I Think I'm Turning Japanese

Me about to ring the giant bell at one of the temples.

Buddha

The inside of one of the temples.

They put little jackets on the statues they worship when it rains.

A fish drum. The fish has a ball in its mouth which represents desire, monks would beat the fish drum to help their desires become fulfilled.

There's a street in Nagasaki called "Tera Machi" which means temple street. This particular temple is about 300 years old and survived the atomic bomb.

My hotel room in Nagasaki. This is not a hotel, this is a closet.

So many paper cranes.

Just a stream in Nagasaki.

The hypocenter of the atomic bomb.

Paper cranes. Thousands of them.

The cranes the statue below is composed of:

So, I know that it is become extremely rare that I actually update this blog. However, I thought this was post worthy. Last weekend I took a trip to Nagasaki, which was really exciting. Nagasaki is beautiful. On the way back from Nagasaki, we stopped in Sasebo which is a city on the coast of Japan famous for hamburgers. We went to the most famous burger joint in the city. It was delicious.

Anyway, back to Nagasaki. We only really stayed for two days, but here was the schedule. Upon our arrival we went straight to the atomic bomb memorial museum, after that we went over to the peace park, then the hypocenter of the atomic bomb. When we were finished with that we went to Tera Machi, which is a street in Nagasaki that has 6 very famous Buddhist temples on it. We then went to Nagasaki's China town and had dinner there and did a bit of shopping. I slept in a bed for the first time since coming to Japan that night.

The next morning we woke up early, had breakfast, then went over to this little shopping district, where I wandered around on my own for about an hour. I went to gardens that were built by a Scottish man who was in Japan managing railroad construction. They were absolutely beautiful and overlooked the shipping ports. Then, we took the drive to Sasebo, where we hung out by the sea, looked at little shops, had lunch, then returned home. Overall, very fun!

Last night, I went on my own to Tenjin. It was my first time being 100% on my own. I took a bus there, walked around, and took a bus back. On the way back, however, I took the wrong bus, so that was pretty terrifying. I had no idea where I was, and had to speak to the bus driver entirely in Japanese to figure out how to get back to my home.

Much is planned for the remainder of my stay, including school which I must go get ready for now.

Jordan

Fukuoka and What it has to Offer

Me and Classmates

My host father and host mother

Host father playing the guitar

Cute Bags in Tenjin

My futon

Students cleaning the classroom at the end of the day

My bedroom without the futon in it

View from a park near my house

Greetings from Japan, my faithful readers. Fukuoka is quite possibly one of the most beautiful cities on earth. My room is a traditional style, with tatami mats and a Japanese style futon, which is very very cool.

My host parents are very kind. My host father used to work for Shell Oil Company, but I'm not sure what my host mother's career was. They have three children, all three are grown.

My school is very nice, and very Catholic. In my classroom, there is a cross and a picture of baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary hanging above the black board. A little out of place in Japan, if you ask me. The grounds are so spectacular, though. Beautiful views from every direction, large gardens with exotic plants. It's very very nice.

I also had the opportunity to go to Tenjin, Fukuoka's shopping district. As many of you may already know, I love shopping. Therefore, I love Tenjin.

I am sorry that I update so rarely, but because I am actually attending school and doing things, it is very difficult for me to find the time to write. I will try to post at least something brief, but I may fail. I am posting all of my photos to an online photo gallery, and I do that more frequently than I write, so if you are interested in seeing what I am doing, you can post your email address in a comment on this blog and I will send you an invitation to view the gallery.

Fun facts that I've learned from my trip:

• In Japan, nobody obeys traffic laws. If you want to cross the street, you're going to cross the street. And, if people are crossing the street, you are going to drive your car as close as possible to them without actually physically running them over.
• Students clean the entire school in Japan, there are no janitors.
• If you say anything in Japanese. Anything at all, your Japanese friends will be impressed.
• In Japan, everything is adorable. Absolutely everything. Everything everything everything. I love it.

I will continue to come up with fun facts, but that is all I can think of now.

Jordan

So much for posting everyday

Wandering the streets of Tokyo in the dark and rain

However, I made it to Tokyo! It's been a long journey, but I'm now here, and loving it. Driving through in the afternoon was shocking. It is entirely unrecognizable. But, as soon as night fell and everything lit up, it was amazing. The lights here are so bright that it feels like day time at 9 PM.

The food we were served was adorable. Everything was in it's own little pocket, and we even got mini bottles of soy sauce.

Tomorrow, it's off to the US embassy in order to meet some government officials, then we have a museum tour amongst other things

Life is super exciting.

Oh! Also! I'll be living in Fukuoka city, Fukuoka prefecture. This happens to be the same exact city where Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla was filmed. It's pretty big, and really nice. I'm staying with a retired couple and attending an all girl private Catholic school. Can't wait to go!

I'm going to post as often as possible, and include awesome pictures.

<3 Jordan

Going, Going...Not Quite Gone!

Hello, few and devoted readers

Life is currently revolving around Japan. I wake up in the morning, worry about Japan all day, then fall asleep and dream about Japan. Here is the current list of things which I have had to do:

Obtain luggage, check

Obtain Power Converter, check

TB test, check

Vaccinations, check

Get debit card, check

Work on passport, check

Forget about all other responsibilities, double check

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore that leaving for Japan is just around the corner. I've also decided that, even if I have nothing interesting to say, I will post everyday if for no other reason than to update the countdown to the day I leave.

Currently: 26 DAYS!

I've learned that I'm leaving on June sixth for Berkley, CA for orientation and what not. On June 9, I leave for TOKYO!

Unfortunately, I still do not know where I'll be living.

Also, I'd like to send a shout out to everyone who has helped this happen. I know I thanked you guys in my last entry, but, without you, I wouldn't be going. Currently, we have raised two-thirds of the cost. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has donated. You guys are the best!

Thanks soooo much. You guys rock!

-Jordan

Going to Japan!

So, I received my acceptance letter! Guess who's going to Japan? I am! Yayyyyyy! I'm not sure where I'm going to be in Japan, yet. But, nonetheless, very exciting! So much to do, so little time.

The first major concern, getting together the $2500 I need to pay for what the scholarship doesn't cover. Thanks to everyone who has already so generously donated, I already have about $1000. You guys are amazing, it's really nice to know that there are people who care about me so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The second major concern, getting a passport. So, I'm freaking out, which drives my dad insane, but I don't have the right forms to get a passport, but at the same time they might accept it, I dunno. Anyway, moral of the story being that I'm leaving in five weeks, and I don't know until two weeks from now whether or not they need the other forms.

My dad is constantly telling me not to worry, but it's hard. I've never done something as big as this before, and I really don't want to back down.

As for what's going on outside of freaking out, it's time to start planning what I need to pack and what I need to do before I leave. I've never been away for six weeks, and I've never been outside of the country. This is going to be full of excitement.

Overall, life is amazing, I am spectacular, and I will be keeping busy considering I have school stuff, finals soon, packing, and worrying about passports and money to do.

Cross your fingers for me!

-Jordan

Why I'm Writing

As you all well know, I have applied for the summer program to Japan through the organization Youth for Understanding. I have already created this blog in the hopes that I will be selected, however, I will not find out until April if I will be going. So, I'm giving myself this grace period to explain what has happened so far to those who do not know in detail what it is that I'm doing.

On January fifth of this year, I submitted my application for YFU. Honestly, I didn't expect to get in. I thought my application was okay, but certainly not worthy of selection. However, in February, I was contacted for an interview. This was really exciting because it was very early for someone to get interviewed, and I was the second person from LASA to get contacted. However, in my opinion, the interview did not go very well. I am trying to keep my hopes high which is difficult to do considering the fact that what is likely the most important part of the application went fairly poorly.

Wish me luck, cross your fingers, I want to go to Japan.

I will be updating constantly along the way. Every time I get an email, a letter, a phone call, have any contact at all, you guys will be the first to know. Hopefully, this is the first of many blog entries. And, hopefully, most of them you will be reading while I am in Japan.

Best wishes to you all.

-Jordan