Well, it's been about two months since my return from Japan...and you'd think I would have posted by now!  I haven't even written about the last days I spent there, which were so great, though sad.  The Friday was our last day at school (we left on Sunday) and we spent the morning practicing the song we were to sing and our speeches.  I wore the yukata I bought and everyone kept telling me how cute I looked in it and were surprised that I had put it on myself.  Noriko-san, my host-mother came to the farewell party at the school, which was nice, she helped me translate my speech.  It was really sad having to say goodbye to our teachers and study pals.  At the time, though, I was just excited to go out to dinner and bowling with everyone.  Me, Christine, Kyle, Holly and Christine's brother all went to the train station and did some shopping at Takashimaya and Toys R' Us while we waited for school to end for everyone else since our party ended in the afternoon.  I felt so sick that day for some reason, I wanted to eat but couldn't and not eating made me feel dizzy and it was just not fun.  

We waited for everyone to show up and the first two that did were Katsu and Shohei, our favourite pair.  For a minute we thought that no one else was going to show up but Katsu phoned someone and found out that they were all catching the next bus there.  I got a hilarious video of Shohei and Katsu doing a dialogue from a book I bought on the Kansai dialect.  Shohei followed the lines but Katsu didn't.  It went like this:
Shohei: "I really like you!"
Katsu: (with middle finger action) "Shut the fuck up!"
Ah, can't you feel the love in the air?  Those two are too funny.  Finally, everyone showed up and we all went to eat Okonomiyaki, which is cooked in front of you because there's a flat grill on your table.  I still couldn't eat so I just chatted it up with the people at my table.  The IEP class made us all going away presents.  They signed these boards and glued origami to them.  My origami were pigs, little ones following a big one.  They know me too well.  Katsu read all of the messages for me because I don't know a lot of the kanji. >.<;

After that, we all went on the train about two stops over and went to this cool place that had bowling on one floor, karaoke on another, an arcade on another and who knows what else.  The bowling shoes were cool, you'd find your size on what looked like a locker without a door and you'd press a big red button on it and they'd come out, held together by a button!  I think I got the second smallest size.  Haha.  Kyle got the biggest and they were still too small.  My team consisted of Kyle, Katsu, Keiko, Shohei and me...I sucked.  Shohei was crazy good but when we were walking to the bowling place from the train station, he told me how he loves bowling, so I wasn't too surprised.  It was 10 pin, which I've only ever done once.  The balls were painted like basketballs though.  Katsu ended up getting the highest score.  There were these big costumes you could put on that were bowling pins.  First Shohei, Katsu and Christine's brother put them on, which was hilarious.  Then me, Holly and Christine did since Christine really wanted to.  After that, we got all these free token things for the arcade and played some arcade games.  The only person who won something was Shohei.  Here's the weird part, remember our comparison of him to Snoopy?  Well he won a little Snoopy keychain!!!  It was meant to be!  Haha.  We all (12 of us) somehow fit into a "Purikura" booth (sticky pictures) and got those done.  I'm going to cherish those forever, I have them stuck on my cell, DS, computer and iPod and I always look at them.  After that, we went home and I was the first one off the train, which sucked because I didn't realize until just before my stop and didn't get to say goodbye very well.  Luckily, when I got home - sad as hell - I had an email from Shohei, who said that he had a present for me and had forgotten to give it to me.  The next day I had plans to go to see Kabuki with Noriko-san and Chiharu-chan and then to go see one of the largest aquariums in the world.  But Noriko-san told me that we wouldn't be leaving until the afternoon so me and Shohei agreed to meet at my train station at 9:30am.

The next morning, I caught the bus to the train station and met up with Shohei who gave me a Nakamura jersey, knowing that he's my favourite player!!  ^_^  So nice!!  What was even nicer was that he came all the way to my station so early because he was about an hour away and he has to wake up every morning at 3:30 for his part-time job (one of them) delivering papers.  We hadn't gotten home from bowling the night before until around 12 so he only had like 3 hours of sleep!!!  I was really happy.  We ended up just standing there and talking for 2 hours until my family picked me up at 11:30.  While we were talking, some old man asked us if he could take a picture of us talking...that was odd.  It was so hard saying goodbye!  I really wish I didn't have to.  I was so sad for the rest of the day, even though I really did enjoy the Kabuki and the aquarium was amazing.  Still, I couldn't stop thinking about all the people I would be leaving behind the next day and hardly got a chance to know them better at all.

The next morning I was all packed up and asked Noriko-san if she would mind giving one of the teacher's at the school a present for Shohei as a thanks for the one he gave me the next time she was there (she works at the school some days).  I ended up giving him my authentic Japan jersey with Nakamura on the back because I remember him telling me the first time we met how he had seen me in it the day before and wanted it.  It was way too big for me anyways.  I was pretty sad that I couldn't give it myself though.  We drove to the airport and me and Noriko-san talked a lot on the way there.  When we got there, I met up with Kyle and Holly and almost started crying when I told them about the day before and how I had met up with Shohei and the present he gave me.  After some teary goodbyes to our host parents, we prepared for our return home.  We were all in pretty low spirits, though me and Kyle both only really felt it within the first week back home.  Getting home just plain sucked.  Once we arrived in Detroit, the line for customs was a 2-hour wait and we missed our connecting flight.  So by the time we got back home, we were probably 5 hours late.  Luckily, I had my cell phone to let my parents know.  Me and my parents went to my brother's restaurant and ate there but I was still in the same, unable to eat mood.  By the time I went to sleep (Monday morning) I had been awake for 31 hours straight.  It definitely took it's tole too.

The first week was hell, with jet lag and just overall depression of missing Japan.  Actually, I still haven't gotten over that and probably won't.  I really miss it and the people so, so much.  I never expected such a truly huge impact on me.  After that, I got back to work and found out about an 8-month long exchange at a really good university in Japan.  I got the forms to fill out for the exchange but found out that the campus for it was very far away from Osaka.  They have another one with another program though in Kyoto, which I am going to apply for.  This one doesn't have the tie to the university so I have to go through a lot more, like writing two essays (one in Japanese with no help >.<) and getting someone to fill out a questionnaire about me.  It's hard because they can't be family, friends or a teacher...sooo I have to get a stranger to answer questions about why I'd be good for this program when they know nothing about me?  I am going to ask Noriko-san though, I think that's definitely the best choice.  I just hope I can actually go.  It starts in April, which is so far from now and I really don't know how I am going to manage with not seeing everyone in Japan for that long.  I guess I'll have to find a way to get through.  Me and Kyle got together a few times to make a thank-you present for the IEP class.  We photoshopped some pictures and they're hilarious.  We're going to make a video saying thank you as well but we've been busy lately and haven't been able to finish it as of yet.  I've been working at the Bomber a lot (especially after many people quit or got hurt or whatnot and I had to become a line cook) and have vowed to save all my money for this (hopefully) exchange.  It's hard though, with having to pay bills and buy food, not to mention the $8.00/h.  I love it in the kitchen though.  I'm even still considering culinary school since it's only 3 months for the first part of it, which is all I need, I don't want to be a professional chef.  This experience has been so great though, even with the sadness every day of not being able to see them, I am so happy I was able to do this.  I still keep in touch through emails and phone Shohei every so often, when he's not at church or swamped with homework and I'm not too tired (stupid time difference!).  Now I am going to concentrate on improving my Japanese and getting into that program in Kyoto!  I will be able to learn so much more there and actually put it to use instead of how we learn here where we don't even do conversation...it's so easy to forget everything when you never put into use what you're taught.  At any rate, now we're all caught up.  またこんどな！