JULYYYYYYY!!!!!!

Firstly, i would just like to add that i am now 18. and an adult. and that i had a good overseas birthday on the first.
i had school that day UNFORTUNATELY, but it was only half a day. And in the morning i had a Japanese test and got about 95% on it......thats how good i am at japanese haha
then after school finished the other foreign kids at my school (a girl from brunei and 2 NZ boys) came to my house for a couple hours and my mum cooked a BIIIIG feast for us, it was so good!!
Then went to dinner with my host mum in the city. we went to a really expensive restaurant on top of a building where we had a view of all of sapporo infront of our table, it was cool. And some of my non-school friends came to see me and we hung around it the city for a while afterwards. so i had a good day...

on july 4 i had my level 3 japanese test at a sapporo university. anyone taking the test in sapporo came to the same spot on the same day, and the place was FULL of various asians!!! not many western people like me there. Except i went with a rotary girl because she was taking the test aswell.
It was pretty hard because this years level 3 exam had been redone and made MUCH harder than last years. but in the end i managed to do it so i was pretty proud of myself. Too bad it took 4 hours! i was there from 12:30 to 4:30 it was insane!
But then my host mum picked me up as it finished and we went straight to the airport because that night my host sister who has been in New Zealand sudying this year was coming back for 2 weeks while her NZ school had winter holidays. Her name is Sayo and shes the same grade as me (and same school) except im a year older than her.



Her english was quite good i was really impressed, better than my Japanese! haha but we got along really well. every day we went to school together and helped each other with japanese and english at night.
on the first week she was here we went to Niseko on the 10th and stayed until sunday the 11th. We went horse riding (because host mum REALLY wanted to) and then rafting in the afternoon. rafting was the most fun of the trip by far!! for dinner we went and had a massive japanese feast it was the best!! i ate and ate and ate.....haha
then sunday we got up early and went for a ride in a hot ir balloon, good experience!!





We stayed at a little japanese cottage-type place. it was so nice inside, kindof like a log cabbin....



The weekend was alot of fun and everyone was completely exhausted by the time we got home around 10ish at night.

During the 2 weeks sayo was here we got up to so much stupid, but funny stuff! haha one time my host mum was sleeping and we drew on her face with black pen, as well as dressing up as the grudge and hiding in each others rooms HAHAHAAH but anyway.....

the second weekend we went to a small island called Yagishiri. it took 4 hours by car to drive north to the terminal, then we caught the boat over which was about half an hour. The island was really small, but had alot of sheep on it, as thats what it was known for (and, the 'yagi' in Yagishiri means sheep by the way) we decided to hire out bikes and ride around the whole island it was so tiring because of the ridiculous amount of hills, but still fun.





we then drove a bit more after we came back from the island and saw a submarine (just to let you know) and we went to an area famous for fireflys and it attracts alot of people at night time. so at about 8 we got outof the car and walked into this foresty area and there were fireflys everywhere around everyone, it was pretty cool!

then got home at about 11 oclock and i collapsed onto my bed and went to sleep straight away i was that exhausted!!

on the 20th (tuesday) we went to the airport and said bye to sayo as she got on the plane back to NZ. Its good that she is coming back in November for about 3 months while ill still be here though...


Most of the Rotary students have left and gone back home. the 2 american girls went a week or 2 ago, and the canadian girl left last thursday. i went to the airport and said goodbye to her. another aussie girl also came to see goodbye and the finnish girl aswell. The finnish girl cryed heaps at the airport.....and she leaves this thursday even though she REALLY doesnt want to....
then it will be just us the aussie kids until new students come next month which im looking forward to!!

Yesterday (sunday) i went to a really 'rocky' beach......it had some good scenery....





Today was the last day of school and for the next 4 weeks is summer vacation YAY~!! except i have no plans so hopefully its not gonna be boring......

Also ive noticed a drop in my english skills so if something doesnt make sense in what i say, dont worry....haha

Disney Land || Zoo || Sakura || TV Stations

Finally stopped being lazy and uploaded photos on Facebook / made a blog!!!!
Well half the reason was because i never have energy, but still heres your blog youve been waiting for.....

Its the end of May, already its bee 4 months even though it doesnt feel like that at all! Definately going way to quick.....a bit upsetting...

But ive done so much this month and been to many places, so its been good! At the start of May i went to Tokyo from Saturday the 8th to Monday the 10th. I went with 2 other people, a young girl from rotary and a Korean guy who is friends with my first host dad, it was good because they were looking forward to this as much as me haha. It was an early morning Saturday as i had to catch the train from where i lived to the airport, then catch a 9'oclock plane to Tokyo. We arrived at about 11ish, then went straight to DISNEY SEA!! we left our suitcases in lockers they have there. I was soooooo excited for this weekend i felt like a kid again!! We stayed at Disney Sea until about 8o'clock that night. During the afternoon we went on various rides, some casual, some a bit extreme haha
I really loved the atmosphere and pretty sure i had a smile on my face the whole day.

Then we got back to the hotel at about 9 at night and went to bed straight away, we were extremely exhausted and had to be up early the next morning for DISNEY LAND!!
Sunday - I got up at 7:30, quickly had breakfast at the free buffet then went back to my room, got ready and we arrived at Disney Land at about 9:30 - we then spent the rest of the day there until around 7PM. Disney LAnd was definately better and way more fun! For some reason, even though it was crowded, the longest we waited for in line for rides was 50 minutes or less. Therefore we had plenty of time for the rides, and even went on a couple twice, it was so much fun, yet exhausting! One of my favourite rides was called "Splash mountain" where a group of people sit in this log looking boat, go through a nice river with disney characters either side of the river singing songs and making you feel happy/relxed, then you get to the end where you slide down this steep waterfall/rapids looking slope and water splashed everywhere!! luckily, i was sitting at the front of the boat, so i had the best experience, and got saturated when the boat fell! Unfortunately i dont have photos of it (or any from Disney Sea) because the memroy card wont work on this computer....

There was also a roll-coaster type ride called "Space mountain" where you can see anything and youre thrown around the pitch black room with holographic space scenery around you.....was quite cool.

During lunch time, around 12ish, there was a Disney parade going through the main area! i just stood there watching them dance and sing and taking photos of it - definately a good memory!!









I also bought alot of souvenirs for my friends, and myself of course. I think i was shopping for about 3 hours in the big souvenir street they had as you walk in the front gates...





I was so exhausted Sunday night, and slept on the plane back to Sapporo Monday morning, therefore i didnt have school that day. But all in all, an awesome weekend!!!!





Acouple weeks ago i went with my school counsellor and 3 other foreign students from my school to Maruyama Zoo (Maruyama is like an area in Sapporo, kind of like a suberb...) and it was really cool, BECAUSE i saw sooo many animals for the first time. I saw giraffes, hippos, lions/tigers upclose, different kinds of monkeys (hilarious), different kinds of bireds, all different kinds of big cats, deers, different types of BEARS! (including polar bears), wolves, penguins and seals AND they had a kangaroo pen, i was pretty suprised by that! But it was so funny because 2 of the males were fighting, it got pretty intense, all the Japanese were crowsing around the pen taking photos and i was like yeah AUSSIE PRIDE! haha









This little baby on its mums back was so cute, and it was so crazy swinging around everywhere like it just had a can of red bull!! haha







While we were at the zoo there were also a few primary schools there as an excursion. i kind of felt sorry for these kids wearing this uniform because it was embarrassing haha little tiny shorts, a bow, suspenders and a brown top hat with a ribbon sticking out!!



Because i have a level 3 Japanese ability exam on July 4th, everyday i have to study a vocabulary book, which may sound bad, but i actually remember it easy and ive learned alot of vocab so its a good thing! Also last week i was sitting at the table from 12 lunch time to 6 that night reading!! i was lacking so much energy....(actually i fell asleep in the chair for 2 hours but still) haha

My friend from Townsville sent me a new pokemon game a couple weeks ago so lately ive been playing it before i go to bed hahah just thought i would include that in this blog.

Sakura FINALLY bloomed!!!! its the end of spring and it finally got warm enough for sakura to bloom everywhere around sapporo, it really is amazing and the best thing spring has to offer!! Except they never last long and changed to normal leaves after a week, but i got plenty of photos!!







For some reason they look edible, and that if you eat them it tastes like strawberry........umm...ok anyway.....

Last week on Tuesday and Wednesday i went to school for only 1 hours (that being a school japanese lesson) then went back home, and Thursday and Friday i had no school at all, it was wonderful!! haha Reason being that the teachers at my school helped out at a Track and Field carnival all week, so therefore they wouldnt have been at school to teach classes.

On Thursday i went to Sapporo dome, which is i big DOME where ther are baseball and soccer matches, it is pretty epic i think! we did a tour, and so walked onto the field...



...as well as seeing the locker rooms and areas that the baseball/soccer players use during the game, it was really interesting. My host mum got free tickets to see baseball games next week. Sapporos baseball team is call THE FIGHTERS and we are watching them play other teams this Tuesday and Wednesday night. For some reason i think i will enjoy watching it, baseball looks as though it could be really interesting...but i will let you know how i thought of it after i watch the matches!

Friday was a VERY good day. My host mums friend works at a TV station, as so me and my mum were lucky enough to walk INSIDE into the studio (this by the way is the most well known station in Japan) and i met some famous Japanese tv presenters AND i watched BEHIND the cameras as they were filming a morning show on set! it was so good and gave me a glimpse of what making movies would be like!! the show was live, and they were all so friendly and were really good at their job. I got to know what these kinds of people do during commercials and how everything works.I also met the producer of the station (which by the way is called 'UHB'). While the show was going i was taken out of the studio and through the corridors seeing different rooms such as the make up room where tv presenters were getting their hair done and things like that, i also went into the sound room where directors are sitting at desks with a million buttons infront of them, running what people would see on tv, eg. switching between different cameras and such (its kind of hard to explain sorry!)I also sat in their chairs! haha
But honestly it was so surreal and a REALLY cool experience to watch a group of proffessional people do something like this, and yes i was tempted to run infront of the cameras but i didnt.....
OH, and i got photos with them >>>>>







Well nothing as of yet is planned for June, but im sure things will happen and plans will be made, so until then - its study time!!!

SUPER AWESOME HOKKAIDO TRIP!!

I just need to say this first.......umm, i had this blog pretty much finished, with a fair few photos to go with it. Yesterday i didnt have time to publish it as i had to go out to my japanese lesson and so i left it open on the computer. I came home to find that my host mum accidentally turned off the computer, meaning i lost my whole blog. And it had taken me 2 days to type it, including attaching the photos as they take a while to upload. SO i will re-do this, but i dont have the time to add all the photos i wanted to show you, sorry! i will add a couple though *sigh*


(And just letting you know this blog is gonna be pretty long...)

Ok so we went on a family trip around Hokkaido, travelling to the east side, then back to the west where Sapporo is. We left early Saturday morning quite early, as in, i got up before the sun did - can you believe it! We left the house at about 6AM.
it would have taken about 4 hours from my side of hokkaido to the other side (where we stayed the night) but we stopped so many times so we didnt get to the hotel until about 4 oclock that afternoon.
During the car trip i listened to music, slept, read some manga, and did some kanji practice to pass the time.

What we did was, first me, swiss guy, host mum and host dad bought a hokkaido travel book for the weekend. And inside is a page for each town where you stamp it to say youve been to that town. Eg, we stopped in so many different towns on saturday and sunday, and every time we got out of the car, walked inside of the tourism building, and got that towns stamp and put it in our each of our books. Then later on we can look through the book and say that we have visited that town. They were only small towns so basically the only building there WAS the tourism buildings. We visited at least 10 during the trip.

While i was listening to music and half asleep in the car, my parents told me that they got a bit lost, even though they have a navigator in the car. I could definately tell we were lost as we drove through a tunnel, then when we came out, there was snow everywhere on the road, almost like a blizzard. i realised they had started to drive north, rather than east, it was pretty funny.


Saturday lunch time we stopped in at my host dads friends house/diner for a big feed! It is actually their house, but it was built into a restaurant for people and they run it everyday as their own business. The food was sooo good we ate so much! i forgot to take a picture but just imagine a table full of different japanese meals. I was distracted by how nice it all was i ended up eating too much and got SO full! but it was worth it. They told my host parents we didnt have to pay for it because they were friends so that was nice. After talking with them for over an hour, we got back in the car and continued driving.

Along the way we saw so many Japanese style trees and there were mountains and hills everywhere! It was really nice scenery.
Saturday afternoon we arrived at a place called Abashiri. It is know for its prison which has been turned into a museum and it is really popular! There were so many people there, it was interesting.
After we checked out the museum we walked down the area where prisoners were kept in their cells, like the REAL part. it was kind of creepy and probably haunted at night time.



After we left we drove past the REAL prison (the first part was just a museum) and i wanted to see if we could get in. So me and my host mum walked over a bridge (just like stereotypes, the prison was in the middle of a lake, so if they wanted to break free they would have to swim a long way) but anyway we walked across the bridge and went to the front gate, where i could see the courtyard, but sadly no prisoners......we werent allowed in, which is a pity because i wanted a photo with the prisoners hahaha but atleast i got to visit it.


After that we drove to the place where we were staying at, which was a Japanese style inn. Very traditional, it was fun. Hopefully these photos can show you what it was like......







The food was SO nice, ive grown a liking to japanese food. This is how much we ate for dinner>>



Breakfast was also fairly big, and straight after we ate, we packed up and left at about 9 in the morning for the second part of the trip. We drove down the south side, eventually getting back to sapporo later that night. (We actually got back at around 11PM!!)

We first stopped at a wharf on the way home where there were people feeding all different kinds of sea birds flying everywhere around us!!



I quickly got some pictures then ran back into the car with a fear of getting bird faeces on my clothes...

We kept driving then stopped at a really beautiful lake, with snowy mountains in the background. Me and my host mum were attempting to skim stones across the water. It was a really good view!





Then we drove and stopped at a 'Ainu' hut. For those of you who dont know (probably all of you), Ainu are like, the indigenous people of Hokkaido (only hokkaido though, not any other part of japan). Its like Australia has Aborigines, Hokkaido have Ainu people, with their own language that they spoke. Only very few people know the Ainu language now as it isn't being taught to anyone and they are slowly dieing out, so not much is left of it. The history is really interesting though. This is a photo of it >>



I walked inside and their was bonfire kind of thing lit in the middle of the hut, with traditional clothing/accessories/weapons/tools/etc being displayed on the walls. I was lucky enough to be dressed in traditional Ainu wear and got a photo! >>



IT consisted of robes, a sash, a sword (you cant see it in the photo) and some straw design on my head. hahaha
Before i left i bought an Ainu band to wear around my wrist, looks pretty cool.

During the afternoon, we visited a beach and a national park.

OH! i saw deers for the first time! As we were driving around hokkaido, when we went through the mountains, which were basically right next to the road, there were deers grazing around the place, it was awesome as!! Me and my host mum saw a big hard of them, so we got out to take a photo, but they saw us and ran like into the woods.....damn. But when it got to night time (as i said before we got home at about 11 oclock sunday night) they were right next to the road, i was scared one would stupidly jump out in front of the car, but they didnt.

I was SO tired when we finally made it back home i pretty much went to sleep straight away.
AND THAT WAS MY TRIP!

A few other things, it was the swiss guys birthday on monday so that night we had a big dinner party. My host mums friend came over and they got drunk together. The swiss guy and my host dad went to bed, but me, host mum and her friend stayed up til about 2 oclock tuesday morning talking/laughing. I enjoyed it.

I go back to school tomorrow as ive been on a week long holiday since Thursday last week. AND Saturday morning i have to get up early as im going to TOKYO!!!! Im going to Disney Land so i cant wait!!!! then coming back monday, meaning i wont be at school that day. I will have to make a post about tokyo next week.
BYE!!!!

..New School Year..

Woah!! time goes too quickly, its already been 3 months! it needs to start slowing down...

I have started a new school year at Yamanote High School and now a grade 2 student (NOT equivalent to grade 2 in Australia) and its been good so far. Because Japanese bow to people with more authority than them, whenever i walk past grade 1 students they stop and bow to me, its funny. And of course all the first year girls who just started at this school and are seeing me for the first time freak out whenever they see me hahaha!

I have kind of decided to join chorus club, which is like singing and various stuff like that. Half of the reason i joined was because my good friends are in that club so it should be fun.

Friend from chorus club>>>



Also just last week i started learning piano! i like it. And usually when i get home from school i play it for a while before dinner time. Also the chorus club teacher said he would give me lessons as well so it all worked out well! Realistically, the chorus club is every day, INCLUDING Saturday and Sunday and holidays, but I'm foreign, so that means i only go when i want to. I will probably go few times a week, except not Tuesdays because thats when i have Japanese lessons if you remember.
Oh, and speaking of Japanese, in July i will be doing a Japanese exam and i will try and pass rank 3. I filled in the application yesterday. Then in December i will try rank 2. Rank 2 is pretty good, considering No.1 is the highest rank. Except, exchange students don't do rank 1 exam because it is EXTREMELY difficult, even for Japanese people! So the best i can do is rank 2, which is still very good.

The other day i went to a pet salon place to pick up our dogs because they got washed and groomed there. When we went to pick them up i saw these poodles>>>





haha cute.

A couple weeks ago i was walking home from school and on the way home is a cemetary, INCLUDING a temple! so i walked around and had a look at a japanese version of a cememtary. They are actually really nice, with marble head stones and its really clean and pretty, unlike Australian cemetaries where they are vandalised and broken, etc. There was also a traditional japanese looking pond which i liked.....except i dont have a photo.





My home stay is good, i enjoy it. My host parents are nice and we are always laughing. Still acting as a translator for the swiss guy that lives with us, i feel smart when he asks me to translate something haha!

Next weekend (May 1st) i am going to a few places in Hokkaido with my family. I have about a weeks holiday then because of something called 'Golden Week', which is like, a lot of different holidays all next to each other, so its called Golden Week.

Last Saturday i went to the Canadian girls house and we had the best lunch EVER!! IT was choclate fondue and cheese fondue, SOOO good!



Today i have no school and currently at home. Its because my school have health tests today, except i had done all of that before i came to Japan so i didn't need to go today. INSTEAD i have just finished writing (well typing) a speech for tomorrow night. Its a rotary dinner and i haven't been to any rotary events in over 2 months so tomorrow night i have to say a speech and tell them what I've been doing lately.

It getting hot lately, like, im talking more than 10 degrees!!! I dont think i would be ready to come back to Townsville in the middle of its summer... but last week one day its snowed for the whole day!! it was crazy! its the middle of spring and it pouring down snow all day even though it wasnt cold. But i think the snow has definately stopped now until November/December.

This Saturday I'm going snowboarding one last time before the snow melts at the ski places, so im looking forward to it! Im going with the other exchange students, we all prefer snowboarding over skiing haha

ok i think its time to eat, then do some Japanese homework..it never ends. Catch ya later!

New Family....New Rules....

Ok well, its Wednesday afternoon, and that means i go back to school tomorrow!! NOOOO!! :O
So its back to waking up early again...

On Friday i didnt go out anywhere and just stayed home. This was so that i could pack which i did in a record 2 hours! Then i spent the rest of the day facebooking/youtubing. FINALLY found some music that i like thanks to Ellen (The Japanese girl from Australia). She showed me some music by a guy called 'Shimizu Shota' and a girl called 'Bahashishi' and their music is really good! The guy sings a mix of pop/RnB and its taken over 2 months to find good Japanese music, so im really pleased about that. :D I listen to them everyday now...

So i moved house Saturday after lunch time, This new house (yes, they live in a a 2 story house)
is about 10 minutes walk from school so thats definately much easier in the mornings/afternoons than the old bus-subway-bus routine. The house is nice and they have 2 border collie dogs, they're so cute! They love me and always jump up on me if im sitting on the couch haha



One is a boy and the other is a girl and they both do dog training. The male dog's specialty is frizbee and he enters competitions usually during the warmer months, and the female dog does hurtles (like how horses do) and on Monday me and my host mum took them to a 'dog park' and i saw how good the male dog was at frizbee!! Hes PRO. Also i usally walk the dogs with my host mum in the afternoons.

Now umm, about my family, theyre really nice, its just the mum and dad living there. They have a daughter but at the moment she is living in New Zealand on exchange, but not through Rotary. She comes back in July. They are pretty funny and the mum is always laughing! And there is also a guy from Switzerland staying with us as well who is my age. He got here about a week and a half ago and is only staying with this family for a month, so in a few weeks he will go to another family.
He only knows very basic Japanese so i have been a translator during the day, which makes me feel so smart haha!
The only problem i have is this host family's rules. Like, when i first got here the mum told me i can not leave the house for the next month except for school and lessons. I have lost a whole month of my exchange to hang out with friends......

Also, i can only use the computer 2 hours a week. Its 2 days a week i can use the computer, but only 1 hour a day, so in total, 2 hours. Thank GOD i have an iPhone with sufficient internet otherwise id get mad!! They have those 2 strict rules but they arent ACTUALLY strict people, so i dont get it, it doesnt make sense...oh welllllll

Because this family only have 1 proper bedroom, i am using the traditional Japanese room they have which is usually for guests until the Swiss guy changes families. It has tatami mat floors, those paper doors you see in movies and i sleep ona futon, its not so bad. It will only be for a few weeks.
My room....





Except one of the dogs had crazy and rips holes in the doors so now at the bottom of one of the doors there are all these shredded parts thanks to the dog hahaha....






During the past few days i have just been listening to music, doing some study, watching tv, and playing the nintendo wii. The only things i can do indoors so pass the time. Oh, my host mum loves video games, how funny is that?! She likes playing pokemon and mario and on the Wii we each have our own file on supermario. She is actually pretty good at it!!

Today we went to a Ramen place for lunch. Ramen is like noodles and various meats and vegetables in a really nice sauce. It was so good! The funny thing was that where this place was, there was about 10 different Ramen restaurants all surrounding each other, and it was almost like a competition to see which place could bring in the most customers. At the front of each restaurant was a person shouting out to people walking by, telling them to come into the restaurant and what the specialties were to try and entice them. It was crazy!
This is the place, it was fairly dark in there.....







I apoligise for the pictures if some are sideways because i couldnt rotate them on the computer.

Also i will finish this blog with photos of me as a SAMURAI!!!!!!!!!!!

ENJOY-!