Hannichi Homestay 2013

Hello everyone! Yesterday myself and three other students spent half the day (hannichi) at the home of a Japanese family living here in Oregon, speaking only in Japanese the entire time. It was a lot of fun but really hard, I'm glad I went. Our family, the Kubota family, consisted of Mama, Papa, Little Brother (7), Big Brother (13), and a Japanese exchange student studying at PSU. They were all super welcoming and I felt so comfortable with them that it was hard to leave when the time came; because they were so welcoming I was able to practice my Japanese without being too scared.

Kubota Family

Quick Question for YOU!

Hello everyone, I have an inquiry!

Would anyone be interested if I did some vlogging on my exchange? Vlogging is like blogging (this) in video form, and if I did do it I'd be making lots more videos about my life, school, etc. The videos would go up on my youtube channel and I'd link to them in my posts here, so you won't miss them.

I'm definitely interested in vlogging, but I would like to know if there's anyone who would want to watch them. Please comment or send me an email, ありがとう！

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!

スケートボードが大好き! (I love skateboarding!)

I've always been really interested in 1.) subcultures and 2.) traveling really fast; when those overlap you get my insane love of skateboarding, rollerderby, and MapCrunch. Okay, the MapCrunch bit is just because it's really fun to play "Where's The Airport?", but I really do love the other two and love meeting people who enjoy them.

My parents bought me my first (and sadly, only) skateboard for my 10th birthday. It was the normal style, the kind you see a lot in skate parks, and on the underside was Batman jumping right out at you. Along with the skateboard they gave me some safety gear and a helmet with Sunflowers on it; I've gotta admit, I was the coolest kid in town. Now, seeing that "town" was a two mile long road right of the highway, I didn't actually get to skate a lot. I just sat on it and rode down a hill. When my board was eventually broken by a friend it sucked, but I was really more interested in the culture.

I am like 98% sure it was this exact design. R.I.P. you beauty.

Recently I've been looking into getting a board again, but what about Japan? What I've read online is that while skateboarding is on the rise, it's pretty easy to be considered a nuisance. Is there anything I can do? Heck yeah! Meet this beautiful penny style board:

I might cry.

At only 22" I can actually fit it in my luggage or just carry it around with me. Plus it glows in the dark so that I'll be more visible (not that I'd be skating much after dark.) Another great thing about these small boards is their use for cruising around town and weaving between things. I'd love to have an actual Penny Board, but other brands make the same kind of board for just as good, and this way I save some money to customize the trucks and wheels!

Anyways, it's definitely one of the things I'm thinking about. I leave for Japan in 47 and I would love to skate while I'm there, so I'll look more into it, especially when I find out where my hosts live. Ah, I'm excited!

Pre-Departure Freak Out!

Okay, I'm not really freaking out, but I am realizing how much I actually have to do now. This is the last week of first semester and boy am I glad that I'll only be in school a few more weeks, there's a lot going on and I think it'd be hard to juggle everything.

Another nice thing recently was my Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) that happened on Saturday in Vancouver. It was cold and almost sunny, but I got to hang out with other AFSers from the area and talk about going on exchange. There were five of us there, each with a parent (or two), and while most of them were going to Latin America, there was one girl going to Japan! Her name is Tala and she's very friendly, so we got to chat and dispel some of our fears. Even talking with other kids about it was amazing, everyone was so friendly and there was a lot of laughter.

A common thread though was our parent's fears. Lots of them were worried about safety and how we'd fit in where we stay (also, how we might eat our hosts out of house and home!) One of the projects we did was make collages of our Fears & Expectations, it was a lot of fun and a nice creative way to open us up. Here's my collage:

There's a lot going on here!

I realized that I'm really worried about my sleep habbits and how being a night owl here will affect me on the other side of the world, hence the cat that glows in the dark. Some of my other fears are about the things I don't like (the pug) and how I'll adapt, the difference in scenery (haystack rock), and my child's level of Japanese (as represented by an actual Japanese child's notebook.) BUT! Never fear (haha), I do have some expectations! The little nesting doll represents all my different traits and abilities that will bloom because of this exchange, how I hope to learn my own balance of delicacy and strength (mona lisa's hands & the rice crispies bicep), and how I'm going to be a glow in the dark kitten! It was an interesting task and we were all worried about not fitting in, so I think introspection is a great idea.

The best part of the day was probably when we ate lunch with students that are being hosted here. Tala and I sat with the two Japanese boys, another kid from our group, and a boy from Iceland. It was a great lunch and talking about our experiences, I was really nervous though and ended up not speaking a lot of Japanese. It was really interesting to hear what they had to say about people here in the Pacific Northwest and how it's so different from their home.

Everything about Saturday made me super excited for March, and now that there's only 49 days left until I fly to L.A. for Gateway Orientation it all feels much more real.

Happy New Years!

Welcome to 2013 everyone! I had a great New Years hanging out with my family and sneakily watching people's fireworks from my sister's porch. We're not big fireworks people ourselves, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy them! In retrospect, it would've been real nice to have a brought a blanket with me outside because boy was it cold. How was your New Years and/or New Years Eve, did you do anything interesting? Let me know in the comments.

 Since the new year has begun, I've been using my Christmas itunes giftcard (thanks Kate) to grab some apps and organize for my exchange. My packing list, my flights, and my photos are all laid out and accessible; with everything at my fingertips I believe I can do this. Not that I didn't think I could, I just couldn't process everything at the same time and keeping track got a little confusing. But! That's why all these cool apps were created! Isn't that neat?

Anyways, one of my organizational flaws tie in with the new year: clothes! Who doesn't want new clothes for a new year? I know I do, and most of them Comme Des Garçons, right now though I'm thinking about what to bring to Japan. AFS has lots of tips in the Participants Guide on packing, from taking lots of layers to modesty, but I still felt confused. So I've been searching through organization blog backlogs for packing gurus and I found an interesting tip: Choose a color palette.


I never would have thought of it! (Well maybe, after a long while it would've clicked...) One of my problems with clothes is color palettes because I love colors so much. It's hard for me to stick to just a few and I'll find myself randomly buying a bright red blazer. It's a great blazer and I wear it all the time, but in buying it I've excluded a few of the other items I have. I've shifted my palette. Right now my clothes are mostly dark purples, navy, crimson, black, and tan. It's an definitely an interesting combo, but I think it'll work.

Time to get packing! (Not really.) (Way too early.) (Just planning.)

It's an Exciting Day!

Hello! I'm not very tired tonight so I'm up a bit late and I thought I'd catch up. Tomorrow's an exciting day huh? People at school have been debating the significance of 12/12/12 more than they'd probably like to admit, so let's just say everyone's aware of it. I for one think it's really dang cool and I love repeating dates.

In other exciting news, it was my birthday Saturday! I'm 17 now and all I have to show for it is a Justin Bieber singing toothbrush. Hahaha, I'm just kidding I rather like it but I haven't used it. It's weird because I was planning on waiting till I turned 16 to get my permit, but things happened and that delayed, and now I'm leaving for another country in less than a hundred days and I'll be 18 when I get back. Ah, driver's permits are feeling pretty useless right now, but that's okay because chances are I'll be riding my bike around college.

College is really exciting to think about but I'm focusing on my exchange first, don't worry though, I'll be recruiting help to send things out for my applications next fall.

Also, the last bit of news is... I now know when I leave for Japan! On March 18th we have an overnight orientation in L.A. and then off we go! It's very exciting and I've already written it down on every calender I can find. Of course, you can keep track of when I leave with the handy dandy counter in the sidebar.

Goodnight, I hope you all have a great 12/12/12!