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.

SPRING!

I am loving the spring weather here! This whole week it has been up toward 70 degrees and sunny. It's almost hot today! Sunny days just make me so happy. It's only March and it feels like Michigan's June. I'm not really looking forward to the summer heat here again. But I love spring and I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

People here are still wearing jackets and long sleeves, which is crazy. Only foreigners are wearing short sleeves.

Today was my last day of the school year. I am now a third year student! That means I'm a senior! Today was just a closing ceremony so I got back home by 11:30, which is nice. Now I am going to go get combini food for lunch because I am the only one home. Then I am going to Yokohama Station to meet friends and go bowling. :D Hopefully my score will by higher than 38 this time...

So I am now officially on spring break. And I have a busy one planned, so I am very excited.

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.