Having a two days vacation

Hello people, as the title suggests I'm having a two days vacation, 'cause of the test week ending so we will have this vacation for relaxation. It started quite well, as I slept for about 12 hours and woke up during noon. :D Haven't done anything, just eaten and lagging around Facebook. :P The weather is really nice though, and it's actually a bit hot over here. Thought I could go take some pictures of the fall in Hiyoshidai (the village, where I am living), but the leaves aren't really that yellow yet. 8<

School's fine, though it's a bit difficult for me to make some friends over here. Not sure about the reasons, but I have some possible reasons on my mind. :P Well, anyways I am quite sure I will be able to get some friends after a while. Or, I don't know how other exchange students classify the term "friend", but for me, it's quite personal (did that make any sense?!? XD).

Anyways, at my school we have the school trip on November and guess where I am going to....!! *tidididididididididididii* OKINAWA!!! Yes, I am going to Okinawa. And what kind of images do we get inside our minds when we think about Okinawa? Palm trees, beaches, sky-blue water... YES!! And no, I don't exactly love beaches, but I love to take pictures... XDD I'm so waiting for that trip. @__@ Well, I gotta thank my parents for making that school trip possible for me, especially since my mom has always wanted to go to Okinawa. ::D

Another thing you might be interested in is school fashion. I started studying at a new school, so of course the school uniform is also different. Well, my school uniform is not the 100% the same one as other students', 'cause for certain reasons we have bought similar clothes to replace the school uniform clothes, though my exchange-company would have paid for the original pieces too. >___> Well at least the neck tie and the emblem are the same ones. XD Anyways, here's a picture of me wearing my school uniform:

 

 I think I like my current "school uniform" better than the previous one. I did not like the pants. ::D Oh, and yays for the polar bear plastic bag, it's just too random. XD 

 Hmm, did I have something else than just showing off the newest school fashion? Hmm, oh yes. I have been searching for a coat or something for winter. And yes, I brought a coat with me from Finland, but of course I want to buy a coat from Japan too. ;) I just want a bit different clothes, that's all. And I already have on my mind what kind of a coat I would like to buy: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/midas/360480-br/  NOOOOOO, seems like they have sold out every last piece. D888 Well I wanted the bigger size and it was already sold out, so it doesn't hurt that much... but still... 8< Well, I guess I still got lots of time to find the perfect jacket/coat for myself. <3

Last but not the least, I am going to take part in kanji kentei (a kanji test, what Japanese people usually take) lvl 4, 10 being the easiest and 1 being the hardest (only politicians usually take lvl 1, because you have to know around 6000 kanjis, be able to tell the difference between old and new kanjis etc.). So what does lvl 4 require then? I have to be able to read about 1300 kanjis, and write around 900 kanjis... Well at least, I am going to a have a "bit" of a challenge for myself. ::D Level 4 is usually completed by junior high 2nd or 3rd year students so if I pass that test, I guess I should be happy with myself. 8D

Oh, Anna told me to write to my next post that I miss her. Who's Anna? Anna is a really really good friend of mine. :D I miss you <3 And if you're interested here's a link to her blog: http://hhmas.blogspot.com/


Bye bye!

Prince from Japan <3

The fall has arrived to Miyagi

Hello, it's 01:01am, and I just decided, that I want to tell you it's like really cold over here. At the moment I guess it's around +10 celsius degrees... D8 Really, I am almost freezing. ::D Well, I didn't really have anything else to tell you.XD

Oh, I finally got my hands into Liar Game: The Final Stage -movie, that completes the series of Liar Game -drama. Liar Game is a Japanese TV-series, based on the manga of the same name. It's about group of people who were selected to compete in a game for liars. Anyways, you can read more about Liar Game from da internet, if you're interested. However, the movie was GREAT!! It was worth the while of waiting for a bit over 6 months for me to see it. I still think I should have gone to watch it at a movie theater while they were still playing it. I thought that I could buy the movie after I had rented it. Just in case, because I don't want to waste 60€ on a movie that I don't particularly like... Well, 60€ of a movie is still a bit much. :P Have to think about if I really want the movie or not...


Well, I had nothing else, just wanted to share what happened today and about the weather too. And now, I am going to start sleeping, have to wake up at 8:00am, just because my host-family eats breakfast that early and wants that everyone eats together. Byeeeeeee!!! 

We are liars underneath (= Candy castles Part 2)

Helloes, so last time I told you about my personal hell that lasted for about 3 months in this country, and now, I am going to finish telling you the whole thing. I hope I don't forget anything too important. :P

As I promised you, I will tell you the reasons why I didn't like my first school too much.

So, everything started on the 7th day of April 2010 when I had the first day at a Japanese school. I wasn't too happy, because I was put into a same class with students one year younger than me. They all looked like little children to me (notice my really good attitude... :D), and I did not really want to be in that class. I even started to write a diary to relieve the angriness and disappointment that I had. I wrote it for about a week, I guess. After that I started to change my attitude, school didn't feel that bad anymore. Well, I did feel bad that I ate the lunch everyday alone.

However, a ray of light pierced through the darkness. I started to talk more with some people, had fun during lessons, school was fun. I thought I had gotten some friends. How wrong was I. After a while, the person who I talked probably the most with, started to "hate" me for some reason. I don't know what I did wrong, of course, in my opinion I did nothing wrong, or anything that would make someone angry. But it just happened. Of course I still had people to talk with, make jokes etc. However, I could never be truly myself in that school. Well, the truth is that they were still like junior high students, and it did not even feel like high school, it had the same feeling as junior high. I consider the years spent in junior high one of the worst years in my life, so no wonder I did not like it over there either. Besides not being able to be myself, the school was a really good school, the 30th best high school in Japan, and there are over 5000 high schools in Japan... :P So they studied a lot, not my type of a school. Sure, I study at a good school in Finland, but still, we don't really study that much.

Back then, my 1st host-family's house played the role of a safe place, where I could forget everything about my school. I did not really want to go to school, but of course I wouldn't say that to my host-family. :P

Anyways, I told you before that there was some light in the darkness too. And there was a second time when the light pierced through the darkness. I could take part in the 2nd year students' returnee English classes. The teacher was excellent, and I finally got to take classes with people of the same age as me. I got friends from that class. That class was the light in my daily darkness.

Later, when the summer vacation got closer, I asked from this one teacher, if I could switch to 2nd year as I have more friends among them, and that I really wanted to take classes with people of the same age. I had my chance to prove myself, I failed, partly because I had not cleared my thought beforehand on a paper, and because I was a bit ill (I couldn't go to the school the next day). I wanted to cry, because I was thinking if all that would continue for the rest of my exchange year, it didn't feel worth it. "I could as well return back to Finland" was what I was thinking back then.

Well, anyways, I was in the middle of changing host-families from the 2nd host-family to the 3rd one. Leaving all the sadness and tears behind, that's what I thought. I was wrong. Even more pain was ahead.

I moved to the 3rd host-family where I thought I would be staying for only two days. Supposedly, my 2nd host-family had given a totally wrong image of me to YFU, so my 3rd host-family thought I was a snob, only wanting to stay at rich host-families, wanting expensive food etc. I was really surprised when I heard all that. Because they had an ex-Swedish exchange-student living over there who explained the situation. And they were surprised too when they noticed that I wasn't anything like that nor did I know any of that stuff YFU had told them. My 3rd host-family told me to be at ease, because they would be supporting me and that they would tell YFU the truth. They started to like me and called YFU that I could stay there for a month. I was at ease, or thought I would be.

I lived in a perfect location, in the downtown of Chiba's Matsudo city. Matsudo's train station was a 5-minute walking trip away from the house. The host-family felt really nice and they had a sense of humour, quite opposite to my 2nd host-family. I could laugh again. However, after a few days, they started to make (Warning: This stuff is about to become something really personal for me!!) jokes about my weight, the first time my host-parents joked about my body, the ex-exchange-student told them how it is a taboo to make jokes about things like that. I thought they understood, but no. They continued to joke about my weight and how my body was like a sumowrestler's body and how they would take me to the nearest sumowrestler as an apprentice. At first they would say that for about 5 times/a day and everytime laugh after saying it. I laughed too, it was what you would call "Tequila tequila" -laughing, the same thing what that woman at the exchange company's headquarters taught me. I was a bit grateful, that she had taught it to me. So, why did I not ask them to stop it and why did I only continue doing my fake laugh? The reason is because I was afraid. I was afraid that they would get angry, I was afraid I would get in more trouble. Because YFU had a really bad image of me, so I did not want to make things any worse, they might have sent me back to Finland. That's why I stayed silent. It all piled up inside me. Everytime they would call me a sumowrestler, it made me suffer more, even the ex-exchange-student started to think it was funny (or that's what it seemed to me), because even she started to laugh. Well, it didn't end there. Besides just mocking me (my host-father even said that if a joke doesn't have any poison in it, it's not funny), my host-mum used to poke me at the breast/belly area. She would poke me and laugh at the same time. I would do my fake laughing again, once again piling up even more pain inside me. It continued for a month. In the beginning they would mock me everyday, many times per day, but gladly, towards the end it started to become more random and there was days when they didn't say it at all. However, when I went to Tokyo for example to do some shopping, during the return trip back to the house I can remember being scared if they would mock me or poke me again. I can remember how during one night I called my mom and told about everything, I started crying and I was so tired mentally that I was ready to return back to Finland. I almost gave up. Not much was needed, the only thing that stopped me from returning back to Finland was the information was that I would be moving to Sendai, in other words, starting a new life as an exchange-student. That was the only thing that kept me struggling.

Summer vacation started on the 20th day of July, we had a "farewell" party for me at my class. To be honest, to me it all seemed so fake. Suddenly, everyone were writing things like "No Niki, No Life.", while in reality, they didn't even talk to me. I just felt like asking why to act like it's a big thing I am leaving, but I figured I shouldn't ask that. :P I was happy that I would be switching schools, even though of course there were some really cool people at that school (I think the people from my previous school who are reading this text know if they are one of those cool people ;D).

After the farewell party at my class and saying goodbye to people I returned to my 3rd host-family's house, it was time to move to the 4th host-family, and from there I would move to Sendai after a month. I remember being scared if my 4th host-family would also mock me and make jokes about my body. Gladly, they didn't.

My personal Hell of three months had finally came to its end. The only thing I was carrying were the bad memories and the wounds those evil words gave me. I could live my last month in Chiba enjoying and having fun, and after that when moving to Sendai, try to forget all about the bad things that had happened to me. Finally, I could be at ease.

No Topic :P

I was supposed to write the part 2 today, but I am really tired so I have to leave it for tomorrow, or some other day. Sorry. <3

It's not always about roses and candy castles

Hello guys, I noticed something today... That something was, that I haven't been really talking about the exchange as an experience itself or about my feelings too much, I mostly have written about what I have done, showing only the good sides. Sure, I have told you a little bit about the negative things too, but only a tiny part. I just feel like that I should correct this mistake and show you that my exchange-year hasn't always been something to be jealous of, because my exchange-year hasn't been perfect, to be honest, it has been a living hell for me for about 3 months. And how long have I been here? About 6 months.

As I told you, my exchange-year hasn't always been smiling faces, kind people, enjoying my life, but starting from my 2nd host-family till coming to Sendai it was a series of misfortunes for me. How many tears I shred, how I almost gave up and returned back to Finland, how I wanted to yell to people so that they would stop hurting me. How I did not have a safeplace where I could get rid of the negative thoughts. However, I will start telling you where it all started and how I am doing so far.

It all started when I had to leave my 1st host-family. The very first impression that I got of my 2nd host-family (with all respect) was kind of bad. The tone, the way she (my 2nd host-mom) said it to me, starting from that moment I had a feeling that things would start to get worse. Of course, I did try my best not to get into a bad situation. Anyways, I started to live my life in the 2nd host-family, and during the trip while sitting in my 2nd host-family's car I had to hold the tears. I could not let myself cry, it would have given them a bad impression. However, when we arrived to their house, we lifted the luggage to my room, where I started to unpack them. And do you know what I did while I was trying to unpack my luggage. I cried. I cried silently so that my new hosts would not hear it. I tried to hold it all in, but I could not, it was simply too much. I don't know, but I think that my hosts also noticed that I was feeling really sad. I did not know what to do, it felt really bad to be taken away from the host-family where I had spent the last two months, I really liked them a lot, it felt like a perfect host-family for me, but then that was crushed and I was taken away. That is why I cried.

I continued my life in the 2nd host-family, the first and second week were the worst. Everyday, after school I wished I would somehow end up in front of my 1st host-family's house, talk to the people over there, make jokes, laugh like before. However, I knew that was impossible. I would continue to return to my 2nd host-family's house. I never felt I had something common with my 2nd host-family, they did not even make any jokes, I did not laugh much in that house. And the people who know me, know that I laugh a lot. I would wake up feeling bad, of course I had some good days in that house too, but not too many. I did not want to go to school (I'll say it again: I will explain this later), I wanted to stay there and just do nothing for the whole day, even though I did not really want to stay there (my 2nd host-family's house) either, but at that point, it was the smaller bad. However, days passed and I started to feel really bad, I contacted YFU. That was the turnpoint of events and when everything really started to go downhill. My host-family (host-mother to be exact) started to call me a liar, how much I have hurt their family's pride, talking about stuff that was not related to the whole thing and blaming my mom for all of it, how I always have said very rude things to them. Do you know how angry I felt? I thought everything would go peacefully. I was wrong. My host-mom would blame me everyday for the things I just listed, to be honest, I felt like punching her at one point, when she started to talk about my family in Finland (?!?!?!)... I did not feel like I was a family member, I felt more like a pet or a doll that just was there.

Do you know what was the worst thing? The exchange-organization. You may ask why? Well the answer is: the way some people of the organization act. Of course, the organization itself is a good thing that gives an opportunity for teenagers to get to know another culture and learn a new language, however, there are some people that you should watch out for. I ended up meeting one of those people. I think the very first words she said to me in Japanese were something like "You have to lose weight.". Can you believe that? How can someone say something like that as her first words? I usually know by glance if I get along with someone or not, and by glance I could see that she is of the type that I do not get along with. Why is that? It's because I saw behind her "mask". To other persons she was very nice and did her fake smile and fake laughter nicely, but to me she was rude and used her fake smile and fake laughter all the time I would say something. She would turn from nice into a mean person in seconds. First she would be praising me and joking, the next second she would be blaming me for everything that has gone wrong. How I hurt my 2nd host-family's pride, how everything is my fault. She would look at me disgusted and do her fake smile that she called "Tequila tequila". I always talked to her by using the polite style. I did not want any conflicts, but she did. I think she noticed that I knew she was not one of those kind persons. She was a fake. Anyways, she kept tormenting me everytime I met her. Gladly, I guess I don't have to see her anymore, 'cause she's in Tokyo and I am in Sendai (well, near Sendai :D).

Oh yes, I gotta end up this update earlier than what was my purpose, because I am sleepy and I have to start sleeping soon, so that I won't feel dead when I wake up tomorrow morning. I will try to make part 2 of this update (watch out for the hardcore stuff that's about to come in the next update!) as soon as possible (possibly tomorrow). But anyways I gotta sleep, see youuuuuuu! OH AND I WILL ALSO EXPLAIN THE SCHOOL THING IN MY NEXT UPDATE!!!

Changing the title of the blog

So, I have been wanting to get rid of the name of my blog as I don't like it anymore, and well, people have proved my expectations wrong. I don't feel like calling this country a land of broken Engrish, even as a joke. It just doesn't feel right. ::D That's why I thought of being more friendly and changed the topic to suit my current taste better. :D

Stuff before moving to Sendai, 仙台 and the beginning of the new school (ft. Bunkasai)

 WARNING!! This update is extremely long so prepare yourself with something to eat to get the maximal enjoyment out of this update! ;)

A lot has happened. But I am only gonna write a short post about the last days of my staying in Chiba prefecture. So, I went to Karuizawa with my previous host-family and their children and grandchildren.  To describe the vacation I would say fake cottages, Finnish like nature, expensive restaurants etc. Yeah, I did not like the trip too much, because it was like it was trying to approach the feeling of living in a cottage, but they just looked copies to me and it was kind of sad. The place was kind of boring too, there wasn't really anything to do except walk or play golf (which I did not do, 'cause I have never played golf :P), or do some shopping at the nearest malls. Well even those were outlets (nothing wrong with outlets, but the brands just sucked). We were there for a week... And I survived it! I don't know how, but I survived. And I am not unthankful, but I just didn't like the whole place, that's all. Except, it was great to see another side of Japan.

Having fun at Tokyo

So after the "vacation" I had only one week left at Chiba. So what did I do? I tried to meet friends (ended up meeting an exchange-student and a friend from my previous school). We did the normal (but extremely funny) stuff with the exchange students. We hanged out at Tokyo (Shibuya, DUH), took purikura etc. AND!!! Went to FINLAND CAFE!!!! It was a really cool place as it had Finnish design stuff, Finnish interia etc. And a video playing on a wall about Kamppi etc. It was expensive but the stuff was quite yummy too. ::D Now that I wrote this all, it's really strange to think that we will not most probably see for another 4 months. O_O Well, time flies fast, 'cause in eleven days I have been in Japan for 6 months, half a year, that is!!!

I also saw my friend, Kumi, who's a student of Shibumaku (the previous school). We went to Lalaport to hang out, eat, take purikura (sadly, we don't know the reason, but we couldn't download the purikura pictures 8<). So basically, nothing special, but like always, it was really fun to hang out with her. I miss her now. 8(( Besided that, I was still having "not-eating-anything-sweet-except-fruits" -diet going on, which was a pain in the *ss, because she bought this really yummy looking ice cream. D888888 Honestly, they put crushed banana, poured chocolate sauce on the ice cream and mixed the whole thing with iron spatulas and then put it on to the ice cream waffle cup. Damn it, it looked good. ::D But really, we were still supposed to see, but we didn't have time in the end. :(( We don't even know when we can see again, it might be in a year, in ten years or in 20 years, who knows... 8(( Okay, earlier than in ten years, that I can promise. ::D DID YOU READ THAT KUMI?!?! ;)

The place where we were looking at the fireworks

I also did some last shopping in Tokyo, but I didn't find anything else than a scarf. :D I was supposed to go to this one Super Lovers store at a shopping mall called Laforet, but of course it was having a renovation going on, ON THE DAY THAT WAS GOING TO BE MY LAST SHOPPING DAY IN TOKYO!! That's just my typical luck... Anyways, it was also the last time that I went to Sexpot Revenge (it's a cloth shop :P), to look if I could find something from there, and of course, talk with the seller, 'cause he's really chill and it's always nice to talk with him. :D Of course, all in Japanese. ;P

I also went to watch the fireworks to my previous family's host-dad's working place. It was in the heart of Shinjuku and we watched the fireworks from the 50th floor with his other workmates. I even saw little bit of a Johhny's group's gig, 'cause they had binoculars over there so they said to look with those to see the gig. And I did. :::D Hmm, it gave me the chills of being a stalker or something. XDD Anyways, the fireworking was done quite far away, so the fireworks weren't that big (because we were far away :D), but it was also funny to look at the fireworks from above. XDD That's something you can't do everyday and it was really cool.

A place near the house I am staying at

So the last day in Chiba was mainly packing. Nothing else. So nothing special to write about that day.

21.8. was the day of moving to Sendai. I was excited, but also had my stomach full of butterflies. ::D Well the day also had its' negative side, because of this one person (but I am not gonna say who, just in case XD), but anyways, that person again made me feel really bad by mocking my Japanese, looking at me disgusted, telling me to take my piercings off (and not even giving me a proper reason as to why take the piercings off...). That's one person I hate besides those other few people in this country.

Anyways, we went to Sendai by a 新幹線 (= a bullet-train). Now I have rode a bullet-train for four times. :D It's kind of cool. :P However, we arrived to Sendai and I met my host-family. I like my host-family, everyone are nice to me and feels like a real family, which is a feeling I haven't had since my first host-family, so I am really glad about this host-family.

Near Sendai station

I really like Sendai, and even the first meal that I ate over here was one of Sendai's specialities, cow's tongue, which is actually REALLY good!! Sadly, people don't eat it in Finland. :P Not to get off-topic I should probably tell you what Sendai is like. Well, I love Sendai. It's not as big as Tokyo, but I really like the streets and the spirit that Sendai has. :D  So I am not really sure which one I like better, Tokyo or Sendai. I can't deny the love I have for Shibuya and Harajuku or Ikebukuro (where I only went once, and I don't know why I didn't go more than that 8<).

I have been enjoying my life over here, and I have been even thinking that I might as well do the university studies over here in Sendai, if I learn Japanese well enough in these coming three years. Yeah, that's how much I like Sendai.

I have also done things over here that I have not done anywhere else, prepare yourselves.... I... went... to... a... SOCCER MATCH!! D888 Well, my host-mom (who's a soccer fan, AND a Korean drama fan), asked me if I wanted to go see a soccer match and I was like "Sure, why not.", so we went. :D I was positively surprised, because of the cheering Japanese people do. ::D My throat hurt after the game. 8<< Because we had to cheer all the time. XDD Oh dear. But it was totally worth it. :D

Classmates + me (making a weird pose)

My school also started, and to be honest, this school is more of my style. :P Sorry shibumakus, but that's just the cold truth. ::D The people are more of my style, they have piercings, we can make joke about things, we just have more in common. :P And the best thing, they don't stress too much studying which is just perfect for me, 'cause I don't want to stress about studying over here, because when I get back to Finland I know IB's gonna make me really busy. And of, I am now studying on the second year high school (my class is called F2-8). The people in my class are really nice. I think I get nicely along with them. :D And to be honest, this school resembles a bit of my high school in Finland (which is actually a good thing ;D). Really looking forward for these 3½ months in Seibun (my current school!

Some of the teachers doing crossdressing

On this last weekend (4.-5.9.) we had 文化祭 (= bunkasai, which means a cultural festival that is held in every school all over Japan, usually at autumn). The first day was kind of boring, because we just looked at performances for like 6 hours, well there were some really good performances, but what made it boring was that there were lots of performances, that were just plainly boring and sometimes we couldn't hear anything, not the sounds of the instruments or the singing). But of course, there are always some diamonds, like a  group called 白-A (Shiro-A), which is a performance group playing trance music. Their performances were really cool and basically everyone liked them. Then there were other gemstones like the dancing performed by school's dancing club. And I am not talking about ballet or something like that but street dancing, breakdancing etc. Really, some of the students honestly have talent in dancing!! We also had a crossdressing contest, that got a bit boring after a while, but on Sunday, some of the teachers (mostly male teachers) also participated and dressed as women, it was really cool and surprising that Japanese school teachers would do something like that!! XD

Who doesn't belong to the group? XDDD

So, the teachers crossdressing was one of the last things on Sunday, but before that was the main event of bunkasai. All the classes doing their own things, for example my class sold からあげ (= kara-age, Japanese fried chicken), there were lots of food tents, a couple classes sold かき氷 (= kakigoori, shaved ice with some flavor syrup poured over it, really yummy during hot summer days!!!), some other classes sold 　焼き鳥 (= yakitori, Japanese skewered chicken) etc. IT WAS REALLY FUN!!! I mostly handed out kara-age flyers, which was actually quite fun. Ate lots of food, enjoyed the whole thing and got sunburnt. D88 I also met some really interesting and cool people, including yankees, gyarus, and of course other students. I have noticed that I am especially popular among yankee people. :::D Anyways, I really loved bunkasai and I was really tired when I got home, so I went to sleep at 10pm and wake up around 12:30pm, so I slept for about 14½ hours, whoops. :::D I still got a holiday tomorrow (because of bunkasai), and I am most probs gonna go to Sendai again, 'cause I have a couple of places that I want to check out.

But I guess this is my update this time, 'cause now I have basically told you everything about the stuff that has happened since my last update. And yeahhhh. I do apologize that it has been almost a month (tomorrow would be a month since the last update ::::D) since my last update. :P But anyways, hope you enjoyed reading this one. ;P Byeeeeee!! <3