Showing posts with label orientation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orientation. Show all posts

Finally, an update! pt.1, host fam :)

Posted by irene , 6.06.2010 6:08 AM


[Whew! It's been hectic recently. I'll post info in separate posts, this one's more general :D]

Last wednesday, I was doing homework on the computer when...

[image coming later]

Pretty much sums it up :)
Needless to say, I was extremely excited and like shaking when I was talking on the phone with the YFU admissions counselor XD

I'm going to Handa City in Aichi Prefecture (City website) according to Wikipedia:
Handa (半田市, Handa-shi)
is a city located in Aichi, Japan, which was founded on
October 1, 1937. As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 114,336 and the density of 2,421.35 persons per km². The total area is 47.22 km².

Handa is a little bigger than Canton.

I'll be staying with the Kawauchi family: mom Hisayo, dad Nobuyuki, brother Yuu (18 years), and sister Ai (16 years)
Squeeeeeeeee!
/shivering with excitement/

As such, I checked my email extremely frequently for the remainder of that week... and my efforts paid off today, when my host mom sent me an email

Dear Irene,
How do you do?
By the way, you wil have swimming class in the school.
So if you have a swimsuit colored dark blue, please bring it.
Then we will go travel to Tokyo Disney Land.
Why don't you go there with us?
This season has a lot of rainy days in Japan.
I hope that you enjoy Japanese life.
I'm looking forward to seeing you.
See you.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　your host mother, Hisayo
Can you imagine my excitement? Tokyo Disneyland..... oooooo :D
To top it off, I also called my host family today!

...as I've never taken Japanese, you can imagine how many 追う一度おねがいしますs and わかりませんs there were XD

However, it was definitely one of the most awkwardly exciting things I've ever done... sense of accomplishment!

Paraphrased, translated conversation below
Mom: Moshi moshi. (hello.)
Me: moshi moshi! Is this the Kawauchi family?
Mom: そうです. (That is correct.)
Me: I am calling from America. This is the exchange--
Mom: OOOOH!! Are you Irene?
Me: yeeyeyeyeyeyeyeyes! (it was something like that... coupled with frantic head-nodding and mental happy squeal)
Mom: Hello!! Nice to meet you.
Me: Nice to meet you! I called today to say hello.
Mom: Yes!
Mom: Oh, did you get my email?
Me: Yes!

[email related conversation here, hard to sum up since I was asking questions for most of the time :P]

Me: I have some questions.
Mom: Yes?
Me: What are my brother and sister's names?
Mom: Brother is Yuu.
Me: Yuu.
Mom: Hai. Sister is Ai.
Me: aaah, Ai.
Mom: Hai.

Mom: battery
Me: Oh, okay, わかります. さよなら！
Mom: さよなら！
Whew! I really hope that I didn't make any serious mistakes!
It really was fulfilling though, seeing as I was able to communicate in a language that is somewhat alien to me :)

I have almost finished getting host family gifts! All that's left to do is get wrapping paper and the like. Gift shops are great for finding michigan -related stuff... I found one of those oven mitts with a map of michigan on it XD

On a different, slightly related note...
Check out my shirt.
The only reason why my shorts extend past that shirt is because a) I pulled them down and b) I have my arms extended.

...my amazing YFU logo'd shirt! :DD It's XL as I have said before. A good precaution to take, methinks!
However, since my mom is an amazing seamstress, she has altered it so it is roughly my size now. Whoo!

Okay, phew. Long post. Next one coming up!

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Pre-Departure Orientation!

Posted by irene , 5.23.2010 12:38 PM


(another post coming soon... once I finish writing it. and pictures! I'll edit this post to include them later. :D enjoy!)

I had my orientation yesterday! This was a regional orientation for future exchangers in the area, so it wasn't limited to country :) I thought it was cool, seeing the differences between European and Asian behaviors (generalizations, of course). Most of the exchangers were going to Germany for a year (especially on the Congress-Bundeschag scholarship; If you're considering going to Germany, make sure to look intothat on YFU's scholarship page :D links on the right -->), but there were five of us--me, Grace, Ben, Stefan, and Abby-- heading to JP for a summer, and one runner-up (Hi Katherine!).

I met the other two JBSD scholarship winners, Grace and Ben :D who are from the same school! It's kind of funny how that worked out. It was nice knowing that I'd be seeing them again in two weeks! (more about this later*)


Yaaaay, JBSD kids! :D

Twas an exciting, yet tiring (as most exciting things tend to be) day, filled with discussions about personal space, culture, family, and roleplays of foreign creepers! (yay!) The presenters also cleared up a lot of confusion about the communication structure of YFU and what to pack (though I still have to decide about many of the things I want to bring).
There was also an alumni panel of current and previous foreign exchangers, which responded to our questions, trivial or not :D

All of us hadn't gotten anything from our host families yet, but hopefully that will change soon.

*
In two weeks, I'm going to a luncheon with the other JBSD scholarship winners, REACH (college exchange program) winners, and the higher-ups of JBSD itself! o___o
I asked one of the orientation presenters about the luncheon, and she said that the president of YFU is most likely flying in from DC to attend!

......!!!!!!!

Nervous now O___O I think we each have to give a 1-2 minute speech, preferably with some Japanese... self-studying mode activate!
(doesn't help that it's the day before my SAT IIs... blech!)

---

Just on a sidenote:
going to the orientation reminded me of how much I need to step up on studying .___.
I'm at a disadvantage, not being able to study JP in school every day. Found some good resources (tofugu.com, Tae Kim's guide.... I'll write these out in a separate post) but just finding stuff won't cut it-- I have to WORK!
Go go! >:D

*sings the Mulan song to herself*

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