おかやまはどこで すか?

Today my school placement came through from Japan. My heart skipped a beat while on the phone with Sue from SEA - I thought she had said Okinawa! After seeking clarification, I was pleased to discover that it wasn't Okinawa, but instead Okayama. 'Where the hell is that?' I thought to myself. For anybody familiar with Japanese geography, it's located in the Chugoku region, on the coast sort of between Osaka and Hiroshima. For anybody with no idea of Japanese geography, see map below :P I'm extremely happy with the placement, and it looks like a nice place from what I've seen online. Okayama has a population of 700,000, so it's a fairly developed city which should keep things interesting. I'd much prefer a metropolitan city than a 'Burnie equivalent town', and being stuck in a small, boring village with nothing to do for five months.


Links you can follow:
My School's Website
Okayama - Wikipedia
Okayama - Japan Guide

I have no idea who I'm living with, or where. I could be living right next to the school, or an hour bus ride away. Either way I don't really mind, I'm just hoping for a nice family. I've been told that in Japan they select the school first, then find a family in that area to host the student. Hopefully that information will come through soon.

After some very tedious, online detective work, I managed to find my school on google maps, and using street view I can see what it looks like from the street. I finally have something I can upload photos of!


(Click on the pictures for a larger image)








Looking at little dull and grey in these pictures but I'm sure it'll be more lively with hundreds of Japanese teenagers buzzing around. Hopefully, anyway :P I've also received my departure date, and at this stage it's March 24. Flying out of Launceston, and then Sydney (most likely, not confirmed yet.) I will try to make a countdown timer for my blog, exciting!

Alex

何で?!

Even though it might be the holidays, I haven't really had much free time. I've been working four to five days a week to save money for my exchange... it's kinda expensive. I'm not really sure how much spending money I'll need once I'm over there, as I will be spending most days at school. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

On my days off I have been trying to improve my Japanese. I've realised how incredibly little I know, and how much more I have to learn! I want to try and get all the basics down, so then in Japan I have something to build upon. At the moment I'm stressing out about formal/informal language, and when it should and should not be used. I'm also worried about the Japanese honorific system, and unintentionally not showing respect to 'superior' people. Perhaps they'd just accept me as a dumb gaijin and move on... hopefully. For anybody who doesn't know what a gaijin is, it literally means 'outside person' and is the name given to a foreigner in Japan. That's me!

I've made myself a Japanese folder, and have been printing pages from the internet that explain a range of Japanese grammar. I've kind of taught myself the te and plain forms of verbs, but I'm not really comfortable with them yet. I've also been trying to increase my vocab, with lists of new adjectives and nouns. I hope to create one gigantic Japanese learning book folder thing which I can use to help me in Japan. I'm still waiting for my Japanese etiquette book I bought online to turn up from the UK, which should help me with the cultural side of things. I'm not sure how I will adjust to the Japanese culture, in particular the food... whale much?

I still have no information from SEA about my visa or placement, so I will just have to keep waiting for those. Time is going really quickly now, and it won't be long before I leave... can't wait!

Alex