Monthly report/ August 2022

2022.9.19

To Rotary

Time for the first monthly report!

AUGUST 2022. THE MONTH OF NEW EXPERIENCES.

A month of much excitement, nervosity, preparation and knew experiences, people and routines. This month changed a lot in my life forever. This exchange year has been my dream for many years and now it finally came true! I want to sincerely thank everyone for everything you have done to make this exchange year happen! Next, I will summarize the first month of my exchange and it will include experiences, culture shocks and other fun/not so fun memories. This report is made long on purpose.

A feeling of emptiness before departure

The moment I had waited for was finally here. Friday, August 19th 2022. The day of departure. I packed my luggage the day before on the floor in our living room. I still did not understand what was happening and there was no feeling of nervosity, pressure, homesickness or anything. I felt very weird and empty. I was spending the last days like I normally did listening to music, packing, eating, checking all the papers hundred times, chatting with friends, picking blueberries, spending time with my family and visiting my grandmother. Thinking back, I think I was preparing more mentally, for example on changing language, meeting new people, enduring the tough humidity and heat and such things. Of course, like there always is, we faced some struggles with the COVID-19 test result validity and the application called "MySOS" and we called several times to the Japanese Embassy in Finland and luckily everything was okay. There is no trip without last minute stress, haha!

Around 13:30 in the day we left home and I said goodbye to our exchange student living at our place and in that hurry I even forgot to tell my dogs off. When we arrived at the airport I started to get a little stressed about the flight, "Will I pass all the security checks?", "Will all the papers be accepted?", "Will I be able to manage everything for the continuation flight in Narita?" etc... Pretty fast I had to wish goodbye to my family and while hugging mum the tears started falling. I met my exchange friend and flight accompany, Iida, at the airport. I was so happy I could share the trip and everything in therebetween with her! Before stepping in, we talked with a Japanese couple from Tokyo. We told them we are exchange students going to Nagoya. We talked about Nagoya's specialities, like "hitsumabushi". That was fun! On the airplane, the flight attendants admired mine and Iida's beer mats that were in use on the Finnair airplanes about 20 years ago. The text said: "We are flying to Tokyo." I was lucky my grandfather had saved them until today. The first flight in my life went very well, the food was great, the atmosphere and the crew was nice. I could not sleep but that was expected though, haha.

Finally arrived

We finally arrived to Japan on August 20th at about 13 o'clock! I remember looking around from the plane and I was too stunned to say anything. It felt unreal somehow. The first shock came when we stepped out from the plane. The heat was unbelievable! I remember when when stepping out, the way I and Iida looked at each other and told "holy s#it!". That was unexpected indeed. The paper checks went so smoothly and everything was clear and well prepared, like it usually is in Japan. The language quickly changed into Japanese and I was surprised how well everything went. We met Rotary exchange students from Sweden and we did not know where to go with our luggage for security check so I asked a staff member in Japanese and once again, I felt so relived I managed it. We went to the public area and Rotarians were waiting to meet their students coming to Tokyo and neighbour prefectures. I have to say that I was so happily surprised by their actions! Despite the fact that we were not their students they were so welcoming, took pictures with us and helped us to check in the luggage for the next flight. We talked in Japanese and they were so surprised how well I was able to speak. Two young gentlemen carried my luggage to the check in, so so sweet!

On the continuation flight I was accompanied by Iida from Finland and William from Sweden and I have to say, I could not have been happier! So many fun memories. A fun memory that could have turned out not to be one, was when buying a sandwich for the first time in Japan in 7-Eleven. I put my passport beside me, while paying (which was so confusing) and then forgot it there. Fortunately, Iida and William came out later from the store with my passport in their hands!! That would have been terrible if I would have forgotten it in there. Also using and flushing the Japanese toilets for the first time was confusing for me and Iida at the beginning. While waiting for the airplane transit bus we talked to a couple of Japanese ladies. They wondered what language we were speaking. So friendly people!

The flight went well and so fast! We arrived at about 20:00 o'clock in evening. We went to get our luggage again and I have to say, during that long time of waiting I got really excited and nervous as we could see all the Rotarians and families waiting for us. I hugged Iida while jumping several times and screaming inside my head out of excitement. We finally got our luggage and now it was time! I was nervous like never before. At first I could not find my club and then I found the wrong one haha, but lastly I saw a couple of signs with the club's name Marunouchi and my name written on them. To be honest, I do not remember so much from the moment I met everyone, there was so much going on at the same time. I remember meeting my absolutely most lovely host family and greeting them, receiving flowers and being thrown into a one minute speech in front of a video camera. That was my first uncomfortable shock, to be honest. I was all covered in sweat, high in adrenaline, tired and hungry and my face looked like an overheated tomato and then had to give a speech in Japanese, wow! I think my "one minute speech" took only about 15 seconds anyway. I can not imagine how high my adrenaline was that evening haha. I remember I could not recognize anyone but my host family out of all the people who I met. We drove home and in the car we already talked about our music tastes and the language was as far as I remember only Japanese. I arrived to my upcoming home and I was shocked how beautiful it was! A mix of modern and traditional Japanese style, ojiisan's plant room was absolutely stunning and plenty of steep stairs. My room was on the third floor and it was so big and cool! The next morning when I woke up and looked out from the window my eyes fell out, the views were gorgeous. Definitely things I am going to remember forever!

The first weeks - experiences and thoughts

Culture shocks, thoughts and emotional well-being

Honestly speaking, there has not been many culture shocks so far as the mannerism and culture was familiar and studied before departure. Despite that there are a few things that are different here than back in Finland. Number one: The bathroom sink is outside the toilet room. In Finland: They are in the same space. Number two: People drive with lights off during the day and they use the hazard flasher when backing up. In Finland: We always drive with lights on and no need for hazard flashers when backing up. There are white lights on the back. Number three: You need to take your shoes off before stepping into the fitting room while shopping and you need to wear a bag on your head to prevent getting clothes dirty while changing. In Finland: You can take them inside the changing room but not wear them while changing and no need for bags on the head. Number four: Spiders are big and they live everywhere, in trees, in houses, on the walls... In Finland: They are mostly find in houses in the corners or underneath big stones etc. but nests are not seen in trees due to hard wind and thin leaves. Number five: Japanese toilet paper is very thin. In Finland: The paper is thick and strong. Number six: There are no tissues or towels in public toilets. You need to bring your own tissues/towels. In Finland: Tissues are found in every toilet.

They say that exchange is the most happiest AND challenging year. I have to say that I do agree with that. When I arrived to Japan I managed everything very well and trying my best with communicating in Japanese however, after arriving to my host family and other of Japan I feel like I have gotten extremely shy and quiet which is very tough on me as an outgoing, social, happy and enthusiastic person. I have found it very hard to communicate, especially without making mistakes and offending anyone. In my case I have found it hard to speak as I am recommended to speak in Japanese but when the topic gets too difficult I feel like switching into English, which is not recommended and then I start feeling very guilty and like I have failed my mission, let's say. I start to think about how to fix the problem in the best way possible but end up overthinking everything. So I have become quiet instead of talking that could possibly lead into something unwanted. It's very very tiring to not be able to be yourself and to not have someone to talk to and that is why I have been down in mood from time to time. I realized how addicted I am to social attention and interaction. Those have been my main thoughts and issues during these first two weeks. But it will certainly get better! I am very thankful I have an awesome, so understanding, so loving and so caring host family! I could not have asked for anything better. I just don't know how to face them sometimes and how to show them my appreciation as I feel like I have not deserved anything of what I am given by them. I am often tired and I feel so useless as there is nothing I can do in return to show my respect. I feel so bad but it is, what it is. Nevertheless, I am very surprised and proud of how much I understand Japanese even though I do not speak it as much as I am actually able to. It is easier to get to know people, to communicate and to avoid misunderstandings when there is a common language.

Summary

August definitely gave me lots of tastes of different things, good and bad. Plenty of experiences and new people. I wish the upcoming months to be even better and to meet lots of new people and to become braver with speaking Japanese!

Ganbarimasu! :)

Thank you!