If you’ve been following my Twitter then you know that last weekend I went out to Morioka in Iwate prefecture to take the Japanese Language Placement Test. Even though I was going to take a test, the group of us who went down to Morioka had a really good time (don’t let Lim’s face in the above photo tell you otherwise) and I thought I would take a moment to let you know all about how it went down.
It was a long time coming, but here it is! I think I’m going to leave it at the video, pictures and twittering in terms of talking about my trip with my parents. I haven’t been able to devote a lot of time to writing lately because of how busy I am with studying Japanese and the start of the new semester. Besides, with Twitter, photos and video, what more could I really say? I think down the road, this blog is going to shift to more cerebral topics instead of journaling day-to-day things. Like I said earlier, I’m past the stage where Japan is a happy wonderland and now in the getting-down-to-business stage. My Japanese class this semester is going to test my skills, I’m taking a literature course which has a decent load of books to read and the JLPT is coming up December (I’m going for level 3). Not that I’m complaining though. I’m getting real comfortable with day-to-day conversation and the sky’s the limit for how good I can get before I go back home. Time’s a wasting, back to studying!
I just got a call from my parents who are now in Narita, after a nice long 14 hour flight. Sometime tomorrow they’ll be up here in Hirosaki and I’ll be able to start showing them around to all the cool spots in this little town of mine. After that, it’s off to Kyoto and Tokyo. So this blog will probably be on hiatus for a couple weeks until after I get back, but expect a big update then! I’ll definitely keep on tweeting and I might be able to put up some new photos, though. It’s been a while since I’ve had new photos, eh? See you on the other side, then!
Ohisashiburi! It’s been a long time, eh? Well, since it’s coming down to the end of the semester here, I’ve been busy with this and that, but I’ll try to give you all a bit up an update now. There were festivals at the beginning of the month, then a camping trip with my club and the culture festival at my host family’s daughters’ school. Also, in other exciting news, I have successfully applied for an extension, so I will be staying here in Japan until February 2009! One semester just wasn’t enough. Well, without further ado, let’s get on with it!
It’s been a while since I posted in this space, huh? Well, I just took my first trip during my time here: a couple days down in Tokyo with some of my Korean friends. I’ll get to that in a bit, but first I thought that I’d try to play catch-up and go over what I’ve been up to the last couple of weeks since I posted last.
It’s been a pretty full weekend for me once again. Since Wednesday, I went to the second concert on Thursday (which rocked), went to Aomori with Hwang and Paku, did CPR training with my club, went out for karaoke and finally, on Sunday, spent the entire day with my new host family. Well, let’s get into then, shall we?
Sorry for taking so long to get a new post up! I’ve been busy with this and that, but I decided that enough was enough and that I’m writing this thing now. Thank you for bearing with me. I also decided that from now on I’m going to use a jump on my posts, since the long pages on this site are making it difficult for some people to load it properly. Click the following link to read the rest of the post.
Here I sit in a Japanese hotel room in Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan. It is hard to come to grips with. The whole arrival in Japan and subsequent journey to my present location has been and still continues to be the most intensely lucid dream I have ever had – I fear that I might wake up tomorrow, back in my bedroom in Maine. After all the talk, all the preparations, my money is where my mouth is. Perhaps you would like to share with me the events that have transpired over the past 24 hours or so, complete with pictures and video? I thought you might.
All the preparations are made, all the packing is nearly done – yes, I’m about ready to finally leave. After all the forms, research, studying and dreaming, it is about to become reality. In less than twenty-four hours, I will be on a jet plane off to Hirosaki, where I will be speding five months in the Land of the Rising Sun. I must say now that I feel a mixture of excitement, nerves and apprehension. But on the whole, I couldn’t be more ready to leave. You can be sure that this blog is ready to now go prime-time. I will be posting much more frequently (as soon as I’m settled in) and hopefully posting different media, like video. Look forward to it!
I’ve had a pretty uneventful final week. Mostly it was spent spending time with my friends and saying goodbye. Last weekend was especially hard, because I had to say goodbye to my indescribably wonderful girlfriend, Zoe. The above photo was taken while hanging out in the dorms up at UMaine. I’m sure we will both be missing each other lots, but we’ve already discussed plans for her and possibly my family to come out to visit in August. Hopefully by that point I’ll have learned my way around a bit, and I’ll be able to give them a great experience in Japan. :)
This will probably be my final post until I touch down in Hirosaki. But I will certainly be twittering. Follow along with my Twitter widget to the right, or go to this page here. Next time I write here, it will be on Japan time. Later!
There’s my spending money for the first couple months! I got the call earlier today from the bank that my yen had come in. It was convenient, also, that my brother Will called up about getting picked up at school at the same time. Two birds, one stone! That is 91,000円 even, worth $1000. It’s the amount that Hirosaki recommended for students when first arriving in country. My first expenses upon arriving in Japan will be taking the subways around in Tokyo to catch my flight up to Aomori and then staying in a hotel the night I arrive. Hopefully I can get by with the money I’ve saved for the trip, and maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll get some donations from my parents, too. :P
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Hirosaki 08-09
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bus, English teaching, Iwate, JJ, JLPT, Lim, Morioka, test, traveling 
