#in my outbound orientation for my exchange | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

levihauser · 5 years ago

Text

高校

6 September, 2019

I’ve started to get used to Japan, although I’ve still got a long way to go before I can speak and understand Japanese.

On the 28th of August, I went downstairs and had breakfast. My host parents think I love cereal more than anything in the world, so they feed it to me for breakfast most mornings alongside an already huge breakfast. This was my first day of eating it, however. They had had me select the cereal I wanted at the store. All the options were sweet and sugary cereals, which I don’t really like. however, there was one that was not: bran flakes! My family and the US and I eat bran flakes with our cereal whenever we have it, and they are not sweet at all. So I pointed them out, and my host father took four bags off the shelf. When I had them, however, they were probably the sweetest thing I had all day. They were completely coated in sugar- and there was a whole bowl of them. I struggled to eat the bowl, then ate the rest of my huge breakfast.

In the early afternoon, my host father and I went to my school, Matto High School. They sized me for my school uniform (consisting of a button-down white shirt with an M on it and way-too-loose gray striped pants with vibrant blue and red rubber slippers). It was a little uncomfortable, as the teachers just pushed me into a side room with the door open to change. After the sizing was finished, I met some of my teachers. My class teacher (in Japan students stay in the same classroom for most of the day. A class teacher is something like a homeroom teacher), who is also an English teacher and a fairly good English speaker, is Mrs. Kameda. There is another English teacher who is from the US on the JET program, Miss Pike. She is from New Jersey. All of them seemed nice. I also learned that there are two students from the Philippines in my class that are okay English speakers.

After the meeting at the high school finished, my host father and I went and ate ramen at a nearby small restaurant. Up until that point we had not had lunch, so I was very hungry, but the ramen was very good. For dinner, we had some sort of gigantic pork pancake with a side of squid. Being vegetarian up until I came to Japan, I was a bit queasy about eating meat (it also wasn’t the tastiest meal in the world in my opinion).

On the 29th, I read in the morning for a while. I can’t seem to get up as late as I would like, so I have to go to bed early to get enough sleep. For breakfast, I had a sunny-side-up egg and salad, as well as a thick slab of bread with a hefty rectangle of luminescent, half-melted, yellow cheese. It poured all morning. At 11, my host father and I went to the city hall of Hakusan. I met the mayor. I was impressed. I would have thought that the mayor of city with a population of over 100,000 would have too busy a schedule to meet with a single exchange student. The city hall is a big skyscraper, and we were on the fourth floor in a room for receiving guests. Because of its purpose, the room had a lot of beautiful art from the city.

I had to make a short speech in Japanese, but I had an interpreter who could help me understand and answer questions. I was given a bag of Hakusan-themed gifts and interviewed by several reporters. Just for meeting with the mayor for 20 minutes and being an exchange student, I got in the newspaper and on TV! After the meeting, we spent 3 hours filling out residency paperwork for my time in Japan. Not my idea of a fun afternoon, but it allows me to stay in Japan for more than 90 days.

There was a Rotary meeting of the club that is hosting me that evening, so I attended and had to make another short speech in Japanese. We exchanged Rotary flags (I gave them Perry’s, they gave me theirs so that I can bring it back to Perry), then ate dinner. It was a fancy hotel, so the food was fancy too. It was interesting to hear the Rotary song in Japanese.

On the 30th I had super-sugar-saturated cereal again. My host father got out a board game and just started playing it with me without explaining it all. Somehow I won, despite not knowing the rules until about halfway through (the game was called オセロ in Japanese, which, transliterated, is Osero. I think it is Othello in English). I went for a walk, and when I got back, I cleaned my bedroom and finished unpacking. It took a while, but it was very satisfying. My host mother made sushi for lunch. It was delicious! My favorite was inarizushi (rice wrapped in tofu). I read in the afternoon, then we had dinner (fish, rice, meat, somen, and miso). I went on a walk after dinner, but the sun set as I was walking and I got lost on my way back. I asked a friendly person for directions and she showed me the way (she actually walked me all the way back home, in the opposite direction she had been going).

On the 31st, I had been in Japan for one week! I studied Japanese for a while, then had breakfast. I went for a walk, then we ate lunch. My host father and I went for a bike ride. Both the walk and the ride were to my high school, so I could practice the route. After the bike ride, one of my host aunts picked me up and took me to her house for a taiko (Japanese drum) lesson. It was interesting and fun, however, I was not very good at it, so I was not too happy when I found out my host dad had recorded the whole thing on video and was repeatedly playing it to anyone who he knew.

When we returned home, my seven-year-old host niece Yuria and my four-year-old host nephew Shudai were there. We went to a sushi restaurant. It was pretty interesting. There was a counter surrounding the chefs with a conveyor belt that had plates of sushi on it. The chefs made sushi and put it on the conveyor belt, and customers took off any sushi they wanted. The price was assessed by the number of plates each customer had amassed and what color they were (different colors indicated different prices). If you weren’t seated at the counter, you were in a group. That’s where we were. There was a screen that you could touch to pick what you wanted, then a wheeled tray would come speeding up to you shortly on a special track. Whenever it came, Shuudai would shout “Shinkansen, shinkansen!” (bullet train, bullet train). You could take your food, then press the screen to dismiss the tray. We ate sushi and overall, it was delicious, although there were a few things I ate that I wish I hadn’t. We had ice cream for dessert, and both Yuria and Shuudai dropped theirs on the ground. After that, we went home.

On September first, I got up and started to get ready for my Rotary Youth Exchange orientation later that day. At 11, three Rotarians showed up to drive me to Toyama City. The drive took about an hour, and it was very scenic. Lots of mountains! There were a lot of trams on tracks in the center of the road. According to one of the Rotarians, Toyama City, along with Hiroshima, is one of the few cities in Japan with trams like that. They were very interesting, and while some looked new, others looked like beautiful antiques, maybe from 60 to 70 years ago. We arrived at the hotel where the meeting was, and all of the English speaking inbound students were there. There were 12 (I think), so it was much bigger than district 7120, where I come from, in terms of youth exchange. In 7120, there were only 13 outbound students total, whereas here the total of inbound English speakers only almost reached that. There were some students from Canada and the US and one from Australia. I was the youngest. The orientation was long and boring, but all of the students were able to exchange pins with each other, a Rotary Youth Exchange custom, as well as business cards. We returned home, and only my host mother was there, as my host father was at a meeting in Fukui Prefecture. We went out for dinner at a small restaurant. We constituted half of the customers, but the people at the restaurant seemed to know her. After spending quite a while there, we returned home and went to bed.

The second was my first day of school. I put on my school uniform. I had breakfast and left. School starts at 8:35, but I was to be there at 8 on the first day. My host dad gave me a ride there, and I gave a speech to the teachers. Mrs. Kameda led me to my classroom and I made the same speech again to my classmates. We all moved to the gym for an assembly, and I made the speech for the third time, this time to the whole school. Afterwards, all the students took tests. This was the beginning of their second semester after a one month break for the summer (school starts in April here). I was given a tour of the school. It has two courtyards, and is essentially shaped like a hollow rectangle with a hallway through the middle. It has four floors, and my classroom is on the third. Lots of stair climbing! Everybody I met wanted to say hi to me, so that was pleasant. There were no classes on the first day, so I just took the English test and studied Japanese, then went home. The walk takes about half an hour. I snacked and ate dinner, then both host parents went to an oil painting class, so I went to bed.

On the third, I got ready for school and left. There are six periods in a school day, plus lunch, cleaning and homeroom. I’m taking English Communication, English, Math, Music, Modern Japanese, Classical Japanese, P.E., Calligraphy, Art, History, Science, Taiko, Office Skills, and Health. Both the math and the science are what I took two years ago in the U.S. I thought I had finished the day, when lo and behold, I learned that I had to stay seventh period, along with every other student, to study on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I leave at 4:30 instead of 3:30. I had been getting along well with a little help from Google Translate, but at school everyone spoke quickly and used characters I don’t understand, so it was very difficult. My hardest classes have been Classical and Modern Japanese. In Modern Japanese on Wednesday, there was a vocabulary opener, where I had to copy definitions from a dictionary onto a paper. However, while I know two of the Japanese alphabets, the third has thousands of characters which I don’t know that I just had to copy from what I saw, which took a really long time and hurt my eyes. Wednesday was my hardest day of the week. In the U.S., I never really liked Wednesdays, and I had hoped it would get better here, but it did just the opposite.

Yesterday, I went to school. It was my easiest day yet, although that may just be because of the relief of stress from not having to stay at school until 4:30. My host mother had slept in, however, so I didn’t get any packed lunch. Instead, I had to buy something from the school store. By the time I got there, I was at the end of the line and the only thing edible left was half of a stale Nutella sandwich. Not my favorite meal in Japan so far. One thing that’s nice about this school is that the classrooms all have air conditioning because it gets so hot and humid in the summer. However, I’ve been told that there’s no insulation in the winter and they keep it cool, so I’m a little worried. I’ve pretty much memorized my route to school now, so I don’t need my map any more. I walk on a dirt road through rice fields along the way, as well as past two Shinto shrines and across a railroad. It’s a pretty walk. I went to the post office, doubling the time of my walk, but I got to walk by the ruins of a castle. I had no idea that there had ever been a castle in Hakusan. Immediately, I was offered a matcha-flavored ice cream pop by my host dad. It wasn’t bad at all. My host family seems to like eating ice cream at all hours after 10 AM. There was another Rotary meeting and this time the president of my host district, 2610, was the guest speaker. The meeting ended, and one of the Rotarians gave me a ride home. Although my host dad was at the meeting, he had to go to another meeting immediately afterwards. I took my first Japanese bath. It was pretty hot, but still nicer than I thought it would be. I waited this long because try as I might, I couldn’t figure out how to get the water to turn on until I remembered to ask my host mother.

Today, I went to school after breakfast. It was an average day, neither too hard nor too easy, but it was nice because the exhausting first week of school was over. I’ve been here for two weeks now! I’m starting to fall into a rhythm and am enjoying my time here.

My host parents and I

My school’s main entrance

Sunset a short walk from my house

A torii at a shrine along my walk to school

A museum along my walk to school

1 note · View note

esperanzaistraveling · 8 years ago

Text

Outbound orientation

4/29/17 So I'm a very lazy trash can and just now got to writing this up. Anyway, I just got back from outbound orientation with my other exchange buddies! It was actually super fun despite having to drive so far away. First night was basically just a game night for the inbounds and outbounds to waste time before lights out. The next two days was some informational speeches and advice from Rotex (kids who came back from their exchanges). Sunday, which was the last day, was super sad! No one wanted to leave in all honestly....we sort of hung around until the parents started to round us up and told us it was time to leave. I'll try working on some videos for you guys so that you can see all the activities we did 💝

#rotary #rotary youth exchange #rotary foriegn exchange #high school #studying abroad

1 note · View note

mariainswitzerland-blog · 8 years ago

Text

District Orientation #1

4 March 2017

Today was my first district orientation and my first Rotary event after being accepted into the program, and it was amazing. It was a much-needed outlet for all of the excitement that I feel obligated to hide when I’m around my friends from my school or my church. Furthermore, it was a huge relief to turn in the hard copies of my application - everything is finally in!

In terms of information aimed only at the students, I had already heard most of what was presented. It mainly had to do with rules, expectations, tips, and how to deal with problems or abuse; which are all available online if you do some minor digging. If anything, I firmly believe that this particular orientation was more valuable for my parents. The majority of the time was spent discussing things like health insurance, outlining the travel procedures, and generally showing how Rotary will ensure an Outbound’s safety while abroad. I’m not saying that this wasn’t relevant to me (it was all very, very important) - it just helped my parents become more at ease with the program. In total, it probably lasted about 3 and a half hours, but both short- and long-term Outbounds (and their parents) were in the same room the entire time.

The highlight of the orientation was being able to meet and talk with the amazing Outbounds, Inbounds, and Rotex in my district. Each shared a little about their exchange and some tips in front of the group, and I was able to chat with a Rotex (to Chile) and one of the Inbounds from France! It was so motivating and interesting to hear about both of their experiences!

The last kind of significant happening was that I received my Research Assignment, which I really haven’t seen discussed a lot. It was so much more than I expected (4 pages of questions?!) and is due at my next orientation in May.

In short, the orientation was great! My only regret was that I was so scatterbrained because I had to make it to my Solo Ensemble competition right afterwards. This is such an amazing opportunity that Rotary is able to provide, and I am so grateful to all of the lovely Rotarians in my district! Can it be August yet?

#rotary youth exchange #pre-exchange #district orientation #personal

2 notes · View notes

naomi-in-italy-blog · 8 years ago

Text

District Orientation #1

March 4, 2017 A week ago, I went to my first Rotary orientation, and it was pretty great. Exchange feels so much more real now, and I still can't believe that it is really happening! It's so surreal that a year ago I was wishing I was in this situation, and now I'm actually here! The orientation was at a local high school, and started at 9:00 AM. My sister and I signed in, and picked up the schedule for the day, a notice about our next orientation (in early May), the homework assignment due at said orientation (which is waaay longer than I expected, but seems super interesting), and these really spiffy, professional-looking name badges. Before the start of the orientation, I signed the last of the forms needed for the application and turned in the last hard copies needed, so my application is officially complete! The orientation itself wasn't too interesting. It lasted about four hours, and it was more for the parents, in my opinion. The presenters covered basic information about Rotary, expectations for students while abroad, rules, insurance, travel, and abuse education. I didn't really learn anything new, but I think my parents are slowly warming up to the idea of exchange, which makes me really excited. The best thing about the orientation was the people. My district currently has 7 long term inbounds, 19 short term outbounds, and 4 long term outbounds. During the break in the middle, I was able to talk to this really nice Rotex from Chile, who was able to give me a lot of insight as to what exchange in general is like. I also chatted with one of the short term outbounds who is also going to Italy, who is also incredibly nice. I feel like the community and support provided by Rotary before leaving on exchange is extremely valuable, and has made me even more excited to leave. The orientation was, if not super educational, extremely interesting and fun, and I cannot wait for the next one (although it is the night before the APUSH exam, which isn't ideal). Exchange is such a great opportunity, and I can't wait to pursue it more!

#rotary youth exchange #pre-exchange #district orientation

1 note · View note

wordcreatr · 5 years ago

Text

Okay, folks, the Land Manatee is back in Arizona after two glorious weeks visiting the relatives in the UK. I meant to keep blogging as I went along, but — well — it didn’t happen. The road to hell paved with best intentions and all that. You get the picture.

The (Kind of) Old Man and the Sea.

The good news is my cousin’s wedding was a success despite the threat of rain. I’m sure it will result in a long and happy marriage between the young couple. Had a lot of fun at the reception and ate too much, which seems to have been the theme for my trip.

The return trip

Considering my troubles on my outbound trip, you may be wondering if I had an uneventful return? Well, other than Virgin Atlantic’s ramp crew ruthlessly savaging my bag (missing wheel, bent frame) yes, it was fairly uneventful — well, for me. For my cousin, Martin, who drove me to the airport, things got a little more exciting. At Manchester airport, he decided to come in with me instead of just dropping me off. When I arrived in Atlanta, I checked the messages from our WhatsApp group and discovered his car had caught fire and burned up while we were in the terminal. And it took out several other vehicles with it (including a rather pricey Range Rover, I believe. Ouch!) (You can read about it here in the Manchester Evening News.)

Hope you like your VW well done, Mart.

The fire brigade thinks it was possibly the car’s electrical system that sparked the blaze, but it’s still under investigation. Part of my brain was telling me my Land Manatee luck was rubbing off and taking out innocent bystanders — though on second thought, maybe it was good luck. The fire could have happened while my cousin was in the car with his kids or while parked in front of his house. His weird neighbor is already a pain in the ass over minor things. For example, he claimed the passenger door on Martin’s car swinging open over his driveway constitutes trespassing. Imagine if his car got accidentally barbequed, which was a distinct possibility with how close the two driveways are to each other.

Back in AZ

After a day of traveling, I felt shattered by the time I arrived home but didn’t want to go to sleep too early so I watched the series finale of Game of Thrones. (You have no idea how hard it was to avoid spoilers for 2 weeks.) Maybe it’s because I felt tired, but it seemed underwhelming for a finale and in general, I thought it kind of sucked. A disappointing end to a great series in my opinion.

Later on, the Houseguest showed up and the fact she no longer had to worry about killing my oleander bushes by failing to water them was a huge weight off her shoulders. (They’ve made another comeback after I nearly killed them twice through insufficient watering.) While the oleanders made it through my absence, unfortunately, there was a casualty — my car battery was deader than a doornail (which sucked since I had zero food in the house other than peanut butter and a stale street taco tortilla.) The Houseguest apologized because she hadn’t started my car while I was away. To be honest, I never asked her too. (I did request her to do so on my last UK trip during the Year of Sean because of the length of my absence and it occurred during the blazing summer). This time, I figured with the mild temps in AZ, it would be fine — and it should have been. The only thing I can think is the security camera in my car must have drained it. Supposedly it turns off automatically, but I suspect it’s wonky, but that’s just a guess. Hmm hopefully my alternator didn’t crap out — I guess I’ll find out when I try to leave work.

I fear dead car batteries

The Houseguest felt some measure of responsibility for the dead battery because she didn’t start my car while I was traveling, and I played along with it milking her guilt until she remembered I had forgotten to start her car while she was away. Admittedly, as a joke, I have a bad habit of letting her feel guilty about things. For example, she still thinks she ran the curbing over (pictured below) while backing out (Well, she won’t anymore after reading this post), but I actually did it when dragging the garbage can across the rocks because her SUV was in the driveway blocking it. (Hey, it keeps her humble — plus she did run it over once.)

The Houseguest failed to notice the telltale trash can wheel marks in the rocks.

Anyway, the Houseguest helped me try to jumpstart my car yesterday morning, but we failed miserably — no clicks or any attempt by the engine to turn over. Nada. Knowing my propensity to screw things up, she seemed highly anxious the whole time she held one set of clamps from the jumper cables and wanted me to call for roadside assistance. (The fact that I kept consulting Youtube didn’t bolster her confidence). As my readers may (or may not) know, I don’t have great experiences when it comes to electricity. I get super anxious when jumpstarting or disconnecting a battery due to the minor chance I could blow it up (a kid in my high school had one blow up in his face and I read about a dentist who almost lost his finger when he had his wedding ring on and touched the wrong thing).

Cautiously, I took the battery out and lugged it into AutoZone. Family friend and AutoZone manager Suzy tested my battery and confirmed it was dead. However, she told me the battery was still under warranty, so she exchanged it. Anyway, I did have some issues getting the battery back in place but eventually succeeded. And it started. Here’s to small victories!

Readjusting

While I’m happy to be home, I’m also mildly depressed. I found it comforting to be around family. My cousins are mostly around my age and we have a lifelong bond. Now that my parents and brother are dead and my sis lives in Florida, it’s just me out here in the desert. Or maybe I’m just depressed because I’m back in the metaphorical salt mine? Eh, who knows?

Anyway, I feel guilty about not blogging and still feel lethargic, which is a bad sign. It’s time to get back in the saddle again and knock off the rust! Also, I’ve decided to get off my ass and get back to working on my book. We’ll see how that goes.

The Land Manatee Returneth Okay, folks, the Land Manatee is back in Arizona after two glorious weeks visiting the relatives in the UK.

#Game of Thrones #traveling #UK

0 notes

icfeci · 6 years ago

Text

Dangerous Digital Playground - Perverts, Pedophiles and Pimps ARE Hunting for Children-Icfeci

It’s an arduous task protecting children. After it’s too late, devastated parents want to know how their children could have been protected. As a criminal defense investigator, almost one-third of my cases involve sexual exploitation of children. Sadly, I’ve handled more than 1600 these tragic situations. In the past, I’ve spoken to church and civic groups on this unsettling and disturbing topic.

One example of a case that haunts me: I was asked to forensically examine a laptop belonging to a thirteen year old child. The laptop contained the typical social media platforms. Within those social media platforms were pictures, videos and text of an inappropriate and enticing nature, sent directly to the child. There were subsequent text messages and photo exchanges. The end result was tragic.

Everyone seems to understand the dangers of The Internet, and we know that there are plenty of websites that are inappropriate for minors. I want to be very clear. Fewer kids are using email and websites. That means, social media platforms are the playgrounds for perverts, pedophiles and pimps.

WHO?

I use the term “predator” to cover the “3 P’s” of the digital playground: perverts, pedophiles, and pimps. I define perverts as those who derive sexual gratification from something that is illegal and/or outside the “norms” of society. Pedophiles are bit more specific—adults who enjoy sexual acts with children. There are other, more specific classes of “-philes” that identify specific age groups of minors. And, the pimps? These are the “entrepreneurs” of the dark world of sex crimes. Motivated by money, they profit from their illegal sexual “business.” To keep it simple, I’ll call them predators.

Predators hunt.

Minor children (male and female) are being targeted by predators (male and female). It’s not just opposite sexes to be concerned about. An older female (even an older teen) will befriend a younger girl on social media. The same is true for boys. This has nothing to do with a child’s sexual orientation. To a predator, a child is an “object,” not a person.

WHAT?

Predators are seeing to “groom” (introduce, foster and normalize) children into sexual activity. Although many believe this is limited to actual physical sexual acts, it’s much broader and complicated than that. Predators seek photos and videos of children dressed, naked, and “taking direction.” Once a child is groomed into a sexualized situation, the predator has opened the door to personal contact. This can be a “date” (in the predator’s mind), but I’m seeing any contact feeding human trafficking. Children are bought, sold, and traded across jurisdictions for sex.

WHERE?

These tragedies are happening across the US, and all over the world. If a community has cell towers, computers, and digital devices—the predators are already there. We have a tendency to think, “This could never happen here.” It’s happening. It’s already happened. And, it will happen again.

WHEN?

Cellphones, tablets and any type of computer (including game systems) are “open” 24//7. Predators are hunting for children every morning, noon, and night.

HOW?

Most predators make outbound contact with a potential victim on a social media platform by “liking” or commenting on a topic or photo your child is interested in. Frequently called a “DM” (direct message), the predator will often contact a child via the platform’s messaging plug in features. The messages often start with humor, or a subject a child has expressed interest in via a “fan page,” group, or “friend of a friend.” As I said above, these people are experts in children. From the initial contact, the predators often encourage children to download other apps, such as WhatsApp, SnapChat, or others. (Predators mistakenly believe these apps are 100% private.) Once contact is established, the process of grooming a child for exploitation begins. Within a few messages, these predators can convince many children to send photos, video, and identifying data.

WHY?

This is the most asked questions by the families of victims. It’s also the hardest to answer. The bottom line is this, some people are evil.

There are people that are sexually attracted to children. There is no polite way to convey this concept. We can indulge in long theoretical discussion of “if” these people were once victimized. But, the bottom line is this is a horrific crime.

And, the emerging reality—exploitation of children is a business for some predators. There are people on social media, both male and female, that are actively “recruiting” children into prostitution and human trafficking. They “pimp” (sell or rent) a minor, male or female for sexual purposes, for money. The bottom line is this, exploitation of children is a crime.

CONCLUSION:

Next time as an adult, you receive a message to be friends, and the messages have inappropriate materials, know that your children are receiving the same. Yes. This IS happening if your child is on social media. My advice is this: Social media is not the place for children! If your child must be on social media, monitor what they are doing.

As technology continues to change and expand at a breakneck pace, we have to be vigilant regarding social media. As quick as I can type, there are new websites, apps and social media platforms being released every day. Know what’s on your home computers, your children’s phones and other devices, and keep the communication in your home flowing both ways. This is an important topic, and we will circle back around to additional specific strategies in the very near future.

Blog Source : https://icfeci.com/dangerous-digital-playground-perverts-pedophiles-and-pimps-are-hunting-for-children/

#Dallas private investigator #private investigation

0 notes