Hallelujah!!!

Wow!! I never thought something so small could make me soo happy... I now have internet in my room :) AHHH!!!!! And this also means that I will have more time to update my blog a little more regularily (hopefully). So, stay tuned, enjoy life, and keep smiling!

~Whitney

Flowers, Fun, and Sun!

First off, let me just apologize for the lack of updates here! Until things start to get a little more regular, I imagine this is how it is going to be. I have so much to talk about!!! Let me just start from the top then...

This past week, I started many new things. Classes are getting going now, and I officially registered for my classes. I will be taking 4 core classes, a language class, and also doing an Advanced Laboratory Research project. The core classes I am going to take are Adjusting to Japan, Japanese Cultural Patterns, Japan's Aid to Education, and Gender in Japan. Adjusting to Japan and Japanese Cultural Patterns are related in a way, because they involve looking deeper into what it means to be Japanese, and the cultural history and uniqueness of Japan. Japan's Aid to Education will look at... the Japanese education system (if you couldn't guess ;)). Lastly, Gender in Japan is going to be a class about different roles that Men and Women play in Japan, and how these compare to other cultures as well. I am really excited about all of my classes so far actually! The Japanese class meets 4 times a week for an hour and a half each time. My favorite part of these language classes is that there is NO english at all, which is very good for my Japanese! As for my research project... I actually just met the professor this week, so I don't know exactly what I am going to be doing in the lab yet, but I will definitely update when I found out more!

I also started something else this week... I decided to join the Karate Club! I am soo excited! I really missed doing TaeKwonDo, and Karate already seems like it is going to be great. The Karate Club is pretty intense so far, and I am SO SORE!!! It meets 6 times a week, but don't worry! I am only going to go 4 times a week :) All of the people in the club seem really nice, and I like the chance to be around Japanese people more. Yay!!!

The last update before I talk about some more fun things is that I am going to start my English tutoring job soon. I don't know how often I am going to be tutoring right now, but it looks like just once or twice a week for 2 hours each. I am pretty excited about that, and also about having a little more of an income while being here :)

Okay! Now I can get into the fun stuff! This week, I got the chance to visit an island called Noko with a couple of my friends. This island happens to have on it one of the biggest and most beautiful garden areas I have ever seen! And the main attraction is this GIANT field of gorgeous flowers! I absolutely LOVED it! I mean, who wouldn't want to see this:



AHHH!!! I LOVED IT!!!! And believe me, the pictures can't even compare to the real thing!





To get to the island, we had to take a ferry over, which in itself was kind of funny (something about herding people onto a vessile just makes me laugh). Once we got to the actual island, we took a couple of pictures while waiting for the bus...





After taking a bus up the side of the mountain, we had to walk through a maze/path garden thing... which was also pretty beautiful.



After the field of flowers, we went to a "petting zoo" type thing, but there were only goats and bunnies. The goats were pretty sweet, but I have to say, I liked the bunnies better :)





After that, more goofing off (of course!) and watching a beautiful sunset to finish off a perfect day!







Ahh :) I still have so many pictures too, but I guess you guys will just have to wait to see those! Or send me an e-mail, and I will show you some :)

Okay, that's all for now! I have to get going and do some homework! (yay...) Ha ha!

~Whitney

Things are getting started...

Classes are finally starting today! I never thought I would be so happy to get back into school! I think these past 5 1/2 months of doing no school at all has really thrown me off. Well, not for long! Today I am going to a class called Adjusting to Japan. It’s the only class I have today, and then I have another one on Thursday, and two on Friday. I haven’t exactly decided if I really want to take all of these classes, but I am at least going to go for the first week. Language classes don’t start until Friday, so I think this week is more of a get-to-know-the-classes week.

Besides classes, I have still been having fun with all my friends here at the Kaikan. On Monday night, we had an all girls dinner party. Each girl had to bring a dish from their own country, and then we would share it with everyone else. I had the toughest time figuring out what to make that is “American” that didn’t involve an oven (which I don’t have)… So I was going to just stick with good old mac’n’cheese, but I couldn’t find any cheddar cheese in the store!!! They had all this fancy French cheese, but no plain cheddar. So, I had to change my idea, and I ended up just making a big pot of spaghetti. Everyone liked it, so I guess that went over okay J There was food from 8 countries (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Korea, France, Germany, Sweden, Japan, and America), Wow! It was all soo delicious!



Did I mention that I got a bicycle??? Here, check it out! I am totally in love with it!!! And I have also rediscovered my love of cycling :)



Yesterday was a holiday of sorts, and so there were no specific plans that any of us had. I ended up doing a lot of walking and biking to explore more of the city, and last night, I got to have some fun with pictures J I went with 3 other people to the other side of the bay (the opposite side of the beach), because the view there was much more beautiful. You could see so many lights, and their reflections on the water!



After I took some of those pictures, I showed the other people how I like to goof off on my bicycle, and so they took a picture of it:



Yeah, I know I’m goofy, but I am proud of it! And, I’m not the only one…



He he he J

Okay, well, I think that’s about it for now! Don't forget to check out my room below!

~Whitney

My Room!

As promised, I will post some pictures of my room... In fact, why don't I just give you a tour? He he he

This is the entrance to my room. Watch your step! There is a place for you to take off those dirty shoes.



Now, if you look to your left, you'll see my bathroom. I don't know if I have ever seen a more compact bathroom in my entire life... but I guess it serves it's purpose :)



Now, if you'll keep walking, and look to your right, you will see my desk area. This is where almost everything is in my room: my computer, my clothes, my food, my dishes, my books, my cute little penguin box and my stuffed animals :) I like it just fine.



If you'd look directly to your left, you'll see my bed. It's simple, but comfortable, and cute too. Do you like the color coordination? :D



If you'd like to take a closer look at my walls, you can see my attempt at making my room a little more like home...





Looking straight ahead you'll see the view out of my window, out onto my balcony and beyond!



He he he :) I hope you enjoyed the tour...



And we hope to see you again!



Bye for now!
~Whitney

Party!

He he he :) So, one of the weird things about being here in Japan is that classes haven`t even started yet! Core classes start this Wednesday, and Language classes start on Friday. 　So, you can imagine that all of us in the JTW program (Japan in Today`s World) were getting a little bored... So, we decided to have some fun!

Two days ago we decided to have a little get together to celebrate the Chinese autumn festival, and we called it our Mooncake Party! It was soo much fun! We ate mooncake







and had chinese and taiwanese tea,



and we got to sit and laugh together for hours!

We played this silly hand game that really caught on. It`s a game that involves some hand motions and saying things that go along with the motions, but it`s a little hard to explain in text... Anyways, we played this game for 2 hours, and at first, the penalty for messing up the game (which happens quite often) was to eat a raw tea leaf on top of a little piece of mooncake. That wasn`t so bad... but then the mooncake ran out! So, we had to come up with something else. We decided that if you messed up, you would just have to eat a raw tea leaf... YUCK!!! It was soo bitter! But, that just made the game that much fun. After that, we decided to walk over to the beach just sit for a while. It was rather chilly, so I couldn`t stay too long, but it was still very beautiful.

Yesterday, we also had a "party" of sorts. A couple of us had decided at the mooncake party that we wanted to make our own curry, and so we decided to make it as a group. Well, Steven and I were in charge of the curry, so we started preparing for about 7 people. Well, when everyone started to arrive, there were a lot more than 7 people! About 11 people ended up coming, and didn`t have quite enough curry, or rice, but we managed! It was pretty fun!

Man, I like this so far :) Oh! And on a side note, I got a bicycle! It is a little old, but that is because it was an abandoned bicycle. I got if for free, and it is in pretty good shape (all I had to do was pump up the tires). I am in love with it already :) I got to ride it all over the place yesterday, and today too, and I am really excited about it.

Well, that`s all for now! I`ll try and post some pics of my bike and my room next time!

~Whitney

My First Week of Japan!

Wow! Sorry for the lack of updates in this past week. I haven't had access to internet, except yesterday and today, so this is the first chance I am getting to write! Oh well, I guess I should probably tell you about what I've been up to.

I got to Japan on September 29th, at 10 pm. The flight was LONG, but somehow I managed to survive. Movies and naps were good, and I also had a great view from my window seat as we flew over Alaska.



It was soo beautful!!! And then when I got to Japan, and finally to Fukuoka after my short lay-over in Tokyo, I arrived at my home for the next year. My room is in an International Dormitory (Kaikan), and I am on the first floor. My room is actually more like an apartment, with a bathroom and everything, but I will post some pictures of it later.

The first day in Fukuoka consisted of meeting my Tutor (Kanae, she is SO CUTE and really nice too), and then going shopping with her for some "essentials". You know, things like toilet paper, tissues, food, and some air deodorizer. After that, I met of with Hiroki (the leader of the Tutors), and he took me and Steve (another student from Michigan) to the 100 yen store... It's like a dollar store, but only 10 times better!! I am convinced you can buy anything you need from the 100 yen store :) Anyways, I was really jet-lagged for the rest of the day, and I ended up going to bed at 4:30 pm. BIG MISTAKE :) I woke up at 3am the next morning (quite a bit confused) and had to stay up for the rest of the day.

Sunday, though, was the start of a really fun and exciting orientation. We had to take a long bus ride to even get to the place we were staying at, but it was worth it. We went to Kuju Training Facility, and when we were finished with the orientation part of the night, we got to play volleyball and basketball in the gym, watch Japanese TV, and go in the authentic Japanese hot baths (onsen). Now, the onsen actually made me quite nervous... If you don't know about the customs of onsen, let me explain: Onsen are natural hot spring baths that are meant to relax you and promote general well-being. However, before you can get in the onsen, you have to shower. After the shower you can go in the onsen. Now, this is not the uncomfortable part. The uncomfortable part is that when you shower, it is a communal shower with everyone else who uses the onsen, and when you go in the onsen, it has to be with no clothes on whatsoever, and it is also communal (separate sexes though). This being my first experience with onsen, I was too embarassed to try it while everyone else was in the onsen, so I went to the onsen at 6:00 in the morning and got to use the onsen by myself before everyone else woke up :) Not quite the authentic experience, but I thought it was a good introduction to onsen.



After staying at Kuju for one night, we got on the bus again and headed toward Mt. Aso (an active volcano near Fukuoka). We were going to stay in a place called Aso Farm Village, but before that, we drove up to an observation deck that overlooked the valley area between the mountains. It was absolutely breathtaking. Pictures don't even do it justice!



After that, we went to a grass land that was near Mt. Aso so we could get a better view of that (we couldn't climb the volcano because of poisonous gases).





(See me in the picture?)
After Mt. Aso, we headed to Aso Farm Village, where we would be staying the night. We had an amazing dinner, and also got to stay not in hotel rooms... but in DOMES!!! :) They were pretty sweet! Little Dome house-like structures, about 300 of them in all, and we stayed in groups of 5-6 people in each dome. I loved it!



Now, Aso Farm Village had some pretty cool things, but my two favorites were the Light Forest and the Onsen. The Light forest was this tunnel of 5 million lights that was one of the most amazing (and romantic) things I have ever seen.



I loved it soo much! But something I enjoyed even more was the onsen! Now, Aso had a much wider selection of onsen than Kuju... There were the normal indoor onsen (some with bubbles, some just hot, and one icy cold) and then there were the outdoor onsen. I really enjoyed these :) There was a rock onsen, a green tea onsen, a wine onsen, a sulfer onsen, an onsen where you layed down, an onsen in a cave, and a couple other normal outdoor onsen. I absolutely loved every single one, and I went in every one too! The first time I went was the night we got there, and I went with the other girls from my room, but the second time I went was early the next morning. This, I feel, was my first real experience with onsen because when I went, I was the only white person there! And, I actually tried to have the full experience too... which did take a bit of swallowing my insecurities on my part, but was probably one of the best things I've ever done :)

Wow! This is a long post! Well, let me cut this a little short for now, and just say that as you can probably guess, I am having a good time here in Japan. I miss the States, but I know that I'll be back soon :) Talk to you all later!

~Whitney