Hiroshima Peace Park Video!

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Lazy Day!

Today is Sunday and I plan to do absolutely nothing. I sat at the table all day and watched anime and ate snacks like a typical lazy me would do. I didn't want to do anything but chill, so that is exactly what happened. Nothing interesting...so this is very short, because it is interrupting my chill time. I just have to be lazy every once in a while. lol

Hiroshima Peace Park!

Today was Peace Park day. I was nervous and excited all at once. My books have taught me a lot. We went to meet everyone that lives in Hiroshima. Akari and I took a bus into the inner city that I had no clue about. I thought where we lived was the city but this was the real city. Then we walked through a really cool street to reach the Park. I was kind of nervous. I then saw the Park. We walked across the bridge and that was the first time I saw the A-bomb dome. They were doing repairs and it was a really powerful moment. Then we went to meet everyone in the Peace Park museum. We split in 2 groups and toured the museum. It had a very eerie but familiar feel to it. The most powerful thing in the museum was when I saw the models of the people with their skin hanging off just like my books described. Everything that I had read about became real at that moment. I also saw real cranes that Sadako folder, They were very small. After the museum we went to see the rest of the park.  We saw the Peace Memorial Cenotaph which had the names of everyone that died. As I was waling through the park I felt a small amount of sadness overcome me. We went to see Sadako's statue and I put 3 cranes in the little glass box that they had there. There was some very cool crane artwork. After the park we decided to all eat lunch at a buffet. I was starving. It was really fun and everyone had really funny stories. The boys wouldn't stop eating even as we were leaving. Then everyone left and Akari and I waited for Mama. She took us to Hondori street which is the shopping street of the city. I bought a lot of gifts. We went to a mall with 10 floors and was partially underground I found a lot of gifts. We also went into an electronic store where the prices were ridiculous. There was a rhinestone plastic Iphone case for 300 dollars but you could get a Camera for about 60 dollars...I was so confused. Then we went home but on the way home Mama wanted me to see a bridge. I went on the bridge and Mama told me that this bridge was the bridge that the soldiers walked across to war. It was over a rives so I asked her what river it was and she said the Kyobashi River! The Kyobashi River is the river in my books that so many people died because they tried to drink the water. I stared at it for a while then we left. I got home and needed to go running so I ran around the neighborhood with Akari on the bike for about 20 minutes. Going uphill was not fun. After running we came to the point that was overlooking the city and there were fireworks, so we watched that for a while. Then I went home and watched some anime and chilled out for the rest of the night. PEACE PARK VIDEO WILL BE UP SOON!

Locked out of the House!

I woke up really tired today because I decided to stay up last night. I went to school and in English I read my book and then I was asked to answer a question about English grammar and something about infinitives. What are infinitives? I couldn't answer the English question....English is complicated. You don't see how complicated it is until learning it in a different country. Then I had English Conversation instead of study hall. I like my study hall....well it was kind of boring. Then to music which is like chorus/music theory which wasn't fun. Then lunch, I have been waiting for this moment for the entire day! I had curry rice from the cafeteria which was amazing. They have real food there. Then to Japanese class which was fun but more boring than usually because I was tired. Then instead of homeroom we went to see a guest speaker. I was so tired and I didn't understand what he was talking about, I almost fell out of my chair a few times. I was so ready to go home. I went home with Akari and they let me borrow a violin from school. Mama wasn't going to be home today so it was only me and Akari. As we were walking home I was thinking about whit if she lost her key. We got to the apartment and she couldn't find her key. Then we walked to the phone booth so she could call her dad that we were locked out of the house. On the way I told her that she was going to find her key in her bag later. When we got to the phone booth, she looked in her bag to grab money and found her key. Apparently I can tell the future lol. Then we got home and ate some snacks then Akari past out for the rest of the day and I read my book. I was too tired to go running today so I'll do it tomorrow.

School and a New View!

Today I woke up and ate breakfast. Akari really like donuts so she brought home Krispy Kreme yesterday. So we ate that for breakfast. Also yesterday Akari bought me some Japanese sweets as a gift. Walking off of the bus to school was a new experience itself. When I got to school I realized something....I left one of my books at the bus stop! I was freaking out so I told my homeroom teacher and he said he will look into it.  I hope that it is still there  or my host mom maybe found it. To take my mind off of that during Japanese Literature I read my book. Then study hall which I had with Alison. She was telling me about mormons, then I just continued to read. After study hall I went to Calligraphy and I was scared that I was going to be terrible at it but it was really fun. After Calligraphy my homeroom teacher told me that Mama found my book at the bus stop. I was so relived. Then I ate lunch. I ate with Alison's class and had an interesting conversation about piercings and tattoos. None of the girls had their ears pierced. So Alison and I were trying to explain gauges to them. Alison had an open coke on her desk when a student accidentally knocked it over all over Alison's uniform. She had to wear her P.E uniform for the rest of the day. Then after lunch I went to computers where this time they actually tried to talk to me. But I still didn't understand much so I ended up reading. Then in English and History I just read my book. I got home by myself again. On the way home I saw the bridge again that was in the book I read. I wanted to confirm that it was the same so I asked my host mom about it. She said that it was used during the war for soldiers to walk across it's a very skinny narrow bridge. Mama and I were looking around the neighborhood on google earth and tried to find places described in the books I read. It was interesting. I ate a bunch of snacks and we all joked about getting fat so I said I will go running tomorrow. I told Akari tat we will also watch a scary movie. My Japanese is improving tremendously and wish that I could just stay here. I love it here in Hiroshima. When I walk outside now I have a new view on the city instead of just being a city, I see years of history. Earlier when reading my book at school I heard a siren and thought it was an air raid siren and got scared but then realized that, air raids happened in the book just fueling my imagination.

Interesting Day!

Today I woke up for school and Akari was gone because she went to go get her visa in Osaka. She will live in Michigan for a year and leaves July 29. So I rode the buss by myself and didn't get lost. I finished my first book 2 yesterday so today I started on a new book. My first class was P.E. Since it was raining we were inside and I didn't have inside shoes, so they gave me a pair that was really small. It really hurt but I pushed through it. Then I just red my book through science. During the break  I went to go find Jerry (my English teacher) to ask him for a copy of Summer Cloud because I really liked it. He gave me a new copy. Then later during the day he gave me and Alison another book which is called My Hiroshima. It' like a kids picture book but it is really good. Then Home Economics which I just read through. Then my classmates told me that the schedule was changed and now I have to go to computers instead of Home Economics. That was confusing. So after lunch and computers I went to ask Jerry about school. It says that  I am only in school  until July 3rd but I am actually in school until the 23rd. The last day for the students and the last day before I leave. But starting on the 5th everyone has exams so Alison and I were told that during test week we have to write essays and sent on little field trips. One to the little peace garden that the school has then writing an essay on it. And the other to the Peace Park which is only a mile from my school. I will so excited when he said that. I will go get to see the peace park 2 times. Then I went to English Conversation where I had to give a improve presentation on my favorite place after everyone did theirs. that was ok. I don't think I will go back to orchestra because it was kind o boring. I really want to finish my book. On story I read was about A Hiroshima Jogakuin College student and what happened to her. The setting was the mountain I live on. The college is o close. So many things happened there. In study hall the librarian gave me more books to read. They were so interesting. One of them was Sadako and the 1000 cranes! I really love that story.Then I went home by myself and when I got home I ate a lot of snacks and wanted to read mt book. I was reading and got kind of sleepy so I took a shower and had energy again. Then later Papa and I went to Hiroshima Station to get Akari. It was weird going outside since reading all of those stories. I can imagine what happened in the places that were described. Especially when I went to Hiroshima Station. Akari wasn't around to translate Japanese to English, so we tried our best and I actually understood most of what they said.

Hiroshima books!

Today I woke up and was tired just like everyday. I went to school and my first class was study hall. I was excited because I can finish looking at all of the pictures in the Hiroshima book. Then I found another book that had stories from A-bomb survivors. I am truly interested in this subject. time was running out so I asked the librarian if I could check the book out. I signed the card for the book b3casue they don't have an electronic system like in America. She was surprised that I was interested and told me that she was happy that I'm trying to learn about it. She then handed me a bunch of books that related to the Hiroshima incident. I really wanted to read all of them. I checked them all out. I really wanted to start reading them. In history class all I did was read the book. This book was published by Hiroshima Jogakuin, which is the school that I am attending presently. It told stories of the  girls who went to Jogakuin who were A-bomb victims, what happened to them, the parents and teachers. I really liked the book because I was in the place that these stories took place. (Well the building was destroyed, so not exactly the place....but you understand.) At the end of history I was almost done with the book. Next in music we were watching a movie so I continued to read. Then I went to lunch and was very hungry so I ate my bento and bought Anko(red bean paste) bread. In the Hiroshima Jogakuin book I found this passage "President Truman later explained that the purpose of using the A-bomb was to minimize causalities for both Japanese and Americans. But the true purpose was to be for the Americans to have a chance to use Atomic bombs before the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and to show American power in the postwar world." This confirmed the true purpose of the bomb. America wanted to be claimed hero of war. Then in Japanese class when I came in with a pile of books my teacher looked at one and opened t to the end and her picture was in it. She wrote one of the stories in the book about a girl and her piano during the bomb. I thought that was so cool. This was also another book published by Hiroshima Jogakuin. Then after school I joined Orchestra club. That was fun. I haven't picked up a violin in a year. In the first book I was reading it was giving vivid descriptions of the events that happened at Hiroshima Jogakuin University. I thought this was cool because it is right by where I live. i could imagine what happened. I want to read many first hand experiences so that when I go to the Peace Park, I can imagine what was happening at that very moment. The stories were very descriptive about where they were and what everyone was doing, so I hope I can picture their stories.

Second week of school!

So very sleepy...don't want to go to school. The second week of school started. English class was boring. English Conversation was boring. Then I went to study hall in the Library. I wanted to look at books  and ended up finding books on Hiroshima so I looked through a lot of those then I found a really big picture book with photos from the bomb. It was really interesting. Then I was just thinking that I'm going to go to the place where all of these pictures took place. It was an overwhelming feeling. All of the pictures were really sad and showed the aftermath of the bomb. It made me think why are innocent people the victims of political warfare? They have nothing to do with political matters, but they are the ones getting hurt while the political heads sit and watch as so many people are being sacrificed because of their decisions. This goes for any political matter even today. Wars, the soldiers for a country, military, everyone is a pawn of the political heads and they just sit there completely safe. That is one thing that completely bothers me. no one looks at the consequences that could happen or the possible outcomes, they just do what they want and they don't look at the outcome of humankind. Anyways....back to school. Then we had PE which was softball again. Then to lunch. I was sooo hungry. my lunch was another Bento and I bought a little pastry. Alison told me that her host mom told her that she doesn't have to come home until 6, so we thought we where just going to walk around after school. I don't know what we planned to do. After lunch I went to the writing class and had a conversation with some of the students. They were telling me that they wanted to go to America, and asked me if I miss it. I told them not really and I like it here better. They thought Japan was boring and they all liked America. Then math....just wrote in my journal. Will never understand math no matter what language it is in. After school Ally and I checked out all of the clubs. The tea ceremony room is really cool. But she wants to do swimming and I want to do orchestra. Afterwards we walked t o7-11  and got a little snack. The we said goodbye and I went to the Bus stop. It was the first time on the bus by myself so I was afraid I would get lost but I was fine. At home I ate my ice cream and decided to continue my study on Hiroshima so I read stories on A-bomb survivors and they all were very interesting and sad. I plan to continue my study because this weekend I am going to the Peace memorial and I want to research as much as I can.

Kintaikyo!!

Today I woke up after spending the night at Rena and Nate's house. We all had breakfast, and they had a giant jar of peanut butter. I haven't had peanut butter in a while so I enjoyed that. then we all were dropped off at the Hiroshima train station. I thought parents were coming with us but apparently not. We then took a train to Kintaikyo. We played a word game on the train, so that was entertaining. Kintaikyo was very pretty. the first bridge was destroyed by a typhoon so it is rebuilt every 20 years. We had Ice cream and Nate had Wasabi flavored. A cat was staring at him the whole time. then we sat on the riverbank and threw rocks into the river. It was very peaceful. Then we went home by train. I found out it was Mama's birthday, but they don't celebrate birthday like we do in the US, it is smaller. We bought a little cake and went home and made Takoyaki and it was pretty god. It was kind of hard to make. Then we played catch and realized that I'm a terrible pitcher today. We were tired so we went to the 7-11 to get some ice cream. At the 7-11  there were a group of boys and one wasn't Japanese so Mama asked him if he was an exchange student. He was one from Germany, and she had to introduced me to him. Then we went home and ate cake for Mama's Birthday!

Saturday!! BBQ!

This was the second day Ally was at school. I have school on a Saturday...yes school. But it is ok because it is only 3 classes. I gave Ally one of my backup shirts because she was worried about here uniform. I was so tired. First was English Conversation which was interesting. Everyone had to give a presontation about their favorite places. It was cool hearing what everyone likes to do. Then computers. I did absolutely nothing in that class. I was put into a group and they were doing a project and they didn't talk to me. Only at the end they talked to tell me to choose a picture for their project. Then science.. I already knew that I wasn't going to understand so I just wrote in my journal. Akari told me that after school  we are going to another YFU student's house. His name is Nate. She said that we are going to the mall and Kintaikyo on Sunday. After school Mama picked us up and dropped us off at a train station to meet Rena and Nate. We walked what seemed like forever to the mall where we did Purikura, then we went to a virtual sports center which was really cool. It had a screen that looked like the pitcher was actually pitching the ball to you. That is where we practiced batting and we also played golf and practiced pitching. then we played air hockey which was team America vs. team Japan. America won! Then we walked a long time to Rena and Nate's house. The area where they live is very pretty. There are a lot of traditional houses, but as we walked closer to their house I noticed that it looked like a rectangle box. Their house was extremely modern in design. everything was all boxy and straight. This was in the middle of a traditional neighborhood. It was kind of funny. The parents are really funny and really cool. The mom wants me to visit them again. We had a barbeque which was fun. Then we played with sparklers! They were so pretty. Then we all went inside and played card games. And my room that I slept in is a tatami mat room with a shrine for the grandparents. I slept on a futon but woke up extremely cold and scared because I had half a blanket and a really weird scary dream. That was my day.

Finally Miyojima!

Sorry it took so long to get these up! Youtube isn't cooperating.

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Part 2!

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Pictures!

Friday! Ally!!!

I got ready for school and I was soo excited! It was the day that Allison (The other YFU student) comes to Hiroshima Jogakuin! When I got to school I went to go find her.I found her on the second floor talking with her host mother about school. She was worried about her uniform because it wasn't exactly like Jogakuin's, but I said it was ok. Then I said I would show her around during breaks. In my first class a girl came up to me and gave me cute stationary as a gift. That was too sweet. Then classes went by normally and I showed Ally to each of her classes. At lunch time we went to the cafeteria so that Ally could get some lunch. Lunch food looks so good and it is in real bowls and plates. I bought a pastry because I LOVE PASTRIES! I was soooo hungry that AI ate my Bento and Pastry. It was really good. I also bought what AI thought was orange juice but it was grapefruit juice. Then we went to Japanese! Japanese is also awesome. The teacher is a very nice old lady who always gives us little snacks. I had a green tea cookie which was great. After school Ally and I were shown around to all of the clubs. Everyone was so good at what they did. I'm trying to join Orchestra or Softball. then I went home and watched some TV and had some snacks. When Mama came home she made us Omu-Rice!! Sooooo good! We all had ice cream, then we played card games and I always lost. It was a fun day. :D

No school!!!

I woke up and I was so tired I didn't want to go to school. On the news it showed that a typhoon was happening. Apparently Typhoons are normal here. To my luck Mama got a text saying that school was cancelled for the day! I was so happy. So instead of going to school, it was decided that we go to the mall. The mall was soo big! We went to a couple of stores and I bought a Totoro bento box. It was my mission to get something with totoro on it! And I bought some other gifts but I can't tell because I want it to be a surprise. I went into a clothes store and was eyeballing this shirt I really wanted but I never bought it. I have a very hard time spending money, but I really wanted it and it was cheap! I missed my chance. We then went to an arcade where we played a taiko drum game that had the same concept as guitar hero. That was fun. I also played a claw game for ice cream. I didn't get anything! But here you have 3 chances to get it. Then we did Purikura which is a cute picture machine that makes you look cute and makes your eyes really big. It was fun. Then we went to the food court and I ate REAL RAMEN. It was delicious!!! Nothing like that fake college food in America. Afterwards we went to the ice cream vending machine which was awesome. The bottom floor of the mall was a supermarket. We got ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies. We then went home and I looked at the cookie recipe and realized that we were missing a couple of things so we went to the 100 yen shop (1 dollar shop) and picked them up. Then we cooked! The metric system was interesting. You have to weigh everything, so we had to buy a scale. The cookies were wonderful. At dinner we had another English speaking session with Papa which was hilarious. He cannot pronounce words lol. Then Akari and I tried on our Yukatas! It takes some practice but it was fun and they were pretty. Then I took a Japanese bath which is the greatest thing ever! Then I went to bed.