One Month and Counting...

Today is July 1st. I go home in exactly one month. My last day of school is in exactly 2 weeks. I don't really believe it

Over the last few weeks I have had mixed feelings about leaving, which I wrote a bit about in the post below this. Usually, depending on the day, either excitement or sadness is more dominant.

Today, with exactly 31 days left I feel excited. I am so excited to see my family! I want to see my friends again. I'm excited for camping and learning how to drive again and the fresh air of the UP. :-) Of course I still feel sad about leaving so soon, but I am more excited.

My schedule for the next month is packed, but it is really good. I feel like I have everything I want to do before leaving scheduled. I don't think there will be anything I feel like I have left undone at the end. I think I will be ready to leave. Still sad, but ready.

Now for a quick update on what I have been up to lately. For Father's Day, the whole family went to the movies. We saw Rookies, which had pretty typical Japanese drama-type acting in it. But it was fun.

Last Friday (the 26th) I skipped school because there was just a Catholic mass at a church pretty far away. I went shopping with my host mom, which was nice. We got stuff for climbing Mt. Fuji. My rotary club insists that tennis shoes are not good enough and gave my family money to buy me proper hiking boots. Either I am way underestimating this 6 hour hike or Japanese people just like to exaggerate it. I will give the shoes to Rotary. Maybe an exchange student next year can use them. That evening I went to a Rotary dinner with my family. That was my last meeting before my farewell party at the end of this month. I received my very last Rotary allowance.

Last Saturday I went to see Manato at his school for the open house day, went to the gym for Zumba, and then went with my host mom to a friend's house where we made Japanese pizzas for lunch, a Hello Kitty shaped cake, and big sushi rolls for dinner.

Japanese pizza. Probably my favoite was the tako-yaki one. Tako i s octopus.

Hello Kitty!

These rolls were so pretty! I can make them when I get home. Look, flowers!!! Mine are on the left.

On Sunday I went to church and then went down to Yokosuka with my host family. The plan was to go horseback riding, but it was too rainy so we ended up getting lunch, shopping, and then going to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Yokohama. My host parents got me a cute shirt too! (It was a buy-two-for-a-lower-price kind of deal and they were already buying one so I pretty much had to pick one out.) Ruan, from Brazil, also came along for dinner because he had called me asking to hang out and everyone else was busy so my host mom invited him to join us.

This is my host dad's horse. I forgot the horse's name though...

Me, Ruan, and Manato

On Monday after school I went to the grocery store with Manato and we made chocolate-chip cookies together.

Yesterday (Tuesday) school got out after lunch like Tuesdays usually do and I came home and changed my clothes. Then I went to Yokohama to meet my Calligraphy teacher, Morita-sensei and calligraphy classmates. The class is only me and two other girls so Morita-sensei took us out for Okonomi-yaki. It was so nice of her! We all had a really good time and we even took purikura. I am pretty sure that was a first for my teacher.

Arisa, Mika, Abbey, and Morita-sensei

Arisa, Sensei, Abbey, Mika (I decorated this picture!)

Today I just had school and then went to the gym. Phew, all caught up! :-)

Rotary Graduation

This post was written a few days after the graduation meeting. I am finally getting it up now.



On June 20th I had my Rotary Graduation. It was also my last district level rotary meeting. Except for the Mt. Fuji trip, which isn't really a meething. There is one last orientation meeting on July 3rd, but I will be in Hokkaido with my host family.

Tateno family. Papa, Me, Okasan, and Manato

The graduation felt like such a formal ending, but I still have over a month left. It was still nice though. All the inbounds gave our last speeches (except ones for school and rotary club meetings) Then we recieved these nice honorary diplomas. They played a slideshow of all the pictures the rotarians took of us through the year. That was really fun. It seems like so long ago that we were at those Japanese lessons and not understanding a word people said to us. Our teachers from that first week also came. It must have been pretty cool for them to see how much we have learned since then.

The incredibly akward moment when the Japanese person goes to shake the foreigners hand and the foreigner bows. Hand meets face.

All of my host families came too. It was really nice to see them all again.

Nakano Family. Mie, Masato, Me, Wataru, Toru.

Wataru, Toru, and Me.

Umezaki Family. Papa, Abbey, Mama, and my rotary president, Mr. Inukai.

After the meeting there was a little party with food and very few chairs so you had to go socialize with other people. It was a nice opportunity to talk to people and lots of pictures.

I love Katja!

Yay America!! Vincent, Maki-chan, Ota-kun, Abbey. (Inbounds from America and Outbounds to America)

Before the meeting my host mom brought me to the salon to get my hair cut a little bit and curled. I felt so pretty. (>.<) I just love getting dressed up. After the meeting was over the exchange students went to take purikura with our Rotary blazers. It was fun. Then we wandered around Yokohama and Sakuragichou for a while before heading home.

Katja, Sylvana (from Germany--not rotary), Vincent, Korn, Ruan, I can't tell who is hiding in the back, and Abbey!

The 20th was also the 10 month mark for me being in Japan. I am still so amazed at how many awesome opportunities I have had and how much I have learned. I have done more than I thought possible to do in 10 months. Going on an exchange has been an experience of a lifetime and I wouldn't give up this experience for anything. There isn't even a way to put it into words; it is just something you have to experience to understand

I am excited to see what the rest of my time in Japan has in store for me, but I am sad to see it come to an end. I am happy to be going home, but I don't want to leave. I want to see my friends and family in America, but I don't want to say goodbye to my families and friends here. Sometimes it is hard for me to know how I feel about it all. I try to think of it as two separate things: leaving Japan, and returning to America. Sometimes I just think of it as inevitable that will happen no matter how I feel, so I might as well not think about it at all. It really is a bitter-sweet ending. But the end isn't here yet. I still have over a month left!

Well, I have some pictures to add to this, but blogger won't upload them for me at the moment. I will try again tomorrow if I have time.

Too busy to blog -- Sorry!

Sometimes in school (my only time in which I don't have much else to do) I write out blog posts and then just type them in later. Those are usually the posts that come up really late, which happens to be most of them lately. I wrote this one in school around the 15th of June, so it was a while back. Again, sorry. I am trying really hard to get my blog caught up, but keeping it up to date is a challenge lately.

This past weekend (June 13-14) was really busy, but it was a fun busy. Both Saturday and Sunday were full of activities, and a lot of them were with my host family. I really enjoy spending time with my host family so it was nice.

On Saturday I officially started at the Gym that my rotarian has a connection at. (Kato-san owns one of the gyms, which is a chain of them, but he knows the people who own the other ones around the area. This gym's owner is letting me come here. ) It is conveniently located about 2 minutes from my train station, which is awesome. I even have an appointment set up to get a personalized training program made for me! And I get to go for free! I wish I could have started this earlier.

Once all the talking was over I got to actually use the gym. I ran for a bit to warm up (the machines are so nice! They all have T.V.s and headphones attached so you can watch whatever you want as you exercise. Fancy!) and then I took the Zumba class. It was SO fun. Seriously,, I didn't think it was possible to make such a tough workout so fun. I loved it! It's a pretty popular workout craze in Japan right now. It is based on Latin-style dancing and a single 50 minute class burns about 850 calories. Anyway, I plan to take it again.

After I showered and such I met my host family at the station. We all went to lunch and then to my Rotary Orientation meeting together. I gave my speech that I didn't bother to write beforehand. I really don't think that I will ever have a problem with speaking in public in English ever again. It will be so much easier than Japanese.

After that I went to Cosmo World, an amusement park in Minatomirai, with my host family. It was really fun even thought the roller coasters aren't really built for someone my height. They were a bit tight on the shoulders and my legs are too long. After we rode all the rides we wanted and gave my host parents a chance to make fun of Manato and I going through a fun house (There are cameras so people can watch outside as you run into mirrors and go in circles. I didn't know.) we went to Okonomiyaki for dinner.






Abbey and Manato on the water log ride. Which we rode 3 times.

Wheeee!! My host dad forgot to take the picture when we were actually on the ride...
Sunday morning I got up early and my host dad drove me to church. The ward I go to now is an English ward. It was really nice to be able to fully understand all the lessons and be able to give input of my own. My entire brain switched over to English though. When my host mom picked me up I got into the car and she asked how it went. I started blabbing away in English until I saw her face. She just stared, looking slightly shocked, and said "nani?" (What?). I could have sworn she actually said what in English... After a slightly confused moment I realized that I was not speaking Japanese and started laughing.

My languages get all mixed up now. Sometimes when I skype with people at home all the words I think are in Japanese and I have to make a mental effort to change them to English before I speak. I even talk to myself in Japanese sometimes now, which is just ridiculous. I think in Japanese a lot without realizing it. I usually realize it when I start counting something and I get to 11 in Japanese. It's faster to say the English numbers from there and it bothers me that I am counting so slowly so I switch to English. I don't really have too many dreams in Japanese though. Come to think of it, I don't have too many dreams anyway and when I do they usually are set in America or at least not Japan. I have crazy dreams....

Anyway, getting back on topic... After church I went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant with my host family and then went home to change my clothes. The neighbor family (The Ando family) and us went to Round One. Round One is a game/amusement center similar to Chuck E. Cheeze, but more for young adults than little kids. We had a fun time there and even took purikura. The moms didn't join us for that. I love purikura...

Misuzu, me, Kakeru-kun, and Manato
Once we got home Misuzu and I changed into Yukatas (a summer time kimono) and everyone went to an omatsuri. Omatsuri is a Japanese festival. Around the temple the streets were just packed with games and food stands. Lots of yummy things like tako-yaki, okonomi-yaki, yaki-soba, buttery steamed potatoes, and Japanese candies. It was really fun despite the rain. It was fun to wear a yukata to it too. An old man, whose stand we bought from soup from, was impressed to hear that I like Japanese food so much and asked if I also like sweet foods like crepes. I said yes and he walked away. He came back a few minutes later with a crepe for me. My host dad was like, not tell him you really love yaki-soba. ;)

Ando-san helping me tie my obi.

Me and Misuzu

Me, the Ando family and Manato. Kakeru-kun is 8 and Misuzu is 12.
The festival was fun, the food was great, and I failed at all the little games I played but it's okay. They let me pick a prize anyway.

Misuzu, Manato, Abbey, and Kakeru-kun trying to catch fish with paper-covered hoops. I lost but we still got to take about 9 sick fish home. One is still alive...

Wicked!

Today was a pretty busy day. In school I had calligraphy for the first two hours. I finished the project we had been working on, so that's fun. It's the kanji (Chinese character) for dream. Today I made the stamp for it out of a plastic eraser and stamped it.

夢 (Yume- dream)

My stamp. It says my name.

After calligraphy everyone ate lunch and then we went to Shimbashi, Tokyo for the musical Wicked! It was amazing. I knew we were going to be going to it so I made a point of listening to all the songs on YouTube and looking up the plot summary. Between knowing the story ahead of time and actually understanding some of it I had no problem keeping up with it in Japanese. I even bought myself the CD of this cast singing it. I just think it will be fun to have the songs in Japanese.

I got home from the musical around 5:30, ate my after school snack that was waiting for me on the table, changed my clothes, and left for Young Women's. I have missed having those activities. Today was the first time I ever went in Japan. We went to one of the leaders' house and had dinner. It was so good! And her kitchen was so American! It had a real oven. Not a microwave that gets really hot; a real oven. The girls and leaders here are all so sweet. I am really glad to have met them even though it just adds more people to my list of good-byes in a few weeks.

Kamakura-bori and Ajisai

Last week my school had exams. They were from Monday to Thursday. I don't take the exams because of how difficult (impossible) it is for me to read Japanese to even understand the questions, much less know the answer to them. My teachers were very kind and planned some activities for me.

Monday I spent two hours in school researching and filling out worksheets (in Japanese) about Kamakura-bori and a temple in Kamakura, which used to be the capital of Japan and is just a bit south of Yokohama. On Tuesday Uchida-Sensei took me on a field trip there.

We got to Kamakura by about 10:00 in the morning and did a 2 hour Kamakura-bori class. Kamakura-bori is the style of wood working that was started in Kamakura. We carved these plates. Real Kamakura-bori has a pretty red stain and lacquer on it too, but we didn't have that much time. It was really difficult, but we had fun. The teacher was really nice and very talented.


Working hard.

My fingers hurt by the end of the lesson. That wood is a bit hard...

Uchida-sensei and I with our finished plates. I would like to stain mine when I get home.

After our class was over we went and found a bench on the side of the road where we ate our obentos (packed lunches). It was a bit strange to eat there as people walked past and staring at me. I would have preferred a park or something...

Next we went to see ajisai flowers (Hydrangea). Taking special trips somewhere to look at flowers is a very Japanese thing to do and there were a lot of people. The flowers really were quite pretty though. The colors are all different depending on what is in the soil. It must be pretty sensitive to the type of soil because the color of the flower would change from plant to plant even though they were right next to each other.

Ajisai

Uchida-sensei and I had a fun day and I really appreciate her doing that for me. It was much better than sitting in school alone all day. We even got purple sweet potato flavored ice cream! I love that stuff! But that's a secret. I'm pretty sure it is against school rules to buy ice cream while wearing school uniform.

I love Murasaki-imo ice cream!

Me at one of the temple gardens in Kamakura. I don't remember which one it was anymore.

After we said goodbye at the train station closest to school at 3:30 I went to visit "Mama" Umezaki, my second host mother. I am really glad that I got to visit with her for a few hours. It was so nice to talk to her. When I came in and called "tadaima!" (I'm home!) she ran over and gave me a hug and was almost crying. That house is really close to my school so I will have to go visit again sometime soon.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday working on a scrapbooky album of my exchange for the school. It is homework from one of my teachers. On both days I got out before lunch so I got to go out and get lunch with my host mom, who also had the afternoons off work. After lunch on Wednesday I met a friend in Kawasaki and went shopping. Thursday I went to a sport's club with my host mom and dad. One of my rotarians, Mr. Kato, owns the gym so I met him and talked about using the gym. As it turns out, the gym is a chain of gyms and there is one at my station in Tokyo! Perfect! Exam week was fun. I am lucky that my school and teachers are so willing to plan things like this for me.

Kabuki

On the 7th (Sunday) my rotary district brought all of the exchange students to a Kabuki play. Kabuki is the traditional Japanese theatre. I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be really boring. This Kabuki, however, was really good. The story was pretty easy to follow without understanding all the words and lyrics. They also had an explanation of Kabuki for beginners and children so I got to understand a bit more about it before the actual play started. I enjoyed it.

After the Kabuki we had a little good-bye party for Felipe who went back to Ecuador on Thursday. Having Iliana and Felipe leave really made me realize how fast my year is coming to an end. I only have about 6 weeks left.

Tateno Family

On the morning of the 24th (Sunday) I said my goodbyes and thank-yous to the Umezaki family and moved to my third and final host family.

I am really glad that I got to live at the Umezakis' house. They were an excellent host family. I didn't spend a whole lot of time with Mr. Umezaki or Rika (29-year-old host sister) as they both have full-time jobs, but I got really close with my host mom. She was awesome! I always had good food and obentos. I got to help with dinners at night and after dinner she gave me Japanese lessons. They were all very generous and let me make whatever plans I wanted to on my own. I will never forget them.

My host father, host mother, me, Rika, and the dog (Nene).

I had not really met my third host family before that morning. I had talked with my host father for about 10 minutes at a rotary lunch two weeks earlier, but that was it. I was a bit nervous about switching.

The Tateno family pulled into the driveway at about 9:30 and I finally got to meet them .They are a young couple (early 40's) with one 7-year-old boy named Manato. We (both host families and myself) all talked for a while, loaded my luggage into the car, and said good-bye.

Hey, they got smaller since I last changed families...

My new house is in Tokyo, which is a kind of exciting. (Plus, we don't have to sort our garbage in Tokyo!!!) I technically live outside of my Rotary District now. My house is in a really nice neighborhood-- an actual neighborhood! I even met all my neighbors! My host family introduced me to all of them my first day there, probably so they didn't get worried when they see a random foreigner trying to get into the house. The house is small, but clean and it really feels like a home. There is not much privacy (seeing how I don't really have a room) but I don't mind at all. I feel the most at home in this family I think.

My house!

The living room and play/study room. I close those sliding doors (to the left) and set out my futon when it is time for bed.

From the other direction.

My host parents are both awesome. This is the first time they have hosted a students so I htink they feel like they don't quite know what to do, but they are doing a great job. My host father is a public tax accountant (or something along those lines), but he still spends a good amount of time at home with the family. My host mom is a nurse. She works at a small hospital so she gets Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays off and gets the afternoon off two other days a week.

I absolutely love my little host brother. I think we are going to be good buddies. He was a bit shy while we were talking at the Umezaki's house but as soon as we got into the car he warmed right up. He talks with me all the time and offers explanations for things I don't understand. For example, I didn't quite understand what my host mom was saying to me so he steps in front of her and explained it all in really simple Japanese. He also explained stuff around the house to me. In the shower room, "this handle is for the temperature. When you turn it toward this little red mark it makes the water hot..." We also play games on my iPod together. It was really cute when he told me that this is the first time he has ever had a big sister.

Manato and Abbey.

That Sunday, after stopping at the house for a little bit, we all went to a barbecue for lunch. It was my host father's high school friend and their families I think. It seems like they are pretty good friends and see each other a lot. The kids all knew each other really well, too. It was fun and the food was awesome. We had good bacon, beef, corn-on-the cob, onions, potatoes, and sweet potatoes cooked in tinfoil (the onions were so good!) over the coals, soup, watermelon.... It was like a 4th of July picnic without the fireworks! Then they brought out the squid (not bad) and turban shells (not my favorite) and I was reminded that this is a Japanese barbecue.

My host dad in the blue shirt, me in the back, and other people.

The little girl that is Manato's age. I braided her hair so we would match. She was so happy. :)

From there we returned home and then left a few hours later for the rotary family dinner party. I got to see all three fo my host families together! It was really nice. I was asked to five a little speech with about 30 seconds notice so I thanked my host families and rotarians.

My three host families together (well, parts of each, anyway). Papa Umezaki, Mama Umezaki, Mie Nakano, Masato Nakano, Toru Nakano, Wataru Nakano, Me, Manato Tateno, and Papa Tateno.
Manato losing rock, paper, scissors to the kid he tied with in BINGO.

On Monday I had no school because of my taiikusai on Saturday. The rest of the family, however, had work or school so I left in the morning when my host dad did. I went to see Angels and Demons with my friend Austin. I was the first one to get home, but Manato came home about half and hour later. We ate snacks that my host mom left out for us and then watched the Tokyo Giants baseball game together. After a while my host mom came home and we had dinner. I got to Skype with AnnaMarie a bit in Japanese before bed, too. I think Manato had fun with that. He thought it was quite amusing that Kaite calls me "Abbey-dabby" and I wouldn't be too surprised if he started calling me that.

I am really glad that I am fitting into my new family and their routine okay. I am excited to get to know them better. They really are so fun! The other day I almost started crying because I only get to live with them for 2 months then I have to go back home. They are so generous. They bought me two tickets for Tokyo Disneyland or Sea, tickets to a water park for me and some friends, AND they are taking me on a trip to Hokkaido!! I am so excited! :D