The Chanthaburi Tales:Japan

I'm Sick

2010-02-21T21:20:00.008-05:00

Not mentally or anything of course.

This is the first time in Japan I've actually been sick.
I'm into Day 5 of a nasty cold. It's incredibly boring to just sit at home all day and not do a lot. But hey, it gives me a chance to post this right?

I should mention that I moved host families at the start of the month. My new host family is 100% AWESOME :D

My host family has been really helpful in making sure I'm comfortable and have access to everything the dollar store/conbini has to offer in terms of cold relief. Yesterday I was telling my host mom how boring it was to just stay at home and she decided to take me to Hakui which is a more northern spot in Ishikawa prefecture. Beautiful place! It's another city right next to the ocean but much quieter than Kanazawa and with some really cool new sights to see. I'll have to go back when I'm not sick to fully enjoy it.

A side note, the NEXT set of outbounds from Canadian district already know what country they're going to....wow. Time is frickin 飛んでいる

If I Fed a Pet as Often as I Post Here, I'd Have A LOT of Dead Animals

2010-01-21T21:45:00.008-05:00

Lovely title right? I made it with the visual people in mind :D

You must think I'm dead right now since I haven't posted in so long. And you'd BE RIGHT!! Click now to receive your free BS prize!!

The truth is much more simple, blog posts take time. Something of which I don't have a lot of - specifically my internet time is way way 少ない.

Gotta love that I now have 5 months worth of blog content and 35 minutes to post something.

My current life set up:

Living at 2nd host family's place. The dad is really awesome! He loves to try and repeat any English words I use or teach him. Example: *Dinner time* "Do-nt ureeabe uwauwanyshing"

Translation: Don't leave anything.

He repeats what I say because he knows he sounds funny.

It's a really funny contrast because I've got my host dad, my host mom, and a younger host sister (11 I think...) and my host dad's daily antics are barely even recognized by my host mom and sister. My host mom is a really 冷たい人...She only talks to me when she wants to point out something I did "wrong" or something that she wants me to do, always ending it with the most soul piercing "Wakatta?" I've ever heard. I won't use this blog to complain a lot since that's no fun to read (although some topics I could probably make interesting) - it also wouldn't give you a full picture on the awesome times I have here too.
I will say that I think my host dad is an incredibly awesome person for still being able to be so zany. My host sister...is 11 so just think of an 11 year old girl who likes to read books and does ballet. I'm not really sure how to describe her other than that.

I get up every morning around 6:20, take a shower (being the crazy gaijin I am I bathe myself in the morning), eat some breakfast (sometimes cereal, sometimes miso soup and onigiri) and then head off to the bus stop to wait for the bus that will take me to school. I could make an entire blog post about the FUN of riding busses to and from school with all the other students on the bus but for now I'll leave it be. Next is school, I've gone through that before so I won't repeat myself.

Now here's the new stuff, Tuesdays and Thursdays after school I have Japanese class at a local building called Rifare. It's me and a bunch of ALTs (Foreign English Assistants) learning intermediate Japanese grammar. We've gotten into stuff that's new to me now and I find that...exciting? I don't know, I guess I find it cool to go to class and then hear "Today we're learning THIS GRAMMAR" and then you realize you've heard that everywhere but never knew the meaning so it's kinda like I'm hearing "Remember those government fat cats who were talking in that secret code? WELL HERE'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY MEANT!!!"
Yes I just vaguely compared learning Japanese to being a spy of some sort.

Alright Agent Stryker, you've infiltrated their base...
Copy that Command
Now all you need to do is take down their top grammar particle agents ONE BY ONE
Agent Wo and Wa should be easy but don't take Agent Ni or Ga to lightly ok? You still need to be focused enough to take on Commander Keigo and those two guys are hiding all sorts of grammatical weapons
わかりました！
(If it were my host mom then it would be わかった）

On other days, I go to Track and Field Club. See, my interests are things like playing guitar and writing comedy or making small movies and such. So...I though the BEST club to fit my strengths would be TRACK AND FIELD!!!!
It was more of a decision that I though I would try and branch out to something else (plus, Japanese conbini bread doesn't exactly make you more fit and muscular).
Club goes from 4:05 until.....7ish I'd say. It's the off season so everyone does things like weight training or running exercises. I recently got some weird injury with my left foot while running so I'm left with weight training, stretching, and situps and situp like exercises basically.

The weekends are left for me to relax. Sort of. Track and Field is usually on Saturday too. So...make that Sunday to relax (although my host mom tells me I have to wake up by a certain time for....what reason? I'm not sure exactly actually) <- I thought I wasn't going to complain

In other news, any and all hospital tests I've gotten here have shown that I'm all fine and dandy. Although the fact that I used "dandy" might be cause for concern...

I have tons more to post but I don't like massive posts. Till next time! (Also, new Australian exchange students are coming on Sunday :D )

I Attempt a Japanese Claw Machine

2009-09-29T05:16:00.001-04:00

School

2009-09-17T20:07:00.007-04:00

I've decided that I can't recap everything that's happened sequentially so I'm just going to write about different topics until everyone is brought up to speed. Today I'll do school since that's taking up most of my time right now (plus I'm typing this in school right now, IT class).

My school

I started school a few weeks ago and it's been interesting to say the least. I have to take the bus to school and back every day and on the first day, my host dad put me on the wrong bus. I was told the bus I was on would go straight to my stop with no changes so I stayed on the bus until the last stop. Luckily the bus driver I had that day was the nicest one I've come across so far so she was very helpful in making sure I got to where I needed to go. After a few small problems (no bus going to my stop), I finally made it to school (only an hour or two late). Thank goodness it wasn't an actual day with classes. I walked around the school and got lots of stares and pointing. I found my room and as I walked to it, two girls were standing outside the door and saw me. Smiling and with excitement they boldly and eloquently asked...."Jared?" and I answered with a triumphant "Yes!" Queue excitement and stares as I walk into the class. All the girls wanted a picture with me and asked me questions like "Do you have girlfriend?" Then the guys came up to me and asked things like "How tall are you?"

That day (and the day that followed) turned out to be days in preparation for the school festival that weekend! The days were basically me helping out my class with their room theme and watching the many dance groups practice. They really take it to the next level here. School festivas are all out with coordinated hip hop dancing, Japanese food stalls, bands playing on a stage, and rooms with themes like a haunted house or a quiz of some sort. Keep in mind that most of the dances were comprised of homeroom classes (not dance clubs or anything like that) and they were doing things like jump rope stunts and breakdancing and everything.

My class turned the room into a giant board game. I got to help as a person who sat outside the class inviting people to come to it. Most of the time I was going around to different rooms with some people from my class. There was a group of girls that weren't students that asked to take a picture with me and then would all giggle if they saw me around the school. I just found it kinda crazy because I would just stand there or say "Hi" or wave and they would go "Kakkoiiiiiiiiii" (So cool!). So, if you're planning on going on exchange and you have:

Non brown eyes
Non black hair

and/or you are:

Tall
Foreign

People will think you're cool. (If you're a girl, everyone will think you're cute)

Since then I've been having regular school days. Everyone stays as a class and we stay in the same room for most classes. Class goes from 8:40 until 4:05 on every day except Friday (which gets out around 3:05). It's definitely been an interesting experience so far! I don't understand a lot of the classes so I just practice kanji or doodle for the time being. Except English classes. In those classes I help with pronunciation or grammar or things like that. My English reading teacher kind of annoyed me the other day because he pronounces everything himself and his accent isn't that great. He insisted to the class that wolf was pronounced as "oorf."

I'll write more about school in later posts. My next post will probably be about my recent trip to Kyoto and Osaka during Silver Week :D

Arrival

2009-09-01T09:14:00.006-04:00

So I've been in Japan for a little over a week now. Everything has been going so fast it feels way longer than 10 days.

I left Toronto Int'l Airport on Friday with two other exchange students who I met an hour before the flight. They both are in areas close to Tokyo though so no dice on meeting up with them really.

One 13 hour, continuously sunny flight later I was in Tokyo! After going through some customs and baggage claims, I met up with the other inbounds in my district. They were there along with two Japanese guys related to Rotary (rebounds I think) holding signs for the district. All the other inbounds had taken a different flight than me and were taking a connecting flight at the same airport. I, on the other hand, hand to first ride a bus with one of the Japanese guys to Haneda Airport for my flight to Komatsu. Unfortunately, the bus was slightly late in dropping me off at the airport so the Japanese guy had to work it out at the flight desk. Luckily there was a flight leaving two hours later and they changed my ticket so CRISIS AVERTED. (I just realized if you're quickly skimming this then you'll notice the bold words first and think something really bad could have happened)

The cool thing about my flight being later is that it got dark so my one hour flight was accented nicely by the lights of Tokyo and all cities in between. I even saw some fireworks going off as I flew overhead. Tokyo at night is really a sight to see in the air.

I arrived in Komatsu and when I got to the baggage claim, the other inbounds were picking up their baggage! I was 2 hours late and somehow managed to be synced with the other inbounds...

There was a big welcome group for me. I did a lot of handshaking and met my first host family some of my other host families as well as Yuki! Yuki was there with his family! That was cool.

It was physically hard to smile because of a mix of no sleep and holy-crap-this-is-happening

Everyone parted ways and I went home with my first host family in their car (with a BUILT IN TV).

I'll continue the rest later so I don't make a super large wall of text...

I'm in Japan!!

2009-08-24T00:34:00.003-04:00

I made it! What a loooooong flight! Today is my second (full) day in Japan. Unfortunately right now I only have access to internet through my host family's computer. I've written down stuff that's happened so far and once my host family fixes their wifi connection (a familiar scenario for me haha) I'll do a bigger, better update. Like a sequel to a movie. Except it won't suck.

On another note, Japanese tv is basically sports and round table discussion talk shows during the day. Denzel Washington was on a Japanese show and all the Japanese hosts reacted to him as if they couldn't believe he was there. They felt his abs and compared it to themselves and then they made him throw a little toy and a glass pane for some reason. I dunno.

Will update later! Until then, enjoy!

It Begins

2009-08-20T19:27:00.004-04:00

I fly out tomorrow at 1:15pm from Pearson Int'l!!

I've been doing lots of running around and lots of packing and I've even had a few butterflies in my stomach.

This is my last post as an outbound. For the next year, this blog will be about my inbound experience in Kanazawa, Japan!

I'll try and make a post as soon as I can in Japan with as much info as I can. Enjoy the official start of the blog!

How I imagine my flight will be like

I Started a Video Blog

2009-08-15T12:41:00.004-04:00

Hopefully I can make more in Japan, enjoy!

1 Month 3 Days

2009-07-18T22:43:00.007-04:00

That's the official time left before I leave for Japan! It's coming up so quickly!

A picture of my future school...looks nice!

A few things have happened since my last post. I've booked my flight so I'm officially flying out on August 21st. I also applied for my visa a few weeks ago so everything is going smoothly. Canadian things continue to pile up on my desk such as Canadian ties, mini hockey sticks, socks, playing cards, magnets, stickers, pencils, bandanas, and of course I'll be prepared for the countless situations in which I'll need an inflatable Canadian baseball bat...

I also contacted my host club counselor in Japan and he/she (the name was pretty ambiguous) passed on the email address of my first host family. In my last post, I had been kinda worried that there might have been no host siblings since the papers didn't mention any. It turns out I'll have THREE host brothers! One is 20 and off at a university in Yokohama (pretty far away from Kanazawa), one is 18 and "busy studying for college entrance exams," and one is 16. My host club counselor told me that the 16 year old will be my best friend. Wow, they've planned out EVERYTHING for me over there...:P

So I sent my first host family an email and the father responded back in an email with a mix of English, Japanese, and Japanese written with English letters. The cool part was that he sent a picture of the family and they look really cool. When I showed my parents, I pointed to an empty space high above everybody's head in the picture and said "That's where I'll be."

The only stuff left to do now is get more Canadian stuff, get some nice host family/Rotary gifts, get a better camera (so I can post all the professional top quality photos on this blog that everyone will shed a tear for at the very first sight), and maybe some new clothes since I'm sure they'd have to special order everything in my size over there.

I'll make a post closer to my departure date and from then on this will be a blog coming from a Rotary INBOUND!!

It's Official: Kanazawa, Japan

2009-05-20T12:26:00.000-04:00

Yup, I just checked my email and the district chair for my Rotary district's exchange program sent an email my way with a file attached that (FINALLY!) gave me a bunch of info from Japan.

My official home away from home will be KANAZAWA, JAPAN!

The basic info from Wikipedia:

Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula National Park. The city sits between the Sai and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².

There's a LOT of info on it. Basically it was one of the few major cities that was spared of bombing in WW2 so there's a lot of old architecture preserved and it looks BEAUTIFUL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanazawa,_Ishikawa <- go there if you want to read more Also, as of right now it looks like I'll probably be flying out August 21st so that's when this blog will (FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY) kick off into an EXCHANGE blog. The email also told me a few other things:

1. The trip costs are only around $250-260ish! It's especially awesome because Rotary over there pays for the other two thirds of the cost (yup, it's actually $750ish)

2. I'll get a monthly allowance of 15000 yen. (~$180 CDN) That's quite nice for an allowance (I don't spend lots of money so yeah...)

3. My first host family will be the Sugano family. No email was given :( It didn't mention any children but there was no space marked for children on the page anyways so I'll have to wait and see.

4. It had my Japan Rotary counsellor's info as well.

I'll update as I learn more :)

Coming Up

2009-05-11T17:23:00.000-04:00

I definitely need to update more often but I like to save stuff up and then post it all together for whatever reason.

Anyways, I performed at another art show recently with my friend Kieron. We did a Flight of the Conchords song (Most Beautiful Girl in the Room). I also filmed a short film that was shown at the same show and people seemed to enjoy it. Oh yeah! I did improv that night too. So yeah, THREE different thhings featuring me in one night :)

I continue to practice guitar and I'm definitely improving. I've also been collecting little random instruments. In the pasy few months I've bought: A ukulele ($30) , a mini piano/xylophone thing (50 cents) , a CASIO WK-10 ($2 :D ) which is a funky 80s mini sample keyboard, and a "Concertmate 460" ($10) that's a little more versatile than the WK-10. I want to try and write more comedy songs to make an album's worth by the end of the month (good luck....).

A few weeks ago, there was an optional Rotary outing to Niagara Falls that a lot of the exchange students took part in. It was lots of fun, even if we went to things I've been to before many many times. Everything feels fresh when you're with exchange students. It was definitely nice to see everyone again and we all had good times. Afterwards we went to a Rotarians house and most of us slept over. Good times... I remember I woke up the next day and went to the bathroom and when I came back, Luis (one of the inbounds from Brazil) was in my sleeping bag and just said "Can I use this?"

Two major things are coming up:

Rotary Erindale Weekend - I'll make an update about it after it happens in about two week's time-ish. It's probably the most likely time I'll get some more solid info on where I'll be living in Japan and the time window I'll be flying out from here :)

Stache Bash - It's basically Improv Night 2 with an advertising campaign based around mustaches. I'll have to get working on that pretty soon since it's on June 2nd...

I'm Curious

2009-03-18T12:28:00.001-04:00

I'm wondering if I should make a completely new exchange blog now that this one has an irrelevant title/site name and it gives a pretty big background on before my exchange. I think if I started with a fresh exchange blog, it would be good.

What do you guys (assuming more than one person reads this) think? I'd post the link to it here if I decided to make it.

It's Official

2009-02-22T18:02:00.002-05:00

I'm now going to Japan for my exchange! I don't know if I mentioned it before but Japan was my first choice last year and this year it wasn't certain that I was going to Thailand so this is AWESOME! I have to apologize to Thailand though. Don't worry Thailand, have you heard of university exchanges? Because Thailand, baby, you and I have a date when I get to uni.

Anyways, all the other outbounds found out where they're going and I couldn't be happier with this year's Team Asia. They picked a great person for Thailand and I know she'll enjoy it thoroughly. They also picked the exact person I was guessing would be the other person going to Japan! IT'S A PERFECT TEAM :D

There were a few surprises (in my opinion) as to where people were going but there were also a few I got spot on so it balanced itself out.

Karen (girl from Japan) showed me and Emily (the other person being sent to Japan) her Japanese phone. INSANE. It's like a phone from the future. "And you can watch TV." "What do you mean?" *Karen flips phone and it turns into a a widescreen display mini-tv* Me and Emily's faces = :O

This next year and a half is going to be a long whirlwind ride! And you'll get to read it all for entertainment value!

A map I made of all the outbounds and where they're going.

Previously on Jared Stryker's Life

2009-02-10T14:57:00.001-05:00

So it's been over a month....yeah....

There's just been a lot going on and I didn't really want to sit down and write a huge post. I probably will make this a more summarized version of the past month.

First Big Thing: BOLTON WEEKEND

I had the "first" outbound weekend back in January and everyone seemed really cool. I still had interviews and stuff, I think more so just to see how things are with me and if my views have changed at all. I stayed the night at a local Rotarian family's place. I was sent to a place by myself (as opposed to pairs like everyone else). They were all incredibly nice and we played Scrabble and watched part of a movie. Some of the inbounds were at the weekend as well so it was nice to see them again. I found myself trying to predict where all the outbounds would be sent. This year they're sending only one person to Thailand, and now TWO to Japan. The only other change is that they're also sending people to Australia, New Zealand, and (I think) South Africa.

Second Big Thing: WANAKITA

The four day winter camp from February 1st to 4th that all the exchange students go to. This was a fantastic time! Not a whole lot changed from last year in terms of activities. This time we had another sesssion of actual cross country skiing and our campfire was indoors (bah, not really a campfire then...). Wanakita is the time where you can get a better snapshot of everyone and it was much easier to predict where everyone will be going. In fact, that's what some of us did. We wrote down a list of where we thought people might be going and we're gonna see how close to the mark we'll end up being. Last year, the outbounds seemed to have a big group that socialized with each other and then a small group that more or less socialized with themselves. This year it's much more half and half in terms of "groups" if you can truly call them that. I had to sleep in a quinzee again. I hadn't ever planned on being in a quinzee twice in my life but they needed another guy to have enough body heat in the quinzee so I was that guy. The "dance" this year was a lot more dance-like compared to last year's. There was a constant strobe light going and people were dancing, not just standing and taking pictures. One other interesting thing to note is that when we did the "solo sit" (which is going out at night with lanterns and being sent off a few paces into the forest along a path so that you seem alone for 45 minutes) one inbound ended up staying out there a bit....longer than expected. We all had come back to a cabin for our indoor campfire and we all looked at each other and asked "Where's Juan Pablo?" Turns out he was still out there, he had gone a bit more than a few paces and was just sitting there waiting to be picked up by the Rotarians again. Crazy!

Third Big Thing: SCHOOL

I'm back in school now as of February 2nd (yeah I missed the first few days because of Wanakita). I needed something to keep me occupied so I might as well keep in the school mindset (for my exchange) and for extra credits. I'm not taking anything too strenuous and i'm only a part time student (only 2 courses in my case). I'm taking Film Studies and World Issues. Film Studies is really fun and I'm thouroughly enjoying it. World Issues is a "U" course so that's where all my homework and challenge comes from. I considered taking Travel and Tourism but that'd be too easy. I need something that stimulates my brain or at least keeps it moving.

Fourth Big Thing: IMPROV NIGHT

We finally had our improv night last Friday. It went fantastic. It was a night of improv, original skits (of which I wrote a lot of and helped write the others), and music (I got to perform one of my original songs which was cool). We finally saw it all come together (only about 5 or 6 people truly worked on this night from start to finish). A lot of people showed up - we ended up selling 70 or so tickets in advance! On the day of, we rehearsed from 10:45 all the way until 7:10ish when we had to start letting people in. I loved it when I heard compliments specifically mentioning the skit that I wrote entirely solo. It was also fantastic to hear the laughs when I performed my song (with help from my friend Kieron as the second singer). I couldn't help but smile hearing people laughing after delivering a verse's punchline and it was especially awesome when we got a HUGE cheer at the end of the song. We filmed the night so hopefully some footage pops up online soon. Although, apparently the cameras might have run out of film before my song (which majorly sucks). Meh, great night nonetheless.

Thanks for waiting over a MONTH for this post and be sure to look for my next post sometime after Rotary's Announcement Day on February 22nd.

Confirmed to be Healthy!

2009-01-06T12:07:00.001-05:00

This is gonna be short.

I had a CT scan a few days back and I was expecting to find out the results this coming Thursday. It turns out my family doctor already had the results in and they told me that I looked completely healthy with no abnormalities at all! Great great news! :D

That really puts to rest a lot of the concerns I had. It feels great to KNOW FOR SURE that I'm healthy!

In other news, the people in improv (including me) have been granted their own "Comedy Night" to perform improv, skits, music, whatever we want. So that's what I'm going to be busy with for the next while (it's on Feb. 6th at the SJAM Auditorium if you're in the area and want to check it out). I've been writing and recording coemdy songs similar to what Flight of the Conchords does. I'll get to perform at least one of my songs live at Comedy Night! It's a lot of work, there's only about 6 of us behind the event organizing it, writing original material for it, and performing (doing this all within a month!).

I turned 18 on Christmas and I got a really nice, classy pocketwatch. I love it! The first outbound weekend for the Rotary exchange is this coming Friday and Saturday. I'm really excited to meet the new outbounds!

I'll probably make my next post sometime after the outbound weekend. Thanks for reading/commenting!

December Already?

2008-12-14T13:04:00.000-05:00

I always have to start these posts with an apology for not updating sooner. I guess I don't want two sentence posts or meaningless posts but then I forget to update and I leave everybody hanging there waiting to hear what's happened.

I officially finished my chemo sessions on November 25th! Done! Forever! I took a nice montage of videos but unfortunately the format they are in is not compatible with my (primitive) video editing program so it's just kinda sitting here on my computer for now. Let's just say I set up a finish line in the doorway then ran through it. ;)

I went in for a follow up with my oncologist the week after and she told me about how I have the CT scan at the end of this month to confirm that everything is gone. She's anticipating that I should be fine (which is always nice to hear from a professional)! The thing that kinda bugs me is that now that I know that certain pains can be associated with certain things, anytime I get like a sore back or a rib out of place or think I feel something abnormal it really gets on my nerve. I know that it's most likely nothing to worry about but it just kinda lingers in my head (which it shouldn't). For example, I thought I felt something abnormal in a place that was troubling so I went to my doctor and he didn't find anything. He also sent me for an ultrasound and it showed nothing. But now I'm curious as to what I felt since it did occasionally cause minor pain. I think what I have to come to terms with is that my body has been through a lot and I'm bound to get the occasional pain or weird feeling. Once I get the CT scan, I think I'll be able to relax easier.

Lately I've been visiting my school Thursdays at lunch to perform and practice improv with the team (of which I'm currently an honorary member until I'm officially a student again). In the past week or two, I got to perform improv with the team for "Arts Fusion Night." We've done nights like this in the past and we've always been a hit (this night was no different). It was lots of fun.

So, what's coming up soon? Well, on Christmas Day I'll turn 18 (yeah yeah, Christmas baby, I must have been a nice present, So you're like Jesus? Half/Double the presents? etc. etc.) so that's exciting. I hav ethe CT scan right around the end of the year and on January 8th to 9th I'll be at the Rotary weekend where the outbounds meet each other for the first time. How many people can say they've done that TWICE?

I want to thank all the people reading this blog - especially those who have posted a comment. It's great to hear the supportive and positive things you guys have to say. Thanks!

P.S. I lost my hair again :( Oh well, my hair should come back around the end of the year and then it stays!

The Latest Happenings

2008-11-16T22:08:00.000-05:00

Hey! Sorry for, again, not updating in awhile!

After some delays with the third cycle, I have completed the final intensive sessions and now only have 2 small sessions of chemo left (ever)! Blood tests still show great things and I'm all but double confirmed to be free of cancer. :D

As for other happenings, a few weeks ago I dropped by SJAM (my high school) to talk to my guidance counselor and see what I can do in between now and next year (when I FINALLY get to go on exchange) to keep my mind going and not just sit here and watch TV, go on the computer, and play video games - which CAN and DOES get boring easier than some may think. If this is what retirement is like, I never want to retire.

My counselor said that I could do pretty much anything, I could come back for a semester, a course, 2 courses, to hang around and help out with other classes, whatever. They were really flexible about it. I'm still quelling it over... I also got a mini-surprise in that I found out that I was IN FACT going to be attending my official Class of '08 Graduation ceremony! I originally had thought that I wouldn't be a part of it simply because I hadn't told them I would be there (what with planning on being halfway around the world during it). SJAM was nice enough to pay for the graduation gown and the tickets for my family to attend (Thanks - especially to Mrs. Fairhall if you read this).

After I talked with my guidance counselor, I stayed for a couple hours to catch up with some 5th year students and I got to go to one of the new improv club sessions! There are lots of new faces - I was pleasantly suprised.

Graduation night - Everything went smoothly. I got to catch up with more people and there were some who hadn't heard of my recent ordeal. I got lots of well wishes and best-of-lucks for the future. It turns out they wouldn't give us our official diplomas until we returned the graduation gowns. They gave us a fake on stage that said something like "Thanks for trying" or something similar to the sorry messages under a coffee cup rim...

In other OTHER news, my hair has started to grow back. It looks pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Suddenly my staring into the mirror has become really mesmerizing....

Almost done!

2008-10-19T10:12:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile.

The past few weeks have been a barrage of decision making and hearing both sides to the chemo story. I didn't really want to post anything because my decisions kept on flip flopping. If I haven't already mentioned it I, like many other chemo patients, also go to a naturopathic doctor to help on the dietary and supplementary end of things that doctors won't look at. What was scary was that the naturopathic doctor was telling me all about the potential horrors of chemo. On the other side of it, the doctors were telling me all the potential horrors of delaying or stopping chemo treatment. So I had both sides telling me that going the other way was dangerous. It really puts your head in a state of complete deadlock. I've decided to go with my gut feeling that I SHOULD continue and finish my last cycle.

On to good news, every 3 weeks I get a big blood test that not only tells me how my body is doing but it also looks for tumor markers (proteins and hormones that are produced in excess amounts due to cancer). They look at "HCG" and "AFP." My last blood test has shown that the tumor markers are back down to normal levels! HCG was less than 5 and AFP was less than 7. To put that in perspective, only about a month ago HCG was 564 (wow) and AFP was 174! Of course, blood tests can't completely tell you if you don't have cancer or not. It just means that the chemo is working very effectively.

At this point, if I still had cancer, it would be microscopic or at least very small and very weak. That's where the third cycle comes in. It helps to ensure that the cancer is completely gone and then I can be on my way to the rest of my life!

I should also mention that I went to a Rotary Youth Conference yesterday. I got to catch up with a bunch of Rotarians and I got to meet the new inbounds for this coming year. They seem like a good bunch of people. As a bonus, I got to listen to a bunch of presentations made by people making a difference in this world.

Thanks for reading! (and to any Rotarians who may be reading this, thank you for the conference...and the food)

Big News and Stuff

2008-09-28T08:59:00.000-04:00

Hey!

So I'm done the first week of my second cycle and they started me on those injection things to boost my immune system yesterday. As of last Thursday I was officially done over half of my overall chemo sessions! Just 9 more to go! :D

As for how I'm feeling, I think I've actually felt better this week than I did for the first week of chemo. Maybe it's just not as big of a shock to my body or maybe I'm just eating right and all that fun stuff. *shrugs*

Anyways, on to some big news pieces:

1. After truly thinking over the recovery time I would get with only ONE month in between chemo and the day I would have to be in Thailand, I realized that it would be pretty far fetched. One month is definitely not enough time to recover from the chemo AND travel halfway around the world to live there. I got an email from a Rotarian who was in charge of the Asian exchanges (I believe he's the guy who's overall in charge next year) and he said that the head of the Thai Rotary district would only be able to accept me until November 30th AND my exchange would still be finished around early August '09. He said I could try and make that OR I could just wait until next year's batch of exchange students and be able to go on a full year! Obviously in my situation, I would rather have the full year experience as opposed to a little over half a year.

So, I accepted the offer to go on exchange for NEXT year and in the meantime, I just gained myself 6-7 months time of recovery and rejuvenation! Of course, since it's a new year, I might be sent to a different country....we'll have to wait and see.

2. The other piece of big news is that I found out from someone who works at the London Cancer Clinic that I still qualify for the Make A Wish Foundation! Yup, having a late birthday is pretty cool after all. I assume I still have to be referred to them and have to go through some paperwork but I could soon have "one wish granted" by the foundation! I really don't know what I would wish for. All I can think of is "Grahh give me lotsa money" but that's kinda boring. I need some wish ideas...

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers, I'll definitely power through this and this WILL become an exchange blog in due time one way or the other :)

1 Week Delay?

2008-09-15T17:28:00.001-04:00

Alright so here's the deal:

I went ALL the way to London today for the start of my second cycle. Since it's the start of a new cycle, I have to get extra blood tests and a visit with my medical oncologist before doing any chemo. Well, it turns out the neutrophil count in my blood is at 0.6 when it should be at a minimum of 1.5! Don't worry it's not like I die or anything, it's a very common side effect to the (very high) doses of chemo they're giving me. Anyways, my doctor said that they have to delay this week's treatment to next week after they give me some sort of stimulant that raises the neutrophil count. Yup, they inject me with stuff that stimulates my bone marrow to produce more (sounds intense I know!).

So basically I have this week off now. It's kinda bittersweet since that gives me one less week to recover in time for Thailand to still be viable. Which reminds me, I sent an emial out to the head of the Thai district's youth exchange program. He sent me an email back saying that he would be able to accept me for this year of exchange up until the end of November! That means that once my chemo is done (which is now even closer to the end of October), I'll have one month to recover enough to go. Now I know I'm strong annd young so I can recover faster but I was still concerned. I asked my doctor and she said that it shouldn't be a problem at all. "Sure you won't be completely recovered but you should be ready by that point."

It's still possible :D

I know I mentioned in my last post about considering taking up an instrument. Well, a friend of my parents was kind enough to lend their guitar to me! That should occupy me for awhile!

I also want to quickly mention something kinda cool. There's this show I love to watch called "The Conventioneers" about two guys based out of Toronto who go to health conventions, outdoor conventions, comic conventions, you name it and they, to put it in their words, "try to fit in by sticking out." Anyways, I sent an email to one of the hosts and he sent me an email back. A couple days later, I get a package in the mail with a letter, a "Bite TV" touque, and three Conventioneer buttons (two autographed)! Awesome (haha, I can STILL get buttons for my Rotary blazer :P)!! If you want to check the show out, you can see all the episodes at their Youtube account:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jasonagnew

As always, thank you all for your support and I'll continue posting about my chemo experience (and soon, Thai experience!)

Fun Fact: When they started the chemo, one of the blood tests they do is to determine how high a certain cancer marker is in my system (and thus the severity of the cancer). It started out at 175 and after only one cycle, it's down to 20!

Since chemo has started...

2008-09-08T22:32:00.000-04:00

...I've been doing pretty good.

The first week was killer though. Monday through Friday with 3 1/2 hours connected to an IV plus driving time (about an hour and a half to London) and back makes for a chemo-centric day. By the end of the week, my mom said I wasn't looking so great and I was supposedly looking thin too. They have me on anti-nausea meds so I haven't run into that. Chemo makes me want to go to bed early though. Every night that week, I was in bed some where between 8 and 9 and waking up each morning around 7 ish.

Then I had the weekend off and BOY WAS I BORED. Since I didn't plan to still be in Canada right now, I didn't plan much in my life. I don't have school, work, anything. I've been keeping myself occupied with the computer, TV, and video games basically. Sometime around Monday it got a little better though. I no longer had the feeling of "everything bores me" but I REALLY don't want that again. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm considering learning another language (i.e. Thai) or brushing up on my Japanese. Maybe learn a new musical instrument? I dunno.

Last week I only had Tuesday and that was really easy. The treatment only lasted about an hour and it was only one type of chemo (as opposed to the long week where everyday consisted of at least two kinds). Since then I've felt great and my appetite has returned back to normal. It was really nice to have a week off. I go in tomorrow for another treatment like last weeks so it should have similar results. The only thing I've been worried about is some pain in my underarm area (which has lymph nodes in it). Hopefully it's nothing more than my body dealing with extra toxins :) EDIT: Turns out my worries were only worries. A doctor examined the area and said he found nothing except for the fact that the muscles in that area were tight

PS. Yesterday was the first day that I noticed some hair strands around where I've been. Yup, the hair loss has BEGUN MUHAHAHA

Also, thanks to everyone who has kept me in their thoughts and prayers :)

A quick little update

2008-08-24T11:12:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I begin my 9 week long chemo treatment. It's sure to be a rollercoaster of fun! As I mentioned before, I have to go through three 3 week cycles. One cycle of chemo is basically as follows:

Week 1: Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.
Week 2: Tues.
Week 3: Tues.

So this next week is gonna be pretty intensive, having to drive about an hour and twenty minutes each morning to get to London and then sitting there with a chemo drip connected to my arm for three hours. I'm gonna have to find some stuff to occupy me...
EDIT: I forgot to mention that we have a volunteer cancer driver who will drive us to London every day for free, they get reimbursed for the gas by the Cancer Society I believe.

I'll continue to post throughout the chemo process and maybe you'll learn a thing or two about it all, doesn't that sound fun?

By the way, I love how some people have those little preconceived notions about cancer. Now I haven't run into anything big but over the past few weeks, I've told some people about my cancer and they say "Ahhh, well you look good!"or "You look well!" Now I know this is in their best intentions but of course I'm going to look good! Cancer doesn't suddenly make you a sickly, pale, shell of a person or something. Unless you have some sort of visible cancer, it's not really gonna show a whole lot in a person's looks. Perhaps people just subconciously tie cancer with that poster pale and sickly theatrical look. *shrugs*

Anyways, thanks for all the great comments and words of encouragement you guys have been posting here, in emails, and on Facebook. Not to mention all the nice cards I've received! People have a surprising affinity to sending me cards with dogs on them...

Thanks to everyone and I thank you for your continued support in the next step of my recovery process.

Some great news (compared to everything else)

2008-08-14T16:33:00.000-04:00

So I went to the cancer clinic in London (apparently I'm too young for the cancer clinic in Kitchener!). I met the medical oncologist (specializes in chemotherapy) and she said that I will only need 3 cycles of chemotherapy. Each cycle is 3 weeks so that means I'll be done sometime in October! Adding in recovery time, I could be on my way to Thailand in November or early December!! The oncologist said she could see no reason why I wouldn't be able to do that if the treatment is successful (90% or more successful, I think I'll be ok).

The best part is that I won't be missing one of the biggest tours Rotary Thailand is taking us on! That's the best Christmas/Birthday present I could get!

So, to Emma and all the other exchange students in Thailand right now, I'm coming soon to a country near you, November/December 2008. I'll see you there!

And it just keeps coming...

2008-08-09T13:15:00.000-04:00

So, I'd like to mention that my surgery went very well. It was the first time I've been in the hospital for myself, the first time I've had surgery, and the first time I had an anesthetic. That stuff is crazy. I woke up and I thought they hadn't done the surgery yet only to find I was in the recovery ward!

I also had a CT scan on Tuesday, this was to show if the cancer had spread at all. They put this crazy xray dye in you so that the machine can pick it up. When they inject you with it, it makes you feel very warm everywhere. Really weird.

I got called in to the oncologist yesterday and he had received the results of the CT scan. It turns out the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in my lower back (which are connected to the original tumor area). Essentially this means that I'm going to have to go through CHEMOTHERAPY and that will take MONTHS. The oncologist said that the success rate is around 90% and this is one of the most treatable cancers.

This, of course, sucks horribly. Rotary told me that they are still very enthusiastic in having me go to Thailand whenever I am capable of doing so. It's not a matter of "if," it's just "when."

I'm still keeping positive and whatnot. For now this blog won't exactly be about me in Thailand but I'll still post through the recovery process (and I am labelling this post as "predeparture").

On the bright side, I won't have to worry about haircuts for awhile!

Some bad news...

2008-07-24T13:15:00.000-04:00

Well, this kinda sucks.

About two weeks ago I felt some pain in my lower abdomen and groin so I went to the doctor. He scheduled some tests which I got done the next Friday.

Last Tuesday, the results came in and he said I might have a TUMOR in that area. (WHAT??!)
He said I would have to delay/cancel my exchange depending on how serious it was. He ordered more tests to help find this out.

It's the worst possible timing, about two weeks before my planned departure and I find out the most random and terrible news! Plus, I got it the DAY AFTER I went to my Rotary Club to give a speech about how excited and proud I was to be going to Thailand and how eager I was to go. :(
I contacted my Rotary district about this and they're going to try to help me as much as they can so that I can still go to Thailand. That's good news...

I went to a specialist last Friday and he ordered some more in depth tests. Some blood work, a surgery that he'll be performing, and a CT scan. This will go a couple weeks past my original departure date so that means I have to delay my trip for sure :(

The surgery is essentially removing what they think is the tumor to determine if it actually is a tumor. If it is a tumor, they'll determine whether it is benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). I've thought of the scenarios that each could provide and I've come up with 3 scenarios that would put me at leaving for Thailand within weeks.

Best case scenario: It's not a tumor, it's something much more manageable/easier to work with
Number 2 scenario:It is a tumor but it's benign
Number 3 scenario:It is a tumor and cancerous - but contained

Any of those scenarios presents me with the opportunity to leave for Thailand very soon. Hopefully it's not a different scenario...that would suck and I would have no idea my potential for still going to Thailand.

At this point, I really hope it's the best case scenario and that I'll be posting from Thailand very soon. :)

For now, I'll keep this updated. I'm going in for surgery next Wednesday and that will be the first step into determining my situation.

All the best!

A Little Background on Chanthaburi

2008-07-03T17:41:00.000-04:00

I think I should post a little bit about where I'm going to be living for a year. It looks to be an exciting place to live!

Chanthaburi (Thai - จันทบุรี) is one of the many provinces in Thailand. It is in the eastern part of Thailand, bordering Cambodia and the shore to the Gulf of Thailand. It is about 330 km east of Thailand's capital - Bangkok.

The name Chanthaburi comes from two words in Sanskrit translated literally to City of the Moon (awesome!!). It was once occupied by French colonists beginning in 1893 but that only lasted until 1905. Nonetheless, there did bring some architectural influence into some areas of the province. Chanthaburi is also home to many Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants.

Chanthaburi's southern part is on the shore of the Gulf of Thailand but there are some mountainous areas in the hinterlands.

Chanthaburi is famous for its abundance of gemstones (specifically rubies and sapphires) and tropical fruits. There are big markets for both (and my 1st host family owns a gem business!).
Chanthaburi is also known for its scenic waterfalls and rich forests - not to mention some of the beautiful beaches.

Within Chanthaburi, there are 10 big districts, I will be living in the 1st district - Muang Chantaburi which basically means Chantaburi City. That's right, I'm going to be living in Chantaburi, Chanthaburi...

I'll be going to Benchamarachuthit School (say that 5 times fast). I've talked to a couple of people who go to that school and they've said I'll love it but they've never told me why. *shrug* I found their website (yeah, they have one) and it's all in Thai so I can't really read it just yet.

I fly out August 3rd so I'll probably post a couple times more before I leave but once I get there, there will be a lot more interesting things to talk about :)

Karoliina's Goodbye Party

2008-06-09T20:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Karoliina's Goodbye Party and I thought I'd make a post for it. Karoliina is an exchange student from Finland and her exchange is soon coming to an end. She invited all the inbounds and outbounds to come to her goodbye party on Sunday and it was probably one of the last times we'll all be together (at least that many of us at one time). So, Yuki (Japanese inbound) offered to help get me there (Burlington) for most of the way. He lives in Cambridge so he's not too far away. After almost getting lost at one point and knocking on two random people's houses, we got to Karoliina's.

Everyone basically mingled, talked, had fun, the works. There was a lot of picture taking, a small water fight outside (followed by picture taking), talking, eating, and more! It was decided that a mvie should be rented for everyone to watch so me, Emma, Mark, Bam, and Emi went to Blockbuster to rent a movie. There was a pretty big thunderstorm and lots of lightning too :O

We ended up renting How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (well....there are a lot more girls than guys in our district). We drove back...except we were on the wrong part of the street. We all got out and couldn't find the house haha. We finally got back, Bam ran towards the door going "YAY!" Bam is WAAAAYY too cute. Everything she does, you can't help but smile about it. I wondering if I'll be in Thailand just going "Awww!" to everybody...BTW, Yuki is totally horrible towards her. She was sleeping and he slapped her in the face a yelled "WAKE UP!" It was admittedly funny but only because he's so insane. Yuki is crazy but that's what makes him funny.

The best part of this all was that when I called home to get a ride, my mom said she couldn't pick me up (and my dad was going to be gone up North for the next 3 days)! I was just like "....what?" Here I was in Burlington, an hour and a half away from my home with no way of getting back for school the next day and with yet anywhere to stay. I had to stop and laugh and I thought "You know...I'm probably gonna be in a situation similar to this in Thailand...probably crazier." That's when I thought "Emma!" so I talked to Emma and she said it was alright to stay at her house overnight. Awesome! So, at the end of it all, everyone said their goodbyes (it took like half an hour but that just goes to show we don't wanna leave haha). We took some group photos and everyone headed home (some of the inbounds stayed at Karoliina's because they were going to go to Wonderland the next day). Alex (outbound going to Finland), I found out, also had to stay over at Emma's for the night. At Emma's we all got to talking about our exchanges and I realized that we all had only known each other since January! It's crazy how fast everyone got so close knit! Both Alex and I slept in the basement, I slept in a reclining chair but I didn't get a good sleep (To Emma: It's not the chairs fault, I was just overtired or something).

I woke up at 6:30 and took a shower and Emma dropped off Alex at the train station (so he could get back to Ingersoll). Now, what was I gonna do about school? Well, my mom couldn't come pick me up until around 11:00 so I just went with Emma to her school until then. I helped put up posters for her play and and I sat in on her drama class. When I got picked up, I realized the only class I had left was Accounting so I just said screw it. I ate some A&W though. Their root beer is amazing!

Anyways, I'm sure there's still a few more goodbye parties but I'll have to wait and see. Karoliina, if you read this thank you so much for the great party!

Jeez, I write such long winded walls of text.

The Beginning - A Background Entry

2008-06-02T19:47:00.000-04:00

Alright! Up and running! My name is Jared Stryker, I am a high school senior and I am going to be going on a year-long exchange to Thailand through Rotary Youth Exchange (District 7080). Specifically, I will be in the Chanthaburi province in Muang Chantaburi City (this is where the blog's name came from...that and my knack for somewhat cheesy puns). As of this post, I'm still an "outbound" as Rotary calls it. An outbound is someone who will be going on exchange but hasn't left their home country yet. For me, that country is Canada. I live in Waterloo, Ontario (which is about an hour and a bit's drive from Toronto) and I'll be here until early August.

Of course, I didn't just I didn't just suddenly become an outbound. I went through a selection process beginning with my local Rotary Club interviewing me, up to interviews with Rotarians from around the district on a multitude of subjects. Needless to say, they liked me enough to send me to a country halfway around the world. :) There are, of course, other outbounds in my district. Twelve girls and only four guys (including me). I remember wondering what was with the lack of boys wanting to go on exchange. I still do not have that question fully answered. Something for me to figure out while on exchange perhaps? Anyways, there was a few different orientation sessions both with the outbounds and together with the inbounds (people who have come from other countries on exchange to Canada). I was surprised at how cohesive everyone was together. We're truly a great bunch of people, outgoing, confident, the cream of the crop, and I'm proud to say I could be a part of it all. The best orientation we had was a 4-day winter camp up in a more Northern area of Ontario. We built quinzees (kinda like igloos), we went on a 6-hour snowshoe trek, had a campfire, dance, and more. It was fantastic to experience something like that with such great people!

In February, our district held the announcement day for our countries. Going in, my hopeful countries were Japan and Thailand. I have studied Japanese for eight and a half years and Rotary had said they wanted everybody to have new experiences. Knowing that, I knew my chances for Japan were incredibly slim. Each of us got up in front of the group of Rotarians, parents, outbounds, and inbounds and opened an envelope containing the name of our country choice. By the time it was my turn, the Japan spot was already taken and one of the two spots for Thailand had been taken so I was a little nervous. I opened the envelope and saw Thailand and I read it out excitedly. So, it was me and fellow outbound Emma who were going to be on our way to Thailand. Bam, the Thai inbound in our district, told us a little about Thailand and she pointed a few things out on a map. It was a fun day and it seemed as if everyone's placements seemed to fit perfectly.

More recently, we had our last orientation before our departures. We had a bunch of information sessions and presentations within a campus at the University of Toronto. We got a ton of information, our Canadian-Red Rotary blazers, some pins, and some good laughs. Bam taught me and Emma some Thai for a couple hours when we had some free time as well. Some rebounds (people who have already gone on exchange) came for the weekend and shared with us their exchange wisdom. I learned a lot, not just from the Thai rebounds but the other rebounds as well. Not only did all of that happen but I also got a big package of info straight from Thai District 3340! I got some rudimentary information on my first host family (they own a gem sale business - rubies and sapphires for everyone!) as well as general information about the Thai program and tours we can do. I will be joined by 42 (!) other exchangers when I get to Thailand. It looks to be an exciting year of adventure in Thailand for me!

So, come early August, I will be on my way to Chanthaburi, Thailand. Hopefully I will have many tales to tell as my year progresses and hopefully I will have sparked some interest in any readers that may stumble upon this blog. Enjoy!

Jared Stryker