Akira's Wedding

Akira's wedding was wonderful. His family was really awesome, too. I don't think I could say enough about them. They were so generous and welcoming to me. My flight got into Fukuoka at about 6 o'clock on Friday night. Akira's dad picked me up at the airport. He had a little sign with "Miss Abbey Moore" on it so I would know who I was looking for. We then drove to their house.

I had been a little bit nervous about going there because I really don't know anyone. The only person I had ever met before was Akira, and I hadn't heard anything from him since I was 6. There was no need to worry, though. Everyone was so excited to see me. I felt so at home with that family. I didn't seem like they were strangers at all. Pretty much the first thing Akira's dad asked me was how AnnaMarie was doing. At the house I got to talk with Akira for a little bit. We looked at pictures from when he was in Ironwood and ones that I had brought with me of the family now.

Akira, Me, and his 3 nieces.

The whole family went out to dinner at a curry restaurant and we all talked. It was a rather confusing mix of Japanese and English. But it was fun. It was so awesome to talk with Akira about what he remembers. To be honest, he probably remembers more about how it was at our house 10 years ago than I do. He had some really funny stories, and good memories of Mom.

After dinner they brought me to my hotel and checked me in. I think Akira felt bad for sending me to a hotel, but there was no room at the house. Wedding times are so busy anyway that I think it was way better for me to be out of the way. The next day was the wedding, and they picked me up at the hotel at about 8:00.

Akira and Miyuki

Me, Akira, his brother and sister-in-law, and his 3 nieces.

The wedding ceremony was really interesting. It was all Japanese Shinto style. The wedding itself was only family and really close friends. They were so kind to invite me to it. The reception started at about 11. There were over 300 guests present. And everyone was served like a 9-course meal. It was really good, but there was so much food! I didn't even eat half of mine and I was so full. First they had like 4 or 5 Japanese-style dishes, then western-style dishes, then dessert.

Sake-barrel-cracking ceremony

Akira and Miyuki (his new wife) looked so good. For the wedding they were dressed in these really elaborate kimonos. A little while into the reception they changed into western-style wedding dress and suit. Then, they changed again. Miyaki wore this really beautiful green gown and Akira had a different suit on. They were really busy the whole time. I don't think either of them ate anything at all. Although Akira did get plenty to drink. Japanese drinking-culture is to give drinks to people as a sign of friendship or good-will. Akira, being the groom with 300 guests, was offered a lot of drinks. And you have to accept it.

Cutting the biggest cake I have ever seen in my life.

The reception went until about 3. Then we went to the after party. It was crazy, but fun. It was only the bride and groom's friends (ages 25 to 30ish) and me. I have never seen people drink so much in my life (Yay for orange juice!). And I never want to see it again. We were at a bar and restaurant. Then we went to a Karaoke bar for 2 or 3 hours. Then we went to Ramen at like 9:30. It got really interesting when the other guests discovered I can almost speak Japanese.

The whole day Akria's sister and sister-in-law stayed with me and took care of me. Which was really nice. When they went around to introduce themselves to Miyaki's guests and family they took me with them. :) "This is Akira's host sister from when he lived in America 10 years ago..." By the end of the party several people had come up to me, asking if I was Abbey. And a few people came offering drinks. Megumi was nice enough to explain to them all that I'm only 16 plus I don't drink due to my religion. I was the only foreigner at the reception. No, that's a lie. There was a guy who from Taiwan who had lived at the Sasaki's house as an exchange student. But he's asian too.

Me and Megumi

It was a long day, but it was good. I had a lot of fun. I stayed at the hotel again that night. Monday morning they picked me up at 10. We went to the house and had brunch all together. Then in the early afternoon I said thank-you and goodbye to some of the family. The rest of us went to do a little sight-seeing before bringing me to the airport. We went to the temple of the Buddhist god that has to do with studying. We ate tacoyaki, anko-filled mochi (I can't remember what they are called), and sweet potatoe fries from those little stands. Yummy. Akira's nieces were adorable! They would take my hands as we walked. Since I only have 2 hands and there were three little girls it was a bit of a race to get to me. It was really cute. They were lots of fun to talk to because they speak simple Japanese. I can see how having little host siblings who actually talk to you would help your Japanese a lot.

In the street that leads up to the temple.

We then went to the airport and ate dinner together. I then ran to security, said a too-quick good-bye to Akira and his family, and ran to my gate. I got there as the plane was boarding, but I got there in time. Good thing airport security only takes like 5 minutes here.

I really appreciate everything they did for me so much! They took me in and treated me like a famliy member during such a busy time for them. I hope I get a chance to visit them again someday. Akira said he will try to see if he can't get a business trip to Yokohama planned during the time that AnnaMarie, Tyler, and Katie come. That would be fun.

Going to a Wedding!

Well, I guess I should get this post done today or it won't get done for a while. I have to leave in about an hour for the airport. I'm going to Akira's wedding in Fukuoka. The wedding is tomorrow and I will be flying back on Sunday, so it's a short stay. I am excited to meet Akira again though. I haven't seen him for 10 years and I honestly don't remember a whole lot about him. His wedding is going to be totally Japanese-style, which is becoming more rare even in Japan. It will be a good experience.

I went shopping and got him a gift from the family. I guess it's not Japanese tradition to give gifts to the people getting married. They give gifts to the guests! And guests give cards with money. Oh, well. We are Americans so it's okay. This is what I got him.

This past week has also been pretty busy. I had school Monday and Tuesday and the rest of the week is vacation. Monday all the girls got their results for tests back. I just sat around all day, but it was okay. The periods were really short and we had time at the end of a lot of them to talk because the teacher had nothing better for the girls to do. The classes are over now, I'm not really sure why we even have to go to school. Tuesday we had some assembly that I didn't understand. It was run totally by the students. From what I understood is was about budgeting for the clubs. Or something with money. Then we had like an hour to clean out our lockers. I gave most of my textbooks to the school. They can find someone to give them to next year. I don't want them. In Japan you have to buy your own books, so you get to keep them. Rotary bought mine. Honestly, there were a few that I never even opened. They still had the rubber band around them...

Wednesday I went with my friends to play tennis! It was so fun. I hadn't played for 7 months, so it was nice. The place we went to was cheap, too. It was only like 5 dollars each. For the half hour we got to use the court. But we split into teams (by rock-paper-scissors) and played each other. I won every game I was in. :D They were all impressed by my serve. haha. I was actually pretty surprised with it myself. Usually it takes me a few practices to have a decent serve again.

Yesterday (Thursday), I went shopping with my host mom. Our goal was new shoes for the wedding. I have huge feet for Japan. I wear size 26. Almost every single store carried up to 25.0. It was rather dissappointing and frustrating to be honest. Luckily my host mom was very patient with me. We did end up finding a store that sold to size 26, but they weren't very cute and they were all like 150 dollars. That's too much for me, but my host mom was saying that she would get them as a present for me. No way am I letting anyone spend that much on shoes for me! Especially if I don't absolutely love them. Well, I didn't get new shoes. But I know a website that has really cheap shoes in large sizes for Japan so I am going to order some. Maybe a new bag, too... there are some really cute and inexpesive ones on that site.

We did end up going to UniQlo (I love this store!). I found some tops that were on sale. I needed a new white top for a couple skirts that I have. I haven't been able to wear them because I forgot to bring a shirt that matched them. Good one, Abbey. And I found a new sweater zip-up that has long sleeves! Yay! So the day wasn't a total waste. I was going to buy my new thing myself, but my host mom wouldn't let me. She is so generous.

Today my host mom had me try on my dress (it still fits! phew!) for tomorrow. And she is letting me borrow some accessories from my host sister and herself. Yay! I love getting dressed up. Even if I don't have new shoes.

I am so sorry that I am being so boring with my posts lately. I have no fun pictures, again! But I don't have time today. I'm leaving for the airport soon. I promise that I will put up pictures when I blog about the wedding.

Oh, one last thing to tell you about. My friend Risako asked me if I wanted to go to Disneyland with her on Monday. :D It's a little expensive, but I want to go once before I leave, so I will go with her. I'm excited for that too now! It's going to be a very busy couple of days coming up. Hopefully I won't be too tired after my trip to Fukuoka because I get back Sunday night.

I'm Going to be a Third Grader!

It didn't take me very long to settle into the routine for this family. My host mom gets up super early and does her thing. I get up at 6:30 and do all my morning things and get dressed. Breakfast is at 7:00. I wrap up my obento and put it in my bag, then I eat. I finish eating by 7:15 (it actually takes me 15 minutes to eat all the food she makes me.) and by 7:20 we go out the door together. My host dad and host sister's breakfasts are on the table waiting for them. My host mom walks the dog every morning so she walks with me halfway to the school and then turns around.

After school I get home around 4, depending if I have souji or not. It alternates by the week. At home I change out of my uniform, relax, use the computer, or sleep for a while. My host mom usually gets home around 5:30 or 6. Then I help her make dinner. My host sister, Rika, gets home from work at about 6:30 and then we all finish up dinner and eat. Sometimes my host Dad is home for dinner, but usually not. After dinner we all do the dishes together. Well, not my host Dad. But he is usually gone. I really don't see him a lot. After that we watch a little TV together or talk. Then I take my shower around 9:30 and do all my night time stuff. I am almost always asleep by 10:30. That means I get a full 8 hours of sleep almost every night!

That is my normal routine. However, this week was exams for my classmates. That means school ended by 11:30 or so and Thursday and Friday (today) I didn't have school. I came home and ate lunch with my host mom and then she would go off and do whatever it is that she does. I went for a few much needed runs. But it rains a lot here, so it's hard to run everyday. I try to take slightly different routes each day I run to get to know the area better. This would be a bad bad place to get lost. It's like a maze and I would never be able to explain where I am (well... there's a house...and a little, narrow, winding road... and another building) It all looks the same.

During exams I had Japanese Lessons. They were really good. The first day of tests (last Friday) I watched a movie about Hachiko (a famous dog, whose statue is at Shibuya Station. There's probably a wikipedia on him.). It was really good listening practice. Surprisingly, I followed the whole story. I didn't understand all the words and phrases, but I understood enough to watch it without feeling confused at what was going on. That made me really happy and now I want to watch other movies in Japanese! Then I summarized the story in Japanese. Good thing I have been practicing writing Japanese lately. I text message with my friends in Japanese. It's really good kanji practice too!

The other lessons were with one or two other teachers. We did grammer from books or just practiced speaking in Japanese. It's still hard, and it's really tempting to just use English when I know they speak it, but I'm getting it. LEVEL UP! As my friends at school say. But I guess it's really more like (reberu apu!). Where do they learn these english things? Anyway, my teacher Johnny (he is American) was nice enough to buy me JLPT level 3 and 4 study books. It's really nice of him. The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is a Japanese test for foreigners in Japan. But it is offered in America in December, too. Maybe I will take it then, but I'll be surprised if there is anywhere near Ironwood that you can take it.

The books are really good though! It goes through each particle and different common sentence endings and explains them and has lots of examples. The level 4 one has english translations, but the level 3 is in all Japanese. I finally understand the differnece between the particles は and が!

I really appreciate all the teachers for putting time into stuff like that for me. They could just make me sit in the library alone if they wanted to. Oh, and I also had a nice chat with the principal in Japanese. They originally were planning on keeping me in second grade when the new school year starts in April. But that would be so hard for me! I would have to make all new friends and learn all the names again. Really, I was pretty worried about it. The principal just asked me which I would prefer. haha. I told him I would like to be a third grader with my friends. I think they were impressed with my progress in Japanese (good thing they don't have any other exchange students to compare it to... haha!) and they know I have good friends in this class. So I am going to be a THIRD GRADER!

I came back to the classroom after the exams were all over for the closing ceremony thing and I told my friend that they are letting me be a third grader. All my friends kept asking me if I knew yet. She got really excited and then announced it to the whole class. Who broke into applause and cheers. :D Ohh, they really do like me! Probably they are just excited to have me on their team for sports day in May.

So yesterday and today were days off school. Yesterday I went mini golfing with my friends. It was really fun! The plan was to go bowling but there was a 3 hour wait to bowl! So we walked over to Minatomirai and went mini golfing. Yes, I lost. We had dinner together, too.

Today I did almost nothing. This morning I got up, had breakfast, and then went back to sleep. I went to my Rotary lunch, and then came home. At home my host mom finished getting things ready for her trip. She and Rika are going to the second house in western Japan for a few days. Rika wants to snowboard and my host mom wants to use the Onsen there. She wanted to take me too, but I have rotary tomorrow. :( So I am home alone now. My host mom had made me dinner and I warmed it up and ate it a little while ago. She has my breakfasts all there for me, too. Tomorrow I am just going to go out to eat for Lunch and Dinner. Probably for Sunday lunch, too. Conbini (convenience store) is good enough for me! Yay for cheap sushi and onigiri! But there are quite a few little restaurants around here. We will see. My host dad is supposed to get home tonight late and then leave early tomorrow morning. Because I am making my own breakfast tomorrow and I don't have anything to do until 2, when my rotary meeting is, I am going to sleep in. I'll have to find something to do to get out of the house for a bit though. Sunday I will go to church and my host mom will be back by dinner time so that's not a big deal.

So, that's what I have been up to lately. This is a pretty boring post. Sorry. I need to take more pictures. And do something interesting to blog about.

New Host Family

Phew! Changing host families is a lot of work. But I'm done now! :) I changed families on Saturday (the 21st). In the morning I got up, finished up cleaning out my room for my host family and then went to Wataru's school. There was an open class day so parents can come in and see how the classes are run and stuff. It was interesting to see a Japanese public grade school.

After that we went back home for a little bit and then went out to lunch at Mamma Pasta. It was really good, actually. Then we went home once more, loaded up the car and said goodbye. It was sad to say goodbye to Mie. She was a nice host mom and we had some really fun chats at night after the kids went to bed. I learned the most Japanese from her.

Arriving at my new house, my new host mom met me in the driveway. She was so excited! Her happy, positive attitude made the whole thing go really well. She is such a fun lady! And this family has hosted students several times before so they really knew what they were doing. We sat down and talked with my ex-host dad and new host parents. Then I said goodbye to Masato and my new host mom told me to take my time unpacking all my stuff.

A few hours later my room was all organized and everything was unpacked as far as I want it to be. I headed downstairs. In the kitchen was my host brother, Kouji, and his girlfriend. They were making dinner. I introduced myself and then tried to figure out what to do with myself. The little kitchen was pretty full and they looked like they knew what they were doing so I decided to stay out of the way. I ended up talking with my host mom and showing her pictures and stuff. She absolutely loved the pictures of the cake that Dad made me for my birthday last year. (The one that looked like high jump mats with the picture of me high jumping over it.) And she thinks I have a wonderful father and family. She's right. :P

Dinner was awesome! It was a welcome Abbey party/ happy birthday Otousan party. Kouji lives near Yokohama but he came to make dinner and meet me and stuff. They ordered sushi and Kouji and his girlfriend made a whole bunch of delicious side dishes. There was so much food! Honestly, I haven't been hungry since I came to this house... I really am going to have to start running again. I guess Kouji worked or works at a restaurant so he knows how to make all sorts of awesome Japanese food. He said he could teach me! I hope he does. I want to be able to make Japanese food when I go back to America.

The next day I met my host sister. She had been away at her friend's wedding. She's really nice and fun too. I think we are going to be good friends. My host parents walked with me to school and to the station and stuff so I know my way around here a little. Boy is this a confusing area! We also got a key made for me.

This morning it was raining so I took the bus to school. Usually I will walk. It's about a 25 minute walk, but with the way they feed me here I'm going to need all the exercise I can get. My host mom had made me an obento for lunch! :D It was really good. On the way home I decided to walk... haha. I was going the right way for most of the time. I honestly don't know where I went wrong, but it wasn't too bad. I saw a bus that goes to my house's bus stop so I just hopped on it. Good thing they'd explained the bus system to me and told me the number of the bus that goes that way. haha. I will just try again tomorrow. And my host family doesn't have to know I got a little... confused. Not really lost. I had a basic idea of where I was. We don't need them to worry.

So, the new family is good. I also have one more host brother, but he is going to college in America right now. And he plans to get his green card soon. I talked to him on the phone for a minute or two, but I don't think I'll ever meet him. The house is huge! And really cool. There are lots of extra rooms, so AnnaMarie and Tyler and Katie can stay here when they come! I like everything so far. But everything is still new and exciting. I hope it all continues to go well once things get more settled in. Sorry I don't have pictures yet. I will take some soon.

Long-lost Host Brother

I really should be doing other stuff right now, but I'm motivated to blog. For those of you who don't know, 10 years ago we hosted a boy from Japan at our house. His name was Akira. And that's about all I remembered about him.

A few weeks ago Dad suggested that I try to find out where he is and meet up with him while I'm in Japan. All we had was his name, home town, and the year he came to our district. Luckily, we have the amazing power of the internet here! My host dad looked for a rotary club in his home town and we found his sponsor club. We sent them an email explaining the situation and asking if they knew any way to contact Akira now.

As it turns out, Akira's father is a rotarian at that club. He got the email and immediately got us in touch with Akira. Akira emailed my host dad, who gave him my email, and then he emailed me. He was so excited to hear from me and he said he never would have imagined that I'd be in Japan now. He was so happy I remembered him and asked how the family is and such. I gave him the basic updates. It was a really nice email from him.

Akira is now engaged to be married! The wedding is next month in Fukuoka. I've been invited. At first I thought, no I won't go. It's too much of a hassle to arrange it with Rotary and school and his family will be really busy anyway. I'd just be in the way. But I guess they really want me to come because the Fukuoka rotary club sent a formal invitation to my rotary club for me to go down there. My host dad offered (without me knowing, I heard this later from my host mom) to go with me to Fukuoka, but my host club president said he wanted to take me. So, it looks like I'm going to Fukuoka with my club president.

Today I find out that my host club's president can't or isn't going for some reason. I'm not sure why. So, now it looks like I'm going to Fukuoka by myself. I still have no idea what's going on with how I'm getting there or anything. Honestly, I've been hearing all of this besides the email from Akira through my host dad or my host mom, who hears it from my host dad. Who knows what's going on?! I'll just let the rotarians decide what they decide...

Busy Days

I'm sorry I haven't blogged for a while again. I have been really, really busy. Today is officially 6 months, which is crazy. I honestly don't understand how the time keeps going faster. Tomorrow I change families. Which is a lot of the reason I haven't blogged. I've been super busy trying to get everything ready to go., but more on that later.

So, I'm going to try to make this pretty quick, but that might be hard. On Sunday, February 8, some of my Rotarians took me to Harajuku. It was AWESOME! Harajuku is like a really famous teen-shopping district of Tokyo. Parts of it are pretty cheap, too! :D We went to the different stores that we wanted to see and we had lunch at a really good pizza, pasta, and curry buffet. The rotarians were so nice and one brought his daughter along, so that was fun. They took me and Iliana. For Saki, the rotarian's daughter's sake, we used a lot of Japanese. Iliana wanted to speak English, but I felt bad not letting her into the conversation at all so I tried to turn it into Japanese. I know what it's like to not understand your friends when they are joking and having a good time... It's a little frustrating. I ended up buying a cute skirt and a really cheap scarf, which is also cute. I tried looking for shoes, but they don't have my size. I am going to be in serious trouble once these ones wear out. And believe me, they are getting close. So, I definitely plan to go back to Harajuku a few times.


Harajuku!


School has been going much better (not that it was ever going poorly) lately. Lots of different girls have realized I almost speak Japanese now so I have more friends and lots of people talk with me between classese and such. After winter break was over we changed our cleaning duties. I used to be on the classroom, where you just sweep the floor with the help of 6 other girls. Pretty easy. Now I'm on the bathroom! :) Of course. But I actually don't mind it. I have a good time with the other girls during cleaning.

Happi and Yuki-chan. They are such fun girls!

Rinna, Nozomi, Me, and Happi. You've gotta love Toilet Souji.

On the 11th I had they day off school so I made dinner for my host family! I made PASTIES! It was so fun! And they turned out really good. My host mom and I did it together, which was probably the best part. I really enjoyed mine, and my host parents liked it a lot. Wataru ate his without complaining, but I could tell he didn't especially like it. Toru, well, Toru didn't want to eat his. The first thing he said when he saw it was "oishiikunai, yo!". That literally mean, "That's not delicious". Then my host dad told him he had to eat it because I made it. Then he cried. I felt bad and told my host dad I didn't care if he didn't eat it, but they made him eat it anyway. So, there were lots of tears and loud crying. He ended up eating a tiny bit of the inside. How bad could it be? It's just vegetables. The next night Mie wanted to try making quiche, so she did. It turned out really good. The kids asked, rather hesitently, if tonight was American food, too. haha! They were disappointed and Toru refused to eat his dinner once again... Oh, well. New food is hard for little kids.

Toru, Wataru, My host dad, and me.

Mmm.. pasties. Did you know these are like 800 calories?! My host mom was shocked! (me too!)

On Valentine's Day I was invited to go to a Young Single Adults dance at my church here. I'm not really old enough, but I look like I am and I go to the YSA meetings on Sunday so they let me come. It was really fun! It was all social dancing, which I am really bad at, but it was fun to talk with all the different people. I practiced a lot of Japanese, but lots of people knew English, too. Lots of guys asked me to dance, so that was fun. Don't worry Dad, they were all too old. :) Most people I talked to asked me what my major was. I go: ...umm. I'm a high schooler. Then they go into shock. Then they'd usually stop the next person walking by and have them guess my age. They'd usually say something around 22 or 23. Only 6 or 7 years off, right? I'm pretty sure my age became a topic of conversation for people that weren't talking to me because everyone had "heard that" by the end of the dance... odd. So, it was lots of fun and it gave me an excuse to wear one of my dresses for the first time here. It was really formal dress, so I wore that cute black and green one I have that only AnnaMarie and Caroline know what it looks like. Sorry, but I didn't take any pictures there. I didn't know anyone.

Last Sunday, the 15th, I had a Rotary trip. We all went down to Kamakura. It was awesome! We saw the temples and Big Buddha and stuff. I'd seen it all before, but it was fun to see again with a different group of people. It was also really fun to see everyone again. We got to experience zazen. Zazen is buddhist meditation. It was.... okay. A really good cultural experience, but it made my back hurt. We did three 12 minute sessions. The monk, who was very nice, walked around with a big bamboo stick gently correcting people's posture. And if you signal him by putting your hands together in front of you, he will "help you focus your mind" with his "stick of encouragement". He slaps you on the back twice on each side. It's between the spine and the shoulderblade so it's not supposed to hurt too much. I didn't understand you had to ask him to do it to you until the last session and I was just about to signal him, but his seat was just to the left of mine, and he was walking from that direction, and then just as I was about to put my hands together... he sat down. The last session was over. It would have made a better story if I'd gotten hit....

Me and Iliana. Thanks Katja... :P

Then we got an exclusive tour of the temple there and ate lunch the same way the monks do. It was actually good food, but they made extra salads and stuff for us because we are guests and most of us were still hungry. No wonder those monks are all so skinny. All they eat is rice and soup every day. And no meat. We had tofu though... yumm.

Felipe, Ruan, Me, Vincent, Iliana, Korn and Katja.

After it was over we went to the beach and stood on the wet sand for a while then went to a mexican restaurant at Yokohama for dinner. It was fun. I was so tired by the end of it though. And I've been tired ever since.

Vincent, Camille, Katja, and Abbey

I can't even believe how this week flew by. I am spending my last night in this house tonight! Well, for 3 months at least. There's a good chance I'll be coming back which takes the sadness out of leaving. Dinner was sukiyaki! I love that stuff! Its like meat and vegetables cooked in sause and then you put it into your bowl of raw egg and mix it all up! Y-U-M! I will definitely be making that when I go home...

So, I now have almost everything packed. Just my school uniform and random things I've been using this week. Like computer cords and such. I think everything is going to fit in my suitcases and bags. Most of the new stuff I have now are big things like 3 coats, 2 school uniforms, shoes for school, and a whole bag of school books and supplies. At least I don't have to deal with a weight limit now. Hopefully the house I'm going to has an elevator or I'm on the 1st floor. :) Now I have to go sync my external hard drive and clear all my stuff off of this computer. I'll try to blog soon and tell you all about my new family. I still haven't seen the house, but it's supposed to be big! I'm excited, a little nervous, and still slightly stressed about all the stuff I still have to do.


I'm pretty sure that this is my favorite picture of the whole 6 months I've been here. And that ice cream was awesome! Sweet Potatoe flavor. We tried taking the picture from farther away first, but we had to get a little too close for comfort and I kinda freaked out... haha.

February Orientation Meeting

Every first Saturday of the month is our "orientation meeting." That's where I give my monthly speeches. This month's went well. I hadn't seen very many of my rotary friends since the last meeting, so it was really good to see everyone again. My speech went well. It was short though, because I really didn't do a lot of speech-worthy things in the last month. I was always really busy, but I can't really remember with what now. Yikes...

After the meeting almost all of my rotary friends went to another exchange student's birthday dinner. I tagged along just so I could see everyone. There were over 20 exchange students there! It was crazy! Pretty much every exchange student from the area that I knew, plus a few more. We all went to T.G.I. Fridays for dinner. I stayed a little bit, but left early with Katja. For one, T.G.I. Fridays is SO expensive. Also, Katja said there was a "free jazz cafe" by her station that night. So I figured I'd go see what that was with her.

We bought dinner at a convenience store and then went to find this jazz cafe. She'd seen a sign for it, but didn't know exactly where it was. We found it pretty easily. It turned out to be an old guy playing a saxophone to a little tiny coffee shop full of even older people. And it was packed! We probably would have gone in and stayed for it if there had been any seats...

After wandering around her station and looking at all the little shops, Katja mentioned that there was a grocery store that sold lots of cheap snacks if I wanted to go there. It was probably like a 15 minute walk, but it was nice. I loved the store! It had tons of random snacks, including several things I haven't seen since I was in America. And everything was pretty cheap. We ended up buying a bag of banana chips and a bag of rasins and splitting half and half. It's proabably a good thing I don't live by that store. By the time we got back to her station it was a good time for me to head home. I had eaten an unhealthy amount of dried fruit on the walk back, too. It was a really fun night though. I love hanging out with Katja because we just do random, cheap things. And she is so fun to talk with!

As I was waiting in the train station I sat down on a bench. The lady next to me leaned over and asked where I was from and we started talking. It actually turned out that she was taking the same train as me when we changed at Yokohama station, so we talked for quite a bit. She was really nice. It surprised her that I was only in high school. When I mentioned my school was catholic, she asked what kind of catholic (Japanese people get the terms catholic and christian mixed up sometimes) school it was. When I looked a little puzzled she was like, "like mormon, or ...." I said, "oh! It's just catholic, but I'm mormon!" It surprised me that that was the first denomination on her list, so I asked her how she knew it.

It turns out that she goes to the mormon church closer to my school every Thursday for english lessons. Apparently, there is a weekly english class that anyone can take offered there. She said at first she thought I was a missionary! She isn't mormon herself, but it sounded like she might have gone once or twice. She was such a nice woman. She said she likes to try to talk with foreigners and practice her english, which was actually very good. It was really random, but it was fun to talk to her. It doesn't happen too often, but occasionaly someone will talk to me on the train and ask why I'm here and such.

Okay, sorry this is a pretty boring post. And there are no pictures. I'll get a better one up tomorrow about Harajuku. I have to keep my posts chronological though, or this would be confusing to read.