もう一回! Japan Here I Come Again!

I cannot believe it's been 1 year since the Tokyo Pop Culture course (信じられない!). Time sure does fly when you are busy with work and school. This time it seems like I had less time to prepare for the class. I must have been a little irritating to Jayson constantly asking about things about the class. At least once a week, I would email asking about the departures, books, or any other assignments that there may be. It was all because I already have a summer class and it takes a lot of my time. It was really hard to squeeze in time to prepare for this class.

This year I did the same packing procedure: leave with one, come back with two. The picture above shows one suitcase inside another. Apparently others followed this procedure as well. It's a smart idea, right?

There was a lot to do to in order for me to go on this trip:
1) I had to do all my work at the credit union so I don't fall behind.
2) I had to study for my exam for my other summer course one week early (T_T).
3) I had to get a loan for whatever costs I couldn't afford. (It's a good thing I work at a credit union!)
4) I had to prepare for this class. Plus I had to cram all the readings the week before the trip. (大変!)

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get things all prepared and there wasn't anything to stress about during the trip (^_^).

The day of the trip, I was still stressed from the previous week. I had no idea what went on during the in-class sessions. Also, I worked on the quiz during Saturday so I could relax on Sunday. Plus, I was worried about the Japanese speaking quiz that I was supposed to take at one point before the trip. I think I stress out too much. What do you think?

My flight wasn't until 9:20 A.M., but I still had to wake up before 4:00 A.M. I didn't want to drive down and leave my car at my parents' house, so I convinced my boyfriend to drop me off before he went to work. What a stupid idea! I zoned out and didn't realize that because of that I would be up close to 20 hours (>_<)! I was surprised that I wasn't as sad as last year. Is that a bad thing? Last year, I couldn't stop crying because it was my first time going on a trip by myself, not knowing what's going to happen. Plus, it was my first time ever leaving Hawaii. This year, I was sad to say goodbye to my boyfriend but I didn't cry that much. I guess this year there wasn't much to fear as last year.

10:00 A.M. comes quickly. I am in the Honolulu International Airport. I was heading towards the Wiki Wiki shuttle, when all of a sudden I see Andy and Barbara walking. What great timing. We end up walking together to the international terminal instead of waiting for the shuttle. We make it to the terminal and realize we are the first ones there. I guess everyone else is still on "Hawaii time."

Waiting around, I couldn't help notice how many people were checking into JAL. The first thing I thought was, "The plane is going to be full." As I worry about not having a row to myself like last year, people start arriving. First, is my roomie Bev. It's been a long time since I've seen everyone. We have to quickly catch up with each other as Jayson arrives with omiyage for the students we are going to meet. Well, I didn't really prepare for that. In the handout, it said to pack some omiyage. Of course, I went out and bought some things not knowing that Jayson was going to arrange that part, oh well. That's alright, six people will be lucky enough to get something different from others.

Everyone is almost here, all except for Charlie. Where is he? At this time, Andy pulls out the 13th member of our group, C.S. George. It's like a 罰ゲーム (batsu-game = punishment game). Whoever is the last late person will have to wear C.S. George around until someone else is late. At first I thought it was a funny idea to have, but later I started thinking. Wouldn't you think that the Japanese citizens feel like some form of ijime is going on with our group? Horton describes ijime in Japan: Its History and Culture as intense bullying and teasing. I would think that someone may perceive the chicken as the group shaming or bullying a member of our group. Is that something good to portray to the Japanese people as gaijin (foreigners). Or is that my Meiji era (archaic) thinking from my parents?