Me in Japan: August 2003


Dereck   
   Rotary Youth Exchange student Dereck tells all of his trip to Japan for a year. Can you manage to figure out the typos???
Sunday, August 31, 2003

wow so much e-mail from that blog. I hope i can keep it up to date. My host family is getting a fiber internet connection so i think i will be able to. They own 2 companys.�@One is a cell phone retail store and the other is a hotel information system service. I think they are Very good to do. The computer is very fast and the tv is a widescreen. The ho‚¤se is huge in Japanese standards.

I just seen a brand new Cell phone that is a video phone that you can see who you are talking to and they can see you. VERY COOL i trye‚„ it out across the store to one of the sales people.�@The only draw back is that is dosn`t woork in all areas, only in bigger cities, It didn`t work on top of MNT. Aso. we went tothe tp of Aso and looked into a volcano, it was really cool.�@there was small stone hut things that were suposed to protect you if it eupupted but it was false security.

We also had a "conferance." nothing like the conferances in 6290. only 5 inbounds. its was 4 hours long. we had to sign for accedentall insurance and read teh ruls agan and sing a really `cough` odd song.

hello, hello, hello, hello
I`m glad to see you!
I`m glad to see you!
hello, hello, hello, hello

The RYE chair person ist a camp�@leader ant the YMCA camp Aso. That explains the song i think. there is one girl from France in my district and the rest are americans. One boy and all the rest are girls. Ben is from pensilvanian, the french girl is foorm nort france, the one american gir is from seatle, and the other anerican girl is from..... kansas.

I didn` get to ask about out bounds but i seen 2 rebounds, they left in a hurry afer interductions.

Last night i went to a traditional japanes resteraunt and it was really small. it had a bar that sat 6 peaople and 2 table that sat 4 each. you could probly fit more. we took the two table and put them together to make one. there were no chariers and everythign was made right in fromnt of you. we had a tv and watched Tarzan. it was one of them disney movies on tv.

We went to buy my uniform. 5 stores later we found the right size. it was funny. then we forgot a part and had to go back and get it after going home.

school starts tomarow for me. I have to give a speech in font of the entire school, should be interesting.

‚³‚æ‚È‚ç �isayonara for those that didn`t install the Japanese laguage pac thing.)



Thursday, August 28, 2003

Palm Pilot works ok when pluged into Japanese 100v 50Hz receptical. It takes a LOOOOOOOOOOng time to charge though. Normally 2 hours, Now at half full it took 9 hours to fully charge. and it still had a little ways to got still. oh well, at least it didn`t fry. ;) My room has a closet, yay! bed is wester style, yay! Computer with ISDN internet in my room, YAY! A desk that is sitting on bricks because it was too low, YAY! Air Conditionin uini in my room with remopt control that kinda works THANK GOD! 33 degrees celcius every day!!!! but it`s not humid. I have a lot more room in this house than in the states. I lucked out getting a rich Host family. 1 host sister, 2 host brothers all younger. There is a 3rd host brother in the states right now with RYE.

School is a long ways off. i had a meating with various people and it`s big 1200 students, and all kinds of classes. but its not as far as previously thought and there are no hills, it`ll be easy.

I`ll post pictures later when i find a place to do so.




Going to Japan

Great flight from Kinross to Alpena
took loooong time to get to Detroit
4 hours and the tram only takes a few minutes one way, ten or so rkdes got boring.
Lost 2 memory cards - $150, 4 days work encoding/ testing.
sat in wrong seat after making two people move 2 times.
Jpop is playing on plane's radio thing, but bring your own headphones, the one's provided are very uncomfortable.

bring a pen, it would have been useful a few times, plus on the arplane you must fill out an imegration form, whitch they have no pens for you to use.

Food is qite good, at least on this flight. I had the chiken babeue ''thing''.
The vegtables were kinda soggy, but still good. The fish was awsome, i think it was precooked then let cool, sooo good. fruit was not the best and the bread was really bad.

The map and flight info displayed on the movie screens is really interesinng, you see where you are, have been, nearby aireports and citys. We took a left about around pickford and flew over SSM.

The girl from Japan sitting next to me is from somewhere near Tokyo. She was really friendly. she was studying English in Pensilvania for 2 weeks. Previously she had been in Illinosi doing the same.

The Core played as the first onboard movie, glad I didn't see it in theaters. The second movie wasn't good either, I don't even know the name of it. BLAH

I got up to walk around the cabin andwas standing near the exit when a man, who's name I don't know, asked if this was my first trip to Japan. We founnd out that both of us are going to Kumamoto. He's going to work on a few factorys that produe car parts. He travels the globe designing and diagnosing robotic equipment. All mecanical aspects though, he'slost when controls get involved. I think the company was called Hanade.

You get off the plane and every thing is in English. It's very easy to find your way out of the building. you walk out to the loby and see hundereds of people holding signs, waiting to pick up someone. after you get past them you see the doors outside. The bus tickets can be purchesed at the counters to your right. the limosein bus goes to almost evey hotel and airport. The bus ride was very comfortable and the sights made me forget that I lost my SD cards.

I stayed at the Tokyu Hanada hotel. which was suposed to be really close to the air port, and it was. Right across the street. Only it was on the back side of the runways. There was a shuttle that leaves evey 15 minutes to the airport termanal. The hotel is very nice, people bring your lugage you to your room and take care of every thing. Remember that all things in the frige have a price.

The Hanada air port is huge. there are over 100 check in counters. you must go to them first or use a machine. Then after that you must go to the bag check-in thing. Finally you can go look around at the stores and reteraunts. when your ready to sit or its time to board you go to the security check closest to your gate. show them your boarding pass, and walk into the gat secion. therare plenty of maps to help you. Most eveything has English nearby. its real easy after you get rid of your heavy bags. Check out the coke bottles, if you can find them, there in the vending mchines, but look VERY differant.

My Z71(palm Pilot) froze on the way to Kumamoto from Haneda and got Very Warm, decided to write later, and 3 days later here i am. the flight was nothing sectacular, but it was comfortable. the plane was less than half full, 300 capasity. i got to Kumamoto and wasn`t sure if i was suposed to get off, many people weren`t getting up, then i saw KUMAMOTO on the control tower andknew i had to get off.

After getting my bags off the carasoul, I got out my blazer and put it on, looked out the glass door to the people waiting and saw my name in big letters, i took off my blazer and put it back in the bag andmet 5 guys from rotary, one holding the sign was my host father.

He drove us home in a nice car. He seid his house was very small, and that was what i expected, but this hous is double the size i expected. He owns 2 companys one is a hotel information system, and the other is a convenant store, i think.

well till next time

sayonara


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