Georgia Ensminger

2008-09 Outbound to Japan

Hometown: Palm Coast, Florida

School: Flagler Palm Coast High School, Palm Coast, Florida

Sponsor: Flagler County Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida

Host: Sendai Rotary Club, District 2520, Japan

Bio

Georgia's Bio

My name is Georgia Ensminger and I am currently 15 years old. I attend Flagler Palm Coast High School in sunny Palm Coast, Florida and I'm a sophomore who will be spending the 08-09 year in JAPAN! I was born in Illinois, but we've lived in Palm Coast for about three years and we've lived in Florida for about 12 years.

After school I attend anime club and FEA club (Future Educators Association) because when I get older I would LOVE to teach English as a second language. I also have Japanese lessons every week with my teacher Ms. Reiko. In my spare time I love to try out new things and over the years I've been in soccer, ballet, figure skating, track and field, and most recently I've started jukido.

I'm so excited about being able to go to Japan, it was one of my top picks and I can't even start to express my gratitude to the Rotarians who have made my dream come true. Of course I have all the nervousness pre-exchange students experience before they get to their host country - how will I talk to them, how should I act, what if I can't find the bathroom?!

I have been dreaming of being an exchange student for about two years now and I would like to thank all of the Rotarians for making this dream come true, my family for encouraging and supporting me, and my friends for cheering me on. Thank you all so much, I couldn't have done it without you!!

Ja mata ne,

Georgia

July 31 Journal

Hi everyone!

WOW. "How should I explain Japan?" That's the question that's been plaguing me since I arrived here. It's unique, kind, amusing, sometimes scary, traditional, fun, advanced, and patient but most of all it's sugoi. That one Japanese word pretty much sums up my visit so far. In Japan you can get by with 4 words- sugoi, kawaii, oishii, and arigatou. Sugoi basically means amazing in everyway. And everything in Japan is amazing. From the tatami mats to the karaoke rooms, from the way you bow to everyone to the food (which is sooooo oishii). I love it and I'm never going to be able to say thank you enough to the Rotarians, friends, and family who have helped me get here.

When I was still in predeparture-mode I noticed something in America. So many people had all these concepts and ideas about MY country that, 90% of the time, weren't true at all. Most of them were actually rather funny. I just want to put this out there, the Japanese don't eat cats. At all. It's kind of amusing the way other cultures think of each other. My host family was really surprised that we have cabbage in Florida. xD

Anyways, I left the US 6 days ago and boarded the first of three flights. I said goodbye to a small group of family members with much hugging and picture taking, and then I was on my own. It didn't really hit me until after I got through the initial security. I was really on my own. There was no family to guide me. I had to look after myself from here on out. It felt like a huge amount of responsibility had fallen on me, and to be quite honest I was loving every minute of it. The first flight was relatively short now that I look back on it, a mere 3 hours, but at the time it seemed to take forever. I wanted to get to Japan and I wanted to get there fast. The second flight was a little bit longer, a staggering 13 hours. Ugh. Even now I dread the flight back and not just because I know I won't want to leave. As my plane flew over the first part of Japan that I could actually see (there were a lot of clouds :( ) I kept thinking to myself, "Japan! You're flying over Japan! That's a Japanese car! Oh my gosh, a Japanese tree!" I'm still doing that. 6 days later and I'll say to myself, "A Japanese Wendy's! So cool!"

My initial feeling of anticipation disappeared for a while after I landed, to one of awe. Then to confusion :)

I managed to get through customs and grab my luggage, but then where to next? Carrying 2 giant suitcases, one carry on, and a giant 'purse' across an airport and up two flights of escalators is not fun. At all. Especially when you're supposed to get your e-tickets on the first floor where you just were. Luckily, this nice Japanese attendant pointed where I was to go and another person brought me a cart to carry my luggage (Yes!). After that I didn't run into any other mishaps. I got on my next plane and sailed away. Oh, and did I mention that the entire flight over the sun was up? I was awake for 23 hours and the sun was up for all of it.

When I got to Sendai I grabbed my luggage and walked out to find a banner held by three other exchangees (Anna-Mexico, Emma-France, and Joe-America), a couple Rotarians, a future Floridian inbound (Chihiro Watanabe), and one of my host families. Relief, excitement, and anticipation at the realization that I was finally in my city where I would spend the rest of my exchange. I had actually made it, all that worrying about missing a flight for nothing. After the first greeting I said goodbye to my host family and Chihiro and took off with the exchangees to go the hotel where we would have a small inbound orientation.

Oh, and all the Japanese cars I've been in have had not only GPS, but a GPS and TV in the front next to the steering wheel, so on the way to the hotel our Rotarian was watching baseball. Plus, although I knew the Japanese drove on the other side of the road, I wasn't expecting every inch of my body to be on edge. It felt wrong and scary. Now I've been trying to pay attention to understand the rules of the road. It's amazing. It's almost like a dance. I don't know, it's hard to describe.

When we first got to the hotel there was a mad exchange of pins and candy from the different countries. There was a lot more candy than pins. Mmmmmm, Mexican candy :)

I had my first Japanese dinner (oishii) at the hotel that night and met the inbound from Sweden who was leaving soon. After dinner we all went up to the hotel room and talked for hours, until I couldn't keep myself awake any longer.

The next day I woke at two in the morning..... Needless to say, I was irritated at my internal clock for disturbing my much needed sleep. Throughout that day I-

-Had natto (fermented soybean) for the first and last time.
-Had various relatively easy Japanese classes.
-Went through an overview of the Rotary rules
-Had my first bowl of Japanese ramen. Sooooo much better than ANY ramen I have ever had in my life.
-Visited my first shrine. Amazing. Breathtaking and awe-inspiring. The music and ritual gave me goosebumps and is something I will never forget.
-Went to a yakitori restaurant. Where I ate a baby octopus.... whole. Very interesting D:
-Went to a Japanese karaoke! Soooo much fun. And there was so much beer and sake XD but not for the exchangees :) We were good. Anna sang in Spanish, Emma sang in French, and the Americans sang in English. Very fun.

The next day we had to pack and prepare a short speech to give at the small ceremony that introduced us to our first host family, counselors, and a representative from our school. It went by in a blur of Japanese that I didn't understand and before I knew it I was being whisked away from the people I had just gotten to know and like to another strange and new environment.

My first host family is amazing and so kind and patient. They include Keke (gramma/host mom), Shu-chan (grandpa/host dad), Junko-chan (mom), Yoshi-kun (dad), and Anna-chan (little sister). They have been sugoi, trying to make my stay as enjoyable as possible

My host family runs a restaurant chain so they're a little different from a traditional Japanese family. They have three houses right next to each other. Keke and Shu-chan live in one, Junko, Yoshi, and Anna live in the other, and the last one is just sort of a hangout house. I live with Keke and Shu-chan. Every morning we wake up at 6, yes 6, and breakfast is at 6:30. After, Keke and I go outside and wave goodbye as Shu-chan goes to work. Then I vacuum the entire first floor while Keke works in the kitchen. In Japan everyone is so polite. I always smile when I see Keke bowing three, four times in a row to someone to express her gratitude. That coupled with, "Arigatou gozaimasu. Gomen nasi. Arigatou. Shitsureishimasu. Arigatou Gozaimasu." Is so cute >><<

Everything in Japan is so kawaii (cute). The cars, the cell phones, the people. They're all so tiny >< And my counselor was nice enough to lend me a cell phone to use, because in Japan EVERYONE has one. Especially teenagers. They're constantly texting and I hate to admit, but I have grown rather attached to mine too...

Oh! School! I start August 8th and visited it once to get my school uniform (soooo kawaii ><). Miura-sensei, my English teacher showed me around. It's currently summer break so the only students there were there from club activities so I got to see all those as well ^^

Very cool. I really want to try Kyudo (traditional Japanese archery). When we went into the library I thought this one girl was going to have a heart attack when she saw me. She and her two friends freaked out with whispers of 'kawaii, kawaii'.... Very amusing XD

I still haven't decided whether I enjoy being a minority or not. It's strange to see a sea of Japanese and not any other races. Very different from America.

While I've been in Japan I have eaten so much, oh my gosh. . Everyone said don't worry, don't worry, don't worry, you're going to Japan. You won't gain weight. Ha. I've eaten WAAAAY more here than I did in the US and it doesn't help that since they run a restaurant chain all the food is amazingly delicious.

Oh and the other day I got to take a purikura. The best thing in the world, why we don't have them in America I'll never know. It's like you're own private photo booth, and it's big, and you get to take a variety of pictures. Afterwards you get to draw on them, add pictures, sparkles, etc etc. Soo much fun.

My Japanese is slowly improving. My grammar is still awful and I can understand more than what I can say, but a word of advise to all future outbounds. Study, study, study. Nothing is more frustrating than having to look in your dictionary every couple of minutes only to find it's a simple word like freedom. Every minute of studying I did back in America, and I actually did a lot, has helped me. I can have a conversation in Japanese. How cool is that?

I've only been here 6 days but I love it and am forever in debt to Rotary for providing me this wonderful, life-changing experience. Thank you, thank you, thank, thank you, thank you. I will never be able to say it enough.

But for now, I can hear the cicadas outside the window. Sendai is calling and I need to go enjoy the wonders of Japan.

Ja, mata ne~

Georgia

Kusakari, Miura, Watashi, President, Shu-chan, Keke

Rotarians and Exchangees

Takekoma Shrine

Tako! (Octopus)

August 29 Journal

Hello again everyone!

I change host families next week. Let me retype that. I don’t think you fully grasped it. I change host families next week.

Next week. No way. I’m going to go with the cliché saying- Somebody wake me, because I must be dreaming. There is NO WAY I have been in Japan for a month already. The entire world is playing a practical joke on me and setting all the calendars ahead. Not nice, not nice at all. Half of me is so excited that I'll be experiencing a whole new family and meeting new people, and the other part just wants to throw a temper tantrum at the fact that I have to leave the people I have just become so close to. At while I must have just gone with the latter a few years ago, I am now supposed to be 'the responsible exchange student'. So... here I go. One family at a time. (And I’m supposed to have 5!)

There's so much I want to put in this journal, but it’s impossible to put a whole month's worth of time into this without making it either excessively long....or excessively boring. Therefore, I shall only put the highlights of this month :)

First and foremost-School. Which I mistakenly said started the 8th of August in my last journal. That was a lie. It actually started the 20th of August. My day starts out at 6:30 when I wake up. I have come to the realization that it is tremendously easier to get ready for school when you wear the same thing everyday and you’re not allowed to wear makeup or jewelry. Some may see it as a restriction but I see it as an easy way to be lazy. :) At 6:30 is breakfast, and I head to the bus stop at 7. Did you know that the school bus in Japan costs money to ride? If I understood correctly, about 50 USD a month! I, however, take the public bus.... Then the subway... Then another bus to get to school. It takes me about an hour to get there all together. Yes it's far, yes it's early in the morning. And most times I have to stand the entire way because there aren’t any seats available. Very different from my usual nap on the school bus. But that’s not to say I don’t enjoy it, it’s nice to sightsee during that time.

Before school started I have to admit I was missing friends my age a lot and I’ll even go as far to say that I was a little homesick-But alas! Now that school has started up I feel better and love every day once more. (Not to say I still don’t miss you guys :D) It's fun to walk down the hallway and hear people calling out random things to me in English. My personal favorites are "I love you!" and "Do you like me?". I’ve also been asked if my hair is a perm more than once. I’ve decided to take that as a compliment from now on.

I have 7 classes a day and the cool thing in Japan is that the teachers come to you, no more do I have to worry about being late or getting lost. That’s the teachers job now! I’ll be taking English, media, AOC (another English class), Gender, health, Math, science, PE, music, dance, and probably some I forgot. The schedule is different every day and I’m nowhere near memorizing it yet. I’m not taking Japanese, history, or geography because to be quite honest I either sleep in those classes or draw because I have NO idea what’s going on. I struggle to understand what’s going on in all my classes (with the marvelous exception of English) but those are special. When I’m not taking those subjects with my fellow classmates I go to the library and study Kanji (Japanese characters)! Yay!

Or sleep. Sleeping seems to be high on my list lately. Actually, that’s what I want to be doing right now. I’m tired... All the time. Except, of course, when I have a chance to sleep in.

Anyways, at school everyone is really nice. My first day Miura-sensei showed me to the classroom before classes had started so everyone was in small groups talking. She then was like, "Well, everyone this is the new exchange student. See you later." And left me standing there looking back at all the people I definitely did not know. In Japan you can’t be afraid to take the first step in greeting people. I am very happy to say that I went against all things natural to me and stepped up to a small group and hesitantly asked if it was ok to join them. Of course, it was. Later during morning congregation I had to give a short speech in Japanese in front of the whole school. Let me emphasize short. I was not happy finding this out, and to be quite honest I felt a little nauseous. There’s also another foreign exchange student in my class from Germany (Juliya) who’s been there for a couple months already. Lucky for me she rarely speaks English to me (even though hers is perfect) but we converse in Japanese instead. Only when I’m feeling really desperate and my dictionary has failed me do I run to her for help.

Skip ahead to after the awkward hellos and getting to know yous to a more happy time. The school festival. In particular, my class' exhibit-The Haunted House. Now, I’ve never been part of a haunted house before and I didn’t know how hard to was to pull one of those off. The maze itself was the hardest part-construction board and black plastic garbage bags haphazardly draped over strings running back and forth across the ceiling. Very fun, very time consuming. Everyone helped out and got a part in the 'scaring the bejeezus out of kids' role. I was in charge of dropping a head :D And I don’t think I’ll ever get the image of 5 Asian girls looking zombified and grudge-like creeping towards me out of my head.

Oops! I got distracted, I think I WAS explaining my average school day at some point...

So after school is over everyone has an assigned cleaning role that changes occasionally. That’s right the students clean the school, not some janitor that’s been hired, the students. That probably explains why there’s no gum under any of the desks :)

After THAT, I go to.... KYUDO!!!

Yay! I’ve only gone a couple times, but I have thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to continue. It’s a rather small club (maybe 10 people) but it has made a lasting impression on me. I had a chance to shoot my first arrow with Kyudo bow (which is huge by the way, taller than me) and I’m not as bad as I thought I would be. Kyudo ends at 6:30 ish and then it's back home. I usually get home around 8ish because (oh boy) it's rush hour :D That means no seats and no room to breathe. You better hope you’re not claustrophobic.

So next subject! The onsen - better known as the public bath.

My family and I went to this gorgeous onsen located in the mountains. It was breathtaking and I loved it! This onsen was, lucky for me, a separate bath. Meaning the girls in one-the guys in the other. Still....You go into the changing room and remove all clothing while clutching this towel that’s maybe big enough to be a hand towel. A bunch of people were using it for their hair. There is a washing area with shampoo, soap, etc and then there are the baths. Now these are like no baths we have in America. They’re more like giant shallow pools filled with hot water. At the hotel I was at, there were all different types of baths-some were stone, some were wood, some were rectangles, some were circular but they were all in view of the mountains and they were all hot, hot, hot. Once I got over the initial 'oh my god there are naked people everywhere' and self-consciousness I actually really enjoyed it and am looking forward to going again. I can see why they’re so popular over here.

I had the opportunity to join the middle schoolers on their English camp. Good news- They’re adorable and I got a chance to know a bunch of them while having fun at camp too. Can you say bonfire, s'mores, songs, and yakiniku (BBQ! :D)? Bad news-It was an English camp. Juliya and I were specifically told to speak English only. Horrible for my Japanese. Though it was nice to get to know Juliya on a level I could understand. There were a couple English teachers and Rick-sensei is actually from Maine. So it was kinda nice to talk to another American about Japan, especially when he’s lived here for ten years. That lasted two days as it was very fun.

I also attended my first Rotary meeting in the beginning of August. I believe the Rotarians back in America now. The Rotarians in other parts of the world definitely have a bit more money than normal folks. The meeting was at this fancy hotel and I would swear that all the Rotarians were guys. I had to give a short speech in Japanese (again emphasize short) to introduce myself and then the rest was a blur of fast talking Japanese that I didn’t understand. Although I did recognize the Four Way Test in Japanese (mainly because it had the word four in it :)) and felt this overwhelming feeling. I don’t know how to describe it. It was so strange to see something so familiar in a completely different country. In a completely different language. A mixture of pride and awe and I don’t what else.

But it was cool.

I had the chance to go to the Tanabata festival early August. It’s the biggest festival in Sendai bringing about 2 million people each year and weeks before its arrival you could see the Tanabata decorations slowly start to take over the shops, restaurants, and even the airport! The story is basically two lovers in the sky are unable to see each other because a river of stars (The Milky Way) separates them. They can only see each other on the Seventh day of the Seventh month. The festival consist of fireworks, food vendors, games, and the main attraction hundreds upon hundreds of brightly colored and intricately designed streamers from every place imaginable. I even saw one from my phone company and Starbucks. They consist of a large circular shaped top with long streamers hanging down and each one is unique. Very pretty. Plus I got to dress in my first yukata (summer kimono)! My family even bought me my own!!

I got to Japan during its rainy season. A good day is when it only rains at night and is partly cloudy, a bad day is when it rains for two days straight with not a glimpse of blue in sight. The bad days far outnumber the good days (at least weather-wise) and I’m looking forward to the end of this rain. I want to see the stars again!

My Japanese is crawling along at its ever constant snails pace. And I can talk a little faster. Still don’t know what the heck people are saying most of the time though.

Since I’ve been in Japan I’ve carried around a little notebook that I jot down ideas or things that I think I would want to remember or put in this journal. Here's a couple of them.

- In Japan people wear shirts with English on them all the time. Hmm. Here's an example- ’Have you had your love tomorrow?’ Now... I’m no English teacher, but something about that seems wrong. And that’s one of the good ones. At least twice a week I'll come across English that I'll just break out laughing at. Of course, this earns me weird looks from everyone around me, but oh well.

- Sometime I think to myself, "I wish I could bottle this feeling and bring it back home to America with me."

- I’ve seen a little girl eat things that would scare most grown men in America.

- I like tea. Now some of you may know of my utter hatred for tea in America…But no more! I’ve actually become quite fond of the traditional Japanese green tea. Who would’ve thought?

- I miss Hugs. Back in Florida, I got hugged a bajillion times in one day. I sorta miss that.

- I’ve apologized to my family for obnoxious and loud Americans in a restaurant. I actually felt kind of embarrassed.

-In Japan they don’t say goodbye to their family on the phone. It's hello, conversation end. No goodbye. I still can’t get used to that.

And now, I am exhausted and want nothing more than sleep.

So I’m going to end this for now！

Ja mata ne!

Georgia

Sendai Castle

At the Onsen hotel

Tanabata

Tanabata festival

September 22 Journal

Hello again everyone,

Wow. It's already time for another journal? The time seems to be flying away and before I even realized it I've been here for 60 days. If you would've told me this time last year that I would be in Japan I would have laughed at you.

I still might.

So (obvious to me, not so obvious to the readers), I am typing this on a new computer. In a new house. And it's in the living room :) Yes, that's right. I am in my new home, and have been for... 3 weeks? Maybe? I've seem to have lost all ability to keep track of time. Months have magically transformed themselves into days and the only way I know what day it is is when I look at my phone calendar.

My new host family is superfantabulous and I'm very sad that I'm not going to get much more time with them. There's my mom, dad, little sister (Yuri), sister my age (Eri), and a big brother (Keichiro). And Momo, of course, the giant white fluffy dog that I've been getting my hug fix from :) I have the big brother's room because he's in college at the moment. I hope he doesn't mind all the posters I've put up of my favorite Asian boy bands. So, this new family is really different from my last one mainly because I have kids my own age around. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my last family as well, but it's kind of nice to have siblings. I don't have my own bathroom anymore, instead it's the traditional type in which everyone takes turns washing (outside of the tub of course!) and uses the same water for a bath. The o-furo is one of my favorite parts of the day. My new family lives pretty close to the school and I only have to get up at seven, plus I only take one bus to school! No more hour-long rides to school for me! Very happy about that.

In my last journal I said I'd have five families, right? Oops. Another mistake. I actually have..... DUN DUN DUN.... eight. No that's not a typo. That's my host district trying to kill me (A joke!). I got to meet all of them at a welcome party a few weeks ago, and I can honestly say all of them seemed very nice and I'm looking forward to all of the different views of Sendai. At the welcome party I was greeted with warmth and friendliness you can only feel when you realize, 'all these people are opening up their homes, their families, to me.'. HOWEVER - I'm NOT looking forward to packing my steadily growing pile of things every month or so.... I don't know where all this extra stuff has come from! I know I've been doing a little bit of shopping but really! Ok, maybe more than a little.....

Since I've been in Japan I've been lost maybe five times. Now, yes that sounds bad, but I did change families and have to get used to a completely new bus schedule. The worst time was when I completely took the wrong bus on my way to school and me and my pride thought I could find the subway station by just walking around for a bit. Ha. After an hour of walking around town in the downcast/slightly rainy weather and emailing my friend to tell her to tell the teacher I would be late, I finally gave in and asked for directions at a conbini (convenience store). In Japanese I might add! Very happy to say that after that I managed to find my way back to the subway and arrived safely at school! I didn't even have to call my parents and ask them to come pick me up like the other times :)

Although, the last time I got lost my host father came and picked me up on his motorcycle! All I've got to say is being on a motorcycle plus being in Japan equals amazing.

School right now is test time and, if you didn't know, test time is a big deal in Japan. They have to take really hard tests to get into high school (sometimes even middle school!) and really hard tests to get into college as well, so test time in Japan means you can practically feel the tension in the air. These high schoolers are like super students. In one day some have school from 7 till 4, then club till 6 or 7, then sometimes cram school till 10, and then they have homework! My sisters right now don't go to sleep till at least 12:30 or 1... It's amazing! I am exhausted from just club and school, if I had to add cram school and homework to that I'd collapse! So today, since I am but a poor exchange student who cant read or speak Japanese anywhere near well enough to take a high school level test, I went to the library and studied.... and slept till they released us early.

The past couple weekends have been very fun. I went to the depaato (mall) with a couple friends and we did things I would normally have done with my friends back home. Taking pictures, buying weird things, trying on ridiculously expensive hats. It was nice. I also spent time with part of my future host family. Kozue is in my class and invited me to go to see her brother play the electone with her and her mother. Wow! I never would've thought that electones could sound like a whole orchestra. It was just groups of people playing the same instrument, but it sounded like I was in Carnegie Hall. And Kozue's brothers group got second!

My family is really good friends with a soccer player from the Sendai soccer team so this weekend I went to my first Japanese soccer game! First off, Asian soccer teams get two thumbs up! ;) And second, I was almost just as fascinated with the fans as I was with the game. Every single person was singing the Vegalta Eagles songs in sync and doing these crazy arm movements (in sync) while jumping up and down. They even had this massive banner that sprung out of nowhere and engulfed an entire section of the bleachers. There were even giant flags that HAD to have been coordinated before. We won. :) And the family friend got to do an interview and hold up the giant check that they had won. I'm excited that I get to go to another soccer game again soon.

The day after the game I went shopping. I have no spending money now D: But it was worth it. When I'm in the mall I'll forget I'm in Japan for a while, but then something distinctly cultural like a kimono shop will pop out and remind me 'You're actually in Japan!'.

It doesn't seem like a dream so much anymore. It's just a place I really love and can't (or won't) imagine leaving anytime soon. Some days I'm still amazed that I'm talking in Japanese and understanding it, other days the fact doesn't even phase me. It's just... what they do here.

The customer service here is absolutely amazing. I love it. I wish American customer service was like this. At the McDonalds (MCDONALDS!) drive-thru someone came up and gave us a menu. Woah. And all the gas stations have those people who pump gas for you.

Once in a while, I'll spot a foreigner and whisper to my friends or family, "Gaijin, gaijin!" (foreigner, foreigner!). Even if their back is turned and they have black hair, for some reason I can still tell. It makes me realize how obvious I must stand out.

Nothing else epic has happened lately. I'm still struggling with the language, still trying to figure out the bus system, still missing hugs (though Momo has been helping with that :)), still trying to make friends, still loving the food (had my first Japanese crepe with ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate, and bananas. Yum).

It's been exactly 60 days.

And there are still so many more to go.

Saa, mata ne.

Jyojia

October 5 Journal

Hi everyone~ I know it hasn't been long since my last journal but I figured I might as well fill you in on my recent adventures. (And give you some pictures seeing as I didn't do that last time :))

So this weekend I went on my first outing with some of the Rotarians, some of their wives, two kids from my school's Interact club, and my English teacher. I'm proud to say at the very beginning I specifically asked my teacher (In Japanese) to not speak in English during the day so I could practice my language skills. :) It was so much fun and I feel a lot more comfortable with some of the members of my club now. We went to eat soba at an onsen in the mountains, and I have to say it was one of THE most beautiful places I have ever seen. We started out with a ten minute ski lift ride up the mountain. Now, it doesn't take much to make me happy. I was ecstatic at the fact that the leaves were starting to change colors the entire ride to the mountain. But put me in the middle of that and add mountains as well? I was loving it. After the ski lift we saw our REAL obstacle. Climbing to the top. I think it might have taken us (well, at least the other two high school students and I :)) thirty or forty minutes of very vertical climbing to get to the top, and the view was not only breathtaking there but the entire way up and down as well. I was definitely playing the 'camera-happy' tourist the entire time. Something I've realized is that no mater how beautiful the picture, you can never really show something the way it was. All the pictures I took don't even come close to how amazing that trip was. Afterwards, as we struggled to catch our breath, we walked back to bus and were whisked away to the onsen to relax in steaming hot water. It was bliss. I am definitely a fan of the onsen, hands down. I've only been twice but foresee many more visits in my future. :)

Then it was time for a good ol' fashioned Japanese meal. I was a little put off at the first dish-a lovely fish with head and tail still attached and slightly fried. Even more so when the nice lady next to me told me I should eat the head as well. :( But overall, it was (as usual) a delicious meal. I don't know how I'm ever going to get used to not having rice with every meal again! American food doesn't even compare to what I'm eating every day...

As I was enjoying my meal and talking to the other highs school girls...In Japanese!... a Rotarian came over and told me I was to give a small speech on the bus ride back home. Surprise! Boy, I never get tired of these surprise speeches ): After quick consultation with my English teacher on how to say a few nice things (Please invite me on this type of event again, etc.) I, luckily, kind of just swung it. It went alright. I believe they even understood me :) It was a lot easier than my first two surprise speeches. Maybe it had to do with that fact that I had gotten to know them a little over day. Maybe it had to do do with me being able to speak Japanese a little better. Or maybe everyone was slightly affected from the sake that they drank during lunch. Whatever the case, it went well. I even answered questions afterwards (with some help with my English teacher). I've been feeling kind of bad because I'm only able to go to one meeting a month. The Rotary meetings happen in be right in the middle of my school day and missing school is a no-no, but I feel a little better now that I was able to share some of my experience with them while on that trip.

Last weekend I went to a baseball game in Japan. Now, you may think baseball is really 'American', but you obviously haven't been to a game in Japan. Baseball is Japan's top sport, closely followed by football (soccer) and sumo. Is was closely related to my explanation of the soccer game in my previous journal. Lots of synchronization. Lots of singing. Lots of excitement. Lots of fun. There were balloons too :)

BUT-My American family is going to disown me :)-I actually enjoyed the soccer game a lot more. I've been to both twice but I think it was more exciting, possibly because one of the players is a really good family friend, but still. Go Vegalta Eagles! :)

A while ago I was feeling pretty down. I was missing my friends like crazy and felt like my Japanese was horrible in comparison to the two other exchangees at my school. I didn't feel like I was being a good exchange student, I wasn't making friends quickly enough, I wasn't studying enough.

After talking to the other exchangees I feel a lot better now. They were feeling the same way. I realize good friends will come in time and as for the language I just need to keep trying. Plus, the other exchangees studied for about 4 years in school before they came here. THAT little piece of information really made me stop comparing my poor grammar and writing skills to them.

I'm very excited to say that in December I will be taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) test. This is so big to me. I've always heard about it and wanted to take it, plus I'm not taking the really beginner level (level 4) but one step up (level 3). So I'm taking the test around a 5th grader level. :)

It suddenly got cold about a week ago. I wasn't expecting it at all. It went from kids fanning themselves in the classrooms one day to everyone wearing their sweaters the next, and it's stayed colder. I'm a little worried I won't have the proper clothes for winter now... But that's ok. I'll just have another excuse to buy more adorable Japanese clothes. <3

Most of my class is going to Australia for a little while, but seeing as me and the girl from Germany aren't allowed, instead we get to travel Japan. Which is perfectly fine with me since I get to go to Okinawa instead! Okinawa is one of the most southern parts of Japan and is supposed to be very beautiful. Think a Japanese version of Key West.... Only better.

I'm changing host families again in about a week. I'm going to miss this one so much. My host sisters are really nice and the host dad and mom are so fun to talk to. Plus, I love getting rides on papa's motorcycle. (Yes. They make me call them papa and mama. XD)

It's a good thing I adapt so quickly or all this family moving business would be very disorienting! Although, every time I figure out one area I have to move to another, so I figure by the time my exchange year ends I will have gotten lost at least 20-30 times. But who's counting? :)

October 26 Journal

It's that time again, Journal updating. I have a love hate relationship with these things. Half of me really loves doing them and sharing what I've been doing for the past month, and the other half is just plain lazy. This month has been full of ups and downs, so much so that I think there should be a new medical diagnosis- 'Exchange student-itis'. It would involve everything and anything including excitement, depression, happiness, nervousness, nostalgia, sadness, laziness, giddiness, etc., etc. And would help tell people what is wrong with us. (haha)

The hardest thing this month for me was definitely changing host families again.... So soon. It hurt. I mean, it really hurt. I had just gotten to the point where I really felt like part of the family. I loved my host parents like they were my own and me and my host sisters were able to joke around like we were real sisters. I knew where the stupid little things in the house were and could laze about without feeling self-conscious. I didn't get lost anymore because I finally understood the bus route. I was feeling pretty good. Then I realized I only had one week left with them.... then two days..... then one day. It was awful. I felt like all the effort I had put into this family had been in vain. I now had to start all over again, the self-introductions, the wondering where the dishes are, not knowing what music they liked, not knowing anything.

My last day with them my sister made me takoyaki for breakfast. The best takoyaki I had ever tasted <3 When they dropped me off at my new host family's house it was just mama, papa, and me. And then this lady, who had barely known me for a month, started to cry as we said our goodbyes. That's when I really realized I'm NOT just a guest in these peoples houses, I really do become part of the family. It not something that Rotary kept pumping into our brains for fun, it happens. Whether you know it or not. I think this is going to be the hardest part of my exchange. Even more so than the other students. I have 8 host families and am going to have to go through this five more times. I don't think I'm ever going to like it either.

My new family is so different from what I'm used to back in America where there was 2 people, my mom and me, but here there are 7! Grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, little sister, little brother, and myself. All packed into a Japanese house XD. My siblings are very busy - almost always studying, going to cram school, or at club and they're only middle-schoolers!! My dad is a doctor though. That's pretty cool. He and mom really love classical music, in fact I think they all do. And my mom loves chorus music and is going to be a soloist in an upcoming concert. It's so amazing to be sitting downstairs and hearing her practice while I'm doing my homework. I love it. Grandma and grandpa are very sweet to me, even though they know I can't really understand them very well (haha). In Japanese the older people have really hard to understand accents that sometimes even native Japanese speakers can't get what they're saying. But it's fun to try.

So this month my school - Shokei - had two exciting things happen. One was that we had our undoukai (Sports festival in English?)!! We got the entire day off from our normal school day and were instead to compete with other classes in various sport-related competitions. There's tug-of-war, jump roping, relays, a spin off of a three-legged race, the throw the beanbag in the really tall basket game with a bunch of different people game, and others that I probably forgot. About a week before all the classes had to choose specific people to participate in the different activities. I made the mistake of telling people I had been in Track and Field. That sealed my fate. I was put in two relays and a three-legged race but with five people instead. Both of the relays I was very nervous about, whereas the three-legged race I knew we were going to fail miserably HAHA (and we kind of did XD). The first relay I was the last person and had to run 400m instead of 200m like the ten people before me. After that was the really important one where one person from each class was chosen to race with their fellow year against the others (think Sophmores vs Juniors vs Seniors). We didn't win either but I was told I did really good :) And at the undoukai winning isn't the important thing, well... ok it's good to win too but! It's more important to have fun, it really was a nice friendly atmosphere that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm disappointed I will be back in America next year when they have it again. :(

The other exciting thing was that Shokei had 15 German exchange students visit us for a week. And three of them were boys. I could've sworn Johnny Depp had just walked into the room a couple of times by the way the girls absolutely, and totally freaked out. It was highly entertaining to me who was unfazed by their western looks :) That week was fun in its own way. Julia (from Germany), Rania (from Romania), and I got to skip almost all of our classes that week and just join whatever the German kids were doing. I got to witness my first tea ceremony (seated in a nice comfortable chair, not seiza hahahaha), try my hand at calligraphy, and had numerous chances to go out shopping on a school day. To help the German kids, you know? They didn't speak Japanese at all and the Japanese kids were hesitant, as ever, to practice their English. So who was around to be the handy-dandy translator? Why not the girl who has only been in Japan for 3 months and doesn't feel like her Japanese is anywhere near good enough to be helping two strangers communicate? Oh, okay. It was interesting but it made my confidence in my Japanese rise so much. I was actually able to translate a good 80% of what they said and it helped me realize my Japanese IS improving... Even though I haven't been feeling like it is.

So yeah, my grammar is highly questionable at times. And yeah, there are still a ton of words I don't have a clue about. But I can get around. I can order stuff. Heck, I can even figure out those big words if I ask them to break it down into smaller ones so I can understand it. That's ALMOST good enough for me.

Anyways, the German kids didn't just get me out of class a lot and help my confidence in my Japanese, but they helped me get to know to classmates a lot better. The kids were actually kind of distant and cold to us so we bonded over talking about them. Not necessarily in a bad way, just in a 'why?' way.

Now that Autumn has begun I am constantly fascinated with the changing colors of the leaves and the branches that are beginning to grow bare. I'll pick a red leaf up and show it to my friends all proud and say 'Look! Isn't this pretty?'. Of course, they just laugh at me. But I can't believe that they just all walk around all day without realizing how beautiful some of the little things in their town are. They're just so used to waking up and seeing changing colors and mountains in the distance, whereas I'm trying to take every picture possible of the whole thing. It makes me realize there might be things about Palm Coast that I don't see that are beautiful too...... MAYBE.

I had the opportunity to go to my first Kyudo competition. I cant wait until I'm able to look like what they looked like. It really is very beautiful when done properly and if you ever get the chance just try to stop by and see it sometime.

I almost got to see Patty (currently in Taiwan) in Japan. ALMOST. She came to visit Tokyo for a Rotary meeting (THREE HOURS away from me by bullet train!) and we both tried our hardest to try and meet each other, but in the end things just didn't work out. Maybe it was for the best but I was pretty depressed about it for a long while....

And now to more random thoughts I want to get down-
-I love the people who hand stuff out at every corner. Helps me get my free tissues and lotions :D
-A Jehovah's witness came up to me while I was waiting for a friend at Sendai Station.
-They are very wary of me riding a bike. Even to the store. Apparently it's dangerous.....
-At a festival there were very, very small children dancing like professional 'hip-hop'ers. I felt a mixture of awe and horror.
-No matter how full you think your suitcase is, you can and will be able to stuff more things into it.
-I feel awkward when I'm on the right side of the sidewalk or street. It just doesn't feel right.
-When I disagree with something I wave my hand in front of my face like I'm swatting a fly away like the Japanese girls do. And when I tell someone to come closer I beckon them with my hand, palm down.
-In Kyudo I have yet to use the bow. Still taking tests on my form.
-My legs constantly hurt. Walking almost everywhere is starting to take its toll.... But at least it's a good fighter against all the crepes I'm eating.
-Speaking of crepes I think I'm starting to grow an addiction.....
-Purikura too.

Alright, I apologize to my family for the lack of pictures recently but my new family's computer really doesn't like me. I'll try to send some soon.... but as for now, this journal isn't going to have any either. Sorry!!! Much love to my family (blood-related, dojo-related, and adopted) and my much missed friends back home <3333

Until next time,

Georgia