Nothing Much

Just wanted to put a little post.  Nothing much has happened (other than an amazing birthday!!!) this month.  I have sent my application in to a ton of places to try and get a summer job.  Hopefully I will get something soon!  Until next time,
では、また、
Jesse
P.S Should I mention I also started learning Chinese?  If anyone actually reads this and wants to know more please leave a comment!

Earthquake and things

Everybody knows about the terrible earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan March 11^th.  I literally jumped out of bed that day and was glued to social networks waiting to hear from friends.  Thankfully, all of my friends where ok but I was a complete wreck that horrible day.  My heart goes out to all of the Japanese people during this terrible time, though I know they will be able to work through it and overcome it.  I also feel terrible for all of the exchange students that had their trip canceled.  I understand it had to be, but what a horrible feeling waiting only a couple more days then having your hopes completely dashed (sorry if you are reading this).
 ANYWAYS, I have heard back from three of the companies I sent letters out too.  Microsoft, Delta Airlines, and Walmart.  They all sent a wonderful letter sincerely declining my request for money for my trip.  I expected that response and was happy that they at least replied back (I have yet to hear back from about....20 more companies).  I continue to sell things and am trying to get a summer job.  There is a Pizza Hut nearby that I am applying for along with as many other places as I can.  I also continue to apply for scholarships.
That is pretty much it for now.  March has been a mostly terrible month for me but on the plus side I got TV Japan for free for a couple weeks.  I wasn't able to understand most of what they said but my proficiency increased slightly!  It was fun watching the news in Japanese. J
では、またね！

BBQ & Corporate Sponsors

This past week I had a successful BBQ!  It was originally for the AFS chapter meeting but we decided to take as many orders as possible and fill up the smoker.  25 sides of ribs and 8 chickens were the end result.  That's a lot of meat! 

Today I sent out 17 letters to companies.  I have about 8 more to send but I ran out of stamps.  I wanted to send them all out at the same time but I delayed long enough sending them out in the first place.

Different AFS news, my family might host!  We filled out the interest form so now we are just waiting for more info about it.  I think it would be tons of fun.

Exciting!!!!!!

Been so busy lately!  Things might be starting to settle down a little bit (or maybe not).  After much consideration and talking to people I have come to the conclusion that I will not be able to go to Japan this summer.......

Because I am planning to go for the year program this next year!!!!!!!!  I am so excited!  I think this will be better for me as I will be able to become semi-fluent in the language and will get to experience more of the culture.  There is still the problem of money, but I have a little less than a year to fundraise so I will hopefully be able to raise enough.  Since I am no longer going this summer, unless there is extremely exciting news, I will post every month instead of every week.

でわまったね！
Until next time,

Jesse

Weekly update-I think not!

Hey Everyone!

I know it has been way over a week since I last posted (more like a month), but things have been so crazy this blog has been the last thing on my mind.  I am back and will try to update it every week again.  So much has happened!  Christmas has greatly helped my fundraising.  Also, I found out that I will be eligible for a $200 award since my mom is an AFS volunteer!  I continue to apply for scholarships with nothing just yet.  Eventually I hope to get something; I just need to be patient and persistent.  I am preparing letters to send out to companies; hopefully they will be mailed within the next week.  On a side note, a group of Japanese exchange students spent their winter break near me so I was able to hang out with them and participate in their activities.  With their help my Japanese has greatly improved and I have made some amazing friends!

でわ、またね！Until next time,

Jesse

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!  I know it has been forever since I last posted something but I have been very busy.  December is one of the busiest months for me.  A group of Japanese exchange students are here for the winter break so I have been spending a lot of time with them.  Not much fundraising news.  I will work more on fundraising the start of this next year.  Still working on scholarships though.

Until next time,

Jesse

Scholarships and tuition updates

I broke my weekly update streak, but with reasonable cause.  These past few weeks have been terribly busy and I have been experienceing some major computer troubles.  Thankfully everything is fixed and back to normal (as normal as things get in December).  I recieved an email from AFS saying that they will look at my application in January!  Also, the tuition for the summer program should be updated any day now along with the Global Leaders scholarship which I am very excited about.  Apart from that I have just been continueing to fundraise and work on scholarships.  I am hopeing to have another BBQ in a few weeks, but we'll see how that goes.

Jesse