Since yesterday I received news on where I'd be going to school, all I was waiting on was the news of my host family. That arrived earlier today and I have to say I'm pretty pleased! I'll be spending the first 6 months of my exchange with the Tomori family. The family consists of 4 people; Mother (Junko), Father (Hideharu), and two Sons (Hiroki and Fumiaki). They also have a pet dog! Hiroki and Fumiaki are 16 and 13 and they're interested in skateboarding, music, painting and reading. Which sounds interesting, I'm sure they're both great guys.
According to the information sheet I was given, Junko enjoys cooking which should be good, I can imagine. Unfortunately they can only host me for the first 6 months, so I might have to move to a new host family after the first 6 months. This could be interesting, it'll be good to live with different types of families. I'm looking forward to my stay with the Tomori family though, they seem like a really nice bunch.
They describe themselves as; kind, tolerant, cheerful, individual, tidy, independent and strict. Definitely a great blend of traits for a family to have!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Murasakino High School
Today I was told I'll be attending Kyoto's Murasakino High School this year. After browsing the school's site it looks like a great school, what did seem peculiar to me is the fact that Murasakino High School is one of the few schools in Japan without a school uniform. On one hand it could be a lot more comfortable and easy going to not have a uniform, but on the other I was pretty fond of my old school uniform being able to save me the trouble of picking outfits every day, as well as the fact that for a lot of schools in Japan the school uniform is a big deal. Anywho, on the bright side of things at least I know what city I'm going to be going to now!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
My new best friend
Since the date of my departure is growing nearer and nearer, there are tonnes of purchases that need to be made in the next few weeks. From clothes, to cameras and luggage. A few days ago I ordered this beauty - the Canon V80 Wordtank. A Japanese-English and English-Japanese translator with a massive amount of useful features.
One of the biggest bonuses of the V80 is the ability to draw on the screen using the pen tool, this would make searching for unknown 漢字 (Kanji) a lot easier than using the keypad and dictionary. These things aren't cheap but definitely worth it, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of my best friends once I'm in Japan.
One of the biggest bonuses of the V80 is the ability to draw on the screen using the pen tool, this would make searching for unknown 漢字 (Kanji) a lot easier than using the keypad and dictionary. These things aren't cheap but definitely worth it, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of my best friends once I'm in Japan.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
A few mundane updates
I wish I could post here more often at the moment, but the reason I haven't been doing so is that there is very little to update on. I haven't heard much else at all regarding my trip to Japan, which is really quickly approaching as I'll be leaving in a little over a month, if the estimate departure date I was given is correct. There have been a few mundane updates handed down to me from Student Exchange Australia, but it doesn't help much to ease the apprehension that's going through me right now.
Apparently all the students going to Japan with SEA this year have been assigned schools already, and possibly host families, but I still haven't been told where I'm going. The coordinator that was assigned to me wasn't sure either last time I heard, so it's all rather up in the air at the moment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something is told to me soon, because as soon as I know where I'm heading this will seem much more real and I might be able to plan things a bit better.
Pretty soon it will be time to start buying all those essentials I need for the trip; clothes being the main thing, but also things like a camera which I wouldn't be able to do without. At first I was planning to work part-time until my departure but sadly those plans actually never came into fruition. I applied at places, had trial shifts, and even got hired somewhere - it's a long story, but fast food chains in Australia are unbelievably slack. This said, I won't be able to go on any massive shopping sprees while I'm over in Japan, but I can't imagine I'll be dirt poor for the entire year either.
I guess the main reason I wanted to write something here was to just make sure you all know I'm alive and actually intending on posting, as soon as something does happen. With any luck the next month or so will be much more interesting. It's only a matter of time before I start getting more and more information about the trip.
Apparently all the students going to Japan with SEA this year have been assigned schools already, and possibly host families, but I still haven't been told where I'm going. The coordinator that was assigned to me wasn't sure either last time I heard, so it's all rather up in the air at the moment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something is told to me soon, because as soon as I know where I'm heading this will seem much more real and I might be able to plan things a bit better.
Pretty soon it will be time to start buying all those essentials I need for the trip; clothes being the main thing, but also things like a camera which I wouldn't be able to do without. At first I was planning to work part-time until my departure but sadly those plans actually never came into fruition. I applied at places, had trial shifts, and even got hired somewhere - it's a long story, but fast food chains in Australia are unbelievably slack. This said, I won't be able to go on any massive shopping sprees while I'm over in Japan, but I can't imagine I'll be dirt poor for the entire year either.
I guess the main reason I wanted to write something here was to just make sure you all know I'm alive and actually intending on posting, as soon as something does happen. With any luck the next month or so will be much more interesting. It's only a matter of time before I start getting more and more information about the trip.
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