Sunday, June 12, 2005
let the preparations continue

mood:
listening to:

I talked to Xiao (a.k.a. C.L.; Xiao is pronounced C.L., apparently) today on AIM. We talked for a while, and in our conversation she asked about my host family; like if I had recieved the info yet. I said yeah. I asked how her family was. She said she had a host sister her age, a host mom, dad, grandmother, and brother. She seemed a bit disappointed because she's in Fukuoka (where Ayumi Hamasaki is from), but it's like rural Fukuoka, and they are very agricultural. Like growing their own eggplants agricultural. I felt kinda bad, because she wanted to be on the main island, and I'm guessing more urban. She was also wondering what kind of gifts to get her host family. I gave her a couple of ideas. I hope her situation gets better.

Interesting how things turned out, though. I mean, Xiao is in Fukuoka, Micki is in Osaka, and I'm in Nagoya. I dunno. I just imagined things differently I guess. I was kind of hoping to be in Tokyo, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I love Tokyo, though. Maybe we'll take a day trip up there or something. I mean, it's only an hour and a half away on the Shinkansen. I really want to go to Harajuku (teen hangout; a really cool and fun place...kind of like South Street in a way, except cooler and better) and have some crepes and see a gothic lolita, even buy a cute gothic lolita outfit or something. I want to go to Shibuya (a popular section of town) and Ginza (equivalent of New York's 5th Avenue, or L.A.'s Rodeo Drive) , and I want to see Tokyo Tower again. I love Akihabara, of course, since it's the Electric City. Talk about amazing electronic items (and they're Duty Free if you present your passport~!) Anyways, enough of my Tokyo fantasizing.

I'm obviously hoping to go to the Aichi Expo which has been going on since March, and continues until September. I'm pretty sure I'll be going to that, considering these people LIVE in Nagoya (in the Aichi prefecture thing), and since it's a really popular attraction these days. And of course, a-nation is on July 30th...Xiao is lucky in that department. Fukuoka is practically next door to Oita.

Also in my conversation with Xiao I asked her how her Japanese was going. She said she could say "Hello my name is Xiao," "How are you," "What is this," and "I don't understand." At this point I was:
a) feeling really nervous for her
b) thanking myself for taking Japanese for 3 years. THANK YOU SELF!

Although I'm definitely (and I stress that) no Japanese expert, being able to conjugate verbs in past, present, た, たい , て and ている forms helps a lot, not to mention knowing good vocab, and listening to Japanese music helps too. Also since I've been to Japan before. But to tell you the truth I wasn't ready for that back then. I won't get into that, though. Maybe another day.

Xiao does have an advantage though. Since she speaks/writes Mandarin, she already knows practically all of the kanji. All she has to do is relearn the Japanese pronounciation. And being bilingual in itself is an advantage, especially in this case since Mandarin is an East Asian language.

Another front.

At Borders today I got a fashion magazine for Rei-san. Now all I have to do is think of something else nice for her, and get chocolates for my host mom. As you can see, I'm not so sure what to call my host mom and host dad. Perhaps I will call them Okaasan and Otousan? Perhaps I will call them both Fujita-san. Maybe just Takako-san and Yuzo-san, but I doubt it. I'll have to ask them. o_O

WELL...I am hungry at the moment. I think I'll go get a snack, and then study some Japanese!

じゃねぇぇぇぇ~!

-Erin