Blogs from Chiba, Japan, Asia - page 9

Eh oui, nous sommes finalement arrives apres quelques peripeties... Tout d'abord, hier en verifiant sur internet, nous avons vu que notre vol Toronto-Tokyo etait avance d'une demi-heure, faisant en sorte que notre correspondance a Toronto soit un peu serree... Comme nous sommes arrives pas mal en avance a l'aeroport, nous avons demande a avancer notre vol, pour prendre le Montreal-Toronto de 10h au lieu de 11h... Finalement, nous avons eu une place sur celui de 9h! Il etait a ce moment 8h25 environ... Donc nous avons pas mal courru pour prendre ce vol! Nous sommes tout de meme arrives a Toronto sans autre probleme. Nous avons eu en masse le temps de visiter l'aeroport, puis de manger en attendant notre vol. Ce vol la aussi s'est deroule sans probleme. Les 13h ont paru plus courtes que ... read more

Today, finally, I almost feel healthy again. Certainly well enough to resume class on Monday. I've felt very confined here, ill and unable to go anywhere or do all that much, and I really look forward to being able to get out to school. My host mom must have sensed my restlessness building up the last couple of days, and she has been phenomenal in keeping me company and helping me to recover. Thursday morning, I had my follow up from Wednesday's doctor's appointment. In the afternoon, we all, except for Otoosan, went to see Shrek 3, which was a really fun experience, even though it was all in Japanese. I mostly followed what was going on, and Shrek's voice actor turned out to be a famous Osaka comedian, so I finally got to hear a ... read more

Sunday July 15 Well, we are now on the way home. I’m sitting in the JAL lounge at Narita waiting for our flight to JFK. It leaves at 12:00 PM and arrives in JFK at 11:30 AM on the same day - we arrive a half hour before we take off - the flight is 13 hours. Narita is closing all flights at 12:30 PM due to weather conditions from the typhoon - we are, again, lucky. It has been a real adventure! Nancy and I have just had an incredible time. All of our plans and reservations have worked out fine - no major problems (assuming we get on JAL flight JL06 and it gets “wheels up” to JFK). In about a week or so I will make a final blog entry. Some final ... read more

Surprisingly, I think I'm starting to really assimilate. And not just because of the fact that I sit on my heels on the floor and use chopsticks at every meal, but the small things that I've started doing without even noticing. Today I started looking inward and wondering how I've changed, and I've seen a lot of things that have changed in the short time I've been here. The first thing that I really noticed was my umbrella usage has blended with the Japanese way. Not only is it an umbrella, but its also a parasol at the same time. And I've found myself using it to shield my skin from the sun, not even thinking about it. Also, I don't close up my umbrella every time I walk under covered walkways. Some people do, but ... read more

Today was one of the most culturally immersed days I have experienced thus far in Japan. Because my host dad came home from Korea a few days ago, we have a lot more freedom about moving about and going places, and we all took full advantage of it. For starters, in the morning, we all went as a family to Yuzu's kindergarten (called youchien here) because today they were hosting a bazaar, an event where all the students and teacher come together to create a fun family social event with games, food, prizes, and a mini kiosk full of random things, almost like a garage sale. It was really fun. There were lots of adorable kids, all about 5 to 7 years old, and a lot of the girls were in children's yukata, and they were ... read more