Tonight is my last night at my first home stay. I am pretty excited to see everyone from my team tomorrow!! The past four days have been filled with sightseeing, festivals, playing with my seven year old host sister, and the ocean!!
The mall was definetly huge...I didn't buy much, just a towel at the 100 yen shop (1 dollar) because the towel that I brought is too big and never really dries....it started to stink! Friday my host mom and I were joined by one of her friends who spoke fluent English - we ate a traditional Japanese lunch (sorry if I spell it wrong) - okonomiyaki, it's kind of like a pancake but with cabbage, meat (or baby squid in my case) and other unknown ingredients! We also had octopus balls....I made a deal with myself prior to coming to Japan that I would at least try anything once, I can tell you for sure that the baby squid meal won't be happening again!!
Saturday Anna (my host sister) didn't have school so I brought her to a festival close to her house. It was a festival put together by the neighborhood moms for kids. Anna played a few games, ate some watermelon and then we went to the park. Anna taught me some Japanese playground games that I might just use with my younger campers in the coming weeks! Saturday evening my host mom, Sumire brought me to another festival. I can't remember the name, but it was a celebration of the prince and princess meeting in the milky way . It is celebrated on July 7th every year and people write their wishes on slips of paper and tie them to trees everywhere. Tradition has it that if it is a clear night the prince and princess will meet and all the wishes will come true! Anna wore her kimono, and we walked up and down the street (a tiny street with thousands and thousands of people) playing carnival games. Anna and I won three goldfish and a couple bouncy balls!
Today we went to the ocean! We swam in a part of Tokyo bay - the beach wasn't very nice but nonetheless Anna and I had a great time!
Tomorrow morning I am to be at the train station at 11 and headed back to Tokyo. It's about a 40 minute ride from my host family's home. On Wednesday we will have another group of 120 high school students join us for USA Summer Camp - and then on Saturday I will go to my second host family who lives right in Tokyo.
I am learning a lot and stepping out of my comfort zone quite often! I miss the comforts of home and am already sick of living out of a bag, but I know this experience will affect me in wonderful ways - that will hopefully be reflected in my classroom and even my day to day life!
Until next time....
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