It's Official: Kanazawa, Japan

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

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...

It's Official

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

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!

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?

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

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!

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

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 :)

Some great news (compared to everything else)

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!