I need to make a plan

So, I have been discussing with my Aunt Shizuka about going to Japan. it looks like I am going to need to do more research. Before, I thought I would just volunteer at the local high school. Easy as pie right? wrong. That is too unorthodox for most High schools so i will have to find something else to do. The only problem is. in order to get a student visa I have to attend school i think. If i dont have a student visa i can only go for 3 months which is NOT ideal :(

but, maybe i can find a volunteer opportunity that will help me gain permission to stay in the country for the 6 months i wanted to be there...

I'm supposed to use vocabulary words :P

Apparently, in this blog I am required to use the ACT vocabulary words...:P

So, I will just tell you a story that has absolutely no relevance to my trip to Japan or the process of going to a foreign country... here goes...

Once upon a time there was a high school student named Sarah. She was so awesome and amazing that she just exuded brilliance all the time. When it was time for the students at Merit to cull their favorite student out of the student body it was quite easy for them. "We love Sarah the best!" they all shouted in a sudden paroxysm of joyful excitement at the mention of Sarah's name.

However there was one teacher who hated Sarah, and felt that at all costs she must bilk Sarah of a good grade in her class. Mrs. Ballard was her name and she insisted on giving Sarah a D even though everyone knew that such an amazing student as Sarah could NEVER deserve such horrible treatment.

But Sarah, being the impeccably kind and loving person she was forgave Mrs. Ballard for all the hardships which this teacher inflicted upon her and, against all odds, brought this horrible D up to a quite passable grade so that she could graduate with a 3.0 grade point average.

And everyone lived happily ever after... except for Mrs. Ballard who was quite furious that such a student as Sarah would DARE to get a good grade in her class!

blegh...sometimes life moves slowly

So i don't really know what to write about today...I continue to save and plan but there have been no more changes to my plans or improvements so I have nothing to write about.

I do, however, have good news. With my latest deposit into my bank account I will have approximately $4,500!! This makes me happy because with my new "home-made" program being cheaper I ALREADY have enough to go! so from now on, everything I save up will be solely spending money! :)

Student Visa

So I just heard terrible news from someone who has a friend who is trying to get a student visa. She said something about it being "too late" for her friend to get a visa. This worries me because without a student visa I will only be allowed to stay in Japan for up to 3 months. I wanted to stay for 6 months :(
However, maybe there was a mistake. I will just have to research it for myself. cross your fingers and wish me luck!

my new first step!

Ok, so here is how this will go for me. I don't have a nice structured program like I did before. I am making my own. So, step one, find a host family!

I still want to go to the same area before because in the course of applying for the program I fell in love with the area it is in! It is also helpful that my family is part of the LDS religion. So, my Uncle/Aunt who speak Japanese are going to call the bishops in that area and ask them if they have any families in the ward who would like to host a 17 year old american girl.

We have not begun calling yet because we have to find out the phone numbers of all those bishops first. Hopefully, next time, we will have a host family found for me!

New Plans

I have finally bounced back. After a day of mourning my sudden need for a change of plans, I have found an alternate route to making my dreams come true.

None of the other Exchange programs met my wants or interests so I have decided I will just make my OWN program! I have alot of contacts in Japan (my aunts family is Japanese as well as a couple friends of mine) and being a part of a church makes it even easier. I will find a family who would like to have me in their home (for a price of course) for about 4-6 months (depending on what I can afford) and then I will find a volunteer opportunity in the same neighborhood. Since I wanted so very badly to attend school then maybe I will call the director of the local public school and offer my time as a volunteer to come help in their english classes.

I do not know how my own program will compare (cost-wise) to the other program but today I will be discussing that with my Uncle and Aunt (my uncle frequently visits Japan and my Aunt IS Japanese)

Sometimes Life Sucks

This post was originally gonna be about the last little technical details involved in my applying for the School in Japan.

Well, it turns out, they turned down my applications.
this happens alot with many things. You set up your hopes for one thing and plan it out to the T and the next thing you know. You find your plans suddenly changed. It sucks. I am not going to lie. Right now, I kind of feel like some muscle-man who lifts weights for a living just punched me in the gut. I now have to rearrange ALL my plans and I am not looking forward to it.

and so it is in life sometimes. things happen, plans change, life sucks.
*sigh*

planning because it is fun ;)

all right, this will make me sound very odd but I actually enjoy planning...there, I said it. My favorite part about making my dreams come true is all the planning.

for this particular goal which I am still working toward it required alot of planning! First I looked up requirements on the website of the Exchange program I would be attending which is as follows:

"-Female
-Age 15 through 19 at enrollment
-GPA of 3.0 or higher (preferred).
-In good health.
-Maturity to adapt to new environments.
-Minimum of 6 months formal or self-study of the Japanese language
-Enjoy a telephone, language check of your basic Japanese skill--Don't panic!"

Then of course there was the application form which required an essay

and a letter from a teacher/director of your school saying you would benefit from international study-abroad

Next I ordered everything in order of what should be done first. Seems very simple yet alot of people don't actually do this and end up overwhelming themselves.

so first of all:

first: GPA, Before this time I had no purpose in life at all. I didn't get the point of school or getting good grades and therefore, i DIDN'T have good grades. this newest goal has given me the drive to buckle down and improve my grades and I started right away. I am now almost at a 3.0 (2.9) and will have a 3.0 by the end of the semester!

Next: 6 months of Japanese. I had already began my Japanese study so this was easy but I DID calculate how long it would be till I would have studied for 6 months (happened to be in January of 2009) and just continued with what I was studying.

After the 6 months were over I began filling out the application form. Starting with a letter from a teacher and ending with writing an Essay (only 200 words about how mature you are basically)

I physically wrote down the order which I needed to do things in for this trip and that helped quite a bit when I became confused or felt overwhelmed at everything I needed for this trip I could just look down at my checklist and get right back on track.

Save, and Save, and Save!

Every short-term goal I (or anyone else for that matter) have has always, and will always, require money. The ones which are most important to me require LOTS of money actually. So the skill I have found to be the most helpful and the VERY best one to have, is my ability to save. Without this, my goals would always remain just dreams.

Saving has never been to hard for me. I unconsciously do it even if I don't have a goal to work towards. In fact, if I do not have something to save for I sorta go crazy. Which is the reason for my constant short-term goals.

However, even for me, it is sometimes difficult to say "sorry, I can't afford to go to the movies today" or "can we do something that doesn't cost money?" especially when it is your family you are saying this to and they know very well that you have $3000 in the bank. Personally, I think anyone in the world could save their money very well if there was not the peer pressure to spend it. In my case it was kind of extreme, with my sisters constantly mocking me for being such a "miser". For everyone else it is a more subtle kind of peer pressure, a simple "hey would you like to go out for sushi" from the boy/girl you like is quite similar to a nuclear bomb being dropped on whatever small incentive you had to save that $40 or so. Even simple fast food can add up, if you purchased McDonald's with your friends every time they go out so that you won't be the only one without food, then even though there may be a dollar menu you are pretty much just eating your money.

I have found that the best way to save my money is to set aside a certain amount of money each month that can be spending money and hide it somewhere in my room (the rest I put in a difficult to access Bank account). For example, right now, I am saving every penny from my paychecks for Japan (because i need $2000 before February) however, at Subway where I work we have a tip jar. On a good day I make about $2. Every tip I earn (no matter how small) comes home with me and goes in my special jar. If there is something expensive that I am DYING to do, then I save up my tip money for it. Not only does this prevent me from spending more than I want to out of my paycheck, but it also helps me appreciate every activity I do. For if I have to work 1 whole month just to earn $20 I am NOT inclined to waste it on something unimportant such as fast food.

The First Few Steps

Of course the very first step in going to a foreign country was to find a program/school. Using simple elimination I began searching for the perfect school for me. I quickly ruled out anything that was less than 6 weeks long because I wanted to be in Japan for as long as possible! Next I decided that I did not want to stay in some dormitory while there, I wanted to live with a host family for sure, and a couple more were eliminated. Then, my mother (god bless her she is such a good support!) found the perfect school!

This program was privately run by the school I would be attending, and would host me for either 4 months, or 1 year. Obviously I jumped at the 4 month program because, as I would have to earn all the money myself in the next couple years, the cheapest option is always the best option!

Now that I had found the perfect school it was time to start researching. I am a big planning kind of person, when I have a goal which I am excited for I plan out every single detail because it makes me feel like I have less to do (if I haven't planned something then I always feel overwhelmed!).

First and foremost...money. How much money would I need to earn in the long-run? How often a week would I need to work in order to earn this much money?

Next, what did I need in order to qualify for this program? How much Japanese would I need to know? How much longer did I need to study before I should apply? What grades did I need to get?

Last of all, what other technical details did I need to cover before applying? When do I get a passport? HOW do I get a passport? What would I need for the application form?

And each of these "little" steps have stories in and of themselves...

A New Goal

When I began working at 15 years old it seemed that suddenly the money was rushing into my pockets like there was no tomorrow. Feeding my horse became really easy (before this it was a struggle to earn the $70 I needed each month to feed her) and I even had extra money to put in the bank. I went through a short time in which I did not really know what to do with myself. I spent all my time working and riding my horse but I needed something more.

Then one day I had a conversation with my friend Dani about how her sister was going to Japan for an exchange program and the wheels in my head started turning. I had always wanted to go to school in Japan and I often joked about how we should move to Japan solely so that I could go to school there. Now suddenly it seemed as if this little dream of mine could be something more than just a dream. I could actually make it happen! So, just like when I wanted a horse I approached my mother "I have been thinking..." I said, "You know I have always wanted to go to Japan. Well, I think I can do it!"

At this point in time she new better than to disbelieve me (after all, you remember what happened last time). So she set down what she was doing, looked me in the eye, and said, "all right, you already know that I wont pay for any of it, but I will help you find a school to go to". I began another journey, this one much harder and requiring a lot more than my last endeavor ever could.

A goal-oriented person

I have always been a very goal-oriented child. I am almost constantly saving all my money (and I mean ALL my money) for the latest very expensive but worthwhile experience, or object.
For example, growing up it was my dream above all dreams to own a horse (as you can see I was not the most...original child...but what the heck, that is what I wanted). Unlike most 10 year-old kids, instead of just dreaming about constantly, I dreamed about it constantly AND decided I would make it happen! I marched right up to my mother with my ingenious plan and screeched excitedly, "MOMMY! MOMMY! If I earn the money, can I pleeeease buy a horse?!!"
"uhh....sure honey..." she replied distractedly (who knows whether or not she thought I could do it, but I did, and that is all that mattered to my 10 year old heart at that moment)
So I began planning, and by planning I mean deciding names for my dream horse, as well as what color she would be as well as wonder how I would possibly earn the money for all of this. Job opportunities were scarce but I started by grooming my neighbors dog and then branched out to yard work for a nice lady named Peggy, as well as our family friend Rod. Each dollar (well, each CENT really) went straight to my bank account and for the next 2 years I did not spend one dollar on myself. (I believe it was around this time that my family realized that I was perfectly serious, and in fact, quite capable of buying a horse).
Finally, after 2 long years of saving and saving and saving, I had earned $300 which to me was a HUGE amount (though, in retrospect....well...you know what I mean). I proudly took my money (and my friend's parent, who knew alot about choosing a horse) to the local livestock auction, and, for $120, bought a little appaloosa yearling who was sent to auction because she was the wrong color.
I still own this horse, in fact, I trained her myself and love her like a child. I know that even though, I cant even remember what I my old parakeet's names were, or how many cats I've owned, I will always remember the little brown horse who I bought at 12 for $120.


3 years later, I got a job at the local Subway. With all this money coming to me every two weeks I needed a new goal...