Danielle

Blog1

The plane ride stiffened my legs, like everything was just stone. I was walking on stony legs and swizzle and like everything was heavy. We literally spent the entire night in the airport trying to exchange money and get out and max's hair ruined everything because he was like interviewed on freakin tv. Like totally camera hogger. But, nah max is cool his hair is.....overwhelming. We finally got everything and made it to the hotel for the rest of the night. 

Blog2 

Rode our first Shinkansen! It was awesome and really fancy and amazing and just, WOW! It sounded like the future. I also ate this weird bento thing with rice, pork, pickled plum, pickled radish and special sauce (everything is called special sauce though). We then walked to this place called k's house and stayed there. Dropped our stuff off and then we went to these temples and got these temple books and got these stamps that go in the books from every temple we went to that day. The temples were really tranquil and calm, like I could literally sit there forever.

Blog 4
November 9
So we woke up this morning and went to have breakfast which was very delicious, wish I had time to finish it. Today we went to Dazaifu National Museum which consisted of various Chinese and Japanese cultural artifacts and information. It was quite an experience. Then we went to this crazy busy street to have Lunch, I ate a fried shrimp & onion on a stick and a fried potato on a stick. Next we explored an amazing shrine called Komyozen-ji in honor of a deceased samurai who was exiled but after his death they believed that his angry spirit would haunt them forever. Next we entered the
Tenmangu Shrine where there was an exquisite zen garden where I drew a few things. Then we went shopping down the same street and returned to here, the hotel we are staying at.

I drew one of the branches of a tree there and a leaf and wrote a tiny poem.
Goodnight!

Blog5
November 11 

Thursday

Mastushima Sora is my host and she's a wonderful person! They help me with my Japanese studying and is very patient with me. The food is extremely delicious and her mother is very nice and understanding. Her little sister is really adorable and we have a lot of fun. The father usually gets home late but he is also very patient and sweet. I'm very lucky to be taken care of by a wonderful family.

Today was also my very first day of school with Sora and it was very interesting. Her classmates are very curious especially in her English Grammar class. Their classes seem very much like college since the teachers from what I've seen, give lectures to the students. We even played a game, telephone, it was very amusing and I found it enjoying. I also practiced and presented our presentation today, it was a bit shaky but fun at the same time. The KJ students seemed to have enjoyed it especially when we taught them the ChaCha Slide. Right now I'm back at home with Sora working on my homework while her mother prepares dinner. We are having curry rice which I can't wait to eat!

The only downside is that I'm a little sick with a small cough but it's nothing to worry about, I'm still enjoying myself. 

Goodnight!

Blog 6

November 14

Today we went to Odaiba, Tokyo, savvy right!? Here we rode a gigantic Ferris wheel, even though I'm not very fond of heights, my friends kept me going coocoo. After that we spent most of our time in a large arcade, I was the only one playing Mario Kart DX the entire time, fun right? The food there was excellent along with this weird photo booth that made your eyes look bigger. We had finally left that part and went to their humungous super mall. There was this cute little shop with a bunch of anime stuffed toys and weird stuff. I bought a few things for my host family and then I bought a box of these sweets as an omiogi. They really enjoyed the presents along with an eventful night, especially the cat.

Blog 7

November 15

Today was a wonderful day around Urasa! Although it literally rained/snowed all day, totally not savvy, and was freezing. First we went to a nice restaurant and we made soba noodles. It was hard to try and knead the dough along with the rolling it out a million different ways. But the best part was cutting it into little noodles. It was really funny because Carly had accidentally cut a piece of it gigantic and there was this two inch thick noodle in her meal! It was glorious but my cutting was pretty bad too. Next we the had another kimono experience and again, I picked a really pretty purple kimono, it was awesome! But the entire building was freezing and we were wearing summer kimono so kind of not fun in that context. But anyways we took lots of pictures, although I can't post any. After that we went to a huge mall and shopped for a good hour. The day ended with a chocolate ice cream cone and I returned home with my host family.

Blog 8

November 16

Today I went to Sora's piano recital which took forever but the music was wonderful and magical. Especially since half of them were Disney songs. There was this electric piano or organ that they had that played all kinds of different sounds. Someone played "Let it Go" on one of them and it sounded spectacular especially since it was the player's own version so that it would be compatible with the tech. Both Yui and Sora played on a regular piano and they both did very well. We even stopped by a bakery for some sweet snacks while we were at the performance. Afterwards we went to Sora's best friend's house, Stephanie, for dinner which was very delectable. I had a great time there since a few other of her friends were there as well. Today was totally savvy.

Blog 9

November 17

Well, I had a full day of school with Sora today but at least she had both Chemistry and Trigonometry for classes today, the only few classes I can actually understand anything in. Of course I understand most of her English classes, well, because it's English of course. Thank goodness she didn't have gym today otherwise I'd have to climb four flights of stairs again just to get back to her homeroom. It ain't fun and no where near savvy. The students then after school prepared a tea ceremony for us which I and a few others enjoyed, the sweets were good too. Me and Sora finally get home and we had kabobs for dinner along with some miso soup of course. Once done, we went shopping! I got a cute Fennekin plushie, Raichu figurine and Mega Charizard Y figurine at the first store. Next I obtained a couple manga, a small sketchbook and a nice ink pen at the next store. Then we returned home, played around a bit and now it's time for bed.
Oyasumi Nasai!   

Blog 10
November 18
Today was practically another regular day at school well except for the art project we did during a couple periods. We decorated masks and got some of the KJ students to sign the inside of them. Then afterwards we had to give individual speeches in our host home rooms which was totally unexpected. I had to say things spontaneously which is not my forte and there was a lot of long pauses but I tried and it was very short. Then we took a class picture. Then what made it better was when went to a party that they had planned for us! It was extremely fun and enjoying, we were laughing, singing, dancing, it was amazing. We took so many pictures too! The food was pretty good too although it was all a bunch of snacks (I found the chocolate~). There was this awesome KJ student though that did a couple card magic tricks, he didn't even need to try and explain it in English it was amazing just seeing it! We all sighed when it was over though knowing that the next day we would have to say good bye. I honestly want to stay a bit longer before we go. My host family was the best most wonderful of people and couldn't ask for more at all. Especially Sora though, she has helped quite a bit in her classes and listening to her talented piano playing is very soothing. I also want to commemorate on Yui and my host mother, they were also amazing and great people. Yui's constant energy and upbeat attitude instantly made me really like her. My host mother's cooking was the best, she is so nice and honestly she is the best person in the world. The father was also a wonderful person, he was funny and enjoying to be around. He even was a little interested in games I was playing. They were all totally savvy. I really hate to leave but I guess I have to go back home to America eventually.
さいよなら 日本！