August 10th

Heyy guys! Wow I’m so excited to write now, having come back from the AFS camp not too long ago. Today is August 10^th, but anyways, enough of that. Let’s get started.

Alright first of all, let me explain what this camp was, since I’m pretty sure I haven’t done that yet and I’m too lazy to look back and check. So AFS is a program much like what Jan came to the US with. They send tons of students every year, from anywhere to everywhere, simply put. If you’ve got the money and the will to go and your parents sign for you, you can pretty go wherever you would like. So this camp was a “meeting” of the current exchange students here in Asahikawa, Japan, under the AFS program (which, mind you, is much different than the one I’m here under, the Sister Cities Committee). Now the reason I’m even involved in this camp is because Mrs. Hirama, a lady that’s on the Sister Cities Committee, is also part of the AFS staff. And she thought it’d be nice to invite me to camp out with them to get to know other exchange students, or as I may say, ryuugakusei. Anyhow, there were four of them, and they’ve been here since April, I believe, so they do know their way around. Oh, and yeah, they all speak English pretty awesomely, which made life so easy for me.

Oh, Amanda, if you’re reading this, they’re all glad to hear you’re doing well, and they ALL remarked several times how incredible your Japanese is. So kudos to you.

Anyhow, onto the exchange students.

First, of all, we have Alex. He’s Australian, which is pretty awesome because I don’t think I’ve ever met an Australian before. And of course his English sounds cool with his Australian accent. Alex is an interesting story. He’s 15, the youngest of our group, and yet he has this aura of confidence that draws you in. He makes you believe he’s got it all down, even if he has no idea. He’s got a humorous side to him, and he shares just about everything in common with me. We got along really well. And he’s got a Wii here in Japan and lives really close by. Enough said. He’s a cool guy. I could say more about him here, but I know he’ll just pop up in everyone else’s paragraphs too because that’s just how he is.

Ron, the Indian. Well, not really. His name’s actually Shishir, but apparently everyone calls him Ron in India (?) Whatever. Ron’s got a couple quirks of his own: namely, recording everything on video on his camera. I think he’s going to make a 20 hour documentary on Japan.

Oh sorry. Did I say 20?

I meant 200. :-P

Nahh, but Ron’s cool, and he’s probably the most knowledgeable person on the show “Friends” that I have ever met. Don’t worry Ron, it’s not a judgment, it’s an observation.

Oh, but here’s our judgment. So Ron’s other great cinematic passion lies with “A Walk to Remember,” which I give credit to for the sole reason of having many Switchfoot songs. Anyhow, Alex and I spent all of camp trying to convince him that “A Walk to Remember” is in fact, a chick flick. He denies it on every account saying, “but it’s a good movie.” To which we would answer, “yes, it is a good chick flick. But it is a chick flick nonetheless.”

He refused to budge on that. But I suppose he’s got enough reason not to trust Alex: I heard the story of how Ron once forgot his boxers in the public bath and his teacher was the one who found it and gave it back to him. If that wasn’t bad enough, Alex went around telling everyone. I reckon Ron’d kill me if he knew this was going online. Well, he will sooner or later. XD

Third. Ida: The German/ Norwegian. I say German/ Norwegian because by birth and by family, she’s German, but she’s lived in Norway most her life. But she speaks German! Which was awesome, because then we SHE spoke some German, which was impossibly difficult for me to remember. But yeah, Ida was really cool, and she probably had the best Japanese out of all of the exchange students. She could communicate pretty effectively without a dictionary. Good for her. She even managed to tell horror stories in Japanese, which is quite impressive.

And last, but certainly not least is Chia Min, the Malaysian girl. But here’s the good part. For some reason or other that I may never understand, she earned the nickname of “Bitch” somewhere along the line. So that was really funny. We all called her that. She’s really patient about it too and everything. By the end of the camp I stopped calling her that, although I won’t deny that the temptation definitely existed. She’s really cool, and moreover, I learned that Malay is written in Romaji (our alphabet). Which is pretty awesome, since I never knew that.

So these four were awesome undoubtedly, but then what was really cool was that, to make it more fun, the AFS people got a bunch of Japanese students to come camp out with us too, and it was cool getting to meet some actual teenage Japanese (at least for me, since I haven’t met too many, considering school still hasn’t started.) They spoke very little to no English, but my Japanese is improving slowly; been reading some more in my book, and just being immersed in it has brought out the language that I do know. And of course, on top of all that, the other exchange students have been here for about 4 months, so they do know their way around.

And just a quick note here. I don’t know if you guys realized, but we really were camping here, with tents and sleeping bags. The worst part is that we were going up the mountain, so it was freezing cold at night. But we lived. Anyhow, onward.

Actually, it was really cool though. We got a lot of time to do stuff.

First I taught Alex and Ron the card game BS, and then Ida and Chia Min joined in too. Eventually, the adults asked me to teach all of the Japanese kids there too, and with the help of the other exchange students (mainly Ida), we all got together and played. Altogether, there were about 20 of us, which makes for a pretty interesting game of BS. And all crammed into one tent, it certainly kept us all warm. The best part though was how the guys would all just lay it down however and just play and the Japanese girls were all delicate in laying down the card, like it was tea ceremony, or something. They did it in a way that made us not have the heart to challenge their card and call BS. By the end of the game we figured out they were a bunch of dirty liars. XD

It was pretty hilarious.

I taught the AFS guys how to play Egyptian Rat Slap, or Rat Screw, or whatever you call it, but we decided not to go through the trouble of teaching all the Japanese too. I mean, can you imagine playing a game where you have to slap the pile in the middle before anyone else….in a circle of twenty people? It wouldn’t work. We stuck with BS.

Oh, and of course some of the Japanese guys there brought their PSPs and it was really funny. But they were nice enough to let us play the games. Alex and I were playing through some random games (I think his was Silent Hill, and mine was some Monster Quest something). But yeah. They were in good moods, and it was kind of contagious. Haha. They’d yell out MONSTER!

It was pretty great.

Besides that, we also played these ridiculous “ice breaking” games. Like this one where we got in a line of four people, with a balloon between each person. The point of the game is to move together so the balloon doesn’t fall without putting your hands on it and race around the fire pit.

Sound hard?

It’s not: it’s brutal. Like impossible. But also very fun. (Yay contradicting sentences!)

And then the game where our teams of four split into two groups of two. One group would chuck these waterballoons across the field; the other group would try to catch them without popping them.

Guess which side I was on?

I’ll give you a hint: I got soaked.

So brutally unfair. I would catch the thing only to have it explode in my hands and all over me.

Luckily, we still won though.

Losers….had to inhale a bunch of helium from a spray can to make their voice high and funny. It was amazing to see, and I actually got to try it too. Coolest thing ever. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal in the US.

Good to be in Japan.

And then later on that night we played this random game of “blindfold a person, give him a bat, and have the rest of the people tell him which way to go to get to a watermelon so he can smash it.” Alex got to do it once, and a Japanese girl too. It was hilarious, and we got to eat the watermelon after too.

We also made keychains, which were semi-lame, but fun at the same time. I tried to be all artistic and draw a mountain scenery and now it looks like nothing. Alex, on the other hand, just put whatever on, and in the end it looks like one of those famous paintings of just “nothing.” You know what I mean. Alex says I just don’t see the true message of the artwork, but I told him he didn’t either.

Oh and Alex and I played mini golf with Shouhe, and we made a bet that whoever lost was buying the ot

her two drinks. I’m glad I knew how to say “go get it; we’re waiting” in Japanese, because we beat him pretty badly. Or rather, Alex and I just played par, and he….didn’t. Haha. So I got a free sports drink; that was cool.

And of course, at night we got to light the fireworks. Hanabi. Which was veryyy, very awesome. We just had a bunch of those hand ones and it was a lot of fun. Well besides the fact people were running around trying to burn each other alive.

Eh, whatever. =]

Of course, the thing I really want now is a CELL PHONE, aka Ketai. Because so many people wanted my number, and I didn’t have one. Moreover, I saw Alex’s and Ron’s and they do everything Amanda had told me about and so much more. Japanese cell phones are incredible.

But anyhow, those are the main stories that I remember, but there were a lot more, “got to be here moments.” Over all it was incredibly cool, and I really hope to see them all again real soon, even though I know I will have the chance at upcoming events. And I mean, Alex and I already planned out seeing like 5 movies here and have Smash Bros. tournaments, so that should last me a good while. And of course, Ron and I are planning on studying kanji together.

Looking back, I really like all the friendships I formed this past weekend. But mostly, I appreciate how quickly the four AFS guys took me in. I mean, they’ve been together for a few months now, and I’m the new guy. But they still took me as one of their own.

I can’t describe how cool that was.

August 8th Part 2

Mann, I am tired.
You guys better appreciate it, because it’s midnight, and I’ve been getting up pretty early.
Anyhow, it’s still the 8th. I just have a few things to write about.

First. Pretty soon after I last left you guys off, I finally met someone in the family. He’s a thirteen year old guy named Takuya. He’s my host parent’s grandson, so yes, if you want to be technical about it, he’s my nephew. But I’m not going that way, he’s almost my age anyways, so he’s just a friend. Thinking of him as a nephew just creeps me out.
Anyhow, it was kind of cool, he came over for no apparent reason (although he does live close enough to come by bike, which is cool). But yeah. I like him. We had some trouble communicating (of course), but in the end, he pulled out a DS and I did likewise and we had fun. I hope I see him again soon.

Oh, and today was the first time I found something I really just couldn’t eat. Some pumpkin pastry. Man, I’ve never taken fondly to pumpkin. To me, that’s nasty stuff that should only be used for carving. Blech. But there was plenty of rice with sashimi and avocado in it that I found to be pretty good. Not only that but it looked amazing. So I managed.
But now thinking about this makes me wonder how I’m going to deal with nattou and anko, some weird kinds of fermented beans famed for being unpalatable to foreigners. Whatever. We’ll see.

Next order of business…the festival! Matsuri. I’m still not exactly sure what was special about today, but I don’t really care. It was awesome. Basically, it involved a bunch of people dancing around this central “stage” where a bunch of guys were playing drums pretty wildly. Looking back on what I wrote, that doesn’t sound all the great, but trust me, it was cool. I’m hoping to host my 12 second video somewhere on the web. I’ll let you guys know.
Mmm, and at the festival, I also had yakitori, which I’m pretty sure I’ve had before, but whatever. It’s basically grilled chicken with some teriyaki sauce or something. It was really good. They sold them on sticks, 50 yen each. Not too bad. I had a few.

And then of course, tonight at 9 o’clock, I got to watch the Olympics Opening Ceremony…live. It was really, really awesome. I mean the opening always is, but still…If you didn’t see it, do yourself a favor and head on over to youtube. It’s gotta be there.
But yeah, incredible synchronized stuff and dance and art. Awesome stuff.
And then I waited for like an hour and half while the teams were coming out to see some, like US, Brazil, Japan, etc. Cool show, in all =]

Anyhow, this is it. It’s about 12:20 and I need to get up kinda early tomorrow to get ready for my AFS camp. Hope it’s fun!

P.S. Lucky you guys. This isn’t even a full page on Word. XD

August 8th

Hey guys. Just a note to the lazy bums out there: this one will be pretty short in comparison to the one I wrote yesterday, so stick with me. Anyhow, it’s currently almost 1 PM Standard Japan Time on August 8th. Which means 11 PM on the 7th, for you guys in Bloomington. (Jan, that’d be, what…6 AM on the 8th?) Anyhow, I’ve got some time because my mom went to the supermarket and my dad’s asleep downstairs.

I don’t have much to report, but I finally gave my parents the presents. I ended up giving them….an Illinois coffee table book, a can of Beer Nuts’ peanuts, three placemats that look like the US flag (except the “blue” is made up of blueberries and the “red” is a bunch of strawberries. It’s pretty neat), and a pen from Caterpillar for my dad. Phew. It was pretty cool. They were so thankful. Then I walked my dad through the Illinois book (he, of course, had his magnifying glass =)), which is harder than it sounds because of the whole English/ Japanese barrier. I looked up like every other word in the dictionary XD. At least I’m pretty fast at it. He can’t really do it because he doesn’t know the order of the alphabet well….you know…A B C D E….so on. Which makes it very difficult to use an English dictionary. Anyhow one word in particular I kept needing and kept forgetting: famous. Yuumeina. I wrote it on my hand. I’ll have it by tomorrow XP
Oh, and my dad is really intent on learning English, or at least how to read it. I’m proud of him. Japanese isn’t exactly an easy language, but to their credit, the sounds are incredibly easy. In English we have freaky pronunciations, but none of that in Japanese. Always the same. So it’s hard for him, and I applaud him for trying so hard.
Actually, here, I’ve noticed a lotttt of crazy English quirks. Like his English-Japanese dictionary has a bunch of side notes on expressions and stuff.
For example, have you ever noticed how you can…
…accuse someone OF something.
…blame someone FOR something.
…charge someone WITH something.
And they all mean close to the same thing. Confusingggg. But undoubtedly the best one I’ve heard was from Mrs. Takasugi. She mixed up housework and homework. And if you think about it, house and home mean the same thing. And yet housework and homework are completely different. That’s so cruel.
English is a brutal language.
So yeah, that’s my “two cents.”

Oh, and then one more thing about TV that I thought was really cool. You know when you watch a commercial and think “Wow, that’s a cool song. I wish I knew what it was called.”? Yeah, I hope you think that too, because I think that alllllll the time. Well, in Japan, they put the name of the song and the artist on the bottom corner of the screen. That makes so much sense. Credit the person who made the song, and advertise all at once.
Oh, and I’m gonna admit, watching anime with commercials in between is so weird. I’m used to them cutting those parts out to put them online. Creepy. :-P

So I mentioned how my mom went out to go shopping. I thought it was interesting how she got all dressed up to go. Like she put on some vest like thing, and gloves, and a hat, and got an umbrella (even though there is absolutely no chance of rain), and everything. It was kind of cool.

One more thing. Tomorrow at 9 AM (at least that’s what I got from my mom) I’ll be going to some camp thing with AFS. AFS is another exchange program, except they send a lot of people, everywhere. Not just Bloomington and Asahikawa. But turns out there’s a lady on the Asahikawa Sister Cities Committee that’s also on the AFS committee, and that’s how I’m involved in this. I’m excited though, get to meet some people. I’ll let you guys know how it goes.

But as for tonight, I can’t wait to see the Olympics. I really love watching the games. They’re so intense. Actually one I’ve taken special notice recently is Ping Pong (or Table Tennis, as the professionals would probably want me to call it.) I’ve never really paid attention to professional Ping Pong, but mannnn, it’s intense. Like it just zooms back and forth and they manage to [accurately] hit back onto the table even when it’s like 6 or 7 feet away. Amazing.

I love writing these, because it lets me reflect, and think some in English to myself. And I open iTunes and listen to music, which is cool too. =]
But for now, I’m going to go enjoy what this house has to offer.

August 7th

Hey guysss.

Well first, a bit of an introduction. I don’t have Internet at the moment and am unsure when I will. However, when I go get my cell phone (whenever that may be) I’ll try getting an air card for Internet. Again, that’s tentative, but then again, by the time you read this, it’ll probably have already worked out.

Which brings me to my next point: since I don’t have Internet, I’ll be writing this on Word, and when I get the chance, I’ll throw it on the net. Which, yes, means at least for now, my posts will continue to be long. Sorry, guys. Hopefully some pictures will make up for it. =]

So alright, it’s the night of August the 7^th. Hachigatsu nanoka. My second night at the Yamamoto’s - “the base of the mountain.” For those whose computers can read Japanese characters, that would be 山本 . Anyhow, let’s start…well…where else but the beginning?

Man, I love saying that XP.

So alright, I left you guys at Kansai Airport. Next morning I got up, checked out and everything. It was incredibly easy. Got on the plane (which had the most ridiculous leg room I have ever seen.) I was sitting next to this business man looking guy. Actually, it was incredibly awesome because after that what did he pull out, but a Nintendo DS. Yeah, I forgot to mention that, but here EVERYONE has a DS. It’s ridiculous. I saw an old man who must’ve been in his 60s or 70s with one. And on TV there’s tons of commercials for Nintendo (like they need advertisement here in Japan). They really should show those in the US…crazy. But it’s cool I’ll admit. Oh, and just a side note here. Just writing “here in Japan” a few lines up just sent shivers down my spine.

This is so awesome.

Anyhow, the airport, right. My stuff came out quickly, and I left the security checkpoint to find….a party?!?! What theeeee….the Sister Cities Committee here really outdid themselves. There were like 15-20 people, ranging anywhere from my school’s vice principal, to a classmate at my school, to an English teacher of another school. And of course, my host parents and many members of the Committee themselves. The guy from my school insisted he carry just about all my stuff, and I tried to argue but he wouldn’t budge, and I was really tired anyway, so I let him for now. I’ll make it up to him in school. Anyhow, we got into this conference room and everyone went around introducing themselves and saying incredibly nice things about me, and I was incredibly honored. Oh wait, that’s right, they were speaking Japanese. Thank God for Mrs. Takasugi. She’s a member of the Committee who has incredible English. Like you wouldn’t know she was Japanese if you talked on the phone. So it was cool. She sat by me and translated everything. THANK YOUU. Haha. And then I had to say something, and I can’t remember what I said, but I do know it was incredibly ineloquent. Whatever. I’m not one for improvised speeches.

Anyhow, my parents. They drove me home, which was like a 40 minute ride, that, yeah, was awkward. Their English is pretty much nonexistent, and my Japanese isn’t much better. But I managed to express some basic ideas, such as: HOLY CRAP, MOUNTAINS. Yeah, Illinois is like a pancake, and here it’s like I’m in the Himalayas. Okay, not quite, the entire city is pretty flat. But surrounding it are these huge, majestic mountains. Quite a sight to see.

Oh, and quick thing on the driving part: they drive on the “wrong” side. I don’t know how I’m going to get used to seeing the cars drive on the left (and the steering wheel being on the right).

Anyhow, my house. It’s a, well, small-ish sized house (I mean, non-American-sized). But it’s very nice here. I love it. There’s the l

ittle room at the entrance to take off your shoes, and then there’s the living room (with a plasma TV), and then a TATAMI ROOM (more on that later), and a kitchen. My room’s upstairs, and it’s pretty much the size of my American room. I’m verrry impressed. It’s probably the biggest room in the house XP. But I appreciate it a lot. I’ve got a wardrobe, a bed, and a desk (my favorite part). It’s pretty bland, but I got out some stuff that I brought from the US to put on the shelves, and it already looks a lot nicer. Oh, and I’ve got a balcony.

I love this place.

But okay, tatami mat room. Man, that thing is COOL. Just picture the most stereotypical Japanese room you can… you know with those calligraphy scrolls and Mount Fuji paintings, and little shrines and everything….and multiply it threefold. It’s really awesome. I like just sitting there and looking around.

And then the bathroom. The toilet, as you may or may not know, is in a separate room. Actually the entire Japanese bathroom is pretty different. If you’re up for it, google it, see what you get. It’s pretty interesting. But then again, if you’re not, here’s the rundown. The bath/ shower. Ofuro. The idea is that you shower and wash yourself entirely (kinda like in the US) and then you soak in this bath of hot water and relax. You wash yourself thoroughly first because everyone uses the same water in the bath.

As of now, I have yet to figure out how to heat the water in the bath and everything, so I haven’t done that part yet (don’t worry though, I have showered.) You’d think it couldn’t be that hard, but trust me, it can. I don’t understand any of the freakin kanji written on the buttons and the little voice that tells me what it’s doing might as well be speaking Arabic (no comment, Mudrekh.)

Anyhow, that’s the house. And then my family. I actually haven’t understood too much about them, but here’s what I know.

My dad, otoosan, is called Katsuyoshi Yamamoto. He’s 66, and he wears glasses. He just recently retired. His signature “thing” is pulling out a huge magnifying glass to read things (namely, the dictionary I’ve been cracking open every three seconds). He’s a nice man, but I don’t like how he smokes. He’s got the courtesy to only do it outside though, and it’s HIS freaking house and he could smoke wherever the heck he pleases, so I appreciate it.

My mom, okaasan, is Fumiko Yamamoto. I’m not sure how old she is, but I would guess not much different than my host dad. Well, she looks younger, but don’t women always? Just today I gathered that she sews, like that’s her job. She said she was making a dress when I asked her today. Cool! I asked her what she did, if she sold them or what, but I didn’t understand the answer. XD. Her signature “thing” is constantly cooking, sewing, working, of some kind (unlike my dad here, who occasionally takes a nap :-P).

[Side note here: it’s currently the 11^th, and I’m just looking back on old notes. I actually have never, ever seen my mom sleep. When I go to bed she’s up, when I get up, she’s already downstairs making some kind of food. It’s crazy.]

Onto food. Mudrekh, you’d be proud of me. The first thing I ate here was….you betcha: ramen. We went out to eat at this little ramen place. I had to choose which one I wanted, but couldn’t understand anything, so I just chose the one with the familiar name: Miso. Bean something. It was pretty awesome really. And it was kind of nice, just eating, not worrying about what was in it. Ohh, and chopsticks. Hashi. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, actually. I think you guys would be impressed. My host mom has made sure I always have a fork available at every meal, but most of the time, I’ve stuck with chopsticks (unless I get really frustrated with them). They work pretty well for Japanese food.

[This is me looking back again and I remembered that I never mentioned that we have a typical Japanese low table here; everyone eats sitting on the floor. It’s kinda cool. I haven’t sat in an actual chair to eat since I got here. I got used to it pretty quick actually.]

Oh, and my mom’s cooking…it’s so good! Actually, I’ve found that, at least during the holiday break, we don’t have the “three meal a day” thing. More like 5, but they consist of small portions each time. I kind of like it. I mean, since getting here, I have not yet been hungry…not even once. So it’s cool. Mostly we’ve been having either noodles with ham, and egg, and sauce, and whatever else in it….or rice with some type of meat. Always really, really good. I wish I could emphasize that to her without just saying oishii (delicious) every single meal. So yeah, food has been alright. =]

The tough part so far has been communicating. We’re relying a lot on gestures and dictionaries. As well as the all-purpose-word daijoubu, meaning “everything’s fine,” or “that’s okay,” or “not to worry.” Handy word.

Oh, and katakana. For those who don’t know, katakana is one of Japan’s two phonetic alphabets (the other one being hiragana). Katakana deals strictly with foreign words. Like, hamu (ham), chiizu (cheese), etc. So it’s verrryyyy convenient, especially since 90% of the time the borrowed word is from English.

Ohh, but Jan, you’ll like this. The Japanese word for “part time job” is arubaito. Now, I know you don’t speak German anymore, so I’ll remind you that “arbeiten” is the German verb for “to work.” XD So that’s pretty cool, eh?

So yeah. We’ve been getting by. I mean, when I meant to say my mom was a housewife, shufu, I called her a saifu, wallet, instead. Whatever. XD

[This being said, I’m going to take a quick minute here to explain the sounds in Japanese (that are very, very easy) so that you can at least read the words that I write in it.

When you see ‘a’, always think of the ‘a’ in ‘father.’

When you see ‘I’, think of the ‘I’ in ‘machine.’

For ‘u’, think of the American pronunciation of ‘uber.’ (Don’t get fancy on me, German speakers XD)

The real best equivalent for ‘e’ is our group’s ‘mehhh.’

And ‘o’ is like a short ‘oh.’

The rest is simple: the only consonants are k, g, s, z, t, d, n, h, b, p, m, y, and r. And those should be simple enough.]

Today, my host dad and I went biking around the neighborhood to check out the bus stop and local park and stuff. Very neat. And I like how you can get to places with a bike, where as in the US: no way.

Oh, and today was some equivalent of Halloween for some reason. Well, at the very least, kids were biking around the neighborhood, stopping at all the houses, ringing the doorbell. When we answered it, they started singing and we were supposed to give them candy. I can only think of Halloween. Ah well. It was fun.

So yeah. I’m psyched to see the Olympics tomorrow. I hope you guys all watch it too! Anyhow, I’m tired. Trying to think in Japanese wears me out. I’m going to bed, and hopefully I can post this before kingdom come.

Night, guys.

Oyasumi

The True Beginning

Well guys, this is it.
In spite of all the time you'd think I'd have to come up with a stunning return title, things don't work out that way.
Sorry to disappoint.

Part of me doesn't even believe this is real, and I go on and be melodramatic here, but I've got a lot to post, so I say we get to it, eh?

Anyhow, that being said, I do mean a lot. But I do want to read through them and include pictures and side notes that I haven't been able to. On this note, I should mention that everything written will be of the time I say. I may add notes here and there, but I will indicate it was written later. You get the real thing. =]
But this takes time, and that means I have no idea when I'll finally catch up. As some of you may know, I've been keeping busy.
But I'll ensure quality over quantity and make sure everything is good. Fair?
Alright.

Welcome to the beginning of my true Japan blog.

Picture.

Okay, it's only two pictures and they're pretty small to be able to upload from a phone, but here goes.

http://s475.photobucket.com/albums/rr120/risingsun9/?action=view¤t=08-09-14_Peace.jpg

http://s475.photobucket.com/albums/rr120/risingsun9/?action=view¤t=20080914203500000001.jpg

Hopefully, you guys can see them. And I tried getting them on Facebook, but it didn't work. And someone please tell me if these links don't work.
Thanks.

EDIT： My bad. As Rachel pointed out these are NOT links. They are merely URLs. So do it the old fashioned way and copy and paste into a new tab/window.
Sorry for the confusion. My fault.

Daily Life

Hey guys! Some of you have asked about my schedule sn here goes.
My schedule actually depends on the day. But a typical day involves getting up at around six. I eat a fantastic breakfast my host mom always makes and get ready for school. I leave around seven. I have like a 10-15 minute bike ride, depending on how fast I go.
Then I take the bus for almost the entire route (get on on the first stop, get off on the third to last). That takes about 45 minutes. I arrive at school just past eight.
Then I have about 40 minutes to chill until school starts at 8：40. On Wednesday I've got another hour because first hour is homeroom. The day has six 50 minute periods plus a 35 minute lunch with 10 minutes between most classes.
My classes range from math (hilarious to hear “x minus ichi” ［1 in Japanese］ XD), to home economics, to P.E. and health, ancient Chinese literature (which is an awfully rough class for a foreigner), and some others. Throughout the day I usually have at least one (sometimes two) periods to go to another room and study Japanese by myself. Kinda boring, but it works.
Fridays are awesome because all day we're in the automotive part looking at car parts or welding or something crazy like that. And on Thursdays, this Irish guy Bryan comes to my school to teach English classes. He's awesome.

School ends at 3：20, but then I have band, usually until 7 (which i am getting incredibly tired of.)
Then I eat dinner, watch tv, try to get my laptop to work, etc. etc. etc.
Live.

Go to bed; repeat.
On weekends I tend to hang out with the AFS guys, especially Alex. Or I just relax.

So yeah. That's my life in a nutshell. ＝］

Ketai

Cell phone.
Which is an appropriate title really because I'm writing this from my cell. So I'll keep this short.

First order of business: on Monday night my computer had a bad spazz attack. Like, it would barely start up. I don't know why, so don't ask. At least I acted quick and copied my blog documemts onto my flash drive. I'm really worried about my laptop, but there's not much I can do besides keep trying and trying to keep from losing my mind.

But on a lighter note, I obviously got my amazing phone. It's got a ton of awesome stuff, but the important one for now is internet and email.
So everyone, send an email to my phone at
metalyoshi@ezweb.ne.jp
Of course.
But yeah I gotta go. Send me an email！
Thanks guys.

Asahikawa

Wow, so here I am, finally.
Hope at least some of you still read this. =]

Anyhow, first before I get your hopes up, this isn't exactly permanent Internet by any means.
Right now I'm at my friend Alex's house. I realize you guys know nothing about him, but don't worry, you'll read plenty about him later. (Wow, now I feel like the voice of the future talking like this.)
But what you need to know for now is that he's an Australian exchange student here in Asahikawa, and he's pretty much my best friend here (although don't worry, I have made friends at school.)
It's just nice that I understand him and such. That helps. XD

So yeah, I just wanted to announce that I am alive, and appreciate all your comments on the previous post. I think by now most of you guys have heard/ realized that I do not have Internet by any means, and this is my first chance online.
Although if you've seen me log in on MySpace, that's because I was testing out the Internet connection on the cell phones here when I was trying to get my phone.
Not that I could get one yet.
I'm waiting for my freakin gaijin ID Card, which should be ready any time now.

So yeah. I'm having a blast here, and I hope that you guys are all well in the US, Germany, Brazil, and wherever else I may have readers from.

And don't worry: I've been keeping up my "blog" on Miscrsoft Word, so you guys won't miss any of the details. I've written alot: I'd guess near 20-25 pages. Plus I have a lot of pictures. So whenever I get the chance, I'll overload you guys.

But yeah. I'm anxious to play Brawl here (for the first time since leaving the US).
So I'll leave you guys with that. I'm sorry how little this post actually says, but there's way too much for me to describe here. You'll get the stories later.

I hope to actually have permanent Internet by means of an air card, which I will hopefully get together with my cell phone.

Take care guys, and I'll see you then. And of course, if that doesn't work, there's always Alex's place.

Miss you all.

Nihon.

Japan.
Nice to "see" you guys here.
Oh geeze, this is crazy.
Alright let's start with some honesty. On my Facebook note, I said that I would be writing short little tid-bits for you guys to read. I'll be outspoken and admit this one could be long. However, for those of you that only want to skim through this, it'll include picture (whoaaaaa already =]). So have at it.

That said...
I'M HERE!! IN OSAKA, JAPAN. Mark my words, it's currently...the 5th? Almost the 6th? Geeze, I don't even know. Crazy time changes.
So yeah, this is exciting, as you may imagine. I am in Kansai International Airport. The people are awesome, the food is great....whoa I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's start at the beginning.
I left home on Monday, August 4th at about 8:30 AM. Got the airport, checked in and left by 10:30. Here's the cool part though...I thought I'd be alone, but there was actually a group - 3 high school girls and a middle school guy - as well as their adult leader, who were returning to Nagoya, Japan after staying in Bloomington for about two weeks. The adult leader was American and brought some of his students from Japan to the US to practice their English. It was so, so cool! Anyhow, we flew out and arrived at Detroit International Airport, or whatever it's called. We had some time to spare so we went to get some lunch. And alright, you probably didn't know this (I sure didn't) but Detroit airport is LOADED with Japanese people. I'd say like 40% of the people. Why Detroit?
Beats me.
I figured it'd be California. Go figure.

But anyhow, we went out to get lunch, and the girls all went into the Japanese fast food place and got some ramen, and soup, and who knows what. And of course, they ate it all with chopsticks. -_- Crazy Japanese. Anyhow, I decided I was going to get better with the chopsticks and picked some up and gave it a try. Grrrr.
I understand the concept; it's simple really. And I can do it fairly regularly. But it's the times that I mess up that annoy me. My chopsticks cross and everything falls. *Sighh*
So then the girls decided they were going to give me some help with it. They started speaking in Japanese, asking the adult there to translate for them. Of course, he said no. We would have to figure it out ourselves...it was what I was going to have to do later anyway.
Good call. I see the wisdom in his words, but it was still hard to follow through, knowing he could have translated everything.
...Okay, okay, he was right. We did understand each other. Their English is about as good as my Japanese, which you may know isn't quite all that. :-P
But it worked, and that's what was really cool.

Soon after, we had to part in our ways. They were going to Nagoya; I was headed to Osaka. I took a few pictures with them before I left. Check it out. Note: This marks the beginning of the peace sign pictures. And I wasn't even in Japan yet.
Go figure.
I never got their names, and I kinda regret that now.


Anyhow, the actual flight. I was on a monster 747, of course. The double decker kind. Freaking awesome plane. It was different from the plane that I usually take to Brazil in that, besides its massive size (seats 400, I've heard), is that there was one big screen every so often for movies, instead of one small individual one for each person. It was pretty awesome how the different channels actually controlled different languages though.
Channel 1: English
2: Japanese
3: Chinese
4: German
5: Spanish....
...so on, so forth. It was pretty cool really. Anyhow, I was sitting next to this Asian guy I obviously didn't know, and being myself, I started talking to him. Turns out he wasn't Japanese at all- he was Taiwanese. Go figuree. His name's the best part: Lin Hei-Keng. Freaking awesome. He had come to Minnesota to study ESL for a month. Sounds cool to me =]
And it was pretty awesome how he could read Chinese kanji better than our alphabet. I still have trouble wrapping my mind around that concept.
I wrote his name in Japanese Katakana (how weird is that, me teaching an Asian how to write his name in Japanese) and he showed me how to write Chris in Taiwanese. Nice trade-off =]


So then finally, after 15 hours of flight, we arrived at Kansai International about 30 hours we left...crazy time change. So pretty much for me, the whole morning of August 5th did not exist...and you guys are currently living that morning. That's too weird. This airport is pretty huge though. As testimony to that, I'm in a hotel that's in the airport.

So I got here, came to my room, and looked around see what there was around here. Actually, I should mention the people here. They're so incredible. Seriously, they're all really nice and help you around when you don't have a clue what's going on. I've been smiling a lot, and that's a pretty universal message.
I like it here a lot.

I went out to eat, and got some beef cutlet sandwich. It was pretty awesome, actually, even though the beef was slightly rarer than I would have suggested. I just closed my eyes and savored it.
Oh, and drinks. I got a Coke, and guess what? I got a little 180 mL glass bottle of it. For those of you
who can't grasp how much that is...think of it this way. A regular soda can is 355 mL. So yeah, about half a can.
I managed. The worst part about dinner was actually being alone and seeing everyone with their friends and family. the rest of the day I'd managed to have someone with me but not this time. I can't wait to meet my host family.

Anyhow, I got to the counter: 2,200 yen. WHAT?!?
Okay, okay, I'm kidding, I understood the number. To those not in the know: 1 dollar equals approximately 100 yen.
Thus, 2,200 yen= 22 bucks. Still not cheap, but not too bad either. It was a nice place with good food. No complaints.

After that, I just kind of walked around the airport, listening and taking it all in. It was really cool just to hear everyone. I had some funny stories, like walking into a store and buying "water" only to find out it definitely isn't plain water. Knowing my luck and Japanese proficiency, it's probably like birth control pill water and now I'll never have children. Whatever. I paid 200 yen for it, I'm not gonna go cry about it.

OH! The room! Yeah, it's pretty normal, minus the high tech stuff. Here's the rundown of what I've seen so far in there. First of all there's this water boiling thing right next to the TV. I don't know why, maybe to make tea? Beats me. But I was just fooling around with it, when of course, a bunch of hot water just sprays onto the wooden desk. I got a towel pretty quick and cleaned it up.
But I felt like Wall-E, being curious and pushing things and having weird things happen XD.

And then the bed. It's a normal bed, really: no tatami mats here.
But on the headboard, or dashboard, or whatever it's called there's this control panel (c ontrol panel? Man I'm a computer geek.) and on it there's controls for like all the different lights, and night lights, and TV, and air conditioning, and alarm clock and everything. It was pretty cool.

And now of course, the best part. The one you've been waiting for: the bathroom. Alright, first of all, there's a volume control on the wall for the TV, which is kind of random, and yet awesome. You can listen to the news from the toilet.
Go figure.
But then, yes; you knew it was coming.
The toilet.

And it's crazy power functions. I'll admit it, I tried it, I had to. And I'll just say that having your toilet squirt water into your butt is one of the weirdest sensations I have yet known.
But hey, it was cool.
Everything's been cool here.






Yep, alright, well it's past 10 PM, and I'm suffering major jet lag here and have to get up tomorrow by 8 to actually fly into Asahikawa. I'm excited.

I'll write you guys when I get to that point.
Thanks so much, Sean, and everyone else who's been reading my blogs. Let me know what you think: comment me every now and then. I'd really appreciate it, guys.
Till next time, take care.

August 3rd.

Well this is it.
Last night before I leave.

How do I feel?
That's not easy to answer.
I'm happy and yet very...well...the only way to describe it is the Portuguese phrase "Meu coração esta apertado."
My heart is tight.

Meaning, I'm happy, but it's hard to do this. I hope you guys understand.

Today, I'd just like to thank all of you guys.
Here's just a few shout outs.

Brooks, for coming over even on his last day before traveling. And for his awesomeness in Years to Come.
Gibs, for writing a narrative on my pillowcase. :-P
Larissa, Quynh, Whitney, and Nathan, for calling me up a few hours ago just to say bye and that you'll miss me.
Rachel, for giving me a CD I'm "not allowed" to see.
Liz, for being honest even when it's hard.
Jeff, for having me over and letting me kill him multiple times in Star Wars.
Troy, for singing a song for me at the coffehouse even when it isn't his thing.
Josh; I hope he settles well at his dad's house and makes some great new friends quickly.
Amanda, for all her help in getting me prepared to go.
Molly, for the awesome video she made of this summer that put a smile on everyone's face.
Jan, for making this page your homepage, you creeper. =]

And others I know I'm forgetting.
I really love you guys.
And now, I'm going to go spend time with my parents.
Take care guys.
I'll write you from Japan.

Tomodachi

Friends.

Yep, today was quite the day.
It started off when I woke up to Tess Losada calling me, even though if she accuses me of sleeping in late, I'll delete this post and deny all claims. :-P
But anyhow.
We met up at Chili's, which, I might add, I have not been to in a WHILE. So that was fun. Oh, and it'd been a while since I'd seen Tess, too. =]
On a highlight from lunch, I finally managed to give her her birthday present....yeah, her birthday is in April, thanks for asking. Made me feel good though.

Then, when I was at Best Buy, Jeff Raines called me asking if I wanted to hang out. So, yep, he came over and we played a lot of Brawl, and then we tormented my dog. Haha, not really. Although we did wear him out from chasing him around.
Figures...Shiloh is so lazy.
But it was really cool seeing Jeff.

Then, at 6:30 I went to CHAOS at the park. Believe it or not, a program with that kind of name is actually a church program. Claiming Him As Our Savior, or something along those lines.
Go figure.
But it was a lot of fun, even if we didn't do much aside from getting a soccer ball, nerf ball, and football stuck in a tree. Ah well, we got them out and even had some time for a good ol' game of Egyptian Rat Screw.

To top it off, after CHAOS, I went to go see nothing less than The Dark Knight, with Wil Ward, Abby Hoeniges, and Anythony Behrends. The movie was, naturally, epic. But I figure most of you have already seen it and/or heard plenty of it, so I'll say no more on that topic.

Needless to say, today was a pretty awesome day.
Just made me realize how I'm going to miss everyone here though,
You guys are awesome.

And before I close this note up, I have to give a shout out to the one and only Brooks Bankord, who is finally celebrating his 16th birthday today. :-P
Happy birthday, buddy =]

A Surprise Party

Wow, this is actually quite late.
Let's hope this doesn't start a routine.

Anyhow, Sunday night my parents took me to the mall to eat [for those of you that are unaware, I have a serious passion for Great Steak and Potato Company. I will miss their Philly Cheese Steak very, very much.]

Anyhow, after that they rushed me off to...the Coffehouse? Of course. My mom had planned a surprise party.
Should of seen it coming.
Anyways, it was a lot of fun, and so many people were there for it being middle of the summer and all. I loved it.

And of course, they ordered me a giant cake.

But besides seeing everyone, perhaps the best part was Troy and Brooks playing up on stage. That was neat. And they wrote a song for me, and wow. That was really awesome.
And Troy, if you ever read this, I just really wanted to thank you for singing for that song.
I know you don't like to, but you did anyways, and it sounded great. I really appreciate that.

You guys are awesome.

Host Family

Wow, guys, I must say. What with me writing about this blog on my facebook, I guess I now have quite the horde of readers.
Omoshiroi. Interesting.

Anyhow, I've got some news to report...I now know about my first host family!

I'll be staying with the Yamamoto family (yes, that's an incredibly typical Japanese last name).
Father: Katsuyoshi
Mother: Fumiko

Whoo! I don't know much about them, but I guess this suffices for now.
Also, I have the address, so if any of you would be interested in it to write me something, just ask. I'm just not gonna post it here for the world to see.


Also, on a communication note...several of you have been asking about internet/cell phone/ etc.

Internet is tricky. My family may or may not have it....but even if they don't have it, I'll try and look into an air card to have Internet. But we'll see.

As for my cell phone, no, it will not work in Japan. In fact, not even those trippy global Blackberries and stuff will work there because Japanese phones use a completely different signal transmission. Or something along those lines. That's what I've been told.
However, I should be getting a new cell phone there as soon as I can. Once that number is revealed, I'll share with you guys, but I have no idea about international costs, so be careful.

Also, for all who haven't heard, my flight plan has been determined. I will be leaving Bloomington Airport the morning of the August 4th for Detroit, Michigan. From there, I'll get on a flight to Osaka, non-stop. I'll overnight at a hotel they have in the terminal at Osaka's International Airport, and then the next morning, I'll take a flight to Asahikawa.

Anyways, I think this will be a long enough post, so I think I'll stop for now.

Thanks for all your support guys. =]

Workcamp

Wow.
As usual, what an exhilarating experience at this year's
"Land of Lakes Workcamp" in Wheaton, Minnesota.

Here's the gist of it:
400 people - mainly teenagers in high school and early college - spend a week of summer sleeping in a school to get up every morning to work for several hours on houses in the community that need repairs.
Already apprehensive of the idea?
Let me tell you this:
It's not about the work.
It's about the amazing experience that binds strangers into close friends and feeling like you're making a difference.

The theme this year was "Love Out Loud."
How appropriate.

A brief soundtrack of my week for those of you interested in it:
We Win! - David Crowder Band
Come to the Cross - Michael W. Smith
The Show - Hawk Nelson
Take It All - Hillsong United

Among many others.
But those songs give me the feeling of being there.
Of not just existing, but living.

Together, I really feel like we brought new life to a tired community.
Made a difference.

Crew 31 ½, I love all of you guys very much.
I really feel like we were a family, if only just for a week.



My original intention of this was to write a fully detailed recount of all my experiences this past week.
But then I realized.

I could never harness the feeling and emotion at that camp.
If you were there, you understand it fully well.
And if you weren't, I hate to say it, but you wouldn't get it anyways.

Sonic Racing?

So I'd heard of Sonic Riders, and it did seem interesting, but I played it for the first time today.
I guess it makes sense: Sonic...racing.
Eh.

Well, I thought it was fun, but like all Sonic games, the learning curve is much too steep.
Mudrekh and I just got kinda thrown in.
Pretty crazy.
But it's fun, if you can get the hang of it.

That's my quick verdict.

An Old Friend.

So I suppose this means my blogs are getting more and more predictable. What can I say; it's the fitting title.

Yesterday, Saturday the 12th, Matt Grooss had a soccer game here in town and I went to go see his team play. And after that, he got to come over to my house and spend the night.
Which was already incredibly awesome, considering the fact I hadn't seen him in over two years.

As it happens, yesterday night was also the night Mudrekh Goderya was coming to stay at my house after staying at his friend TJ's. So I suppose I was slightly tricky in my title; I got to hang out with two best friends from my past.

When Mudrekh came over, TJ stayed here for about an hour and a half for us to play a ton of Smash Bros. Brawl. And everyone who's played that game knows that 90 minutes of 4 player on that game creates moments. Crazy stages, and everything (mainly my own fault =P). It was a real good time.

So eventually TJ left, and Mudrekh, lazy as always, drifted off to sleep around 1 AM(Who am I kidding, it was more like fell like a rock. You'd know this if you've ever had Mudrekh over.)
But Matt and I were determined.
And yes, we played Smash Brothers. In fact, we didn't sleep.
We stayed up, the whole night, fighting ridiculously hard computers (difficulty level: insane).
And it was all just a big laugh. I guess that's what I like best about Matt. He doesn't take himself too seriously and everything's just plain funny with him. I was afraid that he would have changed, but I guess I was worried for nothing.
He'll always be crazy.

Today, we were both totally out of it of not having slept in over a day. I still haven't slept since then.

Matt probably won't even see this because he's not the type to be online often.
But yeah.
He's a great friend, and I miss him a lot.

I only hope everyone's lucky enough to have such great friends in life.

WALL•E

Alright, I figure the title of this post says it all anyways, but I called Mudrekh tonight, and at last minute, he invited me to come see WALL•E with him. Yes, the movie "started" at 7 PM and I left my house at 7:12. Thank God for previews though; I didn't miss a thing. Go figure.


But anyhow, to the bulk of this movie.
For those of you that aren't in the know, this movie is another Disney/ Pixar collaboration. Brilliant people.
You know...Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Raratouille, etc.

The movie centers around WALL•E, of course, the only remaining operational machine built to clean up the Earth, while the humans that ravaged the planet leave for extended stay in space.
The poor robot doesn't say much besides his name, but he's got a charm that really draws you in.

He meets EVE, a...well....considerably more advanced robot (which looks very much designed by Apple, doesn't she?).

I won't reveal any more of the story, but suffice it to say it has a deep meaning about what we're doing to the Earth. A movie about losing sight about what's important. Something to consider.

I'm not one to refer to movies this way, but this movie showcases a shrewd version of the future. Gives me something to think about. Check it out.

Congratulations, Disney/ Pixar.
You've done it again.

Irony Knows No Limit

Today I saw a guy wearing a DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) t-shirt. And guess what?
Yep.

He was smoking.

A Summer Party

So earlier today, I went to a "summer" party, and it was really good for me.
It had been a while since I had seen a lot of people, and it was good to see them again.

There was major supersoaking involved, of course. But that's what made it fun.

I really appreciate my friends, even if it doesn't always seem like it.

The Beginning

Well, I guess this is my attempt at shooting among those die hard bloggers. Right, like that'll happen.

Well, let's start with a bang, shall we.
I'm going to go live in Asahikawa, Japan for a year under a Sister Cities Exchange Program.
How's that?

I'm still not sure about many details, but that will come in time.

Now, I guess, is the time for preparation.
Let's get this show on the road.