Study Abroad?

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog, but that doesn't mean I've been slacking on my Japanese studies.  I did struggle a bit with the curriculum that I made for myself, so I revamped it (again).

Right now I'm using a few useful resources for studying, including my SRS, Anki.  I recently discovered a "wikibooks" page for the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) Grammar points, so I'm taking notes and throwing example sentences into Anki.

I'm also just starting out with the "Nihongo sou matome" series to study kanji, vocabulary, grammar, reading, and listening.

Now for the big update: I'm applying to study abroad in Japan for the 2016-2017 school year.  I had one meeting today, and I have another one in a couple days before applications open up on November 1.  I'll have more info on this soon, but if things go well, I'll be returning to Japan for the third year in a row, and I'll be able to stay for more than two months this time around.

That's what I'm going to leave you with, so until next time...

Take care!

Adam
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A New Attitude: Back to Studying Japanese

I've been home from Japan for about a week now, and I have been setting time aside to do some Japanese studying just about every day.  I returned to Anki with fresh, new decks since I unfortunately lost all of my old ones.

Right now, I'm flying through the N5 Vocab deck, and I'm working on the Jalup Beginner 1000 again.  I feel like I should be way further along than this, but I don't mind having a refresher after not having a chance to actually "study" for a few months.  I will say, however, that my listening ability improved quite a bit while I was in Japan, and it's especially noticeable when I'm listening to music.

Anyway, what's new about my attitude this time, you ask?  This is going to sound crazy, but previous times that I've studied Japanese, I was so dedicated that I would study for 3-4 hours a day and eventually burn out.  I wouldn't give myself days off, and my Anki reviews were "everything."

So... my attitude is much more relaxed now.  I'll study on the days that I can, and yes, I know this can be a dangerous mindset, but if I'm too serious, I'll burn out and quit again.  It'll work out alright, and now I have friends that are motivating me to study Japanese more.

But for now, I want to study and not write this post.

See ya!

Adam
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Nearing the End

I can't believe I only have 9 days left with all of Group 6... It's been an amazing summer, and being separated from them during my last week in Japan is seriously going to bum me out. 

We still have a few nights off, another USA Summer Camp session, and a short trip to Kyoto planned before we break apart for a week. 

So, to my team, in order of appearance from right to left...

Ahmed... You're a great guy, and you're crazy around the kids. Keep up the good work at our last camp together! And I'm glad your feet healed up well.

Phoua... You're extremely nice to everyone, and I never took your kindness for granted. You work well with the campers, and they seemed to love doing camp skit with you at the camp we just finished. 

Kao... We're going to have a blast in Gifu, but it's going to be odd not being surrounded by the rest of Squid Squad while we're there. Here's to the last week of the trip!

Hope... You're just awesome! You're easy to talk to and are always approachable, so thanks for being such a strong asset to the team. And I love your symbolism, by the way. 

Amanda, Amanda, Amanda... Thanks for putting up with me through all of these camps and for all of the camp drama. You're seriously one of the coolest girls I've ever met, but that wasn't a surprise since Emilie told me that you're awesome before this trip even started. 

Adam... Okay, maybe I should skip myself...

Sam... I seriously couldn't have imagined Group 6 without you on it. You're one of the coolest guys that I can call my friend, and I'm going to miss you a ton after this trip is done. Maybe we'll have to have a few drinks...or a lot of drinks in Oshkosh or La Crosse sometime!

And to everyone... You made this summer the best one I've ever had. Yes, I loved being in Japan last summer, and there's no replacing my original team, but I at least have two teams to see when I go home in a couple weeks now.

But for now, let's enjoy the time we have together and make our final camp the best one yet.

Squid Squad!

Adam

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A Brief Reunion! The Wheels on the Bus

After the three night home stay, you can imagine how excited I was to be reunited with my team.  However, shortly after meeting at Tokyo Station, I was informed that I would be spending one more night in Tokyo.

"Oh," I said, wondering why.  And is the rest of the team staying in Tokyo, too?

Well, the answer is no.  I found out that I'm actually going to be riding on a bus with 44 campers, so that should be an interesting experience to say the least.  I'll be on the bus with one of the Japanese counselors.

Waving goodbye to my team was difficult, since our reunion was short and bittersweet, but I'll see them all tomorrow when camp begins!

I had a great time exploring Shinjuku today, and I took some pretty neat photos.  I'll be scattering the uploads throughout the next week, since I'll be at camp every day for the next six days, which means that I won't have many, if any, photo opportunities.

Also, I have a presentation due on August 2nd for the final two camps, and tonight is the last main opportunity that I have to work on it.  You "could" call me a procrastinator, BUT you also have to realize that I'm exploring Japan and... no one else on my team completed their presentations, either.  Yeah... I'm just going to get to work on it now.

Chat later,

Adam
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Back to Work! Can't Wait For Kyoto

Well, I had an amazing time off in Japan!  Our last break was eight days, including the three night home stay. Now my team is preparing to reunite for our next summer camp.

So for those of you wondering if I'm actually working this summer, the answer is "Yes, I am."  I just had a week off, that's all.  I will have a few more breaks this summer, though, and it's the last one that I want to talk about briefly.

The seven members of Group 6 will be leaving Tokyo and be going to Kyoto for a few days around August 13th.  This will be the first time that I've ever been outside of the Tokyo area in Japan, and I'm rather excited to ride on the Shinkansen bullet train.

I've wanted to visit Kinkaku-ji, The Golden Pavilion, for years, and I think I might finally get my chance this summer.  If it doesn't work out for some reason, I'm sure I'll still have a good time, but I'll be so happy if I do, in fact, get a chance to see it in person.

And after our break in Kyoto, the group is breaking up into groups of 2-2-2-1 for the last set of camps, and we don't know our groups yet.  Our last two camps are actually through a different organization, and they typically like to have eight counselors from different countries around the world, so I'll have a chance to meet some more interesting people towards the end of the trip.  We'll still teach English to the kids, but if I'm understanding the program correctly, it's going to focus more on diversity and friendship, which will be a nice change after doing four more English camps.

I don't want to overload you with information, so instead I'll promise to write again soon.

Take care,

Adam
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Visiting a Japanese High School

I'm in Saitama for my home stay, and it's the first time I've ever been here.  To be honest, it's so nice to get out of the big cities for a little while and enjoy spending some time in a smaller town.

Today I had the pleasure of visiting a Japanese high school called Inagakuen.  My host mother teaches there, and she showed me around the school.  I was lucky enough to watch some of the kids practice karate, and they were excited to practice their English skills with me.

Even though I'm not at camp right now, I still feel like a counselor sometimes, and that's a good feeling.  Last night, I helped out with a private English lesson briefly, and I'll have the same opportunity tonight with a different student.

My host mother is showing me some interesting Japanese musicians, and I'm now hooked to the song "Dragon Night" by Sekai No Owari.  If I have the opportunity, I might buy one of their CDs.

That's all for now, and as usual, take care!

Adam
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Photos from my trip can be found here: https://instagram.com/atambohmer/

11 PM Curfew? Challenge Accepted

During our first break in Japan, we stayed at a nice hostel called the Tokyo Central Youth Hostel. It was a place with a beautiful view on the 19th floor. However, they also have an 11 PM curfew. That means that you can't get into the hostel between 11 at night and 6 in the morning.

So... Three of us decided that we'd go clubbing in Roppongi and just stay out all night. We left the hostel at 9:30 and found a bar with drinks so expensive that we could only afford one drink. And then... We discovered Ele Tokyo, a club with more expensive drinks, a DJ, and some interesting people that wanted to party...on a Monday night.

After a few hours of partying, we needed a place to stay for the night, so we sang karaoke from 2 in the morning until 5. 

At that point, we planned on taking the subway back to our hostel, but we were ushered into yet another club where we could spend even more money.

Long story short, we got back to the hostel at 8:30 in the morning and did just about nothing the rest of the day.

Moral of the story: if you're going to go clubbing, make sure you have the money to spend because I spent way too much. But it was a great time, and I'd do it again if I had the money for it.

Until next time,

Adam 

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An Incredible Five Days

I'm in Japan to teach English, but I would be lying if I didn't say that I love having time off to explore Tokyo. Recently, we had five nights off in a row, and tonight is our last night in a hostel before we separate for our home stays.

Anyway, I had tons of fun during my time off.  On the first night, I went out with a few of the guys, wandered the streets of Asakusa aimlessly, and ended up in a bar with an impressive dart board.  My friend Sam and I played on a team against the other three guys in a couple games of Cricket, and we obliterated them both times.  

Then Henry and I decided to break off from the group and head back to the hostel.  We thought we knew the way back.  In fact, we were positive we could make it back.  But... we were also wrong.  What should have been a fifteen minute walk quickly turned into an hour and a half of wandering unknown streets and stopping at various Seven-Eleven shops for free Wi-Fi to check the maps.  The worst part about the situation is that if I didn't have my phone charging back at the hostel, we would have made it back in no time, since I have unlimited calling, texting, and data here in Japan.  But we did manage to make it back somehow, so rest assured, I'm okay.  I'm writing this post, after all.

We explored Asakusa, found a Denny's restaurant at one point, and we even went to the Ueno Zoo.

But my favorite place in Japan so far is Odaiba!  I went there last year, but I never had a chance to experience the Aqua City mall.  I was lucky enough to pet kittens with Amanda, and I was able to buy some new Pokemon cards at Toys R Us when I went there with Sam and Amber later.  We had a meeting about the ECC camps that we'll be working at the end of the summer, but afterwards we saw the Statue of Liberty and ate pizza at a restaurant with an incredible outdoor view of the bay.

Photos from my trip can be found on my Instagram account here: https://instagram.com/atambohmer/

I'll write again sometime soon, but until then...

Take care!

Adam
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The Orientation Off Day

Wow, my first few days back in Japan sure were busy for me, since I had orientation for English summer camp counselors and my first two camp sessions.  My group has only worked two USA Summer Camps, but we've already changed the lives of over 200 kids so far.

At our orientation site, we had an amazing view of Mt. Fuji... when we could see it.  You see, it was usually rainy and cloudy while we were in Gotemba.

But orientation was a lot of fun, and I had a chance to work with people on other teams, too.  Some of our paths will cross throughout the summer, but my group won't see a lot of them again, which is kind of sad because I'm decent friends with a few of them now.

During orientation, we had one day off, so we watched the US beat Japan in the World Cup, and then we went into Gotemba to wander around.  We came across a Pachinko building, and playing it was a ton of fun even though we had no idea what we were doing.  And then we discovered an amazing hibachi-like restaurant, but since we'ere foreigners, they had a staff member cook the food at our table for us instead of having us do it all by ourselves.

And after dinner, the search for a bar began.  And it was more challenging than we would have guessed, since we were kicked out of the first couple bars because the servers couldn't speak English.  Eventually, we found a little closet bar that only fits seven people, and the server was completely drunk.  They had two TVs for karaoke, and I have to say, it was, oddly enough, an amazing experience.

Now we have a couple days off, so we're just going to have a good time in Tokyo!

Take care,

Adam

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Day One is Done!

Well, I arrived in Japan earlier today and... I am completely exhausted.  I woke up at 4:30 on July 1st in order to get to the airport on time for my flight, which happened to be delayed by two hours.  That left us less than 20 minutes to catch our connecting flight to Narita.

However, the delay gave me extra time in Milwaukee to start getting to know the other people that I'll be working with this summer.

The flight to Narita went smoothly, but I failed to sleep at all, and I arrived in Japan at 2 in the afternoon.  It's around 7:15 right now, and I'm ready to burrow into my bed and sleep for a while.  

I should mention that I was reunited with some of my Japanese friends that were part of the USA Summer Camp program with me last year, and it was great to see them again.  I have a feeling that this is going to be a great summer, and I look forward to sharing updates with everyone.

But for now, it's nap time.

Adam

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The Adventure Begins! Sort of...

My second journey to Japan is underway!  I said farewell to my sweet little beagle and most of my family a couple hours ago, but right now, I'm just chilling in a Travelodge hotel room, using their Wi-Fi service with the very secure password "brownbear."  

I may have left my home, but I honestly haven't comprehended that I won't be back in Holmen, Wisconsin for another two months.  I had my farewell parties with some of my high school friends and former Japan teammates, but it still hasn't sunk in that I won't be seeing any of them for a while.

Even though I don't fly out for a few more days, I'm getting used to living out of a suitcase and my backpack again, and to be honest, I don't mind traveling around with just the essentials that I need to get by.  

That's about wraps up this post for tonight, so take care, everyone!  I'll continue to send trip updates, and it should definitely be a little more exciting once I am actually in Japan.

Adam

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So What's New? - Japan Adventure #2

That's right, my friends.  I am returning to Japan in less than a week, so I thought, "Hey... I'd better start blogging more frequently again."  For those of you that are curious, I'm going through the same organization as last year (Guy Healy, Japan), and I'll be teaching English to several different groups of kids throughout the summer.

Honestly, I can't wait to go back, and I truly can't believe that I'll be returning to Japan after only being gone for about eleven months.  However, it's going to be a different experience, since none of my friends that I met last year are going back.  Well, that isn't completely true.  I found out recently that my friend, Ikuma, who was one of the Japanese counselors on my team last year is going to be the Director on my team this year.

Alright, alright, I hear you in the back, and I'll answer your question.  Regarding vlogs and blogs while I'm abroad... here's the plan.

I'll be uploading photos to Facebook whenever an opportunity arises.  So as long as I have Wi-Fi, my friends will be updated frequently.

I'll blog when I have time, but I can't make any promises that I'll make lots of blog posts during my trip.  If I don't, I'll certainly write about my trip afterwards, so don't worry about that.

And the moment you've all been waiting for... videos... Here's the deal.  I'm not going to bring my expensive laptop and worry about something happening to it every day.  So, to compromise for not bringing it, I bought myself a nice little Chromebook yesterday.  Now, as you can imagine, I don't have access to my video editing suite on the Chromebook, so I'll most likely be doing all of my editing after returning to the states in the end of August.  That doesn't mean that I won't record footage of me talking in front of the camera while I'm there; I just won't be able to upload it to YouTube until I'm back.

I hope that sounds okay for everyone.

I'll keep updates coming regularly until I leave.

Take care,

Adam
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The Best Summer Job in Japan

Hello, Internet.  I have a lot to discuss today, so grab a notebook, some shredded Wheaties, and hop onto your favorite hammock.  Let’s get started.

As a foreigner, finding work in Japan typically requires a Bachelor’s degree.  Right now, I’m working towards an Associate degree in Visual Communications, and I’m considering continuing my education afterwards.  Anyway, what I’m trying to say is… There are opportunities to find work in Japan without a Bachelor’s degree.

Before I go any further, I should admit that my work was unpaid.  But… my airfare, housing, food, and transportation was all covered by Guy Healy, Japan, the organization that sent me to Japan to teach English at seven different three day summer camps for five and a half weeks.

It was a pretty sweet deal.  I wanted to go to Japan… and they wanted to bring American college students over to befriend campers that were eager to learn English in a fun environment.

My team and I worked with kids from elementary school through high school, preparing them for Eigo Kai, which was an English-speaking competition on the last day of camp.  The kids would perform a skit that the American counselors helped them write, they talked about themselves for 3 minutes in the My Story competition, sang songs that they wrote, and everyone had a good time.

During camp, we’d have dance parties with American music, a carnival with games and prizes, and we even had campfires.

Above everything else, our main goal was to become friends with the campers and provide them with a fun, safe environment for learning English.

It was always sad when we had to say goodbye to our new friends that were only in our lives for three days, but it was even more difficult to leave the team that I lived with during my stay in Japan.  We became a family, and I don’t use that term loosely. 

So, Guy Healy Japan’s USA Summer Camp was the perfect fit for me, since I’m still working towards a degree that will allow me to work in Japan full-time with pay.  I applied for the same program again this summer, and I was glad to be invited back for yet another summer of building my personal confidence, as well as gaining some independence that every adult should have.

Go onto the web, do some research, ask your school about opportunities to go to Japan if you really want to.  If I could go, then you certainly can, too. 

Remember to enjoy life, and take advantage of opportunities that you’re given. 

Take care,

Adam

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Lang 8 Blog #3 - My Daily Life

私は６時に起きます。
一日中、日本の音楽を聞きます。
スキャンダルが素晴らしいと思います。
すぐ、歯を磨きます。
それから、シャワーを浴びます。
時々、コンタクトレンズをつけます。
いい天気なら、犬とバスケットボールをします。
でも、上手ではありません。
毎日、文法を勉強します。
漢字も勉強します。
たくさん漢字を書けます。
でも、たくさん漢字を読むのは難しいです。
自分で、日本語を勉強しています。
大学で日本語を勉強しているわけではありません。
私の家族のレストランで働いています。
毎日働きます。
私は家に帰るとき、疲れています。
だから、早く寝ます。
おやすみなさい。


I'm not going to translate this post right now because I'm actual going to be turning it into a video blog on my YouTube channel with English and Japanese subtitles. 

That's all for now,

Adam
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I Met Scandal in Chicago!

So I mentioned in a post a while ago that I was going to Anime Central in May to see one of my favorite bands of all time: Scandal.

The event was this weekend, so my friend Dillon traveled to Chicago with me for the trip.

Let me just say that the concert was a blast. They played so many great songs, although I didn't get to hear my two favorite songs: Taiyou Scandalous and Awanai Tsumori no Genki de ne.

That's alright, though, because today's event was very special for me. I went to the Q&A session that they had, and I wasn't expecting to do anything more than listen to the questions that people were asking.

But at the end, they had a quiz for the audience, and this quiz included prizes: folders of the band members with their signatures and today's date. 

Haruna asked the audience what the name of their mascot is, and I had no idea. Then Tomomi asked what the name of their first single was, and I had a feeling that it was "Doll" but I wasn't confident enough to raise my hand.

Mami went third, and she asked what anime their song Yoake No Ryuuseigun was made for. Before the translator even said the question in English, I knew the answer. However, so did a few other people, and she didn't pick me.  

Rina went last, and she asked what the encore songs were called. She picked a guy behind me, and he said "Everybody Say Yeah." But luckily for me, he didn't know the first encore song, and I did. Dillon was pointing to me while I raised my hand as high as I could, and she picked me. I said "Harukaze" and that word alone granted me permission to go up by the band.

I only had a few seconds while walking up to them to think of a nice compliment in Japanese, so I told Rina that I loved the song that she wrote, Oyasumi. To be exact, I said "おやすみが大好きだよ。"  In romaji, that's "Oyasumi ga daisuki da yo" and it means "I love Oyasumi." 

I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but Dillon can vouch for me that she seemed very flattered when I said that. She smiled, and I happily walked back to my seat. I had the time of my life, and it was so fun to be able to practice some basic Japanese while I'm still in the states. If I had time to talk to them, I would have said something like コンサートはとても楽しかったです。and that means that the concert was very fun.

And it truly was. I had the time of my life, and I'm really excited to be going back to Japan this summer!

That's all for now.

Adam

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Round 2!

Hey, I just wanted to write a quick post announcing that I will be returning to Japan this summer!  I'll be teaching English just like I did last year, except my assignment is most likely going to keep me in Japan a couple weeks longer.

Last year, I was in Japan from July 2 to August 8.

This year, it looks like I'll be leaving around the same time, but I won't be returning until August 28.

And then I'll have a couple days to relax at home before my career at UW Oshkosh begins, and I'll be majoring in Japanese.  I really couldn't be more excited right now.  It's 2:38 AM and I probably won't be sleeping very much tonight.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for today, and I'll keep you guys updated as we get closer to my departure date.

Until next time,

Adam

Japan Withdrawals

What can I say?  I've been home from Japan for over six months already, and I still think about my experience abroad EVERY day.  Yes, I'm glad that I was able to reunite with my dogs (and friends and family, too, of course) but I'm ready for Round 2 now!

Six weeks in Japan wasn't long enough for me, and the words of a wise American English teacher that I met early on in my trip constantly rings through my ears.  He asked us why we applied to be American counselors at summer camps, and I said that I wanted to potentially work in Japan for a couple years after finishing college, and this was a good short term summer job for me to get my feet wet before diving into the pool.

He said to be careful because the two year plan quickly turns into nine.  Obviously, he was talking from his own experience.  And maybe my goal isn't to teach English for a decade, but to have the experience of becoming a citizen in the country of my choice and being able to function like a normal person (communication, writing, etc) has always been a dream of mine.

I know that I'll have to leave my dogs (and friends and family) for extended periods of time, but this is MY story.  My goal.  My "television drama," if you will.  I'm the main character in this story, and I have to go where my life takes me.

Take care,

Adam
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The Fast Path Vs. The Fun Route

After having a long conversation with my dad in our hot tub a few nights ago, I started to reevaluate everything that I'm doing with my life right now.  I'm going to school for Visual Communications, and I'm planning on transferring to a university and continuing towards a Bachelor's degree.

However, I'm already having trouble finding time to study Japanese while attending school.  I'm not going to become fluent on my own.  If I would have, I'd almost be there already, and the only other option would be to drop everything and study Japanese full-time.  This wouldn't be for credit, and I'd probably be considered a bum by my peers.

My endgame is being able to move to Japan after finishing school.  So I have the fast path: continue down my current field and get to Japan in a few years.  Or... I could change my field of study to Japanese and Business, which was actually my plan in high school...  If I did this, school wouldn't get in the way of studying Japanese because I would be doing school work by doing my passion.  It would also make my study abroad trip more worthwhile when that finally happens.

On the other side, if I choose to major in Japanese, it would require me to move, possibly to Arizona or somewhere else outside of the midwest.  I'm looking at it as my first test.  If I can handle being away from my family for a semester at a time, then studying abroad and even moving overseas won't be a problem.

Either way, I have a lot of decisions to make, and I don't want to just settle for the field that I'm in right now.  I'm too young to say "Oh, I wasted enough time already, so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and not be happy with it."  I need to do what makes me happy, and learning about Japan and its language has been my passion for years.

Until next time,

Adam
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Slow Down Before You Burn Out

It’s nice that you can work at your own pace when you’re studying Japanese (or any subject) on your own.  It makes it a lot easier to accomplish greatness sooner than if you were to take a class on your subject of choice.

However, there is a risk involved, and that risk is burnout.  I studied Japanese intensely on a couple of occasions, and when I couldn’t keep up the pace, I quit altogether.

Now I’ve been back at it for almost a month, and every day I’ve been learning 25 kanji characters, 25 vocabulary words, and 25 sentences.  This is great and all, and I feel like I learned a lot, but now my reviews are piling up every day.  I used to have all of my studying done by noon, and now it’s later in the evening when I finally finish my routine.

I can feel it: exhaustion.  I’ve had this feeling a couple of times before, and both times I gave up on my favorite hobby.  I’m not going to let that happen again, so today I made the decision to learn 15 new kanji characters, 15 words, and 15 sentences instead of 25. 

I’ll probably retain the information better, and it’ll make my reviews easier.  I don’t know if I’ll go at this pace permanently, but I need to take a little break to catch my breath without going cold turkey.  I’m going to continue studying every day, but now that I’m four weeks into college classes and I have scholarship essays to write, I need to slow down the Japanese pace a bit. 

Until next time,

Adam

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The Last Night – Adam in Japan #7 – Finale!

I had an amazing time in Japan, but eventually, all good things must come to an end.  I also want to say that my first trip to Japan couldn't have been spent with a better group of people.  We had an award ceremony on our last night together, and this is what I wrote afterwards:

During the award ceremony, everyone received a certificate for completing USA Summer Camp, and we also got an award that is entirely in Japanese, so I'll have a fun time translating it.  Then we got individual awards, and mine was the "Best Director" award.  It felt pretty good to win the award for directing a horror film with my team, and I only say "pretty good" because I was "incredibly" honored to win what I believe is the most special award on the team.

My team voted for me to win the "Eric Spindler" award.  Here's some backstory: he was a counselor who passed away before he could come back to USA Summer Camp for a second year.  In his honor, someone from each team is given an award for being devoted to the campers.  You have no idea how great I felt, but it's just going to make me feel sadder about leaving my team.  I'll have to consider coming back to camp again in the future because I made so many great friends here in Japan.

Our last night together was so much fun, but it was a sad night, too.  We all gave speeches at the end, and I threw together a montage video for everyone to watch.  I had to make it without anyone knowing about it, and I barely finished it by the deadline.  Overall, I was happy with how it turned out, though.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about my time in Japan throughout these seven posts, and I’ll blog about it again when I return in the near future.  But for now, I need to continue studying Japanese every day because I really do feel like I’m improving quite a bit.  I’ll continue to keep you guys updated on all of the progress that I make using the Japanese Level Up method.

We had fake family drama for the campers.  This was our full family.

And this was me with my ex wife and our baby and my mistress... Family drama...

Just waiting at the Narita airport.

And we're back in Milwaukee!  The adventure is officially over.

Until next time,

Adam
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Homeikan over Homestay? – Adam in Japan #6

During my trip to Japan, there was a three day period where we could live with a host family, but three of my teammates and I decided that we’d find a hostel to stay at instead.  We thought it would be fun to plan our own adventure during this time.  And guess what?  It was a blast!

We stayed at a nice little hostel called Homeikan.  The two girls stayed in a building a few blocks from where Will and I stayed, and we got lost looking for their hostel on the first day, even though we had a map.  But by the last day, we were experts at getting around the area without any assistance.

This is what our room looked like.  It was nice and relaxing.

We even had complimentary tea!

Okay, the girls are around here somewhere... But on a side note, isn't this picture just beautiful?!

We finally found the building where the girls were staying after 20 minutes.

This was our map.  I believe we were at the Morikawa Bekkan, and the girls were at Honkan or Daimachi Bekkan.

On one of the days off, we went to the Meiji Shrine, which was a place that I wanted to visit for a long time. 

We're approaching the entrance!

I really wish my camera was capable of dealing with bright lighting.  Either way, I still like this picture.

Visitors from around the world leave prayers or messages for others to read.

We also got to walk across one of the world’s busiest intersections, the Shibuya Crossing, and we took a walk through Yoyogi Park.

It rained at Yoyogi Park, and we had one umbrella.  I was the only one prepared for rain, apparently.

There was a nice little coffee shop near our hostel, so we ordered tea and coffee there one morning.  Oh yeah, and the Tokyo Dome was near our hostel, too, so we went bowling and played Mario Kart on one of the arcade machines. 

It rained heavily on our way back, and we didn’t have our umbrellas with us, so I had to buy a raincoat.  I think it looks pretty darn cool, though.

I also want to mention that I went to a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant during our time off, and it was so weird but cool being served in English.  And it was nice to be able to order expensive alcoholic drinks, since I was 20 when I went to Japan, which meant that I could only drink legally while I was there, and that right would be revoked when I returned to the states.

This was the Homeikan team!

I was able to order alcohol, and I didn't even have to show an ID.  It was nice.

The restaurant locations are on the tables.

I ordered nachos!

I had the exact change to pay for my meal.

When you put this sign up, the server stops at the table.  Otherwise it says "Run Forrest Run" and they just keep moving.  It's a cool concept.

As you can see, the menu was in English, too.

This was a pretty neat Starbucks.

And I don't know what this building is for, but it was near our hostel.

The only downfall about the time off was that my camera suffered from water damage and broke.  The SD card was fine, though, and that’s all that really matters.

Well, that’s it for today, guys!

Until next time,

Adam

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