I Made It!

I don't really have time to blog much but I wanted to quick update everyone that I have in fact made it safely to Japan and that it is amazing here! It is very pretty and my family is very nice. I think this is going to be a great year.

Here are some songs I thought of while traveling to get here… I think they are pretty suiting. If you have read previous years blogs you might note that the last song on my list was already mentioned in a blog by Sam Estenson while he was traveling to Japan (because he too was going to Japan and because it is a meaningful song, it made it onto my list as well).

Send Me On My Way- Rusted Root
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGMabBGydC0

On My Way- Phil Collins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqKa942QtzQ

Can't Go Back Now- The Weepies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihj7zZyyUXA

Also, here are some pictures to hold you over until I have more time to blog.

Last meal in the US.

Last view of the US. The Mountains around Seattle were amazing.

This is Jin (pronounced Jean). He was my neighbor for the over 9 hour flight to Japan.

The ocean and clouds were very pretty. If you look closely on the bottom left hand side of the wing you can see my very first view of Japan- Jin said "I think that maybe it's Japan..." It was all very exciting!

The beautiful coast of Japan, I am not sure which city that is.

In the car on the way to a sushi restaurant right after being picked up from the airport. On the left is Hiroko (16yr old host sister who is leaving for Minnesota today on Rotary Exchange), Me, Shiho (19yr old host sister who is studying language-english- at a university).

First meal in Japan. This sushi had rice, of course, then sashimi (raw fish... not sure what kind), then some vegetables on top. It was very good but a bit messy to eat. Oh! This is the sushi that also had some sort of sauce on it and the sauce tasted like McDonalds BigMac special sauce- soooo good!

My house. A very cute and quaint, it is a traditional Japanese style home. As you can see, on the left there is no garage, just a little cover to park the one car under.

Silly jet-lag. I have gone to bed between 9pm-10pm each night and have woken up around 5am each morning. But hey, who can complain when I get a view of the sun rising over the mountains like that from my bedside window!

Hiroko took me to our school- Kanan High School.... it is a bit larger than the Northfield High School I am used too.

Some of the classmates I met. From the left top row- Kita Sensei, Tomoka, Hiroko, Nanami, and Yuka. Bottom left- Saho and Minako. They all seem very nice but they speak very quickly in Japanese, which its a bit hard to follow at the moment. It was a bit of a saving grace the both Hiroko and Kita Sensei speak a little bit of English.

Well, that is it for now. I have so much to say but so little time at the moment. Already, in the future I want to talk about food, driving, cultural comparisons, shopping, my house, school, staring, words I've learned, manors, and so much more!

Sayonara from Kawachinagano, Osaka, Japan.