三ヶ月：Three Months

Well, hello there! It's been a little while, hasn't it?

It's been three months in Japan. What? WHAT??? WHHHAAA?!?!? I can't believe it. It feels like it's been 80 months and no time at all at the same time. But I am EXTREMELY happy to say that things have improved immensely for me, especially in these past week or two. I said before that the first month was characterized by confusion and the second by struggling to settle in- so where does that leave month three? Hmm... it's been a lot like month 2, but not as much struggling. It's getting better.

At school: I got the surprise of my life when Kousen's outbound exchanger from last year (a girl who went to Hawaii) came up to me and introduced Momoko. I started speaking in Japanese, and then she said, "Oh, English is fine!" in an American accent. I was all Huh? and she was all smiley and told me that she had gone to America on exchange last year with a different program (meaning not Rotary). SO HAPPY! We exchanged mails (of course, standard procedure here in Japan), and got back to class and stuff. But then we made a plan to hang out and went shopping, and it was uber-fun :D She's been giving me all sorts of insights into the lives of Japanese high school students, and it's made a lot of things a lot clearer. It's great!

Also, another exchange student entered my school. (And btw my brain is about to throw a fit because I'm thinking halfway in Japanese and halfway in English, so sorry if my grammar goes funky. I don't want to conjugate in the future tense or use articles or say "I" a lot or pluralize anything or use English syntax). SO anywho, this other exchange student is sort of like a part-time exchange student. He's here until the start of next year, but second term ends in December, so the last time he'll be in school is in December. Also, he only comes to school on Mondays and Tuesdays. So... yeah, he's a part time exchanger. Because he doesn't really speak any Japanese, my school has placed him in all of my classes so I can translate and stuff. Last week was the first time he came, and everyone FLIPPED OUT of course XD I was trying my best to translate and stuff- which I have to say made me feel pretty proud of myself- and overall it was pretty fun. But I noticed that thing again, the thing where when I speak Japanese I act differently that when I speak English. It's freaky O.o I hope you all aren't too alarmed by it if you come visit me...

And as for school friends- I have more of them now. Or maybe not more, but better friends. And that makes it feel like I have more friends. So. I can speak a little more, so it's easier to talk with them, and they're also getting used to me. Like they don't run away as much, but will actually stop and talk! I still wish I could talk about more diverse subjects and stuff, but at least I'm forming a basis for the rest of the year. Patience is key; when you're an exchanger, you have to let yourself learn and adapt. You can't force friends, or language, or biculturalism to happen overnight, or even in 3 months! It happens. Eventually.

Regarding Japanese: Well, it's been 3 months, and I still can't understand tons of what's going on. But I can understand a lot. And I always try to talk, no matter how bad my grammar or roundabout my vocabulary, because then people can fix it or help me learn more. I can say most of what I want to say, although I often have to get very creative to do so. And people tell me I'm doing well for 3 months- they're surprised by my accent and my understanding. And somewhat disappointed by my reading ability, but that's because the last exchanger studied kanji a lot and could read very well by the end of the year, and I can't read a lot of kanji. I learn by mailing my Japanese friends :) But I do plan to start reading soon, because by reading you can pick up a lot of little nuances that are hard to hear. Haha, I'm reading only to improve my speaking, not because I desperately want to learn how to read Japanese... don't tell my school, I don't think they'd approve XD Just kidding.

So yeah! Things are not super fabulous great right now and I still have a long way to go, but they are looking up. Which is excellent!

That's your three month update. Hope you enjoyed :) And Mom, I need you to send me normal American shampoo because the Japanese brands disagree with my hair, haha.

Love ya'll and stuff! またね~！