3 months and a whole lot of slackness

Yep, so I've been neglecting my blog for the past month... or so I don't even know how long it's been, but it's been long. It is my 3 month anniversary today, and to mark the glorious day I learnt the word for anniversary in Japanese, きねんび。 Fantastic, right? Right.

What's changed since I last blog? Simply put, a lot. Too much to recall. My Japanese has gone from non-existent to... poor. Generally I can maintain a conversation, but there is always the times when I stare blankly into somebody's eyes thinking 'Omg, what the hell are they saying...'.

I've developed a deeper understanding for Japanese society, been to Tottori, had a haircut, been visited by my Marist folk, received my first spontaneous kancho, embarrassed myself on the baseball field and had my umbrella stolen.

I've also accepted I have to come home.

Alex

One month over

I can't think of anything to write, other than I am having the most fantastic time and I couldn't have asked for more! I'm sure there is much more to come in the following months. Excited much?!

Things I love about Japan

It's been nearly a month already, and I have fallen in love with Japan. Things I love about Japan!

The food
Tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, yakiniku, Mister Donut - how did I ever live without you? I will be having major withdrawal symptoms when I return to Australia :(

The internet
It's fast!

Bike riding
Bike riding is fun! I am free to go where ever, and it's usually faster than car here.

Japanese TV
So many times I've asked myself: "Why the hell is this on TV?!"

Karaoke
Last week I had a six hour karaoke session with my host family and friends, karaoke rocks!

School
I don't even know how to explain my school life, but a usual day contains girls yelling out my name down the hallway: AREKKUSU,AREKKUSU!! ... hello, do I know you?! Or students practicing their English with me: "Alex, how many times have you played the sex?" -ugghh, turns other direction- It's great, I've got a good group of friends in my class and a borderline-stalker group of girls too!

Daifuku
Possibly the best thing I've ever eaten! mmmmmm

Sorry I haven't been blogging more, my reason is a combination of being busy and also lazy. I should also upload some photos to this blog, but yet again I'm lazy. Perhaps later (but probably not) I will take my camera to school!

How's Australia?

Alex

I actually can't remember what I was going to write. Well yesterday I went to a town that I still don't know the name of. I asked a few people, in both Japanese and English, and didn't fully understand their replies. However, I do know that it's the town in which a movie called Ponyo? was set. I've never seen it, but it's from Studio Gibhli. I probably spelt that wrong, sorry.

Today, after lunch, okaasan and I are going to Kurashiki, which is just a little town (probably city by Tasmanian standards) next to Okayama. I think it's very old and traditional. We have also been planning trips to Hiroshima and Kyoto. I think Kyoto is Sunday, and Hiroshima next Saturday.

Above are photos from the past week. The group photos are all the other exchange students who are coming to Japan through JFIE at the orientation in Tokyo. The last photo is my city! Okayama!

Hope everybody is well in Tasmania,

Alex!

えええええとううううううう

Id like to start this post with an apology, as there will be no photos or punctuation! I am not brave enough to try and upload photos on this computer, hopefully i can sort something out later and connect my own laptop. Secondly, this keyboard is whack. It will take ages to find all the punctuation i need, so i will just skip on that, sorry. It also doesnt have english spellcheck, which i heavily rely upon. ok!

My family rocks. they are seriously so funny i love them! the past days i have been laughing so much lol, ketsu dashimashouka?! we eat out a lot, so ive been going to heaps of restaurants and trying all sorts of food. i ate bamboo, yep. didnt know you could, but there you go! sashimi, ramen, yakisoba! i love okayama its a really cool city. it has so much to do! we all get in the car, and the mum says to me `what do you want to do?`, and i say ugghh i dunno! and we go to a cake buffet! karaoke! otera! went to a temple/shrine and i wrote on this board then you throw some　money in a big bucket!

today, we are going to tappei`s concert. my family, especially marina the older sister, is in LOVE with hardcore screamo rock. they have it playing on their TV all the time. its hilarious umm the band is maximum hormone or something? its written in katakana but i dont know it sorry!

lol last thing, the engrish here is sooo funny. we went shopping, and they had heaps of shirts with english on them. they said the most random things, like bananas are delicious whether you boil or cook them. and there is this store called LOVE DRUG STORE in big caps and a massive billboard.

so much to say, im having a great time! school starts next week, i think? i saw some　of my school mates at mister donut. these girls, they just like stared at me the whole time. i was like ehhh, -waves- ?

ive sent out 4 postcards, olivia ellie hanna and maddy. will start writing letters i think. anyway, thats all i can think of for now!

へええ！

とうきょう

OK, it's been a very crazy day! I arrived at Narita airport in Tokyo at 6am with all the other exchange students from around Australia. We have a three day orientation in one of the airport hotels, a nice one too! Just had a lovely, big Japanese banquet type thing for dinner!

We left the airport around 6:30am and it was freezing! The weather here is so bad, it might as well be snowing. Got to the hotel, had a short group work thing before heading into Tokyo. The traffic was pretty bad. It took us about 2.5 hours to travel the 60km into Tokyo.

Tokyo is simply amazing, even on a cloudy, rainy day where you couldn't see much, It is so big! We went straight to a school that is in the city, and really got thrown right into the deep end. We were ushered into this hall with a heap of Japanese students sitting there watching us, before being handed a microphone and being told to introduce ourselves in Japanese! Pretty sure I failed compared to the others, oh well.

At the school we also did other activities with them in the kendo hall (I now have a great activity for Ms Ball to teach us prepositions!), and also some calligraphy in a classroom where I failed epically yet again. I heard numerous gasps as I drew my kanji, I'm not even kidding lol! We all had to wear school 'visitors' slippers, which unfortunately came in only one size - a size that was way too small for my western feet. Ouchies...

We all then went for a week to a nearby garden (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3026.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikugi-en), which was simply beautiful. I didn't get many photos as it was raining. Everybody had an umbrella, and in the narrow paths of the garden it sometimes turned into a war of umbrellas.

We returned back to the hotel, much quicker this time as the traffic was easier. And here I am, sitting alone in my hotel room being anti-social! I will get around to photos another time, I'm nearly dead.

Missing everybody,

Alex

PS: there are vending machines everywhere! the one downstairs sells cigarettes haha

オバイ！

I had my farewell dinner last night at Number 25... farewelled all my fifteen friends!

I'd love to upload a ton of brilliant photos from my new camera, except there really are not any nice photos. Everybody seemed content on pulling dumb faces all night!

This was followed by the french trip party, which I really don't think I can put into words. Whenever I drink I get myself into the most random situations possible.

10 DAYS, can't wait!

photos!