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How To Not Run a Travel Blog. Step 1: Don't update for 2 months

See I tried to update it... It just proceeded to have an error and literally send like part of the first paragraph of a 5 paragraph update. Yeah that annoyed me. Alright so I guess I'll start where I left off and work my way from there.

Now last time I updated I was talking about how I was hanging out with a couple of students taking a trip to Japan from New Zealand. I have to say they were a blast to hang out with. Really funny and nice people. The school took us to a bunch of places including Disneyland, I'll go ahead and put the pictures of all of us below.

(I regret nothing in the first picture)

But yeah all of them were really nice and I would love to see them all again sometime. (Now how does one sneak into New Zealand.)

Now I guess I'll explain part of the reason why I took so long to update. I was starting to get smacked in the face a little with everything going on. I just was losing the will to do just about everything, I just cane home studied, dinked around on my computer and phone, then went to sleep. I guess I finally realised that I'm not a tourist and I need to put in my 2 cents if I want to get anything to happen. There was a trip I took that helped me realise that. I took a trip alone to this wonderful park, and I must say it felt wonderful. It reminded me of all of the places I have been before, and how they brought me to the place I am now. I watched 3 boys curiously looking at these huge rhinoceros beetles and laughing with their dad. Just watching those scenes helped me realise what I need to do. It was around this time that I tried to update the blog, and it didn't work. (Totally still not annoyed with that)

Now the next major thing was something that keeps crawling it's way back into my life and I honestly have 0 problems with it. I got together with a couple of people I met through AFS(My study abroad company) And we had a Dungeons and Dragons one shot campaign. I was the Dungeon Master, And we had a Swedish girl playing a Gender Neutral Gnome Warlock, a Australian girl playing a Half elf rouge, a Thai guy playing a Black Dragonborn Paladin, and a Bolivian guy playing a Human Wizard. It was amazing how a game that has taken such an impact in the current friends I have and have made brought together such a odd ball group of people. It's just spectacular. (Also the Bolivian guy is absolutely hooked and keeps asking me questions about the game and when the next session will be.)

Also I've been making some friends as school, I even went and hung out with one on a day off. I hope that I get more chances to do it, because it was a pretty fun time with this one. (Her name is Shoko Tsushima and she's a amazing artist, I mean, most of my friends are, I'll try and bring back the mini books they made and show everyone, it's impressive)

It may seem a little weird (and yes I still don't understand how to smile) but these are called Purikuras and are a very popular thing to do while being with friends in Japan.

Now last week was both the last week of school for about a month and I also spent it with a Different host family. They were another older couple and I guess more so a traditional Japanese family. It was an interesting experience compared to the very modern liberal lifestyle of the Suzukis. (I should also mention Tokyo was reaching around 100 degrees every day along with A LOT of Humidity and it is not a good time.)

So currently I'm in Nagano Prefecture and just been chilling for Summer Break. I went on a hike on a mountain Monday. There's also a big AFS summer camp thing coming up soon, so I'll be making an effort to try and update around that time. Let's do it.

People

Alright, so I personally prefer these longer length updates that hold a lot of information instead of the quick short updates, so I'm not going to try and make a schedule, just update when I have stories. Alright let's get to it.

Now the main reason I chose to use that title is because over the past few weeks I've met so many unique people from all around the world, and have honestly been reminded about just how much I love, well, people. Each one is so unique, and if you put the effort to learn about them, you will always feel a grab to learn more about them. I hope I showcase that in my stories.

So chronologically the first thing I should mention would be finals week at the school here, and I will admit, the tension is just as high as home if not actually higher, since the test is basically the only thing that counts towards your grade. Most clubs were cancelled during the week before and the week during the tests, with the exception of sports clubs.

The next thing to mention should be the Ikebukuro trip. So AFS(The company I'm doing this with) puts everyone in Japan into chapters, and my chapter is the Tama chapter. In the chapter there is a girl from Australia, a guy from Thailand, a girl from Sweden, a guy from Bolivia(more on him later), a girl from China, a guy from Germany, and a girl from Slovakia. A few of us decided to go on a trip to Ikebukuro together, and I admit it was a pretty thrilling experience experiencing everything with everyone. We didn't really do anything specific, besides spending a couple hours at a Karaoke place, but other then that we basically just poked around different areas. I'll put some pictures below.

A few of those faces may be a little familiar because I invited a couple friends from America who were nearby.

Now on the train ride home I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Fernando, the guy from Bolivia. We discussed many things about the United States, and I learned about a Country we don't get to know much about in school. The current state of Bolivia is that it's having a socialist problem, because the working class is tired of working under the rich, which is mostly foreigners, but what annoys me is that where is the news about the situation in Latin America? We know the basics of the deal in Venezuala, but what about the other places? Fernando straight told me that many people he knew didn't quite like America, and I say they have good reason. Because what we did is we ended up putting people in power there who turned the countries into Dictatorships. The situation sounds somewhat familiar doesn't it?(*cough* Middle East *cough*). But to be able to talk about this with him was a amazing experience, and I feel I shared with him my thoughts and I hope that I give him a idea of not everyone in a country is a bad person. Because I feel we have been pretty bad at doing that ourselves.

Alright so that was kind of heavy so I'll try to calm it down a bit. So for the next 2 weeks in my school I'm not gonna be the only foreigner. The school has a program they do with a school in New Zealand, and 5 students, 4 girls and 1 guy, are going to be at the school. Now talking with them is great, because turns out they live in Gunnison of New Zealand. They got Mountains, Livestock, and Pot. It's a town called Waimate. I also get to experience the hilarity of a foreigner showing up in the school from a somewhat outside perspective, and it's funny. Their first day of school once they all went to their classes they all, specifically the boy, got SWARMED. They were all crowding around them asking for pictures and trying to practice their English and calling the girls cute. It's definitely a experience to watch and I almost wish I filmed it. (Now I don't have any pictures with them but I plan on getting some soon so I may just do a photo dump update.)

So the last big thing to mention is probably the Sports Day. It was just the day before I wrote this update and I can easily say it was pretty great. If you remember the field day we had in Elementary school, and Basically add a x10 multiplier you got Sports Day. A couple events were pretty simple, like a relay race or a 100 meter run, but others were... unique. A few that I participated in were a piggyback fight that had 3 people under a 4th, and they were trying to take a hat off each other's heads; a full class jumproping competition for most in a row (I was one of the people spinning the rope and let me say that gets tiring fast); A cheer/dance competition(my group chose the songs Runaway Baby by Bruno Mars, A song from a children's anime, and Gangnam Style.); and which group can bounce the giant ball to the end of a line of people and back. That entire day was extremely fun, and I'll put a few more pictures below, because I got quite a few, because my classmates saw this as the perfect opportunity to get a picture with me.

Well that's been the past few weeks. Once I have more things I want to talk about I'll be sure to update here. I hope things are going well in Gunnison, and be happy your summer isn't going to have the issue of RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF HUMIDITY.

"I should update about once a week"

Well. Glad I am consistent in one thing. Inconsistency. Alright I got a lot to talk about so let's get cracking.

School itself has been pretty simple, but I thought this would be a good chance to explain some major differences in the school system. To start, Shoes aren't worn indoors, they are taken off in an entrance hallway, and put in special lockers. Next would probably be how teachers are the ones who switch classes instead of students, so your fellow classmates are basically all you see outside of clubs. Along with that there's the schedule, which is a definitely random feeling. So instead of set classes each day with long periods 2 days a week, every class is exactly 50 minutes every day and you can have it twice in the same day or not at all. Now probably the last major thing is sleeping in class. Over here, it's not really frowned upon. Is it somewhat rude to the teacher? Yes, but there's a mutual understanding I believe, that the student needs more rest but the teacher expects the student to put more effort into his studies later because of it.

Alright so now what I've been doing besides school. The most major thing was that last week was a holiday called Golden Week, and each day (except Tuesday and Wednesday for some reason) was dedicated to something. I don't remember them all right now but the last day is Children's day. I did quite a bit during my free time.

On that Sunday I went to a mini downtown area near my home called Tachikawa. There was a bunch of stuff but there was one building that grabbed me. It was a slim yet tall building, with each floor dedicated to something. I wasn't sure what was on the first floor because I couldn't enter it, but the 2nd floor was all models, things like Kantai Collection and Gundam. 3rd floor was a board game shop, which made me really happy since it was only about 15 minutes away from my house by monorail, and I plan on going again. I bought some stuff there and took a picture of a certain something that has taken a major effect in my life.

Anyways the 4th floor was figurines and little things. Like posters and charms, but I did find the entire Nier Automata soundtrack on CD and that was important for me to have. The 5th floor was basically the discount area, bits of all the previous stores at lower prices. The top floor was Manga. Both kinds. Not much else to say about that.

So the next day I went with a friend I met through AFS to Akihabara, and I gotta say Electric Town is quite a sight. Since I got there kinda late we didn't really do much but walk around, but we did go into a maid cafe just to really see what it's like and I gotta say. It's weird, pictures of the ordeal below.

(2 of these are just things I wanted to take pictures of because they are good shows.)

Now the last place I went was with my host family, and we went back to Nagano for a couple days, I can definitely tell they really like it there, more then they do here at least. They are very outdoorsy despite their age. We didn't do a whole lot there, but I helped Shinji bury a stump and put some doors he was working on back on their hinges, but we did spend a day at this park called あずみの(Azumino). It was a huge area and was definitely nice to walk around.

Well that's really been it. Not much going on recently, may go chill with a friend on Saturday, and I've definitely gotten closer to many of my classmates, so things are progressing smoothly.(Now if only I could actually do better with the language, everything would be peachy, but my memory isn't quite working the way it's supposed to, I forgot how to write K today for a good 10 seconds, but we'll get there.)

Now I want to say I'll see you all next week, but in all honesty I do not trust myself in the slightest, so I'll say see you all when I actually have the will to update.

Slow Week

Not a whole lot happened last week, but I'll list a few things that happened. I've started becoming friends with the people at school, they have been messaging me on Line. Everyone is really nice still. My Japanese is making progress as well, it's definitely big strides I'm making. Still got a ways to the point I can hold a conversation, but time marchs on. I didn't really do anything over the weekend, but I plan on changing that this weekend, so stay tuned for that. Well like I said not a whole lot worth mentioning, but we'll see what comes next.

First Week of School (Plus Harajuku visit)

Alright, it's been a week since school really started, and I gotta say the first week was definitely intimidating. I couldn't really understand what the teachers were trying to say plus I wasn't sure if my classmates actually like me or not, but recently I have been adding them on Line and it has been a big help, because now I've made a few friends and they are helping me with class too. Now besides that it's really just school, with a few small differences. Probably the most major difference is that the teachers change classes, not the students, so you are only with one class. But yeah the only other thing with school was the clubs, and I joined the E.S.S club, which is English Speaking Society, and it allows me to help Japanese students with English and they can help me with Japanese. So the other thing I want to talk about is what I did yesterday. I took a trip down to Harujuku and it was super fun. I have some pictures of it, so I'll leave those here.

So the past week was pretty fun, I'll see what the next week brings.

The past week

Alright, Its been a while since I updated, I guess its a good time to start doing those weekly updates, because things will start slowing down from this point. Alright I’m going to split this up into two different parts.

Country Home in Nagano

So a major reason of my lack of updates is because I went with the Suzuki’s to their country home in Nagano, and I must say it was a very nice place, it felt secluded, but was still nearby a major district, so it was a good mix. The forested area was very nice to be around in, and I helped Shinji with his woodworking hobby a little. His current project is a new shelf for the country home. While I was there, we also visited Matsumoto castle, which was pretty cool. The design was stunning, and Shinji took some pictures while we were there.

(Yes those were “Samurai” for tourists to take pictures with outside of the castle, but Shinji wanted the picture). Anyways the entire area was very pretty and I’m excited for when we get to head out there again.

First Day of School

So this was just yesterday, and it wasn’t really a full on school day. It was basically like the Freshmen orientation at GHS, but the whole school was there. I got to meet some of my classmates while I was there. I’m in class 2-2, and yes, I did wear a Uniform. I felt really awkward at first, not being able to speak Japanese, but luckily there was a girl named Emily who’s dad was from the U.K, and who was a teacher at the school, so she helped show me around the whole place. Plus all of the students showed me what we were doing as well, even though it was mostly paperwork I didn’t need to deal with. There was also an actual orientation in the gym, with all the students sitting and listening to the principal. I also had to do a speech, just saying some stuff about Gunnison and myself. Did I mention that this was in front of the entire student and faculty staff? Which is over 1000 people? Thank you speech and debate, or else I would’ve probably fainted.

Well that was the recent happenings, now to just see what happens next.

One day I'll get a consistent update schedule.

Alright, so this post is a little bit late, but I've been pretty busy recently, so I'll go ahead and just pick up where I left off. So on Thursday(would've been Wednesday in America) Shinji took me to meet an old exchange student of his named Ryan, who was living in Japan and his family was visiting him, and the 6 of us (including his parents went around to a few places. We started off at the Imperial Garden, and I must say it is an impressive display. The Cherry Blossoms were still in bloom as well, and the whole arrangement was simply amazing. We all then went to the place where important political people from other nations come to stay while in Japan (Trump was there last November) and got a tour of both the proper Japanese style place they go and the large mansion designed more European in style. The final place we went to was this amazing shrine, called the Meiji Shrine. The entirety of it all was so large, it was basically an entire forest in the middle of Harajuku. I'll post the pictures I have of the ordeal here quickly.

I can also say Ryan and his family were both very nice, and it was great to meet them both. So the next day was another set of orientation, which the actual meeting wasn't very noteworthy, but during our lunch break we had a lot of fun. We all rented bikes and rode out to a nearby park, where we all had a picnic. It was my first chance to try an おにぎり(Onigiri). We also played Soccer while there for a little while, and that was enjoyable too. So the only other thing that's worth mentioning from the past few days is at the orientation a guy named Pedro from Brazil was there to share his experiences with us, because he was studying at a nearby college, and it turns out he went to the same school as me. He also started a trend of abroad students sharing their tips in a little booklet, which was super cool. Well it's time for me to head out today, and let's go ahead and see what happens next.

How to develop a fear of trains (and other experiences)

So as the title says, trains worry me more than they should. The past few days have been pretty simple, although I did go visit my new high school yesterday, and I got my uniform as well (I'll post a picture of that later) and it's honestly pretty big. They said about 1000 kids are there, but from what I saw, they seemed very nice. I'm interested in Kendo, but it seems like it would take up a lot of time, I think they have practice every day of the week, and I want to join a culture and athletic club, so I'll see what happens. Now for the exciting part. Trains. Now the reason I was on the train is because I wanted to go see Shinjuku for a few hours because I had a lot of free time. The train ride there was quite easy, I managed to find the express line to Shinjuku, making it very simple. Walking around Shinjuku was amazing! It was such a cool place, and I hung around a claw machine place for a while too, even though I knew I wouldn't get anything(I'll figure out what the trick is one day.). So I enjoyed Shinjuku, but once I had to get home, everything went wrong. I first got on a special train because Google maps told me too, but turns out you need to buy a special pass for that train, so I got off. The next avaliable train was a different line, so I hurried over there quickly to realise, my pass didn't let me get over there. So then I waited and eventually got Google Maps to find me a route back home, but I kept worrying in the back of my mind it was wrong, so I had to sit with that suspicion in my mind the whole time. But in the end I made it safely home to update the blog. I just hope I learn the trains quickly. At least I have a picture of the cherry blossoms in Shinjuku for my efforts.

First Days with the Suzukis

Alright. These past few days have been the start of what I signed up for, and it’s simply wonderful. Yesterday I said my goodbyes to the Orientation, but my Group Leader left me a small note, and it made me extremely happy. I am keeping in touch with the other AFSers via a LINE group chat, and we are all sharing our great experiences, whether they be a load of snow up north in Hokkaido or someone extremely excited about getting their first Shonen Jump magazine. We will see each other on a later date, but let me talk about myself and the home I’m going to be borrowing for the next year. I met Shinji Suzuki-San and Tomoko Suzuki-San yesterday, and they have welcomed me with the most open of arms. They already gave me the nickname Hachan, which is 8 in Japanese, since August is the 8th month. Tomoko-San makes such delicious food, and Shinji is very funny and kind. We spent yesterday evening watching a Sumo tournament on television. It was surprisingly fun to watch, even with consistent downtime. Today though was very exciting. Shinji and Tomoko showed me around the local Tama area, and today there was the Spring Festival going on, more on that in a moment. I had to chuckle to myself when Shinji was helping me get a train pass and was confused about how my birthdays month wasn’t August. It also turns out that Tama is the “Hometown” of Hello Kitty, which is actually pretty cool for how big the brand is. Now for the Festival. There were many groups playing songs on Taiko drums, and the beat was so strong I could feel it going through me. They also had such a diverse age range, of men and women who were potentially in their 70s to young boys and girls who were maybe just entering middle school. It was a truly astounding showcase of the culture. But now once again it is very late here and I must take my rest. Now that I think about it I am updating once every 2 days so I might as well stick to that pattern.

Japan Orientation

So I need to condense 2 days full of amazing emotions, people and memories. Let's do this. So it all started yesterday morning. They split our groups depending on where we are heading, and I must say it feels weird when your group of 21 people becomes a group of 9. But besides that point, there were so many amazing people that I got to meet while everyone waited for the their bus. This Slovakian girl would laugh at everything and was amazing to talk too, while we all spent a good 10 minutes trying to pronounce one of my roommates names (It was Kjetil, and no you didn't say it right). But after that we all got on a bus and came to this place called the Youth Olympic center for the start of our Orientation here in Japan. Now I can definitely say this Orientation was great. They split us into groups and had us mingle with the other people who were there, and the group leaders all did a little skit to introduce themselves(the USA group leaders, Toshi and Genchan, did Apple Pen Pineapple Pen.). Now for the orientation itself was pretty straightforward, tell about our time here and what to be prepared for. But for the games and activities that were done as breaks, were so fun. Once we got to know the group leaders we discovered they were amazing people, both of them doing Study Abroads to the USA just a few years ago, and were such interesting and funny people. Despite those of our original group who left for Osaka and Nagoya, the rest of us had a blast. Now I guess with those parts I'm being broad enough to cover both days, so that's what I'm going to stick with. Now as for the food, we would go to the on area cafeteria, and I must say the food was really good. Some thing were new(Nato was an experience I'm still not sure about) but it was all great. So towards the night everyone was to take a bath. A traditional Japanese bath. Which meant all the guys skinny dipping in a hot tub together. Both nights. I won't deny that will take some getting used to. But right now the plan is to meet my host family tomorrow and go spend the rest of the year with them. At the orientation's closing ceremony the rest of us had to say goodbye. 2 of the USA kids are flying to Hokida tomorrow and we are all in different parts of Tokyo, but we plan to meet up with each other during the year and talk about our experiences. But for now, I'm heading to bed and continuing the story tomorrow, but not after sharing something. Our group leaders were taking pictures all the time, and made an album for us to see, so I thought I would share it here. (The links weird so click on the top link to get to the album). http://ur0.link/JbNJ

LA Orientation(Part 2) and Japan First Day(Explained Below)

So after finishing things up yesterday with LA, I was going to type out everything that happened to me, but the internet reset, and I misplaced my access code. So I am currently doing 2 days worth of posts at once. All right let’s get to it then!

LA Orientation(Part 2):

So that second day was basically an all day lecture. Sure it was fun, but it was A LOT of lecture time. Luckily once the lectures were over, things got really fun. We decided we were going to spend our last day in the USA at Manhattan beach. Now, that in itself is pretty cool, but there is something I cannot fail to mention; our means of transportation, was a party bus. Now I should explain in a little more detail. The hotel we were at had a deal for a few years with AFS, and part of that deal was a shuttle to Manhattan beach, yet that year they had stopped doing it, so our orientation leader needed to find and quick and somewhat cheap ride. What was the first thing available? A party bus. So that was pretty terrific. Now Manhattan beach itself was quite enjoyable. Did I end up going too far out and completely soaking a new pair of pants? A definite maybe. But I can say that for all 21 of us there that night, it won’t be easily forgotten.

Japan First Day(A.K.A 11 Hours sitting in a chair):

The subtitle doesn’t lie. Today was an exhausting day of travel. Waking up and going straight to the airport. Waiting in all of the lines at said airport. And then sitting on a plane for a while. In total it might of actually been a good 14 hours total travel time. But once we got here AFS Japan was right there to guide us through our first day, and I can easily say I am tired. After we left the airport, we were able to meet a few other people from different countries doing a year abroad in Japan as well, so that was pretty cool. I am currently sitting in my hotel room bunking with a guy from Norway and a guy from Switzerland. Tomorrow we head out to our own orientations for our towns. It will be weird saying bye to some of these people I met over the past couple of days as they head off to their families, but we are all doing this for ourselves, and I guess I should come to terms with that. Plus we get to tell our stories to each other once we are done, so it will be an interesting time. Well I am going to sleep, because the story doesn’t end right there.

LA Orientation(Part 1)

Alright so again I’m doing this very late at night just to make sure I’m getting everything in. The plane ride was a pretty interesting experience knowing once I got off I would have to do my own work to get to where I needed to be. But as for once I got here, it seems I got here pretty early. So I was able to chat with the 2 very nice ladies who were running this whole experience. They were both from the New York area, and one of them was a German immigrant who spend a year abroad here in Arizona a while back. So after chatting with the both of them for a good while, I got my key and hung out in my room until it was time to begin everything. This laptop I’m currently writing this on is a fantastic piece of machinery, running NieR: Automata as if it were nothing. But once I got back down I was so impressed by all the different types of people who were there and from everywhere they came from. In all honesty I feel like I’m not as fantastic as them all, but that’s just causing more determination to well up and make me want to strive to be even better(Even though one of the people here are nearly fluent already...). Towards the end a wonderful lady from Japan came and explained to us about what the culture was gonna be like in Japan and what to be prepared for. She answered all of our questions with extremely well thought out ideas and ways to work around potential issues. But if I continue writing this any longer it’s gonna be tomorrow and I am going to spend my last day in the States exhausted and I would rather not feel like that, so I’ll continue this story tomorrow! Goodnight

#japan #la #afs #abroad #travel

Let’s Get This Started!

Alright, so this is my Japan blog! I am currently writing this at a hotel in Denver, but my current plan is to update once a week(Or when anything mindblowingly amazing happens, we’ll find out), but I plan on doing it daily to start out to help ease my mind of this amazing yet totally not worrying at all thing I’m doing(Heh Heh...). So yeah. It’s nearly 9:30 PM and I have a flight in the morning at 7, so I have to be there at 5... So I’m going to sleep now; the adventure starts tomorrow! Now to check every bloody document for the 10th time...

#japan #travel #blog #fear #exicited

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