fish hanging off of my wrist. Chika got one too, and they ended up in my host family’s fish tank with their other koi. They had mostly food stalls at the festival. There was pretty much every kind of Japanese food that can be served at a festival. Okonomiyaki, takoyaki, kakigori, yakisoba, yakitori, all kinds of food. It was a lot of fun, and I am really glad I got to go to a festival.

On Sunday, we had a barbeque. There were 11 of us. Me, Chika, Kazu (my host brother), my host parents and grandparents, two of Chika’s friends, and my host father’s two sisters. We were in their garage. The weather had decided to make me feel at home by pouring rain, so we had to stay under the cover of their garage. My host family made so much food! I didn’t think it would all get eaten, but it did. They barbequed meat and seafood, as well as corn, squash, onions, and yakisoba. I learned that corn, as well as chicken wings, should not be eaten with chopsticks. I mainly took pictures of everyone since I couldn’t partake in the conversations.

Monday, my host parents took me to Kyoto to shop for presents. They had the day off from work, since it was some sort of holiday. We went to Kyoto tower, which is basically a very tall tower that is meant to look like a lighthouse. We went up to the top and looked out. We could see pretty far out into Kyoto, but not as far as usual because it was foggy. There are about 12 towers in Japan like Kyoto tower, spread all over the country. I know there is one in Tokyo, Hokkaido, Kyoto, Okinawa (I think), and a bunch of others. After we finished at Kyoto tower, we went to a lot of stores to try and find gifts. We ended up at Daiso, which is a hyaku yen (100 yen, roughly equivalent to a dollar) store. I felt bad for my host parents because it took me a while to find what I wanted to get for everyone, so we were there awhile. Once I had found all of my gifts, we went through a bunch of other stores. My host mom kept asking if she could buy stuff for me and my family. I let her buy some things, but I didn’t want her to spend too much money on me, and I was also worried about getting everything home. It turns out that she had bought about stuff without asking me, which really made me worried for packing. Anyways, we spent a few hours looking for presents, then went back home. The rest of the day was fairly boring, until after dinner when I helped Kazu with his English homework. That was actually pretty fun. The English was pretty easy to me, so I didn’t have much trouble helping him, and it was multiple choice, so he would point at answers and I would tell him if they were right or wrong. Then he would have to translate them from English to Japanese. I couldn’t help much with this, so I mainly just looked up words for him in my dictionary. The translating took the longest, and so we spent two hours on two pages of homework. But it did make me realize just how difficult a language English is and how lucky I am that I don’t have to learn it.

Tuesday wasn’t too interesting. It was much like the first few days I was there, in that Chika was at track practice, my host parents were at work, and Kazu had gone back to school. When my host mother got home though, she took me to a nearby shrine that was about a five minutes walk from our house. They were having some kind of celebration where a bunch of kids carried tall bundles of bamboo that were lit on fire. They marched around the neighborhood and the rice paddies for about half an hour with these. Anyways, my host mother and I prayed at the shrine. There is a certain way to pary at the shrines in Japan. You toss your coin in, ring the bell hanging over the shrine, clap twice, bow and pray, clap twice, then bow again. This shrine had three areas to pray in, so we did it three times. It was really cool. I had been to a few shrines in Meiji and in Kyoto, but this one was much smaller and closer to home, so it felt more personal.

Wednesday was my last day in Japan. Chika didn’t go to track, but my host parents were at work, so I again didn’t do too much. It actually didn’t take me that long to pack, and everything fit into my suitcase and backpack, but I was really worried about my suitcase being overweight. Chika and I walked to the convenience store to get lunch. I could spend hours in the convenience stores there, just figuring out what everything is, but sadly, we were only there for a few minutes. The rest of the day was not too interesting, I stayed in my room and read mostly. That night, I exchanged contact information with my host family. I got their email addresses and gave them my email address, as well as my home address and phone number. Hopefully I will be able to stay in contact with them, even though I will have to write any letters and emails in Japanese. At least it will give me practice!

Thursday was an extremely long day. I woke up at 6:45 to make sure I had time to finish getting packed and get ready. I had to say goodbye to my host mother and grandparents at our house, which was sad. I already miss them all, and I really hope I get to see them again. My host father and Chika went with me to the station. We had a 30-minute train ride to Kyoto. In Kyoto, a bunch of YFU students congregated on the shinkansen platform because we were all taking the same train. It was great to see everyone again. When the train finally came, we had to say goodbye to our host families. It was really sad, but we didn’t have much time for goodbyes as the train didn’t stop for very long. We had a two hour train ride back to Tokyo. By the time we got back, there were about 30 YFU kids on the train. I feel sorry for any Japanese people in our car, because they don’t usually talk on trains, and all of us were talking nonstop. We were all glad to be speaking english again, and we were comparing stories about our trips. Once we got to Tokyo, we had to take another train to Narita airport, which was about an hour long. From there, we had to go through check-in and security, and then finally got to our gate. At the gate, all 100 YFU students were there, and it was pretty much chaos. We were all running around talking to people and hanging out.

The plane ride was only 8.5 hours this time (it was 10 on the way there), but it still felt longer. I couldn’t sleep on the plane, even though I was exhausted, so I mainly talked to the kids I was sitting next to. I again felt sorry for any other passengers on the plane because we were all wandering around the plane, switching seats, hanging out with friends, and basically being loud obnoxious teenagers. When we finally landed in San Francisco, we had to get our bags, go through customs, immigration, and security, then recheck our bags. The YFU people insisted that we all had to wait and be told our gate, and that as many of us as possible had to be walked to our gates. Like we couldn’t read airport signs. Anyways, by the time I got to my gate, I still had an hour and a half or so before my plane boarded. I talked to some other kids on my flight, and then finally was able to get on the plane. The plane ride back to Washington was about 2 hours, in which I slept maybe 5 minutes. By the time we finally landed at SeaTac at 3:40 or so, I was exhausted and had been up for almost 25 hours. I got my bags and finally got to go home. It was so good to be home! I got to see my family and sleep in my own bed, not to mention speak English.

So, that was my trip. It was amazing and I enjoyed it immensely. Everyone has been asking me what my favorite part was, and it is honestly impossible to say. There were so many things I loved doing. Some of the things weren’t even that interesting, and would seem pretty boring to some people, but just the fact that I was in Japan with a host family while doing them made them interesting and exciting. People have also been asking if I want to go back, and the answer is yes. I want to see my host family again. I really felt like part of their family, and I miss them terribly. I also want to go back long-term somehow. Before the trip, I had been considering a scholarship program to go to college for four years in Japan. I am still considering that, but now I am also considering the JET program. That is basically a program where Americans who are at least 18 go to Japan and teach English in schools, mainly high schools I think. It is a job, so you get paid, and seeing as how I want to be a teacher anyways, and love Japan and Japanese, it seems like a perfect fit for me. For now, I am just going to enjoy the rest of my summer and I will figure all this out later. I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer! See you soon,

Abby

Day 42: Shiga July 18, 2009

Hello again,

My time here is almost over. I have 5 more days here, and then I am on my way home. I will probably only post once more, maybe twice. And now for the events of the past week.

This week was my last week of school. Monday was the only day we had classes. After school on Monday, Chika and I went with a bunch of her friends for lunch at a restaurant that was walking distance from the school. Haley and her host sister, Rena, went as well. There were 12 of us at the restuarant, and it took a long time to figure out how we would all fit at a table. We ended up taking up three tables. Anyways, Haley and I spent the whole time talking and taking pictures of the other girls that were there. Once we pulled out our cameras, all the girls took out their phones and cameras and started taking pictures too. We were at the restaurant for about two hours. Afterwards, we walked to the mall nearby and did purikura. Purikura is the high-tech photo booths that let you draw on the pictures before they are printed. We fit 11 of us into the booth, which was aquite an achievement in istelf, but then we got all of us to fit in the view of the camera too. I was amazed that we were all able to be seen in the pictures. We did purikura twice with all of us, then Chika, Haley, Rena and I did one just the four of us. I now have 5 sets of purikura pictures. Once we were done with the purikura, we walked around the mall for a bit. Rena and Chika started playing the electric keyboards in the electronics section, so Haley and I just stood and watched. Then I noticed that one of the tv`s was showing a skating competition, so I went and watched that. I couldn`t figure out when it was from, but I hadn`t seen it before, so I was really happy to get to watch some of it. I got to watch it for about 20 minutes before Chika and Rena were ready to leave. I miss skating a lot, and I can`t wait to go once I get home.

Tuesday, Haley and I spent all day in the library because our class was watching a movie on the effects of peace and how bad war is. We didn`t really want to watch a three hour movie in Japanese, and the library was air-conditioned. Plus, we had to write our speeches for the farewell assembly. After we wrote our speeches, we ran around the school taking pictures. Otherwise, not too much happened on Tuesday. I went to table tennis, and then went home, same as most days.

Wednesday and Thursday were sports days at school. Each class had a volleyball team, a dodgeball team, and a kickball team. Haley and I were supposed to be on the dodgeball team for our clas, but we couldn`t find Chika, who was supposed to show us where the game was and how to play and everything, so we watched the volleyball games. It is probably a good ting we didn`t play dodgeball though. I could see the dodgebll games from where we were sitting and they weren`t playing the dodgeball we play at home. There was only one ball and one person from each team threw the ball back and forth to each other, while everyone else ran around in the middle. The volleyball games were really amazing, all the students are really good, especially the third years. My class, 2-5, was not only the top second year class, but the top class overall in both volleyball and kickball. It was really exciting to watch their games, expecially the last one because pretty much our whole class was watching the game and cheering for our team. One of the games was tied when they ran out of time, so they had to jan-ken-pon to decide the winner (Jan-ken-pon is the Japanese version of rock paper scissors).

On Friday, we cleaned the school, then had the farewell assembly. Haley and I mopped the hallways of the first floor, but I am not sure what good it did. The mops had sponges attached to them, and we rinsed the sponges outside, so the water wasn`t clean. Then we walked behind the mops as we cleaned, so the dirt from our shoes stuck to the floor. Then, as soon as we were finished, the students walked across the floors to get to the gym, so they got dirty again. Anyways, after cleaning the school, we went to the gym for the assembly. It was really hot in the gym, even with the windows open. Haley and I gave our speeches towards the beginning of the assembly. My speech went pretty well, but I tried to adjust the microphone before I started talking and I must have only moved the mic and not the stand it was on, so when I started talking, the microphone fell onto the podium. Luckily, I made sure it was secure before I started talking again and it stayed in place for the rest of my speech. I had absolutely no idea what I was saying, beyond the vague meaning since I had written it in English first. One of the teachers had helped us translate it. Basically, he dictated our speeches to us in Japanese after we had written them in English, and we wrote it down. It was hard because I can`t write in Japanese as fast as he was talking so he had to repeat a lot of things for me. Anyways, Chika said she understood my speech, so I assume the other students did as well. On our walk home, a few girls from my school were walking the other direction. One recognized me, came up, introduced herself, and said how she enjoyed my speech and that she wouldn`t forget me. It was really sweet of her to do that, but I didn`t believe it, seeing as how I had never actually met her until that moment. Friday was also my last day of table tennis. I have gotten much better in the few weeks I have been playing with them, and I am sad that it is over. At the end of the practice, Nomura-sensei, who is in charge of the table tennis club and who helped Haley and I with our schedules and everything throughout our time at Hashyo, had the guys on the team do a farewell aisatsu, or greeting, for me. He said in English, how they had enjoyed having me play with them  and how they hope I will continue to play table tennis in America. Then the guys that where at the practice did the aisatsu in Japanese. It is weird to think I won`t be going back to school on Monday and that I will never see any of the people I met there again. It is starting to feel like I really am going home soon, which I am both happy and sad about. I don`t know what my plans are for this week, except for going to a barbeque at some point. I will try to write again before I go home, but just in case I don`t, then I will talk to you all in a few days, when I am back in the same country!  Bye,

Abby

Day 36: Shiga July 12, 2009

Hello again. It has been a little longer than normal since I updated, so this may be kinda long.

First, something I forgot to put in my last post. Last Friday, at school, we had an earthquake drill. It was a lot different than the ones we have at home. First, the alarm was like their school bell, musical, and not harsh and loud. Their school bell is part of Fur Elise. I don`t think their alarm bell was from a piece of music, it just sounded like a few notes. The studets stayed in their desks and talked, didn`t duck and cover or anything. The teacher crouched near her podium, but otherwise everyone acted like nothing was going on. Afterwards, we all went out to the field. We had to squat on the field while the principal talked to us. We were only out there for about 5 minutes, but it seemd much longer. It was hot and I am not used to squatting in one posistion for so long. I ended up sitting on my knees, which wasn`t much more comfortable because we were on a dirt field, so the small rocks and clumps of dirt pressed into my knees. All in all, not too interesting, but I just thought it should go on here anyway.

This week, I was back in classes at school. We only had school from 9-12:25 each day. The reason for that is basically because the school isn`t air-conditioned and it gets too hot in the afternoons. Since the students already took their final exams, there isn`t a reason for them to have to go to school for so long, so they have half days. I was really surprised when I found out that was the reason. But we still had clubs to go to, and they went until 5 or so, so we didn`t get home until 6:30 or 7 each night. I am getting much better at table tennis. I am still nowhere near as good as all the guys on the team, but I have improved a lot. On Friday, the captain was at practice. He had previously not come becaseu he had gotten a bad grade on a test and was at study sessions. But he came on Friday. There were 7 guys there on Friday, plus me, which was the most there has been at any practice. During the break, the captain and two of the other guys decided to try and entertain me. They went outside and talked, then came in and said they were going to show me a Japanese joke. They said something about sushi and wasabi, but I didn`t understand them because their English wasn`t very good and they were laughing too hard to talk. Then they started imitating Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, and Stevie Wonder. Whether they were good imiations, I have no idea, but it was funny anyways. For the rest of the practice, the captain kept asking me if I knew a bunch of singers, most of them American. He seemed really surprised that I knew almost all of the American singers, which surprised me that he was so surprised by it. Other than that, the rest of the the week was pretty uneventful. They did have an assembly on drugs on Friday afternoon, but Haley and I went for about 15 minutes, got bored, and went to the libary. But the library was locked because the librarians were at the assembly, so we sat on the stairs outside the library and talked.

Chika`s friend, Mayu, spent the night on Friday. We went to dinner and then when we came back, we went to an onsen, or Japanese bath house. And yes, everyone was naked there. They had it seperated between boys and girls. Once it got past the awkward part, it was actually a lot of fun and really relaxing. They had a few saunas, one of which was 50 degrees Celsius, or 122 degrees Fahrenheit. I couldn`t stay in that one very long, but the others were slightly cooler, in the upper 90`s Fahrenheit. They also had a few hot baths and one cold one too. We spent about an hour and a half there. By the time we got home, it was after 11 and by the time I got into bed, it was after midnight, but it was worth it.

Yesterday, we went to a YFU thing. All of the YFU kids in the area ad their host families went to this museum. The museum was on some bronze bells, doutaku, that had been found in Japan. There were four of us there. Me, Haley, my roommate from Tokyo, Anna, and this guy Jacob. I knew Jacob from the bullet train ride the day we went to our host families. He had been sitting next to me, so we had talked during that. It was really cool to see them again and to be able to speak English. WThere were two girls there that had each spent a few years in the US as exchange students, so they were pretty much fluent in English, and they talked to us about how our experience is going and about school and things like that. Then we looked around the museum, and then we went to make magatama necklaces. They are made out of what I think is soapstone. We each got a small block of the stone, and we had to grind it to the approximate shape we wanted. then we used a long file to get the shape more precise, and used sandpaper to smooth it out. I made a heart with mine, and it looks pretty cool. Afterwards, we looked around the grounds of the museum, where they had some models of old Japanese houses. The reminded me a little bit of teepees. After that, my family went to lunch with Haley`s family. That was nice because Chika, Mayu, and Haley`s host sister, Rena, talked to each othre during lunch, so Haley and I could talk.

After lunch, we came back home, but then went out again. Chika, Mayu, and I went to the mall nearby and did some shopping. We did purikura, which is the photo booths that let you draw on the picturesbefore they are printed. I did them with Chika and her friend Akko at the beginning of my stay, and now I have these ones too. I also did some shopping for presents for people and we looked at clothes and shoes too. We were only there for a little bit, and then we dropped Mayu off at the train station, and came back home. The rest of yesterday was pretty uneventful. I am not sure what we are doing today, if anything, but I have to write my speech in English because one of the teachers is going to help me translate it this week.

Tomorrow starts my last week of school. I only have 11 days left here. It seems so weird to think I will be going home soon, I have been here so long. Anyways, I will try to write again sometime this week or next weekend. Talk to you all soon!

Abby

Day 27: Shiga July 3, 2009

Hello again,

I can`t believe I am halway through my time here. I will be home in less than 3 weeks! Time is going so fast, especially this week.

Last Sunday, Chika had a piano recital, so we went to that in the afternoon. We went for the last half of it. Chika and her friend played “Dancing Queen.” They are pretty good, but there were some kids there who are amazing. I was really surprised at how good some of the kids were, even some of the younger ones. There was some kids who played classical music, but also some, like Chika, that played modern music. A lot of te modern music was Japanese though, so I didn`t recognize any of it, besides “Dancing Queen.” After the piano part, they had a dancing part too. I guess the piano teacher and the place where Chika also has dance lessons put the reciatl on together. There were three dance numbers. The first consisted of about 10 kids who looked to be between 4 and 6 marching and singing the Mickey Mouse Club song in Japanese. It was so adorable! I wish I had a video of it, but sadly, I didn`t have my camera with me. The next was a larger group, and the kids looked to be between 7 and 11 or so. The danced and sang as well, and it was also very cute, but not as cute as the younger kids. The last number was the same group as the second, with the addition of Chika and the girl who had played the piano with her. That one was the same type of thing as the others, the kids danced and sang, but the song was obviously in Japanese so I didn`t understand it. It sounded pretty modern though, like a pop song. It was really cool, and I enjoyed it.

Afterwards, we went to my host aunt and uncle`s house for a bit, and then went to dinner. We went to a tonkatsu restaurant and my host aunt and uncle, as well as their son, who is 16, came with us. His english is pretty good, slightly better than Chika`s, so whenever they said something to me in Japanese that I didn`t understand, he would attempt to translate for me, which was nice, since, often, when my family tries to translate for me, I get more confused by their translation than I was by the Japanese. We had dinner in a seperate room from the main restaurant, with cushions on the floor to sit on. At first I was worried that I would be expected to sit on my knees in the traditional Japanese style, but everyone else was cross-legged or had their legs stretched out under the table, so I did the same. The only thing I didn`t like about it was that my host father started smoking in the room. They are much more lazy with smoking here than they areat home, and my host father will occasionally smoke in the house. That is one thing I definitely won`t miss.

This week, at school, the students had their end-of-term exams. I originally wasn`t supposed to go to school during this week, but when I went in for the orientation a few weeks ago, the teacher who met with us told me I should come and self-study in the library. School was only 2 or 3 hours each day because they only had school for as long as the tests took. I didn`t have anything to study while in the library, and Haley was with her host aunt and uncle in Kyoto this week, so I just read.Luckily, one of the teachers in the library, who speaks english, had some books in english that he brought in for me to read, so I didn`t have to go through my remaining books. I brought 8 books with me, and only have two and a half left. I will definitely have to reread some of my books, especially on the plane ride home. I skipped club every day, because Chika didn`t go to track and field and I wasn`t sure if I could find my way home by myself, so I spent most of the week in my room. Chika was in her room studying for tests, and my host parents were at work, so I didn`t have many other options. Nonetheless, this week went by really fast. I only have one and a half more weeks of school left and all of the days are short. This coming week, we will have 4 classes a day, 40 minutes each, and school will get out at 12:45. The next week, we only have school Wednesday through Friday and school only goes until 12:30.On Wednesday and Thursday, they have a sports day, which, from what I understand, is inter-class matches in volleyball, baseball and a few other sports. Friday the 17th is their end-of-term assembly, where Haley and I will have to give our three-minute speeches in Japanese. I started trying to write it in english the other day in the library, but it was only about a minute long. I will have to find a way to stretch it to 3 minutes, and then work on translating it into Japanese. It is a good thing I am starting on it early. Anyways, I don`t know what my plans for the weekend are, but I will write again soon and let you all know.  I miss everyone so much and I can`t wait to see you all when I get back! I wish everyone a happy early 4th of July and I will talk to you all soon.

Abby

Day 21: Shiga June 27, 2009

Hello again,

I know it has been awhile since I last updated, but I have been busy with school. Before I get into that, I will talk about my trip to Kyoto with my host family.

Last Sunday, my host family took me to Kyoto. I finally got to meet my host brother. He came down to spend the day with us.  He speaks about as much English as Chika, maybe a bit more. Anyways, in Kyoto, we had lunch at a converyor belt sushi restaurant, or rotary sushi as it is called here. The only main difference I noticed was that everything is the same price, 105 yen, instead of ranging from $1-$4. Otherwise, it was pretty similar to the ones we have at home. After lunch, we went to the Kyoto Studio Park. It is a working set that they still use for filming period dramas and movies. We saw a few shows and demonstrations, like an acrobatic ninja show, and a performance about how they do special effects in the movies and tv shows. There were also carnival type games and booths to buy souveniers. They had a haunted house too, which I didn`t go in. My host father and brother did though and they seemed to think it was pretty scary, which made me really glad I didn`t go in. After leaving the studio park, we went to Kinkakujin Temple, which is literally a golden temple. It was really beautiful and we walked around there for a while. Next we went to a famous street in Kyoto, where there are lots of stores and at the top, there are temples and shrines. We spent some time there, taking pictures and visiting the shrines. I took a lot of pictures that day. It was really cool, but by the end I was so tired and hot that I just wanted to go home. I had made the stupid mistake of wearing jeans that day because it looked cold out that morning. It wasn`t cold. It was really hot, and I regretted wearing jeans the whole day. Probably the stupidest thing i have done while I have been here.

I started school on Monday. I like it, but it is hard for me to understand what most of the teachers are saying. I can really only understand three classes: English, math and science. The teachers like to use me for demonstrations and to answer questions in the english class, and the students are amazed by my english, which I find amusing. They are always impressed when I can read something without struggling, while they have a hard time with it. I can understand the math and science classes only because I have already studied what they are learning, so I can guess at what the teacher is saying. They are doing trigonometry in math and balancing equations and working with moles of substances in science. They have 6 classes a day, 50 minutes each, with 10 minutes in between and half an hour for lunch. School goes from 9-3:30, which is a very nice change from back home. The students stay in one classroom the whole time and the teachers move around. They have about 10 or so subjects that they study. as well as english, math, and science, they also have PE, home ec, world history, Japanese literature, accounting, industrial bookkeeping, health, and one or two others I can`t remember.　They had two elective periods this week. I went to the English speaking class for the first one.　The students each had to memorize part of a speech in English and present it to the class for a test, so I helped them with that. Then yesterday, for the secnd elective class, Iwent to　the calligraphy class. The girls in the class were really nice and helpful and I practiced the kanji for friendship a bunch of times. After school, they have club time for an hour and a half. I joined the table tennis club. I am not very good, and I always feel bad for whoever I am playing with. The team is all guys, and they are really good at table tennis. I am improving, but not very fast and I am still not that good. We normally get home between 6:30 and 7. To get to and from school, we get driven to the train station, and then walk to school, then walk back to the train station and get picked up there and driven home.It is about a 20-minute walk. Next week, the students have their final exams, so I will spend the school days in the library. I am not really looking forward to that because it will be pretty boring for me.

I will write again when I can, although it may not be until next week. I miss everyone and I can`t wait to see you all when I get home! Talk to you all soon,

Abby

Day 13: Shiga June 19, 2009

Hello again,

I actually have interesting stories to tell this time! Yesterday, I spent most of the day with my host mother`s sister, so I suppose she would be my host aunt. My host mother took me to her house in the morning, then she left for work. At first I was worried because I thought I would just be sitting in her house all day, but then we left too. We drove for about an hour to Shigaraki. we went to a ceramics store, and I got to make a rice bowl out of clay. It was really hard, and I had to get a lot of help from the guy working there, but it didn`t turn out looking too bad. We left it there to be fired, painted and glazed. I don`t know when I am going to pick it up or how I am going to get it home in one piece, but it was a lot of fun to make. After we finished at the ceramics shop, we went to a ceramics museum. It was actually pretty interesting. They had a ton of different ceramics pieces. Some were useful and some were purely artistic. They dated as far back as the 1400`s, but some were as recent as 2004. After the museum, we ent to lunch, and then to Lake Biwa. Lake Biwa is Japan`s biggest lake. It was so beautiful. We stayed there for about an hour, and with the help of an electronic translator, actually managed to have a conversation. On the way back, we saw a lfower garden and stopped there as well. It had a pagoda in the middle of it and it was really picturesque. I took some pictures of the lake and the flowers.

Once we got back to our town, my host mother took me to my school. There is another YFU girl who will be attending school with me and we will be in the same class. On the first day of school, we will have to introduce ourselves to the teachers and in front of our class. We will be in school for about 4 weeks, although one of thoes weeks we will mainly be in the library doing “self-study” because they have end-of-term exams. One of the weeks, we have half days all week, and there is a sports day on two of those days. On the last day w are in school, we have to give a 3-minute farewell speech, in Japanese. I am not looking forward to that bcause I don`t think I know enough Japanese to talk for three minutes. I will probably ask my host sister to help me, but she won`t be able to translate much because she doesn`t understand english very well.

Today is back to being pretty boring. Chika is at school, my host parents are at work, and I am home with my host grandparents. On Sunday, if it is nice, I will be going to Kyoto with my host family. If it isn`t nice, they want to go ice skating. That will be interesting. I would rather go to Kyoto, but skating would be nice too. Except, I will have to use rentals and I don`t have the clothes for it. I will write again when I get a chance, but I am going to go now.

Abby

Day 11: Shiga June 17, 2009

Hi everyone,

I have been in Japan for 1 week now, and I have 5 weeks left. I fly home on the 23rd, which is 5 weeks from tomorrow (Thursday). There isn`t too much to tell, but I will just update you all about the past few days.

Monday was a school holiday, so Chika and I went to the mall with her friend Akiko. We took the train to Hikone, which is about 30 minutes away. I had fun, but it was extremely difficult to understand what they were saying because they were talking so fast. I now know how our two exchange students felt when I took them places with my friends. It was overwhelming, and I just listened to what they were saying and tried to pick up what I could from the conversation. We walked around the mall for a while and we took pictures in a photo booth. They are really poplar here in Japan, especially the ones that let you draw on the pictures before they are printed. We got three sets and I got to keep one, so I will have them to show you all when I get home. We saw Slumdog Millionaire, which was cool because I have wanted to see that for a while. It was thankfully in English, with Japanese subtitles. I felt bad afterwards though, because Chika told me it was a little hard for her to understand at some points.

Yeterday was very uniteresting. Chika had school and my host parents had to ago to work, so I was home with just my host grandparents. They speak almost no english as far as I can tell. I mostly stayed in my room and read until everyone came home.

I start school on Monday. I am really excited for it. First, I have always wanted to see what a Japanese high school is like, and second, it will give me somthing to do. I will let you all know how that goes. I don`t know how long I will be going to school for, but I hope I will go for most of the remainder of my stay.

Like I said, nothing too interesting has happened lately, so I know this update was probably not too exciting to read. I will write again soon, hopfeully with more exciting accounts of my adventures in Japan. See you all soon,

Abby

Day 8: Shiga June 14, 2009

Hey everyone,

I am in Shiga now, with my host family. Today is my first full day with them.  I am loving it here, it is so beautiful. Before I tell you all about my host family and where I am currently, I will talk about my past few days in Tokyo.

We got to Tokyo about 2 PM on Friday. We had an hour and a half long bus ride from Narita International Airport to our hotel in Tokyo after we got our bags and everything, so we did`t get to our hotel until about 4:30. We had free time for the rest of the day, which wasn`t all that interesting, because we were confined to the hotel and we were all tired anyway. My roommates and I stayed in our room and watched Japanese tv, then crashed pretty early.

On Saturday, we went to the American Embassy to meet with the people that sponsor our scholarships. They told us about their jobs in the foreign services, and talked to us about being in Japan for about an hour. Afterwards, we went to a hotel for lunch, and then to Meiji Shrine and Harajuku. Meiji Shrine was absolutely amazing. It was peaeful and beautiful. We saw a couple getting married, and having their pictures taken. I am really glad we went because I really wanted to go to a shrine while I was here, and Meiji is one of the most well known. Harajuku was cool, but I think I would rather have gone without the large group we were in. It was already really crowded, and then we added 100 Americans to the crowd. We were all being stared at the whole time, which was kinda weird. It was also really hot and humid. we had an hour there, but most of us were back on the bus in 45 minutes or so. After that, we went back to the hotel because some of the kids were getting picked up by their host families. These were kids whose host families live in the Tokyo area. The rest of us left yesterday. Most of the kids flew to their host families, but I went with about 20 other of the kids to the train station. We rode the shinkansen, or bullet train, to our host family areas. It was really cool, the train went almost 200 mph! I wanted to take pictures, but we were moiving so fast they would have all come out as blurs. It was really interesting to watch the scenery change from the city while we were in Tokyo, to the countryside as soon as we left the Tokyo area. I rode the bullet train for about 2 hours, and when we got to Kyoto, which is the closest shinkansen station to Shiga, our host families were there to greet us. There are two other YFU students staying in Shiga, but they are both in Otsu, which is about 25 minutes away. I am in Gamo. My host mother and her twin sister picked me up, and then we went to pick up my host sister, Chika, at her school. I stiill am not sure if I will be going to school, and if so, when. Hopefully I will go to school soon, because I really want to see what it is like in a Japanese high school. My host family consists of a mother, father, sister, grandmother and gradnfather. I also have a host brother who is 19 and goes to college in Kyoto. I think he is coming home today, so I might get to meet him. I can`t wait to see everyone again when I get home, and share all of my stories and pictures with you, but for now, I am really enjoying it here. I don`t know how often I will be able to use this computer, but I will write again when I can! Talk to you all soon,

Abby

Day 3: San Jose June 9, 2009

Today is my last day in San Jose, and also my last day in the US. We had some more classes, on etiquette, language, and other stuff for our trip. We also played this really annoying card game. They put us in groups, and gave each group directions for how to play on pieces of paper. Except all of the tables had different rules, but we didn’t know that. Then they took the rules away and told us we couldn’t talk. The winners and losers of each game would move to different tables, so eventually everyone was trying to play by different rules. I have to say, it was a poorly disguised attempt to simulate culture shock, and it just succeeded in frustrating everyone and having the teachers and AA’s yell at us to stop talking. But it wasn’t too bad, and it was helpful to experience something like what culture shock might be like. We have one more language class, and one more other class to go to today, then we go to an alumni panel where we can ask questions of the students who have already gone. After that, we get our travel information for tomorrow, then we have a bento dinner and we get to learn traditional Japanese dances and then have a Japanese movie and game night. It should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow we wake up around 6 and our flight leaves at 11:20 AM. I am really excited to go and meet my host family, but it is weird to think this is my last day in the US and my last day using primarily English for awhile. I am still really tired, and I don’t think the 16 hour time difference is going to help much, but once I get there and things settle down, I should be fine. I miss everyone, but I can’t wait to tell you all the stories I will accumulate through this trip! I will take lots of pictures and update here when I can, but I will be keeping a journal while I am there, so even if I can’t update here, I will have a record of the things I did. It is almost time for my next class, so I am going to end this here. I will write again as soon as possible, whenever that may be. Talk to you all soon,

Abby

Day 2: San Jose June 8, 2009

Hey guys,

I don’t have long to write this, so it will be pretty short. Today we had a bunch of classes, getting us ready for our trip. We have a lot more later today, and tomorrow, so nothing too interesting. We had a “survival Japanese” class, which went well. I thought it was going to be completely reviewing the basics, but they have levels so that it is actually helpful. There are three levels, and I am in the middle one. Our teacher for it spoke only Japanese for the whole 45 minute class, which was difficult, but not too bad. Luckily, I could figure out what she was saying from the context most of the time. I think I will do fine as far as communicating goes as long as I can figure out the general idea of what they are saying. In a few minutes, I have a class on Japanese High School. I am looking forward to that, even though I still don’t know how long I will be going to school for. I have made a ton of friends here, but it is sad to think we won’t see each other again after the plane ride on Wednesday. So far, I haven’t met anyone else going to Shiga. Most of the people are pretty spread out, but  a ton of people are going to Okinawa, which is the smallest of the four islands. I have to get going to my next class, but I will try to write again tomorrow.

Abby