Just Me and My Host Mom

I got back from my rotary trip on Saturday night. Sunday morning I left for Yuzawa in Niigata Prefecture of Japan . It is on the western side of Japan. I repacked my suitcase and we were on our way before lunch. There was nice weather, so we ended up driving rather than taking the bullet train. But it was nice. It was only like a 4 hour drive and I slept for most of it, so it wasn't bad at all.

My host family has two separate apartments in Yuzawa, which is an onsen and ski resort town. Yuzawa is so beautiful! It is right in the mountains and everything is white from snow. The ski hills are still open, for the most part. There is this tunnel about 6 miles long that goes through one of the mountains. When you get out on the western side of the tunnel the whole scenery changes. It goes from spring colors of green and brown to the snow covered, wintery mountain scenery. It was so cool! Outside the window of the apartment we slept in there is this river running by and mountains all around.

The view out the window of the apartment

We went to the other apartment too. It is about 3 minutes by car. I guess they have two so when they bring friends to Yuzawa their friends stay at the second apartment. The second apartment had a nice gym that I used and really nice onsen because half of the complex is a hotel.

My host mom and I just spent three days relaxing, working out, going to onsen, and studying Japanese. It was awesome. And I love onsen! It really is something that you have to accept as Japanese culture before you can see why they enjoy it. For those of you who don't know, onsen are public baths in Japan. It's almost like a huge hot tub. You just sit and relax. At first the water is really hot, but once you are done it feel so good. You still feel warm a few hours afterward.

At the gym I got to use actual workout equiptment for the first time in forever! My arms are still sore. But it felt so good to work out.

Eating Tako-Yaki (Octopus Balls) in the car on the way home. Yummy!

It was a really fun little vacation. My host mom is so nice for taking me with her. It was also fun to go just the two of us. Host-mother-daughter bonding. I got back from that yesterday. Today I am taking it easy and starting tomrrow, the rest of my vacation is going to go so fast! I am busy every day.

And in one week from tomrrow, AnnaMarie, Tyler, and Katie come! I am so excited to see them! Plus I really need some new shoes (thanks AnnaMarie!).

Oh, and my newest news. I am probably going to have a thrid host family! I guess one of the rotarians in my club wants to host me. I am going to meet him and his family and talk about it on Saturday. Wish me luck! Meeting your new host families is a little scary. I am sure it will all work out fine, but so much of your exchange depends on your host family. I hope my third is as good as my first two have been. From what I understand, the one thing that makes this a maybe is that they live a little far from my school. They live in Tokyo. But it would be closer than the my first host family's house was, so it would be okay. And for about half of the time I would be staying with them I would be on Summer break from school anyway. So, we will see.

Rotary Trip!

My Rotary District (D2590) and the district south of us took a trip together. We went to Hiroshima and Kyoto. It is such an awesome experience to get to see other parts of Japan. And I don't think you could ever find a group of people that are more fun to travel with. There were outbounds, inbounds, rebounds, and rotex all together! It was really fun to get to know the outbounds and get to know everyone else a little better. I had met most of the other district's inbounds before, but there were a few new ones too.

Ruan, Vincent and I at the airport. It was pretty early but I was so excited!

Our flight from Hanadea Airport left at 6:55, so everyone had to be at the airport at 6. I had to get up at like 4:15, but that wasn't too bad. I am lucky enough to be living pretty close to the airport. I planned on sleeping on the plane, but I ended up sitting next to Ruan. That was the end of that idea.

We arrived at Hiroshima Airport, got on a bus and went to the Gembaku Dome and Park. An atomic bomb survivor spoke to our group (in Japanese, so I didn't really understand much of it), and then we went to the Atomic Bomb Museum. It was very sad, and I pray that nothing like this ever happens again. I have now had the opportunity to see both of the atomic bomb sites and museums in Japan. I am glad to have this opportunity, but it is still hard to see it.

You can see the Gembaku Dome in the back there.

We all ate obento in the park and then got back on the bus. It was one of those tour busses with the lady talking and talking and talking about who-knows-what as you drive. It was in Japanese, too. You can imagine that we all paid a lot of attention to her. The bus ride was fun though. One of the brazilian guys brought his guitar. He was really good, actually.

The bus dropped us off and we waited for the ferry to take us to Miyajima. Miyajima has this beautiful temple that is on the shore of the ocean. At low tide you can go up and walk under it, but at high tide it is standing in like 8 feet of water. Its quite famous. We took a little tour of the island, went to the temple, and then went to the hotel, which was on the island. After dinner we had free time. At some point we all took a walk back to the shrine and saw it at high tide. After that we had until 11 for free time. We all hung out in each other's rooms, played those crazy games that always come up at rotary conferences, and went to onsen! At 11 everyone had to go to their own rooms. I went to bed pretty early that night.

On the ferry to Miyajima

Ayumii, Lena, and I at Miyajima at low tide.

Here it is at high tide.

Friday morning we had breakfast and took a ferry back to the mainland. Then we went to the train station to ride the bullet trains! Bullet trains are amazing. I loved it. It's like an airplane. Without the uncomfortable pressure in your ears. We were in Kyoto by lunchtime. I got to see Osaka as we went through, too. Kyoto is a very beautiful city. It used to be the capitol of Japan, so there are a lot of historic places there. Our group went to Nijyou-jo, which is this huge fortress place. It was so awesome. It's one of those places that make you wonder how they built it. I can't imagine building it today, much less hundreds of years ago. Then we went to the Kiyomizu Temple. Japanese architecture is so cool. There is so much detail in it.

Our group (most of it) waiting for the bullet train to come.

Part of Nijyou-jo

When we got to our hotel we had dinner, then the talent show. I really dislike talent shows. Well, only when I have to be in them. I ended up singing the YMCA with 5 other inbound girls. It was pretty embarassing, but it's all good. There is no way to sing the YMCA and look cool anyway. Some of the other talents were pretty good. The boy that is outbound to America did these amazing card tricks. It was really magic! There is no other way he could do that. haha. The room had a stage, karaoke, and a good sound system. After the show was over we were allowed to use the karaoke still so we had a little dance party. I love Rotary converences. At 9 we had to get out of that room so we went back to our rooms and all hung out. At some point some of us went to onsen. Then at 11, the responsible rotex members sent us all to our rooms. At about 11:30 everyone else showed up in our room. Nobody wanted to sleep that night. We had a good time. At about 6, we sent everyone back to their rooms. Then we went to breakfast. After breakfast I got to sleep for about 20 minutes before the bus came to get us. I was soo tired!

Everyone hanging out in the hotel room

On Saturday we went to see the silver temple (which is on the back of the 10 yen coin) and the gold temple. We also went to this famous bridge and souvineer shop in Kyoto. It's famous to Japanese people at least. I had a really good time there. The bridge and river were so beautiful. Sometimes living in Yokohama makes me think that Japan isn't a beautiful country, but it really is. After that we took the bullet train back to Shin-Yokohama Station. From there I took the bus home, had dinner, and went to get some much needed sleep.

The Gold Temple in Kyoto

The trip was so fun! Especially just getting to hang out with the other rotary people and getting to know them. I am so excted for the Mt. Fuji trip now! It will be with the same group of people. It is so nice of Rotary to put these trips together for us, and I am so grateful that they do.

Mt. Fuji! Taken from my airplane window on the way to Hiroshima.

Spring Break

I love Spring Break. This year's Spring Break is definitely the best one I have had so far. I have done lots of hanging out with friends, relaxing, and traveling. I have gone bowling, wandered around various parts of the cities, and even studied with friends.

Yeah, I think that was a gutter ball...

The Friday before last (March 20th) I got the surprising news that my friends were coming to Tokyo! Hanley and Yuzuha were coming to Tokyo with their Rotary District! I had met Hanley back in America and we ended up flying over on the same flight. He is in the same district at Yuzuha, who was inbound in my Rotary District last year. Their district people said it was okay for me to meet up with them. It was so fun to see them again! We went to Akihabara (famous for technology and anime) and then went to a museum on the Edo period of Japan. They are from way northern Japan, so I didn't think I had any chance of seeing them this year. Yay for facebook and knowing what all your friends are doing!

Yuzuha, me, and Hanley
On Monday (March 23), my host mom had planned a little tour of Kamakura for me and my rotary friends. My host mom's friend works at the tourist information center down in Kamakura and gave us a little tour. Her daughter and two of her daughter's friends also came. Camille, the girl from France, came too. We went to this zen garden and did a tea-ceremony. Then we went to a bamboo forest. It was so beautiful! We had Udon for lunch and then went to small, out-of-the-way temple to sit and chat. It was lots of fun. We even got to buy Murasaki-imo (purple sweet potatoe) ice cream! I love that stuff!

Zen Garden

Bamboo Forest

The next day I watched the WBC Championship game. Japan beat Korea! Yeah! Japan is number one!! And the last pitcher was so kakko ii. haha.

I also took a few days easy because I was a little sick. I wanted to get better before my rotary trip, which I did. My host mom has started giving me Japanese lessons, too! I love them. My host mom is so nice and she really does so much for me. I just hope she realizes how grateful I am. We have been reviewing the Kanji I used to know (how did I forget it all so fast?!) and have worked a little on grammer. She gives me little tests each day, so I have insentive to study. I have no problem studying for school back in America because I have always had a test or goal or some kind to work toward. Something definite. And once the test is over, you are done. Studying Japanese on your own every single day is so difficult! There is no end. No matter how much I study I still feel like I can never know enough. That makes it really hard to keep motivated and not just get frustrated with myself. So I am really happy to have these little lessons and tests. I hope we keep doing them once I get back to school.

And now for the big news that makes me so happy to think about. AnnaMarie, Tyler, and Katie are moving to St. Paul! AND AnnaMarie is pregnant again! :D I am so excited about this. It means that next year they will still live close enough to visit every once in a while. PLUS, Michael and Caroline will be living there, so we can all see each other! Now if only Marianne and Seth moved there... haha.