Sunday 13th December
Not much today, went down to the shops and caught up on sleep a bit, and wrote out a note 39 times…. One for each other member of my class, thanking them for a fun year, saying goodbye and asking them to keep in contact and all that stuff.
Monday 14th à Friday 18th December
My last full week at school here, and shorter days, most only until lunch, and then most afternoons I went for a walk through the park to enjoy the snow now that its around again and did the last of my Christmas shopping, and letter writing, hope that all made its way to Australia in time.
Thursday was my last Japanese lesson over here which was very hard, as Ibata sensei has been the only person I have known and seen the whole of my and genrally a wonderful person.
Saturday 19th December
Spent today working on Christmas presents for host families and went for a walk down to the shops and then the library. Nothing to exciting.

Sunday 20th December
We went to kanazawa today, to kenrokuen… the castle gardens (which I have now been to in each of the 4 seasons) and then onto a noh theather production. The gardens were nice as always, as I said it was my 4th time there, but I wanted to go again to have been in each of the 4 seasons.
The Noh was intresting for the first hour or soo but was very long, about 4 hours and there was no interval. For those of you that don’t know, noh is a tyoe if traditional Japanese Drama, that is done to song. I cant explain it very well.. ill try to find a proper definition for you……
“Noh (能, Nō?), or Nogaku (能楽, Nōgaku?)[1] is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. The repertoire is normally limited to a specific set of historical plays. A Noh performance often lasts all day and consists of five Noh plays interspersed with shorter, humorous kyōgen pieces.
While the field of Noh performance is extremely codified with an emphasis on tradition rather than innovation, some performers do compose new plays or revive historical ones that are not a part of the standard repertoire. Works blending Noh with other theatrical traditions have also been produced.”

Monday 21st December
No school today, I only have school on Thursday this week. And again didn’t really get up to much, sorted out what stuff im giving to the new exchange students, and went for a fairly long walk.
Tuesday 22nd December
Today I went shopping with the lady from Rotary for my Christmas present, of an electronic dictionary and then out to lunch with her befor heading home for a bit befor a trip to the library.
Wednesday 23rd December
Had the Australian, New Zealand organization Christmas party in Toyama tonight, which was lots of fun, there were actually lots of foreigners at this one, some of the same people that had been on the bus trip with us back in March, but it was nice to catch up with them again and chat with some other aussies and other forginers, other than Josh, at the start of the part they gave me this thing that looked a lot like a sword and told me to go stand on stage… I was sooo confused, and then josh, a newzealerner and a Japanese girl walked in with candles and I had to light the “sword” I was holding with their three flames and then walk around the room lighting all of the other candles, as an act of sybolizim of the 3 countries coming together ( this ended up in the newspaper on the 24th )
Prior to the part which started at 4 I decided to go to Toyama and walk around there instead of wandering Takaoka again, I figured a change of seans would be well welcomed.

so its basically impossible to get on here long enough to type up a real entry but this time next friday i will be in tokyo and on my way home! so if you bare with me for like 9 days then you will get a nice long update about my last month in Japan.

what the rest of my time entales is
9th - meating up with Rie a friend i met on my first trip to Japan in 2005
10th - going to my 7th host families for the day to say goodbye
11th - lunch with my 1st host family
12th going to toyama to hang out with Josh for the last time (excluding tokyo... but there are 6 exchagne students there then)
13th - rotary for the last time i think? or mabey that was last week not sure! they never tell me anything
14th - no real plan except for finishing packing
15th - get up super early and fly to tokyo... a friend may be meeting me at the airport and hanging out for the day.
16th fly from tokyo to singapore and hmm i cant rember if my flight from singapore is the 16th or not
17th - arrive home in Aus!


love lots

sorry for the complete lack of updates, ill try and get somthing a bit more substancial up tomorow but i have no internet other than at the local libary and that is very limited, and its been closed for newyear, only opened uo agaian today. but all is well and im keeping very busy with trying to fit goodbyes to everyone in. ... i cant believe i only have 11 days left here!

but im looking forward to being home... and having a real pillow!

love lots

Sharnelle

Monday 16^th
à Friday 20^th November

Had another half day host this week, was another kinda boring one, and again I don't really blame the hosts as ive done everything that there is to do in the area and available to do on Wednesdays, Japan is strange, a lot of places are closed Wednesdays (or else Mondays like things are closed Sundays in Aus) so we went to their company, and they kinda just left me with the ladies that work there, the company make control panels, so I got to watch a bit of that which was sort of interesting. The rest of the week was school, and study.

 

Saturday 21^st, Sunday 22^nd and Monday 23^rd November (labour day holiday)

Saturday I went for a wonder down to Aeon, and the shoe warehouse near it in order to replace my boots that I walked holes into the soles of last winter, and managed to find a new pair for about $20 J Sunday I decided to spend the afternoon at the library, even just to study, because they actually have desks there, unlike my bedroom, and the kitchen table, is always very crowed and the kitchen is freezing. Monday I went for a walk down to Aeon, just because it was such a nice day, and I needed a new set of earphones, my old ones were only making sound in one ear at a time, and would change as I walked along and bended the wires differently and I managed to get a blister on the bottom of my foot, because I didn't put my orthotic in properly and *ouch* and then home again for the standard at home thing at the moment of study, less than 2 weeks now until my exam! Eek*

 

Tuesday 24^th
à Friday 27^th November

No rotary or half day host this week, but just lots of school, and study for the Japanese profiency test. We finished our current project in calligraphy this week, of writing out a haiku, the one I did translates as looking up, beautiful cloud, autumn sky.

Saturday 28^th & Sunday 29^th November

Once again out for lunch, on both days of the weekend, and my hosts were out for the rest of the time, so I went for a walk in the park on afternoon and just around the general area the other. the rest of the time spent studying or working on Christmas(new year) presents

 

Monday 30^th
à Friday 4^th December

I have this week off school because they are in the equlivent of block exams, although I went in for my Japanese lesssons now with my Japanese test less than a week away. Most of the week was spent studying, with a daily walk in the afternoon, either to the library where I would read that days English newspaper and check my email if I could grab a computer, or to the park.

Wednesday saw another half day host, and I must say it was frustrating, they own a teawear shop on the main street of town, and live above it, and we spent the whole time there, other than when they decided to take me for a walk down that street pointing out what every shop sells, it was another of those "hello! I have been here since January do you realy think that I haven't been here yet?" Moments

 

Saturday 5^th and Sunday 6^th December

Sunday was the big test day, and boy it was a freezing day, but all went well as far as I can judge, wont be getting results until late febuary or march next year, and of course, that ment Saturday was spent studying for the test. After the test Sunday I kinda felt a bit lost at home, no longer having study to do, but did easily fill the time doing a practise pack of my suitcase, and packing my box of things to post home, suprizinlgly enough everything does fit in my suitcase it just weighs way to much… so I shall be posting 22kg worth of stuff home. You really don't relize how much you have accumliated until you have to pack it all up again.

Monday 7^th – Friday 11^th December

Monday I posted my box home, all 22kg of it and it only cost me 10900 yen which is less than the $270 that it cost me to post 13kg to Japan at the start of my exchange. Wednesday saw me do my goodbye speech to my rotary club overe here, ill try and get an English version of it up soon, I do have a video of it, but I doubt many of you will find that intresting as its really just 10 mintes of me rambling in Japanese.

 

Saturday 12^th December

Today I returned to my 7^th host families house for a Christmas party with a lot of yoshiki's friends, oretty much the same bunch of kids I went to genkigekijyo with back in September, this was lotf of fun, and I had decided to give them their Christmas presents there, but then they told me I will actually be spending Christmas night with them, oh well. I had knitted them all something, Yoshiki and Haruki got scarfs to match the beanies that I made them while I was staying with them, mama and obachya (grandma) got bags, ayako a scarf ( I made her a bag for her birthday in October) and papa a scarf. And then for the whole family I did a kinda scrapbook thing with photos and a message to them that detailed the time I spent living with their family, I have actually made( or will make for my current) these for 5 of my 8 host families, they 3 im not doing them for, are the 3 host families that together made up august, as I don't quiet have enough time, and they were all incredibly short hosts.

Monday 9^th
à Friday 13^th November

Had another half day host this week, we went to Toyama to some shops and then to an art museum, one that I have been to twice before, but it doesn't have an Permanente exhibitions, so it has been different art work there each time I have been. Only at the moment they are changing over the exibit in the main area, so there were only the 2 small galleries open, which was a little disappointing.

Saturday 14^th and Sunday 15^th November

Saturday was mostly study, but I did go for a walk down to aeon for some more knitting supplies and on my way down there I found another op-shop which at the time had an out for lunch sort of sign up, and they said they would be back at 3, so I thought ok, ill hang out down at aeon so im coming back past this then, which was a little longer than I really needed at the shops, but anyway I ended up running into a group of girls from school. So I ended up going back past the op-shop well after 3 and it still wasn't open, ive been driven past it on several occasions since, and am yet to see it open, mabey this is why I had never noticed it befor.

Sunday I went to Toyama to see Josh, he isn't putting up a very good argument to loosing the nickname of tinkerbell that my family gave him when they were over here, when I texted him half an hour after we were supposed to meet, and turns out that message woke him up, so after waiting at the staion an increadibly long time, and having gotten rid of the freaky drunk ( at 10:30 in the morning) Japanese guy that kept talking to me. Josh finaly showed up, and inbetween the rain we managed to walk around both the castle park and the other park, befor giving up on being outside and reiterated to the shops, I refused to catch the bus to the big shops, because its to expensive, 370, when it only costs me 320 to get to Toyama and aeon which is just as big as toyamas shops is walking distance from my house, this annoyed josh a bit, especially as I then bought 3 dvd's but hey they were 500yen each, (about $7) I misjudged how long it would take me to get home, and ended up getting home after dark, which didn't fuss my host parents, they just said as long as im home for dinner its all good, but I don't particulary like the path between here and the train station at night, as it goes past 2 pachinko palors ( it's a form of pinball, but its basically gambling, aka lots of drunk guys there) and um a karaoke bar, that is targeted at men.

 

Monday 26th à Friday 30th October
School, and freezing cold at school. But not all that much else to say. Thursday was dissapointly boring, because they had another sports day, which I had no idea about,so I didn’t have my sports uniform, and my Japanese teacher didn’t turn up either, so I spent the entire day alone in the library.
Saturday 31st October
Just mama, haruki, Yoshiki and I today, this morning we did some water colour painting while mama was out at haru’s kindy. And then went out for lunch and to the local park for a play, befor heading home, to be met by the rest of the family and then going out to dinner.

Sunday 1St November
Thismorning, befor we even had time for breakfast, we were visited at the house by someone fromt eh local temple, to give us a private service in honour of all the ancestors of the family, infront of the family temple in the house.
So after that and many photos and some random games with the kids, I moved to my finial host family, family number 8. Its so weird to think that I'm at my last host family already, but when my average time at any of the previous families has been about 5 weeks, and I have 11 left here, who can really blame me. At this host family its just me and my host parents, they were actually my first half day hosts, just says something about Japanese organization. But anyway.
We had our first snow of the season tonigh, as we were walking home from dinner, was very supprising but then my hosts went into a big speal about how last winter was really warm, so looks like this is going to be a very cold one.
Monday 2nd àFriday 6th November
It was a public holiday on Tuesday, (culture day) so no school on which I spent at home doing kanji study. Due to this and Tuesday next week being a test day Friday was a Tuesday timetable, meaning I missed out on my fun filled Friday. Also due to my Japanese teacher being busy on other days, I only had one lesson this week on Friday where she pointed out what I have been trying not to think about all that much, that my Japanese proficiency test is now only a month away. Eekk!
Saturday 7th November
Went to my host families business for a bit today, just to look around, they are roof tillers, so really what I looked at where lots of black tiles. Yay! And then it was home again for some more study.
Sunday 8th November
So this morning I finially stoped saying ill do it tonight and then not coz I was too tired and I sat down and wrote letters to those back home that I owe them to. (Grandparents and friends birthdays). Then I studied until lunch, after lunch I did another of those I've been putting this off to long things, and walked to the copper district, which was quiet interesting to wander through, but everything is soooooo expensive, well it is all hand made in the shops that sell them, but still, $2000 for a teapot! And then I went to an op-shop on the way home, didn’t find what I wanted, but didn’t have enough time before it closed to look through the whole shop. So I shall have to go back again sometime soon. Considering how cold it has been reciently it was quiet hot today, I have no idea about what the actual temperature was, but I was quiet happily wandering around after lunch in just a long sleeved shirt.

Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th October
School both days, Wednesdays as normal only until the end of third, as I then had roatary, and again a half day host today, today we went to kanazawa to the gold leaf place, and made chopsticks, by that I mena decorated them with gold leaf, I want to go back there again and make several more pairs as souviners as it was very cheap! After that we went to a kimono making place, which I also want to go back to because you can make your own segments of them, but it takes several hours and we got there half and hour befor closing. Then it was back to their house for a bit befor we were goined by more extended family and headed out to yaki niki for dinner.

Thursday 15th October
So I have this next week off because my class has exams. Today I spent the morning studying befor going out and having my lunch bought at a convini in the park really close to us (not the park that I usually mention) and then returning home to find a half decient movie on the tv (in English) so I watched that until the others got home.
Friday 16th October
So this morning I said stuff it to studying, I do have a fair bit to do befor I will feel comfortable going into my prefeiency test, expecially as far as kanji, but it was such good weather, and over all it doesn’t matter what score I get in the profiency test, ill never get this opportunity to explore Japan again, so today I armed with a map headed to the train station, bought a ticket. I had really no idea where I wanted to go but had decided how much I was willing to spend on the train, so I ended up going to a little town called fukuoka. Turns out I had kinda been meaning to go there, they have the cutiest little Japanese music museum, which I ended up spending about 3 hours, in even though there is really less than 30 min worth of stuff to see, because the lady that was there was soo interested in talking to me, why I was in Japan and why I had gone to fukuoka, she found my story about the train cost to be very very funny. But she ended up giving me a book as well,. After several cupps of tea and biskicts, but this book is all about traditional Japanese music, and would have cost me about $30! She asked that I go back there again befor I leave japan and after that I think I will have to. Fukuoka is also home to a camera museum, which I found incredibly intresting, mabey a little nerdy yes, but I enjoyed it. I then had lunch at the train station waiting for a train home, and then fell asleep in frount of the tv watching another movie.

Saturday 17th October
Not a lot today was the 40th annerverary of harukis kindy so haru and papa were out at that most of the day, while mama was at yoshikis school in preparation for tomorrow, so this left me at home with Yoshiki, gosh he can be annoying at times. Latter, when haruki was home we watched “ponyo on the cliff above the sea” the latest studio ghibli film
Sunday 18th October
Today was yoshikis schools festival, I didn’t find it anywhere as near as fun as minem but then again it wasn’t aimed at me. But ti was good fun none the less. They had a cheap stall, where everything had been donated new, for them to sell, I bought a few things there coz it was cheap!
Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th October
Both days off school again, on Monday Yoshiki also had the day off school. So Monday was very unproductive, I had planed on going out on Tuesday but as it was really rainy weather that didn’t happen and I got a lot of study done
Wednesday 21st, Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd October
School, unfortunately my holidays were over and back to school I went. At least Wednesdays are only half days for me (because of rotary) on the way home I wanted to visit the op shop, but turns out its closed Wednesdays, ahh well. Thursday and Friday were both long days! But calligraphy on Friday was fun as usual, we learnt about the formation of hiragana and the kanji that they came from and then had to practise writing all the hiragana, old style.
Saturday 24th October
So this morning we left takaoka just after 8 to arrive in Nagoya for an early lunch at a well known tonkatsu restaurant. I must say I don’t think they are the nicest tonkatsu but that was just the sauce I chose, I didn’t particually like it. Ahh well. From there we went on to explore Nagoya castle, where the souviners were cheap, especially as this is the 3rd biggest city in Japan, and one of it main attractions, they could get away with prcies being so much higher,not that im complaining at all, I was just very surprised. Nagoya castle grounds are also home to some dear (much to my surprise) and the flower dolls, lifeish size dolls made out of flowers! As well as an impressive bonsai tree collection.
After the castle we went on to a museum which was mostly of old armor and weponary of the ;prds of the area. And then on to a friend of yoshikis house, they used o live in takaoka and went to kindy together, also they are children/grandkids of one fo the rotary members of my club over here. With them we went out to dinner. Of eel! Its actually a lot nicer than you think its going to be, again not my favourite food, but its what Nagoya it known for so…
It was then off to our hotel for the night, I had a fun time explaining to Yoshiki why I pulled the blinds and went behind them to take photos of the city.( to stop refection of the room we were in).

Sunday 25th October
So after a maccas breakfast in our hotel room we hopped back in the car, this time bound of Osaka. Yup true Japanese style holiday, pack as much into it as you possibly can while not really fully doing anything, but hey it was good fun. In Osaka we went to an aquarium and then a shopping street. Where we ate crab okonomiyaki! I love crab! Not so much octopus, and I think my host dad got a little offended when I refused to takoyaki which are octopus dumplings. But I really don’t like them and I have eaten them befor, and its not like they were going to go to waste as Yoshiki wanted more anyway.

Friday 25th September
I finially finished my current project in calligraphy today, that of writing　自分の道 wich means ones own path, or ones own way, my teacher then asked me why I chose this, when I startd it she had given me a book of 4 character phrases and told me to chose one to do, and in all honest I chose this one because it was one of the few I understood and the one I most liked the meaning of and didn’t think was overally hard, ironically I found the 2nd charather the hardest, until today when I discovered ive been doing the stroke order wrong and when I started doing it in the correct order it worked soo much better. Anyway I mad4 up some bull about how living in another country with a culture so difrent from my own I have kinda combined the two and come up with my own way of doing things, and that’s why I chose it but my teacher didn’t believe me coz here reply was no its because you understood it. Ah the calligraphy teacher is good fun.

Saturday 26th September
So this morning after cleaning Yoshiki invaded my room with his homework while I was trying to do mine, once we finially worked through both of our homework we all went out to do the grocery shopping, then home for lunch, after which I looked after haruki at home while yohiki was at the dentist, we then all went out shopping at dasio (the 100yen shop) before Yoshiki and I were dropped home while Haruka went to the doctors.

Sunday 27th September – My 18th birthday
So my birthday, definitely not what I would have ever though I would do on my 18th birthday, after opening all my presents that I had previously been given at like 3 in the morning or something ridiculous, I did it then coz that’s when I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided to open presents. I did then go back to sleep for a while and got up proper when my host siblings decided it was well time I showed my face down stairs… at 7. And for the following 3 hours I did the same puzzle 3 times with haruki and then played some Japanese chess against Yoshiki, he is yet to beat me but its not easy easy for me either it is still a challenge. I want to play against my host dad one day soon. And then I went out with Obachan (grandma) to get Ayumi and nick from the train station and we did a bit of sightseeing, the big buddah , the park (nick wanted to go to the zoo) and the copper district befor heading home for a bbq lunch, I don’t think that nick or I ate anything for lunch other than meat, there was vergies and stuff as well, but was good fun all the same. Haruka’s family were also over, so after lunch we played with the kids, at one point nick was playing baseball with a bouncy ball and chopsticks. Then my host dad pulled out his rotary blazer, from when he was an exchange student 16 years ago and I grabbed mine and photos were taken of the 2 of us, and then of Haruka and Yoshiki wearing them, mine touched the ground when Yoshiki had it on. It was very cute though. It was then cake time! Then came present time and omg did I get a pile, I already mentioned opening once I had previously been given, but then there were all the ones from my host family, Ayumi, and Haruka and her family. Ayumi and nick headed home soon after that and I kept playing with the kids for quiet some time until dinner which was yakisoba, but after cake, all the meat at lunch and the various other snacks we ate I barley had room for any of it. And I love yakisoba so that’s saying something

Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th September
School,
Wednesday 30th September àfridays 2nd August
So after school on Wednesday (for me school finished at 11:30 on Wednesdays) mama picked me up from school and we went out for lunch, then returned home for a rest befor I had to be at the train staion at 5 to meet up with all the other exchange students (except Andrew who was on school camp) and be taken off to the 3 day friendship in shinminato meeting, Wednesday night we attended the rotary clubs meating and got presented with happies (festival clothing) and then got ushered off home with our hosts, for this we were hosted with pairs, I was with Ashleigh, the Canadian girl.
Thursday after a traditional Japanese breakfast we were off again to the Fushiki marine museum and then kiomaru (the massive boat) and a river cruise, befor helping to push the floats for a bit and going to see the mayor. The mayor was a character and a half! After that we watched the parade for a bit more outside the mayors office, and then back to the rotary office (in the building right next door) where we proceded to watch the parade on tv… or as us girls discovered we had a much better view from the toilet window. But we soon got shooed away from there by tv film crews who wanted to take advantage of the spot. It was then home again for dinner and a bit of a rest (watching more festive activities on the tv) befor heading back to watch the night parade.
Friday we had a pottery class where I made a plate and a coffee mug, I would like to bring these home if they fired ok, but weight! And the care that they would need in my hand luggage on the way home, I don’t know if I will be able to. From there it was on to aeon, )which I found amusing, mainly coz it’s the shopping center I go past every day to get to school, but also because, with the acception of josh, everyone else lives in kanazawa where there are shops 100X better so like they really want to go to aeon. ) and then to the train and home)
Saturday 3rd August - school festival
So school festival today, and for some reason, (even though I attended the nichidai(sister school in Tokyo) festival 4 years ago) that this was going to be somewhat similar to open days back home, but I couldn’t have been more wrong, each class and club had to do either some sort of presentation or run an activity or two in their class room, genrally with prizes involved but not always. My class didn’t make me help them so I had the whole day to wander the rooms, just after lunch when I had done everything my host family came and I did it all again with them, it was some what funner the second time round with haru and yoshiki
Sunday 4th – district conference
Today it was off to kanazawa on a bus with a heap of Rotarians from my club heading to district conference, when we got there our club went out to lunch at a sashimi restaurant ( I don’t eat sashimi) and then to the conference, the conference itself was very boring, I could understand when I was really paying attention but then as I was on only one there that could read the program I kept getting asked when our next break? Do you reckon I can go to the toilet now? How much longer? Ect. There were some other Australians there from district 9680 (I think) because their club had teamed up with some of the rotairians from our district to help build a house in Vanuatu. Dinner was fun, we had geshi entertainment, and after our 5 hours of sitting in conference it was a nice break. I particularly enjoyed talking to Andrew( one of the Canadians), he didn’t come to the shinminato thing as he had been on school camp so this was the first time I met him, and in a lot of ways he reminds me of 2 of my cousins.
Monday 5th
So I had today off school because we had the festivale thing on Saturday, so I spent the day watching the dvd (7 pounds) I borrowed out last night and finished off knitting the bag for ayakos birthday present. We had a special dinner with lots of cake to celebrate he birthday, she turned 30 today.
Tuesday 6th school
School today, and I must say I am really enjoying pe atm, we are doing dance!

Wednesday 7th / Thursday 8th
Wednesday was another day off school, I don’t quiet understand why, but one should never complain when they get a day off school. However I did have rotary and a half day host, todays half day host took me to Futagamiyama (the mountain I went up with my family) and to the himi botanical gardens (went there in Jan) and then to a very early dinner and home, befor the thypoon got to bad, as soon I as I got home I helped clean the garden up a bit of toys and tie down the outdoor furniture, anything that could do damage in the stong winds of the typhoon, I think the worst of It hit here at about 3 Thursday morning, well that’s when I got woken up by it, but the winds and rain continued all day and is still going to some extent. Because of the thyphoon all schools had a holiday today (Thursday).
Friday 9th – school
So yes I actually had school today, but it was Monday timetable, so I didn’t have calligraphy and the set of subjects that I normally have on a Friday that I like. On the way home I stoped in at aeon for a bit, for some stuff mainly another Japanese study book, I still really struggle with particles! I think that is going to be my weakest point on my up coming Japanese test, but I now have a book devoted to them so hopefully working through that will help me.
Saturday 10th
Happy birthday Rach !
Haru, Yoshiki, mama and papa went away for the night tonight with mama’s parents and her brother family to celebrate her dads 60th birthday, so today it was just ayako, Obachan (grandma) and me. We went out for lunch and then onto some ski fields, well they are ski fields in winter, atm they are covered in “cosumosu” a type of flower, they would have been a lot prettier had we had not had the thyphoon but they were really pretty nonethe less. But it was very very cold there, especially when we went on the chair lift to the top of the mountain, but that was well worth it for the view.
After that we went to uni qlo, (a clothes shop) and I got 2 shirts, a scarf, a pair of leggings, and some slippers for 2500 yen which is about $35 ( I actually have no idea what the current exchange rate is, im still working on what it was in Jan there) after that we went out for dinner.

Sunday 11th

Again today was just the 3 of us, so after going out for lunch again we went to a big shopping center in Toyama, and there was a uni qlo there as well, I bought another pair of leggings, coz they are amazingly cheap, but other than that I didn’t buy anything, but it was a fun time shopping all the same. After that we came home and had sukiyaki for dinner, because of a conversation we had a lunch today that I hadn’t ever had it, this shocked them because it is apparently a very easy and popular winter meal in Japan. But then again if you think back to last winter I was with my first host family and we ate out about 95% of the time.

Monday 12th
So it was a public holiday today, sports day or something to that extent. Mama, Papa, Yoshiki, huruki and I went to taikoyama land and met up with 6 other families, all of which have a kid in yoshikis year level, ( they all went to kindy together but are at 3 different primary schools now) that was really good fun, and made me miss Adelaide a lot, I dunno we don’t have those sorts of parks in queensland, or mabey we do, but there are a lot more in Adelaide, and ahh I guess that’s where I lived when I was the age of most of the kids there today. After we got home, Yoshiki, haru, papa and I went for a bike ride, Yoshiki on his bike, papa actually rode mine, because, haru wanted to sit on the baggage thing above the

some more pictures

Monday 14th à Friday 18th
Fairly average week at school, had a half day host, I'm kinda over these, in theory they are good but the problem is I have now been to all the things that there is time for between rotary finishing at almost 2 and the time I have to be home by at 8:30/9 like once you consider travel time then a decient amount of time there ect, so the are getting boring.
Saturday 19th
Tonight we went to another dance festival, this time in Johana it was very cool. And I got some very cool souvineres semi cheaply, and by that I mean they were still kinda expensive but a lot cheaper than I had previously seen similar things for.

Sunday 20th
Today we had haruchan’s sports day, she goes to kindy where they are between 2 and 5, so of course this was very very cute, and very typical japnaese, though then again it’s a kindy you wouldn’t want them doing all the actual competitions that we do in later years in Australia. It was all held inside a gym as well, not outside, which felt really weird for a sports day, though this time I hadn’t bothered to pack my hat, I did have my towel ready though.
Monday 21st
We went on a road trip, by we I mean, papa, mumma, my host uncle who is here for silver week, haruki, Yoshiki and I. we went down int Gifu prefecture first of all to a famous soba restaurant, and then on to the world heritage listed villiage of shirakawago which was really really pretty. But after the whole day walking round and probably not drinking quiet enough water, not to memtion that lunch was just soba, and a soysauce/ water soup as well as being cramped as one of 4 in the back seat with 2 screaming kids all the way home I felt like shit, and fell asleep as soon as we got home.
Tuesday 22nd
I felt a lot better this morning because as I expected my feeling like crap last night was due to a long day in a car with screaming kids on a lack of sleep, so my 13 hours sleep was a good enough cure. So after arguing with my hsot for a bit that I was fine and didn’t need to go to the doctor, okasan Yoshiki and I were off first of all to a friends house where we met up with several other friends, played musical seats with in cars for a bit until all the kids were sastified with who they were withand then we were off again, on a long drive to a place very close to the boarder of ishikawaken and what ever prefecture is the one south of that, nihon genki gekijyo which was kinda a theam park but not, I dunno cross a museum with a theme park and add a dash of Japanese strangeness to the mix and you have genki gekijyo, also it was Japanese themed so yeah,lots of ninja shows, old style Japanese drama, also leg baths in the hot springs, or in luke-warm water with fish that would come and suck at your legs…. Weirdest feeling ever! And highropes (with no helmets! I tell you work place health and safety would go insane over here) I spent most of the day mainly with Haru(ka) chyan (not my host sister haru(ki)chan) who is in yoshikis class and her little cousin rinchan 4. After all was said and done at genki gekijyuo… well actually when the park closed we didn’t quiet get everything done… we headed back to said friends house, and then out to dinner with haruchan and her family, her dad is the funniest guy, and livened up the drive to and from genkigekijyo as well as our dinner, we were literally eating between laughs and trying not to spit our food back up as we laughed.
Wednesday 23rd September
After several packed days I was very glad to have the day at home today, with the exception of a little shopping trip in which we brought a new game for Yoshiki, the game being ahh I've forgotten the name but its Japanese chess. Which for some reason I seem to comprehend more than regular chess though I think the rules are actually more complicated in Japanese chess, as you can re use the pieces you have captured, and when they get to the far side of the board they become more powerful.
Thursday 24th September
School today, but it was one of those weird days, where I didn’t really have lessons with my class, this was because we were on a Monday timetable today, but because it is really Thursday I had my Japanese lesson still and they had English and maths in that time and then the classes that I don’t do later in the day when I was actually free to be going to classes. But I did still have English writing and history. But I still don’t understand history, mabey if I could actually make myself pay attention for the whole lesson I would pick more up but instead I use history lessons to learn that weeks Japanese vocab.

Thursday 10th September
A pretty standard day at school, I had another of those no I didn’t go back to Australia for summer holiday convos today after one of the guys in my class commented that he saw me with a guy in the holidays and wanted to know if it was my boyfriend, I'm guessing that he means he saw me and josh, so after explaining who josh is, (if your reading this and don’t know ill be surprised but hes the other aussies exchange student in my area) going through no hes not my boyfriend, or brother or cousin or any other reliative, no not a school friend from Australia (even though he is both a friend and Australian I did only meet him in Japan. )they were like wait you didn’t go home for holidays. So then I had to explain that no I'm in Japan for a year, and ill only go home at the end of that, in January, apparently some of my class mates didn’t relize I have been here since January andinstead thought I came when the new school year started in april, and thus thought I would be her until the school year ended. I'm not sure yet, because I don’t know when winter holidays end, but I don’t think ill come back to school after them, as if I do it would be for 1 or mabey 2 weeks, but I guess it also depends on my host family at the time ect.
Friday 11th September
In calligraphy today I finished carving my name stamp, its really cool, I'm very pleased with it, I really want to get more photos up but the computers at school are rediciously slow at doing so, so I'm going to try and arrange something else so that I can. Aftrer school today I returned to my first host families house, actually the first time I've returned to any of my hosts houses, it was weird, not so much the going back, well it kinda was but its soo different to when I was there, the have sold their grand piano, and that has given the downstairs area so much more room, I didn’t go upstairs but I doubt that would have changed very much as it is just bedrooms and the bathroom. Also when I lived there we always had snow and thus the heaters and winter blankets to snuggle under while watching tv ect, but it now bwing early autum and to the japnese standards still really warm and mabey even hot, (sorry but I'm my books 20 doesn’t = hot) so they had the house a lot more open and we actually went out into the glass room, a room that we never used as it was always to cold, it is all glass, the walls are entirely windows and the roof is glass as well, there is only about a 2m wall that isn’t glass where it connects to the rest of the house, it’s a really nice room. Okasan was thrilled to have me back there, as I have really only seen here once since I moved, at the dinner with my family, but I was sat at the other end of the table from her and as one of the 2 Japnese people there that could speak English she spent most of the night talking with and translating for my parents while I was doing the same with my sister. The reason I went back there this afternoon was that we had an Australian, newzealand organization meeting tonight in toyama that Otosan had to go to as well so he was taking me to that. At the meting josh and I were the only exchange students, fitting as it is a prefectual organization and we are the only excahgne students in our prefecture, but again there wasn’t any other Australians or any newzealanders other than the embasicy members that they had invited. The Newzealand embacy lady has been in japan for almost 2 years now and has very fluent and formal Japanese, where as josh and I mostly speak informal japnese because that’s what used at school and home, at occasions like this we should be speaking formally, and believe me they are 2 completely different things. As I attend rotary weekly and do speeches at least once a forghtnight if not every week, I at least get this practice at my formal Japnaese, josh not so much. The Australian embasy lady has only been here 3 months and hadn’t previously studied Japanese and thus wasn’t that great and I felt awful when my Japanese was way better than hers and several of the Japense people there commented on this in front of her, though I'm not sure she understood. The meating was like an agm if I understood correctly, looking at what they have done during the last year and what they have planed for the coming year, they asked my feedback on the bus hike that they took us on back in April and I gave some constructive critisisum, though I think it came across a bit harsher than I intended. I was also given a really handy little book all about Australia, in Japanese and I mentioned to them that they should give these out at the beginning of our stay, when we don’t have the japense skills to explain for ourselves.
Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th
So this weekend was the 400th annerversary festival, so there was a lot of photos around and displayes of the town of how it used to be, which were quiet intresting, they also had a mini replica of the castle made out of plastic bottles in the park on Saturday, however it was no where to be seen Sunday which was annoying as Josh came on Sunday, Saturday also saw several local bands perfoming on a stage set up in the park, which was also very cool. Oh and I got interviewed for the radio! Sunday my host dad and brother were in the parade, and so we (josh and I) actually watched that parade twice, once where the 2 parades passed fairly soon after one another and the other time with the rest of my host family from their old house, which is above their business. I then got to watch a display that is usually reserved to a day in golden week which I missed in golden week due to band practices which was one of the main factors as to why I quit. But this involved banging to huge floats into each othe multiple times, quiet the ridoculiosness but intresting all the same.

Tuesday 1st September
So back at school today, my host mum drove me to and from school because it was very rainy, today was a pretty average day at school, other than opening ceremony, which then ment that the following 6 lessons were shortened to fit them all in by home time. Once home I did my last minute packing (eg packing my school uniform) befor playing a bit of Nintendo with Asa befor moving to my new host family.
Here I have a little sister haruki who is 4 a little brother yoshiki 7, parents, an aunty and Grandma. There isn’t actually a rotary member in this family however my host dad was an exchange student to new york in 1994. Granddad was a member of the rotary club befor he died 16 years ago.

Wednesday 2nd September
School thismorning, it takes me about 40 minutes to ride to school, and when I got there my legs were absolutely caning, the bike I have now is difrrent from the one I had last time I rode to school, its much older and isn’t geared,making it somewhat harder to ride. I had rotary today, so went to that where I got given my birthday present, which I haven’t yet opened, I have a small collection of things on my shelf now, which I'm not going to open until my birthday. And then I had to ride home… it got a little to hot, and I didn’t have a drink with me today so I stoped in at Aeon on the way home for a drink and to cool off a bit beofr continuing home. Once home I wraped the presents for my hosts, befor they all got home from work and school. Tonight with Obasan, okasan, Haruchan and yoshiki I went to Owara a really small town, near toyama for the dance festivle that was on there. We didn’t really get to see all that much, as most of the stuff was on a lot later than we could stay there with a 4 and 7 year old.

Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th September
School, Thursday was standard, Friday I had calligraphy in which we started designing our stamps, I cant remember the proper name for them, but like the stamp that we will use on our work in red ink to state that it is ours, and for this I had to use kanji so the first lesson (calligraphy is a double) was spent decided on kanji for my name, what we decided on is 赦寝 which means peacefull Friday afternoon I rode into the rain on the way home and actually only made it as far as the train station befor giving up leaving my bike there, amoung hundreds, mabey thousands of others for the weekend and ringing my host mum and asking her to come pick me up from there.
Saturday 5th September
Went to toyama today first of all to the wedding of my host parents friends then while okasan was at the reception papa, Haruchan, Yoshiki and I went out for lunch and to the science museum, there was a huge focus on the ecology of toyama prefecture, and the 4 noble prize winners that come from this area. As well as a few other really cool things, the one I found most intresting was the water harp purely coz I cant for the life of me figure out how it works. After that it was home to make a lot more origami… mostly shurikans, and balloons, they are the only things that haruki knows how to make, but Yoshiki and I did try some harder stuff as well. We had take out pizza tonight, which seamed very odd, I've had take out in japan befor, from the Chinese shop, where they dilvered it to us in proper dishes packed inside this special box, and when we were finished eating we put the dishes back in the box and outside and they would come back later to pick it up, take out pizza is just like in Aus, and the bases were thick like our pizzas to, most pizza over here is like on burritos.

Sunday 6th September
We had a really lovely breakfast out in the backyard this morning under a shade. And pretty much a lazy day really, as most of my host family were feeling unwell, this left me with a very energenic 7 year old to try and keep busy, and somewhat quiet.
Monday 7th September
School, because of the rain on Friday I was driven to the train station this morning and then I rode on to school, as usual when I am subjected to an English reading lesson I got absolutely enfuriated at the teacher, he refuses to listen to what I have to say, he askes me a question like to define words, but then he will change what I said, usully so it wrong when he repeats it to the class, I may have complained about my Japanese teacher back in Aus, I didn’t like the way he taught, but he with out a doubt knew his stuff, and I would much much rather that the English teachers here taught the way that he did and really knew their stuff. A lot of the teachers have one way of saying things and struggle to say things in other ways, some refuse to accept that there are multiple ways of saying things, and a lot of the time I cant even say what I would use, as one of my English teachers knows now, it depends on the context in which its used! Other teachers know that it is possible to say it multiple ways but struggle to know if the way that is being presented to them is correct if its not the way that seems most natural to them.

Tuesday 8th September
School again, and I'm actually really liking getting to school early these days, though as it starts to get much cooler I doubt that I will still be able to say that, not with riding to school, but I now do a lot of my Japanese study in the half an hour I have at school befor lessons start, which is great because it means I am carrying less books to and from school each day, but also because I'm not being distracted by haru and Yoshiki as I am trying to study. Though Yoshiki and I do often do some kanji study together of an afternoon. Not today however as very soon after I got home, we were out again, to drop haru and Yoshiki off at their other grandma’s place befor going out to dinner and then a tradition drama at the cultural hall opposite school, I understood hardly anything, then again neather did my host family or any of the Rotarians that we were sitting with, this was due to it being in old Japanese, kinda like Shakespearean is for us.
Wenesday 9th September
Our biol lesson today was intrupted by several of us noticing a fire near the school and our teacher making sure that the firebrigade had been notified, it looked really big, as we could see it over the top of another fairly tall building, yet I cant actually figure out where it actually was. I had rotary today, and a half day host, I must say probably the least interesting half day host yet, I do feel sorry for the ones I have now though, as there isn’t really much left in the local area that I haven’t done, and they all feel that they have to take me out to places, one of the half day hosts I've most enjoyed I went back to their house helped my host sister there do her English homework befor going and hanging out at the shops for a bit. Also I'm getting a bit sick of the obvisoul lack of people in our rotary club paying any attention to what I do at meatings, half of them, along with most Japanese still ask me if we have such and such in America, I feel like yelling at them when they ask me this, but then also the can you speak Japanese question, um hello, lets think about this I've been living here almost 8 months now, I get up infrount of all of you every month and do a 5-10 minute speech in Japanese about what I have done in the last month with no notes, but no I don’t think I can speak Japanese. Do you? There also seems to be a lot of ignorance and stupidity going round, I say we don’t eat fish very much in Australia, which compared to Japan is very true, somehow this always translated to their heads as I don’t like fish at all. Also when I said that my family doestngo fishing this apparently ment that no one does and that I would have never seen a fishing rod in my life. Ahh some people have a lot to learn don’t they. So today we went to a little fishing village, a coffee shop a picture book museum and then to dinner befor I got returned home at 7. Which I was good because I wsant really feeling the best so I went to bed fairly early.

Friday 21st –Monday 24th August ~ Disneyland trip to Tokyo
So on Friday I moved to my new hosts, and it was an interesting first night, after much sitting around (waiting for my host sister to get home from work) we got in the car and drove to Tokyo overnight, once in Tokyo we grabbed breakfast and headed to Disneyland, and our first lineup of the day waiting to get in…we were there before the park opened! After lining up for over half an hour to get our fastpass tickets for the new Monsters Inc ride (that enabled us to return and skip the line after 9pm) we went shopping, the thought process wasn’t really there I don’t think, everyone knows the sensible thing is to shop at the end of the day so you don’t have to carry it around allday! But anyway, I was bought a Marie lanyard to put my ticket and fastpasses in and a Chip and Dale mini towel. I found a nice pin for my blazer and then it was off to the rides. After a few rides and some very long lines, we had lunch and watched the cool the heat show which started with the phrase (in English) “ are you feeling hot? We have the soluition for you, lets dance around in the sun!) this did actually involve a lot of water being sprayed around the castle and all over the audience! I think it just made it all more humid rather than cooling but anyway. After that we moved to wait for the day time parade, and there ate yet another Icecream, these ones came in souviner cups. After that we watched the cool the heat show again. Got really wet this time as we were standing in a different place to watch it. Host parents then went to our hotel while my host sister Azusa and I stayed at Disneyland, went on a few more rides, met Mickey and then grabed a good spot for the night show, for which our parents returned to Disneyland for, after that we had dinner and went on the monsters inc ride before some more shopping and then finially heading to our hotel at 10pm (the parks close time!)
Sunday was another packed full day up early and off to Disney Sea, again we got there befor opening time, the lines here were not anywhere near as bad, so a lot more rides were ridden! And I believe that the rides at Disney sea are much better than any of the rides at Disneyland (with the exception of Space mountain…. Fave ride ever!) however I didn’t enjoy the DisneySea shows as much. The Littlemermaid area blew my mind, very much designed for little kids, but I think it was the most true to the movies and it captured what I originally expected the Disneyparks to be. Disney Sea has a lot wider range of souviners available but there is still a lot missing from the range, if it mickey or any of his companins you will easily find it, stich is another big one as is Pooh Marie is a big presence but really there isn’t much else.
Monday was mostly spent driving home, stopping every time we passed a rest stop place, so at least every half hour, so it took way to long!
Tuesday 25th à Friday 28th August
This week was spent doing random things, from bowling, Karaoke, shopping, badminton in the park and Nintendo games and just generally getting used to my new host family. I was watching TV one night, well every night actually the TV in out apartment is never off and my bed is right next to the TV so it’s hard to avoid, and really some of the TV shows amaze me. They really do, all the sterotypes of them are totally correct. I watched 2 movies this week, sister act and Always, actually I watched them both twice, once in English and once in Japanese. I was fine watching sister act in Japanese, Always was a bit more challenging due to the discourses present in it.
Saturday 29 August
I went to Toyama today and spent the day with Josh, we went to some big shopping center which I have forgotten the name of, not that It would mean much to you anyway. But it was very similar to Aeon (only more expensive to get to, I finially realize what everyone was saying about Aeon being very convienient, even though it is quiet a way from the from the station to walk and all the other good things are on the other side of the station. Anyway we went shopping, went back to toyama itself, had lunch, walked around a bit befor it was time for me to head home.
Sunday 30th August
Went up some mountain in Ishikawaken and then to and Aquarium which was actually kinda intresting, but I think my host mum was about 10X more excited than I was.
Monday 31st August
As it was a fairly raininy day today so Azusa and I spent most of the day playing on the nitendio, and then at dinner I was informed that I will be changing host families again tomorrow, and as I have school tomorrow I had to make sure I got everything packed tonight, thankfully, as I haven’t been here long, and its such a small place that I haven’t really had room to unpack there wasn’t really all that much to do.

Monday 17^th à Friday 21^st August

Just hanging out at home for most of the week, went to rotary on Wednesday, where my glasses broke and I was pressed into putting them into the first place we went to for repair, I have a spare pair which I am now wearing and I am worried about how much it is going to be costing me to get them fixed, but alas I guess getting them fixed is the best thing so that I still have a spare pair here for the rest of the year. Today (Friday) I will change host families AGAIN and we are heading to Tokyo for the weekend, and then I'm back at school next week, this next term takes us all the way through to Christmas eve. Yay! What a long term!

photos!

Tuesday 11^th August

So today I played the waiting game yet again, I must say communication here really fails. I changed host families today, and ahh waiting to change host families is one of the most nerve racking and annoying things. The only move I have felt entirely comfortable with was moving to the Mai family (Yoshi’s) mainly because I had actually met them before I moved and I knew a bit about the family. The only time I have actually previously known any details about the family I will be living with. So I moved at like 3. I had been told after lunch, and we ate lunch and then they were like soon, you move soon. So yeah 4 hours later, I moved to my next family, on the same road… technically, but about another 20 minutes drive away from the station and there are lots of bends and what not that it may as well not be. I have 2 older host sisters, an older host brother, mum, dad and grandma here. My bed is literally a mattress on the floor and I have no room to unpack my suitcase, not that I really want to, I am only here 10 days.

Wednesday 12^th August

Didn’t get up to much today, had a lovely chat with some friends on Skype today.

Thursday 13^th

So today we did the lets go to the supermarket and point at what you like game again. Have I mentioned how much I hate doing that?! And then after that Mari (host sister) and I went to the library and while she was doing her stuff I read one of the few English books they have called the castles of the samurai which wasn’t a bad book. A little dated but none the less I did learn some things from it.

Friday 14^th

So this afternoon Mari and I headed over to a friend’s house for a bbq. There we had the normal yakiniku sort of food, and then somen and ramen (both types of noodles) in the waterstream running down bamboo cut in half, it’s hard to explain there will be photos soon. And then we did fireworks and just generally had a fun afternoon/evening.

Saturday 15^th

Today, well today I'm confused, we drove to kawakawa… which is about an hour and a half drive away went to “hachiban ramen“ (it’s a chain of restaurants that’s in almost as many places as maccas) and then turned around and came home. I'm a little confused as to why.

Sunday 16^th

After having a heap of other family members over for lunch Mari and I went out to a bbq at the beach with mostly the same people as Friday, I actually went for a swim and it felt great to swim again, even if it was very cold and the Japanese girls got really freaked out when I went in further than waist deep, apparently they fail to realize that Australians can swim!

Saturday 1st August
Not much today, finished unpacking all my stuff and setting up my room, getting frustrated at myself because I couldn’t remember where I decided to put things, always the issue with changing hosts, re getting used to the environment and where I am able to put things. I then got a little bored and started to sketch from my photos.

Sunday 2nd August
This afternoon saw me going to Inami with my host parents, it was a sweet littletown whos main industry is woodcarving. I got to see some of this in Action and just look at lots of other finished and half finished pieces of work.

Monday 3rd August
So didn’t really get up to much today did some more sketching.

Tuesday 4th August
So at lunchtime today my host brother and I went out to an Okonomiyaki restaurant, I hate how on several occasions different host families have said lets go out to lunch/ dinner, and then we go on to a heap of other things, mainly because I don’t nessaceraly take my camera and wallet with me when we are “just going out for lunch”. Today we went to a book off which is a second hand book store, also has dvd’s cds and that sort of thing. And then on to some tower, it was a huge tower in the middle of nowhere but from the top it was quiet a nice view.

Wednesday 5th August
Morning didn’t really get up to much, after lunch I decided that it looked like nice enough weather to go for a walk, I ended up down at Aeon (shopping centre) where I picked up a few things, befor coming home and doing a fair chunck of study. I did last years test of the level 4 Japanese profiency test, and passed it very easily. I will be sitting the level 3 test in December, but as the textbooks I am using cover level 3, and 4 and I finished all the level 4 stuff about 2 months ago and the practice book I bought has both levels.

Thursday 6th August
Again I went for a walk after lunch, today I went in a big circle, I went up past my second host house, round to a shop I had seen while driving past it on multiple occasions and thought I should take a look at it. And then I went on to Aeon again, just because I could. Tonight we went to the Tanabata festviale where we had dinner, and wandered around. I must say I highly object to festival games that result in winning goldfish which you are given in cliplock bags!

Friday 7th August
So today I spent with Josh, the another Aussie who lives in toyama. Today he came to Takaoka so for a while we went and hung out in the park, where I managed to get the kookaburras to pay attention to us by singing “kookaburra sits in the old gum tree” then the gorilla decided to copy what josh was doing, and then would nod or shake its head at questions we asked it, actually at questions Josh asked it didn’t seem to like me very much. We then went to the 100 yen shop for the first time, and then we headed back to the train station via the festival stands, to wait for nick. Nick said he was running late so we went back to the 100yen shop and the bakery nearby for some lunch, a while later we got a message from nick saying he wouldn’t be coming so Josh and I decided to head down to Aeon, we had intentions on maybe seeing a movie, but none really suited us with time restraints and what not so after wandering around the shops a bit we went to the arcade part where we played a rhythm game, where we failed very epically! Then a shooting game which again was an epic fail and then finally a car racing game, it felt weird “driving” again. It will be very weird to actually get back in and drive a car when I get home! After that we just sat round talking for a bit more before walking back to the train station together and then heading home.

Saturday 8th August
So after a fairly uneventful day full of sleep and study I went to the summer light up of Zurugi temple. If you think back to the 14th of Feb I went to the winter one then to, it was exactally the same! Well except its not freezing at the moment, but as far as the actual festive side of things it was exactally the same, they had the same food stalls, the same souvenir stands, everything, it really gets me questioning about some of the Japanese traditions, and festivals, don’t get me wrong I love the festivals and that they have such a deep rooted set of traditions, I mean gosh my town here is 400 this year, and Queensland (my state in Australia) is 150 this year, and the history of White Australia doesn’t go back all that much more. However all of the festivals are pretty much more or less the same, I mean the decorations differ, but what you can do as someone who attends them is the same, even the entertainment seems to be the same from festival to festival.

Sunday 9th and Monday 10th August
Again not much to write about, I went walking on both days, got the present for my next host family organized, I say present as I am only going to be with them for 10 days and I am having to be sparily to some extent with the presents I have, never thought I would have so many host families. and then packing yet again. I really don’t like packing! Especially this time, I was re packing things that I haven’t even used since I got here, but unpacked because when I got here I had no idea that I was only here for such a short time, and I'm only at my next family for 10 days.

Sunday 26th July
Spent most of the day today finishing off getting everything together for camp, went shopping with okasan and Yoshi to get a last few things, and do the groceries. I think we called Mutsuko, my host cousin and another 2nd year student at my school about 10 times to confirm what the sheet ment and what I did or didn’t need to take with on camp.

Monday 27th -> Wednesday 29th July – school camp
So the last 3 days saw all the 2nd year students head off on camp. Camp was in Nagano prefecture, which is to the east of Toyama prefecture. (the southern one of the two prefectures Toyama shares the eastern boarder with). So on Monday after several hours of driving we got off the busses into pouring rain for a 45 min walk up a hill through a forest to a shrine, and then another 45 minutes back, the weather wasn’t hot at all during camp, but I think that on this walk was the hottest I have felt this year, being that I had my raincoat on and the humidity and the exercise was just a bad mix. After some more driving we arrived at our camp site, but again the busses couldn’t get in there so we had to walk about a km into the camp carring all out stuff, not a bother to me as I had everything packed into my backpack.
This was actual tent camping, but all of our tents had already been set up for us. I was in a tent with 2 other girls from my class, and I must say the tents were rather small, I couldn’t lie straight the long way of the tent but as they were to narrow to sleep that way we had to sleep across the tent, and because of this I didn’t sleep very well either night at camp. The tents were pitched over thick foam boards, and that for the most part acted as our matterases, we were given 3 blankets, one under, one over and one as a pillow, well at least that’s how I used them. It was sooo cold up at camp, I had my jersey and a jumper on and was at times still cold. We in groups (about 7) had to cook our own meals over the fires, and again safety doesn’t really seem to be a big thing in Japan. Here are some cotton gloves for you to wear while playing with the fire, um no thanks, and I'm glad I didn’t, because even though it did mean I got a splinter, at least I didn’t burn my hands, I mean really lets put a flammable glove on our hands while playing with fire!
Monday night we had a bonfire, around which we had a few compertitions, class against class and then did some dance that I think about 5% of the grade actually knew but all good fun none the less.
Tuesday morning saw me making blueberry and rhubarb jams (2 separate jams not together) befor eating lunch and then going for a kayaking lesson. I while very much enjoyed being in a Kayak again and where we were was absolutely amazing one of the prettiest places I have been, it would rivel Miyajima island for the top of my list of Japanese pretty places. I was also very boared with the simplicity and speed of the lesson. But I do understand that It was the first time for a lot of the other students. Tuesday night I went to bed rediciliously early as there wasn’t any actual activity planed, it was very rainy and so our tents were really the only dry place to be.
Wednesday saw us leaving cooking and leaving the campsite in fairly heavy rain. We went into the town of Obuse, and wandered around in out tent groups for a while. I saw a Squrrile! And bought a miny toy one for my blazer! And then we got back on the bus and headed home.
My host aunty picked me up from school and took me home. Was nice to see her and hiroko one last time while I'm with my current family.

Thursday 30th and Friday 31st July – changing hosts

Thursday and Friday were spent packing, I absolutely hate packing! I'm not sure if I hate it coz I know ill just be unpacking it all again the following day or just because it is hard to fit everything into a suitcase a box and a backpack. Actually not that hard this time as I had just sent all my excess stuff home with mum and dad last week. Again I packed with my box being things that I don’t intend to return to Australia with and the stuff I want to take home in my suitcase, somehow It all fit in fairly easily and is JUST and I mean JUST under weight at the moment, so won’t be in 6 months time. Though I did have a fair amount of weight and space in what will effectively be my carry on luggage. Anyway I'm sure ill sort that out when the time comes. Thursday night my host family (minus yuka) went out to a yakiniku restaurant for dinner, which was really nice. Friday after I finially finished packing, it was just playing the waiting game again, I think I hate that more than I hate packing. Friday dinner was soo hard, thye gave me presents, a puzzle with photos and comments about my time with them, and some other things. We then just sat around to some extent all playing the waiting game together, my next host dad and brother then came and picked me up and took me to my new house. Leaving the Mai house was the hardest move yet, while I love all my host families, I have felt most at home in that family, and I really didn’t not want to leave them. I think what annoyes me most was that I had really wanted to spend more time with Yoshi, but since he returned we have both been busy with school and whatnot, and school holidays start tomorrow. The other this that kinda hurt is the fact that it would have been very culturally inappropriate to hug them goodbye. And while I know I will see them again leaving there house and not living with them anymore hurt/s.

hey guys i dont have internet at my new host family and this internett cafe i have found doenst have anywhere i van use my usb and its not all that cheap so im not gonna sit here and type again so you will just have to wait till the 20th or there abouts when im back at school to get a propper update on here.
you can allways contact me on my phone
sharnelle@softbank.ne.jp

lots of love

Saturday 18 --> Saturday 25th July; family visit, Goodbye to Geoff, Nick, Brie and Riley
So what a week it has been I will try and write coherently but I'm not promising anything, I noticed more than ever this week that English now requires concentration to be able to speak it, though once in English for a while it did get better, but speak a little Japanese and poof my English sucked again. Oh the joys of being an exchange student, you forget your own language.
Saturday (18th) my family arrived at Takaoka at 2:47, so the morning was spent finishing off my packing for the week, and then lots of sitting around waiting for it to be time to go to the train station, that day we walked back to where we stayed at the daibutsu Ryokan (daibutsu = big Buddha, Ryokan = traditional Japanese style inn) and after setting into our rooms and me getting over my tears of Joy at seeing them again and being able to really use English properly. We headed out to the park for a walk before heading down to Aeon (the shopping mall) where we wandered for a bit, did Purikura (Asian photos) and had dinner in the food court.
Sunday we headed into toyama and managed to see the Castle and have some fun climbing around the kiddy playground and get half way to Toyama’s park before the rain for the day hit, we sat in a shelter on the close edge of the park waiting for the rain to die down before we headed back to the train and home again for the day. That night we went to a Yakiniku (fried meat) restaurant, along with another Australian that was also staying at the Ryokan.
Monday after eating okonomiyaki and Yakisoba at a really cheap restaurant near school, we met 2 of my friends from my first year class at school (although it was a national holiday they still had club) and headed out to Karaoke. The fact that I took my parents to Karaoke and Purikura Very much amused a lot of my friends, and the Rotarians, but I think they enjoyed it, and they were here to see me and to see what my life over here is like, and both of those activities are a major part of any teen in Japans life… outside of school that is. Monday night we came here (current host families house) for dinner, which was great to be able to show my parents exactly where I am living and show them inside my house, and also for them to spend some time with my host family, they had actually met my host sister and Mum when they went to Australia to Visit Yoshi, who they had also previously met at my rotary orientations in Australia.
Tuesday we just missed our train to Kanazawa forcing us to wait for almost an hour inside Takaoka train station and significantly decreasing our time in Kanazawa before I was meeting up with all my friends (Exchange students, past exchange students and other friends of exchange students). Once in Kanazawa we went to Kenrokuen which is one of the top 3 gardens in Japan and was the Castle gardens, only about 1/8 of them is still in existence and it is still very large, by anyone’s standards not just Japanese. After that we headed back to the station to meet everyone else, I ended up leaving my family then and they headed back to the art gallery, while I went to the beach with all the others, I wouldn’t have done that except that they all leave really soon, in fact 3 of the 4 that were there have already left, (mike left a few weeks ago) the beach itself was pretty crap, reminded me very much of SA beaches, but then again I am very lucky to live (in Australia) near some of the prettiest(well known) beaches. But it did have a nice set up there, hammocks a gazillion chairs and tables but sheltered and not, and volleyball courts. We had a great time playing around, playing volleyball very badly that is, and then turning that into mugby. (attack whoever happens to have the ball at the time.) a few fireworks were let off before I left, but it wasn’t really dark enough and it was way too windy. With the spirit of the morning I missed my train home from Kanazawa by less than 10m and then got very frustrated because I had been trying to run up the escalators knowing I was pushing it and the people in front of me wouldn’t move over, but not to worry I got home eventually, and sitting at the station let me get all my tears out about having said goodbye to Geoff, Nick, Brie and Riley. I think Geoff will be the one I miss the most out of them, while I didn’t really ever do anything with him other than this other than Rotary arranged things, we got on well, and he is our adopted Aussie, and I guess yes I'm my head even though I know he is Canadian I counted him as an Aussie and it dint really hit until saying goodbye at the beach that he wasn’t going to be here for the second half of my exchange.
Wednesday was a day full of Rotary commitments, we had a lazy morning actually, but then headed off to Rotary meeting, which was a very special one as it was the one and only time this year where the district governor will attend our clubs meeting. After that a whole club photo was taken with the district governor which my family was also in, bit confused about that but anyway. After the photo and some other formalities we were off for the afternoon with one of the Rotarians (who had been my half day host a few weeks ago) and with him we went to Futagamiyama (2 toped mountain) which was a lookout point back over the area of Takaoka, and also had a huge festival bell which was fun to ring, and interesting to note that if you stood so that you were in the center of the bell it got a lot quitter. And then to the Famous rocks at Himi, the Takaoka history museum and then to a tea house among all the old houses before being dropped back at the Ryokan for a break before it was out to dinner with My host families and a few other members of My Rotary club here, unfortunately my second host mum couldn’t make it to this and so my family didn’t get to meet her.
Thursday morning we visited the Museum of Takaoka in The park before heading out for lunch where we made a group of high school boys day, they sat there staring at us the whole time, then when they left they asked me through the window if they could take our photo, but we made them come back inside so mum could give them Australian Stickers that she had been carrying for little kids, she is such a teacher! We then headed on to school, where my parents had the chance to talk to my home class teacher before joining Felicia and I and the English club. The Club told us about the Tanabata festival which has already been celebrated where I live but not yet in the suburb that school is in. and then we had question time before we looked at some hard words and sentences to pronounce in English. After which we bought massive soft serves and headed to the park where we ended up feeding at least 30 Coi and then about as many turtles. Pokka and I then lay on the grass in the park and watched clouds for a bit. Not very Japanese to lie on the ground but hey we are foreigners it’s ok, I generally don’t use that rule but ahh sometime the Japanese way just doesn’t make sense.
Yesterday (Friday 24th) I had to go into school for a lesson, home class about camp next week so my family went to the art gallery across the road from school and then we all went to lunch together before heading back to Aeon for some shopping, I got a new shirt and my family picked up some last minute souvenirs for friends back home.
This morning I had a very hard time saying goodbye to them, while I am very much having fun here and I don’t by any means want to go home yet, saying goodbye for that long again was very hard, it’s just not as exciting this time round, I know what it’s like here, and I have been animate in saying that one of the reasons I found it so easy to not really miss them, don’t get me wrong I did but not be homesick ect is that they had never been a part of my life here, I have most host family and my friends here, and while they are different that’s my life here, but now that they have been here and I shared some of my favourite places with them I worry that those places will remind me to much of them and really make me miss them.
Tonight we had what they call the summer festival in our neighborhood, basically everyone from this block of houses (it is actually fairly clearly defined… we are surround by rice fields) went to one of the parkish area and we had loot of food being cooked and sold, and a raffle and good times were had by all, they even had Yoshi and I cooking, not sure that that was the best idea, so I tended to stick on putting sauce on our shutting the containers and attaching chopsticks.