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Hello again! It is time to get this thing up to date! Last time, I left off at what I was up to until mid October. Now, I will continue in chronological order to fill you in on the other two months.
Near the end of October, the JSP students were scheduled to visit an elementary school for a "cultural exchange" of sorts. We were asked for our preference for grade level, and I ended up being assigned to a 5th grade class along with two other students. When the day came, we traveled by bus to the school. As we approached, I looked out the window and thought "this looks familiar...". Suddenly, I came to a realization... it was Maika and Yuuka's school, te same place I had attended the Undoukai! I thought it was a funny coincidence... little did I know another surprise awaited. Maika is in 5th grade, so I had a 50% chance of being assigned to her class... and sure enough. Representatives from each class came in to call for the students, holding decorated signs with our names written on them. Maika had the sign with my name on it, and called my name... she must have volunteered for it. The two other students and I went to the class, and for half of the class period, had an odd question/answer session with the students. During the second half, we observed as they practiced kanji.
Not long after that, it was time for the JSP kansai (an area in western Japan including Hiroshima and Kyoto) trip. I will be going next semester, so I was among the few who did not go. Before the other students had left for the trip, there was a Halloween party at school that consisted of various fun activities, such as music, a contest, a haunted house, and food. I wore a lolita-ish outfit I had bought in Harajuku the previous day when I went there with a few friends. During that week, a previous student hosted by my host family named Jenny was in town and stayed with us. After being in JSP, she taught English in Japan and Taiwan. On Friday, Halloween, the two of us helped out with my host mom's Halloween party for her students, and then Jenny invited me to dinner with some of her Japanese friends, so I joined her. We chatted about various things, and it was interesting to hear of a previous JSP student's experience.
That weekend was TIU's Cultural Festival. I have often seen this type of school festival portrayed in anime etc, and it was just as fun as I expected. There was lots of yummy food and various booths and events being run by clubs and other groups. I went on both days. Each evening, there was a special celebrity show. The first night was a comedy show, with various comedians from TV performing. The next night was a talk show with a famous musician.
Not long after that, school became very intensive. In mid-November, all JSP students had to give "Nihongo Happyokai", Japanese presentations, in front of an audience of about 110 people. The purpose of these presentations was to show our host families, Japanese friends, and teachers our progress in Japanese. Students in the highest level had to give 7 minute speeches, but other students had the option of doing a skit or speech. I wanted to do a skit of some kind, but every other student in my class chose to do something solo, so I had no choice but to do so as well. I did a presentation on the story behind Christmas, since I had noticed Christmas decorations appearing already and thought the story might be interesting to Japanese people who had never heard it. In Japan, aside from a very small Christian population, most people see Christmas as a completely commercialized Holiday. It is all about parties, gifts, and pretty lights. How did I spend my Christmas in Japan? More on that later.
After the happyokai, it was the hectic finals period. Final term papers and studying for final tests took up most of out time. I had to do a debate in my history class on the use of the atomic bombs. For politics, I had to do a research project with a partner. I partnered up with my friend Alyssa. We, the only girls in the class, were the least politically inclined, but we managed to pull through. For Japanese class, I had to do an interview project. I was assigned to interview a cultural anthropology teacher, which made me happy because I find the topic fascinating.
Before the week of the final tests, a few other students and I took a day off from studying and went to an amusement pak called FujiQ Highlands. It is located at the base of mount Fuji, but unfortunately it was so foggy in the area that we could not see the mountain. It is mostly famous for two things: huge roller coasters and the world's largest haunted house. Can you guess which I was excited for? The coasters looked very impressive, but I can't stand the feeling of that type of ride, so I steered clear of those. I was most looking forward to the haunted house (actually a haunted hospital) but went on other rides as well. There are some themed areas, such as a Hamtaro area where we rode a cute ride, and Thomas the train land, which is for the lil' ones and we did not bother entering. We also went on a very tall swing ride, which to me was thrilling and as close to a roller coaster type ride as I will get. It was one of those rides where there are swings dangling in a circle like a carousal, but once you get on, it takes you high into the air. How high you ask? 59 meters, or almost 200 feet high! As you swing around at the top of the tower, you go up and down a bit as well. I felt like I was flying, and the only bad part was that it was so cold I lost feeling in my face. On the way to the haunted house, a few of us went into a place where we could listen to a scary story from within a standing coffin, with effects such as knocking on the coffin and surround sound within it, so you could hear things from all sides. Unfortunately the front was open (I wanted to be closed in!) but it was pitch black inside the room so you could pretend. Then we went to the haunted house. The atmosphere was very cool, since it is an actual building that could pass for an old hospital. We split up into groups of two, and my teammate and I wandered the dark halls and through various hospital rooms gone terribly wrong. Every now and then we would encounter a blood-covered doctor or patient, chasing after us like zombies. In the end, there were not as many actors as I would have liked to see, and it was not as scary as I had hoped, but it was cool to go through. Afterwards, as some others re-rode some coasters before the park closed at 5 (too early!) my haunted house teammate and I went into another attraction. It was a treasure-hunt type attraction, which seem to be fairly popular from what I've obsereved at Japanese amusement parks. The story was that Takeda Shingen's (famous sengoku jidai daimyo, yay!) love interest was kidnapped and we had to save her. We had to gather four armies, which was apparantly done so by finding 4 elemental treasures. We rushed around the maze of rooms with a battle fan that I touched to objects to search for the treasures. A couple times, all of our treasures we had collected were erased by other objects, and we had to start over. After finally getting all four, we were supposed to head into the final level. Everyone had the same amount of time to gather the treasures and make it through, and we almost didn't make it to the last room! The alarm was sounding and we had less than 30 seconds to rush up and down a flight of stairs. I slipped and almost fell down the winding steel staircase, but luckily caught myself. We had to unluck the door to the final level, and we made it in with 1 second to spare! It felt like an action movie... then I saw a room of crisscrossing lasers and felt even more so. We had 30 seconds to get to the end of the room and save the girl without touching any lasers. I am smaller than my teammate, so he told me to go ahead. I stepped over and crawled under lasers, and did not touch a single one, but I was being so careful that 2 feet away from the end, time ran up. So close! We failed to save the girl in the end, but it was a fun way to end our day at FujiQ. After that we had to leave, and I was sad I was not able to go on more attractions. Maybe I will have to go again next semester!
After the week of finals, there was closing ceremony. There was a limited number of traditional attire items (winter kimono for girls, haori/hakama for guys) available. Which students would wear them was chosen by a drawing. I was unable to wear one, but fortunately my friend Alyssa did. A few speeches were given, and we all received certificates of completion. Afterward there was a lunch party with the host families. That night, the final karaoke of the semester.
I lived with my host family for one week after closing ceremony. On Wednesday I joined the other students who will remain here in saying farewell to those returning home. Out of the 34 JSP students in attendance Fall semester, about 12 will be continuing in the fall. I heard that 9 new students will be joining us in the Spring. Only a few other JSP students are staying in Japan over the break, but luckily I still have friends, both American and Japanese, here to spend time with.
On Saturday I moved into my own apartment. My first time living on my own, in a place I found by myself, and it is in Japan! My host dad drove me with my luggage to my new place, a little closer to Tokyo. It is small but has what I need and slightly more: a bed, mini kitchen, bathroom, TV, internet, room heater and small loft. I have to go out to do laundry of course. I have gotten to know most of my surroundings, including the nearest post office, convenient store, grocery store, and department store, so I am set!
For Christmas, I was invited to a party at the apartment of 3 fellow JSP students staying in Tokyo. I joined with some Japanese friends and went there on Christmas eve. We spent the night eating, drinking, playing games, and watching movies. A few people and myself were having so much fun that we spent the night, and finally fell asleep sometime around 5 in the morning. We slept till afternoon on Christmas, and then went to Akihabara for lunch. One of the guy's mom is staying with them during her visit, and she wanted to do some shopping with her son in his favorite part of Tokyo. We looked around a bit, and then went back to the apartment to eat dinner and watch another Christmas movie. After that I went home, and somehow stayed up till around 5 again. At 1 am I realized it was Christmas morning in the US, so I contacted my mother and watched my family open gifts over video chat. I was expecting it to be a strange Christmas without my family, but in the end I was able to spend it with some great friends and talk to my family a bit anyway! It was different, but a Merry Christmas nonetheless.
New Year's Eve is approaching, and I am not sure what I will be doing yet. I have been very amused to see all the tiger-themed items around, because it will be year of the tiger (my zodiac sign) next year! Over the break, I will try to do some fun things, so I will have more to write about next time! Till then, Happy New Year!
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