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!