stuff

stuff I'm looking forward too:

AFS party

Tokyo Disneyland

Possible 1C Christmas Party

Japanese New Years

probably some other stuff too~


I've been a little sick this week. I went to Kanazawa to take the JLPT. The test wasn't that bad, although the Kanazawa weather was terrible. So walking back to the train station was pretty BLEH. The wind kept you from using an umbrella or a hood, so rain fell and fell. I think I'm recovering though ^^

boop blog

BWA

It had been like a month! Dont kill me AFS :(

Very busy girl (>w<;;)

nanka, picture!

Host doggy and korirakuma slippers :]

byebye!

GYAAA

LONG TIME NO POST.

I'm too busy changing host families and having fun and what not

Soooo, on November 1st I changed host families. I simply looooove my new host family. They are easily as nice - if not nicer - than my first host family \(^u^)/ and much less busy. And I think they were very excited to host an exchange student, I just hope I can live up to their expectations! Nevertheless, I easily feel at home here.

AAAnd, School is getting easier. More and more people are talking to me everyday, so Im glad to know that they are interested in me and American culture. It's kind of odd, since foreign language classes in America really emphasize that languages culture when we study it in class, although in Japan, its more grammar, practice and drills. Oh well, I think thats an excuse to talk to me.

Also, Im trying my best to join a club or team at school, however I feel that my school really focuses on their club activities - for example they have one of the best baseball teams in Japan and the best cheerleading team in the world...lol. And I feel that the other clubs treat their club the same way. Needless to say, it isnt a very exchange student friendly situation. So when Ive tried to join clubs in the past, the teachers and members see me as a person who doesnt know what she is doing, and would thus bring their score down. How kind. Right now Im trying to join the Koto club, but the Koto teacher told me to wait until next week, although shes been saying that for the past 3 weeks. bleh.

Other than that, Nagoya was faaaabulous. I had such a wonderful time :] I even saw a Color Guard practicing on the Nagoya Castle grounds....... soooo lovely <333

And, Hiroshima was so amazing. We are the obamajority everyone! I still really want a T Shirt, too! Maybe Obama, Fukui sells them o:

So this is me.

Spreading peace in the 3 months I have left!

ナンカ、全部は素晴らしイだけどアメリカみたいのものを見るとき、懐かしい気持ちを考える。帰りたくないけど帰りたいね？
じゃねええ

Hmm.

I realized now, that I don't think I've really talked about what my daily life is like in these posts, just bits and pieces of days and stuff that's been happening. So I'll do just that!

From Monday to Friday, I go to school. I go by train from my town to Fukui City where my school is. The train leaves at around 7:30 and I get to the station near my school at around 8:00. I switch trains once, the latter being very, very crowded. I've literary been pushed onto the train by the eki'in...train people...uh I don't remember what they are called in English................................(anyway) which was rather alarming the first time, but now I'm pretty used to it. And the train ride itself isn't that long so it's not that bad :)
And at school, I'm in the 1-C class. Japanese High Schools are made of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years, or Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors (NO FRESHMAN, they are still Junior High School students here, ahaha). And the grades are divided into classes A - H. So Japanese high school students don't pick and choose classes to make their schedule, they choose their class. The C Class is the International Business Class (Commercial High School haha) and my host mother told me that it's the most difficult class in the school...SO WHY AM I HERE? However, There are two English classes, one of which that meets everyday. Anyway, this means that you have the same classes with the same people all day. And you have a homeroom teacher, with homeroom before and after school starts and finishes. My homeroom teacher? Her name's Watanabe - sensei........ :D
The class schedule is also different! Unlike America which has a set schedule, every class everyday at the same time, Japanese Schools have many different classes that maybe only be two or three or four times a week, and everyday, at a different time. This......... I still don't understand, since the schedule written on the wall isn't the class that I'll have. I'll surviveeeeeeee (maybe). My classes include Math (sophomore math haha), English, English Grammar (They learn the weirdest things is Grammar. For example, something like "The book dropped itself on me" ...Why would you need to learn that!! I'd just say "The book fell"!!), Art, Music, and P.E. I may be able to take Calligraphy soon, so that might be exciting (>.And I've probably mentioned this already, but I wear a uniform! I wear a dark gray skirt with a white collar long sleeve shirt, light gray vest and ribbon. When its very cold, I wear a gray blazer as well. I'll try and post pictures soon :D Sometimes when I read manga, the uniform in the story will look like my uniform and I get excited. Funny huh? Anyway, I think my uniform is pretty cute. I actually like it more than having to constantly run around before school trying to figure out what to wear like I do back home. So it saves time and looks cute, yay! My only complaint is that the skirt is a little small and after I eat lunch it is difficult to breatheeeeeeeeeeeeee.

UWAH. I typed a lot. There is still so much to say but I'll talk about that later. It will give everyone who reads this something to look forward too :D AND, next week, I'm going to Nagoya so I'll be sure to talk about that.

Also, I've been a bit homesick lately. This weekend, I just started crying while I was spending time with my host family. I don't really know why apart from the fact I just miss the familiarity of America........ although thats nothing fun to talk about...just know that I miss everyone and everything very, very much x3

Also, also....GOODBYE ENGLISH SKILLSSSSS. I apologize for my inability to type anything D;

TAKE CARE
Love,
Molly

"Yesterday is Molly's Birthday"

Hello everyone! I hope you have a faaabulous September.
This weekend, I turned 17! It was definitely a wonderful celebration. Many of my friends at school wished me a happy birthday on Friday, and even some people I didn't even know wished me a Happy Birthday, so that was pretty special :) And after school, one of my friends took me to Fukui City for Purikura* It was my first time to take purikura pictures but it was so so soso fun!!! Who knew taking and decorating pictures could be so awesome :D I can't wait to try it again.
*Purikura is short for purinto kurabu (print club) in Japanese. Its those smalls sticker pictures that are very bright and colorfully decorated for those who don't know. So fun!!
Since my birthday was a Friday night, my host parents and sister, Mina, were working and at cram school. However Miki and my host grandparents celebrated with me with cake! Miki managed to put 17 candles on the cake and it lit up the whole kitchen. (AH Im so old) It took me maybe 6 times to blow out all the candles, but the cake was super tasty. It was chocolate and banana and super creamy. I luuurve Japanese desserts ;D
It was so much fun...and then Saturday came!
My host mother told me since I had school on Friday, it was diffiuclt to have a party on my birthday. So yesterday I went to papa and mama's restaurant and was greeted by a bunch of my friends from school! I recieved lots of really cute presents >.< and ate lots of tasty Shabu Shabu and more Chocobanana cake <3 It was so much fun, I was so happy!! It was a truely wonderfully awesomely wonderful weekend.

Oh! And did you know thta there is no Japanese version of "Happy Birthday"? They just sing it in English which is super cute :)

Well, apart from that , I did think about everyone in America too. It was very different being away from everyone for my birthday ;__; I hope the marching band have a very good competition this weekend and everyone else have a very good weekend too!

Loooooove
Molly

VERY SCARY!

To understand my adventure today, we must backtrack to last Thursday.

~*~
I was going home on the 4:19 train after school on Thursday. I actually got to the station a little early so I decided to sit down and listen to some music while I waited for the train. Shortly after I sat down, a man (I would describe him as 45-50 years old) sat down next to me. He was wearing a medical mask so I really couldnt tell what he looked like. At first he did nothing but then he handed me a sample/advertisment towel. I remember when I went to Tokyo two years ago that many people give out free samples, including tissues and towels to advertise things. I said thank you for the towel and turned away. However the man continued to stare at me. He then started asking me very weird questions, his first being "Do you have a friend to ride home with?" (Note, he first started talking to me in Japanese very quickly so I replied that I don't understand...so he continued to talk to me only in English). He asked me many other questions too, having to with why I was here, if I went to school, if I was on a home stay, and what my hobbies were. I tried to keep my answers short and vague because I really didnt want him to know too much about me. And when the train arrived, I tried to move towards a different car away from where I was sitting...but he followed me. And when I sat down, he stood right in front of me and continued asking questions. Putting it lightly, I really wanted to get off the train :( When I reached the train station, I quickly got off and he thankfully did not follow. Im not sure what I would have done if he did.... >.<

I told my host sister, host mother, and English teacher about this. My host mother contacted AFS and I talked breifly with the Fukui President about the 'scary man' as I described him to my sister. My English teacher thought that maybe he was interested in my culture, however I dont know why he would ask if I had a friend to ride the train with or stare at me the way he did. It was just very, very unpleasant. Thankfully Ive ridden the train three times (although at different times) home since then and there is no sign of him.

And ANYWAY, today I was escorted by the POLICE to the train station. They were very nice and of course wanted me to be safe, but it was very um, attention drawing for lack of a better word. If you could imagine the exchange student + the police I turned a lot of heads :( However I met another girl from my school at the train staion; the policeman asked her to stay with me on the train after the train arrived. She was very nice, and I actually managed to have a brief conversation in Japanese with her about the scary man. So I suppose out of all this mess, I managed to score some language use points! My English teacher also told me that tomorrow, the police want to ask me questions about this scary man, so I have that to look forward to >.< Errrr why meeeee

I wasnt going to update my blog so soon, however after today I thought this was blog worthy. And most importantly, I wanted to tell everyone that despite all this, Im doing okay. Like I said, I havent seen this man again and with the precautions that the Japanese police are taking, hopefully I will never see him again :)

Everybody else take care too!

Love, Molly

Yasumiiiiiii

ON THURSDAY, MY CAMERA BROKE. I WAS SLIGHTLY NOT HAPPY.
However, I bought a new one yesterday. It's pink and very cute. Unfortunately I cant access all of the picture on my old camera, so if/until I figure that out, Ill have to take new ones to upload :)

ALSO. This comes up as on Sunday? That is not true! It is Monday here!

Anyway......National holiday means no school! It's labor day in America too, right? Aah, twins!

Last week we finished our school festival. It was three days and ended with Sports Day. It reminded me a lot like field day in middle school but slightly more organized and fun. I was in a relay too. The students had to run around the track, stop at a desk and answer a math problem, after that was done, we had to grab a piece of bread hanging from a string without using our hands. After you grabbed the bread, you ran to the finish line. I finished 3rd out of 8. THIRD! ME! Can you believe it? I was so proud of myself...and the bread was very tasty :D

Things are getting easier too. I finally understand my Host Family situation. I swith families on November 1st. It's very sad to think about really, but I'm sure it will work out in the end. And the language difference is getting easier. I can understand and pick out more and more words I know and read along with the TV. And I had a conversation with my host sister and her friends about food that we like, in Japanese! I still have a long way to go but I think I've made an important step!!

Until next time! Ja neeee

Kiigumi Gekkou Ka!

It's 21:25 here, so confusing!!!!

A Typhoon almost hit Tokyo!!!!! I'm sorry Tokyo for all the rain, but it brought a very nice breeze to Fukui!

I will update with a more upbeat and updated status!

Today was the first day of my school's festival. FUKUSHO FESTIVAL 2009!! There was lots of food, music and nice people to help me buy food. 1C, my class, made roughly 200 rice burgers last night, but it paid off because people loved them, and our class made nearly 32200 yen, which is roughly $330. Oishii node katte kudasai! And some of my classmated invited me to perform a short dance with them for the festival so I enjoyed that.　Today was so much fun...why doesn't Zionsville have a school festival? Somebody write that down for the Student Council suggestion box.

Host family wise,　my family is perfect! My host parents are some of the nicest and funniest people I've ever met. And Miki and Mina are so nice and helpful. I'm going to enjoy these next two months!!

Other news, I went to the sea on Sunday......so pretty!!!!!! Especially for someone from Indiana. I took many many pictures however Im not entirely sure how to upload them. Japanese computer is Japanese and very different. Ive switched languages twice accidentally and it took me a while to figure how to find the english alphabet again, haha! But once I do, I will :)

Until later! Keep on doing great.......I miss America so much, what did I get myself into!? haha

Oh and enjoy Wednesday America! It's a very lovely day I do say so myself!

I am in Japan!

But this must be proof that everything isn't sunshine and dasies.maah

I'm actually at my English teacher's house right now. Apparently my first host family is traveling overseas right now and won't be back until later this week. So it was a bit anticlimactic getting off the train yesterday. That definately doesn't mean that nothing exciting happened. After all, I said my "first" host family, because apparently I have two...????????????? The second greeted me at the train station yesterday. Unfortunately, I had no idea who they were, and now I feel very very terrible about not knowing what to say to them. I didn't even know their names. Now, I'm not sure how often I'll see them, after all I went home with my English teacher and not them. It's so confusing and I don't understand WHY NO ONE TOLD ME ANY OF THIS. I would have appreciated it a lot.

Also, I'm very ill right now. I've been in bed for the past 18 hours, apart from getting up to write this. My roommate in Tokyo was very sick during orientation, and the hotel didn't move her for another day and a half, and never clean the room afterwards either. So I may have caught what she had, plus all the traveling and uneccessary confusion must have taken its toll on me. However, I'm pretty sure it's not Swine Flu! Which is pretty good news. A lot of people here are very nervous about it. I've seen quite a few people around Japan wearing masks, and I was asked to take a Tamiflu pill at orientation since my roommate was sick at the time. Unfortunately, that didn't really prevent me from getting sick. BAH.

I'm sorry this isn't the most cheerful post, but it's what I'm feeling right now. Although I'm not sure it can get much worse than this, so hopefully my next entry will be a little more happy. Also, thank you for all the love on facebook!!! While it flooded my inbox, all the comments made me feel very very happy. I love all of them!

Until next time
Molly~

Host Family Info PART TWOOO.

Earlier today, I was very excited, however I have calmed down (slightly, maybe.)

I received more information on my host family today. It was funny because I almost didn't get the mail today, however I DID. And AFS sent me a packet with more detailed information on my host family, including their hobbies and things to know about the family. They also included photos of themselves, the house and the area close by. SO EXCELLENT. I think I could really leave any day now (disregarding that I don't have a Visa yettt), I'm so excited! I really look forward to meeting my family :)

In this news, I also found a new motivation to finish translating the letter I was writing to them. AFS recommended that host students write a letter to their families before they leave and I thought that was a really good idea. I think if I was hosting a student, it would be really nice to recieve a letter from them. I finished a few hours ago =D I was going to have someone look over it before I send it off since I am sound it this like want don't...... (I don't want it to sound like that hahaha)

But yup, that's all that's new. 20 days until I leave for LA. 21 until Tokyo, and 24 until I meet my house family!!!

Placement &Host Family Information!!!!

I am so excited I don't think I can control myself.

Hi guys! I received my Host Family information today. YES. YES. YES. The last few weeks were brutal waiting, but now it has PAID OFF. There are 5 weeks until I leave, so I got my info a little after the 6 - 8 week window. Still, this is AWESOME.

Excluding myself, there are 5 people in my Host family. I'll be living with my host grandparents, and my host parents. I also have a 13 year old sister. I know one of the things I wanted most family wise was a sister, so I'm very, very excited my wish came true!

My home city will be Eiheiji-cho*, Yoshida-gun*, Fukui-ken*. Fukui is located right next to Kyoto actually, so I wasn't far off from my dream city!

I took this picture of Eiheiji from the wikipedia :) The town seems to be a little smaller than Zionsville. The 2003 census is around 6,500 people, but I'm sure it's grown since then. I don't have information about my school yet, but I'm thinking that it'll be like Zionsvile size wise. It'll be interesting to see the similarities and differences between town in America and and Japan that around the same size...huh?

Here's some fun information about Fukui Prefecture, too! Apparently, there have been a lot of dionsaur dig sites in the area, there's even a museum! Fukui is also home to the city of Obama, Japan. Helena tells me they flipped out when he won the election in America, and they sell a lot of Obama merchandise. So funny!

Fukui also has a distinct dialect which is so interesting! For example, for "okay," instead of saying "hai" I would say "hoya hoya" ahahah. I think that will add a special something to my stay, but might make it a little more challenging at first. I pulled a quote from the Wikipedia, too. You guys have to read this.

Speakers of Fukui dialect tend to talk in an up and down, sing-songy manner. Speakers of Kansai dialect and Kantō dialect tend to look down on Fukui dialect as being hopelessly provincial, or inaka (rural). That being said, Fukui-ben is not without its own charm and even homespun elegance.

....I'LL BE HOPELESSLY RURAL.

Look forward to more information soon. Thank you AFS!!!!

*If I think of this correctly, 'cho' is the suffix for city. So something like Zionsville. 'Gun' is for the district, so like Boone County (I'm not sure about this one). And 'ken' is for the Prefecture, or state, so like Indiana. And then Japan!

Pre D Update ~ 私は待っています

In a perfect world, I was hoping to update this as soon as I got my family information (ANYDAYNOWPLEASE), but oh well :(

I do have new info though! A few days ago, I received my flight itinerary to Tokyo and back. I'll be leaving on August 20, and after a marvelous 11 hour plane ride, arrive in Tokyo on the 21st (HOW FUN time zones!) Six months later, I'll leaving Tokyo (in the afternoon) and coming back on February 7 (in the morning), giving new meaning to the longest day ever.
I also have my flight info to and from Los Angeles. I'll actually be leaving on August 19 for an orientation in Los Angeles before I depart, however my flight back is on the 7th, too........don't expect me in school the next day hahahaha.

The above is super exciting, of course, but I really want my host family and placement info..... ARGGHH. I've been checking the mail everyday for the past few weeks, but no luck ;__;

I've been trying to keep myself busy preparing for my departure. I've been reading a lot of language books and listening to tapes etc., hoping that I'll at least be semi prepared for a new language. Although earlier, I was taking a Kanji quiz that was made more 10 -11 year olds, and it was not so much a confidence booster, so I'll study moreeeee. (x_x)

Anddd, I have a suitcase :) So much progress!!!!!!!

I'm running out of things to say :(

Well, until again! じゃね

First Entry (WOHOO!!)

HELLO WORLD. My name is Molly Watanabe. I’m currently 16 years old, a junior in high school, and looking forward. A little more about myself, I spin in my school’s color guard, focus on my studies (blech), and of course, love to spend time with my friends. Tons of things interest me ranging from music to outer space; however today, I’m focused on my dream of studying abroad. This fall, I plan to go study abroad for one semester in Japan.
I think going abroad opens so many more doors to anyone who is willing to turn that first knob. I was first interested in going abroad because I thought it would help me learn a new language. I would love to be bilingual (it would give another meaning to thinking twice!) and I’ve read into how much AFSer’s language skills improve after time in another country. However once I really started to consider going abroad, I realized there is so much more that simply a country’s native language. There’s the culture that would consume your everyday life. I realized that I would experience something so different than what I am used to here in America. So now, I’m excited about simple things like schooling in Japan – how it will be different than America, or what kinds of amazing food I’ll eat. I’m very interested in Japan’s pop culture as, and would love to learn more about what makes the country so unique, and so spectacular. I feel going abroad through AFS would give me opportunities and accomplishments that I would never experience if I didn’t go abroad – and who doesn’t love a challenge?
Going hand in hand with my interest in Japan’s culture, I hope to gain a better understanding of the country’s culture. I hope I can explain to my friends when I return why my experience was so special, using examples from some of Japan’s cultural aspects. I also hope that I can use my experience abroad to improve myself in the future, whether it’s through a language, a new food recipe, or a fashion statement - anything can make all the difference. Additionally, with accepting another country’s beliefs and lifestyles, I hope that I can contribute to the AFS message of spreading peace by being more open to other’s opinions, even if they are different or contradict my own. After being in a different country for six month, I hope that my stay will help me break down cultural barriers so that I can feel connected to both my life in America and my life in Japan.
I think that I hope to contribute the most to getting more people interested in his program. If I could give anything to this cause, it would be helping people go abroad. I have heard so many wonderful stories about AFSers who have gone abroad, and I hope to add not only my own story, but to get my own friends interested in this wonderful opportunity. I think that if through AFS, I could persuade one person to go abroad, I have made a substantial difference.
I feel that both my friends and family are very confident and supportive of my decision to go abroad. In the beginning, I feared my parent’s reaction, thinking that they may have thought it was too big a step, or that I wasn’t ready, however I think they understand this is something I have very interested in pursuing, and therefore, have helped me in following my dream. My friends have been so great as well, and I’m going to miss them so much! I think many of my friends know that this is very important to me (and say it suits me well) and wish me the best of luck! The only problems I have had are with school and schedules. Since I’ll be gone part of my senior year, my guidance counselors are a little concerned that I get in all my credits, which I understand completely! However I feel that they think going abroad could cause trouble with graduating credits and have been a little discouraging at times. Nevertheless, I understand going abroad is not all fun and games, and will try my best in school to better prepare myself when I get back to America.
Although I could go on and on about what I hope to accomplish and what I am excited about, I still feel words cannot fully describe what I feel towards my exchange program. I think if someone is interested in going abroad, well they can finish reading this, but then STOP reading this and GO make it happen! I’d like to thank my Scholarship Sponsor for all of their support. THANK YOUUUU. I really appreciate everything they have done for me
Until next time!!!!!　じゃね：）
Molly Watanabe