Mirrors and mirroring 

These days, mirrors and I have a real love-hate relationship. I try to avoid them as much as possible due to the fact that I always look like death. I have circles under my eyes, my hair's one gigantic poof, and I'm always sweaty. This is not something I want to see. Although, mirrors do have one thing I want to see. I was thrown into this country without a clue of what's going on or how to do things. Everyday I'm learning and everyday I'm growing less tired but only because of one thing. Mirrors. I've learned to mirror what everyone else does and so far, this has been a great way of learning. It's also helped me make a lot of friends. I go to school by myself now and everyday, I follow someone to school to make sure I don't get lost. Almost everyday I do this, I make friends with the person I'm mirroring. And these friendships don't just last a day. I go to school, go home, go to the store, and talk with them at school all the time. So as you can see, mirrors have good things as well as bad things about them. Today was insane and really fun at the same time. When I got to school this morning, my homeroom teacher told me that the entire soccer club got food poisoning from some outing they went on and so all the kids were wearing masks and were afraid of getting sick. During my second class, all of the teachers were called to a meeting and when my teacher came back, she told us we had to get out of the school really fast. It turns out, they found a bomb near our school and weren't sure whether it was active or not because it was from during the war so it was really old. I got home at lunch time so I ate my obento and then my Mom and I went to run a few errands. First we went to the book store where I got a magazine! Japanese magazines are crazy different from American magazines. There's always so much going on and the modeling is more fun and quirky versus being more serious. After that, we went to the stationary shop so I could get some pens and notebooks for school. Everything's so adorable here and so it makes it really hard to choose what I want to get. Once we were done at the stationary shop, we went to the grocery store to buy food for dinner. I LOVE JAPANESE GROCERY STORES. They're absolutely amazing. Everything's so neat and clean and the shopping carts have swivel wheels on them which I think is really smart. Once we got home, my Mom and I talked for a bit and that was really fun. Recently, I've been feeling like speaking Japanese is finally starting to click. Every time I have an actual conversation with someone, I feel so happy and proud of myself and makes me feel like I can actually do this. There's nothing like the feeling of accomplishment!

Fun, fun, fun!

I've been having so much fun here! Yesterday, I got done with my first week of school. The first two days, I had regular classes but Wednesday and Thursday we had the sports festival. It was so much fun! Everyone gets together and plays sports for two whole days and at the end, there's a big ceremony. For the ceremony at the end, I had to prepare a speech in Japanese and English to do in front of the entire school. I was so scared, but it ended up being just fine. When I got up on the stage, everyone was screaming, cheering, and of course yelling "kawaii!" which means cute. So embarrassing! But once I was done, I felt awesome and everyone told me I did a really good job. Even my teacher said I did a lot better than she expected! Friday was just a regular day, but it was still really fun. I'm already part of a group of girls and everyone is super nice to me. Although I'm obviously very different from everyone, people have accepted me and have really welcomed me into their school. Another really nice thing is that I've become really good friends with another exchange student from Rotary. Her name is Alicia and she's from New York. We're both VERY similar and so it's really nice to have someone that completely understands what you're going through. Today, I went with Alicia and her host parents to go on a gondola ride up a mountain so you could see all of Sapporo. It was so beautiful! Unfortunately, I didn't know what we were doing so I didn't bring my camera. It's all good, though. I took pictures with my mind! After that, we went to where Olympic ski jumping was held! It was amazing! We got to go on a ski lift up the ski jump and it was crazy to look at just how big those jumps are. They're absolutely massive! After that, we went to this chocolate factory and had lunch. It was delicious! I don't know what I had, but it was really good. Once we were done having lunch, we went to Alicia's house to have dinner with both of our host families. Our host moms are sisters and so Alicia and I are host cousins! How cool is that? I think it's super cool. Tomorrow, Alicia are going to go explore Sapporo by ourselves. I'm really excited because I haven't really had a chance to just walk around and take pictures. And Mom, don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I have a phone and I know how to use the subways so I'll be fine! I really like how I'm usually busy everyday because that means I get to keep experiencing more and more things. Because of this, there isn't a moment where I'm not having fun. I absolutely love it here.

Update!

Well, tomorrow is my first day of school! I'm so nervous but excited at the same time. I know it will be fine especially considering how wonderful Japan is. I love it here. One thing that I get a real kick out of is the background music they play on television shows. I was watching the news and they were playing "Eye of the Tiger" in the background as well as "The Final Countdown" and the main song in the Phantom of the Opera. Japanese television always makes me laugh because it's so fun, quirky, and downright odd. Everything is like that here, so you never get bored because wherever you look, there's some sort of smiley face, cute animal, or funny little pictures on it. Another thing that is really funny is how they put English on everything but it almost always doesn't make any sense. I call it Engrish! For example: I saw a shirt at a store that said "Boy Scouts of America" on it but also had a name tag sewn on it that said "Alexa". Alexa = not a boy's name. There's also a candy here called "Colon Cream". DELICIOUS. It probably is, though. The food here is amazing! So yeah, I really like it here. I want to say more, but I have to go to bed because I have to get up really early. So, oyasuminasai! 

I made it!

Yesterday was my first full day in Japan, it was also the busiest day of my life. That morning, I woke up to pouring rain which made me very happy. It was comforting and relaxing to hear the sound of the rain hitting the roof. My family is very nice and I feel so lucky to be staying with them. Yesterday, I went with my host sister to the American Embassy to get her visa approved, went to go take purikura, went to JR Tower, got lunch, went to my Grandmother's house(she's the cutest thing I've ever seen), went to a Rotarian's office to sign some papers, and went to my school to pick up all of my things. I loved how I was with my host family the entire day, I love spending time with them. I feel bad that my Japanese is so bad, but I'm picking up some new words so hopefully I'll get better. My chopstick skills have already increased due to the fact that we're always eating! The food is very good, but I'm not used to eating during these times of the day so I feel like I'm always full. On Monday, I start school. I'm so nervous! I know everything will be okay, but I wish I could speak better Japanese. Today, I have to go do something with my passport and medical insurance card. I'm not sure what, but that's what my host Mother told me. Also, I think I get to meet another exchange student from New York. This, I am very excited about. This way, I won't feel completely alone. I always new this would be hard, but I had no idea it would be this hard. I know I can stay strong, but this is definitely going to be the most difficult thing I've ever done. 

Leaving and on the way!

Saying goodbye to my family and friends was one of the hardest things I've ever done. So far. Leaving Oregon was such a difficult thing to do. I love Oregon so much and doing this leaves me thinking "What the heck am I doing?". I know that in the end, this will all be worth it, but that doesn't make things any easier. Currently, I'm in Canada waiting out a wonderful 5 hour layover. Yay. Once I leave Canada, I'll head out to Tokyo and there, I will wait to catch my flight to Sapporo. I'm so excited to meet my host family and see where I'll be spending a year of my life. Nothing can explain how I feel sitting up so high in that airplane. With every passing moment I spend in that plane, I get closer and closer to Japan. I'm ready to be there. So close!