Lesson #8: Insert witty title here
Ok, so I said I would update more often but here's the thing... I'm lazy. I'm also forgetful. I don't quite remember everything that happened since the last update, so bear w/me. Have to look at my pictures to see what I did.
11/05
Went to the Waseda Culture Festival w/Tina. Was a nice day, weather wise. This was before the whole darkness at 4 winter thingie. Really crowded. It was like walking through a train. Walked around a bit, ate some festival food (takoyaki, yakitori, etc.), and got a death reading. According to the student fortune teller, I will die by being crushed to death. Doesn't sound too pleasant. Went home around 6ish. All in all, a fun day.
11/06
Went to the Ferris Culture Festival. For those who don't know, Ferris is an all-girls university. Ayako showed me around for a bit. It was less crowded than the Waseda's festival. Most of the people there were guys. From what I hear, Ferris is pretty popular so I guess it's expected.
11/10
Took a class outing to the Ikebukuro Bosaikan. It's a disaster preparedness center. Learned how to react to fires and earthquakes. The last activity was escaping a maze filled w/smoke. Rob, Steven, and me were cracking up the whole time. We tried every single door possible. Had we been in a building on fire, we would be dead.
11/13
Went to church at Sophia University. Pretty nice place. Didn't have too much time to look around the campus. Took some pictures.
11/19-20
A while back, I applied to a homestay program to be held in a village in Saitama. The application said I would receive 10000 yen for teaching kids about America. A few weeks later, they told me I was to make a 20-30 minute presentation. Had they mentioned that on the application, I would not have applied. I'm glad I went though.
I'm not a morning person so it's kinda bothersome to wake up even earlier to take a train to a place 2+ hours away. I was supposed to meet the group of foreign exchange students also doing the program at Ueno at 9:30. I did not. Had I not taken the wrong train not once, but twice (again not a morning person) I would have been on time. They couldn't wait around for me so I had to find my own way to Kamiizumi village. Luckily, I was able to catch an express to there. Arrived bout 10-15 minutes late. Not bad. Kamiizumi village is a remote village out in Saitama. Thought Bremerton was small? There's only 1300 people in the village. The total student body at the jr. high consists of 38 students.
When I arrived at the school, I met up w/the other exchange students. We ate lunch, got interviewed by the Saitama paper. My picture's not in there but my quote is. This is the second news media I've been in (first being the T.V.). After lunch, we went to an welcome assembly. Had to introduce ourselves in English. I'm sure they didn't understand a word I said. After that, my host brother, Tomoya, and some other students showed me around the school for a bit. During the tour, the other students were preparing their activity stations. The most interesting one was probably the Taiko drums. I could tell alot of work, energy, and time went into their presentations. I felt bad for not really preparing for mine. At around 6-ish, I met up w/my host dad and walked to their house. They live right outside the school. Literally a minute walk. Pretty nice house. The Asami family was really nice. Got along w/their two sons pretty well since they like games and manga too. I noticed dinner didn't contain as many vegetables as I thought it would. I guess my host mother in Shinmachi really likes vegetables. Talked a bit, and went to sleep around 11. They warmed up my room w/a heater and provided me w/a heated blanket.
Next day, woke up at 6:20 to eat breakfast and get ready. The presentations by the exchange students started late. Remember how I said the presentations were 20-30 minutes long? I had to do them 5 times. The first one sucked, but the ones after that got progressively better. Felt bad for the first group. A good chunk of my presentation was throwing a football around. After presentations, we gave our goodbye speeches. I got a scarf from the host family since they noticed I was cold in the house (it was near freezing temperature). Felt a bit sad to leave. Afterwards, we took a bus tour around Saitama/Gunma. Got some good photos. Kamiizumi was an interesting experience and I hope to visit there sometime in the futures. It was really beautiful there. The air was noticeably different from the air in Tokyo. More crisp and fresh. Glad I went there.
My host mom's calling me for lunch, so I'll update some more in a bit.
11/05
Went to the Waseda Culture Festival w/Tina. Was a nice day, weather wise. This was before the whole darkness at 4 winter thingie. Really crowded. It was like walking through a train. Walked around a bit, ate some festival food (takoyaki, yakitori, etc.), and got a death reading. According to the student fortune teller, I will die by being crushed to death. Doesn't sound too pleasant. Went home around 6ish. All in all, a fun day.
11/06
Went to the Ferris Culture Festival. For those who don't know, Ferris is an all-girls university. Ayako showed me around for a bit. It was less crowded than the Waseda's festival. Most of the people there were guys. From what I hear, Ferris is pretty popular so I guess it's expected.
11/10
Took a class outing to the Ikebukuro Bosaikan. It's a disaster preparedness center. Learned how to react to fires and earthquakes. The last activity was escaping a maze filled w/smoke. Rob, Steven, and me were cracking up the whole time. We tried every single door possible. Had we been in a building on fire, we would be dead.
11/13
Went to church at Sophia University. Pretty nice place. Didn't have too much time to look around the campus. Took some pictures.
11/19-20
A while back, I applied to a homestay program to be held in a village in Saitama. The application said I would receive 10000 yen for teaching kids about America. A few weeks later, they told me I was to make a 20-30 minute presentation. Had they mentioned that on the application, I would not have applied. I'm glad I went though.
I'm not a morning person so it's kinda bothersome to wake up even earlier to take a train to a place 2+ hours away. I was supposed to meet the group of foreign exchange students also doing the program at Ueno at 9:30. I did not. Had I not taken the wrong train not once, but twice (again not a morning person) I would have been on time. They couldn't wait around for me so I had to find my own way to Kamiizumi village. Luckily, I was able to catch an express to there. Arrived bout 10-15 minutes late. Not bad. Kamiizumi village is a remote village out in Saitama. Thought Bremerton was small? There's only 1300 people in the village. The total student body at the jr. high consists of 38 students.
When I arrived at the school, I met up w/the other exchange students. We ate lunch, got interviewed by the Saitama paper. My picture's not in there but my quote is. This is the second news media I've been in (first being the T.V.). After lunch, we went to an welcome assembly. Had to introduce ourselves in English. I'm sure they didn't understand a word I said. After that, my host brother, Tomoya, and some other students showed me around the school for a bit. During the tour, the other students were preparing their activity stations. The most interesting one was probably the Taiko drums. I could tell alot of work, energy, and time went into their presentations. I felt bad for not really preparing for mine. At around 6-ish, I met up w/my host dad and walked to their house. They live right outside the school. Literally a minute walk. Pretty nice house. The Asami family was really nice. Got along w/their two sons pretty well since they like games and manga too. I noticed dinner didn't contain as many vegetables as I thought it would. I guess my host mother in Shinmachi really likes vegetables. Talked a bit, and went to sleep around 11. They warmed up my room w/a heater and provided me w/a heated blanket.
Next day, woke up at 6:20 to eat breakfast and get ready. The presentations by the exchange students started late. Remember how I said the presentations were 20-30 minutes long? I had to do them 5 times. The first one sucked, but the ones after that got progressively better. Felt bad for the first group. A good chunk of my presentation was throwing a football around. After presentations, we gave our goodbye speeches. I got a scarf from the host family since they noticed I was cold in the house (it was near freezing temperature). Felt a bit sad to leave. Afterwards, we took a bus tour around Saitama/Gunma. Got some good photos. Kamiizumi was an interesting experience and I hope to visit there sometime in the futures. It was really beautiful there. The air was noticeably different from the air in Tokyo. More crisp and fresh. Glad I went there.
My host mom's calling me for lunch, so I'll update some more in a bit.