Kathleen Orrico

2008-09 Outbound to Japan

Hometown: Seminole, Florida

School: St. Petersburg Collegiate High School, Florida

Sponsor: Seminole Lake Rotary Club, District 6950, Florida

Host: District 2770, Japan

Bio

Kathleen's Bio

Hey everyone! This is Kathleen coming at you from Seminole, FL. I’m a senior at St. Petersburg Collegiate High School and can not wait to begin my adventure in Japan. Becoming a Rotary Youth Exchange student has changed my life forever and I am growing daily because of it.

I live with my parents and one of my older brothers, David. We moved here from Illinois about twelve years ago. The greatest thing about moving to Florida was that we are not but five minutes from the beach. Within months I had fallen in love with the sun and sand.

On my free time outside of school I love playing soccer on a recreational soccer team. It’s an amazing sport that asks for a lot of teamwork and physical activity. The one passion that I will never grow out of is my love for music. I play the flute, piano and mellophone. Even when I’m not playing music though, because it’s so universal, listening and discussing it is always something I enjoy doing. I have a list of other artistic hobbies such as stained glass, pottery and scrap booking.

The joy in my life is my friends. We enjoy going out to eat, the movies and just chilling around a fire outside and having a good time laughing together. I absolutely do not know how hard it is going to be to leave my friends for so long, but hope I can share my experience with them while I’m gone and when I return also. I know for a fact that for the next couple years I will never have a dull conversation with anyone because of the amount of experiences the Rotary Exchange is adding to my life. Thank you so very much for accepting me into this experience of a lifetime.

September 14 Journal

I have left the “Sunshine State” and moved to the “Land of the Rising Sun.” I left my life on hold in America when I hugged my parents at Tampa International Airport on Friday August 22nd, 2008. I left my American culture and lifestyle in Chicago when I climbed aboard for the worst 13 hour flight ever. I tried sleeping away the time and the nausea, but by the 12th hour I was not just homesick, I was sick. When I landed in Narita airport on Saturday August 23rd, 2008, I was not prepared for the culture shock. Luckily thanks to the jet-lag I had become numb from exhaustion which turned the rest of the night into a blur. Omiya-East and Omiya-West Rotary Club members, dressed in suits and serious expressions, met me at the airport. If it wasn’t my host mom dressed in pink to match the pink highlights in her hair I would have been intimidated. Only a few hours later at dinner did I learn that Japanese Rotarians are a really fun group of people to be around. I can honestly say that I have found my new family in Japan and it is a group of about 20 Rotarian businessmen and my host mom (Okasan), a Rotarian herself, Junko san.

My first two weeks in Japan were a proven challenge for me. My first full day in Japan I slept all day because when it came to unpacking the tears to be home with my family come pouring down my face. My Okasan had hosted three students before me and knew how to cheer someone up. I hate fast food in America, but that hamburger and those French fries from McDonalds were the best comfort food I could ever have. For the first week in Japan I spent all my time with Okasan or Rotary Club members. Okasan had to work though, so I would sit at her work practicing my Japanese. It wasn’t very exciting and most of it didn’t stick to my memory unless I used it. Okasan’s business is with Real Estate. Her co-workers would walk me around town helping me purchase what school supplies I needed and practice taking the train to and from school with me. I spent most of the week learning the culture by observing. Like a child, you learn by observing first and the language comes second. During the first week I also attended both of my Rotary Clubs. Monday night was Omiya-West Rotary Club and Wednesday was Omiya-East Rotary Club. I gave a short introduction speech at each meeting without any problems, but then I didn’t think anything could be more boring than a school history lecture. I was wrong! Lectures in Japanese have proven to give you not just the usual headaches, but migraines. I look forward to the time before and after the meetings in which we share conversation and laughs over a delicious Japanese meal that is different and new to me every week.

With the mention of Japanese food I can honestly say everything tastes different half way around the world except maybe bananas. During my first two weeks in Japan I ate out just as often as I ate at home with my host family. I have experienced everything from the raw salmon egg during my first sushi meal to the fried fish known as tempura that I enjoyed more because it didn’t look like it was still swimming. My host mom encourages me to try everything so I have tried natto, a soy bean “goo” that seems to be loved by all Japanese people. I find that the Oodles&Noodles (Ramen noodles) that my mom makes at home are more delicious than the Ramen noodles here. But don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a warm bowl of udon here with a cup of Nihonocha. Together they warm the body and soul and I know I’ll be enjoying them the most during the winter. My favorite meal so far was the Japanese barbecue. For once the food wasn’t raw or fried, but what I’m use to, grilled. I eat what is put in front of me, but everything tastes so different, I don’t know how to explain it or whether or not to say if it’s delicious. It is incomparable to anything I’ve ever experienced, everything here is.

Describing the Japanese culture is difficult. You always take your shoes off before entering the home, but I did that at home all the time. It’s just a common courtesy. What’s different is if you choose to wear slippers in the house, you have to take them off before entering a bedroom or a room such as the den or study. You must also always wear the bathroom slippers in the bathroom and the bathroom only. Now at school, you’re dealing still with at least three pairs of shoes. I have a pair of shoes I wear to school, but right as you walk into the building there are lockers in which you switch your shoes to slippers or school shoes. Then you also have a pair of gym shoes and if you have any after school activities such as I do, I also carry around a pair of soccer cleats. That is four pairs of shoes I own just for school. Two of them I had to buy while here in Japan. In America I use to make fun of my mother for how many pairs of shoes she has, but now I can’t complain because I’m slowly catching up with her.

Also at school, there are two things that are extremely different that I miss. First, there aren’t janitors. Your fellow classmates and you clean the classrooms everyday after school. Second, you don’t switch classes, but the teachers do. This means you have the same classmates for each and every class, and also if you want to give your legs a stretch you have to get up and walk up and down the hall and then return to your class. Something that is new that I think is very respectful is at the beginning and end of class you stand up and bow to your teacher. Can you imagine a class of students in America doing that? No!

The one thing that is best about Japanese culture is the public transportation system. As much as I hate being cram packed like sardines in a can onto a train every morning, it is so much better then driving everywhere. I had difficulty learning the train system at first though, but Toujo san, my Japanese papa, who spoils me like I was his own daughter, walked me everyday to school for the first week and picked me up by car. Now don’t get confused he’s not my Otosan, just a member of the Rotary club who cares for me like my own father would back home.

My first day of school was more confusing then any other first day. I got to school with my escort, Toujo san and was handed off to the teachers. I then had to make my introduction speech to all the teachers. Next I made my introduction speech to my class and finally I had to go to the gym and in front of the entire student body I had to introduce myself. Luckily I was one of the last on the agenda to speak so most of the students were either sleeping or off in their own little world. Japanese students are either shy or outgoing. Everyone in the class introduced themselves to me in English during an English class. I know all of two maybe three people’s names. Japanese people are named after common Kanji such as Midori means green and one of my classmates is named after the word village. This makes learning Japanese a little easier because I can relate people to things, but to me my name is only just a name. I wish my name had a significant meaning that matched a Kanji symbol. Instead my name is written in Katakana, a set of characters used for foreign words. Most of the time they are shy, but when a conversation is started, it lasts, because they are trying to learn English and I’m trying to learn Japanese. It’s nice that we can help one another out.

My favorite class is math because the teacher is nice enough to give me notes in English and also because I have learned it before so it is easy to understand what he is explaining. I also enjoy Japanese Classics even though it’s the hardest class because the stories and history of art in Japan is amazing. My favorite class I think is going to be art though because you don’t need to know much language to spill your heart and soul into a piece of work. I sleep through most of my other classes, although it’s kind of hard to sleep through gym. I enjoy after school activities the most. The only bad part is I want to participate in orchestra, soccer, and also learn calligraphy. It’s hard because they are all at the same time on the same days, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4 pm. I’m hoping to be able to practice my flute at least on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school and take part in calligraphy on Wednesdays. All the other time will be spent with the girl’s soccer club.

I used to believe that Japan has proven to be totally different from home in almost every way, but when I think about things nothing is totally different. It’s just that everything is unfamiliar. My way of life has been turned around and upside down now that I am half way around the world. I get bored with the same schedule everyday, but when something new is introduced, it makes it all the more exciting. I haven’t traveled much yet, but I was given a tour of one bridge under construction because that is my dream job, and I will begin traveling soon with my Rotary club to various cities and parts of Japan. I have met all the other exchange students in my district and I know I will be able to share my thoughts with them because we are all experiencing the same culture shock. Also, because we have a lot of orientations and events together I know I have a dozen other friends no matter what.

I unfortunately seem to be experiencing homesickness the most though. I’m starting to feel at home, but after a day of only Japanese and being given dirty looks and stared at constantly, I lose hope in ever completely fitting in. What makes me feel the most at home, though, is when I’m with my host family and I help cook dinner and wash the dishes. I cooked spaghetti for them one night and every night I learn how to cook a new Japanese meal. I look forward to the months to come and can’t wait to grow more in personality and strength.

October 26 Journal

Traveling to Japan is like reading a new book. You pick the book up and you read the summary on the back to see if you like it. You may even read the first couple pages to see if it catches your attention. Before I came to Japan I did the same thing. I went online and researched what I could find to see if Japan would be a country I wanted to live in for a year. The summary of the story pulls you into the book and makes you want to read it. I learned what I wanted to about Japan; everything sounding interesting making me want to experience the foods and the unique culture that existed half way around the world. In the end I was accepted to move to Japan just like you would bring that book home and engulf yourself in it.

The beginning of the book is an introduction that has to be exciting to keep you interested and making you want to see how it ends. When first coming to Japan everything was new and interesting. It was like an introduction to the book; you’re first being introduced to all these new people or characters and trying to learn the way of life or plot. Once you think you have things figured out you all of a sudden encounter boring chapters or exciting twists and turns. You may feel for the characters and experience different emotions. The same thing is happening during my exchange. I thought I had everything figured out, but everyday I encounter a new turn in my life and learn something new. You may even encounter a part in the book where you just want to give up and put it down, but because a part of you wants to see the ending you can’t put it down. Every time I’m experiencing a down part in my exchange I can never give in because I always want to see who I will become at the end of my year abroad and see how much I’ve grown.

During the past month so much has happened. I don’t know where to begin. Between school and Rotary events I’m kept busy and spend all my spare time either sleeping or studying, but mostly studying. I finally began to go out sightseeing. I went to the Kitain Temple and the house of a General born in Saitama during the Edo period (September 14). It was nice to finally see a part of Japanese history, and it was beautiful because of the architecture and perfectly tended gardens. During a holiday (September 23) I went to Harajuku, a popular shopping district near Tokyo, with some friends from school. It was nice to get out and just window shop with some friends my age instead of being with Rotarians 24/7. The language barrier is a little bit of a problem, but they are willing to help me learn if I help them learn. It’s a good trade off in the end. I’ve learned you don’t even need to speak to have a good time though. My favorite thing to do so far is Purikura and is a lot of fun with a large group of friends; five of us climbing into a small photo booth and the whole time laughing at the poses and faces we make in front of the camera. People say Japanese love baseball and they do, but believe it or not, because of my love for soccer, I’ve become a Japanese soccer fan. I’ve attended two soccer games here in Japan. One game was the famous Japanese team the Urawa Reds and they won against Kuwait 2-0 (September 24). The second game was the Omiya-Adija soccer team and they unfortunately lost 0-4 against another Japanese team (October 4). You would think that there would be no fights because Japan seems to be such a nice country, but I have never seen so many yellow cards and fights break out during soccer games except here in Japan.

My time away from speaking Japanese is when once to twice a month all 15 exchange students in Saitama have to gather for orientations. They usually are really boring lectures and the last one included 4 hours of speeches from the exchange students who returned this summer. We always have fun together and there is never a moment's silence as we share each others experiences together. One Sunday (September 28) we spent a day at Omiya Park playing games the Rotex put together for us. I played dodge ball for the first time ever. Japanese dodge ball is so different from American dodge ball though. Instead of everyone being inside the court, you have players outside your opponent’s box that can hit them with balls from behind. The catch is, you only play with one to two balls depending on how many people there are. I’m absolutely horrible at it! HaHa!

The highlight of my trip thus far has to have been my trip to Matsuyama and Hiroshima with my first of two host clubs Omiya-Higashi Rotary Club (October 11-12). Friday night (October 10) we had a welcome party for a member of Rotary International from the Philippines, Fabby. He comes to visit Japan every 6-12 months and knows no Japanese (he doesn’t even say arigato), but communicates even better than I do with the Rotarians it seems. Staying out late after a long day at school, I spent most of the night packing and preparing for the trip the following day. Pick-up was at 6:10AM the next morning which meant I had to get up at 5:00AM to shower and finish packing. It was a two hour car ride through snail moving traffic into Tokyo. When we arrived at the airport there were about 30 Rotary members there dressed in their uniforms, my Okasan and I being the only females. This made for a very interesting weekend. It was a quick one hour flight to Matsuyama. Once there we dropped our bags off at the hotel, unable to check into our rooms yet. Grabbing a quick lunch we then headed to the Matsuyama International Rotary Club 30th year anniversary convention. There were so many people there and everyone seemed to know one another. I felt so out of place. Luckily a local high school student volunteered to take me sight-seeing for the day while the Rotarians took care of their business. We took a train ride to a lift and traveled up the mountain to Matsuyama Castle. It was a gigantic area and the castle being over 400 years old was gorgeous. We climbed the stairs up to the tower of the castle and were able to see the entire city of Matsuyama. Afterwards we treated ourselves to ice cream and wandered around a shopping district. We ended up partaking in Purikura and must have laughed for 30 minutes straight, but soon grew weary from such a long day of walking around. We even accidentally got on the wrong train and arrived late for the celebration dinner. I made a new friend in a day, but unfortunately I will probably never see her again. We exchanged emails though and still keep in touch occasionally.

There is always so much food at Rotary events and we spent the evening feasting. It is a custom in Japan to go around refilling your friend’s glasses with whatever they drink (in Rotary’s case it’s Asashi beer). I never partake in this because of my age and being unable to drink alcohol. Instead to show my appreciation I sat at the table serving food from the platters of trays that were being continuously carried out by waiters. I was hoping that we were heading back to the hotel after dinner, but instead I experienced a part of Japanese culture I hope I never have to encounter again. Omiya-Higashi Rotary Club consists of all male members and my Okasan. For entertainment that evening we were placed into a room with karaoke machines. I didn’t mind this and was hoping for a little entertainment from the Rotarians. What I didn’t like though was the fact that the servers/entertainers were young Japanese women wearing prom dresses. I even had a Rotarian from Matsuyama come up to me and state to me that this was a part of Japanese culture I’ve probably never experienced. He admitted to me it was an uncomfortable environment for someone like me. Fabby sang YMCA on the karaoke machine and I got movies of members of my Rotary Club dancing. Afterward a long day we headed back to the hotel where we checked in and I was able to shower and sleep finally.

Half of the Rotarians were staying in Matsuyama to golf while a small group of us were traveling to Hiroshima. Breakfast was at 7:00AM the next morning and we were leaving at 8:00AM to catch a boat to Hiroshima. I get sick on large cruise ships and when I saw this small boat on the choppy water that was lapping over the edges of the dock and getting me wet I took my motion sickness pills and slept for the two hour trip. We next took a train to Hiroshima station, left our bags in lockers, met up with the couple from Bangladesh and headed to Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park by taxi. When I saw the A-dome, the last standing building after the first atomic bomb in history was dropped, my mood turned solemn and I didn’t know what to think or do. We took pictures of all the peace memorials, but I didn’t think it was right to smile at such depressing monuments. I was happy to learn the story from Japan’s point of view though. They didn’t speak of how horrible America was for dropping the bomb, but only the reaction and sorrow the people faced during the recovery process. Hiroshima is now the most peaceful city in the world and hopes to rid the world of such disastrous weapons. There were a lot of tourists and for such a peaceful place, they acted like tourists. They didn’t have the looks of sadness on there faces like the Japanese did which soured my mood even more. Okasan bought me two books as gifts from the museum. One was an overview of the museum explaining Hiroshima from before the dropping of the bomb to today. The second book is a book you can’t eat and read at the same time. It contains pictures people drew after the initial dropping of the bomb and vivid descriptions of the wounded. It will without a doubt make you lose your appetite after only reading the first page.

After leaving the museum our moods lifted and we grabbed a quick lunch before boarding the Bullet train for the four hour trip home. During this time I was unable to sleep because of all the resting I had done from traveling earlier on that day. I closed my eyes and tried studying, but neither occupied my time for very long. The four hours thankfully went by quickly and soon enough we had arrived in Tokyo and were only 30 minutes from home. Before I knew it I was walking up the stairs at Higashi-Omiya Eki and saying goodbye to the Rotarians I had been traveling with. When I stepped through the front door of my house at 9:30 Sunday night I could only think of a hot shower, my warm PJ’s and me snuggled under the blankets on my bed upstairs. Even better was the idea that Monday (October 13) was a holiday which meant I was able to sleep in and relax all day after such a long weekend.

I look forward to traveling again to Hiroshima with the other exchange students in Saitama in December. I know it will be a totally different experience to be able to talk to someone my age and from my country about such a tragic part of not only Japan’s history, but a part of my own country's history.

School has been a bit boring lately. The students spent the week after my trip to Matsuyama and Hiroshima preparing for their upcoming examinations (October 14-17). I will admit I spent most of my time sleeping. Most students weren’t attending club activities this week either because they were busy studying for their tests. When I went to calligraphy club on Wednesday I was the only one there and sensei was kind enough to help me paint Hiragana characters on ceramic tiles to give to my host family and my family back home as gifts. Friday night I learned I would be spending the weekend at my host family’s mountain home. Okasan warned me it was going to be cold, but I froze all weekend (October 18-19). Being a Florida beach bum I was really miserable. The weekend had a lot of surprising twists and turns, but they created a downward slide which ended in me becoming sick, weary and worst of all extremely homesick. My host mom spent most of the weekend on the phone which even delayed us for over an hour during the trip up the mountain. A 3-4 hour trip ended up being 6-7 hours after stopping to buy food twice and eating lunch one of those two times. Warning: Driving up a mountain when the road is all curves while in the backseat of a car is not healthy and is very painful for the stomach and ears. My spirits were lifted after we arrived with a warm meal, which included a soul-warming cup of Nihon-Ocha, and my choice of watching the “Devil Wears Prada” followed by my host sister’s choice of watching “Candyman.” The homesickness settled in when Okasan and my host sister were putting facial masks on and talking to one another and all I did was sit there studying Japanese.

The next morning was the beginning of a new day and the previous day was far from my mind after a good night sleep. Mushroom hunting proved to be a lot of fun. I don’t think you would walk through a forest in Florida eating berries from a bush, but here in Japan there was no fear in doing so. We even found blueberries! I was more consumed by the wonderful autumn colors that engulfed my entire vision rather then the mushrooms, but I did learn the difference between a good and bad mushroom. After a long morning of walking through the Japanese wilderness, Okasan again was on her phone for hours and my host sister had gone off on a bike ride, leaving me alone and bored. My host sister wouldn’t allow me to help cook lunch and once the food was ready we ended up eating without Okasan. I helped clean up the house and did some chores for Okasan while she continued her phone conversation. Sleep engulfed me when I sat huddled in a ball on the living room floor and when I woke up, everything was done and we were ready to leave. I felt bad for not helping pack up and Okasan seemed to be disappointed in me which made me sad. We left right as it was getting dark. Warning: Driving down a mountain with a lot of curves is twice as worse as driving up! I thought we would head straight home because I had school the next day, but instead we stopped at two shopping districts. With no money except maybe 1,000 yen, I followed my Okasan around and engaged myself in window shopping. We stopped for dinner and within the following hour we were almost home. I felt horrible at this point. It seems when you try to force yourself to sleep time away it takes more energy then it would to just stay awake. Motion sick and overtired, the silence from Okasan made me feel like the biggest disappointment as an exchange student. Before I could even take my shoes off I was in tears and headed to bed after a hot shower.

I had school the next morning, but at breakfast with my nose running like a fountain and with a slight cough I had no desire to go to school. When Okasan began talking to me about the week's schedule because the students would be testing and I wouldn’t be I became frustrated from being so weary and within moments was balling my eyes out again. Okasan said I could take a holiday for one day (October 20). I slept the entire day, waking up only once to eat lunch with Okasan and Toujo san. By dinner I was in a good mood once more and felt 10 times better with my energy level back to normal and drugs in my system. I went to school the next morning to find myself in the library studying for four hours (October 21). Wednesday I had two Rotary meetings and therefore didn’t have to go to school (October 22). Thursday and Friday I once again found myself studying until I fell asleep in the library (October 23-24). When the tests were finished I was just as happy as the students because I now had friends available to go out with. Saturday morning (October 25) at 10AM I was on my way to meet my group of friends at Yono Eki to spend the day at Namjatown in Sunshine City. Going out in Japan costs a lot, I’ve learned. Paying for the train ride costs about 1,000 yen, lunch costs about 1,000, and then actually doing something costs about another 1,000 yen. It’s all worth it though in the end.

My schedule continues to be filled with Rotary events and traveling plans. I move November 29th to my new host family. I look forward to a new way of living and continue to learn more everyday.