The First Week

Link to Photos on the right side. -->

Hoia Hoia!
Berugii wa genki deska?
Currently I am already in Japan and everything's good and well. ^^
The 21st of August I took a plane flight to England along with my travel partner, a girl who is just like me, going to Japan with AFS. I never rode a plane before so it was very exciting. For those who want to share my excitement I filmed during the lift off only to find out later that it was not allowed. (movie comes later) The first plane to London was quite small. When we got high enough in the air it was amazing! We entered like a new world above the net of clouds. It was a fairy tale land made of fluffy snow as far as the eye could see. The sky was so blue and the clouds were so white, it was unimaginable. Except for those who also have rode a plane before. >,< It would remind the Belgians of De Troetelbeertjes.

Afterwards we landed in London. The flight took us an hour, but the clock said only 5 minutes passed. xD Somehow we had to go from one terminal to the other, which took us through an insane maze of alleys and hallways. Always following the purple arrow made us discover great things it did! Some parts seemed as abandoned as desert nomads would describe, only to pass 1000s of people within the next minute. With a bussride of 10 minutes and another 10 minutes of walking, we got to Terminal 3! Where there were not just 1000 people. But really a million gazillion 1000 people! A dozen of shops, and in the midst of all the chaos 1 big STARBUCKS.

After spending a half hour in here we were allowed on the plane which would take us to Japan. Here the first drops of Japanese influence arrived, since the crew was half English, half Japanese. Hearing Japanese all around me pleased my ears and made me calm down again after the chaoticness of the terminal. Planes are awesome! We could choose from over 60 movies to watch! One thing was strange though. My food didn't seem to digest until I landed. So after 12 hours we arrived in Tokyo! Then we had some walking, some waiting, some walking, some waiting, some luggage retrieving, some walking and some meeting an AFS girl who was waiting for us with an AFS sign. We followed her through alleys and busses again to arrive in a hotel in Tokyo.
There I met my roomate who was German, and some other people who also were from other countries. I didn't say much in the beginning I guess because I was pretty tired. The night before I had to leave I was up pretty late to make my luggage. So before I left for Brussels, I slept 2,5 hours. In the plane I only slept like 1 hour, and when I arrived in Japan it was waaay later then in Belgium, so in like 3 days I slept 3,5 hours... Therefor, the first day I was in Japan I had lunch, went to bed, slept 6 hours, woke up, had dinner, met some americans who just arrived, went to bed again and slept another 8 hours or so.

Japanese food is the best ever! It can be warm 3 times a day, and it always tastes good! The second day all the preperations began. We were with a total of 39 students, of which 19 were from the USA. I met a lot of people from all over the world! All the Japanese volunteers were very kind, and almost all volunteers could speak pretty good English. Everything was explained in English, so I feel petty for the 3 Spanish-only speaking people were probably put in their host families without any preperation. Let's all hope they have studied Japan a little at home! Ganbatte, Spanish no minasan! A funny thing about Japan is that they are very punctual, but also like to take their time. For the third day we had a scedual, which we later changed, we had to get up earlier, but eventually got a bit later on the busses to the train stations. But I didn't mind. ^^ In school you also have a 10 minute break between each lesson. So the last day of the weekend arrived and so I took the ShinKanSen to Aichi-ken, my province. We were quite loud in the train, and I also noticed no Japanese would ever speak loud in public transport. Even calling with a cellphone in public transport is considered very rude in Japan. (This rule doesn't apply in the Kansai Area I think) But we were still gaijin (Aliens) for a little while so we took the advantage of it. xD

Then the moment arrived where I met my host parents. So... I met them. Yay! In the beginning the father acted a little distant, but now it's already better. First we went to drink something in a bar, along with an AFS volunteer. After that we went into a car, and the father pointed at the drivers seat, and said dozo. I was like "What? Do I have to drive!?" Luckily that wasn't out loud, because I remembered that in Japan they drive left and sit right, as in England.
My host family is very used to having Ryuugakusei (Exchange Students) in their house. So they understand most of my crappy sentences. My house is a very typical Japanese small house, like almost every house in this town is. It rocks! I have a room of 6 tatami big, soiled with actual tatamis! I sleep on a traditional futon, and everything in my room can easily be stored away until nothing remains but 1 small table. My host brother, and 2 sisters indeed still live at home, but I think it's because this family has its own small business which is only 10 meters away from their house. So I guess it's just easy to stay with your parents then. It has always been cloudy here, but thank god it has been! Because I wouldn't know what to do with a clear sky. Everyday it has been around 30°C! I don't even want to know what that would be like with a clear sky. And it's not only warm, but very humid as well, though I got used to that pretty fast.

The third day, after I've had arrived in Okazaki, my LP (a person who I can turn to in times of depression or something), mister Ooyama-san, took me to an AFS camp here in Okazaki. There were a lot of students who were preparing to leave Japan, with AFS, in like a year. And there also were students who just came back after a year. It was kind of overwhelming. I had to introduce myself a lot (like twice), and then each time I got a lot of curious eyes on me and some of them were only like 5cm away from my face. "Eeeeeh? Gaijin neeee?" >,< But in the end it was very fun! I ate lunch there, and even played 1, 2, 3 Piano, or that is how we call it in Belgium. I also talked Dutch with people who came back from Belgium! Woohoo!
That evening was a legendary evening. Because I conquered one of my fears in this world. (Just a few more to conquer and I have none left! xD) We went with the family to a public bath. It's something which is very common in Japan. I was quite scared when they told me we were going. But eventually it was really nice! It's boys and girls seperated. It was really like a mini water-amusement park adventure! It had a sauna, an ice cold bath, and tons of inside and outside baths of all kinds. Those in which you sat, those in which you lied down, those which had bubbles, those which had none... In the end it was truely a day to remember! And may there come many more!

~~For more pictures click the link 'Photos' on the upper right side of this blog.~~