Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!
Before I get started with this post I would like to inform you that my Christmas is not that exciting. Ill be sitting around the house today doing nothing. Well, I'm having sushi for dinner, I guess that's interesting? And I guess its still Christmas eve for y'all over there? Mind boggling. Anyways, time to start.
Exciting things that have happened to me since my last post:
I went to Harajuku!!! Finally!! Harajuku is in Tokyo, and it was awesome. Its this really crowded rather narrow street filled with stores and food and booths selling all sorts of things related to Japanese pop culture. My favorite thing was the melon pan key chains with faces. They were sooooo cute!! And scented like the real thing! But I didn't buy one. I was short on money. And after my friend and I wandered around Harajuku for several hours, we then, of course, did karaoke and purikura. We also got matching bracelets. An altogether awesome day. There was also a lot of foreigners there, probably the most that i have seen since coming here. It was so funny. I don't know why, I think it was the expressions on their faces that was so hilarious. Sort of surprised and confused and excited, all at the same time. I'm not explaining it well, but trust me, it was funny.
I also had yet another AFS meet. It was sort of an event organized for the jenesys section of AFSers, and we normal AFSers just got to tag along. The Jenesys program is just a two week home stay and its free. Which I thought was so not fair. Anyways, most of the jenesys peeps were Australian so I had the refreshing change of speaking to a native English speaker. No matter how good someone might be at English, if its not their native language there are bound to be things and expressions that they don`t understand, so I'm always careful to speak in simple English. But I didn't have to do that with the Australians, which was nice. I also met some people from orientation. It was so nostalgic. OH! Something weird. Apparently Australians don't realize they have accents! I was talking to them about America and i mentioned that they'd fit in right away because of their accents(I mean, c`mon, who DOESN'T love an Australian or British accent?)and they got all surprised and kept saying how they didn't have an accent. Weird, I know. Okay, so for what we actually did. We went and met a sumo wrestler and all got our pics taken with him. Which took all of 20 minutes. And then we went and looked at bonsai trees. Then we had a traditional Japanese lunch(yum!). And then we went and looked at a traditional Japanese doll museum. See, the Japanese have a boy festival and a girl festival once a year, and on the day, the family takes out a collection of dolls. The dolls are uber fancy and expensive, and there is one set in each family for the boys and one for the girls. I want a set. They were so gorgeous. I also want a bonsai tree and a kimono, just in case anybody cared. But all three are ridiculously high priced. A good Bonsai tree is about 2,000 dollars, kimono is 4,000 dollars, and a doll set is 3,000 dollars. I probably wont be getting any of them anytime soon.
My next exciting thing was a Christmas party. We ate pumpkin curry and played cards and went shopping and did purikura(we actually managed to fit 9 people in there) and it was a wonderful, low key Christmas party. So I guess it weren't that exciting, but still really fun.
Now here are some slightly more mundane events and observations.
So I took the Japanese proficiency test like two weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure i failed. Oh well. But I met a friend there, quite randomly. Cindy, from Germany. Have I already told you this? Cant remember. I was surprised by how few Americans there were, i mean, there were SOME, but the majority were Chinese and Hispanic. And a few Indians. And a few Africans. You know, its really rather cool that I can meet so many people from all around the world on a regular basis and its perfectly normal. Its the best thing about AFS. The worst is that they give you homework to do, even though you payed for the program. I have to write an essay about my experience IN JAPANESE. I have been studying Japanese all of three and a half months, and they want me to write an essay. I don't even know what i would say in English. If I say any of my true feelings, ill end up insulting someone, but i hate being cheesy and false. And they JUST gave it to me and they want it on the 9th of January. Darn them. BUT my Japanese is definitely improving so maybe ill be able to pull it off. I still have more things to *talk* about but my brain is fried. Laters.
Emily

WA ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Ive decided to shock you all by posting another post just a few days after the last!! Also, I have a feeling that the last post was of pretty low quality, so this is a sort of compensation. Anyways, today I took the Level 4 Japanese level proficiency test. I think I did pretty well considering that Ive only been studying Japanese for three months. Oh! I also met a friend there! It was really quite random. I hadn't known that she was taking the test in the same test as me. The person I met was.......Cindy, from Germany. Shes really nice. She has instilled within me a strong desire to go to Germany. Before I started on this little excursion, it had never even occurred to me to go to Germany. I guess I had some subconscious dislike, triggered by history lessons and period movies. Which I know isn't fair, but i didn't do it on purpose. But now I really want to go to Germany. All the people Ive met from there are really funny and nice etc. And from what they said, the country itself sounds awesome. Anyways, back to the test. So I had to get up really early for it(and on a Sunday, no less!! oh, the indignity....) and I was exhausted and then, typical of Japanese people, they had to stretch a 2 hour testing period into a 4 hour one by all of the ridiculously long breaks. Most Japanese people seem to be that way, they go really slow, and then they go really fast to make up for the time they lost. Its like that for driving, and talking, and how they schedule their day. BUT this is just my observation and it is entirely possible that I could be completely off my bonkers and they are, in fact, entirely normal.
So I should have had the next few days off for testing, but I somehow got roped into going to school Monday for flower arranging and going on some sort of trip thingy with my teacher Tuesday. I really need to learn how to say no..... Speaking of learning how to say no, my host niece and nephew came over recently to play. I ended up spending an entire day with them because i cant say no to little kids. I don't think I've ever been able to say no to them, which is why I'm not the best babysitter. Depressing. But ANYWAYS fun things are coming up! I'm meeting so-chan this weekend for shopping and the next day is an afs meet, and then next weekend a friend is having a Christmas party and i may be able to sleepover at their house! The Japanese people don't usually have sleepovers, I guess its an American thing. And after the party I have two random days of school and then its winter break!!!!!! Yay!!!! Anyways I'm typing this when I'm supposed to be taking a bath(have I told you that the Japanese people take baths every night? Crazyness!!) so Ill just spellcheck this to get rid of all those nasty little misspellings which seem to have become more and more frequent and then Ill post this and then Ill get off!!
Night!!
Emily
ps I forgot to tell you that my host parents have put up a fake Christmas tree in honor of Christmas and its not half bad. Which also reminds me that daisy will be getting all of the angel ornaments this Christmas! Dang. I guess it doesn't really matter.....and now I've been on way longer than i should`ve so laters!!!

Hello everyone. It's been a while. I've been crazy busy and whenever I've had free time I've been studying like mad for a major Japanese test I have this Sunday. I'll probably fail:) Oh well. There are more important things in life than good grades. So I wrote a list of things I want to talk about because I knew I'd forget something, but then I went and lost the list! So typical. Let me try to remember what I've been doing, and what's coming up. Umm. Well, I had to give a speech in front of my class. Wait, no, I don't want to think about that. Let's just say that I'd rather be a hermit for the rest of my life than have to give another speech. But afterwards both the boys and girls in my class played dodgeball together, and that improved my mood greatly. It was soooo funny. At first I was all serious until I realized that even if I was standing right next to a guy on the other team who had the ball they still wouldn't try to hit me. So I stopped trying to avoid them and just stood there. I later discovered that if I stood there and smiled everyone would pass me the ball, even if they were on the opposite team. Needless to say, my team won. But seriously, it was so funny, I kept cracking up and actualy missed catching the ball sometimes. :) Yup. That was my exciting dodgeball experience. Another school (not experience) thingy that I find amusing is the music they play during lunch. It's so random. (I just sort of quoted a tv show, did anyone get it?) For instance, today they played Backstreet Boys and music from the Nutcracker, as well as a traditional Japanese song. It's always such a weird mix of music.  Something that's really big in Japan is one day group travel. You pay a set amount of money and travel in a group. It's like a field trip for grown ups. Anyways, I'm telling you this because I went on one with my host parents last weekend. Which is why I didn't blog. I really couldn't see the appeal of it. It's the kind of thing that I find most annoying. I sat in a bus filled with people, and we drove hours to get to this little waterfall and to see "autumn colors" and then went and had dinner at an airport. An airpost, for cryin' out loud. But what really annoyed me was how scheduled it was. The bathroom breaks, snack breaks, everything was scheduled to a minute level. I felt like I was in preschool again. They even had a designated "nap time" in which they "recommended" that we should sleep. Yargh. But I ended up getting a "Doraemon" keychain, so it's all good.  So students at my school are testing this week, and instead of me getting any time off,  I have to ride the train for an hour to get to school, have one Japanese lesson, and then ride the train for an hour and a half back. It'll be like that Thursday, Friday, and Monday. I don't really mind, except I was planning to finally hang out with some friends those days and now I can't. Boooo. OK, now I need to discuss something positive. I have an AFS meeting next Sunday. Yup. Can't really embellish on that, I don't know any details. Oh, and winter break starts on the 23rd!!! That'll be nice. And then New Year's, which is going to be so much fun. Hrm, nothing else to talk about. My life here really isn't that exciting. Anyways, I'm going to school for an hour tomorrow, so I have to go to bed. Laters.

Here it is, people, the long awaited blog post (just humor me). Many things happened during the time I didn`t blog, the two most interesting being going to an onsen last sunday and to see Les Miserables today. I`ll discuss today first, since it`s still fresh in my mind.
So apparently my entire school goes to see a play once a year, for cultural purposes. Last year it was Elizabart, the emperor`s wife. (I probably got the title wrong, it was really hard to understand what they were saying.) This year was Les Miserables. My host parents were both busy today so I rode the train to the Imperial theater alone. I didn`t get lost, and I was very proud of myself. The only difficult part was finding the exit in the train station. The station had all these random tunnels and passage ways and ticket booths, and there werent any exit signs until you actually got to the exit, AND there were about 20 different exits! Seriously confusing. But I eventually found the exit ticket thingies and then ended up climbing this random set of stairs to get out. The stairs had about 4 flights and about 2 flights up(the station was underground) there was a barber shop. Weird huh? Wish I`d taken a picture...... Anyways once I discovered the exit I then went to the theater. The play itself was fine, with lots of special effects and a good orchestra. But since I couldn`t understand the songs it took a bit of the pleasure away. The costumes were good, though. It was fun seeing all those Japanese people in old fashioned western clothes. Also all the men had pony tails. Yay pony tails! And I mean the hairstyle, in case you`re thinking of anything weird. -_- Anyhoo, that was my experience with the play. I won`t be going to school tomorrow cause I have this Japanese proficiency test coming up in about a month and I seriously need to study. Also tomorrow my host parent`s 60 year old friends are coming over for a BBQ. So I need to mentally prepare for being told over and over and over how `kawaii` I am and how much they envy me for being young. Which is the stupidest thing to be envious over. They were young too, or have they forgotten? It`s a trial on the nerves to put up with them. Speaking of them, I nearly went crazy dealing when I went to the onsen with them. They came with me and my host mom. They DO NOT know how to use technology. A three hour car drive turned into a six hour one because they kept missing the turns that their GPS told them to make. They also COULD NOT stay concentrated. For example: Host mom`s friend A"oh look there are so many grape vines!" Host mom(while driving)"You`re right!"(HM looks around(while driving) and inadvertently steps on the brakes, causing cars to honk and swerve. HM&friends look surprised and wonder why they are being honked at)HMFA"Since their are so many grape vines, maybe there is a winery around that corner!"(The hell kinda logic is that?)HMFB"Lets look!" HM suddenly turns around the corner, causing cars to honk *surprise*HMFA "Oh, there isnt a winery" HMFB" maybe there is one around that corner!" HM" lets go see!" And so on. This continued for about 30 minutes before we found a place that sold wine(note, I didn`t say "winery" I said "place that sold wine". Then it took us a further half hour just to get back to the place where they first decided they wanted wine. But enough complaining. The onsen itself was great, it was at the foot(not literally) of mt. fuji so i got to take pictures, and it had delicious food and I got to wear a Yukata(just for pjs, though). The onsen also sold some really weird Japanese foods, which I wanted to buy but didn`t cause they were rather expensive. Well, anyway. The experience was worth it overall, if only to prove that I am pretty good at keeping my temper. HM&co. never discovered how incredibly annoyed I was. Anyways my host mom keeps looking at the clock and then at me so I figure it`s about time to get off. I`ll continue this post tomorrow, if I have time. Well, Ja ne.

Hello, People!!! So this week started off pretty bad, but then got good in the middle, and ended with bit of a negative turn. But now I have a three day weekend and I`m meeting some friends for shopping etc., so at the moment I`m preetty dang happy. So the beginning of the week was just awful. No idea why. It was just so exhausting and depressing. Mondays are always sad cause I`m short on sleep and there are my least fave classes, but this time was especially bad. And tuesday, which I normally love was pretty bad too. But then Wednesday was awesome. My school is really big on english and offers internships to americans and the like, and on wednesday a group of 12-16 year olds and some parents from america visited the school. I was asked by my japanese teacher to help her teach them some basic japanese phrases and it was SO funny and weird. I hadnt realized it since Ive been surrounded by only japanese people for the past two months, but Am. and Jap. peeps are so different. Americans are much more open and less afraid of giving offense. There were a lot of differences that I just cant put my finger on the words to describe, but the whole experience was rather enlightening. And then on that same day my teacher told me that my school was going to see Les Miserables in japanese on the 9th!! I was so excited!! They put posters up in my school and I took a pic. of one. So I was incredibly, amazingly happy, until after I got home thursday. Then I had the sense to check the calender to make sure that I was open on the 9th, and lo and behold! My host parents had planned a trip to a deluxe onsen on that same day! Needless to say, I was a bit saddened. I actually sulked in my room for a while after dinner. But I was able to wake up on friday in a relatively good mood(thanks to the afore mentioned reasons). Yeah, so that was my week.
On sunday I`m going to a flea market with my host mom. I wonder if I`ll buy anything. OH! Speaking of buying, I went shopping for a little at some point(don`t ask when, I honestly can`t remember)and I actually bought something! Just a dress and a skirt and a crepe with green tea icecream, whipped cream, green tea jelly, and some powdered sugar. (The crepe was delicious^-^) I love crepes. I also love traditional japanese sweets, especially the ones with that sweet red bean paste that I always forget the name of.
I have nothing else to write. Umm, well. Since I came to japan, ive started liking coffee. Is that sad or what? I was hoping to never like it since then I wouldnt have to run the risk of being addicted. I blame the vending machines. I was trying to buy some hot cocoa one day, but I couldnt read what the cans said(duh, it was in japanese) so I just bought one that had a picture of milk on it. It turned out to be that thing thats a mix of coffee and milk(forgot its name). I didnt really like it, but I forced my self to drink it cause I dont like to waste food. So I kept drinking it, and to my very great surprise, the more I drank, the more I liked it. So I bought another one the next day to see if the day before had just been a fluke. I still like it. And that is how I came to like coffee while in japan. Now that I look back, that was a really weird story. Oh, well.
Alrighty, so Ill just end this post and go do.......something else. (I wonder what?)
Oh, and to grandma. I have recieved the halloween pkg. I loved it. I shared some(a very little)with my friends at school. They were very surprised. :)Ive been eating the rest. Yup. Laters.

Last Tuesday, I joined the Tea Ceremony club at my school. Silly thing to do. I have club after school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and I don`t get back home until 8:30. I was already exhausted and then I had to go and add even more to my already overflowing schedule! See, aren't i silly? I really ought to think before I act. But the club IS really fun. So far I`ve learned the proper way to fold the orange cloth that is used to clean the bowl, tea scooper, and tea holder during the ceremony. Those things all have special names, but I cant remember them. I also learned how to act when offered tea. The whole thing is rather complicated. Also, on Mondays I do Japanese flower arranging. Ive only done it once, but it was rather enjoyable. We did a triangle style with daisies, carnations, and red branches(from a tree). Also since I joined the club, I`ve started walking home with two girls named Ayumi and Ayame. They`re both really nice. Yesterday, we were talking about America and I told them that I had seen obama in person. They were very amazed. Also last week, was my school`s sports festival. So much fun! Although I actually didn't do much, I only had two events in the morning and then I just watched for the rest of the day. But it was still fun. :) Most of the events were pretty normal, like relay races, and tug of war, etc. But some were really weird. Like when everyone got dressed in their club outfits and raced. They also had to do certain things at the checkpoints that had to do with their club. Like the kendo peeps had to perform a fighting sequence and so on. Yup. That`s about it.

So a while back(this was before I got my ipod)I was riding the train on my way home from school and all of a sudden this Japanese woman starts to talk to me in english. She asked if I was an exchange student living in japan. I was so surprised that I answered immediately. Then we got into a conversation. Apparently the woman was on her way to narita airport to pick up her sister who was returning home after spending several years living in America. The woman on the train had also lived in America(Michigan, I think) for several years. I told her I was here for six months as an exchange student, but I`d only been there for a little while. The whole experience was so surreal and unexpected, I really didn`t know what to make of it.

Well, I have to get off to take a bath and go to bed soon, so yeah. Oh! And tommorow, I have a day off school(don`t know why) and so I`m going to a Japanese history museum with my host mom. That`ll be fun, right? Anyways. Night.

I am so terribly sorry that I haven`t blogged in so long. I was attacked by a sudden bout of homesickness and was unable to do anything that reminded me of home without tearing up. And I couldn`t really afford to be crying while here so I simply avoided all things American. This next paragraph is from two weeks ago when I started this blog post.

You remember that I told you I had a few days off from school for silver week? Well, then my school had to go and make me come to school over the weekend, to make up for those days lost. School administration annoys me, even here. But it was still okay, because that weekend was MY SCHOOL`S FESTIVAL!!! It was so much fun! But I didn`t get to do everything that I wanted. So saddening. But the festival was exactly the kind of thing that people like daisy and anna would love. There was dagashi and dango and gyoza and udon curry and a bunch of other things that I didn`t know what they were. It was all so yummy! And then there was tea ceremony club(the girls wore yukatas, they were so cute), japanese drumming, games, plays(and yes, they did in fact put on a production of HSM 3, I still cant get over how much they like it), and my favorite: synchronized dancing. There was also some cosplay and dancing. I took tons of photos, but as I still can`t figure out how to upload the stupid things, you`ll just have to wait.

So now I`m going to tell you about the past two(or so) weeks. This upcoming week will be my school`s sport`s festival. Geez, I nearly wrote that last sentance in Japanese. I need to be careful. I`m not quite sure what the festival will be like, but it`ll probably be fun, right? I also sent in an application for the Level 4 Japanese Proficiency test. I`ll be taking it this December. I`ll almost certainly fail miserably. I took a level three practice test and I couldn`t even figure out what part of the test I was supposed to be on. There are three sections(I think). So I just filled in the bubbles in the design of a face and I got half right! I was seriously surprised. 0-0. But I promise to study hard and try to actually understand what I`m doing in the real test. Also, this past week, I actually took the train home with someone! The girl`s name is Hitomi and shes in my calligraphy class. Her station is one stop before mine. She also isn`t in a club, so I`ll probably get to take the train with her again. I`m so happy. :) I also went to another afs meeting and all the exchange students had to make a treat from their home country. I made chocolate chip cookies. They had never had them before but they thought that they were delicious. I doing pretty well in all my classes at school, except for this one class that I don`t even know what subject is being taught and Biology. We`re studying genetics and I so don`t get it. I think I`ve already mentioned this, but i don`t know.

Well, I thought that I was going to have to rant in this post but it turned out surprisingly cheery. I feel much better than I did when I started typing. Sorry this is so short, but the wit just isn`t flowing from my fingers like it normally does. Oh, and this is rather random but I really miss soccer. The boy`s soccer team at my school always practices right outside my classroom(which is on the third floor) and it kills me. I can`t even watch cause I don`t have a window seat. It makes me so frustrated every day. Girls just don`t really play soccer in japan. Also random, But apparently my school is a prestigious private school that the majority of students can`t get accepted into. And we changed into our winter uniforms, which look pretty dang...prestigious. Argh, I so didn`t want to use that word again but I COULD NOT think of a synonym.

I sent letters to my family and they should be there in about a week. Also, any requests for presents should be submitted now, before all spots are taken. I seem to be making less and less sense as this blog continues so....Yours Truly, Emily

I learned two things today. #1: Japanese people love synchronized dancing. #2: Japanese people love it when guys cross dress.
Well, I guess I already knew that. :p But it was really solidified for me today. See, our school culture festival is coming up, and quite a few classes made videos for it. So today, the entire friggin` school(including me)went and sat on the gym floor and watched these movies/presentations for three hours. Every. Single. Video. had guys in skirts and synchronized dancing. I was totally cracking up, and I wondered why americans dont do this? A few themes of the videos were love between a guy and a guy dressed as a girl(dont worry, they were being sarcastic), food, and random insanity. My favorite video would have to be the first, the one with the bike and pie. Hilarious. And you know what I went and did? I, like a total idiot, forgot to bring my camera. I sincerely hope they will show them again at the culture festival. One class did a live dance to the song We`re all in this together, from highschool musical. With authentic dance moves. There were also crossdressing guys for that dance. In wigs. I never thought the day would come when I would actually enjoy that song.

So the day before yesterday I went shopping! I actually bought some stuff! And went on a ferris wheel and ate(yet another)crepe and I saw a live performance of power rangers which was rather awesome. So I bought two shirt/dresses, a postcard, a stuffed bunny that I named Usa-chan/Usagi-kun(I havent decided it`s gender), and the application for the japanese proficiency test. Which I will undoubtedly fail miserably. I probably bought something else but I`m blanking on what it was. oh, well. I went in the cutest shop ever. It was one of my dream clothing stores. It was all lace and flowers and oldfashioned, yet with a chic, modern twist. I saw the cutest dress, and I seriously wanted to buy it but I didn`t have enough money with me. I wrote the name of the store on my arm so I wouldn`t forget/lose it, but then I had to go and take a bath and so now I am `store name` deprived. This is probably one of the few posts that I didn`t check the comments for questions before typing, so I apologize for making this a one sided conversation. I will answer your questions in the next post. Well, I am exhausted, and have school tomorrow so I will end this and go to bed. Night.

Sorry I haven`t blogged for a while, I`ve been really busy. So first there is school, and then we are preparing for the culture festival, and my home room teacher has been giving me tours of the clubs, AND they`ve started giving me homework and I`ve started taking a second Japanese class. So, yeah. Busy. So I have a lot to say so I`ll start with today`s reflections and then go back to last weekend.

So the schedule of my day in terms of mood goes like this. I wake up and I sooooo don`t wanna get out of bed. But I do and I eat although eating too early makes me nauseous. Then I get on the train and read and listen to my ipod and it`s very peaceful. I don`t usually want to get off the train. OH YEAH!!! I actually forgot to tell you that my stuff arrived!! Thank you so much!! I really, really appreciate it. And thanks for the comics, too. I showed them to my host mother and she really likes them(though she doesn`t usually get the joke). So back to my day. After the walk to school(which is nice exercise) I usually feel a bit depressed(not the right word) until something good happens. Like today, I was about to leave and then this random group of boys from my school all started saying things like `see you later` and bye bye.` I said bye back and they got all excited. I was so happy I smiled the whole way home. Another time was when this girl from the class next door who is a friend of a friend hugged me, and then my friend pretended to be jealous and we all had a group hug. I wouldn`t consider it a big deal in the US, but here, since I don`t speak the language, I usually feel left out of the conversation. So any instance when they show that they actually like me is really huge. Also, I walked to school with people for the first time!! They were this adorable couple from the class next door. They are really nice.

So my day w/　so-chan. So first we went to theis huge(and I mean huge)store. First we looked at food and then clothes and then books. It was so much fun. Then we did karaoke. I can`t believe we don`t have it in the US. It would be huge. They had tons of english songs including bon jovi and lilly allen and bowling for soup. They didn`t have beatles though which surprised me. We mostly sang pop songs though, cause we both knew them. So-chan really likes taylor swift. We also did Puri Kuri!!!! At least, I think that is what it was called. It was soooooo much fun. It`s like a photo booth, only ten times better. The pictures we got were super cute, I can`t wait to show you. :) I also got this delirious mont blanc crepe. So yummy. I also took a picture.

So I`m getting a few days off from school cause of some holiday or other. I actually don`t know what the holiday is. So I`ll be blogging a tad more. Lessee, I had a ton of stuff that I planned to write, but now I can`t remember a bloomin thing. Um...well, they call `Wolverine(the movie)` Xmen Zero. Just a little tidbit of news. So all banks are closed on sunday, can you believe it!?! There aren`t even many christians over here. And the banks are closed on holidays too, so I am officially broke. Oh, well. I don`t actually need much money in daily life. It`s just for souvenirs and food. And when I go out to do something. Okay, well I can`t think of anything else to say so I`ll blog again once I think of something. Ta.

Today I met my host parents kids and grand kids. The grand kids are SO CUTE!!!!!! Their names are Chiharu and Ryuusai. Chi-chan is three and Ryuu-kun is 5. Ryuu-kun wears glasses and he is so frickin shy and adorable. :) love him. Chi-chan is like any bossy three year old. She calls me Emily-chan and when we went on a walk she held my hand the whole way back. so cute. So they were here all day and it was rather exhausting. Also Chi-chan speaks better Japanese than me. I`m not even at the level of a 3 year old. :(
I'M MEETING SO-CHAN TOMORROW!!!! KARAOKE AND SHOPPING!!!! But I need to exchange some money, it`s so hard to find a place and time in daily life.....Thanks for the permission to buy clothes. I`ll be sure to buy some tomorrow.
Anna, I`m sure you can send me a letter. I`ll be eagerly awaiting it. And thanks so much for always commenting. Oh! And I started following your blog. I really like it. It`s amazing how many things we felt the same way about(though that line of thought is rather presumptuous of me). I can`t remember what else anyone talked about. Sorry. Well, I got to get off to go to bed. I couldn't`t fall asleep last night FOREVER so I ended up only getting 5 hours of sleep.
Oyasuminasai.
Emily
p.s. I am trying to make these posts sound upbeat and positive. Is it working?

Grapes

I know that I just wrote a post but I just HAD to tell you about the grapes. They were delicious. The best grapes that I have ever tasted. I also got a roasted sweet potato which was also delicious. After we bought the grapes and a few sweet potatoes we went to a cafe and I got a yummy pumpkin parfait. It had brownies and pumpkin and ice cream and flan and whipped cream and cornflakes. Yum. The cafe was named Jonathan`s something or other. Then I went home and we ordered take out and I got temura and soba. I don`t really like tempura but I love soba(noodles). Oh, and I bought another charm. So tomorrow I will meet my host parents kids and their grandkids. Not sure how that will go. Then on sunday I`m gonna go to karaoke with So-chan and her friends. It`s gonna be so much fun! I don`t think I`ve learned much Japanese since I got here. I`m worried if I`ll ever be able to speak the language. Sigh.
I am seriously in need of clothes. Not from a necessity standpoint so much as a fashion one. I`ve been wearing the same 8 or so outfits over and over. It`s very saddening. yup.
I feel that since I came here my spelling and vocabulary of the English language has been declining. By the time I come back home it may have been reduced into simple words like `cool` or ``sup`. Well, now I`m just sort of rambling so I think that I`ll adjourn this post for the sake of quality. Sayounara.

How I loathe, abhor, despise, and abominate being told that I will make a good wife. It is sexist, patronizing, and just plain rude. I also rather dislike pet stores, they make me feel depressed.

So that was today`s rant. Now about my life. I went shopping at the super center at some point(can`t remember when, time isn`t really one of my strong points) and I saw the cutest suit dress ever. I really wanted to buy it but it was 250 dollars and where would I wear it, anyways?

It was really cute and mature, though. I also saw this awesome ballgown with matching sparkly shoes. I think that Japanese fashion on a whole is really cute. And I`m meeting So-chan and some of her friends for karaoke this weekend. Fun! So my host mom is part of this frontier(?) group and today she invited them all over. They were all little old japanese ladies. And boy, could they gossip. They sat at the living room table and talked and ate and talked for 6 hours. Thankfully, I didn`t have to sit there the whole time. They were totally adorable, though. Lessee, not much else new in life, life here is pretty much the same as in america. Oh yeah!! So I was let out of school early one day and I got home too soon and my host family wasn`t there yet. So I took a walk around the neighborhood. And guess what I found. A PARK!!! And a restaurant and a very cheap clothing store. I also found a shortcut from the station to my house. The park is just a little area with a trellis and swings and a slide and a few trees, but I really like it. :) Yup, it`s nice.

So the only place I hear japanese music playing in my daily life is when I`m at the supermarket. They always play this one song that I don`t know the name of and it`s driving me nuts. *annoyed face* Argh. So annoying. But I have a little radio in my room and lately I`ve been listening to this one station for american militarians(is that a word? spell check says it isn`t,but what does it know.) in japan. It`s surprisingly amusing. The main host guy is always making jokes about americans. They play music, give the weather, talk a little about politics, give you information on events, and tell you fun facts. Like that today was the day that the teddy bear was named. And I learned why they chose to name a bear out of all animals after him. This week is also busy and the weekend will be too. So much to do.
Thank you so much for the post, grandma. I really liked it. :) Daisy, congrats on the rice, you must be so proud. Also I don`t know how I get up so early, it must be a gift(and I don`t use an alarm clock, I just wake up automatically. yup, i`m amazing). Anna, I am very proud of you. You`ve matured so much in the short time that I`ve been gone.*sniff* Anna`s growing up. Oh, and I miss you too. :(
Right, well it`s time to get off. I am going to pick grapes tomorrow, and I need to be well rested.
Night.

Whoops, I forgot to post my schedule last time. Try to forgive me. so here`s the schedule of my typical day Monday through Saturday.
5:45 am: wake up to get ready for school.
6:40 leave house to catch train at 6:44
7:18 switch trains
8:00 arrive at Matsudo Shinden station. 25 minute walk to school(and thats when taking all the shortcuts and walking quickly)
8:40-3:00 at school. then at 3 repeat the same travel plan as above only backwards to get back home by 5:20
5:30-have dinner.
6:30 do dishes, then study japanese and do homework
8:30take bath and get ready for bed
9:00watch tv and go to bed at 10
yup, thats basically it. now to discuss my past few days with school being cancelled(for me) cause of tests. So the day before yesterday was my host mom`s b-day. We had a celebration BBQ with the neighbors yesterday. I also went to a fish market, which was awesome. There was uni and tako and roe, all freshly caught that morning. We ate that fish at the BBQ. It was delicious. Oh, and I saw Two and a Half Men on tv in japanese. It was really quite hilarious. I also saw Battlestar Galactica. Today, I got up early (6:00 again) to go to the flea market with my host mom to sell things. We were there until about 1:00. The flea market was pretty cool. On the first of every month, a bunch of people go to this place and sell things. I bought an entire manga series for 200 yen! So cheap! After that, I went with my host mom and her friends to a meiji style cafe. The uniforms for the waitresses were really cute. :) I forgot to bring a camera though, so I didn`t get a picture. :( Saaaaadd. But if you look up the Meiji Era, I`m sure you could find it. The meiji restoration era is right when guns were first being introduced, swords were banned, Japan turned into a government, and japan started to become westernized. So the uniforms are a cross between like 19th century europe and yukatas. I learned all of that from the manga, rurouni kenshin. See? Manga IS good for something. Ok, question time. I do help with the cooking some, but it`s mostly just prep work. I`m sorta busy, so I usually don`t have time to cook. No, I haven`t met the grandkids, I`ll meet them sometime this week though. My room is just a tatami mat room. Its bare except for a wooden table, a wooden chest of drawers, and a built in shrine, which isn`t that interesting either. Yeah I`m in walking distance of places. Bakery, Karaoke, Grocery store, restaraunt, futon store, trainstation. But I`m not allowed to go out on my own except to school, so it doesn`t really matter much. You really think I look cute in my uniform? I think I look like a catholic schoolgirl. Everyone else is cute, though. The weather here is pretty cool for summer time, but the japanese people think that it is very hot now. Everyone carries gloves and a hat and a umbrella and a fan and a handkerchief with them. Which is not as awesome as it sounds cause the stuff isn`t fashionable. I can`t wait for the ipod. So you figured out the address ok? I was worried. Well I gotta go so one last thing I can`t upload pics on facebook yet cause this computer dont have java script. bye.

So today was a school day. I had PE(ping pong, they call it teberu tenisu here), then I had some strange class. the front of the textbook for that class said Food Composition and inside the textbook was pictures of food and lots of japanese writing. today we looked at fruit pictures. and mushroom pictures. it was very strange. i made a new friend today in pe, her name is miho-chan and shes from a different class. today I also had japanese(not for me, for the japanese people, it teaches kanji) and calligraphy. calligraphy is ok, i dont really like the teacher. i told my homeroom teacher that i wanted to take calligraphy so she signed me up for three classes and the calligraphy teacher made me introduce myself at each. :( it was awful. but its fun going there. all the people i pass on the way say hello! nice to meet you! this one group of boys always say emily and salute me when i pass. they`re so funny:) the girls in my school all giggle and wave. everyone at the school knows my name cause they introduced me at the opening ceremony. which was horrible. i had to give a speech. i hate giving speeches. theyre awful. i dont have school tomorrow and only on monday next week so im not sure what to do. what to do what to do. okay time to address the posts then ill give you a schedule of my day. anna, most people have to travel a bit to get home and they have clubs and sometimes cram school so they dont get home until late. so most people dont hang out with friends after school. maybe sunday, or MAYBE saturday. but we have school for half a day on saturday so i doubt it. i guess u could call it family time? also, everyone loves my posts? go figure. daisy, school would actually really boring if it wasnt japanese. also, i found out today that yuki means courage. kyo=today and yuki=courage. cool, huh? mom, thanks for the link. its actually not that hard to upload pictures it just takes a while. also, its hard to take pics of school cause we are technically not allowed to bring a camera. i snuck a photo of my classroom yesterday. i also have a limited time on the computer so i can either blog or upload photos. ill try to upload photos tommorw. um, cant think of anything else to say. oh, they are always showing american movies of the 80`s on tv in badly subbed japanese. not really relevant to anything but i thought it was interesting. also there is gonna be an article about me in my school newspaper, so try to find the website. its something like senshu.matsuda.jp, but i wouldnt try that. well, im off. not sure what im gonna do but ill do something. maybe study japanese. bye bye.

Wow, so many comments. I feel so loved. :) First of all, Happy Birthday Bella! Hope you had a great one and got everything that you wanted. For Daisy, yeah, Japanese TV is really, really weird. Especially the dramas and kid shows. The supposedly tragic dramas are actually the funniest thing on TV. Especially since I can`t understand a word they`re saying. Oh, yeah. I found Shugo Chara. It plays at 9:30 on Saturday. For Anna: Sorry you don`t like big high schools, poor Anna. :( I don`t get how ping pong is a sport either, but whatev. It`s really fun going to a Japanese high school (I`ve only gone twice) even though it`s big. Maybe I like it `cause I don`t have to actually participate in any of the classes(yet, as I`ve said, I`ve only gone twice.). School might be cancelled tomorrow, `cause of the Typhoon. Also, I don`t have school next week since everyone else is testing so I`m not sure what I`m gonna do.........
The train ride is actually really relaxing even though it`s long. Everyone`s almost always either sleeping, reading, or texting(ugh, I hate texting, it`s so RUDE. It`s the most annoying thing. It always puts me in a bad mood, don`t know why.).The train only gets crowded right before Keisei Tsudanuma and Matsudo and other major stations. Everytime I get on a train I think I`m on the wrong one. Sooo stressful. Which reminds me, today I saw two Americans on the train on my way home from school. There was an overweight white man and a thin African American. They looked sort of lost, but they were so cute and funny. (not cute as in good looking, the other cute.) They really made me laugh. One really doesn`t see very many foreigners here. They just aren`t that common. So my school is a really good school, they have TONS of teachers who speak English. Also, the uniform is way cuter than most, but I look like a total catholic schoolgirl in mine. *sigh* All the Japanese girls look so much cuter. They`re all also in pretty good shape. *sigh again* So I`ve made some friends: Ami-chan, Lena-chan, Lina-chan, Asumi-chan, Toki-chan, Mae-chan, Yuna-chan, and Matsuda-kun. And there are some others but their names continue to elude me. I`m taking Japanese twice a week at school while the others are taking English. This weekend I went to an AFS orientation. There I met Japanese girl scouts(who actually looked cute in their uniforms). I had to give a speech about my country and sing the national anthem. I hated that. Though I met some nice people. Cindy and Marcella from Germany and Piyumi from some country that they speak Swahili(or something like that). I also became friends with So-chan. She`s a Japanese girl who is going to Australia as an exchange student. She speaks English really well, especially for a 15 year old. Um, what haven`t I talked about.......Natto is really icky, I didn`t like it. If you could send me an ipod that would be great. I really miss music. You don`t notice but there is almost always music playing in america. But if you send me an ipod, send it with some songs already on it. It may be hard to buy new songs. I also want a stuffed animal :( But I`ll just buy one. I`ve been buying charms since I came here, I bought a hello kitty, a stuffed squid, a japanese protection charm, and a stuffed dog. I hung them on my purse. They sell charms EVERYWHERE. There was one more thing that I wanted to say, what was it. Oh, yeah. Everyone here loves disney. They love disney channel and singers and products and disney world. One of the first Questions I`m asked when I meet someone is if I`ve been to Disney world. They also like high school musical. they played the music at my japanese highschool. There is a bakery down the street called Tincar bell. Yup, they like it. They also like Tom Cruise. Well this is extremely long. i think I`ll end it here. Also, to my family. I love you and miss you. I also miss my friends. I`ll blog again soon. And I can`t remember if i`ve already said this but I loved your comments. Bye-bye!

PICTUREEESSSSS

Here are lots of photos. There is a pic of a japanese television show called ny salad. then there is a pic of melon bread. several pics of the narita temple: koi, me praying, and the temple itself. i also wnet to school today. we played ping pong for pe and had to stretch beforehand. (i dont get it) any ways i gotta go, im typing this quickly before dinner. ill tell more about school tomorrow. and the train ride. the train ride is sooooo frickin long. ok. thats all for now. laters. oh, and please please PLEASE comment as much as you like. i really like to read comments.

Ｈｅｙ，　ｓｏｒｒｙ　ａｂｏｕｔ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｎｅｗ　ｐｏｓｔ　ｂｕｔ　Ｉ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｒｅａｌｉｚｅｄ　ｔｈａｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｔｈａｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｂｌｏｇ　ｓａｙｓ　ｔｈａｔ　ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ｐｏｓｔｅｄ　ｉｓ　ｉｎ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｔｉｍｅ．　Ｈｅｒｅ　ｉｔ　ｉｓ　ａｂｏｕｔ　８　ａｍ。　ｗｅｌｌ　ｔｈａｔ　ｉｓ　ａｌｌ　ｔｈａｔ　ｉ　ｗａｎｔｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｓａｙ．　ｂｙｅ　ｂｙｅ．

Yesterday I went shopping with my host mom. We went to this huge shopping center and i got ramen and a bun shaped like a turtle. :) then we went to another huge shopping center. There I bought yarn, a notebook, and a manga magazine. Which is really difficult for me to read, by the way. Japanese is so difficult. Today I`m going to visit my host school. Scary. I am extremely nervous. The president of this chapter　ｉｓ　ｓｕｐｐｏｓｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｔａｋｅ　ｍｅ　ｔｈｅｒｅ，　ｉ　ｔｈｉｎｋ　ｂｙ　
ｔｒａｉｎ．Ａｒｇｈ．　Ｉ　accidentally　ｃｈａｎｇｅｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｋｅｙｂｏａｒｄ　ｔｏ　Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅｎ　Ｉ　ｈａｄ　ｔｏ　ｔｕｒｎ　ｉｔ　ｂａｃｋ　ｂｕｔ　ｉｔ　ｄｏｅｓｎ‘ｔ　ｌｏｏｋ　ｑｕｉｔｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｓａｍｅ．　Ｔｅｌｌ　ｍｅ　ｉｆ　ｉｔ　ｌｏｏｋｓ　ｓｔｒａｎｇｅ　
ｏｎ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｅｎｄ．Ｄａｉｌｙ　ｌｉｆｅ　ｉｓ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｗｅｌｌ．　Ｉ　ｔｈｉｎｋ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｉ　ａｍ　ｆｉｎａｌｌｙ　ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ　ｕｓｅｄ　ｔｏ　
ｉｔ．　Ｔｈｅ　ｆｏｏｄ　ｉｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｍｏｓｔ　ｉｎｔｅｒｅｓｔｉｎｇ　ｐａｒｔ　ｆｏｒ　ｍｅ．　Ｂｕｔ　Ｉ　ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｉｔ．　
Ｔｏｍｏｒｒｏｗ　Ｉ　ａｍ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ｈａｖｅ　ｎａｔｔｏ　ｆｏｒ　ｂｒｅａｋｆａｓｔ．　Ｗｉｓｈ　ｍｅ　ｌｕｃｋ．　Ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｏｓｅ　ｗｈｏ　ｄｏｎ‘ｔ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｗｈａｔ　ｎａｔｔｏ　ｉｓ，　ｉｔ‘ｓ　ｆｅｒｍｅｎｔｅｄ　ｂｅａｎｓ．　（ａｓ　ｆａｒ　ａｓ　Ｉ　ｋｎｏｗ，　Ｉ　
ａｌｓｏ　ｈｏｐｅ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｉ　ｓｐｅｌｌｅｄ　ｉｔ　ｒｉｇｈｔ）　Ａｎｙｗａｙｓ　Ｉ‘ｍ　ｎｏｔ　ｓｕｒｅ　ｗｈａｔ　ｔｏ　ｗｅａｒ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　
ｔｒｉｐ　ｔｏ　ｓｃｈｏｏｌ．　Ｉｔ‘ｓ　ａｌｗａｙｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｌｉｔｔｌｅ　ｐｒｏｂｌｅｍｓ　ｔｈａｔ　ｒｅａｌｌｙ　ｇｅｔ　ｍｅ．　Ｗｅｌｌ，　Ｉ　ｇｏｔｔａ　ｇｏ．　Ｉｔ‘ｓ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｂｒｅａｋｆａｓｔ．　　

Okay, so first. In response to Anna`s question: The food is awesome. Otou-san bought me roasted chesnuts on the first day which were delicious. I had curry for dinner last night and a bento box from a restaraunt for lunch today. My favorite thing to drink so far is milk tea. It is so delicious. Green tea is a bit bitter for me.
That about wraps it up. Some things that surprised me were that you push the faucet down instead of pulling up, the cars are all really narrow and straight on the side, and that green tea was so bitter.
Today I went to the Narita Temple with my host family. It was amazing.I took a lots of photos and i will try to upload a few. I saw turtles and thank yous to kings and a pot that was smoking. I also prayed at the main temple.
Righty-o, I have to get off. Till next time.

Hey everybody. Here I am, in Japan (a little rhyme for ya). I have already gone through orientation and it was awesome. Except for the sleep deprivation, but that was just from jet lag.  There were tons of awesome people there. Everyone there spoke two languages pretty fluently except for most of the Americans. After the orientation I was taken to my host family's house. There is a beautiful Japanese style garden out front. I get to sleep on a futon in the tatami mat room. I take a train to school for over an hour. Apparently my school is a really good one and the uniform is super cute even for Japan. My host family is really nice. Otou-san is retired, but they are both really active. They have the garden out front as well as a vegetable garden a little down the road. I went to their garden today and picked vegetables. The lunch Okaa-san cooked was completely homemade and mostly from the garden. I met my LP person and the AFS chapter president. When we went out to the garden and later to the supermarket for groceries all the neighbors kept saying how "kawai" I was. That means cute. Well I gotta go. TTFN. Oh, and Japanese TV is great and I watched Power Rangers (Japanese version) at the orientation and it was awesome. I also saw this boy band with cool hair singing a cheesy pop song at a volleyball game. I want J-Pop on the ipod now. OK, goodbye for real.

Well, here I am. I'm about to depart for Japan. The orientation is in just three days, and may I say, I am scared witless. Why am I doing this again? Oh, right. It's the adventure of a life time. Of course, I am also incredibly excited. I'm spending the last few days in LA (which, btw, is also the abbreviation of Louisiana, but I'm in the city in CA) with my dad and sister. I am currently typing this on the hotels computer. Well, I gotta go. There's a time limit on the computer. Until next time.

I don't have much to say in this blog, its purpose is merely to show you what my school uniform will look like. Personally, I think its rather cute. Also, preparations for the trip are well under way and so I only have a few things left to do before the big day. Here's the link for my school uniform.

http://www.senshu-u-matsudo.ed.jp/senior/html/seikatsu/uniform

Talk to ya'll laters!

I have just received the information telling me who my host family was!!!! I must admit, i was getting a little nervous......but apparently its not uncommon to receive info until two weeks before departure. So the family is Mr. Takeo Miyokawa and Mrs. Tokiko Miyokawa. I'm not going to have any host siblings which will be a little sad, but then again I will also be able to see what it is like being an only child. I've been placed in the city Sakura-Shi in the Chiba-ken Provence in Japan. Sakura-Shi is only 42 kilometers from Tokyo! Maybe I'll get to visit. I have also been told my school, which is in Matsuda. I'm so excited!!! And I still have so much to do, I'm a little worried. But I will prevail!! Oh! I just remembered something that I need to add to my already-far-too-long list of things to do. Until next time!

Today I got my departure information for Japan, I'll be leaving August 20th, from LA, CA. I can't wait! The plane trip is my first step into a strange land. Once I arrive in Japan, I will be going to an orientation. I wonder what that will be like. While waiting to go to Japan I have been learning Japanese (the language) and all about their culture. I haven't gotten very far yet though, I have no idea how I'm supposed to memorize all of it.  Japanese culture is so interesting, it really stresses the importanceof manners and respect since it is a small island nation. There are 4 main islands, and over 4,000 smaller islands. I think Kyoto is my favorite town from reading; it's a historical town on the tip of Japan. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan, I think in the Feudal Era. The first two periods of Japan were Jomun and Yayoi. Rice cultivation started in the Yayoi period. Isn't that cool? They have been cultivating rice forever, no wonder it's their staple dish! The word for Japan in Japanese is nippon. I wonder where the word 'Japan' came from anyways? Do you think Europeans came up with it? I just got a book on modern Japanese history from the library, it looks really interesting.