Airplane Amusement

[jieshi]

OMG..lucky girl !!!!You get to go allready, I'll have to wait for this winter ...If I were you I'd take : books,magz,music,GBA (if possible :-D) Have a good time and flight !!!

man I am so with you on that! I have to wait till march! Anyway on the plane see if you can spot the different countries states etc. below you! Actually I would also get the lonely planet guide to Japan and read t as well. And listen to Jpop for goodness sake! It can drive you a bit crazy sometimes (I heard this one today from digimon that goes in a really high pitched voice "welcooommmee toooo my hooommme" in bad japanese english lol)

I also like franks idea of spotting the sky marshall.

Oh and you can play the attendant buzzer game!!! You keep pressing your attendant buzzer and asking for packets of nuts or other stupid things continously until the attendant gets really upset looses it with you and then they get fired!!! lol I wouldn't try this one myself though (its only my nature to suggest this not actually do)

then like everyone else has suggested gameboys etc. Oh and keep a digital camera with you so that you can get really weird photos of people sleeping on the plane or something?

Have fun maybe I'll even run into you over there?

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Sure...

glad you made it safely, hope your host family turns out to be teriffic! Have fun & take lots of pictures!

Frank

 

[TwistedMac]

glad you made it safely, hope your host family turns out to be teriffic! Have fun & take lots of pictures!

Frank

i second that...
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[jieshi]

glad you made it safely, hope your host family turns out to be teriffic! Have fun & take lots of pictures!

Frank

i third that motion lol

 

[Ewok85]

Host family seems nice. I gotta go. Have to find I way to explain that I need a alien regestration card.

You've got 3 months, leave it be for a while

 

[jieshi]

I think it would be better to get it ASAP cause from what I understand is if you want ot get something like a Japanese bank account or a mobile phone you need one for the registration processes

 

[Ewok85]

Nope, passport or student ID is fine. You cant get a mobile under 20 anyway (technically, i had mine thrust opon me )

 

[DragonChan]

The transfer was easy. I got to use my not so crazy japanese skills which was great. Even better is that I met the only other foriegner in this town and she's my age, going to my school, and from Victoria (which is very close to where I'm from.)

My host family is great, but I figure they gotta be wealthy. They own a store and live above it, there is an elevator leading up to the house from the bottom floor (and it's only a two story building.) I even get my own room, So I'm happy.

School doesn't start until the first though.

 

[Elizabeth]

What school did you end up with DragonChan ?
I'm still looking myself, but the very thought of outside Tokyo makes me
shudder (well, some of the ones it in as well....), so it may take another two trips to actually decide.

 

[noodle]

I suspect the single most boring part of the entire trip will be the 4 hours at Narita. Japanese airports are not like the shopping malls with airplanes that you find in most other countries.

eh? narita has an entire mall in (one of?) the international terminal(s). but you have to exit customs. there's at least a couple stores when you go through to your gate, though.

Customer Reviews | SKYTRAX

 

[jieshi]

I want a wealthy host family!!!! lol congratulations

 

[DragonChan]

Haha, I think my host family is great. I'm going to have a hard time leaving them.

I think being outside of Tokyo is fine. Never been there. The other exchange student at the school is super nice, and we're planning to take the 20 minute train to Nagoya and walk around soon.

The biggest issue is that they didn't have a uniform my size. I am too tall (they had to order a longer skirt), and the shirts are designed for people who...uh...are slightly less endowed. So it's not fun.

I also found out that for Japanese, Japanese Classics, and several more hard classes, I have to leave and go to the library and study. So I get to spend anywhere from 1 to 3 hours a day in the school library. Joy.

 

[Ewok85]

I had that too, "library study time" and then was kicked out of the library for singing loudly, practicing gymnastics with a friend and generally raising hell. Subsequently moved into the foreign teachers room where the same happened, just that noone was around to tell us off. Get your other friend and go to the library together, you can bum around and talk, maybe sneak out and go shopping, have a coffee etc.

 

[TyPe-ZeRo]

Called "Find the Sky Marshal" ! HE'll have some kind of coat on to hide his gun and probably sit in the rear of the plane next to the aisle. You walk down to the ladies room , pretend to trip, and do a quick frisk job. See how many guys you have to fall on before you find the gun!
If your really into the game, you scream "My GOD, this man has a gun!" when you find the right one. You get double points if you find the LADY sky marshal. This game should blow away a few hours of time. Best to wait till you're way out over the ocean to start so they don't land and put you off the plane! Good luck!

Frank

Frank.... YOU ARE A GENIOUS!!!


I'd love to do that, although I start feeling guys, it'd be like the opposite of child molestation? LOL

 

[DragonChan]

Ewok,

They put us in different grades so that we would see as little of each other as possible, and 80% of the time in the library there is a teacher supervising the study.

I'll either learn alot or be screaming by the end. They also want me to attend juku for japanese, so far I've been saying I can't because it's so expensive.

On the upside, I have the top half of my uniform, though it's kinda annoying because it's SO hard to take off. It takes about 2 minutes of struggling. My host family says that's normal, the shirts are usually next to impossible to get off. At least the skirt shouldn't be that bad.

 

[TwistedMac]

*imagines the well-endowed dragonchan pressing herself into a sailor top that's way too small and wearing a skirt that's way too short*

...

*bloodvessels in head burst and blood pours out nose*

 

[Glenn]

Well, at least you have something to brag about, right, DragonChan?

Actually, the way you're describing it it kind of sounds like you're being forced to wear a girdle or something. Why are the uniforms so hard to put on and take off?

@Twisted - no surprise there.

 

[jieshi]

*imagines the well-endowed dragonchan pressing herself into a sailor top that's way too small and wearing a skirt that's way too short*

...

*bloodvessels in head burst and blood pours out nose*

Anata wa hentai desu!!!!!!! lol

 

[Ewok85]

I'll either learn alot or be screaming by the end. They also want me to attend juku for japanese, so far I've been saying I can't because it's so expensive.

On the upside, I have the top half of my uniform, though it's kinda annoying because it's SO hard to take off. It takes about 2 minutes of struggling. My host family says that's normal, the shirts are usually next to impossible to get off. At least the skirt shouldn't be that bad.

Don't go to juku, its a waste of time and money for you. Where are you? Your SURROUNDED by japanese people! Just walking down the street your learning! Don't let them force the idea of "your in a japanese school, you must learn all this junk!" thats not why you're there.

As for the shirt if might be worth getting a decent fitting one sent from home, its cheaper than the rediculous prices they want in Japan and you'll have a nice fit. They arent that hard to take off.... not that I'd know...

 

[DragonChan]

lets see...

Twisted Mac, you really are twisted.

Glenn, my host sister says that they are always like that. There is a zipper on one side that you can use so that it is a bit easier to take off, but it is still uncomfortable as hell.

Ewok, I'm going to 'Kumon' which they said is like juku, but volunteers so it is free. Damn. So I have to go for an hour twice a week, which isn't too bad.

So uh...yeah. I'm gonna go play Doubutsu no Mori on gamecube. SO FUN.

 

[Ewok85]

Join a fun school club, after a week or two you can drop the juku because it will become more important. Plus a club is fun, you'd learn more than from juku much quicker!

Im sure theres plenty to choose from, basketball, softball, badminton, volleyball, soccer, cheerleading, aerobics, kendo, karate, aikido, judo, shorinji etc.

 

[DragonChan]

Haha, I looked into the clubs.

The only sport they offer that I like is soccer, but they only have a boys team. So I'm going to be a teacher helper in the english club. Better than nothing.

 

[Hero]

Ooo the English club, nice!... you will learn a bit there, but then again maybe not... The Japanese who actively take part in the club may want to practice their English rather then you practice your Japanese...

Hope the best for ya

But there are a few who will be eager to teach you many words (many times bad ones as I've experienced, rofl) and slang.

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

Is the school more concerned about your level of spoken or written Japanese? I expect they don't really know themselves - since few educators in Japan actually understand anything at all about language acquisition.

Anyway, your kanji will only improve by you hitting the books big time. If you can find someone to teach you privately that will help a lot with grammar and language use. See if there's a retired female teacher living in the neighborhood. Alternatively, there are sometimes retired teachers working part-time at high schools 窶 one might be willing to teach you privately. If you seem genuine enough they might even do so for free.

Unless the instructors at the juku have previous experience teaching exchange students then I'd give them a miss. Have you sorted yourself out some kanji textbooks and discovered the Maruzen bookstore in Sakae?

 

[Ewok85]

Kanji is a thing you can do alone, grammar is something that requires someone with a bit of english talent so you can knock questions off them and get an understandable answer from.

I thought while its been brought up i'll tell about my uniform debacle. Im not very tall, only 170cm's, if that. My partner is crime was about 190ish. First day at school we wear our own thing as the uniforms havent arrived, despite us sending our measurments ahead 2 months previous. A japanese man, a tailor i'd assume, takes out measurements, rather gingerly, not wanting to touch us or bother us. So he goes off and were told it will be a few weeks.

In a fortnight our stuff arrives, great! So we try them on.... my shirts are HUGE, fits across the shoulders but the chest is massive and it goes down halfway along my thighs. The pants are a disaster, I look like some kinda weight-loss model in my old 'fat' pants, I seem to have lose a good 2inches of height at the same time. My friend has the same deal with his shirts and his pants while fitting at the waist are about 10cms too short! So we send them back with some custom measurements...

And another 2 weeks later the pants re-arrive (we decided the shirts would just have to do). Wasting no time we get our pants off and try on our new custom tailored pants right in the reception area. Well mine is still 10cms too big around the waist and too long, and they still feel like they are made for someone of 3x my weight (the base of the pants were about 20cm in diameter, i can get the pants on while wearing my desert boots), and my mates pants look like they've been washed wrong and shrank! So we ask for them to send them back, AGAIN, and with stricter instructions and a pile of measurements.

Well they come back and still suck yet are wearable, just. So off we go in our badly fitting uniforms Then theres the time this girl came from america and she popped a button off her top because it was too small... some of the jguy's eyes nearly popped out of their heads!