Kamakura

MJ dieing I actually knew about. He was still REALLY popular in Japan. Okaasan told me over breakfast. It was kinda one of those akward moments. I`m not really a fan of MJ (his early stuff was great, but after awhile. . .) and I wasn`t sure if she was either, and she had no clue if I liked him or not so we both just sorta sat there and ate. . .
Anyways, like I said he was stull big here, and a lot of people at school were talking about it... its in the papers, on the radio, and probably on TV too... sorry its just sorta weird
Anyways! Otherly news. JT thanks for the update! So Tom and Chantelle are really together? Could you email me any articles or pics? And also, purikura isnt a food. Its like a photobooth, but you get to edit the pictures. I put some up on my photobucket. the are discribed a purikura.
And Molly, I can`t wait to see Ponyo and take purikura! The girl in my class, Mina, adores Ponyo and has all this cute merch!!! And do you think, if you have time that is, you could type up and email me some of the older stuff we learned in Japanese class? I accidently left my old notebook at home, which really sucks, cause I need it!! I really need the weather stuff!! Please???
And everyone else, thanks for the updates!!!
Also, Mrs. Emily, if you are reading, I`m sorry for mispelling almost every Japanese word I`ve put in here!! I`ve been trying to spell from memory.... Japanese caligraphy is Shodo and its Konpeito not Konpeto (the i really makes a difference....)
So! Heres what has been going down in my life!
きょお，　わたしたち　わ、鎌倉尾　いきました！！！　Not 100% sure thats the kanji for Kamakura, but I tried. . . It says, "Today, we went to Kamakura!" for those of you who dont know, Kamakura is a city full of temples and shrines. It was the shogunate capital of Japan, and also home to the great Daibutsu, or, the big Buddha statue, sometimes called The Great Budda of Kamakura. The place is just beautiful.
The first place we went to was an old Buddhist temple. I have pictures, but theres a lot so I`ll upload them later. Then we went to a Shinto shrine, where we got to see a traditional Japanese wedding!! I got pics a a little video feed. It was sooooooooo pretty!! the even had birds that flew around the place!!!
Then we went to lunch! Real udon! so good! and we had sweet potato icecream!! really yummy, and also crepes!! which are really popular in Japan.
After lunch.... DAIBUTSU!!! It was huge!!! we took so many pictures!! Ayumi and okaasan had fun trying to get the optical illusion things, where it looks like the statue is sitting in your hand, and such. My favourite is the one where Ayu is trying to eat him. Its great, I`ll get it up later, promise!!! Then we went up to see him! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOLL!!!! and for 20円　(about 20cents) we got to go INSIDE the statue!! It was creepy like a cave.... When you go in, first you go down this set of stairs to the base of the statue, then a turn, and its pitch black as you climb up a set of really narrow and steep stairs into the statue. After a few seconds your eyes ajust, and its not so dark. I have pics of that too!! so ill post them when I get time!!! Promise!!!
We took the bus back to the train station, I almost fell asleep, then the hour train ride to Ageo (i swear it was longer....), then biking home. Joy... so Im way tired!!! And I still gotta shower cause we have church tomorrow!!!
Love you all!!
And Hahn!!! I just wanna say how much I love you, and I am so glad that you are reading these!!!
And Megan and Mom, thanks for bringing them to her!
Much love!!!

Not Much

So, for the past two days it`s been pretty routine. School, come home. That kind of thing. Yesterday night, Ayumi and I got back at the same time and at about 5:30 we went to shudo lessons. Shudo is Japanese caligraphy. It was pretty cool, and I got a lot of kanji practice in!!
Today some friends of mine and I went straight to an arcade after school for purikura. I don`t know how American teens can live without it. I never knew what I was missing!!! And that`s been my life.
At school I`ve been working on memorizing everyones names. I have a lot down! I know a lot of people in home room, and a few others....
Today I was introduced to a girl named Mina, who didn`t speak English very well, but really wanted to talk to me. A boy in our class, Kenta, heped us traslate. We came upon the topic of soccer, and someone (Kenta I think) said something about America beating Spain. I thought to my self, I must have heard wrong, and just nodded along, which I do a lot. When I got home today, I checked my emai. Dad had sent me a message saying the the US beat Spain..... WHAT!? So I went to FIFA.com and looked it up! Sure enough, 2-0, the US beat the worlds best team. I have a new found respect for my home country. . . I have ben so out of the news lately. I try not to spend to much time on the computer, and I don`t usually watch TV so. . . everything is schocking when I hear it. I got on the NYT website a few days ago, just to try to catch up. . . so much.... So you guys should def. keep me posted on things!! It would be a great help!!
Thanks JT for the TH and CB updates. I`ve been trying to keep up, but well yeah..... XD
Molly did you watch the handbell videos?? Did you recognize the song??
Love you all!! And I also love loooooooong comments hint hint!!!
later!!

Where`s Mina!?

Now, Just to be cruel and unusual: guess where I`ve been the last two days! For those of you who guessed a Japanese high school, you`re right!!!! I started attending Inagakuen yesterday, and let me tell you, it`s been an adventure! But before we get started on school, lets talk about Sunday!
JT, just to piss you off more, I went to Tokyo again!! After church, Ayumi and I went straight to Tokyo to hang out! We ate okonomiyaki, which is probably my new favourite food, and then purikura! XD I`m addicted to purikura. Afterwards we went to Ayumi`s school, Aoyamagakuen. There we saw the bands spring preformance. (Ayumi is usually in band, but her instrament is broken so shes not at the moment.) I don`t remember having EVER enjoyed a non-rock music preformance so much!! I really hope it found it`s way to youtube!
It started out with Ayumi`s band, the high school, and they played a song, which was amazing! I wasn`t sleepy throughout the whole thing (I`ll tell about that in a bit)!! Then a smaller band played. . .they were okay, and then the middle school. . . again, only so so. Then it was intermission. After intermission, Ayumi`s band came back, dressed in the coolist outfits. Each section had their own graphic tee, that they disgined, and we all rocked out! They playe3d a bunch of upbeat songs, and had different acts the did! It was AMAZING. I wish Bonner could do something that spectacular!
And then we went home, I was in awe.
And the next day, SCHOOL!
I had to be there early to introduce myself to the teachers, so I took one of the earlier buses (not really that early, but again, I`ll get to that later) and made it school school about an hour before it started. My introduction went smoothly, and then I went back to my class, where a few students were, and I was introduced to people, very few of whom I can remember!
Then The bell rang, and we all got up and went to P.E. which was actually fun! We played handball, but with basketball hoops. I was pretty good, and even scored for my team! Next was English II. I did some of the work, then it turned into kanji, and I got to chill the rest of the time (writing JT!!). After that I had double Japanese. That was interesting. I am enrolled in Japanese for forgeiners, so the class is me, a girl from Germany, and a girl from Swizerland. Both speak Japanese fluently(or so it appears) and would only try to comunicate in Japanese. The teacher was kinda scarey, he gave us work (I worked on work book pages, I think they were writing speeches). I ended up taking that home and having Ayumi help me....
Then lunch! I went back to home room and ate lunch with my new friends! It was raining, so we ate inside. I had a yummy bento, and some tea.
Then English writing. Guess what, I already know that. And the teacher, who speaks English pretty well, knew that. He had me help some in the beginning, and then I got to write and doodle for the rest of the double period. remind me to show you my adorable drawings of the twins when I get back. I tried drawing Geo to, but I had to much trouble. . . During the second period of the class a gurl from Oregon came in and helped the class. It was nice to speak English, but afterwards I felt bad. I realized that I was here to learn Japanese and study Japanese culture, not talk with Americans.
Then Long Home Room (LHR). That was a blast!! Usually, they just have class meetings during that time, but since I was there, we played games!! When you won, you got snacks! So when my friends and I won, we would share snacks with eachother!! And the end, I won two rounds of class Jankenpo (sp?) and got two mini cookies that I brought home for Ayumi and me. I studied most of the night.
During supper, I was introduced to a new game! Sorta like a top. . . yeah. . .
And today! I gto to leave a little later! And first, double P.E.!!! Handball tourny, our team lost first round, so I sat a chilled for the rest of the hour. At the beginning of second period, we went to another room and everyone studied for their tests. I read my book. JT tell you parents its great and thanks for lending it to me (Mila 18 for those who dont know)!!! Then we had Classic Japanese Lit. This was another class I couldn`t really participate in, seeing as how I know a total of about twenty kanji, and the whole class is about reading ancient kanji..... So I read and wrote a little. Studied some.
After that, computers. I really wanted to play on the computer, but they didn`t have the log in info for me, so more reading. The nice girl next to me, Saiko(or Seiko....) showed me that she was reading Angels & Demons, and said it was good.
Then lunch! We got to eat outside!! Totally check out the pictures!! There were a lot of ants, but otherwise it was great!!
Then English Oral. haha there was an actual English speaking woman there too. The class was giving speeches, so not much for me to do. We graded their presentations. Then during the break (another double period) my friends in the class decided that we had to go to Tokyo Disney Land. So when okaasan gets home I`m suposed to ask!
Then SST. Which is hard to exlpain. Pretty much, you go to whatever class you like, and learn something. I ended up in French. You really learn a lot when absolutly NOTHING is in English. The work was all in French, the instructions all in Japanese. And they leanr different stuff then we do, so I was little lost! But it was still fun!
After that two VERY nice girls, Riko and Midori, gave me a school club tour. We went and watched many clubs! They have so many!!!! The soccer team is HUGE, and they have two baseball teams, plus a girls team. Handball, rugby, basketball, gymnastics, then Japanese sports like karate, kyuudo, and kendo. And I`m supposed to join just one! We didn`t get to see all the clubs, so they said that another time we could do another tour. The best thing about Riko and Midori, is they speak English very well, and they are really good at helping me with Japanese. I can calmly ask them questions without them screaming `KAWAII!!!` or `TSUGOI!!` and they answer them. I hope to get to spend more time with them so I can ask questions.

Now to cover other things! Like how I`m tired all the time. It`s getting better, but it used to be almost every time I would sit down I would get so tired! I was almost always tired! The YFU handbook said that was normal (Its really useful). And I think I had cultureshock for awhile. I think I snapped out of it when I met the guy from Oregon. So for now, all is good!

And to JT, you need to understand that Tokyo isnt a city like NY or SF. It`s HUGE! Divided into many different sections. H&M is in Harajuku. I`ve only been in Harajuku once. There is supposedly one in Ginza, but I haven`t been there. I`ve been in Shibuya and Aoyama mostly.
And Molly, I want you`re phone......
I`m uploading pictures. Theres a lot. 67, including two videos I think.....
oh! And mom! I do think my Japanese is improving, but just alittle!!
and thats all for today folks!!! much love from Japan!!!

So much!!!!

Okay, so a lot has been going on! I wanted to post two days ago, but I didn`t have time, and last night I was catching a cold, so I went to bed early and slept alot!
But let me try to recap:
So I`ve been working at the kindergarten with all the kids, who are amazing. But yesterday was my last day, along with the three university girls who were working as interns. there was a good by party, and they played the song from Totoro on the hand bells. Tanaka sensei gave my the piano music for it, so Molly, Mrs. Emily, we need to find a piano so we can learn it one Japanese class!! And Michael, I promise to play it for you when I get back.
Last night we went to Inagakuan, my new school, and its pretty impresive. THe school itself has 6 buildings, and all of their clubs (sports etc) have one national awards! They don`t have a girls soccer club, so I was thinking of joining track (yes mom, they have tennis, but I can do that in America!!) but the my regional YFU lady said I should do a Japanese clud. So now I`m debating between Kyudo, Karate, and Kendo. Anyways, the school is so prestigious, that they are even lending me a uniform to wear, and man is it awesome!! I will try to get pics later! There are two students who will elad me around, Rikako and Ami. They are both really nice, and Rikako lives close by, so on days when she doesnt have lacrosse practice, see and I will go and leave school together. On day she does have practice, I will ride the bus.
And after that we went to grandmas! Where a wonderful meal was waiting! I love Japanese food. and her house was very traditional and cool!! Only problems was: i was sick! At kindergarten, we played in one of those kiddy pools, and i got very wet, then I walked around with wet hair, and BAM! Cold. So I was sickly, and a went to bed as soon as we got home! And this morning, I slept a lot, and now, it:s not so bad.
And today!! wooo!!! We went to Tokyo to see a very popular TV show called Shoten. I didnt understand most of it, but it was still interesting! Afterwards we went shopping and I got to eat Ramen!! yuuuuummm!!! Ayumi and I went into a Shonen Jump store and it was interesting. . . Ariel I thought of you!
On the way home we picked up shoes and socks for school, and then we have just been chilling here. There has been more im sure, ill write later.
to add, I called home. it was good to hear fluent english XD I helped Ayumi translate a letter from her host family in Suisse, she leaves in August. and life is pretty sweet!
Molly, sorry I forgot to answer in my last post, but the bikes arent too heavy. They are by no means light, but I`m used to my hulking mountain bike. . . so....
And Jacey, if your reading, I just found out that you really can just pop the memory card into the computer. My host father just showed me.... i was laughing inside
And Ariel, yesterday, I asked a friend what the date was and she told me the 19th... and I went `oh god!!!!` So heres my way late shout out: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! YOU OLD WOMAN!!!!!!! love you and hope it was great!!!
And Jilly (man to many shout outs...) I have been working on the story. I got to listen to the CB song, its great. And cant wait to hear the TH songs!!!!!

love you all!! so much!!!! look forward to your comments! feel free to tell more of what you are doing!! i would love to read!!!
and also I didnt upload pics. . sorry.....

Kindergarten and Konpeto

When I get back home, I`m dropping out of highschool to become a kindergartener. Today I was Amiria sensei; Eigo sensei; eigo hito, etc etc. Eigo hito was the most interesting. It literally means English person, for those who don:t know Japanese.

Before I go into detail, let me tell about yesterday. I went with okaasan to Nita-chans house. Nita-chan is the friend from the teashop. We had a small party, and i got to help make some of the food. We had sushi, anko no ohagi, kinako no ohagi and some other things. I helped make the ohagi. And yes, mom, I learned how to make sushi. Anyways, the party was really fun! There were a lot of people (pictures uploaded). They were all friends of okaasan and their children. Nanami-chan is a year older then me, but we got along very well. Her mother and I had fun trying to comunicate.
I also recieved a lot, and I mean a lot, of gifts. Luckily most of it was food, so I am sharing it with my family. I brought Nitachan a gift to thank her for the tea, and she gave me more in return T.T so I`m still in debt. But it was great! we were there most of the day, and came home and started dinner.
After dinner, Ayumi and I hung out. We played with her electronic dictionary, which was so much fun! we would look up phrases in different languages. Even though it was a Japanese dictionary, it had a definition in English and Japanese. We spent a good hour doing that and studying German and Japanese.

Today I went to kindergarten, as I said above. I was sort of a teacher, sort of a student. Most of the kids and I got along well. I can:t help but think they said some not so nice things about me not knowing Japanese, but they were so cute I couldn:t stay mad at them.
I was there the whole day, and by the end I had collected so many gifts! To many... It was mostly oragami, which is amazing for little kids, and flowers, that I:m going to have to throw out soon. But so cute! I made a lot of little friends, adn somehow we managed to comunicate. I also made friends with many of the teachers. The teachers in my group look so young, I couldn:t believe they were out of high school, but they were all in their 20s.
I will go again tomorrow, and I can:t wait!!

When I got home, I helped Ayumi make dinner. Okaasan had to stay after and didnt get home until otoosan, Nao, Ayumi, and I had finished eating cake. It was a fun dinner, regardless. Nao kun doesnt talk to me a lot because he can:t speak English and my Japanese is so limited, but at tonight at dinner we all talked. We even watched the news together, which featured a lot of Japanese talking and creepy North Korean displays. Here North Korea is very scarey, seeing as how they launch missles over Japanese airways, but no one is to worried yet.

When okaasan came home, she had mail for Ayumi. One of her friends writes a comic, and a new chapter had just been finished. She has three of them, all in nice covers. They look very professional! I am going to read them when I:m done writing!!

As for the water thing, all good! Otoosan bought a cardboard box full of 2 litter water bottles the other day and said I could drink them (he also said they were only 68 yen, about 70 cents. I wish water in the US was that cheap!!
And Mr. and Mrs. Shope, for breakfast I usually have rice, miso soup (with an array of things in it) and something different my okaasan makes everyday.
Oh! And I totally forgot anout Konpeto!! Its my new favourite candy! Ayumi got it as a gift, but didn:t like it so much. Nao kun and I ended up eating a lot of it tonight! Very yummy!!
And Natsu ate the last of my Rittersport. I really hope he doesn:t get sick. And I must say he has skill. He opened my suitcase, pulled out many things without damaging anything, got out the chocolate, and closed the suitcase. Skillz. Luckily there were only two pieces left, and he seems okay. Sadly, I:m out of chocolate....
well! more later!! much love!!!

Church and Tea

First things first: I`m working on the pic thing! sorry about that!!
Second, to JT: I tried looking for the shirt, but again, the looks we were getting were aweful. And as for my grammer, you try typing on a Japanese computer. . . its so hard!!!
Miles I`ll ask Ayumi to teach me.
And again, Mrs. Emily, how can I get water? And I messed up. It`s mugicha. Good, but not water. In fact today I resorted to drinking some when I washed my hands.

So today! First, we got up and went to church! It was about a thirty minute walk for Ayumi and I, because I didn:t have a bike yet. Curch itself was VERY confusing. . . very very. . .all in Japanese. . . So hard... We did sing Amazing Grace though, and some of the slower psalms, I could sing along reading the hiragana. I`m pretty amazing at it now.
At the end of the sermon, I was asked to come up and introduce myself. That was scary.
Afterwards I met a lot of people. Some spoke a little English, most spoke none. The Pastor and his wife lived in America for two years, and one woman, who was exceedingly nice, had lived in America for 6 years. It was the first time in a long time I could speak English like I usually do.
We then cleaned the church and kindergarten classrooms. The Kindergarten where okaasan works in connected to the church. After that we ate lunch, AND there was a water fountain type thing. So I got water. A lot of water. And my first Japanese onigiri! Salmon filling, my favourite! So yummy! and some more American styled food. Ayumi also left to go meet some friends in Tokyo.

Afterwards I got my bike. From what my okaasan and otoosan said, it belonged to an old man who could no longer ride it, so he was lending it to me. And let me say, Japanese bikes are amazing. It took me awhile to get the hang of kicking off, but after a few tries, its all good. Japanese bikes are hard to explain, but they are the old kind with baskets and you sit up straight when you ride one. I`ll get a picture later.

So, okaasan, otoosan, and I then went on an adventure. We rode our bikes to a tea shop. A friend of okaasan`s worked at the shop, and we were given real green tea and green tea ice cream. Both of which where delicious. Then her friend gave be a cute little jar with some green tea leaves in it, so I can make my own tea when I get home!! I found it ironic that the store had a classical Japanese version of Amazing Grace playing. It was so serene, I don`t think I will ever forget my trip to the tea shop!
Then we proceeded to a supermarket, not the one Ayumi and I went to the day before. There we bought supplies for tonights nights dinner: SUSHI! YES! So, we shopped and left, I got to put a bag in my bike-basket, and we went home.

And, today I decided whould be a good day for gifts, so I wrapped all of them once we got home. It took awhile, but they are all wrapped now and when Ayumi gets home I will give them to everyone.

I`m uploading more pictures; password is off, and purikura pics are being posted!!!

http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/

OMG! I totally forgot to mention! In July YFU has invited me to a Tea Ceramony and a Kabuki production. I can`t wait!!

Home Away from Home

So exciting! I am finally with my host family!

So yesterday we woke up at the Keio Plaza Hotel. It was so nice! One of the YFU Japan reps went to Australia for a year and had a funny accent somewhere between Japanese and Australian.

Then we went and met some people from the US Embassy here in Japan. It was interesting... After that we went to the Meiji Shrine and then to Harajuku. Meiji was cool, until we had to clense our mouths and I accidentally drank from the cup. I will never do that again!!! I learned.

I`m to lazy to post pictures, so I am going to put up links:

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0096.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0096.jpg

In Harajuku, most people gave us weird looks... The Forever21 had a line out front... it was crazy! Then we found and H&M. We went in, but my friend Anna (the only one who would go in with me) was bothered by the weird looks people gave us so we left fast. No we were to nervous to go into the Japanese stores. A lot of weird looks...

The ride back to the hotel was long, and I was so nervous about meeting my family. Only nine of us went home today, and I was lucky to be one of them. I said goodbye to all my friends and waited for my family. There was only o ne man there, and I kept thinking he was my dad, but I wasn`t sure. Then He was introduced to me. We gathered my things and left. My host father speaks a very little bit of English, so we had fun trying to talk to each other.

Mom, I really regret bringing so many bags... the only good thing that came out of dragging them to Shinjuku station and then waiting with them for the hour train ride to Ageo was that I know I got a good work out. Especially when I had to carry them up the stairs! My arms and legs still hurt!

At Shinjuku, we met Ayumi. She is so nice! The three of us borded the train together and went to Omiya where I finally got a watch. No more not knowing what time it is! Yes! lol then we got back on the train and went to Ageo. Yes, I still had my bags.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0102.jpg

When We got to the house I put my bags in Ayumi`s room, which is where I am staying. Ayumi started making dinner when her brother, Nao, came home, followed by her mother. Everyone is soooooooo nice!

We had Japanese hamburgers and miso soup for dinner. Japanese hamburgers are amazing! So much better then American hamburgers!! They have veggies in them and aren`t greasy. Unfortunatly, I wasn`t very hungry. I ended up finnishing mine for breakfast. We slept on futon, which weren:t as comfortable as I thought. I woke up around 5, but Ayumi wasn`t up yet, so I went back to bed. I woke up many times, none of which Ayumi was awake. We finally got up around 10:30, by which time I was VERY hot! And sweaty and gross. I took a shower, which took my forever to figure out, then Ayumi and I went to the super market. I was stared at, but pretty used to it.

When we came back, she showed my her books. She likes manga a lot. Then we made a Strawberry Shortcake for her friends, but since we had no strawberries, it was a Kiwi Shortcake. Goldern kiwi are oishi. Then she helped my with some Japanese.

When ootosan came home, we went to a department store for more food. We bought things for spagetti, and then, the highlight of my life: purikura!!! American would benifit from purikura! It`s like a photobooth, but then you can edit all the pictures with cute little addons. I`ll show you all the pictures when I get home!!

Oh! And Mrs. Emliy, I have a question: I was told when I got here that they dont drink water, only moicha. Do you know where I can drinkm just plain water? I`m dying for some......

for more pictures just take the links and go through my album. JT flickr limits uploads so I:m not using it.

love you all!

JAPAN!!!!

OMFG I'M IN JAPAN!!!!!
Yeah, so plane ride was genki. I got to sit by my good friend Jessica and we had a lot of fun keeping eachother awake for 10 hours. It was great.
The whole "I'm going to Japan!" thing didn't kick in til we were landing. Then I started freaking out. I was so excited, and I still am. Japan is BEAUTIFUL. The ride from Narita to Tokyo was filled with industrial things overgrown with plants. It was cool. Then we got into the city, and it was building after building! AMAZING!
There is still a lot more I want to write and so many pictures I want to post, but they are all on Stacie's computer and I'm using my new roommates. . . We are currently staying at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo (I think we are in Shinjuku, not sure...)
And yes Zach, we were in dorms at a college in San Jose.
My host family will pick me up from the hotel tomorrow, and then I'm off!!!
Much love from this end!!!

San Jose Day Two!!

Wow! Yesterday for the first few hours I felt totally out of place and alone, and now I have so many friends! I was worried my roommate and I wouldn't get along, But now Stacie and I do almost everything together!


We used her alarm to wake up at 6 this morning to get a shower in before all the other girls and we talked most of the night.

I also made a bunch of other friends, some of whom I don't have pictures yet... I'll try to get more!

They divided us up into groups yesterday. Stacie and I are in the same kumi(group), the Midori Kumi. We take a lot of classes together now. I don't have a lot of time, we have little time til our next class!! Well, more later!

Love you all!!

San Jose

Well, I'm in San Jose now, using the university's computer lab. Some of the people here are really interesting, but I'm having trouble speaking out. I need to get over being shy around new people, or Japan isn't going to be as fun as it could...
The planes were crazy! My first plane was delayed about an hour and a half, so I almost missed my connection in Denver! I literally had to run! Then there was a lot of turbulence as we crossed th Rocky's, but after that the flight went smoothly. I like United Airways waaaaaaaay better then Southwest. Like, no comparison! I got to watch TV on the plane! That was way new.
Now we are staying at San Jose State University (or something like that). The dorms are nice, some people were complaining, but I could really care less. Its a bed, and blankets; it's warm, inside, and they provide us with food.
Worst thing is I'm pretty sure everyone here speaks more Japanese than me. Everyone is saying things, and of course I still don't have the confidence to speak hardly at all. To make things worse, I'm always thinking "nein" instead of "iie" among other things.
Well, I'm going to go now.
Miles, take care of your hand, don't cut it again!
Everyone else, take care! Love you all and I'll try to update soon!!

Amelia