Costco, Hibarigaoka Gakuen, and City Hall 3/23 - 3/24-3/25

3/23

Hmm...so right now it is 10:35 PM on the 24th (I have totally lost track of the days of the week), and I am currently trying to recall as much as possible about yesterday while my pictures are being uploaded to my computer, or as they say in Japan, pasokon (personal computer).I am super tired right now (btw, the picture of the dog is Suzu on my bed. I am in love with Suzu), because I went to my school (Hibarigaoka Gakuen) and spoke with the teacher who "I should always consult to" Nakanishi-sensei, which was draining for reasons I will explain later on in this post (my school is gorgeous). ANYWAY, TODAY, I went to Costco for the first time in my life, and, the experience was pretty amazing (I use that word a lot don't I). I had heard the word "Costco" everyday in my American life, and I continue to hear it everyday in my Japanese life, but, it was strange. I had HEARD of Costco, and I knew it was a place where people bought food in bulk, but I had no idea like...what it was, anyway. SOOO I went to a JAPANEEESE costco with host mom and brother.

...

Soooo Costco is pretty cool. There is a ton of food. This Japanese costco was basically entirely American food, and I even saw a group of three Dutch men which was pretty awesome. I would have to go to an American Costco to compare between countries though. Now, when I think of Costco, I think of the Japanese costco, and I don't know what the American Costco is like, so, it is difficult to compare, obviously. The Costco I went to yesterday seemed pretty popular, and was incredibly crowded, and I noticed that a ton of the fruits were from Florida. I bought some blueberries because I NEED FRUIT and no matter how much I eat I NEED MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR. I have yet to see my host brother eat any fruit, actually.Which is kind of scary (in this picture you can see the sea of Japanese people in Costco around the sushi section). I used to live on fruit. Host mom has actually been feeding me a ton though, which is

too kind of her. And before she gives me a ton of food every evening, she always says "parents in Vermont must be worried, ne".

Oh, also, I also brought a ton of chocolate and candy for my host family, and, my host family loves all of it, and they call it Orichoko (Oli-choko/Oliver Chocolate) (in the picture of host mom and brother, they are trying to figure out the chair thing in Costco, which was like completely broken, or atleast impossible to figure out).

Later on that night, YUKI my host sister arrived with her ex-boyfriend (I'll explain that in a sec), and I must have forgetten to mention that up until the 23rd, Yuki was in Miyazaki surfing with her friends, and she just got home after hanging out with her ex-bf. She had been with him for a super long time, but then he cheated on her, and she punched him, and now they are friends. His name is Eryou (I LOVE THAT NAME) and he is to become a Priest at Nakayama-dera, a super famous temple, meaning he has a lot of money, and so my nick name for him is kanemochi (rich). He was pretty cool. He has dog allergies though, so he had a bunch of tissue paper stuck up his nose the whole time he was at the house because of the three super loud dogs that were like attacking him with their hair. I don't have a picture, but I most definitely will get one next time I see him. I do have pictures of Yuki already though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yuki is pretty amazing. She is insanely wonderful at the piano, she is super skilled at Shodo (calligraphy), she is open minded and super friendly and skilled at surfing and awesome, and is obviously a part of this super awesome host family I have.
Aaaaah I can't really remember what else happened, but I will update this if I receive any awesome spurts of memory.

2/24

OK. SO. Today I didn't really take any pictures, because even though I went to my school, the weather was completely gray and rainy and I didn't want to destroy my camera, and I didn't know if bringing my camera to a little school-related discussion was appropriate (the school is intimidating D:D:), and my camera ran out of battery, which irritated me. I was in the middle of making a video tour of my Japanese house, and then my camera ran out of battery, and I was pissed. But, it was ok, because I still have until 2011 to make as many video tours as I would like. Also, regarding pictures of the school, I would rather get pictures of the pretty buildings in pretty weather, so that you all get a very attractive view of the school.

So, I was woken up at 9:30 am, took a shower, ate breakfast, and was driven to the school with host brother and mom. Host brother had guidance for becoming a high school student, so he went off to see his Japanese guidance counselor. The first thing I noticed about the school, was that, there were a ton of white-purplish/pink buildings, one of them newly opened for this upcoming year of high school (so I get to spend high school in a brand new Japanese building. AMAAZING), there were a ton of trees and vegetation, with one huge sakura/cherry blossom tree in a small square outside the high school area. There is a huge Olympic sized pool sorrounded by trees and stuff which is pretty awesome. A ton of benches, and the school is extremely hilly/on a steep hill. And there is no parking.
So, we went into one of the buildings, and were required to put on Hibarigaoka slippers, and like 10 different men came to say 'Hajimemashite' (how do you do) within the course of like, 6 minutes, and I had no idea who any of them were..one of them went by the name of Nakanishi-sensei, and he was the one I, host mom, and Miyahara-san spoke with about MEEE. At first there was a ton of confusion, and apparently the confusion was because we were supposed to come to the school on the 25TH, but Miyahara being a Donkusai (according to host-mom, means like, 'always making easy mistakes/always forgetting'), she told us to come on the 24th. Mizuno-san, who is one of the head representatives for YFU in Japan, is very annoyed with my area rep. all the time and is constantly telling her to go to the hostpital cause she thinks Miyahara-san has Alzheimers, hahahha. Miyahara-san is super friendly, but makes mistakes, with everything, which is actually hilarious, and I LOVVE IT. SO ANYWAY, things worked out, and we had a talk with Nakanishi-sensei in a separate room, who went over clubs (he signed me up for Judo. He said I should try a martial art and I don't know if I am capable of doing Kendo sooooo I said Judo. I am very interested in Judo anyway). He also went over some paper work and everything, and we went over my current enrollment in online classes which he said is fine, and at the end I asked him if I am able to receive class credit and he said that wasn't a problem at all. OMGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE AAAAH that made me so happy. SAAAAAAAFE. Then the vice principal came, and he seemed kind of questionable about me, and my host mom was all like "Don't worry, Oliver is good student. He is GOOD!" Apparently (my host mom told me this after), Hibarigaoka Gakuen hosted several exchange students in the past, one from Finland and another from Germany, and they both recently also went to Hibarigaoka Gakuen for a year, but they were...........really bad. And would make excuses not to come to school, and didn't follow the rules. So. The Principal said "NO MORE EXCHANGE STUDENT AT HIBARIGAOKA!" But, they accepted me and only me (so I will be the only exchange student), for certain reasons. Which is why the vice principal was kinda like "whats he doing here talking to Nakanishiiii". Host mom also said that the teachers at Hibarigaoka are super strict, and the Principal is super SUPER strict, and thus the school has become more prestigious, and acceptance into Hibarigaoka has become much more difficult. He also took away the majority of international-related classes, and currently the only language offered is English because he wants to put a ton of emphasis on English.

Hmmm...so actually, the whole time we were talking with Nakanishi, I thought that Nakanishi-sensei was the principal of the school, but then later on found out that he is actually one of like 20 English teachers, and is very kind, but according to many people is a terrible teacher. Some people question if he is even able to speak English which I think is hilarious. Anyway, then we walked over to another building and spoke with a Math teacher, and theeen....host mom, Miyhara-san and I went to McDonald's, bought coffee (host mom hates McDonald's but the coffee is cheap[er]), spoke for a while and reassured her that being a Donkusai is totally fine (she is actually pretty old), then we returned to the house, and I don't really remember what happened then, but an hour later we went back to Hibarigaoka Gakuen in order to measure my body for a school uniform (YFU Japan is paying for a new one apparently), I also bought gym shoes which are super Japanese-school-uniform-like and thus I am super excited about having them, we also had my body measured for my gym clothes. Since I am going to be a Junior/second year student, my gym clothes are PINK WOOOOOOOO and I am pretty excited for that too along with basically the entire thought of going to a Japanese school (school starts April 8th I believe...not quite sure though). Also I noticed that at the time when I was getting my body measured for uniforms and stuff like that, there were other students as well, and they along with all the teachers at the school were super solemn and serious looking. Host mom said it wsa because these were the students that weren't accepted into the school/class they applied for, and so the majority are in the lowest class at Hibarigaoka. Today (yesterday) was measurement day for most of the lowest scoring students :/ Scary stuff.

Hmm.....I am having a super hard time remembering stuff. We returned to the house after all the measurement stuff and introducing to several random teachers, we also ran into one of host-brother's female friends that is transferring to Hibarigaoka (she was the only happy/smiley student I saw at the school that day), and she apparently used to live in the same apartment building as my host family when host family used to live in an apartment/'Manshon'. (I am watching t.v. while writing this right now, and I am completely noticing that unlike in america there are like, at most 15 commercials ONLY, and so I keep seeing the same commercials ooooover and over again and I am starting to memorize them all word for word unexpectedly. It's kind of creepy. There was this commercial about 'Sumaato Chizu' [Smart Cheese] and I just sang the whole thing word for word somehow. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH OMG so scary) so after all going back and forth between house and school, we finally settled in at the house, and sort of just hung out. I did this, and online classes, and showed pictures to host brother and sister, and gave them more Orichoko, aaaand I can't remember anything else. OOH and we also figured out my kanji name. For gym clothes, since I am buying new ones, I get to have my name printed on, and my host mom recommended that I don't use katakana so that I can actually like, have a Japanese meaning which would be pretty amazing. Yuki and host mom really liked: 織羽 instead of just regular phonetic オリバー, and I really liked/like it too, SOOOO that is my new kanji name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The meaning is something like, 'Weaving Wings', which to me sounds like something that could have a TON of hidden symbolic meaning which is pretty amazing. My host brother said I should use 檻馬, which means 'Caged Horse' or 'Horse in Cage' and I was all like "no" because that is a suckish meaning, and my host mom couldn't stop laughing. In the picture you see Shota writing my name in Kanji.

My host sister is super skilled at Calligraphy/Shodo as mentioned before, and so seeing her write my name was quite amazing. Much appreciated.

3/25
Soo, today so far has been very lax. We went to the Shiyakusho/City Municipal Office to register me as an alien/foreigner, and besides that we haven't really done much. I just had a bowl of udon which was wonderful, and I have kind of been half asleep the whole day. The weather is also incredibly dreary and gray and depressing, and I am insanely tired, so, the day has been pretty slow. Host dad says that Osaka weather is very 'kurejii' (crazy) and changes a lot, so, hopefully tomorrow will be super sunny!!! I kind of love rainy weather though. It's relaxing, but this is like stormy gray rainy weather (and the wind is super cold), so, it isn't really relaxing. Totally ok though. I have been doing quite a bunch lately, so I appreciate today. I also have constantly been asking host mom if she needs help cooking and all that, and she appreciates me asking a ton but doesn't want me to help. SO, a rule to any prospective exchange students: always be willing to help. It's a super easy thing to do and makes your host mom amazingly happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111 (also try putting away everyone's dishes for them before they put them away themselves ;);D You can have a kindness battle [kind of kidding])


Hmm...talk later. BYE!!!!!!!!!!

Host Family Information!

Hello everyone! So I have not made a post in quite a while, but as March comes closer, I happily anticipate the time when I will finally be in Japan, and the actual blog will begin!!!
Ok, SO, I.AM.VERY.HAPPY. Though midterms are currently taking place and are furthermore causing mass sleep deprivation on top of mass sleep deprivation, I AM VERY HAPPY.


I HAVE A HOST FAMILY!!!! When I saw the e-mail in my inbox titled "Host Family Contact Information" I totally flipped. Here's the story:

I arrived home from a friends house (I eat 1+ pint of Ben and Jerries ice cream each time I go over there, which is at a minimum once a week, by the way), where we totally "studied" for our second day of midterm exams happening tomorrow 1/21/10, which I actually seriously should be doing now BUT, writing this is way more enjoyable. ---> So I arrived home with my dad at about 5:30 PM, however I had absolutely no expectation regarding information on my host family. My dad had called the admissions counselor (and left a message, which is why I arrived home without the expectation of an e-mail from the admissions office) we are currently connected to at YFU, regarding host family information, which (I mean host family information) acts sort of as a tree with a bunch of other important topics branching off of it which we will begin to understand and be able to discuss ONCE, I know of my host family. In example, once I would be informed of my contact information of my host family, I could begin discussing my school uniform and how to come about it, essentially, along with various visa information, the visa process, and OF COURSE, CREDIT EXCHAAAANGE WWOOOOO FUN STUFF! <-- Precisely the epitome of my concern, quite frankly. I have mentioned this in every post posted thus far. Anyway, back on topic: Without the expectation of an e-mail from the admissions office at Youth for Understanding, I checked my e-mail, to find, .....an e-mail from YFU titled "Host Family Contact Information". I squealed, and flipped as stated before. The moment was incredibly frustrating however, since my computer decided to be excruciatingly slow at the time, and so the contact information DID NOT OPEN. The beginning of the e-mail read as follows (I wont post the second part of the e-mail) :

"First and foremost, please find attached the contact information for your host family in Japan! Feel free to contact them- a letter with this information has also been sent to you via mail and should arrive in a few days."

HOLY FRICK I WAS DYING AUUGH! The attachment wasn't opening and I WAS SO FRUSTRATED LET ME TELL YOU. It did open after about 50 seconds though, so it was all good. Among the information received, I was given:


-The family name and first names of my Host parents. I do not want to post their names on the internet without their consent.

-The ages of my BROTHER AND SISTER! I have a 15 year old brother and 20 year old sister!!

-School: Hibarigaoka Gakuen High School. I checked the website....um, wow. WOW. WAOWWWWW

-The fact that a grandfather and/or grandmother is/are not present in the host household.

-Their address and phone number, and address and phone number of my WOW high school.


Ok, SO! PARENTS!!! I love their names! I may post their names later but I just have to say, that those names are marvelous. As of yet I do not know the names of either my host sister or brother, but I do intend to call my host family once midterms are finished, and I will receive more information then. Also, a fact I must let you know of. I tried to anticipate the time when my host family information would come, without any expectations. I personally did not care in the least what my host family would be made up of because quite frankly, any type of family would have been marvelous. Single parent, two parents no kids, a bunch of kids and one parent, an old couple, an old lady, an old gentlemen OMG ANYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN AWESOME! I had no serious standards as to what type of family I wanted. And as long as they would/will smoke outside if they do indeed puff, I would/will/do not mind that either. However if I must sleep every night in a dense cloud of cigarette crud, um, no. Will not appreciate. Otherwise, no rules and or standards, as long as I can spend a year as an exchange student in Japan, I will be eternally satisfied of course!

SO, what I had originally tried to say at the beginning of that paragraph, was that I actually did sort of wonder (EVERY DAY) what kind of family I would have ended up with. Personally I did not mind what kind of family shape/structure etc. I would have joined for a year,(but I wanted a brother who was about my age and a sister who is in college, and that is what I received). In conclusion, I am frickin pleased.

One more topic to cover--my school. Yes, the WAAOOOW school. I will now decipher the hidden meaning behind those "wows".
The school is impressive. It is a private school known as Hibarigaoka Gakuen High School as stated before, and it is gorgeous. The website is beyond impressive, it is incredibly fancy, preppy, informational, and just plain attractive. The school building looks unbelievably nice, it is only about 1.5 miles from my house OH YEAH I TOTALLY FORGOT TO SAY WHERE I AM STAYING!! I'll post that later. Anyway, there is a seemingly very nice list of apparently famous alumni who are now fairly well known icons, and just in general, the school is very impressive.

Here is the school website : http://www.hibari.jp/

The second tab down on the left is the school's high school catalog (link - http://www.hibari.jp/calendar/hs_digest.pdf ). Very impressive. Just LOOK at those school uniforms! Just LOOK at that SCHOOL! I checked the rankings of the school compared to all other Japanese schools, and Hibarigaoka is one of Japan's most prestigious high schools. The campus has a temple-like building for tea ceremony, two pools (one is 50 meters), a train station seemingly connected to the school, a freaking AMAZING auditorium, all among many other buildings. There are pictures on the 12 (last) page of the 2010 school catalog which I provided a link to at the beginning of this paragraph.
Also, the school offers a wide variety of clubs:
-合唱 (chorus)
-囲碁将棋 (japanese chess)
-放送 (broadcasting)
-書道 (calligraphy)
-演劇 (traditional and modern theater)
-科学 (science)
-箏曲 (koto music) <-- Koto playing. Koto is a traditional stringed instrument.
-美術 (fine arts)
-茶道 (tea ceremony)
-華道 (flower arrangement)
-鉄道研究 (railroad research) <-- This is new to me. Never heard of it before
-吹奏楽同好会 (wind instrument music) <-- Traditional wind instruments
-ESS (english speaking society) <-- Probably will come in handy for me ;D
-インターアクト (rotary interact club) <-- The school has a rotary club! That is cool
-マンドリン (mandolin/stringed instruments)
-写真 (photography)
-サッカー (soccer)
-剣道 (kendo) <-- Swordmanship/Japanese fencing
-合気道 (aikido)
-ソフトテニス (soft tennis)
-バスケット (basketball)
-バレーボール (volleyball)
-硬式テニス (hard tennis) <-- The tennis we know
-柔道 (judo)
-水泳 (swimming)
-硬式野球 (baseball)
-軟式野球 (softball)

Goodness, I feel so fortunate to be able to attend such an institution...


It is marked where my town is. I will be living in the city of Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture　池田市、大阪府　
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This is where I am in relation to the greater Kansai region/central Honshu area. Ikeda is essentially at the corner of Hyogo, Kyoto (YESSS! Kyoto is the best), and Osaka prefectures.


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This is my high school. Hibarigaokahanayashiki 雲雀丘花屋敷 is the station, as you can see it is right next to my high school. The school is literally, a mile and half from my door step (and it's in Hyogo prefecture while I am in Osaka).
Wow, definition of the Japanese suburban life :D I made a preference to be near Kyoto, in an outskirts town rather than the center of a city.
SO EXCITED!!


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So, thank you so much for reading! I apologize if my reading is at all difficult to follow. This was in a way an act of procrastination from my Honors English review for the exam I have tomorrow.

I AM SO HAPPY! Ikeda, Japan will be LOVELY MAAAAAN! They could not have picked a better location for me.

Thank you!

-Oliver

Phone Conference

Hello,
So today was the YFU Phone Conference for the New England region, which I took a part of. The conference was from 3 Pm to about 6 (PM), and I accessed it through the Business Office at my high school, made possible by some nice connections my dad has with the people working there. During the conference, the YFU assemblage gave a ton of information to the 7 of us students (I know one was going to Germany, another to South Korea, Henry, me, and two other students). This shall be long, but they mainly went over such information as, the purpose for foreign family living, which is understandably a good topic to cover. They wanted us to think of the differences, be prepared to learn and understand that we will not agree with every distinguishing characteristic about our host family.

We also went over the Top hats paper (Talk, Obey, Participate, Help, Affection, Trust, Smile), along with culture and culture shock, discussed with us by the New England coordinator.We each had to answer what we thought the definition of culture was/is, understand exactly what culture is, among many other subjects regarding and/or relating to "culture. This was a subject we especially stressed, and so we reasoned with this for a while.

They explained to us the U curve that many students go through while on exchange, Goals and Expectations, keeping your body to yourself, what we plan to Accomplish, Safety in general, no Drinking, driving, or drugs, what happens if there is a family fight, anything regarding internet use, how to be a lovable exchange student, Credit transfer, and making a good relationship with the local representative in our host country.

So that was the conference in a delicious nutshell. After the afore mentioned, the parents of each of us students joined in and had a discussion chalk full of questions regarding the foreign exchange each of us students would experience within three months. Credit exchange, was a huge subject, and the number one discontent on my mind at the moment.

SOOOOOOOOOOO, I am extremely frustrated. Unlike the above posted stuff, I will become slightly more emotional now: Credits! My goodness gracious they are stressing me out! After many minutes of stressed planning with my dad, after I sent a page long e-mail to one of the guidance counselors at my school, I figured out that I only need to take Personal Fitness, a Social Sciences class with at least 1/2 American Government Credit, and another class which is at least 1/2 a Practical Arts credit. I also will not need to worry about Health if I can switch that for Target Sports next semester (the semester I will leave halfway through for Japan), and then I should easily be able to obtain some gym credit in Japan. Otherwise, I am fine considering I will be taking Oceanography online through Virtual High School while I am in Japan for half a Science credit, a Geometry-Algebra II class during the next semester (September-January), and if I can finish my U.S History class before I go to Japan then I will be fine with that as well.

This, on top of everything else I must attend to during my days, is seriously stressing me out. If I was still in A.P. US History (due to the teacher, it is actually the most difficult History course in the school), I would not be alive right now. I just have so much to do!! I just wish I could be told the contact information for whichever high school I will be placed in Japan, now! I could actually sort out the credit-bewilderment/agitation/disorientation/chagrin (omg I totally love the word chagrin) I am currently experiencing.

Oh well, hopefully I will be able to meet with my guidance counselor on Monday, or sometime this upcoming school week to discuss the many questions I have regarding credits. It is quite amazing though, how I have gone over this with the guidance office four times, yet I still need more information. The credits shall haunt me forever, apparently. I will ask my guidance counselor about credit exchange this week though, and hopefully (s)he can answer me whether my school will give me credit for classes in Japan despite the dissimilar curriculum. I need answers for Junior year classes!

Alright, now I shall study Japanese adjectives, and then do my online U.S. History class.

Thank you for reading! Sorry for the ranting.

-Oliver

Preparation before the Phone Conference

So, Anita and Henry (two applicants who also applied for the James Bradley scholarship), received letters from YFU stating that they did not win the scholarship. This seriously irritates me considering how they are both totally worthy of the scholarship award--plus they both received results before any other applicants I know of. As of now, me and Natalie (sorry for not mentioning these people before! I am actually in contact with many exchange students heading to Japan next year) are the only applicants yet to be determined as scholarship winners...apprehensive.

However, I did receive a letter in the mail containing various preparation papers, and some information on the phone conference taking place this upcoming Friday (12/11, according to my Japan calendar wink wink ;) ), which is super exciting!! I have a departure checklist, with advisable objectives to accomplish before leaving the country--such as, getting my passport (obviously I have that, going to Germany every year), small gifts for the host family, cleaning up my affairs...lmao wink wink, and making arrangements with my school for credits and required subjects. Speaking of credits, I have actually been fulfilling any confusion regarding that these past several months, by making arrangements with the guidance office and having meetings with various school officials etc. (This is advisable for any prospective exchange students by the way). -->I am planning to take Oceanography from January to June through Virtual High School for half a Science credit, and from September to January I hope to take an Algebra II/Geometry class for half a Math credit, again through Virtual High School. Currently I am also taking American History through BYU Independent Study (of course I would never slack off on this....>_>) since I dropped AP US History as it was essentially killing me. Plus, I will be gone during the AP Testing term, so there is no real point in taking an Advanced Placement class this year. The thought of class taking in Japan is still one of my major worries though (I believe I have mentioned this in every post). Math is the epitome of my dislike for school. 幾何学が嫌いよ！高校が大嫌い理由は数学授業だ。　：）

Oh, something else I found in my preparation papers I found hilarious, was that they were apparently directed towards students coming to America as exchange students. For instance, I received a paper titled: How To Be A Lovable Exchange Student, and it lists advice such as: "Study English and try to speak it as much as possible" and "Realize that you have assumptions about American life and culture, and that some of them might be wrong". lol, I laughed

So anyway, I will probably post again once I am revealed as a scholarship winner or not. Considering I am going to need several thousand $ of spending money...I really hope I win the scholarship. I will need a lot of money for when I travel to Korea during one of my Japanese school vacations. I have always seriously wanted to go, and I am currently self-teaching the language alongside Japanese!　韓国に旅行したい　：）


Thank you for reading!!!