All of my grade went on a school day trip to Yokohama and it was one of the most fun days I have had out of this whole experience!
We got to explore the beautiful city and took so many photos! My friends and I were laughing constantly and we all bought matching key charms for our bags! In Yokohama we got to go to China Town and learn how to make meat buns and gyoza!
They were incredibly tasty and it was so fun failing at folding dumplings with everyone! We were all so bad hahahahah. The city is so amazing and I really hope to go back one day to explore further!
Recently I joined the Shyorinjikenpo club, which is a kind of Japanese defensive art. We practice punching air and yelling until my throat goes dry everyday after school.
I’ve made so many good friends and have become like a celebrity at the school. Lest to say, the days fly by.
I also recently experienced the school “dragon” festival, Jinryusai, which is a festival of school culture. It was crazy fun, and my class sold out of delicious Costco cupcakes before the festival was even half way through. I think my favourite part of the day was when the teachers sung “Johnny B” and everyone was cheering them on like rock stars.
Right now is the rainy season, and sometimes the weather feels like I’m walking around in a sauna all day the humidity is so bad, and I left my good umbrella on the bus, but I feel at home here.
It’s hard to believe that three months have already past. I’m worried the next seven months will go by equally as fast, and yet I can’t wait to see what they will bring.
It has been officially 3 months since I left Australia, and since then I don’t think I have been able to sleep in past 9pm even once! I have school 6 days a week, but only until 12:45 on Saturday.
After school every Saturday, I have to go shopping to buy obento (packed lunch) ingredients for my week’s lunches. I have salad, rice and meat every day, I feel so healthy. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I go to club activities with the Japanese culture club.
We learn sado (Japanese tea ceremony), ikebana (flower arrangement) how to wear kimono and yukata, and some other activities we haven’t done yet. On the 6th of June, we even travelled to Kyoto after school on Saturday to make traditional Japanese sweets called wagashi. Everyone was surprised by how good mine were, considering I am not Japanese!
So today I have been in Japan for 32 days. It seems like such a short time, however it feels like ages since I was in Australia.
My first host family are really lovely and I am fortunate to be staying with them for 2months. I have 2 older brothers, who are studying in Tokyo and Osaka, and a sister my age who boards at her school next to Mt Fuji during the week and takes the Shinkansen home on the weekends.
Their dog “Biscuit” is super cute, he’s a miniature poodle, and I’m definitely his favourite human at the moment.
My sister and I have done so many fun things so far. We have been bowling, gone shopping together, seen Frozen at the cinemas and we play badminton and table tennis a lot in the back yard. One of the best things was seeing the cherry blossoms at night, I was under the impression we were just going for a drive so me and my sister were both in our pyjamas when we arrived at this really beautiful park, and there were lanterns everywhere it was so pretty!
My school is quite different from my one in Australia. The buildings are really impressive, even the school gates are painted black and gold and the school emblem, a maple leaf, can be found almost everywhere, carved into the staircase rail, on our school socks, hanging in every classroom with the schools motto and philosophy of the ‘frontier spirit’. The frontier spirit is also the school song which our principal wrote. Instead of a school bell, chimes play the melody of the school song to mark the periods.
So far it has been really fun, let’s hope it stays that way 🙂