The Return

I've been meaning to write about this for several days now, so I better get around to it.

On August 4 the AFS summer students in Japan left Japan.
I should have done this weeks ago, but here's a map of Japan:

I took the map from Google Maps.
The AFS summer students are placed near one of five cities: Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, or Sapporo. I highlighted these cities with a red dot on the map.
All of us came and went through the Narita International Airport in Narita (which is near Tokyo). The American students flew to and from Los Angeles together, which is our gateway city in the U.S.

In Nagoya there were people from the U.S., Italy, Bulgaria, Sweden, and Hong Kong. The students from Bulgaria left Nagoya for good a few days before the rest of us left because they're all on a special scholarship, so they traveled to a Meiji museum and went to Tokyo and maybe did some other things before leaving Japan on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The students from Italy and Sweden left Nagoya last Tuesday. I heard that their flights were early on Wednesday so they had to leave Nagoya a day before and then stay at a hotel near the airport for a night.
The students from the U.S. and Hong Kong left Nagoya on Wednesday. Before I mentioned that our flight was around 1:00 pm or something. That's completely wrong. I don't know why I wrote that.

I left the house sometime after 9:00 am on Wednesday morning. My host grandparents and host mom went to Nagoya station with me. We arrived fairly early, so we briefly went to a cafe in the station.
Some of the others were already there when we got to the platform. The American students and the girl from Hong Kong who were placed in Nagoya were going to take a bullet train from Nagoya to Tokyo. The time on my ticket said 10:53 am. Eventually the train arrived, but it didn't quite occur to me that we'd have to hurry. I said goodbye to my host family and then crowded into the train. Then the train took off. It really hadn't been in the station for long. I had to cry, and I certainly wasn't the only one.
We found our seats, which were all in the same area. Later on, a girl who lives near L.A. who was placed in Osaka walked in, followed by some other people. It was the Americans who were placed in Osaka! I started recognizing most of them from the gateway orientation in L.A. In fact, one of them was the person whose seat was next to mine on the flight from L.A. to Japan in June. I was so surprised to see them! We discovered that the students from the U.S. and Hong Kong who were in Osaka were on the same train as the Americans and people from Hong Kong who were in Nagoya! It was a little strange at first.
I've said that essentially it all comes down to the city you're in, because that's where the people who you spend time with are. It really doesn't matter if some of the people come from different countries.
You see the American non-Nagoya people for a day or two, and that's it. But it still felt nice to see the other Americans again, although I didn't know any of them very well. Because we have something in common: we're from the U.S. and we went on the AFS summer exchange to Japan this year. We may not have spent any time together and may have had very different experiences in Japan, but I still felt that that fact links us. To me it felt like little reunions that afternoon.

It turns out there weren't many people who were placed in Osaka. I found out that only 12 students were in Osaka (five from the U.S., four from Italy, one from Bulgaria, one from Sweden, and one from Hong Kong), while Nagoya had 23.
Anyway, the train ride from Nagoya to Tokyo took two and a half hours, but for me time flew by.
When the bullet train arrived in Tokyo, all the Americans and people from Hong Kong who were in Nagoya or Osaka were greeted by two AFS volunteers on the platform. We made our way to another area, where the JR trains were perhaps. Well, there was a train there, and what do you know, the people who were placed in Tokyo were already on it. I recognized some of the people. It was weird but great, because we were in different cities with different people and we had our own experiences but now we were seeing each other again, after all this.
So the students from Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo took the train from Tokyo to Narita, which took an hour or so.


I was told that there were 21 AFS students in Tokyo, including one Bulgarian girl and one person from Hong Kong and one person from Canada (and Americans of course).
I had actually asked some of the people in Nagoya about numbers. I was told that five people from Hong Kong went on the AFS summer program this year, but that they were evenly divided up among all five cities (so there was one person from Hong Kong in each AFS summer program city). There were four Bulgarians: two in Nagoya, one in Tokyo, and one in Osaka. There were six people from Sweden: two in Nagoya, one in Osaka, and at least two in Tokyo but I'm not sure... There were 18 people from Italy who went on the summer program. Apparently there were also Canadians, which I wasn't aware of, but I don't know if any other nationality was represented. I find all these numbers interesting. ^_^

Anyway, things went slowly once we arrived at the airport. After checking in we had some free time (during which some of us ate lunch). The flight to L.A. was scheduled to leave at 5:20 pm, so we had to meet at the gate an hour before that. An AFS volunteer was there again to take the same flight with us. Once I got to the gate I hung around with some of the others before going downstairs to the waiting area. We had to say goodbye to the people from Hong Kong. I only started to see some of the Americans who were in Fukuoka and Sapporo once I was at the gate. I know the people from Fukuoka took a bullet train when they arrived in Japan, but I heard that they flew from Fukuoka to Narita for their departure. I assume the people from Sapporo also took an airplane.



I wish all of us had had the opportunity to spend more time together or something. I enjoyed seeing everyone else again. We were all on the same plane to L.A. for ten hours, but our seats were fairly spread out.

I wasn't especially tired when we landed in L.A., just a little sad that our time had passed by so quickly. We made our way through customs and all that. Everyone stood around for a little while after we got our suitcases. It was then that the AFS volunteer who had flown with us came over to me and said that my connecting flight was one of the earliest ones, so right after we all left that area and had our passports checked again I had to go to the other gate right away, so I should start saying my goodbyes. I really wish I would have taken her more seriously. I kind of lingered, and when we all gathered the volunteer announced that we were going to leave the luggage area and that me and another girl had to leave right away so we should say our goodbyes, and she read the names of a few people who were being picked up at the airport. I started to cry a little, but I didn't rush over to the Nagoya people to say goodbye because I thought we'd still be gathered for a few moments after we exited, or something. I was wrong.
I ended up at the end of the long line to have passports checked, but I was with two other people from Nagoya. I was the last one through, so once I got through there was no one to be seen. Everyone was already gone. Ground transportation was to the left and connecting flights to the right. Nicole, Ben, and I walked down the hall to the right. We ran into a few of the random Americans, and when I went further there was an AFS guy who had envelopes with everyone's connecting flight information. I had to hurry down to the right gate. I was upset because none of the other AFS students were around. I didn't get to say goodbye to the people who were in Nagoya with me. It made me feel sad. I wish I could have properly said goodbye to everybody.

I didn't have any trouble finding my way to the connecting flight. I really didn't have much time between my arrival in L.A. and the departure of my connecting flight, but I didn't give it any thought. It wasn't on my mind at the time.
The flight from L.A. to Boston was long. I didn't do anything. I slept uncomfortably sometimes, and otherwise I just watched the screen in front of me. It was about 10:00 pm when I arrived in Boston. It was still Wednesday.

Of course it feels a little strange to be at home. I'm not in Japan anymore. I can accept that it's over, although it is saddening. All good things come to an end.

Extras

I made this post so I can just mention some things that I've thought of.

First of all, if you like video games or have a Nintendo DS, I suggest you bring it if you go on an exchange (though really it depends). A number of people (mostly Americans) who I saw at the language school everyday enjoyed playing Pokemon games and had fun going to the Pokemon Center and stuff. One day, before school started, I had at least five people playing on their DS's around me.

That brings me to another point: bring things to occupy yourself with. On weekends I usually had hours upon hours to myself, which got very boring very quickly. I had only brought books, and I often wasn't in the mood for reading. Well, save yourself hours of staring at the wall by bringing something fun to do! I only use my Nintendo DS occasionally, but it sure would have been nice if I had brought it to Japan. I even started to wish I had brought my iPod with me, although I rarely use it. I know AFS discourages students from bringing laptops, and with good reason, but it can do a good job of keeping you busy if there's really nothing else to do. Better yet, take a walk! I considered doing this several times, but I never did. I'd honestly rather stay in my air conditioned room than walk around under the hot sun. Or, make plans with someone from school! Don't make the mistake I made. Get phone numbers from people! Meet up with them. First make sure you know about your host family's plans for the weekend.

Now, about the weather in Japan. Overall, it get's very hot. In Nagoya it was very, very hot. Nobody could help but sweat. So carrying around a fan or a small moist towel is not a bad idea.

Also, it's not always easy living with a host family. I suppose it could make or break your experience, but many things depend on that. If there's difficulty, don't let it ruin your experience. Try to resolve things. There should be a lot of available resources, too.
Also, as it was in my case, sometimes you see fellow exchange students everyday (on a large scale that's limited to some of the summer programs though). The point is, you can hear all about what some of the other people are doing with their host families. Don't dwell on hearing about all the cool trips and interesting things someone else has done with their host families. Everyone has a different experience with their host families. Focus on the good things, not on things someone else has done that you wish you could do.

Give yourself time to adjust. Here's an example. One person said that in the beginning he got very homesick, and that he missed his real family. He had some trouble getting used to his host family, and he struggled. Well, things improved a whole lot, and I think he's one of the many people who got the most out of this exchange. He had an absolutely wonderful time in Japan and was fairly devastated about having to leave. He seemed to have made the most friends during this exchange, and he's having a hard time adjusting back to his life in the U.S. The thing is, you can't judge you're time abroad by the first couple of weeks. You never know what can happen.
There was a girl from the U.S. who went home after two and a half weeks because she was homesick. She won't know what she missed. She'll never get those remaining three and a half weeks back.

I thought I had more to write but I can't think of anything now.
Maybe I'll add things later if I think of them.

I added some new pictures to some of my old entries. If you look back you can see them :)
I'll add some pictures here now!

This is a picture that I took from the airplane when I came to Japan.


This is the Nagoya TV tower


This was the view from my bedroom window


This is a traditional Japanese toilet. You're supposed to squat over it. Since you don't come into contact with it, it is considered more sanitary than western toilets by some people. Don't worry, most Japanese homes have western toilets, and many public places have western toilets as well as the Japanese-style one.







A Pikachu car! I saw this near Nagoya station over a week ago.

About Food

If anyone remembers, several weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to write about food. Sorry it took so long.

First of all, Japanese people say "itadakimasu" (いただきます) before every meal. It's a form of the verb "receive". After meals everyone says "gochisousama (deshita)" to give thanks for the food. People usually put their hands together palm to palm (like when your hands are together when clapping) in front of themselves when they say these phrases.

Typically during meals there may not be just one big plate. Everyone may have numerous smaller dishes and plates instead, though this is not always the case (it depends on the food).
Also, when I ate with my host family there were never any napkins. Tissues were used once in a while to wipe mouths, or small wet towels for hands, but no actual napkins.
In restaurants, everyone receives a small towel wipe thing to clean their hands with before the meal.

A lot of things can come in the flavor of green tea. I've seen ice cream, cakes, and donuts, all appropriately in the color green too.

I hope I'm making sense... It's hard to concentrate right now. I still have jet lag.

Anyway, here are some pictures:






This is udon, which are noodles.


This is soba (buckwheat noodles).


These are dango (very delicious!) I think they're made from rice and flour.


These are rice balls.


This is my bento, or lunch box, from the first day at the language school. My host mom made me my bento box everyday. Sometimes it had food like this in it.


There are often wax or plastic models of food on display at restaurants and such.



This is a machine for food. You put in your money, pick which dish you want, and a little paper comes out. Then you bring the paper to the counter and receive your food.


At bakeries, there are plastic trays and metal tong things, so you go around and pick the bread and pastries you want. Then you bring your tray to the cashier to pay and to have it wrapped up.

That's pretty much all I can think of right now.

Back in Boston

Things I Don't Miss About Japan:
-the widespread absence of trash cans in public areas (they're hard to find)
-the common lack of paper towels in public restrooms (paper towels are rare)
-salesclerks saying いらっしゃいませ〜 in that voice

Things I Miss About Japan:
Everything else.


In a way it's good to be home, I guess.
It's just hard to say goodbye.

Last Day

Today is my last day in Japan, before I leave tomorrow afternoon. I've realized that August 4 will seem to last forever. That's because around 1:00 pm or around that time I'll go on a flight that will take about ten or eleven hours from Narita to L.A. and then after two or so hours in L.A. I'll go on a six-hour-long flight from L.A. to Boston, and after all that time on an airplane it will still be August 4 when I arrive in Boston at night.

I've had an ok week. Last Wednesday I went to the aquarium with some of the students from the language school who are also in Nagoya. On Thursday I went to Kyoto, which I wrote about. On Friday I went to the movies with Saki. We saw the new movie from Studio Ghibli, 借りぐらしのアリエッティ. I liked the movie, and the music was wonderful. Later I had dinner at Saki's house, and three of her friends came.
It was only on Friday night that I realized that my host family had nothing planned for the weekend. Great. I wish I had asked about any plans earlier so that I could have made plans with someone from school. Then again, I hadn't seen my host family all week (because I live at the host grandparents' house) so that adds another issue to communicating.
It turned out that I was encouraged to go shopping with my friends on Saturday. Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone's phone number. I would have loved to see someone from school again before we all leave Japan this week, and I've always wanted to make plans with someone on the weekend, so I was really frustrated that I didn't get phone numbers and for not asking my host family about the weekend. There were a number of things I still wanted to do around Nagoya station, but not on my own. That's how it turned out though. It was too late to be able to see if anyone was free. That left me in a bad mood.
When I returned to the house I was exhausted, so I ended up taking a really long nap. In the evening I talked to my host grandparents for a while and watched TV with them. It made me feel better.
On Sunday I barely did much of anything. I went to a grocery store with my host parents, but that didn't take long. Afterward I hung out in my room for a long while. I read a book.

Yesterday was a long day. I went to the lobby of the building where the language school is, because there were supposed to be plans to meet to go to the zoo, except the zoo is actually closed on Mondays. I was hoping to find people in the lobby anyway, and I didn't have anyone's phone number. Nobody was there. I could have cried. After only a half an hour of just waiting in the lobby and hoping that somebody would show up, I saw two of the AFS students! I was so relieved to see them! They had just been walking around, since they hadn't made any new specific plans since the zoo was closed. I joined them, and we ended up wandering over to Nagoya station. That's where we ran into two other people from school, so we decided to join them (I hope they didn't mind). They had plans to meet someone else from school, so we all took the subway to Nagoya castle and were there for a while. In the late afternoon the six of us went to karaoke, and then we started to go home. I arrived at my house at 7:00 pm, and then I went out for dinner with my host grandparents.

I'm sorry, I'm writing a whole lot of stuff again. These posts always become so long, even if I don't mean to go on writing forever.

Anyway, tomorrow all the summer AFS students in Japan will board flights to go home. I'm sad that it's already time to go, and I'm certainly not the only one who feels this way. Now that it's the end it seems like time flew by, I guess.
I wish I would have done things differently. I think I become more upset that I couldn't become better friends with people than that it's time to leave everyone. This way it's a lot worse.
It's more than likely that I'll never see the other Nagoya summer students again. I know that. It's unfortunate. But that's the way it is, because the time has come for this experience to end.
I also regret that I tended to be awfully shy around my host family. It's unfortunate that I could never quite open up around them. They think I'm often tired or maybe sad or bored. That's not necessarily true. I was interested in a lot of things that we did and saw. I enjoyed my time in Japan. I didn't get homesick. Aside from some disappointments I was fine.
I'm sad that some things didn't turn out the way I would have liked them to. I wish I couldn't get in my own way.

This is all sounding rather pessimistic I guess, but I truly am happy that I had this experience in Japan. Maybe some things didn't work out for me, but I did have a nice time here. I could spend time with a lot of fun people and I saw many new things and tried different kinds of food and learned more about the Japanese culture. I hope I could also give instead of just take.
Well I'm going on and on again. So I'll just stop now. Sorry that I add in all these useless details. I'm sorry if I repeat myself.
I have to pack today. I'm not exactly looking forward to that.

I may leave Japan tomorrow, but I'm not done with this blog yet. I'll write about some Japanese things and I'll add a lot of pictures later this week.

京都

Yesterday I went to Kyoto!

Yesterday morning my host grandma and I went to Nagoya station. It was raining, which it did for most of the day, but I didn't mind too much. It wasn't as terribly hot as it usually is, so I was fairly happy with how the weather was.
Anyway, we waited behind Nagoya station for a while in the rain (with our umbrellas of course) before boarding a large bus with a big group of people. I had been under the impression that we were taking a train to Kyoto, so again I wasn't sure what was going on.
The bus ride was so nice! Not that I remember much of it. I slept for most of the way to Kyoto. I was asleep for much of the time I was on the bus that day. I don't even remember falling asleep, so I guess I really must have been tired. I may have been sleepy, but it was very peaceful. My host grandma and I had the entire last row to ourselves, and I sat by the window on the left.

First we stopped at a gift shop place that had lots of nice Japanese things. I was confused though, because people (including us) left some of their belongings on the bus, and we weren't at a big train station or anything. Eventually I figured out that it was like a tour bus. It drove us to some places and we had a designated time to be back in the bus by.
Our second stop was a Holiday Inn for lunch, where everything was prepared. Then we went to a train place. Everyone boarded a train that had big windows. We went on a scenic ride through the mountains, basically, and saw forests and rivers and so on.
After that we went to another place, but I'm not entirely sure what it was. There was a sign that said "cake factory", but it didn't seem very relevant. We all went upstairs to a dining area where plates were set out for everybody, each with two small gelatin cubes and a small piece of cake and a big cream puff. There was also a big gift shop that we visited.

At the next stop my host grandma and I went to the Byodoin. It's this famous temple, and its Phoenix Hall is on the back of ten yen coins.
(I can't put up pictures right now, but I plan on adding a lot in about a week.)









That's pretty much all we did. I had fun though.

Mt. Fuji, Graduation Ceremony, Toyota Motors, etc.

Ok. On Saturday I didn't do much. I did purikura with my host mom and host sister, and in the evening I speant time with my host mom's friend's daughter again (her name is Saki). There was this small festival in the evening, so I wore my yukata. There was food and music, and I saw more people wearing a yukata at once than I ever did before. Well, I only speant about five minutes there though. Saki and I went to a park to meet her friends and light sparklers. That's when the yukata got more inconvenient, because first of all it was hot and it was a bit tricky for me to walk, but then I had to worry about keeping it clean. It also seemed a bit awkward for me to be wearing a yukata around a bunch of Japanese teenagers. So I met at least ten people from Saki's class or school or whatever, though we hardly talked. Saki and I had fun with the sparklers, and I met one of her good friends who joined us and was really nice. Time flew by. I have plans to go to the movies with Saki today.



Sunday was a long day because my host family and I drove all the way to Mount Fuji. We drove up part of the mountain to a parking area. The air seemed very fresh and there were clouds and fog. We must have been pretty high up, because when I looked down the mountain all I could see were trees and then a layer of clouds below me. The most wonderful thing about being there was the temperature. It was high enough to be cold. It reminded me of late fall or maybe even winter, and it was so refreshing. I think that if anyone plans to go to Japan when it's summer they should just stay on Mount Fuji. Honestly though, the temperature was getting close to 100 degress Fahrenheit last week, and there's also humidity.
I did take pictures, but I didn't get a big scenic one of the entire mountain.






Monday was our last day at the language school. We had a ceremony, to which I wore my yukata. We had our speeches and group presentations prepared. I was totally nervous about it in the morning, but as the day progressed I started to feel better.
We held the ceremony at a big room in a hotel.
First, I believe, the teachers talked to the audience (students and host families) for a while. Then they had all of the students sing a song that we had heard in class on Friday, but it didn't go very well. After sitting down again, each student's name was read because we had to go up and accept a certificate. This was the graduation ceremony part.
Finally it was time for the individual speeches. I went fourth out of my class, and I think I did all right. After all 23 speeches it was time for the group presentations. The first group did a skit about Japanese food, the second group's theme was Japanese culture, and the group I was in was the festival group. We focused on the bon festival, so we also did a dance.
Like I've said, it was the last time all 23 Nagoya summer program students were together.
I knew that day would come but I wasn't particularly sad after all. Later on I did feel a bit quiet though.

AFS arranged for all of the Nagoya students to go to Toyota Motors on either Tuesday or Wednesday this week. Two of the classes went on Tuesday while the third class went on Wednesday, but some people couldn't come and others switched days because of other plans.
I went on Tuesday. After an hour and a half ride, we arrived at a small Toyota museum area. There were mostly just cars and things about Toyota's goals and achievements. After we had some time to look around there, it was time for the tour to start. We took a tour in English so we were part of a large group. All of us boarded a bus and went on a ride to a Toyota factory. We basically saw welding lines and car doors that weren't attached yet and lots of car frames that were being worked on. Cameras were forbidden in the factory. It was interesting but also fairly long. I became tired after a while.

Finally the tour was over and we were brought back to the little museum area. The AFS students got back on the AFS vans and we went to a restaurant for lunch. Afterward, most of us were driven back to Nagoya station while some of the others were brought to another station because of the area they live in. I became very sad on the car ride. I felt lonely.
The students from Bulgaria leave Nagoya on August 1 and the students from Italy and Sweden leave Nagoya to go to the airport on August 3 and the students from the U.S. and Hong Kong leave Nagoya to go to the airport on August 4. I honestly think everyone would be a lot happier if we all left on the same day so we could see each other again. But our flights are at different times and whatever.

Anyway, these last few days have been hard. I spent the first few days of this week keeping track of who I was seeing for the last time. Sometimes I become sad that I won't be able to see people again, and that our time in Japan is almost up. But I think my biggest regret is that I couldn't become better friends with more people. I'm sad about saying goodbye to people, but I also have the feeling that nobody's really going to miss me, which makes me sadder. I just wish that some things could have worked out differently.
Sometimes I wish we had another week here or something, but on the other hand I know that the time has simply come to wrap things up. It's the way it is. Everything has an end eventually.
That said, I'm not dwelling on the fact that I have to leave next week. Maybe it still has to sink in, or maybe it's because I've already been here for so long, but in a way it also doesn't quite feel like I won't be here anymore in a week. I don't know. I become very sad at times, and I regret some things now that it's too late, but I don't let the fact that I have less than one week here get in my way of trying to enjoy the time I have left.