August 31st

Okay so, the only remarkable thing today is that

I ATE POTATOES TODAY. YESSS

Oh yeah and it's been one month (well 4 weeks) since I have come to Japan. 

BACK TO THE POTATOES!

So we ate potatoes for dinner and that was the first time in over 4 weeks and I'm happy. As always I had chopsticks and that was totally fine until....

Until I wanted to mash them. Of course you can't do that with chopsticks! When I noticed my "desire"  I was reminded of 

1. My father who does that aaaall the time and 2. the anime Hetalia that uses that 'stereotype' in one of the first episodes ever. For those who don't know that anime: In short it's an anime about personalized countries that act like real people, fulfilling every cliché, stereotype and prejudice there is about their respective nationalities. And they use historical events for the plot. (You should give it a try! After that you won't be able to look at history the same way you did before)

OKAY, so there's one certain episode (S01E14) where Germany goes to France and eats in a restaurant, disguised bc at that time he and France didn't get along. So he orders and it's smth with potatoes and when he gets his food he subconsciously starts to mash the potatoes. That gives away his German heritage and he gets caught by France. The end scene is an explanation how Germans are famous for their potato-mashing.

So what I wanted to say is: I feel too German

30th August

Soo actually nothing interesting happened. Originally my plan was going to Shin Okubo, Korea Town, together with Marion. Turns out Marion has otitis! I don't want to go alone so I am currently hanging around at home. What else? 

Roughly an hour ago somebody rang the door bell....I didn't open the door. I just don't feel confident enough with my almost non-existent Japanese skills to answer the door, let alone accepting mail. Yeah, yeah, laugh at me all you want. 

I am bored out of my mind right now. Listening to the same music for 2 hours now (I recommend: Reviver -My first story, 1,2,3! -Seungri and Kisses and Kills -The Oral Cigarettes) Maybe I can go to Totsuka at least and finally buy the right adapter for my laptop? Ehhh but that means hopping onto the bus and drive for 1 hour in total. For what? 10 minutes at the station? Naaah. I hope Emily is free tomorrow. We could meet up somewhere and then on my way back home I could buy the adapter... We'll see. Stay tuned for another episode of "Tabea- Bored in Japan", coming soon! 

August 26th

Actually it is the 27th today but yesterday I was too wiped out to post anything, sorry.

So yesterday I went with Emily, a Norwegian girl, to Shibuya and (accidentally) Harajuku. Originally we planned to go to Shinjuku and that's where we met (planned meeting 11am at station, actual meet up: 11.30 am bc we couldn't find each other. It's the busiest station in the world, what can I say?). First we walked to a 7/11 (I needed money and water) then we entered a little shopping mall. She showed me a music store (KPOP). Soon we decided to go to Shibuya instead, we both hadn't been there yet. So we hopped onto the next train. 

Shibuya was incredible. It's THE place for music lovers. Everywhere were ads (ALSO FOR KPOP), beautiful (BTS NEW ALBUM) as well as disturbing (Japanese Amazon Prime). And sometimes a truck would pass, covered with a gigantic ad for a music artist. The first truck we saw was BTS! Advertising their new album! I almost cried. First we went into another music store and their stock was amazing. They had sooo much. Not only for sell, but also for rental. When we got out of the store the first weird encounter happened. At this point I have to explain something: Emily is a magnet for weird, suspicious, shady, male people. During the time we've been in Japan, she has met 3 different persons who wanted to get involved with her. 

So as we exited the store that guy came up to us and asked us in broken  English if we could guess his age? We were surprised and said, maybe mid 30s? He then asked us how old we were, definitely already 18 right? 

Emily surprised me then and said: No, she was 14. I followed her example and said I was 15. The guy looked a bit taken aback. He probably didn't see that coming. Then he asked us to take a picture with him? But we said no, no pictures and walked away. 

I was stunned. My "Being spoken to by weird strangers"-virginity was taken (Emily's words). She said that if somebody asks for your age, make yourself as much younger as possible, bc these people also have their limits like that guy with 18. We went on in search of something to eat and found...guess what: an Irish Pub😂 When you are in Tokyo, you definitely have to go to an Irish Pub. Emily has also been to Ireland once and we both share our undying love for that country. 

We ordered Fish'n Chips. After that Emily was still hungry, so she ordered Fries with Cheese Dip. The fries came in a bucket. Like they literally put them into a little bucket out of metal. And that was more than the Fish 'n Chips lol. In the pub Emily and I talked a lot about our home countries. She asked me if there are still Nazis existent in Germany and I didn't want to sugar coat anything so I told her all about the conservative/right parties that are in Germany, about Reichsbürger and Pegida. How the country is still split into East and West in many people's minds. She was stunned and also told me about the remains in her hometown that the Germans left behind in World War II. Apparently her town was very popular among the Nazis? We also talked about how Norway does or rather doesn't play a role in the world's history (Vikings excluded). Fun fact: In 2011 Norway had a butter panic. The bakeries ran out of butter and it actually lead to inflation on butter. I couldn't stop laughing. 

After eating we made our way back to the station (We encountered a little restaurant playing Good Boy by Taeyang!) bc Emily wanted to see the statue of Hachiko, a dog that waited for its owner a long time but the owner never came back. Emily actually teared up a bit. We crossed the Shibuya Pedestrian Crosswalk (again) and ended suddenly up in a really fancy af mall, where we felt so out of place but wandered around anyways. We made our way up to the rooftop where a pet shop was. They had fancy cats in cages made out of glass. This is actually pretty cruel I think. Later we passed another pet shop and they had baby animals, all in glass cages. God damn they were so freaking cute and Emily and I felt so bad for them. This is actually illegal in Norway, and I don't think smth like this exists in Germany. After the fancy mall we went to an animate shop, an anime/manga-merch store. They had sooo much and that wasn't even the biggest one. Followed by animate was a cat café. The cats were so beautiful! And fluffy! NGHHHH. We only were there for 30 minutes (You pay 200¥ per 10 minutes) but it was so worth it. 

We didn't know what to do after the cat café so we just wandered around and suddenly ended up in the Yoyogi park where we took a break, sitting next to a large fountain. A few meters away was a guy, alone, dancing to various songs and he was really good! Emily said, she wanted to adopt him, and she hoped that his parents were proud of him. 

While we were sitting at the fountain, suddenly 3 guys walked up to us. But not with the intention, the reader might think it would be. No, they said they have a Youtube channel and if we could like subscribe or smth haha. They were really nice and asked where we came from, if we are here for school. After that we took a picture together because why not? (I looked them up later on Google and found out they only have like over a 100 subscribers lol).

Soon we strolled around the park and then Emily wanted to take another break and sat down on a bench. That's when the next encounter happened...These two guys came up to us and said something, I can't really remember what. By instinct or so I started talking in German to them. Saying we don't speak Japanese. Then they started talking in English and told us they were Chinese? Which was obviously a lie because I can differentiate Chinese and Japanese and that one guy said 'なるほど' which means 'I see' or 'I understand'. They asked where we came from and we said Norway and Germany. Then one of them said his ex-girlfriend was Norwegian? And that Emily had beautiful eyes...Yeah that was too weird and we quickly excused us and walked away, waited for a bit until these guys were out of sight. Emily and I decided if something like that happens again then let's pretend to be a lesbian couple. That will hopefully put them off.

We exited the park and found a map that should lead us to a shrine we originally wanted to visit. While standing in front of the map, Emily balanced her soda bottle on her head and another guy came up, fascinated by her skills and took a picture of her. He wanted to take a photograph of me as well but I declined. On our way to the shrine we passed a gate that was closing and that was probably the way that would have lead us to the shrine. So what now? We continued walking and ended up at Harajuku station! Though neither of us wanted to go home yet so we continued and actually ended up at the Takeshita street! A famous shopping mile in Harajuku. It was already turning dark which made the street even more fascinating and beautiful! Everywhere little shops with clothes fitting the Harajuku-style and we actually passed a shop, that was entirely dedicated to the Kpop idol group Blackpink. I think the Japanese really like their new album bc they play their song Ddu-Du Ddu-Du EVERYWHERE. And a Blackpink-truck didn't only once drive past us. Emily bought a T-shirt she felt obligated to buy (They had pretty cool stuff and I regret not buying one for myself). Oh and there was another shop with anime merch haha. We made our way back to the station to go home because we both had a long train ride ahead of us. Poor Emily though didn't really want to return because she has severe problems with her host family, which was the reason why we went out in the first place. She didn't want to stay too long with them. But now luckily she talked with the JAC instructor and can now change families at the end of the week! I hope everything turns out well for her.

When I arrived back home it was already almost 9pm and I was so exhausted. It was a long and very hot day (36°C!). Though I had a lot of fun!

(pictures will be uploaded later bc my storage is full and i cannot access my gallery, whoopsie daisy)

August 24th

So the last days I was just lazy, that's why I didn't update anything. 

Yesterday though, my host mom and I planned an alternative way how I can get to school. It's not such an extreme detour like the one with bus, train, train, bus  but still takes time. About 1 1/2 hours?. I have to take two busses and then walk to my High School, Yokohama Suiryo. The first bus is pretty simple to get. I just have to take the one that brings me to Mitsukyō station. From the station onward I have to take another bus. There are different lines but they all have almost the same way? I don't get it completely. All I know is I have to get to either Kirigaoka Kōkō mae or Yubinkyoku. If I take the one going to Kirigaoka, I have to walk quite a bit (though not as long as back home in Germany). When I was out with my host mom we actually got a bit lost bc it wasn't the same way I took with my instructor last time. In the end we still found the school (by asking random people on the street). The way back is more complicated bc I have to walk (again) but not just to the next station. Even farther. Haaahhh. Marion has it so much better! She can just walk for 15 minutes and BAM she's at school. 

It was funny though, when we were in the neighborhood where my school is, a few students of Suiryo passed us and I got the urge to say "Hey guys in a few weeks I will be one of you! We'll see each other next Saturday!" (that's when I have to introduce myself to the whole school)

Now I always have to calculate my time, because if I really get into the Volleyball Club, then they might have morning practice which means I have to be earlier at school. Not just at 8.30.

August 20th &21st

Yesterday was a very very lazy day. Both my host parents had to work so I was alone at home. Plus dog. All day long I watched anime, read manga and fanfictions and it was really relaxing. Though in the evening one problem occurred. My host mom told me she couldn't make it to the meeting today at my school. And I had no idea how to get there! So my parents had to explain what bus and train to take bc they didn't know the direct route by bus, hence I have to take a detour. The original plan was that I meet up with my instructor in front of the school gates but we changed plans and set a meeting point at the station. 

So today. I had to get up at 6.40am to take the bus at 7.30am. In the end I was in a hurry and forgot to bring a bit more money with me so I ran back to my room to get some and in my haste just put it in my jeanspocket. That turned out well. 

When I got to the bus stop I noticed the money wasn't in my pocket anymore and I couldn't remember if I had put it somewhere else. That were freaking 10.000 ¥ (almost 80€) and I could just hit myself repeatedly for my dumb mistake. Let's just pray the bill slipped out of my pocket while I was still at home, bc I had to bend down to tie my shoelaces. 

Still, I learned my lesson. Always. ALWAYS put your money immediatly somewhere where it can't fall out.

Update how it went at school will be published later.

7.58am: I forgot to bring the sheet with all the information about my school. I hate myself so much rn

9.00 am: I have to wait for my instructor until she arrives at the station at 9.40am. so I put in my earphones, playlist on shuffle, song comes up: Tell me what to do -Shinee's never been so right

1.20pm: back home, no money, i hate myself, learned my lesson

now about the school: it's big. about 900 students, excluding the university students. My school has a Junior and Senior Highschool and a university! The person in charge for exchange students is very friendly and explained everything to me in a mix of Japanese and English. I still understood the most important things. Like how I have to introduce myself 3 times: first in front of the teachers, then in front of my class and then, after a fire drill, I have to say hello to all the students. Good thing I don't have a big problem with talking to many people. Though 900...are a lot. 

Oh guess what! I can play in the school's Volleyball team! YESSS!

One problem is existent: School uniform. It is freaking expensive. The skirt costs over 14.000¥ for example! (I could really use these 10.000¥😣😖😭). The school's supervisor said that he will look for one that fits me but....yeah who knows. What I have to buy are shirts/blouses, socks, sports wear...okay in hindsight that is almost the whole uniform...never mind. They told me I should just buy the winter stuff and fold up the sleeves.. Oh and I have to buy shoes. And get a proper bag bc I ain't walkin' 'round town with that hideous yellow STS backpack. I'm sorry. 

Another thing! Apparently I can choose my own subjects! What they offer I don't know. Let's hope it won't involve Chemistry, Physics or Mathematics. 

August 18th & 19th

Yesterday was nothing special except the restaurant we went to. Together with Mari (the oldest daughter) and her family we went to a sushi restaurant. Though it wasn't like the one last week. It was a traditional Japanese style restaurant! With waitresses in Kimono and a few private rooms for customers (but we were sat at a 'normal' table). We even had to take our shoes off before climbing onto the bench to sit down. And they had a big aquarium right next to me, though I am not really sure if that was the fish for their dishes or just decoration. The food was super delicious! I had Tempura and fish and of course sushi. I really loved it! 

After the restaurant my host parents and I walked home, stopping by at the supermarket, while Mari, her husband and little Aya-chan drove home by car. 

Today, Marion, I and Minami, the girl we got to know at the Hanabi last week, went to Kinshichō. I had to take the train and went for my  Tokaido line to get to Tōkyō station and from there take the Yokosuka-Sobu line to Kinshichō. Yeah that turned out well (not). I kinda got lost and totally confused at Tōkyō so I did the most inconvenient thing possible: take the Yamanote line to Akihabara and from there onto the Chūō-Sōbu line to Kinshichō. In the end I was 10 minutes late, but still arrived at my destination. First, we went to a fancy Italian style restaurant and ate pasta which was unbelievably delicious! Finished with lunch, we went to the Tokyo Skytree, passing a Jazz festival during our walk. The music sounded fun! At a shopping centre right next to the Skytree we had Kakigori which is shaved ice with syrup, in our case strawberry. The portion was HUGE and we all had to share one or else nobody would have made it through one by themselves. Later we bought snacks and drinks and went to Minami's home (which was freaking cool! From the outside you don't expect much but when you get in, WOW! Modern but also traditional. Impressive.). Her mother was really nice and very interested though Marion and I were a bit shy. We ended up watching an anime together: Sakamoto desu ga? and it was really funny, gotta watch more of that (Update: I finished it not even a week later). At 5.20pm Marion and I had to go home bc else it will be too dark and late so we made our way back to the station and together we took the Yokosuka line (now I know which one it is). I was at home by 7pm and ate with my host mom dinner (I ate too much today) and now I am laying in bed, totally drained.

August 17th

Today was the last day of the orientation/Welcome Camp-programm. (*batchi batchi*). We folded origami with a few Japanese girls who want to go to America as exchange students. After that we had a looooong break. Like seriously, almost 2 hours! I didn't eat anything bc it was too early for me. So in the end a few friends and I sat together, talked, played anime quizzes (so many "guess the anime opening vids on YouTube"!) and drew into Tiffany's notebook, because she collects drawings and all. Eva drew an OC and he was SO. BEAUTIFUL. OMG. Like he just came out of a manwha (Like Killing Stalking) ! After lunch break Terui-san wanted to talk to every student in private to discuss some individual points. With me we just decided on a meeting to got to my school together next Thursday. 

When everyone was done, Marion, Eva and I went to a Karaoke Bar in Shimbashi. We had so much fun! The first song was Unravel, the Tokyo Ghoul opening. And then we sang History maker, the Yuri on ice opening. I also picked songs like found and lost (Banana Fish, btw a great anime!!!! and one of my fav songs!!!),Teenagers by MCR or I'm a believer by Spyair. And of course a lot of Kpop songs. Marion and I chose, e.g. If you by BigBang, to copy Jungkook and V from BTS, who also have a video how they sing that song together, lol. We didn't always know the lyrics, bc they only had the hiragana (or katakana for foreign songs) on the display and we can't read that fast but who cares? As long as it sounds like it everything's okay! After we were done, my throat was actually a bit sore bc we screamed a lot. Well a few songs included screaming. We wanted to go to a café but didn't find anything appealing, so in the end we went to a 7/11 and then parted to go home. 

August 16th

Thank god my train didn't get delayed today. Well, but that meant I had to do my presentation. Yeiii. It wasn't the worst but..it could've gone better. Luckily not a lot host families came so you couldn't embarrass yourself completely. Because there are LOT of Germans (10! but not all from the same organisation) a few topics were addressed more than once, though I focused more on local sightseeing spots that are nearby my hometown. Some other people from Germany started talking about how Berlin got split in 1961 and so on but honestly, who, except for the Germans, cares? This was supposed to be a simple, short presentation about our home country, not a History lesson for German 10/11th graders. And I have to be completely honest. I am not very fond of the Germans that came with the other organisation. They are so freaking disrespecting! Additionally they fulfill almost every stereotype. So annoying. 

August 14th an 15th

Yesterday nothing special happened so I wanted to combine these 2 days. The only remarkable thing was that, when I was on my way back from the station to the bus stop, I had to get off one stop before because the police was there and nobody could pass? It was strange. So a policeman stepped into the bus and told the driver and then they asked (ofc in Japanese) who has to get out at Okazubashi and I understood that and raised my hand! So proud of me😂. What else..right, we went to the local immigration office (or something like that) to register my residence card. Everything went well except...they forgot to give me my card back so we had to come back today to pick it up. 

Today. Oh Lord, today was just exhausting and not my best day. Shortly after 8am I walked down to the bus station. So far so good (though I still don't get the paying system, I'm trying out every version there is while observing people how they do it). Got to Totsuka station and to the right platform to get to Shimbashi. 

Then I had to wait. A very long time. Finally my line arrived. I got in. And waited. Someone spoke through the intercom and made an announcement. Some people got off the train, the train that still had yet to depart. Others were just sitting there. And I got extremely nervous. What was happening? I wanted to ask a guy next to me, but he didn't speak English. Yey. So I got out of the train. Went back in again. Got out. Maybe another line will take me to Shimbashi? Nope, the other train on the platform didn't come. I went back into the other and finally the train departed. Everything went well until Kawasaki. 

Again. The line didn't go on. Then it stopped just before Shinagawa and in Shinagawa as well. Until I finally got to the JAC office. It was like 10.45am or so? We had to meet at 10 to go to the Edo-Museum together. So I got into the office and they told me we had to wait for 2 other students. The plan was to wait for them at Shimbashi hence one of the instructors and I went back to the station. One guy could meet up with us, his train also got delayed, and we both took the train by ourselves to get to the station where the others could pick us up to go to the museum. At last we arrived at our destination. It was 12pm. I was travelling for 4 hours in total. To be at the museum for 1 1/2h and then return home. 

The museum was fun and interesting though, they had a lot of requisites and you could even recreate some tasks, like carrying barrels or sit on an old bycicle (which is not very comfortable). And I met a guy, who was apparently accompanying our group, and he knows VLD and watched it himself! And he said his friends fangirl/fanboy over it hard. He noticed my phone wallpaper and asked me. I was so happy that I sucked in my breath really hard and had to cough afterwards. 

Now I am back home, after getting back my residence card and I am just so freaking tired. I practically inhaled the ice coffee I had today and now I probably won't be able to sleep this night, even though I am so exhausted.

Oh god and tomorrow is the presentation we had to prepare about our country/home and I already know I have to rewrite it again 'cause it's really bad.

Now some side stories to lighten the day: 

Did I mention my host family has a dog? His name is Coco, 12 years old and blind. Though he can walk pretty safely through the apartment. My host mother has a backpack for him and he loves it when she puts him in there, carrying him around on her back. The dog falls asleep instantly. He also took a liking to just sit or lay down in my room. 

I've been asked and addressed twice how I can use chopsticks so well. The explanation: My sister and I have been tought by a Chinese person. 

I have to dye my hair a 4th and maybe also a 5th time before school starts

Japanese children are constantly staring at me. Be it the little daughter of my oldest host sister or just random kids on the train. One time that little boy across from me didn't even blink and it was really weird. Is it my hair? Height (cuz I feel so tall between everyone else it's so cool!)? Or just bc I am a foreigner?

August 13th

I did it! I got to the right bus and train. Though every other passenger probably thought I am a Baka Gaijin.(Stupid foreigner)

I couldn't sleep very well last night because I was really nervous so I fell asleep at 12.30am and had to wake up at 7am again. After getting ready I went down to the bus station. So far so good. The bus arrived and I got in. On the wrong entrance. It was not in the back but the front. In addition I didn't really understand how to pay. Do you have to get a ticket or just hold the suica card against the peep-thing? and do I have to hold it against the peep thing twice when I get on and off? I tried to watch the other people but it's actually pretty difficult. Let's see how it'll work out tomorrow. The train though was no problem, I just have to look around and see where I am. I went to the office and there we had Japanese lesson. After lunch break we all went to the Zōjōji-Temple. The scenery was incredible, with the Tokyo Tower in the background and the temple itself was beautiful. Problem was it was SO HOT. We were just sweating all the time. In the end some of the exchange students sat together and we talked a bit. Some students from one group, they are all staying at the same host family which is crazy (14 people in one house!), were discussing how they can't decide if they want to go with the others to a KPop karaoke bar in Korea town or not. So they asked us what to do. It was a passionate discussion XD. We were allowed to go home anytime we wanted to, hence me and 3 other exchange students went back to Shimbashi station to get back home. We were too tired to do anything else. I got to the right train and the right bus (still confused with the paying system). The sky went pretty dark, foreshadowing a storm. Just after I got off the bus it started raining. Luckily I didn't have to walk that long, so I was spared from the worst. I was the first who got home (with a few using-the-key probs) and my eldest host sister came in after me, little baby with her. My host mother came later from shopping and brought cake! So we all ate cake and are now watching TV. I noticed that the Japanese watch a lot of TV and it's even on when no one is actually really paying attention? 

Oh well, that's also a source to learn Japanese.

August 12th

Today was the first time I felt homesick. 

Though let me start from the beginning.

We woke up at 10 and went to the bus station at 11. Our host mother, Marion, and I. From there on we took the bus to Tsurumi station and met up with Terui-san, one of the instructors at JAC. In a restaurant we had lunch but unfortunately I picked the wrong choice. It was some kind of stew? No, not really, Idk what it was. What I do know is that it was made out of rice, mushrooms, onions, beans, seaweed and...raw egg.... Since I've been to Japan I haven't been very picky about my food (I'm not even a vegetarian anymore) but still, from such a big menu I could choose something, it had to be something with raw egg. Just no. Still, I couldn't just say I won't eat it. So I picked out the mushrooms, onions and so on and then left over the rice bc that was the worst part. After I've been asked why I won't eat anymore, I blamed my nervousness about meeting the new family. At least that was half true. 

After lunch we parted. I went with Terui-san to the station and Marion and Mishima-san back home. At Totsuka station we had to wait until my host father could pick us up so I asked Terui-san where I can buy an adapter for my laptop's charger. We found one with the help of a shop assistant...yeah my charger doesn't fit. It wasn't very expensive, only 140¥ so (about 1,20€) but it's still irritating. After the tech store we went into a book shop because I was curious if Japanese book shops have English books. They do! Though the selection was a bit spare. In the end I ended up in the manga section (Where else?) and they had sooo many! I have to come back, especially since one manga I found there has Furigana and I really like the series the manga volume is from. In addition that volume hasn't been published yet in Germany. Jackpot! At this point I'd like to apologize to my friend Laura F., back in Germany, who also enjoys that series and who borrowed the translated manga from me. You'll have to read it in Japanese or buy it yourself😆 

At 3pm I finally met one of my host parents. Okada-san picked Terui-san and me up and together we drove to the home, where I will be staying for 3 months. It's a pretty apartment, quite big, and the bus station is not far away. I only have to walk like 5 minutes max.. Terui-san did all the necessary formalities and then she went home. I unpacked my suitcase (I have my own room!). While unpacking my stuff I found a little letter from my sister, saying that she'll miss me but wishes me a good time. That made me homesick, especially now that everything is new and I am actually by myself. In addition my best friend's 18th birthday is today and I can't celebrate with her (again). Happy Birthday, Han❤ 

Then dinner was ready. The eldest daughter of the Okada family visited together with her husband and their 4 months old daughter. They were very friendly and the baby was really cute (kawaii)! We ate and watched TV. The food was Japanese style and, in comparison to my lunch today, really delicious! After the young family left I sat at the table and my host mother showed me a few art works she did. She is very talented and does various kinds of art. For example, she painted beautiful flower patterns on the wooden furniture and she also does Ikebana, the art of flower arrangements. 

Tomorrow I have to leave at 8 o'clock in the morning and take the bus and train to the JAC office all by myself. So I am a bit nervous. Let's just pray I won't get lost.

August 11th

Remember how I wrote in my last post that I'm going to stay up late to watch my series? I was awake until 4.30am, bawling my eyes out and trying not to wake anyone. 

So the result was I woke up at 12pm today. Whoopsy Daisy. 

Today's plan was bringing my suitcase to the post office and send it to the JAC office, so I don't have to carry it around tomorrow when I meet my actual host family for the next 3 months. I packed my laptop in it and now I'm praying it won't break during the transportation. It's covered with my hoodie and a few jackets but still....

After giving my luggage up we returned home to get ready for the Hanabi, a summer festival. Marion and I didn't really know what to expect but what we experienced definitely didn't come into our minds! At the train station we met up with a friend of our host mother and together we took the train to Minato, Tokyo. It was unbelievably full and the security staff and the police had to regulate the traffic. Finally we got out of the subway and went into a building and met a few (one not Japanese) people in the elevator who got off on the same floor and we all went into an office. There we met other people, some were the same from the workshop last week, and they all put out food from Pizza Hut and KFC and all and we started eating. Marion and I were really confused. 

In the end the we just sat down and ate pizza and drank ice tea with the others. The non Japanese guy was sitting across from us and we started talking, a Japanese woman joined us and we talked about communication, language differencies and so on. I love these kinds of talks ':D! The Japanese woman was very interested.

Some time later everyone suddenly got up and we followed them to the elevator. 

The lift went all up to the rooftop. From up there, I think it was the 9th floor, we had a great view. The street was heavily crowded and the city looked so impressive with all the bright lights around you. We watched a big firework for half an hour and after the finale we went down back to the office and met up with the others again. There Marion and I met Minami, she is already a university student. We talked about the different school systems and I explained the German system to her. I'm not quite sure if she understood everything because it is really, really complicated. She asked me for my LINE code so we can discuss a date to meet up again, She invited us to be our sightseeing guide in Tokyo! 

We returned home at 10.45 pm but couldn't get ready for bed because I had to dye my hair and needed Marion's help with that. My hair and  humidity just won't go together. I hope it'll work out.

August 10th

Now that the typhoon passed we were able to go to the JAC office like usual. In the morning we had Japanese lessons. They parted us into two groups but that actually was pretty pointless bc in the end we all did the same things? They just reversed the parts we had to learn, so before the break my group 'read' a text about Japanese people going to England in the 1870s and we also went through the topic how to ask our host parents about their names' meaning. After the break we wrote down a few Kanji characters. 

After lunch break a woman from Bosnia, I think, told us (again) how different Japan is and what rules we have to follow in the Japanese society. We also wrote a small invitation for our host parents to come to our presentation about each other's countries. Our instructors want us to talk in Japanese but I am probably going to introduce myself in Japanese and then continue in English. Or I will have to use Google Translator. After writing our invitations we got more information about our High Schools. What to buy, what not to buy, when school starts. Apparently I have to show up on September 1st but that's a saturday! The school website didn't say anything about having school on saturday. I asked about that and the answer was, maybe it's just a special occasion to meet the teachers? Gotta ask the school by myself when I have my first appointment. 

Marion and I went straight back home after the Welcome Camp finished. On our way back I bought hair coloring bc the humidity here destroyed my hair completely. I've dyed it back to its original color 2 times but no, the Japanese weather apparently has other plans with my hair. 

At 5.30 we went, together with our host parents and sister, to a sushi restaurant. They had a LOT of sushi and at first it was pretty difficult to get the plates off the queue but eventually I managed. Many were very delicious but there were also a few kinds of sushi I didn't really like. 

So now we are back at home and I'm gonna stay up late because the new season of my current favourite cartoon, Voltron:Legendary Defender, came out on Netflix and 13 episodes, each 20 minutes long, do require some time.

August 8th and 9th

Yesterday 8/8/18 we had as usual the Welcome Camp. The weather was turning quite bad, caused by the upcoming typhoon. At the JAC office we discussed certain rules we had to follow during our stay in Japan but it was actually nothing new and a lot were just pure logic. When a typhoon is announced and the weather is bad, the trains and busses stop driving so we were allowed to go home earlier. On our way back we met a nice old man on the bus who asked us in English (!) where we came from and how long we will stay in Japan. He was surprised when we told him that our stay lasts 10 months and that we are here to visit a Japanese High School. When I told him I was from Germany he reacted happily because he has traveled to Germany 10 years ago on a few buisness trips to Munich! He also asked us what our favourite Japanese food is and some things like that. It was fun to meet such an interesting person.

Today we didn't have to meet up at the office for the Welcome Camp because of the typhoon. Hence Marion and I were able to sleep in! We actually slept until 11am. Oops. The day was pretty relaxing. Our host mother took us to go shopping at the super market, pretty normal and after we arrived back home we discussed the differences between French, German and Japanese. It was fun! 

During dinner our host father turned on the TV and found a channel that played music videos, the current series was playing Kpop! Marion and I are really big Kpop fans so we sang along a bit (okay actually  A LOT). So after we finished the channel aired some special MV program and it was all about BTS Music Videos! We danced and sang and had so much fun! Our host mother was surprised we knew that much, haha. 

August 7th

On Tuesday after the Welcome Camp Marion, Tiffany (Tahiti), Eva (Norway) and I decided to go to Akihabara. One of our greatest decisions. It's just overflowing with the Japanese pop culture and really impressive. Ads and stores everywhere! A lot of course about anime and manga. Marion and Eva had like a tarte (?) to eat and I tasted it, too. It was delicious! Our first stop was at an arcade. It was crazy. So many games! We played a few. Like drumming to anime songs (e.g. Sword Art Online, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Attack On Titan) and dancing to Kpop songs (I was really bad at that but a guy next to us danced as well and at such a high speed! He was SO GOOD). After the arcade we visited a few anime stores, looked at figures and idol cards. Tiffany led us to a 'hidden' manga store and it was crazy. They had SO MUCH! Sadly all in Japanese, but I still bought some. Maybe reading Japanese will improve my own language skills. I bought 'Today's Kerberos' and 'Haikyuu Vol.2'. They have Kanji but with Hiragana explanations. Additionally manga in Japan are so cheap! I paid like maybe 4 Euros in total? One floor above we found heaven. Yaoi heaven. Doujinshi heaven. Male idol heaven (though I'm not into Japanese idols (yet)). So many shelves full of manga for a female audience! With CDs, DVDs,...just everything your heart longs for. I bought a Yuri on Ice doujin here. We spent so much time in Akihabara that Marion and I arrived back home when it was already dark.

August 6th

On Monday we had a presentation in Tokyo's safety centre to learn everything about typhoons, earthquakes and fire and how to act correctly. First they showed us a short animated movie about children that kinda travel through time? The kids arrive at 3 cities in total, the first one was Fukushima with the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The second one was Kobe in 1995 and the last city was Tokyo in 1923. The movie was actually quite scary and really sad. Do they want to traumatize the little elementary schoolers and Kindergarteners??? Bc I am now. 

Our tour's first stop was at a typhoon simulator. We had to put on big boots and raincoats and a mask. The guide led us into a room and we had to experience heavy rainfall and strong winds. In the end my mascara was just flowing down my face. Oh and did I mention there was a camera team filming us? Luckily I didn't get onto TV, they cut me out. 

After that we learned how to use a fire extinguisher and had to go into another simulator to train how to get out of a room full of smoke. The last room was pitch black and I almost ran into a wall. 

When everyone made it through we were brought to the last simulator. The one for earthquakes. It was a platform that could be moved up and down and of course shaken to imitate an earthquake. On top of the platform was a reconstructed living room with a table in the middle. We had to go up in pairs and as soon as the platform started moving we had to hide under the table, waiting until the "earthquake" was over. The next task was getting a big pillow and, while shielding our heads with that, go to a door and open it. The simulator imitated an earthquake with the strength of 7 and I can tell you, it was not fun being shaken around and having almost no control of gravity. Let's hope we won't have to experience that kind of earthquake. 

(the next day when were in the office having lunch break there was apparently a small one but not everyone noticed, me included)

August 5th

Today we went to some kind of event in Asakusa. From what I understood it was some program for Japanes children to develop  global awareness. The kids were really cute! Normally, I'm not the greatest fan of children but these were just. so. freakin'. CUTE! Like I wanna squish their faces together! Their English was surprisingly pretty well for their age. They asked us, me, the other French student and an American, who also came to the workshop, what kind of movies we liked and what our favourite Japanese food is. When I was as old as them, so about 5 or 6, I was lucky if I knew "Hello" or "Good Morning"! The event lasted until 4 pm (We've been awake since 6 am!) and after that, we walked through the streets of Asakusa and visited the Senso-ji temple. There we drew Omikuji  and I got "Small Good Fortune". After that we took the train and went to a family restaurant to order dessert. I had a fruits yogurt. 

When we arrived back at home we finally got our suitcases! The organisation had to send the luggage to the houses directly. 

Tomorrow will be the first orientation day, we'll learn everything about safety during earthquakes.

August 3rd and 4th

My flight went off at 11.40 am and I flew to Amsterdam to get my plane to Tokyo and to meet the other exchange students. One is also German and the other two are
Dutch. We got along pretty well. The flight to Tokyo was long. About 13 hours or so. I couldn't sleep at all so I watched a few movies (The Shape of Water is a really weird movie, especially when the female lead looks like your math teacher) and listened to plane-music (They had Kpop and JRock!!!). We arrived at Narita Airport between 8 and 9 o'clock. It took us very long  to get through the passport control because we were underage? I don't know, because the staff didn't explain anything. We just had to wait for a looong time until somebody came and lead us to another control thingy. Soon we met up with the other exchange students and the coordinator and we went to the organisation's office in Tokyo. There everyone introduced themselves and we got a Japanese Sim Card for our smartphones. During the lunch breack we went to a convinience store but had to go into like 3 different stores because they all had sold most of their stock. The third one finally had some more Food and I bought a Daifuku, a bun filled with sweet bean paste. I really liked it! 

At 3.00 pm we met our host families. My actual host Family is still on vacation, so I will be staying with another French girl with her family until next Sunday, I guess. I realized my Japanese is really bad and the host mother is constantly talking in Japanese to us. I only understand the very simple things. It's actually pretty frustrating but it also motivates me to improve my Japanese fast. 

We went to bed early because we were so tired out and we had to get up early the next day.