Winter in Japan

As we get into the end of November, Hokkaido is finally living up to it's reputation of being cold. Not as bad Canada, however, from what I've heard from folks back home. We got our first real snow last night, the first that stuck anyway, though slush was falling from the sky as early as Saturday. And the weather isn't the only thing changing - this coming Saturday I'll be changing host families as well.

In a way, it's hard to believe that I've been here for a little over three months now - the time really does fly. But at the same time I feel almost like a different person from the me who stepped off the plane three months ago and got her fist taste of Japan. I feel like I've grown a lot, become more confident and more sure of who I am. I've learned tons about Japan and it's culture and can now (to a certain extent) converse in more than one language. Today during home-ec I ended up getting a lesson on Japanese history from one of my former classmates while we were knitting, and I'm proud to say I definitely understood most of it.

It's been quite the journey so far - everything from discovering purikura to eating octopus (on a semi-regular basis, at that) to learning how to work a japanese toilet with all the extra buttons - and it's been a great one. More thanks to everyone who has made this possible for me, especially the Kanno family, my current host family (though only for a couple more days). They had to put up with me getting used to certain aspects of the culture, deal with my language skills and help me adjust to everything, and have been incredibly patient with me and wonderfully welcoming. I couldn't appreciate it more.

It's been a great three months, and I can't wait to continue my journey! Thanks for reading despite me being less than frequent with my updates, and I hope you're enjoying the blog.

School Trip!

As I've mentioned a few times, my school does an annual trip to western honshu for my grade. I just got back last friday, and it was a really great experience. I got to see a lot more of traditional Japan, as Hokkaido in general is very modern. For the most part, I really enjoyed the trip. While there were some frustrations with the very structured nature of some of the activities, all in all, it was a really enjoyable experience, and I feel I learned a lot and saw many amazing things. 

The first day of the trip we flew from Sapporo to Tokyo to Hiroshima, and then drove from the airport to the Memorial Peace Park at the hypocenter of the bombing. Driving through the bustling, modern city, it's almost impossible to believe that only a little over fifty years ago it was almost completely destroyed. Driving through the city, I didn't even realize how close we were to the hypocenter until we got out of the bus and saw what is commonly known as the A-Bomb Dome.

The Dome seen from across the river

We then walked to the museum dedicated to the war and Hiroshima bombing, whose displays had captions in English as well as Japanese, so I was able to learn a lot about the event. We had covered in it school, but actually being there was an entirely different experience. Though my classmates seemed stoic, I was on the verge of tears the entire time and still don't know how I managed not to cry. The thing that struck me most, however, was how Hiroshima has recovered. Though they said nothing would grow for 75 years, the city is lush and green and stands as a monument for peace. The mayor still writes a letter of protest every time any government announces nuclear testing plans, and the city is home to a yearly ceremony hoping for peace. It was an incredible place to visit. 

Day two we were split into groups and toured the park with guides who explained the monuments and other features. I admit I struggled to keep my focus during this section, but what I did learn was pretty interesting. After that, we drove to the coast and took a ferry out to Miyajima island, home to the famous Itsukushima Shrine and it's even more famous torii, which stands in the ocean. We were there at low tide, so you could walk right out to it, though at high tide it becomes partially submerged. The temple was really beautiful, as was the shrine. Also, the island was populated by some friendly deer and had a lot of interesting-looking shops that I didn't get a chance to explore (this is where the annoyed by the structure came in, it was a little too move-from-designated-place-to-designated-place-and-take-a-picture for me, but I still really enjoyed seeing the island).

The Torii

The Temple with a five-storied castle in the background

One of the dog statues at the temple

After lunch and the temple, we took the ferry back to Hiroshima and the tour bus took us to Hiroshima station, where I got to ride the shinkansen (or bullet train, as they are known in the west). As some of you know, I have a weird fascination with these things and I was super excited about it, which my classmates thought was hilarious. So what did I do on this long awaited train ride? Slept. The portion of the ride I was awake was really cool, though, those things go crazy fast and it was super smooth. I was distracted by something and didn't even feel it when the train started moving, it was really cool. The train took us to Kyoto, where we stayed in a Japanese-style hotel called a Ryokan. We had dinner in the room and slept on futons, it was great! 

The next day we spent the morning with the group, seeing of Kyoto's most famous sights, such as the Golden Temple and the old imperial palace with it's 1000 golden Buddha statues, as well as wooden statues of other deities and a huge 42-armed statue in the centre. Because of their sacred nature, visitors are not allowed to photograph the statues, so I don't have any pictures, but they were incredibly beautiful, and the place had an amazing presence, especially taking into account how much time and effort it took to make them. 

The Golden Temple

In the afternoon we split up into our groups again and were free to explore Kyoto. My group took me to a few other famous temples as well as just wandering around the streets of one of Kyoto's more traditional areas. It was really cool seeing all the older style buildings and food and there were lots of people (mostly girls and women, but some men as well) walking around in kimonos and yukatas (sometimes seen in Sapporo, but not nearly this much) which was great. We also met a couple Maiko. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's some of the places we visited:

Kyoto and the gate to one of the temples

The temple 

From left to right: Yui, two Maiko, and me

A small bamboo forest

The next day was our free day, so my group caught a train to Nara and explored the area, checked out the gift shops, went to another temple, and met some deer, which Nara is famous for. They were very friendly, almost domesticated, unlike the deer in Canada which tend to very shy. They would walk right up to you and didn't mind if people pet them, it was crazy. At the suggestion of my Japanese teacher, I bought some biscuits to feed them, which was fun until suddenly you're surrounded by deer and one bites your rear (didn't break the skin but left a bit of a mark). Still, it was nothing you'd see in Canada, and quite the experience. 

Me and some deer in Nara

Next we got on another train to Osaka, which was quite the city, especially since we were in the very heart of it. Very busy, lit up and colourful. It sort of reminded me of Las Vegas, if Las Vegas was cleaner, about fifty time less sleazy and fifty times more Japanese. So I guess it wasn't that much like Vegas, but it was the closest comparison I could think of, as I haven't been to many big metropolitan centres. It wasn't somewhere I'd like to spend a whole lot of my time, but was definitely a cool place to see. 

Osaka at night

The next day we explored one more temple, had lunch, and then headed to the airport and flew back home. Overall, it was a great trip, and I had a wonderful time! 

Finally an Update

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't updated in so long, been busy with school, preparations for my upcoming school trip, and other ongoings in Japan. It's starting to cool down here as fall heads in, and the leaves are just beginning to change colour. According to my teachers, in a few weeks the colours should be brilliant.   School is going well, and my conversational Japanese is getting better and better. I'm beginning to make more friends at school and doing more things outside of school with my classmates.  For example, purikura, a type of Japanese photo booth I mentioned in an earlier post. Here are a few of the pictures:

from left to right: Yuuka, me and Akina

I also recently celebrated my birthday in Japan, making me seventeen years old. It was my first birthday away from my family, so the day started off emotional and gave me my first real bout of homesickness. However, my classmates were able to cure that with their gifts and their hugs, making me feel like I'm really a part of the 5C family. My homeroom and the other girls at school have just been amazingly welcoming and really make me feel like I belong. I couldn't be more grateful to them and my host family. Me and my host family celebrated at night with Ramen and Jingisukan (two of my favourite Japanese dishes) for dinner, and then delicious cake. It was a birthday dinner unlike anything I've had in Canada, but it was a lot of fun and certainly memorable.

Jingisukan, a famous Hokkaido dish

And chocolate cake, yum!

Last weekend, we had another gathering of the rotary exchange students, at which we went and sang karaoke and then had dinner. We got to meet D2510's outbound students who are heading off to various clubs in Canada and Australia next year. They were all great to talk to and I couldn't be more excited for them. It doesn't actually seem like that long ago that I was waiting to learn where in Japan I was going, almost hard to believe I've been here almost two months! I've also been spending some more time outside of school with the inbounds, great people and I love hanging out with them. 

As of late, I've been sorting out preparations for my school trip which leaves the morning of Monday the 22nd (still saturday night for most of you reading this in Canada). We'll be visiting four cities: Kyoto, one of Japan's oldest and most historical cities, known for it's temples, shiners and castles. Osaka, which is one of Japan's economic centres and according to my classmates, has awesome food. Nara, which has some famous Japanese landmarks and tame deer wandering around town. And Hiroshima, where we will be visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. My class is also making one thousand paper cranes for the occasion. Over all, I think it will be a great trip and I'm super excited! 

Still loving Japan and I'll try to update sooner next time! Thanks for reading and putting up with the delay! 

Keeping Busy!

Been a very busy week for me, and haven't had time to update, but I've been doing lots. Last weekend me and the other inbounds went rafting as Niseko, which was great fun and a good bonding opportunity. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but there were some pretty good rapids. Thankfully, after my grand canyon trip, they didn't intimidate me much, and I think everyone had a great time. We also got a chance to look around Otaru city, which was really pretty and had some pretty cool merchandise. That same weekend, my host mother took me to a summer festival, which was a lot of fun, and I got to try a few Japanese snacks (and got free cotton candy just for being a gaijin, apparently, perks of being an exchange student!), saw a traditional Shinto shrine and got to watch several troupes doing various styles of Japanese dance.

Some of the festival's colourful dance costumes

This week Rotary also threw me a welcome/early birthday party (I'm seventeen in a couple weeks) during which we had dinner, I gave a presentation on myself and where I come from, and several rotarians gave speeches I couldn't understand much of. While I can keep a decent conversation with my friends from school, formal Japanese is much more of a struggle for me. Many Japanese words have multiple forms for different degrees of politeness, so understanding polite, business Japanese is a bit of a struggle. However, it would seem I have gotten very good at talking about food in my host language, so it's become my go-to conversation topic. 

My early birthday cake, reading Melissa Amelia Lye Happy Birthday. According to my host father, Japan has the best cakes in the world.

Yesterday my host mom took me to Shiroi Koibito park, which contains a lovely rose garden, a few gift shops, some antique displays, and a chocolate factory. The whole place gave off a Willy Wonka vibe, complete with animatronic musical numbers and bubbles. It was a cool place to visit, and I got to try sweet potato soft serve ice cream, which surprisingly tasted much like vanilla. I also got to decorate a Hokkaido shaped cookie.

The official cookie of this blog

School is continuing normally, and I'm still enjoying my classes, especially with my Japanese gradually improving. Reading and writing are still pretty big challenges, especially with kanji, but I have a pretty solid grasp of hiragana and katakana. I'm making friends and having a wonderful time. 

Time Flies

So today marks exactly one month since I left Canada for Japan, and I'm still having a wonderful time. Today on the walk from school to the train, I managed to have a successful conversation completely in Japanese, and fully understood everything everyone was saying. My grammar is still a mess, I keep forgetting my particles, but still pretty happy communication is becoming easier. Of course, I've had conversations before, but this was the first time nothing flew over my head and I didn't have to slip back into english or get anything translated. Fun fact, a few times since I've been here I've attempted to say something in Japanese, but used Spanish instead. I don't even speak Spanish save for a few basic phrases.

Anyway, things is Japan are continuing as usual. Everything is starting to feel a little more normal, but I often look around, realize where I am, and want to dance I'm so excited. I think I'm settling in fairly well, the heat should finally start dying down soon, and I no longer get lost at school all the time (to my credit, the layout of that place is crazy). At school I've joined the calligraphy club at school, which meets twice a week and is great for helping me to learn kanji, the ideograms taken from Chinese that the Japanese use for many things. Calligraphy is an art form that doesn't really have a western equivalent, so learning it has been interesting, though fairly difficult.

An example of my (not very well done) calligraphy, that word is 'tomodachi' meaning friendship, and that's probably the 40th draft. The small writing on the side is my name is katakana.

My friend Sari's mother, a native Japanese Speaker, told my parents that Japanese was a gentle language, and when I do calligraphy, I feel I finally understand what she means. It makes me feel closer to both the language and the culture, and I really enjoy it. One of my school friends, Yui, has been practicing calligraphy since she began elementary school, and writes beautifully, though even still she goes through piles of paper before getting a satisfying result.

I'm also continuing to get along with my host family, though I haven't been able to spend much time with my younger host sister Anri, due to her being very busy with sports and school. It's currently exam season in Japan, so most students are currently very intent on studying. However, I have still been bonding with the family, we eat dinner together almost every day, and last weekend my host parents took me to the zoo. Most of the animals were just relaxing in the shade because of the heat, but there was a baby orangutang who showed off for us, and we also got to watch the big cats eating lunch.

Me and my host parents, Naomi and Tatsuo hanging out with a family of plastic polar bears.

All in all, it's been a great first month, and I can't wait to see what's coming. 

Note: When I wrote this it had been a month, apparently I forgot to post it until now, sorry!

Orientation

Team 2510! Much smaller than my sponsor district's group. 

Saturday was orientation day for the District 2510 inbound exchange students, as well as a welcome home to the Japanese students who spent their years abroad in Europe and America, who did presentations for us on their years abroad. It was fun meeting them all for the first time, and as you can see, Canada isn't the only country that gets a bright red blazer, Japan shares our fabulous sense of style. USA went for dark blue, and Australia dark green. And I really need to work on getting some more pins for that thing, it's looking rather bare, isn't it?

There's only five inbounds in my entire district, which is quite different from my sponsor district, where I believe we had around twenty. Not that that's a bad thing, a smaller group can be fun, too, and by coincidence, we're all English speaking. In the new year Thomas, the only male inbound, will be heading back to Australia (they time the exchange year differently in Australia and New Zealand, I'm not sure why) and we'll be getting a new addition to our group. I also learned that rotary has arranged for each of us to have a private Japanese tutor, so that should help my language skills. The other inbounds and the rotex all seem like really cool people, so I look forward to getting to spend more time with them.

The Inbounds: (from left to right) Isobel (America), me (Canada), Thomas (Australia), Alicia (America) and Hannah (America)

Also, school is continuing to be pretty great. This morning I introduced myself and gave a short speech in Japanese, which I'm pretty sure went fairly well. Last Friday Hokusei had its sports festival, which was a lot of fun even though my class didn't win anything, but we got some pretty cool Pokemon themed t-shirts out of the deal, plus everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. 

New Classes, New Friends, and a New Rotary Club

My second week at school is almost over, and I'm still having tons of fun. I've decided I need to start carrying a camera everywhere to capture all the unique and interesting sights I've seen here (examples, a huge, animatronic teddy bear at the mall, and about thirty bicycles right next to a sign reading 'no bicycles' in english) so from here on out, you can start expecting more photographic evidence of my adventures abroad.

And adventures they have been! My schedule's been reorganized a bit, so I have several classes with the grade four students (because my school is both a high school and a junior high, the first year of junior high is called grade one, so grade four at Hokusei would be grade ten at Canadian schools, and grade one at most Japanese high schools) who have all been happy to have me, and have welcomed me into their classes with open arms. It's fun seeing how each class has it's own unique flavour. Because the same students are almost always together, the classes seem to have a stronger sense of community than the classes at my high schools in Canada did. With each new class comes new friends, and new experiences, one class spent about twenty minutes quizzing me on my thoughts on various boy bands.

Overall, everyone's been awesome, and I have a really great schedule. Since I don't have to worry about credits, I'm pretty much taking a bunch of fun classes, and missing out on the classes I don't like so much (math, I'm looking at you). I have history, a couple english classes, a class on Japanese culture, music class, a few P.E. classes, a Bible class, a couple home ec. classes, and of course, Japanese. Yup, no math for me! I'm getting more comfortable with the layout of the school and working on my Japanese, so school seems to go a little more smoothly every day.

Today, however, I had to leave class early to go to my first rotary meeting, which, like many of my experiences in Japan, made me both excited and nervous. Excited to meet all the new people, and nervous because I'd be giving a presentation completely in Japanese. Because of the venue for the lunch meeting, I was unable to use the powerpoint presentation I'd prepared in Canada, so it was just me talking in front of the whole club. I think my Japanese was a little sloppier than usual because I was so nervous, but my fear was unfounded as everyone was very kind to me.

The rotary meeting of my host club had a somewhat different feel to my sponsor club in Canmore. The club is made up of mostly men (I believe there were three women present, including me) and was in a slightly older age bracket. However, they were very kind and made me feel very welcome. The meeting was held in a very nice hotel, and the traditional Japanese lunch was delicious. After lunch I was brought upstairs for a meeting with a few key members of the club, who explained the rules about months reports and my allowance, which was a little intimidating at first, but also very informative, and was a pleasant experience overall.

In other news, my host sister Ai returned from a week spent in Nagoya yesterday, and brought back some of the city's traditional snacks. Yum. I love the food here.

First Earthquake

Seeing as I've spent most of my life in Alberta, an area that, to my knowledge, simply doesn't have earthquakes, my first minor quake here in Japan was a bit of a surprise. There isn't much of a story to tell, but it certainly got my heart pounding. I was simply laying in bed, trying to get some sleep, when I felt the shaking start. It took a moment or two for me to realize exactly what was going on, and my thought process was alternating between 'oh my gosh this is scary' and 'wow, cool, an earthquake'. Anyway, the shaking lasted for what felt like a minute or two (though it felt like I was still shaking a little afterwards, I guess I'm not used to the sensation) before dying away. It was a pretty minor tremor, did zero damage, and probably felt very commonplace to the locals, but it still seemed like another adventure to me.

School & Summer Heat

I've been reading the Sapporo & Hokkaido section of my Japan travel guide, and they really like to emphasize how cold this area supposedly is. The island repeatedly described as a 'frozen hinterland' and 'bitterly cold' while summers are apparently mild and good for 'escaping the heat' in the rest of Japan. I feel very confident that whomever wrote that has never been here in August. The past few days have been crazy hot! But thankfully, the heat is my only complaint, and according to my guidance councillor, it only gets this hot for a few days each year. 

Anyway, I'll stop boring you with my silly complaints about the weather (I guess I'm just too used to Canada) and get onto what this post is really about: school in Japan. My first day of classes was yesterday, and I admit I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but it certainly wasn't what I got. People had told me that foreigners tended to be popular, but I definitely did not expect my class to scream the first time I walked into homeroom. Though after the initial excitement died down, everyone was incredibly welcoming and friendly, as well as very patient with me and the language barrier. I introduced myself in front of the class in Japanese and in English, and each member of my home room introduced herself to me as well. They seem like a great group, and the class seems to have a high energy, fun vibe to it. 

It's also been interesting seeing how much of my classes I've been able to understand. I have a pretty good grasp on numbers, so I was able to manage in math. Except for doing the actual math, apparently I have no idea how to do trigonometry without a calculator. One of my history classes and my bible class were also easier because I was already familiar with the material (the interwar period and Noah's arc, respectively) and I have one English class that seems to be conducted mostly in my mother tongue. Japanese History, what I think was Literature, and another English class that revolves mostly around grammar were more difficult, though I could catch a word here and there. We also had an assembly today, very little of which I was able to understand, but there was some singing and lots of excitement. 

So far, school in Japan is both fun and challenging, and seems simultaneously similar and wildly different from my old school in Canada. I'm finding the uniform thing pretty easy to get used to (no pictures yet, sorry, but I look just as goofy as you'd imagine in a sailor style uniform), and the religious aspect and lack of boy is also fairly easy to adjust to. The obvious language barrier is the biggest challenge, but I hope to keep working on my Japanese until I can overcome it. In the mean time, however, I'm still managing to make friends and enjoy the experience. 

First Week In Japan

So today marks one week that I've been here, and man, it's been a great experience so far. Though I've only been here for seven days (I guess it's closer to six, I arrived kind of late monday night and it's only midmorning as I write this) I've been lucky enough to see so much and try some great food. My Japanese is still pretty rudimentary, but I'm learning new words every day, and getting better at communicating with my host family.

Earlier this week, my host family took me on my first trip within Japan. We drove up to northern Hokkaido to meet my extended host family, if that's the right term for it. I got to meet my host father's parents as well as his brother and cousins, who had a two month old daughter. Everyone was very kind to me, and it was a great experience. We also saw a traditional Japanese temple and the ocean, where there was a small aquarium of sorts housing several seals. A presentation on the animals was given (in Japanese, so I didn't understand much, but I was able to learn how the seals were related to one another) and then we were allowed to pet them. I even got a kiss!

We stayed for one night at a hotel that had it's own onsen, or, in english, hot spring, though onsen are quite different from the hot springs back home. You wash before entering, and every one is naked (male and female baths are usually kept separate). I was a little uncomfortable at first, but a situation is only awkward if you let it be, so I think I'll get used to it pretty quickly. On day two of our trip, we began driving back to Sapporo and stopped at a few gardens along the way. One of the gardens, Kaze no Garden (Garden of Wind) was also famous for having a drama television by the same name use it as the setting. The gardens were all very nice, and a welcome brake from long drives.

From left to right: My host father Tatsuo, me, my host sister Ai, my host father's mother, my host mother Naomi, my host sister Anri and my host brother Tarou at Kaze no Garden

Since returning home, I've most been relaxing and working on my language skills before school starts, with a few outings to go shopping, go to a sports club, and eat at a few japanese restaurants. Today I'm going to see my school in session for the first time, meet the Principal and some of my teachers, as well as get my uniform. All in all, having a great time in Japan! 

In Japan!

Hello, everyone! Though it still feels a little like a dream, I arrived in Japan last night! I'm really here! It's almost hard to believe this is really happening, being here is a dream come true. Before I say anything else, I want to thank everyone who's made this possible for me. My family, friends and the Rotary Club of Canmore have all been amazingly supportive of me and have done so much to help me get here. No matter how hard I try, I don't think I'll ever be able to find the words to express how extremely grateful I am for this opportunity. I want to thank my parents for supporting me on this journey so far, everyone at rotary who's made this possible, and especially Janet Matthews, my host counsellor for everything she's done for me and Sari, the other exchange student from Canmore. I also want to thank my coordinator, Rob Whitfield, the International Chair for Canmore's Rotary Club and President Elect, John Waterhouse, and everyone here in Japan helping me along the way.

It's been a wild couple of days. Yesterday I had to say goodbye to my family, board several planes, navigate Japanese airports and then finally arrived in Sapporo. Though I expected one or two people, I was greeted by a large group of rotarians, my current host family, two of my future host families, my host counsellor, and another exchange student here from Australia. Everyone was incredibly warm and welcoming, making it a very pleasant surprise, if a little overwhelming for a tired traveller. My host family then took me to my new house, where I learned how to use a Japanese toilet and and bathroom, had some juice, called home to tell my family I had arrived, and went to sleep. 

Today was a day for new experiences. I was taught how to use the transit system here, and got to explore the area by daylight for the first time. My new host sister, Ai, helped me navigate the transit system here to find my school, a bus and two train rides away. After checking out campus, we met up with Thomas, an exchange student from Australia, and two Japanese girls named Haruka and Midori. We explored the giant shopping centre of Sapporo and bought me some chopsticks, a water bottle, and a Japanese lunch box called a bento. After that, the group showed me the mall's game centre, something that doesn't exist in Canada. Imagine an arcade, but bigger, brighter and more colourful. They had a whole section dedicated to Pokemon! While we were there I got to try purikura (a sort of Japanese photo booth) for the first time! I didn't really know what I was doing, but it was a lot of fun! Next we went out to lunch, where I tried Udon noodles for the first time. Yum! After lunch, we did karaoke, also lots of fun, and then Ai and I separated from the others and went to the Ward Office to deal with some official matters before heading back home. 

It's been a great day, and so far my experience here has been incredible. I can't wait to keep exploring, learn more Japanese, and continue experiencing this amazing country. Thanks again to everyone who's made this possible, and I'll post again soon. 

So close!

Well, things are finally coming together now and my days in Canmore are running out. I'll be departing on Sunday the 12th and arriving in Japan Monday the 13th. I'll change flights twice, once in Vancouver and once in Tokyo. I finally have my visa and a solid date, just pulling some loose ends together before I leave.

It's a little nerve wracking, I admit, being this close to my departure, though I can't seem to find the words to fully describe how I feel. I suppose everything is feeling more solid, tangible, and that is both very exciting and well, rather frightening. The next post on this blog will probably be made from Japan!

As for what I'll be spending my last days in Canada doing, I'll be buying some more gifts for my host families, packing (haven't even started yet! Gulp!) and spending a little more time with family and friends before I depart. I haven't got much else to say, so I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for reading and wish me luck!

I Lied

You know when I said I won't be posting again for a little while. Well, I lied. Sorry. Though in my defence, I didn't know I was lying at the time. Adding another short little update to tell you that I now know the day I'll be leaving Canada and Arriving in Japan. August 13th, a monday. I start school exactly one week later. One month and two days in the country! It suddenly feels really, really close. I'm still not sure if it's really hit me that this is actually happening! I've been thinking about it almost every day for a long time now, but I still feel like it hasn't totally hit me yet. I am super excited though, and in all honesty, a little scared. Better work on my japanese (I can almost read hiragana without looking a chart now, woot!). I'll update when I get back and/or when I have something else to tell you.

Update!

First off, sorry I've taken so very long to update this blog, but I've honestly gotten very little news about what's going on. I'll try to update more frequently once I'm actually on exchange.

So I finally have some more news about my exchange to Japan! The documents came to confirm I'll be in the city of Sapporo (the capital of the Hokkaido Prefecture) and more specifically, my club with be Sapporo East. I'm very excited about Sapporo, from what I've found in my research, it's a city rich with culture and history, is near some excellent skiing, and is also home to the amazing Yuki Matsuri (or snow festival, the english translation)

The festival by day

Lit up at night

I also learned a little about my first host family, and have been in touch with one of my host sisters through Facebook. I'm going to have three host siblings, two sisters, aged twelve and nineteen, and a host brother who is my age, sixteen. My eldest host sister, Ai, went on exchange for the 2010-2011 exchange year and came to my district in Canada! She stayed in a city very close to my town, so we already have that connection. I can't wait to contact and talk to the rest of the family.

As well as learning about my host family, I learned that I'll be going to Hokusei Gakuen Girls' Junior and Senior High. As the name says, I'll be going to a girl's school. At first, I wasn't sure what to make of that, but after giving it some thought, I'm excited! I've never gone to a single gender school, so it'll be a new and unique experience, which is what exchange is all about. I'll also be wearing a uniform, which you can see on the school's website here (the page is in Japanese), which I'm also looking forward to. No more trying to decide what to wear in the morning! School starts on August 20th, a little over a month from now, and I will likely be arriving in Japan a week before then. Already beginning to count down the days!

I probably won't be able to update this for a couple more weeks, as I'm going to the Grand Canyon with my family, but I'll be sure to update when I can.

Introduction

Konnichiwa! My name is Amelia. I am a sixteen year old girl living in Alberta, Canada, and in August I will be embarking on a year long journey to The Land of The Rising Sun, Japan through the Rotary Youth Exchange program.

If you told me this time last year that this would be happening to me, I never would've believed you. The idea to become an exchange student didn't even occur to me until I changed towns, and noticed that my school had many international students. Just joking around with my mom, I told her I needed to get involved in one of these programs, but didn't think she'd take it so seriously. As soon as I said it, she went and googled the Rotary Youth Exchange program, and together we found who to contact from my local Rotary Club. Luckily for me, the timing was perfect, and I was invited to a lunch hour meeting at my school. I remember filling out the initial letter explaining why I wanted to be an exchange student, and thinking 'wow, this could actually happen to me'.

I was then called in for an interview with three members of my Rotary Club, in which they asked me about myself, why I wanted to be an exchange student, and other related things. That night, they called me and told that while I wasn't the first choice, they were going to talk to the rest of the club about sending two exchange students.

Two incredibly suspenseful weeks later, I received another call, and discovered that yes, they would be sending two students. I was going!

A lot of paperwork and a couple few months later, I had my first outbound orientation with students from all over my district. We got to meet each other, learn more about lots our exchange, take pictures, and goof off.

After lunch, we were called in one by ones for interviews where three rotarians asked us questions about ourselves, the types of food we liked to eat, the climates we preferred, and finally, where we wanted to go. My answer? While I didn't have a specific country as a first choice, I did have a continent: Asia. 

The rotarians started deliberating as soon as us students left, leaving us to wait, wonder, and wish for our calls to come. And a couple nights later, they did. I was actually in the shower at the time, when my mom suddenly started yelling that the call came. Ecstatic, I got out, dried off, and ran upstairs as quickly as I could, but I still missed the call. After fervently calling back a few times, I finally contacted the rotarian and was given my country: Japan. I may or may not have screamed at this point, but I'm pretty sure I bounced around the house for the next few hours. Sometimes I still feel like bouncing around the house with excitement: I'm going to be spending a year in Japan! 

The next big Rotary event and chance to see my fellow outbound exchange students came in March, when we had an entire weekend full of information about our upcoming exchanges. We were also fitted for our blazers (Canada's are bright red). We learned about finances, homesickness, gifts to bring host families and many other topics. I was also lucky enough to learn from my councillor that I will be going to District 2510 on Hokkaido! It was also a great chance to meet all the rotex (last year's exchange students) and the inbounds from around the world. I got to room with the rotex who had been to Japan last year, the outbound going to Mexico, and the rotex who had gone there last year. We had a lot of fun, and had a great weekend.

Last month, we had our final orientation, in which we learned about problems that can arise on exchange and how to deal with them. We also got the chance to bond more through a giant human knot (that thing where you all stand in a circle, randomly reach your hands in, and then try to untangle) and more pictures. It also occurred to us that the next time we were all brought together, we'd have all gone on our incredible worldwide adventures. But I must say, the highlight of the day was getting our beautiful bright red blazers (with shoulder pads!).

So now I'm continuing to work on my Japanese and waiting for my guarantee form to arrive. In as little as two or three months, I will be departing on the journey of a lifetime. I'll post again when I have more information, and I'll try to post regularly once I arrive in the beautiful country of Japan!