this past week has been crazy!

So, to follow up on my last entry...a story from our trip to Asakusa. My sister and father and I were eating ice cream in Ueno, and I had been writing in a notebook. We left the restaurant and had traveled a few blocks when we heard someone shouting 'excuse me!!' We turned around and there was a man from the restaurant running after us. He looked at us and asked 'did you forget this?', bowed, and held out his hands. Apparently, I had forgotten my pen in the restaurant. We were shocked that he went out of his way to return something as trivial as a pen! It was an interesting insight into the Japanese way of treating customers. (The motto of workers is 'The customer is God' 客様は神様)
Today, I went with my mother to Harajuku. It was overwhelming. We're going again (yay!) and I'm looking forward to it immensely. The clothing was very good quality and surprisingly inexpensive (after hearing over and over 'Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world!!') There were people wearing clothes of all kinds. It was mind blowing to see the wide variety of fashions that people wore. It's so freaking humid here that just looking at the young people wearing long dresses and black outfits makes me ridiculously hot. I don't know how they do it. Apparently if you go on Sunday to Harajuku, it's so crowded you can't move. I'm glad we went on Saturday instead.
The next few weeks are only going to be more hectic. This coming week, I won't be going to language school, but rather taking classes at a Japanese university (Gakushuin Daigaku, if you're interested. It's where the royal family went to school) It was all pretty last minute and was just thrust upon me this past week. I'll be joining a group of 12 Korean college students who are studying Japanese at a high level, and will be taking Japanese classes with them. It promises to be an interesting experience, and I'll be sure to learn a lot. There's a lot of 'teaching through pop culture' as well as seeing the Japanese language from a Korean speakers perspective. Yes, I know I don't speak Korean, but the types of things we'll learn really appeal to me. For example, there will be comparisons of Korean-ized and Japan-ized English words. I'm looking forward to it. It's sure to be challenging and I must admit I'm a bit nervous.
The next week, I'll be doing language school as well as joining a nearby high school's badminton club. (Doesn't sound very educational, huh? It's so I can practice speaking Japanese with people my age :P Not all fun and games.) I'm sure to be busy these next few weeks, and I will try my hardest to keep you updated.
Tokyo is amazing, by the way. It astounds me every day. Everywhere you go, it's different. I'm really happy here. :)

Update~

Sorry I haven`t written in a while! Here`s a quick update of what I`ve been doing.

So, this past Saturday, I went with my host father and sister to Asakusa. We visited a famous shrine and walked through the alley of souvenir shops (tourist traps!!) There was a ridiculous amount of foreigners. I was told that while people from Tokyo don`t often visit Asakusa (despite it being an immensely interesting place), it's pretty popular with the rest of Japan. I ate sushi for the first time in Japan. It was delicious and suprisingly cheap. My sister and I both ate 1.5 person portions...After that, we visited Kappabashi. This is Tokyo's center of cooking goods. It wasn't as crowded as Asakusa, but it was fascinating. We visited shops that sold the plastic food models that you see outside of Japanese restaurants. They were crazy expensive! They all looked realistic. The fruit had small marks on them, and the drinks had water droplets on the outside.  On the back of all the models, there's a sticker that says 'not edible'. I bought a small keychain for a friend. I have to resist eating it.

I'll finish this update tomorrow! I'll try to write more.

Birthday and so forth

Yesterday, I celebrated my 17th birthday in Japan with my family. Despite having to go to school most of the day, it was still wonderful. My host family sang Happy birthday in English and we all ate cake. It was fun, and I`m very grateful to them :)
So, about my host family. They`re a fun and interesting bunch. At dinner the first night, they discusssed the many uses of the word やばい, which roughly translates to `oh crap` in English. My sister goes to an extremely strict girl`s school that doesn`t allow its students to bring strawberries of a certain size in their lunch boxes. My brother doesn`t talk with me much, but he`s studying for exams so it`s understandable. My father is at work most of the day, but thankfully is home on weekends. My mother is home almost all the time, which is nice. They have an overly excitable toy poodle who everyone is extremely fond of.
A question. In Japan, almost everyone has a washlet, a fancy electronic toilet. I`m curious if everyone actually uses them or if they`re just...there...

In Japan!

As of now, I have been in Japan for 3 days. Currently, I am typing on a computer with a very different keyboard so excuse any strange typos that I may make. I`m not sure where my camera cable is, so I won`t be posting pictures for a while.
I am currently with my host family.The adjustment isn`t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Actually, the most different thing is that I feel ridiculously tall here! In America, I`m considered a bit short, but in Japan I tower a couple centimetres above the majority of females. I`ve never been tall before, so it`s quite a change. I feel like Godzilla or something, not quite sure if I enjoy being tall. I`ve only seen one person staring at me. I suppose people in Tokyo are used to foreigners.
I really like the houses here! Looking around, it`s like a puzzle. It`s because of a severe lack of space, I`ve been told. It`s quite impressive, I`ll try to post a picture later.
Today is my first day of school. I`m wondering how it will turn out...
I don`t have much time, but I will write later, hopefully with pictures next time. I just wanted to do a quick update. じゃ、またね。

pdo and more

Recently, I had the AFS pre-departure orientation. It took up almost an entire day, and was more fun than I expected! I met a bunch of people who are going to Japan, all seemed pretty fantastic. Unfortunately, two people I met are not going to Tokyo. :( I was surprised by the number of people going to Tokyo, though, it was impressive. The PDO only magnified my excitement. Strangely enough, the girl who was in charge of the Japan group had stayed a summer in China. So...she couldn't exactly answer culture specific questions, seeing as the two countries are completely different. It was still helpful in some ways.
On another note, as of now, SCHOOL IS OVER. Exams were last week, and I also had my last piano recital of the academic year yesterday, so the relief is immense. Yay! Now I have about a week of "free" time. Most of which will be spent frenziedly packing. And the rest will be squandered away reading, watching sherlock, and listening to the POTC soundtrack. Of course, I will not waste any time!
I've kept in contact with my host family (or rather my mother and sister). I am ridiculously excited to meet them. I still have to ask a bunch of questions before I leave. I bought them a bunch of gifts this past week. Suzuka, my sister, had her birthday on Saturday, so I emailed her (and bought an extra present). She told me she's looking forward to celebrating my birthday with me in Japan. :) My birthday's July 4th, it's going to be my first time having my birthday in a place where it's not a national holiday. 
Alrighty, I'm off. I'll write in the near future. Ciao.
~Elizabeth

Host Family!

A few days ago, I received my host family information. It's all pretty exciting :) I'll be staying in Tokyo, I've already explored my neighborhood and the district surrounding it with the help of the ever-fantastic google maps street view. It seems like a nice area. It's an eight minute walk from a JR station, as well as a bunch of shops. I have a host sister age 11 and a host brother age 13. I'm an only child, so it's going to be a huuuuge change for me. I'm nervous, to be honest.
I sent them a letter the day I found out the information. I'm debating whether or not I will phone them this weekend, I probably should... There's unfortunately not much written about the family on the AFS website, I guess I'll just have to wait and find out.

acceptance!

So, today I (finally) was accepted to AFS Japan. I'm pretty happy about it! Despite being in the middle of APs, I've decided to post again.
I'm a junior in high school, and I've studied Japanese for the equivalent of 5 years. I'm currently in AP Japanese, and my test is this Thursday. Needless to say, I'm incredibly nervous. I love the Japanese language. I'm a huge language nerd, and to be honest, Japanese grammar is awesome. It's... beautiful. It's SOV and agglutinative! wow, that was geeky In university, I would like to study Linguistics. I'm fascinated by languages and how they work. 
Next year, I might end up studying University Japanese at the college near my school. I hope it works out :) 
I'm really looking forward to this program. I was so disappointed that I couldn't go last year, so it's really heightening the excitement this year. To be honest, one thing I'm really excited about is the food. :D I'm interested in Japanese culture, and I like some contemporary Japanese literature. By the way... Last year, I went to a FANTASTIC language immersion camp in conjunction with Concordia University. It was honestly the best four weeks of my life, and I want more than anything to go back some day, maybe even as an instructor. I met so many awesome people and the teachers were excellent. They have a ton of languages, so check it out! http://www.concordialanguagevillages.org/newsite/
Hm, random stuff about me... I've played the piano since I was little, and I sing. I love music and good books. That's about it. 
Now to wait for the host family information....