SonofEva goes to Japan!

Oh wow! That's so exciting, and I bet it will be something that will hold a prominent place in his memories. I went to Montreal and Quebec with my French class when I was about that age, I think, it was wonderful. It was my first time out of the United States, and my first major trip without my parents.

Eva--

Be prepared to miss him dreadfully--and be very proud.

Hold your dominion.

Excellent!!! It's certainly an opportunity for and adventure he will remember for the rest of his life. He'll be fine, Eva, so will you.

This is great, Eva. What fun...

What an adventure!

Joe(how do you plan on lurking behind him in Japan? Black wig?)Nation

So exciting! What a lucky bunch of kids. Although, it seems a bit crazy to go all the way over for 10 days.....

He's going to wait until he gets there before telling Eva that he won't back back until Labor Day/


Joe(smelling salts!!! smelling salts!!)Nation

If you think you know what nervouse is eva...

My daughter went to Sweden as a 16 year old for 12 months. My whole being screamed at me that she was too young, too immature, would taken advantage of.

Of course all worked out well. My daughter has now returned to Sweden for 6 weeks to renew old friends and visit host parents. She virtually has two families now. she will try to get a job and live (at least for a while) in sweden.

Trust sonofeva, force yourself to trust. In a way this is a validation of how well you have done your job.

With Modern communications systems you can chat every day look at an online diary. Imagine what it would be like pre internet.

Your son or perhaps you may enjoy "cultures shocked" a forum for exchange students.
http://www.cultures-shocked.org/forum/index.php

Asian countries
http://www.cultures-shocked.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=17

Oh, I'm so glad you said that! You still remember it! I wondered if he would. We've taken him so many places that he doesn't recall. :wink:



Yes, we will both miss him dreadfully. When he left us for a week last summer, we drifted around the house like a couple of ghosts. BUT...I'm going to check us into a local hotel or B&B this weekend. Something fun, to keep us occupied.



Tell me that again on Thursday night, J. I'll be hyperventilating about then. My God, have you looked at a globe lately? That ocean is huge.....



It HAS been fun since the passport arrived this afternoon. Before that, though, it was nerve-wracking.



I'm glad it's him that's going and not me. He loves everything Japanese or Chinese. Even has his room decorated that way. Rice is his absolute favorite food. He'll love it there. The only way I'd go would be with a suitcase full of food from home. I HATE Japanese food. I can't even walk into a sushi bar. The smell of the seaweed makes my stomach turn. Really, I'm better off staying at home this time.



Ten days counting travel time. He'll actually be there for a full week. At his age, he'll recover from the jet lag in half the time it would take us. Good thing. He has a full agenda there. One week, and he'll be ready to come home and rest. (I'm sending him with earplugs, mask & TylenolPM, so hopefully he'll get some sleep on the flight over.)




Yeah, he might leave his Mom for the whole summer, but I've got an ace up my sleeve. I've got his dog. (heh heh)



YIKES! A whole year?! I can barely stand the thought of being without him for 10 days! That would KILL me!

Honestly, I've always admired parents who could do that, dadpad. It's such a great experience for the kids. But he is my only child, and I just can't imagine giving him up for a whole year. I don't have that many years with him left. How could you stand it?

I expect I'll get a short e-mail or two from him while he's there, but unlike his mother, he hates to write. Plus, he'll have to ask his friend's mother to type it for him...Japanese keyboard, y'know. Today I brought up the idea of a travel journal. You should have seen him roll his eyes. I'll just have to wait for the pictures, I guess. (sigh)

some questions. These have been posted by exchange students peparing to leave for another country.
==============================
One day at school this kid asked me this ....

"I heard your going to Japan, that's like somewhere in China right?"

"Are there computers in Japan?"

"Are you gonna get some Japanese a**?" (My reaction )
=================
My math teacher is from Brooklyn and has the thickest Brooklyn accent ever. I asked her a question about radians vs. degrees and she starts bowing to me and says "I haf to staht bowin to ya becawse that's awll ya gonna get next yiah. Radians, Jawnathan-san! If thayre's no degree mawrks, it's in radians! Jawnathan-san, ya should know thaeat by now!"
Ha ha she's so sweet...
======================
what are you doing after you graduate???"
"going to Romania"
"I've never heard of THAT college before"
----------========
romania? "Is that in South America??
---------------------
Today in AP biology, a kid asked me "Are you going to go to any nude beaches in Germany?"
-----------------
"Maggie - don't go to Australia! They have these spiders that bloat up and bite you underneath lots of toilet seats!"
-------------------------
English teacher in a swedish school: "Moose have antennas."
Me: Er..., i thought they had antlers....
-------------------
Canadian student:
My penpal, from Japan, when we first wrote to each other asked, "Do you live in and igloo and is it cold?"

I also got asked: "Do you have a pet polar bear?"
-----------------
"I'm going to be near Mount Fuji."
"Oh, that's cool. Is that near the capital?"
"I think it's near Tokyo, yeah."
"Oh. Tokyo's the capital? I thought it was a separate country!"
"Um No."
"Where's Hong Kong, then?"
"China"
"Is Hong Kong the captial of China?"
"No, that would be Beijing."
===============

Girl in my class in Germany - "I read that 2/3 of American guys lose their virginity to prostitutes."
Me - *stares*
Girl - I've been to Florida and Disney World. I know it's true.
======================================
Class mate in Belgium to Us exchanger - How many guns do you have?
Me - I don't have any guns and I don't like them.
Guy - But everyone in the US has guns.
=================
Yesterday a person I thought was brighter than most asked me:
"Do they live in huts there (chile)?"
===============

"Do they have toilet paper in Norway?"

================================

You have to laugh at stupid people.

And carry tissues. Perhaps not in Japan.

Let's see.

Mom hates sushi.
Boy likes all things Japanese.

Mom/Dad have taken boy everywhere.
Boy doesn't remember.

Mom is sending boy with Mask, Earplugs, TylenolPM. (you can still look cool wearing this stuff, right?)
Boy will fall asleep on his own in the car on the way to airport and sleep all the way. Doesn't know what jet lag is. He's 13.

Mom says she only expects one or two emails during the trip.
Boy shrug.
How about a journal?
Boy glassy stare with eye roll
Mom/dad will get one email from the airport kiosk (english keyboards everywhere, ma, the only people who speak more English than Americans are (NO not the Australians!) the Chinese, Japan is second now)

Upon his return Mom/Dad will say "Tell us everything about your trip."
Boy will say "It was cool." and that will be the full report.

=====

A check with a number of local authorities (I live in a neighborhood of Jewish mothers) your relationship with your son is normal.

Joe(One of them shrugged "Sad isn't it? Normal.")Nation

Joe has captured SonofEva's gift for terse exposition.

(SIGH)...I'm afraid you're right.

I'll probably have to pull the iPod out of his ears so he can hear the question.

Eva--

You are a mother who is tuned into reality.

Congratulations.

If it's anything like my immersion experience in Quebec when I was 14, after one week he'll be making plans to move there to go to university.

So...you've always had all this energy, haven't you?

A half-day of running pre-trip errands around town today, and he's already complaining about having too much to do.

"When do I get to relax?" he just said.

"You did that this morning, remember? You slept in 'til 9, and we didn't leave the house 'til noon."

"That's different. I was busy." (folds arms across chest)

"Uh huh. Busy playing computer games."

"Yeah, but...but...well, how long will it be until I get a whole day off?"

"You've got a 14-hour flight to Japan on Thursday, and nothing you have to do that whole time."

(rolls eyes) "Come on, that doesn't count. It's not like I could get comfortable enough to really relax on an airplane, y'know. I'm talking about sleeping late and not having anything to do. Like, a day where I don't even have to get dressed."

"You did that on Saturday and again yesterday. Look, when you get back from Japan, you won't have anything scheduled for two whole weeks. Maybe three."

"That sounds good."

"You want to cancel the trip to Japan? We can still do that. You can start doing nothing tomorrow. I just have to make a few phone calls. Say the word..."

"Mo-o-o-o-o-m....." (rolls eyes, sighs, shuffles out of room)

[size=7](one of my nicknames was ... busybusybuzzbuzz ... and then there was bouncingbabybbxxxxxs) [/size]

I love the internet!

According to the airline's online flight status check, SonofEva's flight landed safely in Tokyo 15 minutes ago.

I can breathe now.