Garrett Nickell

2010-11 Outbound to Japan

Hometown: Fort Pierce, Florida

School: Lincoln Park Academy

Sponsor: Fort Pierce Rotary Club, District 6930, Florida

Host: Oyama Rotary Club, District 2550, Japan

Bio

Garrett's Bio

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”

Hello / Hola / Konnichiwa / Aloha / Hi! My name is Garrett Nickell, and I'm 16 years young. I was born and raised right here in South Florida, and I currently attend Lincoln Park Academy High as a sophomore. However, as a junior in High School, I will be living in Japan! But before I get ahead of myself, here's a little more about me.

I am very outspoken. If I don't believe in something, then believe me you'll know about it. However, I think there is a line between sharing your opinion and just being plain obnoxious. I'm not one of the ones that really blend; I have curly curly hair and I'm a huge part of my school's drama club. I play soccer, too. Family and friends are also both such huge parts of my life. I know I'm going to miss everybody insanely, but then again you can't live your whole life in the same place.

I have a huge range in my music taste, from metal to mellow (also I have huge crushes on Hayley Williams and Lady Gaga). I even enjoy some good movies, specifically The Uninvited and Across the Universe. I'm often caught munchin' on some PB&J crackers (YES, AND JELLY). I am a firm believer that your appearance should never be stoic and always should be changing, and just have fun with everything that you come across, and have an open heart with all types of people and ways of life.

I know this upcoming year in Japan will be something that nothing else will compare to. The experiences I will have and the knowledge I will obtain is just mind-blowing. Right now it's hard to comprehend where I will be in 7 months, but I'm completely up for the challenge. Rotary, thank you SO MUCH for this opportunity!

~Garrett Nickell

"Don't wait. The time will never be just right.” - Napoleon Hill

August 29

September 17

August 29

-So today, after slaving away over a hot keyboard for a grueling 3 hours, I finally wrote my Rotary blog. After wiping off my blood, sweat, and tears it was around 1 PM. Time to get ready for the festival! Kaho and Chi got their Kimonos and we along with Mama went to Papa's mother's house. Just a little explanation of Japanese traffic: many cars, very narrow roads. There aren't many road laws when it comes to passing or much else. When a car is in a turning lane but can't turn at the moment, the other cars merely go around that one, even if the road is 1 lane only. Also add a lot of pedestrians and bikers in the mix. The cars and pedestrians have a weird mix of reverence for each other. I swear Mama has almost hit 17 people with her car, but people seem to know how to get JUST CLOSE ENOUGH to the car without getting hit. Every time we go by someone I stop breathing and then I think in my mind `OH MY GOD SISTA OVER HERE ALMOST JUST GOT BODY SLAMMED WITH AN AUTOMOBILE'. Mama thinks my state of constant stress while being in the car is truly hilarious. We got to Omama's house and she (being an expert on how to properly dress in a Kimono) dressed Kaho and Chi. Their kimonos are completely beautiful. It took 2 hours to get them completely dressed, which is insane. Around 5, Tatsuki came over. He was wearing the male kimono. Chi and Tatsuki went down to the festival by themselves looking all snazzy while I waited for Mama and Kaho to finish getting ready. Opapa, Mama, Kaho, two neighbors, and I went down to the festival, which was completely HUGE and beautiful. It seemed everyone in Oyama was packed in there (and later I found out I was pretty much correct). At 9, the fireworks started. Luckily there weren't any clouds and I brought my camera so I got some pretty good pictures. However an old asian lady (why do they always have such meddling roles in my journals) kept standing up in front of me and I had to keep yelling SUMIMASEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! (exCUSE ME!) over the booming fireworks and she would then look at me like I had a bug on my face just like every Jap does when I speak Japanese or at least attempt to. My school starts tomorrow. mmmMMMmmmmmMMMMmMmmmMm. Time for bed, Oyasuminasaiiiiii 

August 30

-School was completely great/tiring/awesome etc. I met an overwhelming amount of people. General introduction conversation I had with most of the people I met:"GARRETTO!""Konnichiwa haha""Nice to meet you""Yes hajimemashite""Japanese EEEY? (insert long string of incomprehendable Japanese words)""Nononono nihongo sukoshi wakarimashita (I understand little Japanese )""Oh. My name (insert difficult Japanese sounding name). Do you have girlfriend?""Nonono""What is name of girlfriend?""....nonexistant""Does she have nickname?"I n the morning I met two of my classmates at Oyama station, which Mama drives me to. We then scan our train passes, and get on the train to Omoigawa station. it's about a 4-5 mintue train ride. Then, along with all the other students of Oyama Nishi High School that rode the train to Omoigawa station, we walk to school. Its about a 15 minute walk. Not too horrible, other than the relentless sun beating down on your head/neck. Almost everyone walked with a t-shirt or towel draped over their head. I felt like I was part of a Sahara caravan haha. Even though my school has a uniform, it is very slightly followed. The pant legs and sleeves were rolled up, and the button down was unbuttoned and untucked. For girls, they hoisted up their skirts until the originally below the knee length skirts were about 6 inches above the knee. Voila, miniskirt. As soon as I got in the classroom, the few kids I met the day I gave the speech came up to me and greeted me with a chirpy, "Ohayooo" (good morning). Then, an abnormally tall Asian guy came up to me and said very loudly, "HELLO!. I AM KAITO. WE WILL BE BEST FRIEND, YES?" I then replied in the same tone of voice, "OF COURSE! BEST FRIEND." Then we shook on it. He then told me that he played soccer too and he was going to make it his mission to show me to everyone in Grade 1 (sophomore year). Yes, I know, I'm in the sophomore class. Its good though, because I've already learned everything in my math class so woop. He walked me from class to class in our floor and told me many many names I knew I wouldn't have a chance at remembering. We had PE today. You had the choice of doing inside gym (basketball, soccer, badminton) or swimming. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity to swim. When I told the swim coach that I wore a Small sized waist in America so I would most likely wear a Large in Japan, he started laughing. He then handed me a 3L waist swim suit. I said no, M or L. He grudgingly handed me an L and told me to try it on and then come back if it was too small. I went back, but only to show him that it fitted fine, if not a little loose. He then patted my stomach and gave me the universal OK sign, and sent me off to the pool. There is going to be a big school festival Friday and Saturday, so every day after school this week there is junbi (preparation) for the festival. Each class decorates their rooms in a different theme. I spent some time decorating but then went off to soccer practice. Because of the Junbi, there wasn't any set practice schedule. So practice was more of a scrimmage between everyone that showed up. I scored a couple goals so I was content with my first day of soccer in over a year. I made friends, today was good. I met up with some friends after soccer practice and we rode the train back home. Mama was waiting for me and she drove me home. She said she wanted to know how my first day of school was, which I took as, "Okay listen I know I picked you up today but don't expect it anytime soon because I am a busy mother and I don't have time to wait for you to get off your train I have THINGS to DO." That's fine too, I like walking through the city at night. It's pretty. However, I'm exhausted. Oyasumin! 

August 31

- I'm completely exhausted all throughout the day, when in America I would usually be sleeping. My body's inner clock is playing a never-ending joke on me. School was good though. I was excited because we had a 2 hour music period and I wanted to play the piano for my teacher, however that was a dud because the lady decided to be sick. It was kind of nice thougn, because that meant we got 2 hours of free time where we could do whatever. The Japanese are very giving people. Kaito, to prove our best friendship, gave me 3 gifts today. He had a Nike magnet that he carved 'Never Give Up' into, and he told me to put it inside my pencil/pen holder. Then he gave me a button from his Junior High school that was completely irrelevant but really cool looking. After school today for Junbi (preparation) of the festival, our class was all diligently working on misanga (friendship bracelets). We're selling them in our room at the festival for 100 yen each (about 1 dollar). Kaito made me a misanga and since bracelets are discouraged in school dress code I tied it around my ankle. Today, my social studies-esque class was ridiculously hard. Only in Japanese, and all about government policies and such. The teacher was determined that even though I said I couldn't, I actually COULD understand Japanese if I just tried HARD enough. That class is pointless for me until I can actually understand Japanese so maybe I'll switch out of that class for now. Today after soccer practice, I rode the train home and actually walked home all by MYSELF. So proud. Mama looked like her baby had just garbled out its first word when I stepped through our front door :'). Alright well time for bed oyasumin

 September 1

-I am incredibly tired and there is a possibility I will simply pass out while writing this so I shall reduce my day into bullet form.

*I fell asleep a lot in school today, again.

*In return for the gifts Kaito gave me yesterday, I gave him a golden dollar I brought from the US. He seemed to like it.

*I laughed a lot today at my English teacher's horrible English. Mostly inside but sometimes I had to act like the book we were all reading was truly hilarious. I accidentally corrected her out loud and I fear she does not like me anymore.

*I met more of the soccer team today. Practice was good. The soccer coach actually took time from Junbi to run some drills with us today. I forgot to mention, our soccer field is dirt. Clay or dirt or something like that. Its really not bad, just dusty. So when I fell today at practice I looked like I had decided to take a nap in a bag of brown cocaine.

*The Japanese guys aren't as shy and innocent as many people would like to think. Before Gym, everyone changes in our homeroom class. Yes, everyone changes in the same class. Strip down to only underwear and then put the PE uniform on. Kaito of course takes that opportunity to run around the class in his underwear screaming war cries. Today the guys on my soccer team asked me if American girls have a bigger bosom (to put it nicely) than Japanese girls. I told them, usually not naturally.

*Today at soccer practice pulled me aside and taught me the Japanese version of, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." I do not know what he means by this because he didn't explain why he pulled me aside to tell me this but looking back to yesterday when he insisted I was an XXL, I believe he is telling me to lose weight. I might title this trip, 'Garrett Battles Anorexia, feat. his Soccer Coach'.

*The kids at my school keep telling me I am 'so cool'. I doubt this has anything to do with my personality but rather that 1) I am American 2) I have naturally curly hair and straight teeth -something rarely seen in Japan- and 3) I have a big iPod. For some reason when they see my iPod Classic they look like I am holding the Holy Grail in the palm of my hand. Mama says people like me because I'm good looking. Japan cares about your inner beauty, people.

*Today I saw in my English textbook under Weather Conditions, 'polluted smog' was listed. Nice to know. No school for a while tomorrow, I have a Rotary meeting tomorrow at 12. I don't think I have to give a speech so there's at least that. Night

 September 2

-Today was the Rotary meeting then school. Since the meeting was at 12, I got to sleep in. Er, sort of. I remembered last night that my friend always meets me at Oyama station in the morning and then we take the train together with other students. I could picture him waiting for me until he missed the train, then was late to school all because of me. So at 7:45 in the morning I dragged myself up to the train station and tried to put together some Japanese. I ended up saying, "Ima wa, no gakko. Gakko later. Gomenasai ja ne" (now, no school. School later. I'm sorry see you later). Then I went back home and fell back asleep. I woke up around 11:20 for the meeting, which was generally boring. There was a female speaker today (I was shocked they even let a woman in the Rotary meeting whose purpose wasn't to serve them food). She said a long bit about me (none of which I understood other than I'm 16, live in Oyama, and will be staying for a year) and I started laughing as normal when I don't understand what someone is saying to me however I want to look happy and I gave her an always polite, "Arigato gozaimasu!". I have discovered that it is even easier to tone people out when they are speaking a language you don't understand. I was falling asleep so I figured I would go to the bathroom. I left and once in the bathroom I started making funny faces at myself in the mirror. Completely entertained and doubled over in laughter, I didn't notice the Rotarian enter behind me. He cleared his throat (which of course scared me to no end), asked me if I was feeling well and then rubbed my stomach. After getting over the shock of an elderly Japanese man rubbing my stomach, I realized people probably thought I was throwing up the raw fish lunch. I said, "Hai, genki desu arigato gozaimasu" (Yes, I'm fine thank you), then proceeded to wah my hands and go back to the meeting. When I got to school I got a lot of, "EEY? GARRETTO?! LATE!" Since tomorrow is the start of the big school festival, the whole day today was dedicated to Junbi (preparation). A bunch of painting and making misanga and decorating and not being in dress code at all and listening to music. Our classroom looks awesome, for real. In English class, we read a book about a volunteer for clearing old landmines that was caught in an accidental explosion. His name is Chris Moon. Because of the explosion, he lost his right arm and leg. However, he proceeded to run many marathons with the aid of prosthetics, spreading the message of the danger of old and forgotten landmines. Because of this book, my class' room was the theme of World Peace, and also had posters for Japan's campaign against landmines. I forgot my train pass at home in my soccer bag, which I didn't bring because I didn't play soccer. Luckily I live about 20 minutes from the school so Mama picked me up and then we went out to dinner. I had Green Tea ice cream, which is DELICIOUS and GREEN and only 94 calories for TWO scoops. Mama explained how our bathtub works tonight. Our tub is always filled with hot water, and has a machine connected to it that is always sucking out and pumping back in equal amounts of water at the desired temperature. That keeps the water clean and hot. She emphasized the clean part, which may have been Mama's way of telling me its daijobu (alright) to pee in the tub. At 41 degrees Celsius (about 104 degrees F), it is inevitable that your muscles are going to loosen and there will be some leakage. Well. Goodnight

 September 3

-School today was incredibly fun. Well, most of it. School started at 8:30 as usual, and there was 30 minutes of last minute junbi. At 9, there was a big assembly in the gym. Unlike in class, you had to be in dresscode at the assembly. Which meant pantlegs down, shirt buttoned up, and sleeves unrolled. Add those things together and then throw in the factor of the gym not having air conditioning and then toss in 600 kids and you have a REALLY HOT ASSEMBLY. I'm talking sweat pouring down our faces. It lasted until 12. 3 hours in Satan's dungeon. At least it was semi-entertaining. A bunch of the senior guys as their big joke ha-ha cross dressed and put on a fashion show. Then there was a bunch of joke telling. My favorite joke was the one I pretended to understand. There was a fashion contest and then another contest of who the school's best guy is. Somehow they managed to squeeze about 20 minutes of entertainment into 180 minutes of torture. However, when we were released, we were free to put on the class festival t-shirts and roam the school and see all the classrooms. Floor two, the Junior class, was the best. They had a haunted house room and an Alice in Wonderland room. I met quite a bit of people today, all of course really nice. Everyone seems to like me, which is good. My Japanese is improving just by being around people my age. Tomorrow is the Saturday portion of the festival, where everyone is invited, not only students of Oyama Nishi High. It starts the same time that today's festival did, bright and early, so no sleeping in this Saturday. Oyasuminnnn 

September 4

-So today was great. There wasn't a beginning assembly, only fun from the get-go. Between the two school buildings, there were 5 tents set up. Each senior class got their own tent to sell food of all sorts. Class 3-4 was the best senior class. They sold frozen pinapple slices and baked potatoes. Everytime I would walk through the grounds everyone would scream GARRETTO MY FOOD MY FOOD and eventually I was out of money so they would give me something as a 'presento'. Kids from other schools came, and I saw Chi's best friend Tension. She bought one of my class' misanga bracelets :). I went around completely numb, the experience was insane. So many people smiling at you and calling your name and just having so much fun was awesome. After the school festival was over and the other schools' students had to leave, everyone met in the gym. It was like the grand finale I guess. A girl in my grade sang a song. She did pretty well surprisingly, because she was obviously very nervous when she went on stage. When she was done there was a huge round of applause; it was one of those situations where you clapped harder because you feel the person has overcome some huge obstacle in their life, and you know their self esteem appreciates your burning hands. After that, we found out the winners of the fashion contests and who was the 'best guy' at our school. Then a woman that I think was maybe somewhat famous sang. To be honest I enjoyed the girl in my grade more, nervous as she was. This woman was ridiculous. She had them turn the music up louder while she was singing so you could barely hear her voice, and then she pulled out her guitar for a song and was slamming on the strings and I was just laughing so hard. Then she played a couple songs on the piano. My eyes started watering and instead of being emotionally moved I realized I was literally being bored to tears. She finished and got a huge bouquet of roses that I was tempted to snatch away and give to the girl in my grade but hey, Kaito said that he enjoyed the performance and he likes good American music so I guess I was being overly judgmental because of my tiredness. The assembly ended late, around 4:45, so soccer started late at 5 and ended at 7:40. I got home from practice about 8, scarfed down some dinner, and now I'm truly exhausted. I wish I could use tomorrow as a wonderful Sunday to sleep in, however I have a Rotary meeting to attend so I suppose I'll sleep early tomorrow night. We'll see about that. Oyasumin. ~To my readers, just wanted to say thank you for reading. It means a lot that you take the time to actually look at my journey.

Until next week, Garretto :)

September 26

September 5th-

Today was a really big Rotary District meeting. I had only been to my city’s Rotary meeting, but this was the big bad District's meeting, where all the exchange students in this district through Rotary meet and discuss the rules. I was TOLD that I was to be giving a speech, so I stayed up really LATE and PREPARED one. However, once I got there and was introduced to the other kids and some Rotex, we were told to go upend give our '15 second introductions'. That’s right, my speech of awesome Japanese was reduced to 'Ohayo gozaimasu! Watashi wa Garrett Nickell desu. Hajimemashite. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.' Then I sat down. The other exchange students seemed nice enough. There was a girl from France, a girl from Minnesota, a guy from Thailand and a guy from Canada. The girl from Minnesota got here 4 days before me and therefore told me she is further along in her experience than I am so I am determined to leave 4 days after her. The guy from Thailand is about 9feet tall and has a ridiculous Thai name so his nickname is Champion. He says he hates the nickname Champion because it makes him sound gays just to please him I started calling him Precious. I told him it’s an honorable name that comes from a very famous American movie. I got cellophane today, woohoo.

September 6^th

It's Monday, however it's a holiday and there was no school. However, there was still soccer at 9AM. I hate physical activity in the morning. I’m always of course tired and I always suck and feel horrible. This soccer practice I was tired and I sucked and I felt horrible. It lasted until 12:30, so I was also quite hungry afterwards. And sunburned. Then walked to the train station, and waited an hour for my train. I ate my lunch box about halfway through my wait. I went home and Mamaabout had a heart attack at my red skin. I assured her my African ancestry would make the sunburn go away in 24 hours. Tonight a man that’s walking the length of Japan ate at our house for dinner. Well, him and his friend who is visiting him. They're both college students but the guy walking is taking a year off of college to do this. He's pretty amazing.

September 7^th

My life is starting to become a routine. Everyday I go to school, then soccer, then home. Pretty soon, I fear I won't have much to write about. My journals will become a habit, a waste of paper. Today was a day off of soccer, though, so that was nice. I talked to my homeroom/English teacher and we changed my schedule around a bit. My Japanese Culture class and Classics class are taught by teachers that understand no English so I basically sit and drift off into space in those classes. So until I have better Japanese, I'll be taking extra English classes. I think Saturday I'm going to Harajuku woohoo! We’ll see if this one actually happens.

September 8^th

I woke up to the sound of rain. After exchanging 'Ohayo!'s, Mama informed me that we were experiencing a typhoon. Similar to a hurricane,  with less wind and generally more rain. She handed me an umbrella and wished me luck. Thanks. Because of the torrential downpour, I didn’t even bother bringing my soccer bag. After walking to school with some friends huddled under my umbrella, I sloshed to my seat, sat down and looked at my schedule. Oh, today is indoor gym. Guess where my PE uniform is, MY SOCCER BAG. I sat gym out today, no big deal. Afterwards,  instead of attending my Japanese Culture class which is all Japanese no   English, I went to talk to my English/Homeroom teacher. We further discussed my schedule changed. I'm taking twice as many English classes   that the regular Japanese high school student takes. Two of those are 1   grade level higher than what I am usually in. In my English class today,   a guy from Chicago came and talked to the class. Imagine my joy when I heard someone from AMERICA was coming to my class. He's lived in Japan for about 3 years as an English assistant teacher. He has long blonde hair and a goatee. He refused to tell his age but I think about30 simply because nobody under 30 hides their age. Tonight for dinner I   ate a hamburger steak, steamed carrots, potato wedges, rice, and green tea ice cream using only chopsticks. I could have weeped with joy. I noticed this morning that if Japanese guys have bad skin, it's usually accompanied with bad make-up covering it. The guys probably steal their   mother or sister's cover-up, because it usually is a completely different  shade than their skin tone. This guy on the train today looked like he straight up finger-painted some peanut butter onto his nose. However mostly everyone in Japan has flawless skin. At night when I'm bored I walk to different places in my city. Sometimes the supermarket, sometimes the mall. It’s really peaceful and the city lights are awesome.

September 9^th

Today I woke up at 7:20, about 20 minutes before I had to leave the house. Oops. I threw some stuff in my hair, put on my long-sleeved button down for the first time (the typhoon brought not only immense amounts of rain, but some lovely cold weather), and the rest of my uniform. Today nothing much exciting happened at school. I had my first upper-grade English class. I was greeted outside of my homeroom class with 9 smiling Japanese guys waiting to escort me to the upper floor. The class was much more advanced than what I usually go through in my normal classes. Afterwards they tried to walk me back to the class, but   I insisted I was daijoubu (okay). My last period was swimming, we had to  swim 200 meters in 5 minutes. I did it but was exhausted afterwards. Right after swimming was soccer. Even after being exhausted from swimming, it was still fun. I almost died though. While fighting for the  ball, me and another player tripped each other and we flew to the ground. I did a complete flip but managed to roll on my back and spring   to my feet in one nimble movement. I am that good. However the dirt&rock  field that we practice on was not to kind to my knee/elbow/lower back. Tomorrow my wounds will have time to heal while I skip soccer to cook’ American Hamburgers' for my family for dinner. I'm starting to become better friends with people. Usually it's only the, "HEEEY GARRETTO!" in   the hallways and classes. But now I'm having actual attemptiveconversations and joking around with them. It's nice.

September 10^th

This morning I woke up semi-on time. I left for Oyama-iki (Oyama trainstation) a little early today, so I would have time to stop by Starbucks  and grab something. I ended up getting a Dark Chocolate Frappuchino, something I haven't ever seen in the US. It was magic in my mouth. When   I got on the train, deliciousness in hand, my friends were shocked that   I was drinking coffee. Looking back, I noticed that Chi never drank coffee with Mama and I and when Tatsuki and I went to Starbucks last week, he didn't get anything. I suppose that's something only for older   people here. School was better than usual, of course with it being Friday. Every Friday, instead of having a normal class as my last period, I meet up with my English teacher in the Library and we study Nihongo (Japanese). Today I learned how to say the date. That in itself   took about an hour. The Japanese date/day system is 'totemo muzukashi'(very difficult). But I understand it, so it's all good. Today after school, Mama and I went shopping at UNIQLO, which is like a cheaper and   better and Japanese version of Urban Outfitters. Then, we went food shopping. Tonight I slaved over a hot stove braving spattering oil and burning juices creating holes in my flesh. I made pan fried hamburgers for my family, along with garlic butter roasted potatoes. The recipe for  the hamburgers I kind of created perhaps from memory I have no idea. Input a bunch of beef in a bowl, added an egg, some chopped garlic, chopped onion, salt, pepper, and a splash of steak sauce. It came out completely delicious. I couldn't find hamburger buns, so I improvised and put the hamburgers on some toast. Then I put the potatoes on the burger, added some ketchup, and voila. My wisdom tooth grew in like awake ago, so tomorrow I'm going to the dentist. Then, I have to go to my  host brother's school's sports festival. Busy busy busy.

September 11^th

So. Today wasn't super great awesome etc. I was told last night That I had to leave the house by 8:50 for the dentist. Opapa woke me up at 8:47  yelling, "HAISHA! HAISHA!" (DENTIST! DENTIST!) I was so angry that hewoke me up 3 minutes before we were supposed to leave that instead of rushing like usual, I walked my way to the shower, wet my hair, changed,  and was ready by 8:57. While changing, Opapa kept yelling (always yelling!), "GOHAN GOHAN!" (Gohan is used as cooked rice/food/breakfast I  don't know) and I kept yelling back "NO!!!" (NO!!!). We went to the dentist who AWESOMELY spoke no English. It was also very difficult to explain anything when his assistants fingers never left my gaping mouth.  I tried to mime that my wisdom tooth was growing in, but there was no pain. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't mess up the alignment of my  teeth. He looked at it, gave me some pain meds, and sent me off. I doubt, unless they have suddenly invented a pill form of braces, that the meds will be any help for my possibly soon-to-be jacked up teeth. I   then realized that Opapa had driven off and left me at the dentist. I guess he presumed I would walk to my little brother's school. I called Mama and she picked me up and took me to the festival. One word. ATSUI(HOT), The sports were so weird. They like, made human bridges and walked on each other's backs. I met this awesome girl from Africa named   Maggie. She moved to Japan 6 years ago, so she speaks awesome Japanese.   She came from a wealthy part of Africa, so she was taught very high level English at a young age, and has continued since then, so we were able to speak in English. She wants to go to Harvard for college in the   US. I told her to go for it. Mama and I left early because it was too hot. Later that night we went out for sushi, so at least there was that   to improve my mood. Tatsuki is sick, so no Harajuku tomorrow. Bleh.

September 12^th

I was dreaming of piano music. Very nice, lovely, slow piano music. Then, BAM Omama bursts into my room, shouting incomprehendable Japanense. Complete flustered and frustrated and just plain ANGRY that she woke me up from my dream that I yelled out, "OMAMA, NIHONGOWAKARANAI! EIGO!!!!!" (OMAMA, I DON'T UNDERSTAND JAPANESE. ENGLISH!!!) She then left and I fell back asleep. I woke up at a wonderful 10:30A.M. (ju ji sanjupun gozen) and played around on the piano for a while.   Then Mama and I made some delicious spaghetti. Then, Mama and I went shopping near Utsunomia. There's this huge shopping center that had a ton of stores. It even had GAP, which was just as expensive. I found this awesome store called We go, which is half their products, half used   clothes. I found this really cool bleach-washed used Levis denim jacket   for about 900￥ (10 bucks). I also got a sweatshirt and some jeans. It's   getting chilly outside! Tonight after dinner I walked to the grocery store and picked some things up for the family. I dropped my ice cream cone on the walk back and I wonder how many people heard my sarcastic scream, "COOOOL!!!" I have discovered a blister on the bottom of my foot. Thank you, soccer.

September 13^th

School was surprisingly good. I now have a good specific group I always   ride the morning train with. One of them, Hiroki, is a guy that lives in  Oyama also. We usually ride the train back together too. Even though it   was nice and cool 4 days ago, it's back to being hot. That was nice during swimming today, though. Not so nice when we had to go to theun-airconditioned gym to listen to a guest speaker who was incredibly unentertaining. He read off his papers in a boring monotone voice. Even   the teacher sitting by me fell asleep. It too hot for me to sleep, believe me, I tried. I'm happy about how much I'm starting to be accepted in my group of friends. Before I was the cool American they talked to so they could test their English, but now I'm actually their friends. My English teacher gave me this super awesome Japanese textbook  designed for English speakers trying to learn Japanese. The guy from Chicago recommended it. Its seriously like the Holy Grail. It has everything I could ever need. Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji/Dialogue/Vocabulary/etc. I didn't go to soccer today because my teacher told me to start studying the Hiragana. Unfortunately, a lot of that time was spent trying to make flash cards,   failing, then walking to the mall to find flash cards. After searching ever surface possible, the only thing I found resembling flash cards were these little 1x2 inch flash card babies. I refused to waste 100 yen  on them so I wasted my 100 yen on a pair of chopsticks with sushi cartoons on them. 100 yen well spent. Mama told me that the flash cards   only come that size, and she found some in the house. I spent the rest of the night making the Hiragana flash cards, then studying them with Mama over some coffee, classical music, and small talk. This is the life.

September 14^th

Kyou wa kugatsu ju yon nichi ka youbi desu.(Today is Tuesday, September 15th.)As practice for my Japanese lessons, I must now write this a lot. Today   in school my main focus was to learn Hiragana. I brought the flashcards   to school and they never left my desk. At all times they were being studied. By the end of the night, I had the characters pretty much memorized. Today in music class, a member of our school's music club invited me to join the club. I, of course, accepted. The teacher told me  that they didn't practice the piano, which kind of sucks. She said that her and I could practice the piano on different times, though. I think I  want to try the flute, seeing as in music club its only wind instruments  or drums. However, I'm almost positive I will fail because I've heard the flute is so difficult to learn. It's going to be difficult juggling   soccer, a new instrument along with the piano, learning Japanese, and schoolwork. Tonight after dinner I was bored so I walked to the mall. I   love walking through Oyama city at night time. The lights, the smells! You can always tell when you're walking past a whore-house because it'll  have a sign in front that is bordered in Christmas lights and there are  suited men standing in front. Mama said those 'extra massage' places are run by the Japanese Mafia. I didn't even know Japan HAD a Mafia. OR  BROTHELS. I stopped by the donut shop for some coffee on my walk home, however there was no English or pictures on the menu, but I would feel bad for not buying anything so I got a donut. It was mediocre. Tonight over some Beethoven, Mama and I studied the Hiragana more. I really enjoy that time at night with Mama. The kids have gone to sleep so its quiet, Chi's in her room studying or listening to music, and Papa'ssulking in his room. Always sulking. So coffee at night with Mama is a good tradition.

September 15^th

I woke up this morning not feeling like P. Diddy. Instead I had an incredible stomach ache. I layer, half awake, in my bed for about 5minutes trying to figure out what I ate yesterday that could have conjured this stomached ache. The only thing I could think of is that mediocre donut that I was obliged to buy. I walked into the kitchen, announced that I would have to miss school today, walked back to my room  and fell asleep. Mama came in around 9 in the morning and asked if Wanted to go to the hospital. I had never been to the hospital as a patient, and almost said yes only for that reason. However, I said no, it was only a stomach ache that I could sleep off. I figured that my stomach ache was mainly my body reacting to me not wanting to wake up,   however as I woke up about 2 hours later I felt the need to vomit. Then   I had no appetite. I insisted to Mama a 2nd time that I did NOT need to   go to the hospital. Around 1 in the afternoon, I felt a little better, so Mama took me around town to a couple parks and a really old and beautiful Shrine. Then we went clothes & food shopping. She told me that   she had to pick up Chi at school tonight, which is about 50 minutes away. I told her I would cook dinner. I decided to make my favorite Mexican dish. It's similar to the setup of Sheaperds Pie, except the bottom is a layer of spicy ground beef, a layer of cheddar cheese, and then   a layer of cornbread. It was tough, seeing as cheddar cheese is difficult to find and I have never seen cornbread in Japan. I walked to   the supermarket and  found the cheese and cornmeal so I could make the cornbread from scratch. Tomorrow I must go to school 30 minutes early. Apparently every Thursday, you come to school 30 minutes early and that’s for studying.

September 16^th

This morning when I left the house for school I noticed two things: 1)It was cold. Really cold. 2) It was raining. Hard. I grabbed an umbrella  and Mama drove me to the station. While entering the station, I shook the water off my umbrella... right on top of some tiny Asian girl walking beside me. Oops. On the long, cold, and wet walk to school, I entertained myself by interviewing myself in comedic voices. I also thought of things to write in my journal, all of which I have forgotten.  The wind was blowing sideways, so one side of my body was completely soaked where as the other side was dry. I felt like that guy from Batman  who's face was half jacked up half okay. I was very content with my dry   side until a car drove by and splashed my good half with water. I sogged  my way to my class, took off my shirt, shoes, and socks and let myself air dry. Most of the school day was again spent practicing Hiragana. I have all 71 characters memorized. Quite happy with that. At PE, it was too rainy for swimming so we played indoors. I played ping-pong with a few of my friends. YES, I played ping-pong with Asians. YES, I even beat  some of them! Proud, so proud.

September 17thEven though I went to bed at a normal time last night, I'm super tired.   So, bullet points.*I fell asleep a lot in school today. I would feel bad if not for every   other student doing it too.*I can now read and write the Hiragana from memory. Today I worked on saying the sounds and writing the characters from memory.*Tuesday after soccer, my friend Kaito is coming home with me and staying the night, then we're going to school in the morning.*Today was Music club. They refuse to let me practice the piano, instead  they made me get a new instrument. I tried flute (fail) drums (alright)   trumpet (I had a headache from lack of oxygen) and the tuba (just no). I  finally tried the clarinet, and they were surprised that I could actually play it well for my first time. I didn't sound like Squidward,   which made me very happy*Tonight during coffee Mama told me about her young adulthood. Before she got married and had kids, she used to work for a very big company, and was very rich all by herself (and her parents already being rich).She showed me all these super super expensive clothes that she owns but   doesn't really wear anymore. They're awesome.*Mama insists that one day I will either be an actor or model. She knows  that right now my plan is to go to school to be an International Lawyer,  and she thinks that’s great and all but she wants me to be famous.*Tomorrow is Kaho's school's sports festival.*Goodnight

September 18^th

This morning I woke up tired enough to die. The whole family went down to Kaho's festival. I fell asleep multiple times. Most of it was really   entertaining though. They do crazy stuff at elementary school sports festivals. There was this thing called the tower, where 5 kids were at the bottom ring, then 3 kids stood on their backs on the second ring, then 1 kid stood at the very top ring. Insane! I said that something like that would never happen in America, people are too lawsuit happy. After we ate lunch at the school, I walked home by myself. I love the independence and freedom I have here. When I got home, I hung around tinkering on the piano until Opapa came in, and said we were going shopping. I was very confused, but I put on some clothes and went with him. Turns out his idea of shopping is driving out to the middle of nowhere and unloading some brush into the woods. I didn't mind helping,   I minded getting my nice clothes dirty and ripped by the brambles and brush. When we got home Mama freaked out on Opapa pointing to my hands.   I have tough hands, they can handle themselves. I walked to the mall, hung out, then we went out to a delicious dinner of traditional Japanese  food I may never remember the name of. Chi has a school festival tomorrow that we shall go to!

September 19^th

So much happened today that I doubt I'll be able to remember it all. It   started out getting ready for Chi's festival. Chi's school is about 50minutes away, and her Cheerleading performance started at 2, so Mama and  I had to leave at 1. However, at 1, Opapa announced that him, Kaho, and   Omama had to take the car somewhere. They dropped Mama and I off at Oyama station. Mama originally said we would  ride the train to the station near Chi's school, and then take the bus to Chi's school. However, that would be very tricky with timing and we would most likely   miss Chi's performance. Mama told me that she decided to take me to Tokyo instead! I was incredibly excited. We took the train there for about 2 hours. IT here was a Japanese woman in across the train seated reading a book. I realized that the book was in English. However, her reading speed was about 2 minutes for one page, and the print size wasn’t small enough for that slow of reading. I decided she is not a native speaker. There was a man leaning with his back against the train   sliding doors while we were speeding along. I imagine that couldn't be too safe when the train is possible going over 100 miles an hour. Weirder things have happened than doors opening all of the sudden. Once   we were in the city, I was awestruck. Everything was beautiful. The huge  buildings were beautiful, the stores were beautiful, the people were beautiful. Speaking of stores, there were so MANY. Mama and I first went  to the very high class part of Tokyo (Like the Upper East Side of Manhattan) where she used to work. Then we went to the Ginza section of   Tokyo, which had a lot of modern shops. I discovered that just because they are in a different country, most Americans are just as rude. We went to a different section to look for some shoes I found online made by Adidas. They have tuxedos on them! The lady working said they would-be sold in Harajuku starting in October. On the way home, we stopped in   the Hard Rock for dinner, where my friend Mai works! She's a Rotex from   my district. She went to South Carolina two years ago. She's super awesome and I'm allowed to go visit her whenever. In October we're going  to Harajuku together to get the shoes and she's going to show me around   the place. On the way home, Mama and I rode the express train. You know,  the TRAINS OF THE FUTURE. It cut the 2 hour ride on a normal train down   to a 40 minute ride that was super comfortable. It was like flying first  class, with a price to match. I'm so exhausted. So exhausted. Oyasumi!(goodnight)

November 24

Howdy Y'all. I know it's been a while, and I sincerely apologize for that. I started out this exchange year with the full intent of writing in my journal every single night before bed, and I really kept up with that for a good while, but alas the pen has fallen. So let me just say that this RYE Journal is going to be quite different from the past RYE Journals. For one, they're not going to be ridiculously tedious and detailed. I apologize for informing you guys so much, I realize now that you would most likely much rather be informed about my general month rather than what happens day by day. However, it seems that I've gone almost two months without telling you what's going on. Well, ikimashou! (let's go!)

The first week of October was when the first actual cold front swept in. Along with the cold front came the cold sickness. I, along with every normal person, sneezes on occasion. However in Japan, the second you sneeze you are asked if you are cold. Even before the cold front came in, it was starting to cool down so I slept with my windows open. However, it dropped about 30 degrees overnight, having me wake up freezing and sick. Luckily that day was only a half day, but I still went home even before we got out. I was miserable. Snot was pouring out of my nose, I could barely swallow, my body ached, and no matter how many layers I wore I was never warm enough. The next three weeks I was put on 5 different types of medicine to try and get it out of my system and eventually it went away. Three weeks of doing nothing but sleeping and watching movies. I went to the hospital once but that was mainly because nothing was working! Eventually they found out most of the problem was my body was reacting very badly to a large pollen blooming that had happened recently in Japan. It was all quite an ordeal, but I really kind of enjoyed the time off. It actually gave me an opportunity to spend more time with my host family ironically, even though I was sick. So that was my excuse for not writing a Journal for October, because it would have been incredibly dull and boring.

However, the last weekend of October, my friend Mai and I went to Tokyo for shopping and sight-seeing. My host mother and I went to Tokyo once on a whim, however we only went to the Ginza, Roppongi, and other high end districts inside Tokyo that is mainly for shopping of the very wealthy of Japan. With Mai, we went into Harajuku and Shinjuku which are two districts that are filled with deathly fashionable Japanese teenagers (and of course tourists galore).

November brought rain rain and more rain. And with the rain came the cold. Every day is 50 or below, at night it gets to about 40. I am absolutely loving this weather. Another thing that came in November was a significant mood change in my little host sister. After my 'new toy status' wore off for her, she treated me like the enemy of the house. However, this month, she has been incredibly nice to me. We ACTUALLY get along, which is a very nice change from screaming every time she sees me.

School is going very well, I am happy to report. It definitely changes on a daily basis, but on a progressively good level. As my Japanese improves (which it should, seeing as I study from my 3 Japanese textbooks 4 hours a day), so does the relationships with my friends. My real friends are the ones that have finally stopped gasping at the sight of me in the hallways. My two best friends are Seiya and Kaito, and I know those names obviously mean nothing to you, dearest reader, but both of them mean quite a lot to me. Kaito is the one who I was friends with from the first day of school. Loud, energetic, and sometimes borderline childish, he's someone that is up for anything even when it's not the time to be. Seiya is more quiet and laid back, very into his studies yet also can be loud and joking when the time calls. Kaito and Seiya are almost my school-time yin and yang (which is, by the way, CHINESE not JAPANESE), balancing each other out, and also, balancing me out.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and there is no doubt out there that there is so much I have to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my amazing host family, for never wanting me to leave and fighting for me to stay as long as they're allowed to keep me. For putting aside their want to learn English and speaking Japanese with me, and for being some of the funniest and most loving people I know. I'm thankful for my friends, whether they be in Japan, currently around the world, or back home. For my friends back home, I hope you know how much I miss you all and especially thank you to the ones that have stayed close with me (even if it's through the computer screen) these 3 months I've been gone. I'm thankful that I was given this opportunity, to even be able to meet all these people and to learn this wonderful language and experience this beautiful culture. I'm thankful for ROTARY! And last but not least, I'm extra thankful for my family back home in Florida and in Alabama. (And you too, Aunt Cathy!) I love all of you guys so much. You guys are my backbone, my support system, and the reason that I am able to be sitting here right now in another country. Mom and Bo, I love you guys so much. And to my baby sister Brooke, I hope you have an awesome 9^th birthday this Friday! I miss you the most, munchkin.

3 months down in another country and I'm not even 1/3 of the way finished. Time moves so fast yet so slow at the same time, and I only wish there was a way for me to record it all in my mind, but I suppose that technology hasn't been released yet (but I guarantee you they probably have a prototype in Tokyo). As of tomorrow, I'm going to try to start writing every day in my journal again. The holiday season is coming fast. Christmas is just around the corner, and I can bet that the hardest times for me as an exchange student are coming. I'll be sure to keep you posted! Until next time,

Jyaa Ne, (see you)

February 17

We shall start with Christmas. Christmas-time is supposed to be the greatest time of the year, beautiful weather, beautiful decorations, people in great spirits, and Japan is no exception to that. Many people asked me if Christmas existed in Japan, and of course it does... just in its own twisted Japanese way. Japan being almost void of Christianity, it was mainly about the glitz and the glam and the fashion of Christmas instead of celebrating the birth of Jesus. Some people put up Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and decorate their houses; some do nothing. Almost all restaurants/shops will have SOME sort of decorations up. However when it comes to Christmas Day itself, that's where the main changes are. You don't give presents (I KNOW, RIGHT?). Nothing is closed on Christmas, and everyone seems to think that in America we eat fried chicken on Christmas day, so KFC is extra busy that day. For me, Christmas was a day I wasn't too happy with. I missed my friends, my family, my big Christmas day. It honestly was my worst day in Japan so far. I went to the movie Cinema and watched the current Harry Potter film by myself, then afterwards I ate dinner with my host Mama. Christmas was really hard for me to deal with, but I thought of it as just another day. If I ignored the fact it was Christmas, it was a pretty good day!

Now the reason they don't give presents is because of the money they spend on New Years day. On New Years day, if you're a kid, you get money from most of your older family members. On New Years Eve me and my extended host family all got together at my house and we ate dinner and watched a program on TV together. It was a lot of fun, especially getting money haha. Days like that really made me feel a part of my host family (which has been my only host family since arriving in Japan), and I honestly wouldn't give them up for anything.

From around Christmas until the 13th of January was our school's winter break. My family and I went to a resort in Nasu called Epinaru for a few days. It was up north some in Japan, so I got to see some actual snow for the first time! Epinaru is gorgeous, even the Emperor of Japan has stayed there. They have an onsen (public bath) that have live koi fish swimming around you.

February 7th was my birthday, which was another time that I missed home. But this was a huge step up from Christmas. My host family had a dinner for me, and friends even came to give me presents. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday, really.

My Japanese is actually getting really good. I study about 3 to 4 hours a day in and out of school, so I can hold a conversation with my friends and family. I don't think I've ever appreciated being able to express my opinion so much. I felt like a baby, who had no way of communicating with its parents except for crying. Well now I can communicate, but I'm not quite to perfect grammar yet haha. I would have to say the thing that fuels me would be when I NEED to say something, but I can't. So then I learn what I have to say, and voila. When you realize it's as easy as memorizing a word, it doesn't seem like such an impossible task.

I am forever grateful for the time I have spent, and the time I'm going to be spending. I'm more than halfway done, which is impossible to grasp right now. I'm nearing upon my 6th month here in three days. It seems like every month that goes by passes more quickly. I just want it to STOP. My host Mama (pretty much the person I spend the most time with here) talks about on a daily basis about how lonely the family's going to be when I leave. They make me feel so loved and such a part of them, I know that I am so incredibly lucky to have gotten them as a host family. My return date is set, June 25th. I'm excited to be returning home but also incredibly sad to be leaving this beautiful country. Japan has changed me in ways I didn't expect it to, and I can only hope it continues to make me a better and more mature person the longer I stay here.
Spring is on its way. Time to make the best of what in my opinion, is Japan's most beautiful season!

Jyaa ne (see you soon!),
Gyaretto-kun
(Garrett)

March 16