Monday, June 9, 2008

Multi-Post (This is NOT a complete post -- VERY limited internet access)

THIS POST *WILL* BE UPDATED! I will type it on a plane or sometime; please check back on this post next time! But for now, I've provided photos. I have shot two videos but cannot upload them, as they take a LONG time.


Friday, June 6th, 2008:

Finally, I’m finished with all my finals and am pretty proud of my accomplishments: A movie for history completed within 12 hours and felt like I did well on my Pre-Calculus test. I ended the day with hugs from a couple friends, and went home. Once I arrived home, I found 1 message in my voicemail (phone) that turned out to be my host family information. My family’s name is Sakai, with father and mother name Yukichi and Yukiko (their names match, huh?). I have a little host brother and sister, ages 2 and 4/6 respectively. I’m attending Miyako High School (http://www.miyako-h.open.ed.jp/). The school, though on a tiny island of many in Okinawa, is extremely fabulous. It’s a typical Japanese high school and it’s a great feeling to know I’m finally going to attend in one.



Sunday, June 8th, 2008

Our trip to SJSU started at 4:20 PM when we drove from our home and arrived at around 4:40 PM. Thank goodness it was SJSU not UCLA or anything like that. As I was unpacking my bags, I saw Kevin, a good friend from the SF Orientation (see my later post). Literally, we arrived at the same time—which is a huge coincidence. After finding where to go since it was confusing, we signed in and received our name tags. We signed up for cultural session classes (there were traditional dancing, sushi, yakuta, Japanese TV and many other sessions) and our level of Japanese (I signed up for advanced). I got my keys to my dorm, which was also a hassle because not only did it take a while to call the SJSU staff but I received keys to the wrong floor—the girls’. I went back out across the hot campus (it was about 80 degrees this day) and finally got the keys to my room. My parents helped me with my luggage (room 327) and they left. There was nothing to do but dinner with our Kumi (means ‘group’ in Japanese) and I was placed in the Green Kumi, or the Midori Kumi with 11 people in our Kumi. I didn’t take pictures this day, since I left it back up in the dorms at Washburn Hall, so there isn’t really anything I can show. We went to the Student Union area and had our dinner there (roasted beef, potatoes and I forgot the rest—but they were all free). I made some new friends at the dinner table (: and after this, we went in a classroom and sat with our Kumi. We played an icebreaker and explained where we were from and where we’re going as a way to introduce ourselves. I found it hilarious for people who traveled across the country by plane while I simply rode in a car. After, we went to a huge lecture room and viewed a slideshow on Japan, something I found very interesting, such as showing the different homes we are all staying, transportation, food, etc.

The lecture was the last activity for the day, so the YFU staff gave us free time to do whatever until 10 PM to get up in our floors and lights out by 10:30 PM. I’m about to sleep now, I’ve just brushed my teeth and am typing this post. The YFU Night Staff seem to be knocking on doors calling room check so I will end this post now!



Monday:



Monday, June 9th, 2008

I woke up at around 6 AM today on my own (something that I never done so early in the morning) and fell back to sleep until 6:30 when Sam’s phone rang (Sam is one of the 2 roommates sharing a room with me—apparently they are both named Sam). I quickly got up, grabbed by toothpaste and toothbrush and began the day with a 3-5 minute brush. I went back in my room to grab some towels and new clothes and took a brief shower, and headed out for breakfast with my Midori Kumi (green group). I brought my camera along and I took some pictures, which I have provided here.

Group of friends in the morning walking to the Student Union Hall for some breakfast grub

Most of you guys have seen this before (I'm referring to those back at Independence High School)



Picture of the beautiful campus from Sweeny Hall, where my Japanese class was hosted.




Cole-sensei and Mamiko-sensei conducting an advanced Japanese class purely in Japanese (No English Allowed!)



Information regarding today's orientation.


Right now at the time of this post it's about 6:38 PM, I'm in my next door dorm (325).
What's next is to participate in the culture sessions; I've signed up for Yukata (Japanese summer kimono) and movies/show session which begins at 7 PM.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hahah. You are shorter than all the other guys in the picture. [: Man, and I thought you were tall. :D

Man Jimmy Man. I don't know about you, but I'm sooooooo excited for you. Yayay. I beat you're ultra excited more!! Hahah. Did that even make sense.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah ! How was the Japanese class ! [: Was it fun ? Was it hard ?! Hahah, I bet I'd fail there. PHAILL!!@ Hahah. They don't let you speak English ? What happened if you really needed to go to the bathroom. :O Hahah, hecka sad. :3 You'd be like.. "Urm.. bathrooom-O desuuuu. :O Doko it?" Hahah That's what I'd probably do. :x