Japan Exchange - Christmas!

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[I have missed out a lot of posts so I decided to restart from the beginning of where I had stopped.]

For the first post, please visit here.

The next day after I arrived I visited the local market and cycling around the island the next few days.

 
Good bargains can easily be found in the local market

Had a pleasant cycling trip in the cool winter breeze

Then I started going to high school with Kyohei my host brother. The thing is, my Japanese was very limited and I certainly couldn't follow a lecture in Electricity or Mechanism in Japanese. (Kyohei was a year one student in Electricity stream and I entered his class.)
He then tried to rearrange my timetable so that I could go for classes like cookery,calligraphy, arts etc.

It's near Christmas then so they were quite a lot of events. 
One of which is the Christmas tree lightning ceremony in front of the Town Hall.

  
Me and Kyohei hanging out at the ceremony

Then I was invited to another Christmas party. Hosted by the Tanegashima International Friendship Society.

The entrance to the venue

 
  There were more foreigners than I had expected. Some of them were even invited to gave a small talk.

 And then I was invited to talk as a special guest as well. I was really nervous because I had been told to speak in English but they suddenly requested it to be in Japanese.

And then there were some performances. This is the taiko (太鼓).

The youngest performer. 

Photo with the mayor and the president of the club. One thing which is worth mentioning is the name of the president which is 小浜 in Japanese and it reads O-BAMA. Funny isn't it.

After that they had this sing-along session and everyone went really high!

 
Some of the people I met. The very funny Sakamoto brothers and the girls from Leo Club.

[ This is the second post of this series of blog. More and more coming! Please come back (: ]

I'm back!

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Yes I'm officially back from Japan.
You know, I originally brought along my pc so that I could update easily but then it ended I only managed to post a single blog entry before I returned.
So now that I would need to trace back those days and luckily I've got a lot of pictures reminding me what I have been through.
I need to thank to lots of people there which make my stay extremely enjoyable.


I am really grateful towards my host family. They hosted me with kindness and warmth and treated me as if I were their own grandson/son/brother. 
I really burst into tears that day when I was on the flight leaving Tanegashima. I really couldn't bear leaving them.
Even though I have returned, I am still in contact with them and some casual Skype calls can really cheer me up.


They even delivered Japanese rice to my home! I was so shocked because I only told them I liked Japanese rice once and they could remember it. It was sweet. 

Then I knew a lot of people in the school where I went to. Especially thanks to the E-1 Class of Tanegashima High School. Nearly everyone offered me help and treated me nicely during my 4-day-lesson at there.


This was the last day before winter vacation and I wore YE formal suit to give a bilingual speech at the school closing ceremony.
A lot of people told me they were touched by my speech so I guess I was pretty successful!

Lastly a special thank to us Fukuoka YCEs!


Yes we are awesome!! Made friends with you guys and it was really fun! And I wouldn't forget we laughed during the whole flight from Fukuoka to Bangkok!
So glad that we made it altogether :D

(this is an rough update about the trip and details will be added one by one, very soon!!)

These few days in Japan

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Yes, if you do not know my story yet, I’m here to tell you.
I participated the Youth Exchange programme hosted by Lions Club and eventually I got chosen and was transferred to Japan.
My host family stays in Tanegashima, an island off the southern part of Kyushu island. I took four flights including transit from KL to here. It was really quite a journey.
Tanegashima is a very beautiful island, with extremely gorgeous seasides, dazzling scenery, tranquil lifestyle, and generous people. It would definitely be a pleasant stay.

Gorgeous seaside

I was welcomed with open hands. My host family consists of four members, father, mother, son and daughter. They have been treating me very well. I have putting up quite fine with my host brother Kyohei Nishimura, he’s sort of funny and kind, and of course takes good care of me.



I was taken to the Tanegashima High School second day right after I arrived, and experienced something quite new there. As seen of TV, they can bring mobile phones, they do not have school rules about hairstyle and so on. What impressed me is that, they do have a lunch time at around 1pm and then will brush their teeth TOGETHER after meal, before next period.

Today I even went to the Christmas party hosted by Tanegashima Foreigner Society. It was quite enjoyable as there were a lot of activities and I even gave a speech there.. in Japanese!
Speaking of which, though I have learnt Japanese before, but I still barely speak it fluently. I can handle easy conversation, but when it comes to TV programs or formal events speeches, it was hardly understandable to me.




Will keep on learning and hopefully I can speak it fluently before I return home.
Stay tuned if you’re interested as I am gonna update spontaneously.
For more photos, please refer to: Facebook Album

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