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
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