Anita’s Neighborhood

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy

I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.

I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.

Cheers,

daisy

Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.

We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.

I will keep you posted.

Thank you for being so patient.

~daisy

Blog Action Day

5 comments

Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.

This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!

Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.

Can't wait to read your posts!

~ daisy

 Hey all :) こんにちわ！

　　I have now been here for about 2 months (1 month, 3 weeks, 3 days :D ). Time is really flying here. It's the most crazy thing. Yet again, I have done so much since my last post. I'll try and go in order.

   My school bunkasai (culture festival) was held on September 22nd and 23rd. It was so much fun! My school is HUGE and many, many, many people came. Booths are set up and all kinds of japanese food is sold and shows are put on that represent some aspect of japanese culture, all performed and worked on by the students. Examples: Japanese Tea Ceremony, flower arangement, kendo and judo lessons, how to make some kinds of japanese foods, etc. I got to participate in holding a "Mikoshi". A mikoshi is a sort of portable shrine that is carried by many people on the shoulders. My homeroom class made the mikoshi so we carried it around the school during the Bunkasai for everyone to see. REAL mikoshi though are SUPER, SUPER heavy and made of real materials (gold, etc). My friend, Arlette, came to my bunkasai and we just hungout and ate japanese food and went to the shows. It was amazing :)

 About a week or so after that, my second host mom (I have not yet moved to my second host family's house) took me to Kyoto! Kyoto is probably one of the most gorgeous places that I have ever seen. I was told it has over 3,000 temples and shrines. Just walking down the street, you see tons. I got to visit many of them. We stayed in a japanese style hotel.  That meant no beds, tradtional japanese food, and japanese hot springs. The room was gorgeous. We slept on japanese style futons that were so comfortable. It was my firsｔ time sleeping on a futon, so it was definitely an experience. I loved it though. The food in Kyoto was...interesting. Before I came to Japan, I wasn't a huge fan of seafood. I've learned to tolerate it and I even like some of it now but the food in Kyoto consisted only of seafood. tons of sashimi, sushi, and things that I wasnt even sure of. It wasn't all bad though, lol. My second host mom is taking me back to Kyoto in February for my birthday. She is going to make me an appointment to be transformed into a Maiko-san for a day :) (Maiko-san are like geisha, but younger). I am SO excited :D

 Just this week I went to Tokyo Disney Land and Tokyo Disney Sea with my host family! I had never been to Disney before so I was super excited. It was absolutely amazing.  We stayed in a hotel and ordered room service and woke up early in the morning and went to Tokyo Disney land and sea. It's halloween time so everything was decorated in black and orange with pumpkins and skulls. It was amazing. My tolerance for high rollercoasters is getting better I think, yay! lol

 Needless to say, I think I've traveled quite a bit since I've been here! The language is still very much a challenge for me. To me, it doesn't seem like it's improving, but I hope I'm wrong. School is really difficult because everyone speaks so fast and the lessons are all in kanji but I've made a lot of friends that are really cool! Everyone helps me out and is really nice, so I'm happy :) I just hope that soon, something in my head clicks and I'm able to understand japanese more, lol. This month (October 31) I have a 10 minute speech that I have to give in japanese at a rotary meeting. I'm BEYOND nervous. My japanese isnt good enough yet to give a 10 minute speech, lol. not sure what im going to do, i just want to get it over with though. i suppose im lucky though, as thats my biggest problem right now. Everything else is amazing :)

     just thought I'd add a little segment about some of the food I've eaten. I recently had the experience of eating cow tongue. While I know that that is also eaten in the states, i would never have touched it. My host family has taken to not telling me what things are before I eat them, haha. So after I ate the tongue, they told me what it was and I was horrified. It actually wasnt that bad though. Other things ive eaten: eel, baby fish (which i also didnt know i was eating until i spotted the eyes and mouth. the fish are about the size of a fingernail. they were scattered in my rice in my bento(lunch) my mom made me for school), shark, fermented soybeans (natto). The food here is definitely interesting, but I've really come to like most of it!

    That's really about it. Another post in a few weeks :)

  じゃね！

　　シェリー

I've now been in Japan for 1 month and 3 days! :) It's been a while since my last post. It's hard to find time to write, but I'll try and include everything in this post.

 It seems like I've been here for longer than 1 month! The langauge is still really difficult but I THINK maybe it's getting a tad bit better. Grammar is really hard but my vocab is definitly improving. Everyone here talks so fast. I usually know what people are saying, but I have to ask them to repeat because they are talking so quickly. One thing that is slightly annoying too is people's tendency to only speak in english to me. My host dad does it all the time, lol. I'm like "Otousan, nihongo KUDSAII!" (dad, japanese please!). Everyone is always so surprised when I speak in english too, it's like it's the most awesome and wonderful thing in the world, lol. It's hilarious.

 I've started school! It's amazing and weird at the same time. My first day was crraaazzzy. I don't think I've heard the word kawaii (cute!) so many times in my entire life. Everyone, including the teachers, stared constantly, whispered in the hallways, yelled my name and waved all day long, and followed me everywhere. I had to give an introduction speech in my homeroom class and as soon as I set foot in the classroom everyone was screaming, not exaggerating, at the top of their lungs. I was so nervous. The speech went pretty well though. It was something like "こんにちは！私のなまえはシエリーです。あめりかのOhioからきましたと１７歳です。日本語がすこしわかりますデモまだじょうずじゃありません。みんなさん、よろしくおねがいします！” (Hello! My name is Sheri. I'm from Ohio in the United States and I'm 17 years old. I understand a little bit of japanese, but it's not very good yet. Everyone, it's very nice to meet you!" Very short and sweet but I was reaaally glad to get it over with as I hate giving speeches of any kind. At the point in the speech where I said 'but my japanese is not very good yet" a girl interrupted and said "うそ！じょうずだよ！” (Lie! It's very good!) which made me kind of happy, lol.

I'm taking about 14 classes all together (physics, english, math, information technology, classics, world history, chemistry, biology, english, gym, contemporary society, japanese, art, and health). For the most part, my classes are okay, but I don't understand very much of anything yet. Everything is written in kanji, which I don't understand yet either (but am working on). The teachers are all nice, especially my physics teacher who was nice enough to introduce himself in front of the class to me in english and also writes the hiragana equivalent next to the kanji so I can understand some of the things taught in class. Uniforms are worn at all times. They aren't too bad, I actually kind of like them!

The uniform includes a gray pleated skirt, white collared shirt with a navy blue or white sweater overtop, green bow worn around the neck, navy blue knee socks, and black loafer-style shoes. All students are given a navy blue leather bag to put books in and are also given a gym uniform, navy blue winter coat, and shoes for wearing inside the school and for gym (different shoes than the loafers are worn inside the building. they are known as house shoes). I definitely like my uniform here better than the one I had in Ohio, lol. Making friends at school isn't a problem as people usually just kind of introduce themselves to me as my new friend. it's hilarious! so yeah, school is definitely good. hopefully as time goes on, ill start understanding more of class!

 I've done a ton since I've been here.

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A friend took me to Tokyo for sightseeing where I got to see Harajuku (<3), Ginza, Asakusa,etc. I must say, the shopping here is 10 times better than in the U.S (and also 10 times more expensive). The style here is amazing! I love it. I find myself buying something new everytime I go out, lol. I'm going to Kyoto with my second host mother at the end of this week (The 29th and 30th). Kyoto is considered one of the most beautiful and ancient places in Japan. It's full of temples and shrines, beautiful scenery, and Maiko-san (sort of like Geisha, but a bit different).  I'm also going to be going to Onsen while there, as Kyoto is also chock full of those. Onsen are very popular in Japan. For those who don't know, Onsen are public baths otherwise known as japanese hot springs. Everyone bathes together in the springs, and it's supposed to feel amazing and relaxing. I'm somewhat nervous to bathe with a ton of other people, but it's a part of the culture. we'll see how it goes! I'm beyond excited for the chance to travel to Kyoto though. I can't wait!!

 I've become really, really close to all of the other exchangers in my district here. Arlette (Mexico), Brenda (Ecuador), Rue (France), Beaut (Thailand), Ethan (Indiana), Hannu (Finland), and Rodrigo (Brazil). Arlette and Brenda are who I hangout with the most. Everyone is amazing and I'm so glad we're all here together!

 That's really about it. I can't say enough that I love Japan, it really is an amazing place and such an intricate and interesting culture. I had a talk with my host dad the other night. He told me that in the future he wants me to come back and visit the family and that they would always be here for me. I've gotten really close with my host dad. I think that in the future, living in Japan permanentaly would be something that I would seriously consider doing. I love it that much, lol.

   so yeah, not much else to write! I'll post in a few more weeks with everything else that I've done! :)

       じゃね！　：）

　　シエリー　（Ｓｈｅｒｉ）

The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.

Have a great weekend,

daisy, Team Vox

In my last Team Vox post, I let you know that we're aware that the Amazon conduit is broken and that we're working to fix it. Many of you want to know when it's going to be fixed and I'm so sorry I haven't gotten back to you about that sooner.

Unfortunately, I don't have an exact date to give you, but rest assured, the Amazon conduit will be fixed in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, I'm about to finish my latest book and I could use a few suggestions as to what to read next, so... if you don't mind, let me know in the comments what's on your nightstand and/or what book you think I absolutely must read next.

Thanks! :)

daisy

  Hey all!

I've finally arrived in Japan! It's amazing, to say the very least. It's so unbelievably different, but that's what I came for so I'm definitely loving it. Here's a rundown of al the goings on so far:

    I left Columbus International airport on August 18th for a 14 hour flight to Tokyo Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. I was lucky because I sat right next to the other exchanger going to Japan on my flight. The flight was of course long and boring, but I suppose it wasn't too bad and it could have been worse.　I arrived in Tokyo at 3:35 pm to Hiroki (a rotex student that had previously exchanged to my city in the states) and Uegata-san holding up signs of ‘ようこそシェリー！‘ (Welcome, Sheri!). I was so happy to see Hiroki, and Uegata-san was very nice. We left the airport by bus and traveled to Yokohama where I met up with Akatsu-san (club president and my next host dad), a few other rotary members, and my host family.

 My Host family: my host family is amazing. period. They try and make me feel as conmfortable as possible and they are just so nice. I've become really close with pretty much everyone in my family. My host father is hilarious as is my host brother and I've fallen in love with the little girls.

 My bedroom: My room, not to mention the whole house, is very nice. I got really lucky! I have my own bathroom, fridge, microwave, TV, and air conditioner set in my room! It's really very nice!

 Language school: From the second day I arrived until August 29th, I attended language school everyday except for sundays. It was so much fun. I met all the other exchangers in my district and we all became fast friends. We all try and speak as much japanese as we can to eachother, which is usually pretty funny. I learned a ton. and probably the best part for me was going to the combini (convenience store)  during lunch and picking out amazing japanese food. In the states id probably never stop at a convenience store to buy lunch, but here the food is amazing and pretty cheap at the combini (and by cheap i mean japanese cheap. stuff here is SUPER expensive, lol). Language school ended with everyone wearing yukatas and giving big speeches in japanese. I think it went well :)

Food: Japanese food is beyond amazing. I've tried so many different things, things I know I'd never usually eat, and found that I really love them (except for whale..didnt like that). Favorite foods so far: Okonomiyaki, shabu shabu, tamagawa nashi, inarizushi, sushi, noria, curry. i love it allllllll.

 I'm proud to say that I can officially navigate and make my way through the train stations here without getting lost. I was sort of forced to learn the stations in a day because I had to go to language school everyday. . Trains/subways are a huge thing here and super convienient. It's going to suck going back to the states and not being able to use them :)

 I've also had the privelage of doing and learning many aspects of japanese culture in the 2 weeks that I've been here. I've participated in Kendo (sort of like fencing but way more intense), Traditional Japanese tea ceremony, Calligraphy, I've learned how to put on a yukata, and how to make various japanese dishes.

 and finally, something that makes me very happy and everyone else laugh: I can now watch Yamapi on live television instead of searching for his stuff online in the states. I can buy all the jpop magazines I want and listen to whatever japanese music I like. So yeah, I'm obsessed with japanese entertainment and my host family thinks it's the best thing ever :)

 So, yes. In short, JAPAN IS AMAZING and I most definitely love it here. I can't wait to see what happend next.

      かんぱい！ :)

 -Sheri

Some of you may have noticed that right now you cannot add books from Amazon to your Vox library. Giving people a glimpse into what's on your night stand is important to many of you, so I just wanted to reassure you that we are doing our best to get this bug fixed. I'll keep you posted.

So sorry for the inconvenience.

Hope you have a great weekend!
daisy