Host Family!

With less than 4 weeks left until I depart for Japan, I have finally found out about my host family!!! Now I am definitely super excited and haven't really been able to stop talking about Japan. Two nights ago I received an e-mail from my AFS adviser saying that I officially had a host family. My family is a young couple with a really young son! I sent them an e-mail that night and today I got a reply from them. My host dad said that he could speak some English and sent a couple of pictures of the family. The e-mail was really nice and I am so thrilled that AFS has placed me with them- they are perfect :) Now I just can't wait to meet my host family in person in a matter of weeks!

The pre-departure orientation was nice, there were a few other girls going to places all over the world and the slide show our local AFS volunteer had made was really informative. I now also have a definitive departure date and can finally count down the days I have left before I get to leave! This weekend I will probably start making a list of what I need to pack and when school gets out I will sit down and make sure I pack! I recently purchased a Japanese-English dictionary and have been working on my online course that my language school in Japan asked me to finish before I come. The online lessons are actually really good and I have been able to pick up quite a few useful verbs that will be sure to help me out.

So I am, to say the least, absolutely 100 percent super excited about leaving soon and meeting my host family! I am hoping that I can find some nice gifts to bring them this weekend. I will probably get a couple of local t-shirts for my host parents and a kid's book in English for my little host brother. Now that I have less than a month to go, I have to get everything organized, start packing, clean my room (XP), and get ready to go. I can't wait!

It's Official!

A couple of days ago I received my confirmation e-mail from AFS Japan! So now comes that last stretch of the exciting wait as AFS Japan works on placing me with a host family! The last few weeks of school are now coming into sight and in a short amount of time, it will finally be June. I am, to say the least, super excited!!! My local AFS orientation is next weekend so I am looking forward to meeting other people who are planning to go somewhere in the world with AFS. Of course, I think other than Megan and I, there are only supposed to be a couple of other people attending the orientation, but still it will be fun to talk to them and see where they are going and why they chose those places.