Vlog3.1 been busy

     Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that the next vlog will be coming out soon. The first week has been rough in many respects. And doing a vlog completely in Japanese will be another hurdle, but it will be uploaded at least by the end of the week. After the first week, I found myself slowly picking up more words and phrases in conversations. However, there are tons of things I can't understand. It's some what frustrating, but がんばってね！(try hard/keep at it) The next vlog will have tons of grammatical errors etc, but it be nice to compare the beginning to the end to see the progress.
     On another note, I have a great host family. They try to take me to places I want to go or take me out to try new food. My host parents are really good friends with a Karate teacher, so I will be taking lessons. Another one of my host mom's friends heard I play American football, so she wants to talk to me to see if I could come out and teach some things to a high school football club. That will be really interesting and fun...Hopefully, my Japanese will drastically improve by then. I have also met the grandparents of my host mom. They are extremely kind and always invite me over (their house is a block away from my host family's). I really feel like part of their family.
      School has been interesting. A little disorganized, however, a good balance that lets you have time to explore and make friends with Japanese people to really dig deeper into the culture etc. I think the best way to learn about the language and the culture is outside of the classroom. I think so far I've made a dozen new Japanese friends or so.
     Anyways, here are some pics you can expect to see in the next vlog or upcoming ones:

Vlog3

I am finally in Japan ;) As you can see by my pictures it has been more of the same hiking, beach etc... in Hawaii, so I waited to do an official vlog (video blog) with Rewon. We got some really exciting things planned ahead; it's a bit overwhelming. Sorry if I am bouncing like a pinball on topics, I'm a bit sleepy. It's really hitting me now that in a few days I will not be talking in English at all. I have no idea what to expect, living with a host family in a new place with different rules and customs. Am I prepared for this? I'm in a weird state of vaction/frantically reviewing mode. I really wanted to do a vlog back in Hawaii talking about fears. I was gonna do a jump off of a 60 ft rock (the one in the picture is about 25ft I think). It was pretty scary--if you don't go on a calm day and aim where you are jumping, you could literally die (there was even an engraving to mark where some died). You can only prepare so much and at some point to get to that next level you just got to do it. Suck it up, put your fear or pride aside and just jump. I wasn't able to do the jump due to the horrible weather, but the point still stands. It may be as simple as taking that first step to talking to strangers with limited Japanese or joining in on an unfamiliar song in a karaoke bar. I need to own the experience. Putting myself into uncomfortable situations where there is no way to turn back is the only way I am gonna better myself.