Last Day in the States!

This is so exciting! This has been a wonderful last weekend in the states, and I have my loving godparents to thank for that. They have been very welcoming to me, and I've had a lot of fun down here in D.C. However, the time has come at last to depart for Japan! The wheels beneath me will leave the tarmac (hopefully) at 12:20 p.m., and I will land on Tuesday (Japan time) at 3:30 or so. The time difference is thirteen hours at the moment.

From that point on, there's lots to do. I don't actually move in with my host family until Oct. 6, and I'll be staying at the Kichijoji Tokyu Inn until then. While I'm at that hotel, every day will be (as far as I can tell) a blurry of orientation meetings and presentations.

The october schedule is as follows:

• 10/2 Arrival at Narita Airport 

• 10/3 CIEE Orientation at Study Center, welcome lunch with CIEE staff followed by Yotsuya-Imperial Palace Walking Tour with local Japanese guides

• 10/4 CIEE Orientation and visit to Life-Safety Learning Center (including earthquake simulation)

• 10/5 Intercult Orientation and Japanese placement test (thank god this was moved last minute to a later date), Tokyo Giants baseball game with CIEE staff and students

• 10/6 Homestay Move-in

• 10/9 Intercult Entrance Ceremony, CIEE Orientation

• 10/10 School begins!

• 10/20 Daiyon-hino Elementary School Visit

• 10/27 CIEE Exchange Event (making "nunozori Japanese sandals, folding origami, and trying on "yukata" cotton kimono) with Japanese host families and local volunteers 

Of course, aside from this, there will be other fun things we're doing. I will be going to eat Ramen as much as I can. I know a few others—there are only four of us: Ian, from Maine; Julien, from MA; Mary, from GA, and me!—will be doing some night club stuff (which, I can't do, because their clubbing age limit is like America: clubs vary from 18+ to 21+). But I might be going to hang out around Shibuya with them, which is another tentative plan we have. 

Then there's my host family, as well, whom I suspect will want to take me places and show me things, because I am their guest. I'm still freaking out a little about the Japanese cultural style of not communicating directly about any problems, and probably not making requests of their guests of things they would like to be done. But I am staying with them for the majority of a year, and I want to not cause them stress, so this will be a great (perhaps the greatest) test of my observation skills. よし!

I am looking forward to the plane flight, actually, because of its infinite snacks, onboard movies, and—most of all—long flight time for me to do work! I've also started watching Kyou Kara Maou! again (which is one of my most favorite animes), in an effort to get the sound of Japanese in my head again. Of course, with the dialect and vernacular of Kyou Kara Maou!, it's like the equivalent of trying to get the sound of American English in your head by watching Horatio Hornblower. Not only is it British, but it's also 1800s British. Nevertheless, I still love this anime, and it's fitting that it should accompany me on my flight overseas.

Now, I am off to spend the rest of my Sunday well, live life to the fullest, and play with my beloved godbrother Corbin. Then, tonight, it's packing time once again!　いきましょ!

Pack-Man

As I'm sitting here hopelessly staring at the mess that lies before me, I feel very glad to be procrastinating. Thank my nonexistent deity (for I am atheist) that I have this blog with which I can distract myself.

I've had to unpack, first of all, in order to repack again. Yes, I have moved! Now that I'm right across the river from my future college, I have to get rid of all the boxes and bags, put everything in its right place, just so that I can take those things out again and figure out what I want to bring to Japan.

Speaking of which, packing for nine months is really tough, especially since I need to bring all my prescription medicines with me (because shipping in medicine to Japan is impossible), and I also keep wondering just how much I should bring. Enough clothes for two weeks then keep doing laundry? Or should I bring more, so that I don't have to keep wasting their water with my poor packing foresight? Not to mention that the Japanese have a few customs I'm not prepared to face, such as their toothpaste.

Fun fact: Japanese toothpaste rarely has fluoride in it (the only somewhat findable brand with fluoride is Aquafresh, which I've heard is quite expensive). This means I have to bring enough toothpaste to last me a year. I don't keep track of how much toothpaste I use... So many people have been struck by my odd question: "How much toothpaste do you use in a year? ... Uh huh. And does that mean you brush regularly twice a day?" Can you see how this quickly gets awkward? I've settled on three. I don't think I'll need more than that.

Fun fact: Japanese people don't sweat much, so, naturally, they have no need for deodorant. The only anti-B.O. agent they have is a faint flower smelling spray that doesn't really last for very long, and doesn't even mask much of anything. Again. I have no idea how much I use, and, like I mentioned above, I can't just go around asking people "How much deodorant do you think you use in nine months?"

Another difficulty seems to have been my homestay gift. Whenever I search for good ideas online, it's always ideas for one week or two week homestays, and they always suggest that you throw in more things if you stay longer. Nevertheless, there seems to be quite a gap between one or two weeks and nine months. And considering the lists that they suggest for those one/two week homestays, I'm starting to wonder whether or not I need to get my homestay family a new house or something... Nevertheless, with Japanese culture, less is more. Too much and you seem too... uncultured. I decided upon a Harvard shirt, a set of Red Sox shirt and cap, and a small adorable container of Boston Baked Beans (which, I never knew, usually meant candy coated peanuts rather than... you know... beans). The problem is that I have no idea with whom I will be homestaying, which makes it difficult to know what to bring. Alas, hopefully CIEE will let me know something before the gig's up and I meet them for the first time by thinking "Surprise!" as I stand on their doorstep.

On the side opposite of packing (not sure if it's the bright side or not), I have been getting very good at playing pac-man, since it gets me nice and distracted from things that I don't want to do, such as pack, unpack, keep up with my dying math skills, finish reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series (better known as Game of Thrones), and, last but not least, think about departing and physically leaving these wonderful people I know here in the States.

Whelp! Here I go, back to contemplating Japanese culture and customs (cool place to study this stuff, thanks to my friend Naomi: http://athome.nealrc.org/what.html) and figuring out just what exactly is a bath hierarchy (apparently, many Japanese families all bathe in the same water, one after the other, in some order (that starts with the father, I think))! The journey is nigh!

Cheers and chocolate! <3

Counting Down the Days

I get to catsit this week, which is great, because the cat in question (pictured above) is this adorable black and white feline that goes by the name of Luke. He's very friendly, and highly cuddly—and the best thing about him is that he's the only thing keeping me relaxed because... That's right. Japan is coming up much faster than I had anticipated, and much like a tree does when one starts to learn biking, Japan 'jumped out at me.'

To make things more stressful, I'm moving houses this week. Some of you might be used to moving, so it might not seem like all that much, but when parts of your house looks like a hurricane aftermath, moving takes some time. Luckily, that means I can probably just sort out what I want to bring to Japan as well, and just set that aside.

My mother told me that I've been to Tokyo before, when I was really young, but I don't remember any of it; so this is basically my first time going to Japan. It's a bit scary, more for the how-am-I-going-to-speak-and-understand-others-speaking-twice-my-speed factor, rather than the oh-I'm-going-so-far-away-from-home-and-I'll-have-to-be-independent factor. I think I'll be fine with the latter.

Nevertheless, the most overwhelming feeling is the feeling of excitement. I want to go so badly. My glee is busting out hard. This is the culmination of many events in my past, and gosh darn it, it's worth it! Working hard all those years, self-pursuing Japanese culture and language, etc. It was all for a very good cause, and I have to say, now that it's here, I have no regrets. None. Just... wow. o.o

I'm going to Japan! Can you believe it? Because I barely can, and I probably won't until I've been there for a few weeks and have finally let it sink in that Japanese is the dominant language of where I am (albeit Tokyo probably is the most dense region in Japan for English speaking people). Yatta! Iku yo!

I want to thank all the people who have helped me get to this point: my parents, of course, who not only have footed the majority of the bill until I can pay them back, but also have pushed me to continue doing what I love and pursuing it to its limit (if that even exists); my godparents, whom I've known all my life and whom I trust and love as I do my own parents; my teachers, who have shown great interest and support in my interests, even if my interests aren't within the realm of their teachings; my boyfriend, who helped me through many tough times and is always supportive of my dreams, even if they aren't his own (I love you! <3); and my "family," and by that, I mean those of you who mean as much as family should to anyone with a "normal" family. You guys have picked me up when I have crashed down, and pushed me to go on even when I wanted to back down, and urged me to take those leaps of faith, even though my greatest fear is heights and falling. Thanks, everyone. =]

Since many of you have urged me to keep you updated, this shall be the home of my blog about my Japanese gap year. However, be warned: when I give details, I mean details. There will be long paragraphs, lots of info, and hopefully lots of posts. Next post will probably happen a few days before I depart for Japan.

Cheers and chocolate! <3