post. 21

Ahh well school has started again which is nice, back to being sleepy though, soo sleepy at school because of the early mornings. It's so great seeing everyone again though, I do love my school hey. The last week of holidays were great, just hanging out with friends going to some family dinners, the usual. I don't know if I mentioned this before but I love my host family so much! My host parents are the best! I am treated like part of the family, my mum gives me a bit of spending money sometimes If I go out, she bought be socks the other day too! My host dad is also an awesome guy. I'm so happy about my host family. ANYWAY I'm off to Osaka tomorrow until sunday.

Jess and Miranda dancing under Mt. Fugi. This was at 4am during Global Village. Paint made the photo weird but I like this photo.

here is a great photo of Koren, Miss you Koren and ok I will try and find some crazy Japanese things in Osaka. This photo is great.

Global Village!!

Me, host brother and friends


I just got home last night from my half way camp "Global village". The camp was organised my my exchange company and was half way up Mt Fugi. Wow I had such a great time! I really really really loved seeing all the other exchange students! There were also students from England, Ireland and Spain that came, plus a whole heap of Japanese students. The camp was nice, it was great learning about other countries and we did the, as expected, "leadership" building activities.

The reason I enjoyed the camp so much was mainly because I could meet up with the other Aust exchange students. It's the half way point, we all really enjoyed, comparing notes, you could say, we all had so much to talk about. It was a nice kind of support we all gave eachother. Now here we are all back home ready for the final 5 months of our Journey. It was also a great opportunity to speak lots of english, which has been rare for some of us. I did find it really funny though how at times Japanese would unintentionally slip into our conversations or english and Japanese would be combined together.
The Girls

Now in Osaka

Ok so I'm on my way to the camp in Shizuoka, my half way camp where I get to meet up with all the other australian 10 month exchange students. I caught a bus to Hiroshima then a bullet train to Osaka. Staying here the night with Nozomi who's a friend who was an exchange student at State High 2 years back. Tomorrow I'll reach Shizuoka for my 4 day camp. Had a great night with Noz goin around all the crazy shops and stuff. It's made me really excited about my week here at the end of the month, for a proper stay. Osaka seems great!

Hamada Fireworks

Just got back from the fireworks festival! It's so crazy that we are in suuch country here yet they had bigger fireworks than a new years show in Sydney. Some, the bang was so big you could feel it, like a gust. I had a net behind me, although a bit of the roof from above fell on me. Hehe is everyone imagining like a chunk of tiled roof falling on me? No no, not that much.


Anyway! It was great, met a whole heap of new ALTs, the bunch of us foreigners also being found by a live TV show and their crazy host! Also Ashley my schools new ALT came with me and my host family. She is awesome Koren! The kids at school are gonna love her, honestly!

Tokyo!

Ah back to Tokyo the big bustling city. After being in the country for 5 months Tokyo was a bit intimidating I must say, everyone was walking and talking so fast I was like whoaa guys calm down. City folk, pshh. Anyway had a great three days, with former host families cousins and people.

From the airport, riding on the highway which was elevated amongst the many apartments and office buildings was a bit depressing. Just seeing soo many people working at desks, building after building, for like 2 hours of traffic on this highway. Got over it!

One thing I notice about Tokyo which I didnt notice before is that eeveryone is learning english, the Japanese are amazing at applying themselves. In tokyo restaurant and hotel staff would automatically and even some enthusiastically use english when speaking to me, which was at first a surprise. Its not everyone but recently to enter into the hospitality industry in Japan you must be able to speak english. On the trains they have small TV screens which not only show adverts but also give simple english vocabulary lessons, so Japanese can study on the train. A non japanese speaking foreigner can get by fine in Tokyo, every sign has english, every voice is repeated in english. Everywhere I went.


Day two went to Disney Land, It was fun. The money that that place rakes in is amazing. You can see half of it too in the rides they offer, most made for young children. Disney Land is a well oiled machine though. From the rides to the people working there. I really think It would be interesting to work there though. There would be so many stories. Heres a pic of me on splash mountain, a fun ride!


I also met up with some friends from when I went to school here 3 years ago. I met up with a friend ayaka and we chatted for half the night, then said goodbye again for another two years or so until I return. It was so great, we think exactly the same and had so much to talk about, Japan and its people. I was so happy to have been able to meet up again!

Anyway last day enjoyed some more time with former host families relatives!
Going to the airport experienced a rare sight. On the highway there was heavy stop go traffic. We were next to a truck and the driver was asleep, the traffic started again and it took him a few seconds to wake up again and catch up, then traffic would stop, he would once again fall asleep, then traffic would go, he would wake up late and have to catch up. This happened literally about 8 times. It was just ridiculous honestly, later on we had to merge and do all sorts of things. So dangerous, what an idiot.