So I'm a horrible blogger

I just realized that while I've been going haywire on Facebook, I have yet to post something here OTL.


So what I'm going to do is copy and paste all my statuses from Japan on here. Yes I'm taking the easy way out for now.

First morning there :
I was woken up at 6 45 this morning by two little voices yelling "One-chan Ohayou! ohayouu~~~~ Okite! Asobou yo! " (Morning big sis! morrniing~~ wake up! Let's play!) They were so cute..........ailabka. ALSO IT WAS SNOWING

then:
Sampo ni ikimasu! (going for a walk!) :)

The next day:
I had "nabe" for dinner! It was great since it's so cold outside. Also I visited a temple in my neighborhood, and soaked my feet in a traditional Japanese house! (Which has been turned into a hair salon lolol) The owner of the salon got all excited when I walked in, and he's going to give me an ukiyoe painting the next time I come :D I also went to the Toshokan (library) and got a library card! What else.... My host brother Kouga (We call him Ga-kun) Is four, and he refers to himself in the third person and loves power rangers (called go busters in Japan) :D

Also! during orientation I went to a sento (public bath) And although it was awkward as all hell for the first few minutes, it is now one of the high lights of my trip so far :DD

Next day;
So far today I have walked Kouga to school, registered as an alien at the town hall, visited a hyaku yen shoppu (100 yen shop, basically a wayy bigger / better quality dollar store) and bought some stationary / snacks / hangers and an umbrella. Then Banri , Mi-chan and I went to denny's , since Kouga's at school and Aki is at work. In about two hours I'm going to pick Kouga up from school, and he wants me to come with him to his swim class (He also wanted to sleep with me last night, he was afraid I wouldn't be there when he woke up) So! yeah, that's my day so far. XD

Next day:

aklhbvaklh My host dad and Banri just came into my room and gave me a paper that said this :

Because I am not a good speaker of English, I typed that we are thinking of you . Web can meet you and are very glad. We intend to try so hard that you have the best experience you cannot forget in Japan . You may be tense at first in my family and may be hard to ask us a question with out reserve, but please talk with us without reserve if there are questions and uneasiness . Please talk with me or Aki, when there is something which you want. You can eat snack foods, bread and fruits in a house, drink juice in the refrigerator, watch the television in a livingroom, us the PC, DVD player, etc without permission. We meet you and only two days yet pass, but we love you (In particular Kouga loves you very very much) And I'm sorry that Kouga and Banri are very noisy, they are excited for your coming!

You are a member of my family and I do my best for my family.
♥ Yoroshiku ♥

.....abildkbahla /FLAILS/
OH MAI GAWSH GUYS. FAKLHALBHALBA. My host family is awesome!

Next day :
So........my host mom and I rode bikes to my host school this morning. I thought, oh , yknow, no big deal, just a twenty minute bike ride, right?

WRONG.

SO VERY VERY WRONG.

45 MINUTES. SNOWING. ON TOP OF A FREAKING MOUNTAIN (SERIOUSLY) DALKHBKLADHBHALK
YEAH, TRAIN FOR ME.

Also.... I really appreciate America's dress code now. STOP BITCHIN' PEOPLE, JAPAN'S DRESS CODE IS CRAYCRAY.

Also, my schools eigo (English) teacher has REALLY god English. No accent at all. yayy~~ And my school's gonna have a chorus competition and they want me to join (I CAN'T SING ALKBHLAKHB A NOOO) and it's basically one of those "I'm gonna recommend this very politely but it's really not a question" type situation....so yeah. XD
THAT IS ALL. NOW TIME TO SLEEP BEFORE WE HAVE TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL FOR OUR BIKES

(It was raining when we got out so we got a ride home from some AFS volunteers, but .....our bikes are still at school OTL.)
Next day:
My host parents and I just watched a Japanese drama called "Akai Ito" together! :DD And an anime called "Ao no exorcist" . IT WAS SO MUCH FUN .
ALSO I HAVE TO MEET THE MAYOR. Sooo nervous aklbhlakhba

Next day:
Oh nooooooooooo Kouga has the flu and Aki-chan and I aren't feeling too hot..........we're super scared we caught it from him!! Cross your fingers, guys!! alkbhalhba D:

Next day:
So today I learned Japanese clothes are expensive as crud.
Spent about 165 dollars . Bought two school shirts (about 20 something dollars eaach) A tank top to go under those since they're see through (10 dollars) 2 sweaters to go over those shirts since it's really cold here (about 25 dollars each) an a thicker pink cardigan which was about 30 bucks. I got a scarf for like 12 dollars, and bought two t-shirts which were nearly 20 dollars each.

I know have 160 dollars left on me OTL. And my host parents want to take me to Tokyo next weekend and go shopping all day, before heading to a Ryokan (Onsen--hot springs) at night. lakhblkahblah
I'm screwed.
But on the bright side, at least now I'm warm!

ALSO I'M GOING TO BE ON JAPANESE T.V ON APRIL 16TH AKLBHALBKA /FLAILS/ /FREAKS OUT/ OHMYGOD

THERE WAS THIS GUY BEFORE WE WENT INTO THE STORE AND MY HOST PARENTS WERE LIKE "OMG! STOP HIM STOP HIM TELL HIM WE HAVE A RYUUGAKUSEI (EXCHANGE STUDENT) SO MY HOST DAD DID AND THE DUDE WAS DRESSED UP LIKE A TRADITIONAL SAMURAI SO I THOUGHT HE WAS AN ENTERTAINER OR SOMETHING AND THEY WANTED ME TO TAKE A PICTURE WITH HIM BUT BOOOYYY WAS I WRONG HE WAS A FRIGGING T.V REPORTER AKLBHBKLALAHA SO I GOT ASKED QUESTIONS (MOST OF WHICH I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND BUT JUST PRETENDED TOO, WORKED OUT PRETTY WELL XD) AND HE DID SAY I WAS VERY BEAUTIFUL AND WOULD SURELY BE POPULAR IN MY HIGH SCHOOL AND HE TOLD ME WHAT ANIME HE LIKED AND ALKHBJLFKAHBAKHFBLAHBLAHKBA

Next day:
I think I finally found something I don't like about Japan : THEIR ROADS ARE WAYYY TOO NARROW. Q.Q

Everytime I take a walk/ride my bike I feel like I'm going to get ran over XD haha

Next day:
my little host brothers refer to themselves in the third person. I think it's super adorable, but for the first few days I was here it confused the crap out of me. Took me a second to realize they were talking about themselves XD hahaha fail.

Next day:
So I dunno if I've told you guys this yet, but yesterday I went out with an AFS Japan's representative's daughter and some of her friends. Her name is Ayana-chan and she's super nice. Anyways, I had to meet up with the person who lived closest to me at Shimosuwa station.

The person was a guy. kalhbkba. His name's Yuuta (Yuuta-sempai) and he's the seitokaichou (student council president) so I was kind of (really) freaking out XD I was super nervous. So I had to meet him at the station at 12:20 , and we would walk around and hang out until 2:30 when the train left.

So . We talked about the weather XD No joke.

Then Ayana met with us at Macku (mcdonalds) and we all walked to the train together, where we would meet up with the last member of our party, Yuuri-chan. Yuuri is super short, and really cute and nice. :D She's also the fukutaichou (vice prez)

Soooo then we went and took purikura (basically a photobooth on crack, it is amazing.) and went off to karaoke. I sang a plethora of Japanese songs and English songs (they thought this was really cool, haha) and Yuuta-sempai and I sang a few AKFG (Asian Kung Fu Generation) songs together. Yuuri-chan and I sang Lady Gaga, lolol and Ayana-chan and I sang Yui. It was glorious. Yuuta has a really cool voice, and Ayana-chan and Yuuri-chan's voices are so cute. aklfhabla.

We were there for about two hours, and then we split up to go home. Yuuri and Ayana went off to wherever it is they had to go, and Yuuta-sempai and I went to the train that would take us to shimosuwa. The train was late (just our luck) and it was freezing. Also my coat collar was screwed up so he fixed it for me /flails/ Have I mentioned that he's really tall? He's really tall. Also he held open all my doors for me.

Annywwayys then he walked me home a little over half way, and Ayana sent me the purikura.

I got home at around 6:30 (having left my house at 11:30 and waking up at 8:00 , and doing mostly walking the whole day, I was pretty tired)

so yeah, that was my day yesterday.

Also I think I might have a crush on the student council president.

Whelllp I'm screwed.

Next day :
sklnlkbnhalk going to a sento (public bath) with my host mom and little bros.
Yayy :D

First day of school (yesterday)

((I have like 0892760 pictures of the first day, I'm going to eithe upload them all on here later or just give you all the link to my facebook because there's sooo many)

My host mom and I just fangirled over the Yakyubu (Yakyuu buukatsu) (Baseball club) while we were in the bath. lkahblkahba.

This woman is awesome.


So my host mom and I have figured it out. On Monday I'll have the Debate Club (The English teacher is super nice and really wants me to join, I'm not going to say no. Besides, could be interesting) Tuesday I'll have art, Wednesday I'll have Kyuudo, Thursday I'll have Yakyu manager duties, and Friday I'll have Manga.

At least, that's the rough sketch. She said I can have a "Trial period" forgot what it is in Japanese, where I can be in all the clubs and see which one I like most.

So excited for Monday you guys
DON'T.
EVEN.
KNOW. I haven't been this excited for school since....

Since EVER.

So yeah, that's where I am right now. XD Today my host parents are taking me shopping :D I'm totally becoming the baseball clubs manager. So many ikemen, and also PROPOSAL DAISAKUSEN STATUS YO.


That is all for now :)

Mata ne!

Pre-departure orientation!

Well, technically, this happened yesterday, but whatever, posting it today instead. So. After arriving at the hotel (and getting lost on the way there) my grandparents,mother,brother, and best friend said their goodbyes to me. I really am going to miss them, but I'm so crazy excited/terrified/ nervous/ shell shocked/ insane with emotions to be able to bring myself to care all that much (No matter how bad that sounds, I just don't want to make myself homesick and depressed by looking back at everything I left behind when I haven't h8is insane adventure rapidly coming up in front of me, y'know? Anywayyyss, after lugging my stuff to my room (Thank goodness it was on the first floor) with the oh so wonderful help of a girl named Samantha (Sammy for short) who I also found out was my roommate, we went back out to the lobby, and after about five to ten minutes of socializing with these awesome people, we were ushered into a really big ballroom/banquet hall type room. Did I mention the hotel was Mexican themed? It was really pretty, and I'm kicking myself for not taking more pictures OTL. So at first Floyd (Leaders name, he was really nice) Basically talked about AFS. Then, after standing up and giving introductions (name, where your from , host city, something about your host family) we plated th8is fun game where we would get a sticker with a persons name on it stuck on our back (ex: Angelina Jolie) and we had to go around and ask people yes or no questions to try and guess who our people were (and vice versa) It took me FOREVER to figure out my chick was Hilary Clinton. Screw you Hillary. you don't even knooooww. After that, we talked about how Americans are generally outspoken, and how in Japan were going to have a good amount of time where we're basically mute and will have to communicate. So we had to form a line shortest to tallest without talking. It was surprisingly easy, actually. Afterwards we had to form a line with the months and days our our birthdays in whichever order but this time WHILE talking. Eventually we had dinner (Mexcian food omnomnom I'm gonna miss youuu ;___;) And then we had a presentation from Yuki, a friend of mine who works with AFS and moved to L.A a while ago. She answered any questions we had about Japan and was just generally awesome. We were finally sent off to bed at about ten o clock, we were all pretty freaking' tired by this point. I took a shower first,and man did I hate the hotels shower. It was really.....temperamental. Anyways, Sammy and I wound up singing random songs with each other and talking about Japan until about 12:45. Have I said I like her? I really like her XD.

All in all, it was a good day.

Now for pictures!

I got my host family!

Hey everyone who reads this, I GOT MY HOST FAMILY!

I'll be living in a city called Suwa, which is a really green mountainous area (total opposite of my ghetto neighborhood lol) It's famous for it's hot springs and HUGE lake, and it's really big fireworks festival.

I'll be going to Suwa Futaba High School, it's public, with like 400 something girls and 200 something guys.



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Isn't it beautiful? ლ(இ◒இლ)



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I think those are some pretty epic uniforms. I'm wondering if I can switch the tie for a ribbon. Unfortunately I couldn't find a bigger picture no matter how hard I searched (；◇；)



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My host family!(‘◉//∀//◉)=3
Mitsuhiro, 36, carpenter, host dad. He looks like a fun guy, I can't wait to meet him! He looks like a laid back type of dude, who cracks bad jokes a lot.

Kouga, 4, otouto (little brother) #1! He's so cute! Also his name is like Kouga from Inuyasha! OTL that would be the first thing I notice about him XD

Akiko,35,host mom. She looks like a really nice lady! I really like her smile. I'm looking forward to meeting her! (*´◒`*)

Banri, 2, adorable otouto #2. OHMYGOD he is so friggin' cute!! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

12 days left until I leave!

departure date!

so i just found out exactly when im leaving. 11:30 in the afternoon on march 20th! woohoo!
basically right now im just doing school work, and working on my student visa application. i also got my passport pictures yesterday. everything's coming together!

cant wait!!

till next time,

Elizabeth.

hisashiburi ne!!

hisashiburi ne, minna-san!! (its been a long time , everyone!)

WOW its been SUCH along time since my last post. I sincerely apologize. **bangs head against wall**

anyways, A LOT happened, so this is going to be a monster post.
first of all, i applied for this program, that's like a ..................i don't really know. its an exchange student program, but you live in a dormitory instead of with a host family. anyways, i applied for their scholarship, but they were kinda shady, and the guy i talked to was a DICK and took like 3 months to answer each of my emails, so by the time he finally got back to me, he was like "weeeellll you would have had to get your visa, and it takes a few months to process everything, and since you don't have time.....you cant go." so yeah....not liking this guy!!!! . so i was kinda bummed for a week, but i didn't let it stop me from looking for other options. i went to AFS's website, and although i had very little hope about this program (i heard it was a really good program, but it was SO expensive, i didn't think i would be able to do it) and i applied for every scholarship i could, and filled out the preliminary app (with the help of my amazing aunt, who paid the fee). i then got started on the HUGE full-application, and it seemed like every possible thing that could have gone wrong during that process went wrong. there were problems with my insurance, so i had to go to this sketchy-looking little (although the doctor was nice, i still had to pay 60 dollars for a physical) clinic near my house, and get the doctor there to fill the paperwork out. then, since i go to a charter school (like homeschooling) i had to write a statement explaining the program, and how i would be able to handle going to a regular school in japan. also had to answer some other questions and stuff. THEN, since i have a single mother, and my real dad skipped town when i was a few months old, i had to have her write a statement explaining why he was on my birth certificate but wouldn't be able to sign any of my application papers, and we had to get that notarized. fun. after all that mess, it was just waiting, which was also "fun." about two months later i found out i was a finalist for one of the full scholarships i applied for (yayyy!) by the way, it was the Toshiyuki Tanaka Scholarship. so then, i had to do a phone interview, where a representative from AFS Japan asked me some questions. so i had that about a week ago, and i was freaking out before it. but everything went really well, Ms.Etsuko (my interviewer) was really nice. she just asked me questions about my childhood, friends, hobbies, why I'm interested in japan, and stuff like that. it lasted about 30 minutes. oh yeah! i have a friend named Michael from Dana point, who was a finalist for the other scholarship (Yoshi Hattori) and his interview was right after mine!! so on Thursday, we were talking and he found out he won it! he found out early because he was really close with his local chapter (or area, theres AFS volunteers like EVERYWHERE) so at that point, i wanted to knock out for 12 or so hours, so i could get to the next day already and find out if i won the other scholarship. of course i couldn't sleep, so i wound up staying up till two in the morning eating chocolate and watching slumdog millionaire (LOVE that movie. seen it like four times XD) before dragging myself to my bed and knocking out. then, this morning, i was woken up at an ungodly hour for a day off of school (veterans day) , from a phone being jammed in my face by my younger brother. it was AFS!! here's how our conversation went:

me: h-hello? (super tired sounding)

her: hi, this is barbara from AFS ! did i wake you?

me: uhh..yeah.

her: well i hope this makes up for it : you got the scholarship!!

me: ....omg. no way! omg. oh my- aha! yayyy! wow! gosh im so happy! ahhhh i cant believe it! woohoo! ahaha

her: yeah!! im so happy for you. everyone in our chapter (L.A) loved your essay and application, and you have a wonderful personality. we are so proud of you! you deserved it!!

me: oh mg gosh.....thank you!! thanks!omg! i cant believe im actually going! i mean, its been my dream for so long....and im actually leaving in less than four months!!!! this is so surreal!!

her: *laughs* congratulations! ill let you go so you can call people and share the great news! AFS should be in contact with you within the next couple days to walk you through the student visa process. have a great weekend, and congratulations once again!!

me: thank you!! you too! omg!! haha

her: *laughs* bye now!

**click**

so yeah, i had a bit of a "omg" spazz attack. but what can i say, i was unprepared! haha. i then spent a good three hours calling family and friends.
so anyways, im leaving in mid march! for now all there is to do is apply for my visa and passport, and buy stuff i need. so excited!!! i dont even know how to describe my excitement, other than "yayy!!"

now that im for sure going, im going to be posting on this blog wayyyy more now!!!


and now i leave you with this epic picture!!

........i've never been on a train before.

song song song~

song of the day:

SO. remember me? ya know, the one who started this blog.
ahh i havent posted in SOO long. sorry!! ive been extremely busy.
so, after many long and repeated arguments-- oh i mean, conversations, my grandparents have decided that they don't want me to go until im sixteen.
they dont really want me to go at ALL actually, but thats the most i could get from them. also, they cant help pay for anything, so its all up to me.
a lot of things to catch up on. first off, i am working on graduating in a year and a half with a program called oportunities for learning. also, im planning on signing up for japanese classes at my local city college (fall semester) for some foreign language credits...also in a few months, im going to start looking for a job, to save up for japan.
hmm what else....oh yeah! ive decided not to go with rotary, because from what ive heard they make you change host families about 2-3 times over the course of the year, and i don't want to do that. i want to stick with one family.
so that sucks! since rotary was really cheap :( now, im planning on going with afs (10,000+ dollars holy crap!! o.0) so its going to take me a while to get that much money....
anyways, im pretty sure no one reads this. so yeah.
if anyone reads this, comment please~! i feel a bit lonely XD
oh~ p.s! im going to start posting links to different blogs i read, so if anyone wants to read them, your welcome to~
todays blog:http://kansantojapan.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/the-travel-post/
my friend shelbi's blog~ :3