Right so I've been going out of my fucking mind with stuff I need to do before moving off this island once and for all. But let's not talk about that, nor the love stories professor who is out for blood (aka my grade).

We've finally confirmed all of our hosts from May 25 to about very early July.
First, we're staying in Tokyo for a couple of days with my friend and gathering our wits. Since he will arrive a day after me, we have a whole advanced strategy on how we're going to meet up-- complete with photoshopped map of the train station by moi. All I got to say is pachinko and love hotels baby >: D

Then we head off to our first host in Yamanashi which is a vineyard run by a lone guy in his 40's. So far he seems really laid back and awesome- old dude even has a blog that he sent us the link to. He's also a demon in tune with the technology gods apparently, since he responded to my email within 10 minutes. That's unprecedented, since it usually takes people at least a day or two... sometimes more... to respond back. (Actually, it's been at least a month with no response from this one host....) I bet he'll respond to me again before the night is over- that'll make 3 emails within 3 hours, wheeew grandpa's* going for the gold.

*Yes I realize 40-something isn't really that old, but fuck it, I abuse my right to be politically incorrect

Around 6/6 we'll shove off to Ibaraki prefecture to work on a veggie farm and English language school. The host lady calls herself "Dorothy" (also my late grandma's name O.o) and seems to know English, Spanish, Italian, AND Russian. Whew. They also have 3 kids from 8 to 15 so that should prove entertaining (they're about the same ages as my siblings). Can we say "corrupting the Japanese youth" ? (as if they need any more tainting *snort*)

Next, on 6/27 we go farther north to Fukushima to try our hand at working for a ceramics gallery. The old couple that runs it seem really nice and eloquent (meaning they use kanji that's never seen the light of day since jouyou reforms), but they have some strict rules-- like me and Imochan aren't allowed to sleep in the same room (ARGH!). Though I could understand why, since they have small children and don't really know us yet. We're going to be staying for a 5 day trial period, to see if we can communicate well with each other. They don't speak ANY English, which is beneficial in the way that it helps our main objective of this trip (getting better at Japanese), but puts more strain on me because I worry they'll make me interpret constantly between them and Imochan. We might get kicked out, who knows...

So we don't have any more hosts formally planned after that, though we have some in mind just in case. They're two farms that also make sweets along with arts/crafts. Could be cool.
We'll probably end up traveling around on our own for the last week or two of the trip. We both leave August 2.

Some hosts haven't been so kind to us in the course of emailing though. One host, a cafe, just stopped corresponding with us, I suspect because we're not Japanese/native speakers (no offense to them or anything, just a fact since they listed that on their preferences). That's so Japanese though T_T (just stopping communication). So much for breaking stereotypes.
Maybe it's for our benefit though, since we'd have to go to a public bath house every night.

Another guy, who posted an ad saying he was desperately in need of people, responded realllyyyy rudely to Imochan's email. Told us he had no need for a pair of male/female friends (though imochan clearly stated we're a couple), and that his establishment wasn't a place for playing around since it was full of "hard work" and they used "dangerous machines". So he told us to go search for someone else.
You'd have to read the Japanese to get the full effect of his asshole-ry, but I say good riddance.

The very first host we tried contacting was a junior high in Nagano, and they still haven't even read our emails. Normally, you go to the WWOOF officials to step in if the host hasn't responded in a week, but that wasn't really effective. We resorted to faxing the school after much trouble, and they finally responded saying that all the positions were full. That sucked because it would've been the perfect job for us, but oh well.

In other news, I registered for my classes at Tulane. Most of them have some sort of Latin American focus because they don't really have Asian Studies, and LA studies are their specialty. No problem for me since I'm really interested in those areas. :D
Unfortunately I had to drop my Mayan and Olmec Civilizations class...

Monday:
Digital Media I (art class)

Tuesday/Thursday:
Intro to Latin America
Painting
Social Justice in the Americas
Pre-Colombian Art

No class on Fridays!

Also I have 40 hours of community service to do (which corresponds with the Social Justice course) because Tulane has a service learning requirement since Katrina.

Whew! And there you have it people! Don't expect any updates over the summer since internet access with be sporadic, though I probably will post a long account of things when I get back.
I have 18 days left in Hawaii, so I'm off to spend them as memorably as possible. Jya~