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[mandyxjapan]

Have another life update ✨

Guess who is *possibly* going back to Japan 🥳. I went ahead and put my application in to go to Kyoto for an internship for 8 weeks starting in May. I only say possibly because I have to wait for a company to hire me so if that falls through I’ll just do a regular study abroad. I really hope everything goes through alright though! I’m so excited to go back to my second home 🇯🇵

[mandyxjapan]

I’m going to go ahead and make one more post tonight as an update.

Recently I am more involved with RYE. I hope to share my journey with this program as a rebound and be part of more Youth Exchange experiences. I hope I can keep blogging and share my progress with the program because it is a very important part of my life. There is a conference tomorrow that I’m excited to watch and hope the 2 students leaving next fall will enjoy this “pregame” lol. Anyway I probably won’t update often but I just was overcome with nostalgia when I went to a meeting Tuesday night. I hope I can keep this energy 😭

[mandyxjapan]

Adding more pictures

[mandyxjapan]

3 years later…

I’ve recently been reminiscing on my exchange in Japan 3 years ago. I just reread my blogs and I’m remembering how young I was and the adult situations I dealt with as a 17 year old. It was a hard time but all I can remember are the happy times.

I badly want to go back to Japan. Of course Covid hit so any plans to revisit were put on hold. I thought I would go ahead and update with my life. Right now I am in university and I am an English major and Linguistics minor. I can’t believe it’s junior year already. I am in a much better mental state than when I was in Japan. Maybe that’s because I’m 20 now and I go to therapy lol. I want to say that I may have had a difficult time at the school but I miss my classmates dearly. When I left, I left my best friends Ayu, Chihiro, Nao, Satsuki, and Kira. I don’t talk to them often but they really made school so much better. I also miss the Australian exchange students Lexi, Jack and Bwelay. We used to have so much fun together in the library and Japanese class. Just thinking about it makes me so happy and sad. I really miss my life there. But I hope my whole class of 2H knows that I loved all of them, even the ones who never talked to me. I know they tried and I tried as well. I may have had a hard time at school but it was always nice to witness their smiling faces. I also miss my rotary district friends. So happy to see Sakura engaged and serving. I miss my bestie Ingrid as well. I’m hoping the other two guys are doing well and healthy. The 5 of us did our best in Japan. Through the hardships we still went to the end and celebrated our last days in Japan. I miss everyone including all my host families. I hope one day I will be able to go back and spend time with them. I still have my Japanese so I think we could converse haha. Now I am doing more with my Rotary home district and hope to one day help with the youth exchange process. It’s something I am passionate about. I hope I can update more about my life but I’ll go ahead and add some pictures of my last days there. Also I plan to go back to Japan next summer with a friend so I hope everything will work out. If you read all of this thank you lol 🤍

[mandyxjapan]

Most Common Verbs in Japanese! 🗨 💬 PS: Learn Japanese with the best FREE online resources, just click here: https://www.japanesepod101.com/?src=social_special_infograph_common_verbs_4_091919

[mandyxjapan]

Pictures :)

Even if the exchange kinda not amazing, here are some pictures from recently.

[mandyxjapan]

are verbs and adjectives conjugated the same? 「食べかった」「かわいかった」? my books make it seem that way.

They’re not conjugated the same. Their pattern is somewhat similar, but there are some fairly large differences as well.

Verbs & い-Adjectives

These are conjugated similarly, but not the same. Here’s an example of the る verb たべる and かわいい, like in your example above:

たべる　　　　かわいい　　　　　present/future tense

たべた　　　　かわいかった　　　past tense

たべない　　　かわいくない　　　negative tense

たべなかった　かわいくなかった　negative past tense

たべて　　　　かわいくて　　　　て-form

As you can see, they don’t follow the exact same rules. い-Adjectives, while similar in conjugation, follow their own rules because of the い that’s attached at the end. That final い becomes く in some instances, while it becomes かった in the past tense form. Here are some other common adjectives:

はやい　　　　　おもしろい

はやかった　　　おもしろかった

はやくない　　　おもしろくない

はやくなかった　おもしろくなかった

はやくて　　　　おもしろくて

Nouns & な-Adjectives

Contrary to what is above, nouns and な adjectives conjugate in the exact same ways. For example:

いぬです　　　　　きれいです　　　　　present/future tense

いぬでした　　　　きれいでした　　　　past tense

いぬではない　　　きれいではない　　　negative tense

いぬではなかった　きれいではなかった　negative past tense

いぬで　　　　　　きれいで　　　　　　て-form

Of course, the above です can become だ and so on. This is true for both nouns and な-adjectives.

I hope this was helpful 🥰

[mandyxjapan]

This has been long overdue

Hi it’s Mandy. I know, it’s been months. I’ve been in Japan for 5 months now and thought wow I need to update even if no one has been waiting. I just want to give an honest report about my exchange so far and it’s not going to be what was expected.

So I went into this exchange very positive. My first choice was South Korea and I thought I’d for sure go there and didn’t but it was okay because I received my second choice. Coming to Japan was hard and stressful because the week before I didn’t even have my visa! So I was glad to finally make it in Japan. Japan itself is amazing and has been amazing up till now. But I’ve just had some issues with my experience so far.

Basically, not to put a bad name on rotary (rotary is AMAZING), but in my district in Japan, we do absolutely nothing. And I mean nothing. I haven’t traveled once with rotary. No sightseeing no having time with the other 4 (four) exchange students in the entire district like it’s been like I haven’t been in rotary. But I’ve been able to cope with that. My biggest issue is school.

Okay so schoooollll oh mannn.

I think my school is amazing in itself. An amazing program with their exchanges with Geelong Australia and Seattle USA. It’s a very good school that prides themselves with their international programs. But of course just because the school is good doesn’t mean you’ll have a good experience there. My friendships have been limited to none. I suppose yeah there is a translation problem. My Japanese isn’t 100%. I understand that completely. But I’ve been here for 5 months and students still don’t talk to me on their own nor want to spend time with me. Now recently I feel like some students do but it’s still up to me (and only me) to make friends. Everyone I get advice from says “just speak first!” Okay so I do. I say “おはよう！“ then get deeper with a “~~どうでしたか？“ but they seem totally uninterested with me. I keep trying to find out what I should do personally to communicate with them. Even teachers and sorta kinda English speakers say to me that ALL my classmates want to talk to me because they are nervous to speak English... It has been 5 months and they are still nervous to use English? Also do they not realize I understand Japanese now? I mean I have been here 5 months. So it really irks me that they are still on that. But I surely know that when the students from Seattle come, they will be speaking all types of English! Overall in my opinion I think they just do not like me and do not want to be involved with me and that’s okay but it hurts a little.

And lastly racial issues...

I thought in Japan this wouldn’t happen to me. I mean I hear stories but you’re just like “nah wouldn’t happen to me” let me explain.

I changed host family’s in the end of December. Before then school had ended. One day I was walking home and suddenly from the school I hear this student yell “n***a” So I’m like HUH. Now I’m not saying that he did. I’m saying that’s what I heard. Now with being a black student in a majority Japanese country, you have to make sure what you heard was right before you start making assumptions. Now when I heard that I put my earbuds in and kept walking because I felt too embarrassed to say something because I wasn’t ready for such an argument especially if I don’t speak Japanese. You have to think “is he talking to me? Is that Japanese? Is he joking (still not good) did he even say that?” But it was my first time in that situation so I froze. Next was when I went out to eat with my host mother. Now this time I felt very vulnerable because it was a very very small restaurant. So I’m eating and my moms on the phone and I see these 2 guys staring at me (one a worker) and suddenly I hear him say “n***a, my n***a” now this is a situation where you have to question if you heard it to not make a complete fool out of yourself for saying something. I came to the conclusion that he definitely said it because it’s one of those words that you just know. How he said it was just obvious and on top of that they were looking at me. After eating my host mom explained it to the workers and this woman is going to say “I didn’t say that word. I don’t know that word. I didn’t know it was a bad word” find the problems in that sentence 😪

She said she didn’t. Okay, I didn’t say you did. She said she didn’t know the word and didn’t know it was bad.... ok. So I just accepted that they didn’t say it and left. But I know for a fact that man said it and it hurt at the time. It hurt very badly.

There was then another incident at school where I thought I heard it but wasn’t sure. And after the restaurant incident, I’m way to nervous to say something if I hear it because I don’t know if they are or not anymore. So those are my issues there racially besides the fact that Japanese people apparently don’t like the smell of Cantu.

So that’s my check in post

NOTE: I do NOT think Rotary is a bad program. I think either my exchange is just bad for me or I’m just a lacking exchange student. I’m not sure. If you’re a student wanting to join Rotary and go to Japan, DO IT!! Besides the school and race issues, my exchange has been beautiful! You just have to find stuff that’s right for you to do! Find something you enjoy :) in Wakayama I enjoy going to Wakayama station. I also love looking at the mountains and going to Evergreen. Find what’s right for you if you have issues. Not once have I wanted to go home I just want school life to be better. Hopefully it changes soon.

Thank you for reading 💕 - Mandy

[mandyxjapan]

Being a Black student in Japan

I’ve been in Japan for a month now. Haven’t been making posts because I’ve been so tired. I just want to share an issue I have with my exchange and how I’m dealing with it.

I live in Iwade Wakayama. Never heard of it? I didn’t until I found out my placement. It’s a small town an hour away from Osaka. I’ve been to Japan before but only Tokyo so I saw foreigners a lot. Here it’s way different. I didn’t see foreigners for days except at school an American and Australian teacher but besides that no one else. I haven’t seen a black person in days. So going into school was hard and still is. Im getting used to the way of life here but one thing is bothering me. Im the only black person in my area. People are shocked when they see me. They don’t say anything just stare. And over time I’ve gotten used to it. But recently the Australian students came and their treatment is so different from mine. People didn’t want to talk to me. They were very intimidated by me. Still are. But when they saw white people, it’s like they were so outgoing towards them. In the third day being here, all types of students said hello and were excited to see them. And usually racial profiling was never put towards me by others in an obvious matter, but this is really bothering me. I’m a 5’8 200lb 17 year old African American woman. People here aren’t used to seeing that and I don’t feel like I’m human to them. I feel like something to be stared at and not to be talked to. It’s very hard but even so my classmates are opening up to me more and more. I just wish that people here in Japan would stop questioning me because of my race and be more open to me. To stop thinking I’m like what the media portrays. In my exchange I hope to change that but I have to be strong because this is hard to get through. It was hard not being talked to for days. I don’t want this to happen to the next exchange student especially if she/he is black. It’s much more harsh down here and they would need support especially if they get treated like I’m being.

But this is just what I’ve faced being African American in Japan.

[mandyxjapan]

Departure ✈️

I leave August 24th and that’s set in stone!

I wanted to leave earlier but since my host family has their daughters wedding to attend, to keep their wishes in mind I’ll be arriving later. They’re taking me into their home and I want to keep that in mind!

Also I will be attending school later than everyone else so I’ll be the new African American exchange student lol.

Now I have to get my speech prepared and really work on Japanese harder! I also have 5 classes to finish before I graduate early so I have to work on that too! No rest for me 😭

Also next month is the CSRYE (Central States Rotary Youth Exchange) convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I’m so excited to go and meet many exchange students from all around the world. I met 2 exchange students online attending that are going to Japan so I know for sure 4 of us that are going and meeting up!

Whenever I get more information I will update you all.

Until then... ✨

[mandyxjapan]

These books are really helpful for writing and grammar!!

[mandyxjapan]

RYE Japan update!

Recently I found out my first family in Wakayama and they seem like very nice people!

Sadly they want me to come near September but I bought my insurances for August 1st. I talked to my YEO in my district and she said she’d help me out so I’m excited to see what will come from this.

Besides that I now know what high school I’m going to! Prefectural Naga High School. I looked at pictures and it looks like a high school you see in mangas haha. Different from the middle school I went to last year in Ashikaga.

I looked at the uniforms and they are cute but I don’t know I’ll look in them 🤷🏾‍♀️ I haven’t worn a uniform in 3 years and we have more leeway in America.

I wonder too what the nail painting rules are because I love painting my nails but I respect what rules they have!

Anyways I can’t wait to get finished with school and prepare for our Rotary Grand Rapids trip in July. I have summer school but I hope to finish really fast and hope I can leave in the beginning of August!

Until next time - ✨🥀

[mandyxjapan]

RYE Japan 18’-19’ 🇯🇵

Hello my name is Mandy and I’m an American student leaving to Japan in 3 months from today!

I just recently found out my first host family and school and I’m beyond excited! They seem like such kind people and will take me in with open arms.

I’m starting this blog because I first have started my YouTube but I enjoy writing more than video taping so I’ll be doing both from now until after my exchange to share my experience.

My sponsor district is 6460 and I’m exchanging to district 2640 Wakayama. I just recently made @//rotaryyouthexchangejapan on instagram so that us students to Japan can know each other before departure.

I hope that my blog and vlog can help some future exchange students in their journey as how many people have helped me in mine so far.

Thank you ☺️💕