For once, school sounds exciting.

PLEASE READ: I've been getting an email from AFS for the past week or so about being a 'welcome family' or a host family to incoming exchange students from all over the world. Unfortunately, the school in my area doesn't accept foreign exchange students so my mom can't volunteer to be one. :( SO, I figured I would post about it and maybe someone would see it and be able to help these kids out. Basically, a welcome family is not the student's permanent family, they just house them for 6-12 weeks while AFS finds a permanent home for them. Which makes it sound like they're homeless (and they kind of are when they get here), so help the homeless and look into it! If you're interested, go here. Just plug in your zip code and it gives you a list of students coming to your area. July 26th is the last day for placements according to the email, so hurry!

Alright, now that that's done, I'll update on my exchange. Nothing super big has happened recently. The only thing worth mentioning is that I got an email officially stating that the Hattoris are actually my host family and I finally got my school information! I'm not going to give the exact name because who knows who's reading this, but I will say that it's a school of about 1,000 students (a third the size of where I go now), boys and girls attend, and it's not religiously affiliated. The information sheet also says that school ends their summer vacation on August 23rd, which is the day that I leave. O_O I'm not sure if that means that I'll be starting school the day after I arrive, but if it does... I'll probably still be super jet-lagged and sleepy that day. 

My school offers baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, badminton, handball, table-tennis, tennis, Judo, swimming, Kendo, Kyudo, climbing, track & field, and rugby. I was secretly hoping that somehow they would have figure skating, but I guess most schools anywhere in the world wouldn't have that kind of facility on campus. I'm thinking either soccer or track & field because those are the only two that I've ever seriously participated in or shown talent in. As far as clubs go, the English Speaking Society caught my attention. I'm still debating whether that would be a smart move or not. On the one hand, I could help people practice their English, but on the other, it's probably not going to help me improve my Japanese as quickly as it could. There's also a class trip that was mentioned where I would be going to Tokyo and Nagano, but it's 8,000 yen (approximately $1,000), and I'm not sure that I can afford it, especially after already spending so much money on the actual exchange. And I really shouldn't complain because I'm so lucky to even be going to another country for 5 months. Seriously, how many 17-year-olds can say that they've ever studied in another country?

I probably should've broken those two paragraphs up even further so you didn't have to stare at two huge blocks of text, but I got carried away with what I was writing. :)

More news hopefully coming soon. Only 30 days, 18 hours and 38 minutes left! (did I mention that I have a countdown set on my phone?)

-Ellie

Fam.

Host family: acquired.

Yeah, that's right. Today, in riveting, wonderful, exhilarating, summer Econ, my teacher was giving the most fascinating lecture on....

Okay, you got me. As difficult as it may be to fathom, I found the lesson to be just a tad too long and monotonous. (Everyone should note my sarcasm) Therefore, I decided that it would be a good time to mess around with my phone. Play some apps, do some stumbling, check my email.... and lo and behold, there, sitting right at the top of my inbox is an unopened email entitled (insert kanji that I have no idea what it means... except for the last one, which I know means 'man'...?). Cue heart skipping beat and a widening of the eyes. This was way better than any Fiat money Mr. Rende could possibly be talking about.

It was my host dad writing the email, and he told me that I'll be living with 8 other people and their dog. O_o The maximum number of people that I have ever shared a roof with has been 3 other people: dad, mom, and little brother. Starting mid-August, I'll have a grandmother, grandfather, little sister #1, little sister #2, little brother, mother, and father. Oh, and dachshund dog. WHAAAAAAT? That's honestly more than I had hoped for. I'm going to have SISTERS. Don't get me wrong; little brothers are great. They practically invite your abuse, they'll fight you, and they keep your girliness in check. HOWEVER. I have never had a sister and ever since I can remember I've dreamed of having one. There's so much more that I'm excited for; the list goes on and on and on and... you get the idea.

Getting a host family has finally brought to life the one that I'll be living starting this August. Hopefully I can prepare myself in time... :S

Of course, AFS was sure to send me an email later today containing some more medical forms that need to be filled out before I leave. Huzzah! -___- It's back to the doctor I go!

AHH! Okay, I'm off to do my Econ homework. I just had to put down how excited that made me, so please excuse my lameness. :P

-Ellie

It's scary how fast everything starts moving as soon as you know where you're going.

No, I haven't gotten my exact location or my host family yet, but as soon as AFS Japan accepted me on May 31st, everything has been moving pretty quickly (or at least a lot faster than it had since January). It probably also has to do with the fact that they told me I was going for sure so close to the actual departure date, but it's definitely made for an exciting and nerve-wracking summer. Speaking of departure, I got my departure email two days ago. Guys, I'm officially leaving the 22nd of August for LAX, staying overnight, and leaving the next day for Narita airport in Tokyo. I don't know the last time I was this excited, nervous, anxious, happy, sad, and (did I say?) EXCITED all at once! I can't imagine how I'll be the week or so before I leave.

Anyway, I know it's a short post, but I just felt like posting what was going on.

Happy 4th of July (if you're in the U.S.)!

-Ellie