Host Family in Central Park

Host Family in Central Park, originally uploaded by atomicsour.

Here is another picture at Belvedere castle - Seiya, the youngest boy, looks very cute in this one. Shiori is hiding behind me, and Masao, the host father, is next to me. Shota was taking the picture.

Yoshiko and I

Yoshiko and I, originally uploaded by atomicsour.

Here are some pictures of my host family and I when they visited New York City in July 2006. I met up with them there and showed them around (as best I could with my limited knowledge of New York). For people who don't know where Rochester (where I live) is in relation to New York, it's about 50 minutes by plane, at least 5 hours by car, and HALF A DAY by train (believe me, I've taken the train, it's not worth the money saved with the amount of time it took - Jet Blue all the way).

One of the days we spent some time in Central Park walking around and looking at stuff. These ones are from Belvedere Castle.

A Brief Update

I'll summarize recent developments and changes in bullet form:

• I've made contact with the other teacher who is starting at Diamond Head at the same time: her name is Rachel and we actually have a surprising amount of things in common. She has spent more time in Japan than I have, and her knowledge of the language and of teaching is greater, so I hope to learn a lot from her. She reminds me of this friend I had in high school, Kristin.
  

• I've been working on my meishi (business card) lately. I think I've come up with a decent design. I need to go to staples and buy the paper for the cards now. Because in Japan, you are nobody if you don't have a meishi.
  

• The packing dilemma has been addressed and somewhat solved. It was funny because during our discussion, Rachel and I both discovered our intentions of utilizing our packing space to the utmost by purchasing - you know it - SPACEBAGS!!! I'm getting mine for Christmas from the parents, as well as a set of luggage so I don't need to borrow anyone else's.
  

• Finally ordered winter boots. I really hope I don't need to send them back. It's already snowed pretty bad in Rochester, and my feet are getting cold...
  

• Shopping: Going on Saturday with my mom, as well as on next Saturday with Romina to get random last minute stuff, as well as holiday shopping. I think I'm pretty much all purchased out for my Japan preparations.
  

• Dentist's visit Monday - still need to stop wasting time and make a doctor's appointment.
  

Now for Changes in the Blog:

• I have a flickr account now - what's good about it is that it will link AUTOMATICALLY to here if I tell it to, so I can post remotely, which is hot. I am going to upload the pictures from my NY visit with my host family to test it out. From what I've seen, the titles for picture posts will appear in Yellow, so it's even easier for people to pick out the info.
  

• Note the changes in the sidebar with links - I am affiliated now with J-list. They are a pretty nifty site for buying Japanese things while here in the states. I recently bought some random things from them to save myself the trouble of having to hunt down certain products while in Japan.
  

I really hope I'm not forgetting to do anything important. I really want to get everything squared away and all my loose ends tied up nicely before I go - so far, I am planning to depart in mid- to late- February. I need to discuss some more things about the apartment with Velika, when I get the chance.