Off to Camp!

Hello everyone! I'm writing to you as I prep to leave for AFS camp in 15 minutes, it's going to be four days of fun and chatter with the other exchange students in the Nagoya area. Although I'm sad I will be missing my Kendo club's camp (same days,) I am happy to be seeing the friends I made at orientation that aren't in my area.

Speaking of Kendo, I am still fundraising for my equipment. I will go buy them at the shop when I get home on Friday, so please help me out! I'd like to thank my Uncle Bryan and my cousin Chris for giving me $130 of the $200 I need, I am so grateful. Only $70 left to go! Here are some photos from a tournament my clubmates did last Friday:

My clubmates (Senior girls) are judging this match!

The Girl's team putting on their armor.

Everyone warming up together before the matches began.

So, please remember to share my post and my blog, and I'll be back soon! Bye~

Kendo: I need your help!

Hello everyone! I know I've talked about Kendo a little bit before, but let me just say, I love it so much. We have club for a couple hours everyday, training hard and encouraging each other, and I have never felt so connected by a sport in my life. A few weeks ago, I got to start training with the other club members in full armor, this is what I look like:

The thing around my waist reads: "Toyohashi East High School / Maggie"

Don't I look awesome? It's supper hot inside all that so we're all very careful and drink lots of water, but finally being able to be hit and really practice hard alongside everyone and one-on-one with the teachers is amazing. Do you notice the shirt and pants I'm wearing? They're called (ken)dogi and hakama respectively, and they have been lent to me by one of my teachers. See the shinai (bamboo sword)? It's also been lent to me by a teacher.

I kinda need to give them back and get my own.

My first competition is August 24th, a scary and exciting date that I've been working hard to prepare for, but there are a few problems: the teacher who lends me my hakama needs to wear them that day, and the shinai I use is old and not made specifically for me. The solution: buy my own.

Of course, once I have my own I will continue to use them for the rest of the year, and also when I return to the US. (Do you KNOW how many Kendo associations there are in Oregon alone? It's amazing.) What better way to keep my connection to Japan open, make the return to the west easier, and stay in shape than to continue sweating away in a rigorous sport?

So, I'm sorry to do this again, and I know that I have yet to send letters back to the donors for my vaccine (there's been some trouble finding my file with all your names and addresses in it over the phone portion of skype,) but I would ever be grateful. Tell your friends, tell your senators, I'm excited for next month.
And please, have them all help me out: http://www.gofundme.com/maggies-kendogear  Thank you!

Who wouldn't be? Kendo tournaments are awesome! Take a look:

わたしは日本脳炎の予防注射をでぃました！ (I've been vaccinated against Japanese Encephalitis!)

Well, not fully. I still have until March 1st until I get the second, and final, shot in the series. However, because of the generation and efforts of my friends and family, I'll be able to pay for that nearly $400 shot come March, actually come now!

You may have noticed the GoFundMe widget on the side of my blog these two days and now it's all resolved. Thank you Cassie, Mary, Lauren, Aunt Cindy, Kim, and Mrs. Filbert! I am so grateful and I with think of your gifts as I travel through Japan.

Ah, I'm still in shock to be honest; I've been very emotional about this and nearly cried after every donation. There's a lot of fundraising left to be done and I'm working hard with amazing support so that I can spend my exchange knowing I'm okay to ride the train and visit my sister Yo in Osaka, see the students in FG's sister city Nyuzen, or go out to karaoke with friends after school. Everything is going to be so much fun and I feel at home with the other students in my group, I don't think I've been this excited for anything in my life since I watched the first episode of Adventure Time.

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If you would like to donate to my exchange, please check out my donation page! Thank you!