November 15, 2012....UPDATING!!

LETTERS HOME:

      So today is November 15, 2012.  I stayed home today due to last night being overly tired and slept a lot today!  It was a good day! I hate having such kind families because my host mom stayed home with me and got me breakfast and I told her she was very kind and thank you and she told me she considered me a daughter and that she loved me! I was soo thankful and wanted to cry but I said thank you! Oh then later she told me that my papa had called to see if I was okay! I was like I love this family soo much! J I don’t want to change! I understand why I have to because they are too busy in January, but I will truly miss them soo  very much! J I hope they know that! They I feel like have really set me up in Japan! I love my host sisters and I love talking with them in my bad Japanese! J They are all so kind I don’t want to change! L It has almost been a month in this household and I hope I can stay for Christmas because my Mama keeps talking about a Christmas party they are going to have! J

 

November 4,2012

Hey, 

So today is November 4, 2012! I have adjusted to my new family and am loving it here! I love my family…I have 2 sisters both older and my host mom and dad are sweet!  I can’t believe how fortunate I have been to have great families so far! School is going good….still not understanding much, sad to say I’ve slept more in classes but I don’t think it helped with the switching families and all!  I love having a sister my age she is awesome! Both of my host sisters dance and play the piano.  When my mama (my host mom) explained it to me she said that my one host sister, Mari, was learning to play and then when I heard her play for the first time, I knew I had majorly misunderstood, because she knew how to play and she was good!  I sometimes get jealous because my sisters are just amazing and I'm not, they always say I'm pretty! They are always saying it!  It sometimes gets annoying as if they have to! I love them though! My older host sister Nao goes to college close to home, and Mari is in High school with me, same grade! My host dad (papa) works with women’s fashion, and mama is I guess a lady who answers the phone and what not for a spa (?)!  Sorry I'm not completely sure!  My host family doesn’t speak very much English so I have picked up more Japanese!  I have met my host cousins and they are very nice!  The one is in High school and the other one is in middle school! I have also met my host aunt and they are all so nice!!  I’ve met some of Maris’ friends (in school and out of school friends!)  I still miss soccer a ton!  The longing to play will never leave me!  My friends back in New York have started to post about basketball starting and though that has started to tug at my heart, I know I would rather play soccer than basketball anytime!  I sometimes wish the love stories on TV were real, they are so cute and the Japanese love stories on TV are even cuter! I love the Japanese school teenager love stories, it doesn’t help that the Japanese school boy and girl couples are just adorable!  I’ve been reading which helps take my mind off things, but I do really miss my friends and family in New York! I should be studying but have learned to except that I won’t do good in school and have kind of given up, though I know I will have my rough days I will keep trying!  I felt really good 2 lessons ago in my Japanese lesson, then this past week it was majorly difficult and a real put down for me! I’ve had trouble studying, and not just getting myself to study because by God I’ve studied a lot and it’s  like I just study the words and none of them seep into my brain so I didn’t do well on my last Japanese test! It annoys me because I studied all week and just to fail.  So studying has gone by the way side and I’ve started to think about guys again.  I hate to say that but it’s true! Going to an all-girls school than seeing guys outside of school stinks, especially since Mari happens to have a ton of guy friends!    Oh having talked about TV shows…my host sister flipped to Disney channel tonight and I just about lost it because it made me miss home soo much!!   I also watched my first Japanese horror film! It was very scary and but having a talking bird in the room helped, since he (the bird) would start laughing at random moments and you really couldn’t help but to just laugh at the bird!  MY host sister says she and I will go and see paranormal activity 4! Yay! :/ sounds like a repeat of when we had the sleepovers at savannahs and watched a horror movie!

Sorry if this is all over the place....I had a lot on my mind! Hope all is well at home! love and miss you all! :)

Love,

Sarah

SORRY!!!!

Okay….so sorry about the long time no writing.  So my first plan for this blog post was to type, a piece I wrote during one of my classes that I couldn’t understand.  I’ve read it about a million times and have decided I might add some of it in, but it’s sad and though I’ve had my issues I want to talk about something upbeat!  Okay, so here we go.

                Okay so it has almost been 2 months since I have arrived in Japan.  Yes you read right! It’s hard to believe time seems to be flying, I was supposed to be changing host families today Oct. 7, 2012, but my next family bumped the date back!  My next host family has a daughter my age and a daughter who recently graduated from the school I’m going to.  The next family is soo sweet I am very lucky to be having many nice families!  So I’ve gone through some major homesickness, BUT I’ve finally have started not feeling it as much!
                So I love Japan, and yes I have had my moments where I just want to be home in America! I went to the zoo with my host family and saw a lot of animals!! I will be switching host families on the 21 and will be attending a wedding the Saturday before!  In Japan, though everyone is soo kind and very helpful!  I have started to become a “normal” Student! The teachers have started treating me just like any other student…finally!  I still LOVE my Math 1 class; the teacher is super nice, funny and helps me a lot!  I’m very grateful for this and every other conversation I’ve had with my teachers because they have been super nice, and patient with me!  I was in my health class the other day and the teacher told me to study, so I studied all my material and stopped, because there is only so much you can study! So I started drawing and writing French words!   Well the teacher decided to see what I was studying and he comes over to my desk and sees my drawing of a soccer goal (it was terrible just bored) and he freaks out! He starts speaking rapid Japanese that I didn’t understand!!  After the teacher finally left my desk one of girls had finally translated one of the sentences and he had said something about him being a really good soccer player!  That was exciting because I thought maybe just maybe sometime we will be able to just have a little soccer match! J

Okay so that was it for blog section…next, I’m going to write some things.  So when something random or odd happens instead of writing a whole blog post or dairy entry I just jot down a note with the date! So I don’t know how many I actually have but here are some!  ( I tend to use “you” I don’t know why..I just do!)

·         Being talked to by random school girls on the train “very cute”

·         Understanding something someone says…Surprisingly!

·         The awkward moment in class when the teacher has finished teaching and its dead silent, and he makes an announcement…and you give him a questioning look and he just smiles at you and other girls notice the smile! J

·         Guys playing with their hair (not a bad thing just not what you see in the New York) and this includes teachers! J

·         Being said “Hi” to by a random school guy in a train station!

·         Getting a 100 on an English test (for the first time here in Japan!)

·         People texting during class, but there phone is in their lap and then they look up laughing…yeah just a bit obvious! :P

·         Being included in class, like you are just a normal student!! J <3

Next week is Exam week luckily for me I only have to take English reading, Grammar, and Math 1, and forgot plus my Japanese tutors are giving me tests too!! :) Wish me luck!! 

Okay so that is it for now!! Hope you enjoyed sorry it was short and I’ve not posted in a while! I’ll try to write soon!
Sarah A. Cook

A Day to Remember

So most of those who are friends with me on Facebook would think oh she wrote something about a party! Yes this is partly about it but, only 25 % about that!

                So, some of the exchangers here in Kobe decided to get together to celebrate 2 of the inbounds’ birthdays that are coming up!  For lunch we went to a Brazilian restaurant and had some of the most interesting food EVER!!! (The thing I had trouble with, CHICKEN HEART!) Anyways after that we went on a Ferris wheel ride!!  That was awesome! After we walked to karaoke and sung our hearts out!  After that is was time to return home, my curfew: 9 pm!

                So, the people that were left, walked to the train station, I was the first one to leave the group and so, I swiped my card and was on my way up the stairs and looked up at the board that told times and saw that the train I needed to be on had left! Well I reached the top of the stairs and saw the train! I was thrilled!!  I jumped aboard the train and sat down!  Well I sat and sat, I started to get worried and was texting my host sister telling her we were still sitting at the station and I had no idea what was going on, she didn’t either.  So I got off the train to talk to the conductor to see when we were to leave and some guy gave me the eyes (but like flirty and he was with another girl, kind of freaked me out!  :P), and the doors closed, but then I must have been just close enough that it sensed me and opened up, so I got back on hopping I wouldn’t be late!

                So we got to the next train station Motomachi, We stopped again, and some people had gotten on and we sat and sat!  There was a guy next to me, kind of young but not school boy, he looked more college aged, and he kept looking at me and we caught each other eyes every once in a while, but we just sat.  At this point it was close to 9 o’clock and I still had about 6 more train stations to stop at before it was my stop, I was furiously texting my host sister apologizing since they were already at the station to pick me up, and I was scared,  tired, cold, and alone.   So it was rounding near 9: 30-45 and my host sister had texted me that there had been an accident with a train and all trains were stopped none were going!  So, the whole time I had thought this was normal because it was a holiday and we were just waiting for more people, and accident had happened.   Well, there were tons of announcements made, of course none that I understood, and I would look up towards the guy who was sitting next to me, and we met eyes and I gave a questioning look.  He just looked at me.  I was tired and was ready to be home! Now it was rounding 10 o’clock and another announcement came on and of course I wasn’t paying attention and I looked over and the guy next to me said “3 minutes left”. 

                I was in shock that he talked to me but quickly replied “domo arrigoto!” (Thank you very much!) and very soon after that we were on our way!  Now this guy and I weren’t like close sitting together, the train wasn’t crowded so there was just enough space for one person in between us, and when we stopped at another station someone filled that spot, but before the person I looked over and smiled at him and he smiled back, (what I thought meant sorry he didn’t slide over to sit next to me smile!) Well we all interpret things differently!  When it was his stop, he got up looked at me and I said, “Domo arrigoto gozaimasuta!” (The very polite way of saying thank you very much!) 

                He looked at me and said “you are welcome! “ I wanted to hug him soo badly, not weirdly, but because I was scared and foreign and had no idea what was going on, and he talked to me and told me 3 minutes, and even though I was creped out at first when he was smiling at me (he was actually really cute!), he talked to me and I felt okay.  So this post tonight goes out to that mystery guy that really created a day that I will never forget because of the courage he had to talk to me! Thank you! J I hope something good happens to him.  So between the guy and the party ( mostly the guy), this is my day to remember, God bless everyone!

I will end with some pictures from today!

Sayonara,

Sarah A. Cook
Ps. I ended up getting home about 10:30 pm! :)

 

My dish of food, not including all the meat we ate! :) Sooo Good!

The Most AMAZING SODA EVER!! Brazilian!!

My Brazilian friend! Julia, her Birthday!! :)

A hotel

The Kobe tower

Market place

The train tracks (a little kids ride) Was where we were standing...

Kobe tower again....

Where the guys were! :)

The view

Again the guys

Hotel

The guys!

Oh hey....Bruno, Carlos and Francois!

The nice blue skies and the water!

The view going down

I love it here!

I love it here!

A submarine

Again

Carlos (Mexico)(Also his birthday! :) ), Me (US), and Bruno (Brazil)

Again

Alice (past exchange student to New York State!), and I!

Thanks for reading!

My first letter home....

Although this is a blog...I have started to write what I call letters home.... Yes this is for my family but for my friends as well to read and maybe see a piece of me you havent before seen!
Love you all!

Dearest family,

As I am writing this….I am reflecting on my first week here in Japan.  I’ve realized how much I really did chat…I now know that I shouldn’t have. Although I love you guys very much…it is not need.  This is my time to shine, my time to grow, and become more independent and in order to do that I need to stop chatting.  Thank you mom for telling me that!   Mom you are my hero…my knight in Shining armor.  Dad you hav0e been always there for me, thank you, even with our tough times I love you and have worked hard to not pick a fight with you.  Aimee, I love you soo much!   You have been a wonderful sister.  You have been there for me and when I come home or even now I will always be here for you, I know before when I was home I got annoyed when you talked to me, but you need to talk just like I do.  I hope you gain your voice while I am gone! When I come back we are going to be swinging at Cooperstown thinking about how amazing the wind feels through our hair just like 2 little girls! J Thank you everyone for always being there for me…for dealing with my tough times and my overly happy times! J I love you guys.  I know you will always be there when the people I called friends leave me, I know I can always come to you if I had an issue at school and I know you will help me solve it! I thank you guys so much! You have paved my path for my future and not in a bad way, you have showed me discipline you have questioned my outfits, and even though I was mad at you for talking to me about how what would the adults think, I love you for doing that! You have made me think twice on some of my decisions that could have been disastrous! Thank you! <3   In the weeks to come, I plan to grow in my own strength, stop my addiction to Facebook, make some true friends at school and write more letters home!  Yes mom you were right a novel will be written while I am here! J A novel for you, my family,  of all my adventures and times of trouble.  Though you are the first I am writing to, this will be for all of my family back in New York! Love Forever and Always!

Yours truly,

Sarah Adele Cook <3

Yes, I am still living! :)

So I had my first orientation yesterday! J It was soo much fun! I got to meet the other 5 exchange students! Julia: Brazil, Bruno: Brazil, Francois: France, Carlos: Mexico, Callie: Canada!  I had a great time with them.  I haven’t done the no talking for a month with my family at home, but I’m dropping chatting unless they are in Japan with me, due to the only way we can communicate! J  I miss my home, I will be the first to admit it! I’m not ashamed!! I love my home and my life in new York, but for me it was realizing that going to Japan has been a dream of mine for a long time and having it finally come true is an incredible chance, I can’t spend it on the computer worrying about what my friends are doing! Compared to them I’m doing a lot more interesting things! J I am slowly learning to hang with the family and enjoy the time!  I had a lot of coffee last night and so I was kind of wound up, but my host mom, and sister had some good laughs with me; like the word for to buy is cau pronounced cow! So Miho (my host sister) and I said we are going to buy a cow; cau cow! J  I had a great time.   I do want to say I am going to try to stop responding or commenting…so if you comment don’t expect that I will comment back! Same with chatting!  I love you guys but, I have to do this!  I really appreciate everyone support of going abroad! A big thank you goes out to my parents, and sister!  I had my “first day” but I only ended up having half a day! J I got my schedule and it is crazy!  I have biology and Chemistry….I have 2 maths’s, I have 2 English’s: one all about like translating between Japanese and English, and then the other all grammar!  I am enjoying my time, but not the public transportation, got lost today! UGH!!! I hate buses! :/  I lost my great grandmother the other day/ today, so that has been a little tough today for me!  I know she is in a better place, due to the fact that she couldn’t remember who anyone was, I remember we would stop in when we were in the town she was in and she couldn’t remember my mom her granddaughter say nothing about the great grandchildren! I cried every time we said good bye!  I will slowly get over this but for now it is on my mind! Well I will sign off now!

Sayonara,

Sarah

Jamata New York! Konnichiwa Japan!

So for all of you that read my blog…..sorry I haven’t updated  in a while!   It has been very crazy this last week!  As I am writing this I am on my fourth airplane! J This is the real plane flight, this plane with take me to Tokyo Haneda! Then, I have to go through customs and then have to ride a shuttle bus to the domestic part of the airport to catch my 5 and final plane, to Osaka,  Japan.  My mom has started her  end of the summer working at the school.  So, Aimee and I went with her and  entertain ourselves.  I had my new laptop so we could watch DVDs and have popcorn, we would play on the swings,  walk to price chopper and back! Aimee and I’s final adventure was when….I decided before I was going to leave for Japan my friends and I need to go get coffee at stage coach! Aimee tagged along ….due to all my friends liking her!  My friends, Aimee, and I all had a great time Aimee had a MEDIUM hot chocolate that she enjoyed very much and I a Carmel macchiato (SOOOO GOOD)! Then once my friends left we had to go back to the school (my mom was working) and so we WALKED from main street Cooperstown to the school…..we had fun! So back to the airport, I had a big going away group…..my grandmother, my Nana, my Aunt, Aimee,  Mom, and Dad.  We checked my one free bag….which was my medium sized luggage and it weighed 41.0 pounds! (it had to be under  50!) I was happy! Everyone walked me as far as they could. My mom got a boarding pass so she stayed with me right up until I walked on the plane!  I realized Good-byes are really hard! I love every one   of those people so much! It was painful…espeacially when I had to say my final good bye to my mom.  She has been my role model my night in shining armor and my everything!  I will really miss her! Love ya mom!  So all of my flights have gone pretty smoothly y…I got lost in LA figures….luckily someone helped me!  So now I'm on this big plane….And yes it is BIG!!!  I had a good dinner on the plane, I didn’t even have to pay for it! J I had chicken and vegatables….then there were shrimp but, I didn’t have that and then my sald…I spilt the ranch dressing on my blanket I was so mad! I got over it! You have probably have been wondering “have I slept?!” The answer to that is Yes I have slept….When we got settled on the international flight  I passed out before we had even taken off! I slept for 2 hours and that has been about it! I’m sure I will sleep because according to the screen in front of me…we still have 7 hours and 21 minutes!  So I just thought I would keep everyone up to date.  I don’t have wifi  right now so I will post it when I get to my gate in Tokyo!! My watch says it is about 5:03 am….not sure how correct that is due to the time change, but my computer is still in New York time and it is about 8:02 a.m. My parents and Aimee are going to woodsmen completion today.  On a side note I watched 2 very good movies….The lucky one and the hunger games!  Hope all is well back in New York  miss you lots!

Love Sarah