I have returned from my trip and enjoyed every minute of it -- almost. I did get sick a few times and was forced to stay there longer than anticipated but it ended out to be for the better.What did I do over there?The question is, what didn't I do? Well, let me tell you, not a lot. My girlfriend and I did so much in the Philippines from getting engaged and getting her parent's blessing to hiking to the top of the Chocolate Hills in Bohol. We've explored so much and it was like a honeymoon. I learned quite a bit about the language and culture, but I've also learned about the process of being in another country without knowing very much about it. Sure, I've done my research before leaving, and I learned a few words and phrases but putting them into practice was a whole different story. You see, when I started to pronounce things I got worried, or scared and would butcher the pronunciations, and even though I thought I had them right during practice, I was told that my accent is cute. Some people couldn't even understand what I was saying or was expecting me to speak in English so it sounded very strange to them. Here's an example:As you can see, there was a problem here. She saw me as white, and thought I was going to speak English. So I caught her off-guard. Secondly, I didn't know that in Bohol, they primarily spoke their own dialect. Tagalog wasn't something that they really learned and neither of us knew much about that.Another thing that happened while I was there is being called Justin Bieber or Edward from Twilight a lot. At one point I just started saying that I was Bieber and started to wish people merry Christmas. It made kids smile, so why not? But, being white in a place where white people are very rare, I got attention, a lot of it. Some times it was the bad kind of attention, but most of the time girls thought I was very, very cute. In fact, I've heard that they normally don't gawk at foreigners as much as they have so there was something about me that made them so excited. I kept getting harems of girls huddling over me, wanting to hug me, complimenting me, and the list went on. But, when they'd start getting too close into proximity I'd wrap my arm around my girlfriend and basically show that I'm taken so to back off lol[picright]Besides all of this, I learned a lot about immigration / emigration, as well as vital questions for those romantically in love with someone out of their own country. Yes, we got engaged, and yes, we're getting married this year. *hears one or two of you saying omodetou* These are things that I never thought of as content for Jappleng, and I would like to take some time in the near future to outline everything that is necessary to live in Japan or to move out from there. If you need advice, please send me a PM if those sections aren't yet available when you read this and I'll do my best to help you.I was also very sick when I was there. I got a lip ulcer, a pimple below my lip got infected, I got 3 colds, I got an ear infection, my ears almost ruptured in an airplane because I couldn't equalize them, then I got a third infection and now I think I got another cold coming along the way.... That's right, I was very sick but it was worth it. I got to meet my fiancee's family, friends, and spent a lot of time with her too. We have our future outlined and when we get married, we'll be getting married in the Philippines. A long way from home really, since I was born and raised in Canada, and then I moved to the US (getting my full citizenship soon), and now I'll be marrying the love of my life in the Philippines which is permanent since divorce doesn't exist there.[/picright]Speaking of nationalization, did you know that Japan does NOT allow duel citizenship? Should you desire to become a Japanese citizen, you will have to denounce your home country's citizenship but that is ill advised. I believe you can still remain a permanent resident in Japan without having to become a full citizen. Certain rights aren't included such as voting though.I'm going to be working on Jappleng now. I hope you all enjoy yourselves and keep exploring the unknown!

Once again, this page is from a old section called News in Japan which hasn't been a thing since about 2016. But Jappleng has a lot more to offer such as:
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