The Last Week of School: Camp and Other Fun

Okay, guys, here's (one) of your joke pictures for today: giant tuna. ^-^ And the pic below is from when we went out to dinner with Kosuge-san and his family. He's a semifamous professor in Japan. ^-^ And the other pic is Ice Bagels, aka flavored bagels (chocolate, blueberry, etc) filled with frozen yogurt. Very yummy!!

For all my fellow Harvest Moon lovers out there (*coughAcecough*).... haha... ^-^ And the other pic is from the party/presentation on the last day of school, of all the Tokyo-AFSers (and one other guy who I have no idea who he is).　We all had to make speeches in Japanese, and needless to say, it was rather difficult. My　host family recorded mine, though, so I'll show it when I　get back．

It was a real fun thing to do..． we all impressed the teachers... except Taylor, I think... haha, we had Alex with her "Goran no suponsa-no teikyou de ookurishimashita" and Jess with her "Masaki-sensei, kekkon-shitte kudasai."
And to celebrate... we all went out to karaoke again. ^-^ I think we're going next Sunday, too, to say our last goodbyes.... TT_TT But host siblings came, too, so Yuu-chan and Dominic (that blond guy standing up)'s host brother and Chrys-san's sister all came. Yuu-chan and Alex sang Arashii. ^-^ Then for the next two days (Sat. and Sun.) we had camp with a bunch of Japanese high school students.
It was a lot of fun. Here's a pic of me and my group.

Me and Daichi-san and Ai Hirota-san, two of the kids in my group. And all the daigakusee (university students) who were councilers. They're doing the "nyoki" (sp?) pose, which is the sound bamboo shoots make when they grow. It's also part of a game I don't fully understand.

All the AFSers posed for a pic. It was the last time for a pic. It was the last time some of us ｗｉｌｌ see each other again (I won't see any non-American each other again (I won't see any non-American kids who aren't going to karaoke because they leave on the 4th for Nagoya, while we leave straight from Narita). It's actually really sad to think about....I only have a little more than a week left in Japan. I would cry, but that would waste precious time having fun with my host family here....

The HUGELY HUGE imense torii at Meiji Jinguu. We saw a traditional wedding! We were actually really lucky- most weddings happen on weekends, and we went today (Monday), so...haha... there were also a bunch of Canadians...like... hundreds of them...XD

This is kind of a dumb picture of me, but it shows how big the model was... yup, a life-sized (maybe?) of that scary girl from Evangelion. I don't know her name, but we took the picture anyways.... did you know that InuYasha and YuYu Hakusho are so old here that you can't find any merchandise in toystores? At least near where I live/in Harajuku. Yep, today I hung out in Harajuku with Okaa-san, Yuu-chan, and Momo-chan. We at crepes, which where REALLY yummy but it was really big and I couldn't finish it...

Now, storytime! In Harajuku we saw this really cool shop that had all these clothes that you would only be able to buy in Japan (don't worry, Mom, this DOESN'T end in me spending a lot of money). We went in and looked around. A lot of the outfits were gothicish or maid costumes (some with kitty ears, some without) or school uniforms. Some of them were kind of expensive (up to about ￥5000, which is about $50) and most of them were too small for me or too short (it was mostly skirts or pants with big heavy chains, all of which I would never wear). However, I did buy one thing, because it was about $15.... for the whole outfit... so I've got a potential Halloween/Rent-a-Senior Day\maybe first day of school (I REALLY want to wear it the first day of school, but I have to make sure my host sibling and John won't care too much) outfit. In conclusion...... Who am I (see picture below)?

Feel free to start laughing any time. But seriously. Momo-chan was REALLY super nice and gave me the socks (to keep), so I'd just have to find some shorts to wear under it...haha... do I look the part, for people who know the anime? If not, go watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. That's who I am, by the way. Today's kanji, in relation, is 優鬱

... Does this mean I have to learn the dance now?

So, if I have Mom's permission and once I finish buying presents for people, I'm going back. Even just to look. I think it'd be kinda fun to get one super-different think that I'd never normally wear... and then wear it to school.... haha.....but one thing that I love about Japan (among others) is that the clothing, even for teens, isn't super-tight or super-low-cut or anything.... it's a nice change....

Anywho.... -_-' I'm done with my mini-rant....haha... I'll update later!

~Kay

PS- Yuu-chan's turn! Kay-chan looks like HARUHI!! Very cute~! And Kay-chan's speech was very nice!

Shout-out to Everyone!

Um.... hi guys. ^-^ How're you all doing? I didn't really do MUCH this week.... really... just visited one or two shrines/temples (this one is Kanda Myoujin), found an ATM that accepts foreign cards so I can buy presents for people.... you know... oh.. and...
KARAOKE!!! WHOO! XD It was superspecialawesome. We mostly sang American songs, some of which I had never heard of, but about half of which I knew.... or put up there... we all sang "This is Halloween" near the end... haha... but no one knew "You Give Love a Bad Name"..... haha.... I realized that half the music I listen to (not that song, but a bunch of others) are all kind of old... altough they're really good... Yeah... and I got everyone to sing "A Whole New World" in honor of my friends back home, although they didn't know that's why they were singing it.... there's me at the

mike...... I think I was singing "Hotel California"... thanks to Gabe for taking pictures!... You know what? I learned a lot of good songs to download... and I did try to sing alone... in nihongo... but it was all in kanji... tottemo muzukashikatta desu.... (it was really hard).

Oh, and the other epic trip of the week... GHIBLI MUSEUM! As in Studio Ghibli. As in Miyazaki. As in Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, etc, etc, etc.... it was super cool. But it was a kind of small museum, and you couldn't take any pictures. There was also a lot of suff about the new Miyazaki movie, whose American name will be Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. Tina Fey and Matt Dameon are going to be in it, I think. We're going to watch it tonight (in Japanese, obviously), so I hope it's good.... for those who don't know, that's a giant Totoro (which some Americans like to pronounce like Mrs. Turtoro the math teacher's name) which was in the window at the entrance, and a model of one of the robots from Nausica.... cool, eh? I got more pins. And presents for my host family, since they love Ghibli, too.

The view from the house in Onjuku. We spend Saturday and Sunday there. It was an older house, really cool. We went to the water park nearby and down to the ocean, set off fireworks, had a BBQ, and I saved some sand in a bottle to bring home.
Yummy mochi with cheese. I'm taking lots of pics of food since your mom asked, Nikki. Just show her this. I'm also making a list.... but it's all been yummy so far... I'm even eating tomatoes and a little mayo, which I don't normally do. Umeboshi (plums) were a little sour, though, and I still don't like hardboiled eggs. I think I'm scarred for life after I had to eat those radioactive ones last year... XD Oh, remind me to tell you about the radioactive pigs of Sweden when I get back.

That's me doing my imitation of Howl.... when he flops in the chair.. haha... I asked my family, "Watashi wa dare desu ka?" and they didn't get it at first and said "Kay-chan" because that question literally means "Who am I?"... not like the joking way... anywho...there's my family (Otou-san, Yuu-chan, Okaa-san, Momo-chan) all wearing the Trumbull shirts I got them as a present.

Yakisoba and unagi (eel). All I can say is, yakisoba is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO amazingly yummy, and I learned how to make it (kind of) so maybe when I get back I can make that and tempura. Unagi is pretty good, too. Who knew?

More pictures of a pretty temple... I could look up the name... but I'm feeling lazy.... so you'll find out when I get back... haha... it's really pretty, though, isn't it?

Hmm.... what else do I have to say to you people? Nikki, who's the new book club member? Anyone I know? And has the library gotten any good new books in? Jess, I'm coming in August 5th, so I'll call you when I get in and I have my phone and we three (you, me, and my cousin) can talk about what to do. Emma, congrats on getting your permit, and it's good to hear from you! How's band camp going? Marinna, of course I'm in the Sengoku Jidai. It's not like anyone might, I don't know, tell someone in the US if I was missing. Plus there aren't any dry wells by my house anyway. Or maybe I would have tried. If it wasn't too deep and if there wasn't the risk of me being injured and sent home. Yeah, Waldenbooks needs to upgrade.... when will you be in LA? Maybe you can meet up with me and Jess when I'm coming back. Oh, and I finally got you your bday present, and it's good, so you better accept it. Ace, good to know you got this stupid thing working... I can't do it half the time, XD How's tennis going? I'm glad it's not to rainy there.... haha...and the veggie juice turns out to be veggie AND fruit juice... doubly dangerous.... haha.... Okay... let's see..... hi to all of my grandparents, Grandma, Grandpa, and Nana. Grandpa, I haven't found your watch yet, though I was almost positive it would be in the Edo Tokyo Museum... XD Mom, I got the T-shirt, thanks to my MAGNIFICENT host family....

And guess what everyone? From what my mom says, we're just confirming our host student with THS, and then it's all good! And our potential host student is... A GIRL FROM JAPAN!!! Awesome, eh? So who's going to help me show her (and John) around on their first day at THS? So long as she comes, that is. I don't know how long she'd stay for (hopefully a year), but she'd come at the end of August... YAYYYYYY AFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay.... I'm done.... haha... kanji of the day is 銀. No hints this time. Good luck!!!! Miss you guys (though there are some AMAZINGLY cool people here- as well as some not so amazing ones, but that's life- no one is quite like my friends at home. XD)

~Kay

PS Does anyone know how the THS renovations are going?

PPS Yuu-chan's turn to write.... I think I just scared her when I went to ask her.....:I want to go to Ghibli!!! I like "SEN TO CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSI" (Kay's note: Eego wa "Spirited Away" desu)

PPPS Okay, so I just found out that the AFS people are taking the pictures from my blog and putting them on the AFS Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/afsusa/sets/72157606689568572/) and they also put one on the AFS blog (http://afsblog.org/). Guess which one it was? I mean, of all things... a picture of VEGGIE JUICE? What the heck? I took so many cooler pictures than that... of course... some of them I haven't posted... haha....maybe I should start posting some of those pictures. After all, I think I'm the only one in AFS Japan doing a blog that other AFSers can see... haha....

YAY THIS WEEK!!!!

Hey, all! How's your week been? ^-^ Mine was definitely

interesting. We went to a tea ceremony museum, which was really beautiful, and the tea we had was great. Ace, the picture below is for you- REAL veggie juice, not the Sadahara kind. It was actually really tasty.

The pumpking bread turned out really good, too!

These pictures are from ICI's trip to Kojimachi Gauken、a girl's school, though there weren't too many people there because of midsemester exams. I made tea. And a fan. But I don't have any pictures of that.

There's all the Tokyo AFS people after the tea ceremony. Do I look like I was in some serious pain after kneeling for half an hour? Let me tell you, if your not used to it, it's not a good idea. On the bad side, it was really windy, so my poor umbrella (actually my host sister's) was...well.... you can see what happened. I fixed it and offered to buy a new one, but they said it was okay... so....yeah.... ^-^

This is the Asago Matsuri, a festival to celebrate summer. I had takoyaki (doughy octopus balls) and ramune soda. It was yummy. ^-^ There were people in yukatas and scooping goldfish and everything. I've also seen quite a few people with very dyed hair... -_- Well... whatever...

We had a lot of fun, though we didn't stay for a long time.
Here's a random picture of part of a bookstore I went to with my host sister and Okaa-san. That's all manga your seeing. I may have bought myself a few volumes to practice my reading (I'm actually pretty good at reading hiragana and katakana now, though I don't always know what it means). But that's what a dictionary is for.
Yesterday was really fun, too. We went to TOKYO DISNEYLAND! Or rather, Tokyo Disney Sea. Little bit of a bad pun there... but it was a ton of fun (yes, Mom, I did pay for my ticket myself). Isn't the train cool? We went with my Oba-san (aunt) who I call Mama, and her daughter Nana-chan.
There were a lot of cool rides and good food- we're eating a type of gyoza (dumpling) in this picture.... yummy! Some of the rides were a little wierd for me, though... Indiana Jones just isn't the same in Japanese. Probably because I couldn't really understand most of what he was saying.
Tokyo DisneySea is having an event this summer called Mega Splash, and as part of that, Mickey, Goofy, Chip, and Dale go around in a bunch of big boats once a day on the lake dancing and stuff. It's like a parade, and it was a ton of fun. The only difference from a parade was that they all had huge water guns, as did the Disney workers on the boats that they sprayed in the air. It was a lot of water. Naturally, I got soaked. But it was fun. And it was good since it was kinda hot out. And yes, I am wearing

Minnie ears. Long story. But anywho. Okaa-san wouldn't let me walk around in a wet t-shirt and she wouldn't let me buy it, either. I did buy some pins for my collection, though. And a strap to put them on. Finally. I had SO much fun. ^-^ And there was a whole area dedicated to Aladdin. XD So my whole family just looked at me when I started to laugh.

And guess what ride we went on (twice)?!!!!! Here's your first hint<-- That elevator. Here's your second hint- an old, broken hotel with green lightening in one of the windows. Yep, you guessed it!TOWER OF TERROR! ^-^ I hope you can read the green letters... that's just about my favorite ride ever... As you can tell from my picture of the picture they took of us on the ride. XD



It's actually a different story from the US one, but it's still really good. As we left that night, I was really tired (and wet...again...the last ride we went on was a water ride...-_-' My idea, of course), but I was really happy..... haha... ^-^ So, what's new with you guys? Has anyone seen/heard from Ace this summer? I bet she's busy playing tons of tennis, since I haven't heard from her. I hope everyone got my postcards, though it sounds like you did!.... well, I'm done. Here's the kanji of the week- 虎。^-^ Enjoy! So I'll talk to you all later

Oh! It's Yuu-chan's turn to write: Disney Sea was very exciting! Kay chan was very wet!!

So, anywho.... hope you're all having a good summer!

~Kay