A relaxing weekend with my family!

This weekend has been really fun! Yesterday, we went to the Sapporo art park! The Sapporo art park is a place in the woods that has places to go and watch artisans, museums, as well as a park to sit and relax. It was super fun! We got to go inside a famous novelist's house and it was really cool to see what Japanese houses looked like a long time ago. Today, I went with my family and Alicia's family to the Autumn festival! We got to eat a ton of different types of food and walk around town. Also, I found out that Alicia's host family might be my second family which I'm super excited about! I've been really bummed that I have to leave my host family but if I stay with Alicia's host family, I'll still get to see my family and I love Alicia's family so I'm excited to spend time with them. And oh my goodness, my host mom just screamed because there was a bug in our salad. They freak out about bugs here! This morning, there was tiny little spider on the wall and my host mom flipped out and killed it with a tissue. So that's been my weekend. Art, food, and spiders. Until next time, bye bye!

Update!

Today and last weekend were so much fun! On Saturday, Rotary took all of the exchange students to go harvest fruit, go white water rafting, and go to an onsen. Harvesting fruit was awesome because we were allowed to eat as much fruit as we wanted and it was super beautiful outside. Rafting was awesome because we got to wear wet suits and it felt really cool when we swam. I also got to jump into a river off of a mini cliff so that was legit. We went to the onsen last and it felt amazing. An onsen is a natural hot water spring where people go and relax. You're not allowed to wear anything when you go to an onsen, so some people were a bit nervous to go. But it's normal for Japanese people so I didn't really care. I was all cold from the river water and so it felt really good to sit in some really warm water for a while. Today was fun because I'm starting to enjoy school more and more everyday. I can understand more and now I can joke around with my friends. When I was going home, I was walking past the grocery store and my host grandmother was there! She lives about a block away from the store so she invited me in for ice cream and tea. Until today, I had only been on the 1st floor of her house. I really liked it when she showed me around her house because I got to learn a lot about her. It turns out, she's an amazing artist! All of the hallways upstairs have pictures she's painted propped up against the walls. I also got to learn that my host grandfather was a photographer. I got to look at a lot of the pictures he took and that was really cool. My host brother lives with my grandmother part-time and when he got home, he told me that my host grandma doesn't usually take people upstairs, so it made feel good knowing that I'm very welcome in her home. Once I got to my house, my host mom told me that I might get to go to Honshu with Alicia! I'm so excited because I was upset about not being able to go with my school to Honshu. Also, I'm just excited to hang out with Alicia. So that's my poorly written blog for the day. I can't think of any other way to end this thing, so goodnight! 

Fun times!

Yesterday and today have been really fun! Yesterday, I had to give a presentation to all of the English classes about American high schools. It was really fun to take a break from sitting in a class all day and just tell everyone what my school in America is like. Once school got out, I went to ESS (English Speaking Society) club to help out. It was so much fun! I really liked helping everyone with their English because in return, they helped me with my Japanese. Everyday I understand a little more Japanese and it's so exciting! Unfortunately, I can understand a lot more than I can speak, so it's hard to keep conversations going. But that's okay. Starting this Friday, I'll have a 2 hour-long Japanese lesson at my school. Every exchange student with Rotary gets a private tutor to meet with every week and mine is so nice! Today, was fun because we got to play volleyball in P.E instead of just running for an hour and I noticed that it's getting easier to understand my friends when they talk. Also, when I got home today, my host Mother had cut up a ton of carrots and cucumbers for me because I had told her that I loved carrots and cucumbers. Now, I'm sitting watching the news and getting ready to take a shower. So until next time, じゃね!

Update!

So, a lot has been happening. This week, my school had exams so I got to sit in the library and study. It was kind of nice to just be able to sit and study Japanese for a while. A few days ago, I had a Rotary meeting and my host parents let Alicia and I do whatever we wanted after. We took the subway to Odori and explored! It was so much fun to be able to do whatever we wanted and just walk around for a bit. Amazingly, we made it all the way back to our subway station with no help and boy did that feel good. I feel so independent now and I really like it. Yesterday, I went out to dinner with my host family and Alicia's host family. It was so much fun! We went to a traditional Japanese restaurant and I got to try a ton of awesome food. I ate chicken skin, chicken stomach, chicken gizzards, eel, and an eel heart! The eel heart was actually really good and I felt proud for trying it. So far, I haven't turned down any food they've given me. Everything's so delicious here! Today's been a nice relaxing day and it's nice to have those every once in a while. My host grandma and my host brother's girlfriend came over today and we all played Jenga! It was super intense. Before my grandma left, I gave her some gifts from America and when my host parents got back from taking her to the subway station, they said she cried because she was so happy about the gifts I gave her. It made me so happy that it made her THAT happy! So that was a nice way to end the day. It's raining now, which I'm so happy about. It's finally starting to cool down a little which makes everything a lot easier. Especially sleeping. So I'm going to go sleep right now. Goodnight! 

Japanese living...

I wanted to update a little sooner but I've been really tired so I'm doing it now instead. This weekend was super fun! On Saturday, I went to a movie with other exchange students and after that, we went to our Rotary orientation. We had dinner, gave speeches, and had time with our Japanese tutors. Rotary events are always super fun because we get to eat a ton of awesome food and everyone is super nice. On Sunday, we had a very nice, very Japanese day. In the morning, we went to the grocery store to pick up supplies for a BBQ. Here in Japan, they love to BBQ. When we got home, my host Mom and Dad started making a ton of delicious food and when my host Mom was done, we did origami together! I really like spending time with my host family. They're the sweetest people and it makes me sad when I think about leaving them. About the BBQ, we ate all of the food outside and it was the perfect day to do it because it wasn't very hot. After dinner, they showed me how to use the bath. It. Was. Awesome. Japanese baths are amazing in the way that they're really deep and so you're fully submerged in really warm water. It's super relaxing. Monday was a pretty normal day, but while we were having dinner, our neighbor came over to ask us to come and do fireworks with them. That was such a Japanese thing to do. Everyone is so nice and thoughtful of others which is just so different from America. I never really thought that Americans were rude until I came here. It's amazing how kind people are here. Anyway, the fireworks were really fun. Both of our families were running around in the streets with fireworks. What's not fun about that? It was also really fun because I got to actually meet my neighbors. I met the Mother of the house once, but this time, the whole family was there. It was kind of embarrassing because I had just got out of the shower and I was in my pajamas, but they told me I should be a fashion model so I guess I looked okay. That's another thing about Japan. If you're foreign and you come to Japan, you instantly become the most beautiful person ever. It's really weird and I'm still not used to people yelling and screaming "cute" at me. Gross. Last night was insane, though! I woke up in the middle of the night to rain, rain, rain. I've never seen it rain so hard which is saying a lot considering I'm from Oregon. But because this is Japan, and all weather must me extreme, there had to be thunder and lightening really close to my house to keep me up for an hour. So that was fun. NOT. Because it was raining so hard, it got really humid which made it even more difficult to fall back asleep on top of all that thunder and lightening. Although, two weeks ago, we had an earth quake during the night so that was pretty crazy. It was the first earth quake I've ever experienced so I didn't really know what to do. I got out of bed to go stand under the doorway, but I fell over. It was so weird because I could feel the entire house moving underneath me. In Japan, they build everything to withstand earth quakes, so it was okay. But it was still kind of a shock to me. Today was the first day of final exams at my school and so everyone was studying like mad. Luckily, I just got to sit in the library and study. Also, they had teachers come in to talk to me for a while so I got to meet a lot of the teachers and that was really fun. Because it's exams week, we get out at noon and it's awesome. When I got home, I ate lunch with my host Mom and then went to the store. While we were at the store, we went to an awesome Lego shop! I've never been to a store that was just for Legos and for some reason, I thought it was really cool. It was cute! My host Mom bought me this little Lego key chain with my name engraved on it. On to the Rotary blazer it goes! I hate it when she spends money on me, though. I feel so bad! I can't take how kind people are. It's ridiculous. I really want to cook them something for dinner one night, so hopefully they'll like that. But yeah. So that's what's been going on. I'm sorry that everything on here is so crappily written.  I just don't really have a very good way with words. Anyway, I will update later. Until then,  bye bye!