Wow, it's Thursday night of wk 2 already

Honestly, I don't even know how the time just FLIES by so fast here. I have no idea. This is quite an excellent program, to all the fellows who are reading this, PICK PII, you will not go wrong with your decision. At least, so far, I am liking it  A LOT. (I was worried before b/c there are only 2 people from Yale, including me, doing this program. But this turns out to be quite a benefit, b/c I got to meet many new people from different colleges, it's quite fun.)

Anyways, the two questions that the light fellowship emailed us are: What preconceptions have you begun to shed?  What images, stereotypes or preconceived notions have been hard for you to relinquish?

For the first one, I guess that the food here is not so expensive after, at least not in Kanazawa. But it differs depends on the place you live. Of course Tokyo is expensive. Here, you can buy a rice ball for around a dollar, and some other good sushi for 3-5 dollars at the supermarket. But if you were to go to restaurant, then a meal can cost from 5 to 10 dollars, or more, depends on the type of the restaurant you go to. Also, people here are mostly very nice, if you asked them question, they would respond. Another preconception I had was that girls here are all very skinny and dressed up. Well, that's only partly true. They are not bony as I thought, and they do dress up. But not to an extreme level. I still wear shorts here, even though people keep saying that no one wears shorts in Japan. Well, just do what you want, it's Kanazawa. Also, Kanazawa is a VERY cute city, it has people and places for you to go to have fun, have good food and take nice pictures. It's a good place for a language program. So pick PII, and you won't have regrets. 

As for the second question, I don't really have a stereotype that is hard for me to relinquish. So I don't know how to answer this question.

It has been fun so far, of course there are hard times, but I am glad that I begin to hear more and be able to communicate/speak more w/ my host mom, at least I think so. (Well, my speaking Japanese is kinda weird, since I usually memorize the words wrong, and thus, people having a hard time understanding me...haha. But it's fun. I don't really care whether they understand or not, as long as I practice enough for my speaking in order to improve somewhat.) 

Also, when fill out the host family info. form during application, be careful whether you really want a kid in the house or not. I have come to realize that having a kid is quite tiring. At least this 5 year-old is quite attention hungry. If I talked to the mom for too long, she would start making loud noises and cry. So I can't talk to the mom for long. But being me, I just talk to the little girl as well, even though it was hard for me to understand her. I like the mom quite a lot, she taught me many new words and has been very nice. The dad is kinda scary....but oh well. I guess I am quite annoying at times...

Maybe time goes by fast only b/c there are many activities at the first two wks, but I don't know. Now I am trying to write my report. Let's see, this week, what funny things have happened? well, the class is always fun itself, a lot of language-related jokes. Oh, Lee Yun san, a girl whom I go to school w/ b/c we live near each other, always cracks me up. There are not many people who can really make me laugh really hard besides my mom, sister and dad. I guess she's the first. She makes some really funny comments while we were at the festival, and other ones while we were going home from school. Interesting girl indeed. Who else is quite interesting? Oh, Xinyue san, she has a really high voice and sings very well, like a walking human iPod. Alan san's Japanese is sugoi(very good), I don't know how he manages to do that. 

Anyways, I shall continue writing my report (or start writing my report.) It's nice to have wireless internet at the house.