Sorry!

I'll post pictures tomorrow~


I haven’t dropped off the face of the Earth, I’ve just been so so busy! It’s really hard to find time to use the computer though! I’ve been saying “お休み”, (good night), to my family later and later each night, so I have less and less non-internet time to type these on Word and then upload them when I next have internet, because I have to sleep. What I used to do, because I can only use internet 1 hour per day, downstairs in the family room, is once I said お休み, which before had been at 7:00, was bring my computer back up to my room and type my blogs and emails without internet, and then upload them the next day when I have internet again. But lately I’ve been saying お休み at like 9:30 or 10:00, which is when I used to fall asleep so I haven’t had time to send emails or type blogs.
I went to Nikko! It was simply incredible. Nikko is Tochigi Prefecture’s famous park/city, and is the home of the world famous stone monkey statues; “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.” Did you know that those monkeys that grace the front of Paul Frank T-shirts and bumper stickers alike originated from stone statues in ancient Japan? Because I didn’t! Also, I saw the famous red bridge! I didn’t get to cross it though. Well there is always a next time. If you have seen Spirited Away, the bridge I’m talking about looks almost exactly like the one Chihiro/Sen had to walk across holding her breath. The main reason we went to Nikko, however, was to see the leaves changing color. Nikko is covered in trees, so in the fall it’s literally breathtaking when they all change into brilliant shades of orange and reds. Here’s a little Kanji lesson for you. “Autumn” is “aki” in Japanese. It’s Kanji looks like this: 秋. That Kanji is made up of two elements; the one on the left, 木、means “tree” and the one on the right, 火、means “fire”. Fire trees. Autumn means fire trees. Isn’t that AWESOME??
See, Mom? I am learning things in Japan.
We left for Nikko, which is about an hour away by car, at 2:30 on Friday. We got to travel up the Idohazaka Road, (sp.?) which is the road that climbs the mountain. It has fourty-eight turns. Once we got to the top of the mountains, we saw they built an entire city up there! Hence, Nikko City. Anyway, we drove around until we saw the Nikko Park Lodge, which is a hotel/lodge for foreigners. It was so cool staying there and talking English with the other campers! We stayed overnight. Then at the crack of dawn Saturday morning, we all packed up and headed out to explore Nikko! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves though!
Also, I officially went into the coolest restaurant in the entire world (besides Monticello’s own China Buffet, of course.) It was a really small little building, up in the mountains of Nikko City, along Nikko City’s Main Street. It was brightly lit and the food was delicious, but that’s not why it was so cool: it was covered, head to toe, even the ceiling, in little souvenirs. Foreigners from all around the world had come in and scribbled their names or a funny little message on anything from scraps of paper to newspaper clippings to receipts and pinned it up on the wall. Most of the messages were thank-you notes to the chef, but some were just so awesomely weird. One said, “Whiplash, Ghost Kitten, Mountain Jew, Ex-Riot Cop Dad, Amputee Pilot, Dolomite Tequila, Aminals.”
It was obviously my favorite.
Sometimes, people are so damn cool. Pardon my language but I felt it was necessary to emphasize my point. Lol. Yes, of course I left something! I didn’t have anything cool so I scribbled a note on a receipt that I had on me and posted it up with my Rotary business card. I know you’re dying to know what I said but if you want to read it you have to come to Nikko, find the restaurant, and find my little spot on the wall amidst the thousands.
In other news, I am half way done with my stay with the Komagata’s!. I put both a period and an exclamation point because a period doesn’t put enough stress on how major it is but an exclamation point makes it seem like I’m happy about it. It will be sad to leave them! Although the kids tickle me everyday even though, (and probably because) I told them I hate being tickled with a passion, and I only have limited internet access; I LOVE THE KOMAGATA’s and don’t want to leave yet! I am comfortable here. There is a mutual respect between me and my host parents, and Michica and Akihira hang on me like little gloves. Lol. I am really happy with this family. I’m only 2 minutes by bicycle away from my school, and everyone in Kuzuu is really friendly. On the bright side, although I will miss the Komagata’s terribly, my new house has many awesome things about it:
1. My new house doubles as a Japanese Restaurant. The first floor is a traditional Japanese style restaurant; the 2nd floor is the house. It’s also known to be very delicious so not only to I get to eat even more delicious food everyday, but lot’s of people come to eat there so I will never be bored and will get to constantly practice Japanese AND meet new people!
2. I am 80% sure that my new host family either doesn’t have kids, or they are already grown! Oh man that sounds simply wonderful. Don’t get me wrong, I love Michica and Akihira. They’re both barrels of fun and great kids. It’s just my ears could take a vacation. I am new, so I’m the most interesting thing in the house right now, so I have acquired two Japanese shadows. Japanese shadows that are highly competitive with eachother and suffer from sibling rivalry, especially over who gets to play with the foreign exchange student the most. It will be nice to be able to relax. Right now my biggest respite is using the bathroom, taking showers, and sleeping. LOL.
3. NEW TOWN! I won’t be switching schools, but Tanuma is about twice as big as Kuzuu, which means that I have a whole new town to explore! I’ve already memorized Kuzuu inside and out, so it will be nice to have new grounds to explore! I.LOVE.EXPLORING.
4. The possibility of wireless internet! There is a 50% chance that my new family will have wireless internet. Praise the heavens.

Wow. I’ve already made myself feel better about leaving! Before I typed this, I didn’t want to change host families but now that I have it written down, it sounds more promising!

November is only one day in and already my entire month is booked! It’s actually a nice feeling. Coming up this month is;
Nov 2 (8:00-4:00)
-Volunteering with InterACT, preparing for a festival at Ichibanka
Nov 3 (?)
-I’m going some awesome place with lots of foreigners with my host dad I just can’t remember the name right off hand.
Nov 4 (12:00-1:30)
-Rotary Meeting, (monthly)
Nov 7 (6:00 PM)
Meeting Tom Tamura at the Sun Plaza restaurant
Nov 15-16
Overnight Rotary Orientation OMG IT SOUNDS SO FUN!!!
Nov 22
I’m going to Tokyo! YAY OMG I have a nice story: We are heading up to Tokyo for a festival of some sort, and we need a hotel. Well my host mom and I were looking up cheap hotels in the area on the internet, and we found an amazingly cheap hotel with a French name that I forgot. My host mom was excited because this hotel had a 1 room, 3 bed deal. My host dad was skeptical of being able to find such a room though. So we click on the main page, and a picture pops up of a room about the size of a closet and just one bed, and we all look at eachother and laughed SO HARD. And then we went to look at what food it offered in the mornings, and it had 3 Menu’s: A choice, B choice, and D choice. BWAAHAHA! That started us all off again.
Nov 24-26
I’m going to Nara and Kyoto! OMG I WANT TO GO SO BAD!
I wanted to go to Utsunomiya on the 3rd with some other Inbounders, but I am too busy. That’s okay though, I love meeting other foreigners and that’s what is planned for the 3rd! Also, I met this really nice person who was a foreign exchange student to America a while ago today. She had wanted to meet me to speak English to me! And it turns out she lives in Tokyo, right by the Tokyo tower, and she goes to Ginza shopping. EVERY WEEK! And she invited me to go shopping with her whenever! I just have to say the word! Her parents live in Kuzuu and she visits them every few weeks or so for a few days.

THINGS ARE GOING SO WELL!
YAY FOR HAVING AN AMAZING EXCHANGE/LIFE!