Snowboarding

Hey guys! Last weekend I went to Nagano to do snowboarding with my tourism friends! We left for Nagano at about 7 pm from Wakayama by bus and got there around 7 am. It was so uncomfortable to sleep on the bus.

It was my first time to do snowboarding so I was so scared for the first time. There were some friends who had done it before so they taught me how to do it. Thanks to their good teaching, I could do it with a less falling. Once I’ve got how to do it, I found it so much fun! I can say it is the best sport in the world :P

It is also a dangerous sport though.. I fell a lot and once I hit my head badly. I thought I died. Fortunately I was alright but the worst thing could had been happened. Scary!

However I really enjoyed snowboarding. Now my whole body has muscular pain… but who cares! I can’t wait to go again next year!

New generation

As I wrote on this blog before, I’m a member of International Exchange Committee of Wakayama University (IEC). The representative has just changed and now I’m the new one.

I’ve been interested in international exchange since I was a child. As my high school had a sister school in Australia, I had many opportunities to meet Australians then. To know different culture was so exciting for me and I was getting into international exchange.

After I entered in Wakayama University, I met IEC. It was just the one I had been looking for. Since then my life has changed a lot. Everyday is so fresh to me and my sense of value has also changed greatly. Now I’m the representative of this club and a bit worried if I can do well. However I know that I always have many nice friends around me and they will support me when I’m in trouble. They always make me strong!

It’s time for new generation. I will change the world! Follow meeeee ^^

Guests from USA

On the 12^th Jan, we had guests from USA in our class. I had been looking forward to meeting them so it was lovely to know them all. I organised that day’s class with my friends. We were on our winter holiday and couldn’t have enough time to plan for it so we were worried whether we succeeded it.

Once the class starts, we were all in a good atmosphere and it seemed everybody enjoyed the class. We organised a game called ‘gesture game’ and it was related to the things we learned in ICC class, culture difference and stereotype.  We thought it might be interesting and it actually was! Each gesture we do about the same theme was all different. We hope everybody had a good time there :)

After that I went to tea ceremony with American students. I’ve learned tea ceremony but it was hard to explain them how to do it in English. It was good practice for me though. Everybody looked like enjoying Japanese green tea!

At that night we went to ‘Bar No.11(http://onomachi.jugem.jp/?eid=472)’. It’s located in Burakuri-cho and I think it is the best bar!  I didn’t have much time then but it was great to see them there.

4 days after, I was talking with American people on facebook, we finally decided to meet up again at the same bar on their last day in Japan. Some exchange students of Wakayama University came there too and we talked about culture differences together. It was so interesting! We were talking in English and it was a bit hard for me to understand but they helped me. It was really a good night!

Now I miss them all but we can talk whenever on facebook. Facebook is the best invention ever! ...It was really good to meet them and talked a lot about many things. I will never forget them and hope to see them again someday!



Aloha!

I’m taking Tourism Development of Hawai’i class at the moment. The reason I took this class is just that I was interested in Hawaii. The lecture is done by a teacher of University of Hawaii through a system like skype. It is an awesome class.

I was getting more interested in Hawaii and recently I’ve started to listen to Hawaiian music. I haven’t listened to it before but they have relaxing and beautiful melodies. My favourite artist is Keali’i Reichel. I don’t know what he sings in his songs because they are all Hawaiian language but I can feel something from his songs. Try to listen to his songs on YouTube. I hope you like it!

England

 I went to Oxford, England from a programme for 3 weeks last September. I was going to University of Oxford to study English and tourism in England. England was my dream country so I was so happy to get an opportunity to go there. It’s a very beautiful country as I thought and I was like in a movie. I’ve been to Australia but it was quite different.

People often say that food in England is not that good. Meat and potato are the main foods in England and sometimes the season is a bit weak or too strong. However it was ok. We never know the true thing unless we try it by ourselves! Also, my favourite is milkshake! Ahhh I miss it so much! In England, there is a milkshake shop and there are about 100 kinds of flavors. You choose one you like and then they make you the best milkshake ever! I often went there after school and shopping drinking it.

Afternoon tea is also famous in England. British people drink milk tea with some sweets such as a scone and cookies. It’s weird but I didn’t like tea that much before I went there. Now I love it!

I went to many places while I was in England. Sometimes I went alone just with my camera. When I was in trouble some kind people helped me and even took me to the place where I wanted to go. People I met in England were all nice.

I had many great experiences in this trip. If you got interested in my trip, feel free to talk to me! I’d love to tell you my story!

37th Ship for South East Asia Youth Programme (SSEAYP)

It’s been a long time since I wrote last… Sorry, I’ve been so busy!

In these days, I’ve had some great experiences that I want to tell you. So I’ll write some at a stretch ;)

Well, firstly, about on the 29^th – 31^st Oct.

Do you know what ‘SSEAYP’ is?

‘SSEAYP’, ‘東南アジア青年の船’ in Japanese, is a partnership programme between Japan and ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippine, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and it started in 1974. About 340 people from these countries live together on the ship and visit participating nations taking about 43 days.

(You can see more details here -> http://www8.cao.go.jp/youth/kouryu/data/sseayp.html#1)

During their stay in Japan, they spread some areas. A group came over to Wakayama and spent 3 days. My friends join an organization called ‘海友会’ which take care of people from foreign country and they gave me this opportunity to meet them. There were about 30 people in the group.

On their first day in Wakayama, they visited Wakayama University. They came to the class ‘世界の日本語’ and each country introduced us their countries, culture and dancing. I did some dances together and it was fun ^^ After that, we ate lunch together and talked with many people. At first I hesitated to talk to them because I didn’t know if they speak English and also I have thought that because of Southeast Asian countries have many different cultures, if I do something wrong which isn’t accepted in their culture they would feel bad. However once I tried to talk to them, I knew it. They were all nice, unique and seemed to like Japan very much. Then we were getting good friends..

In the afternoon we took them to the tea ceremony and Japanese archery club. In the tea ceremony, they looked so excited about Japanese traditional room. They enjoyed green tea which was their first time and said sitting on their heels was so hard XD  At the Japanese archery club, they tried Japanese archery and some people got crazy about it! I think they did good job ;)

At night, we had a welcome party at a hotel. The dishes were really nice ^.^ The SSEAYP members met their host families there. They did a performance (fashion show wearing their traditional clothes) for us. It was marvelous! The atmosphere was nice there and we all had a good time.

The next day was the day to spend with host family for the members. I was in Wakayama by accident then.  I was surprised but a friend who is from Cambodia called and invited me to his home party! He took me to his host family’s house then his family and another member from Myanmar welcomed me warmly. His host parents treated me as their real daughter.. I was so happy. We had dinner together, had a long chat and went for a walk with Von (from Cambodia) and host father to Wakayama castle at night. I had a wonderful time with them. This is my precious memory.

On the 31^st was the day we had to say goodbye.. I went to see them off to the airport. All of the members regretted to say goodbye. It was only 3 days we spent together but we had a great memory which nothing can replace. 

We have totally different culture and speak different language. The appearance is different and the way to think is also different. But the moment we laugh is the same and we feel the same when we have to leave.. sad. I do miss them. I hope to see them all again in the future.. I’m going to go on a Southeast Asia trip someday!

Now, my friends are on the ship heading for Malaysia. I hope they have a safe journey and have great experiences :)

I'm so glad having this opportunity.
I will never forget them all.

My Family :)

:-) :-) :-)

Hello there! Good seeing you again :-)

I’m in a good mood for some reasons :-)  hehe

Do you want to know why?

Well, I’m gonna tell you!

I had an opportunity to exchange with twenty 15 years old boy students from London, UK. They visited Wakayama in a programme.

Actually I was studying in Oxford last September and am missing UK these days so I was really excited for their visit.

We just got an hour to exchange with them but it was no problem for me. When I met them, it brought me back old memories.

They study Japanese at their school so when I spoke to them in Japanese, they could understand some of what I said. They know many things and spoke well so it was hard to believe that they were still 15 years old.

There was a boy called Jake in the group. He is really friendly and we talked a lot. He seemed to like Japan very much. When I was talking with him, suddenly he turned around. I didn’t know what happened to him, but a few seconds later, he turned to me and said a Japanese word. There was a small dictionary in his hand. Finally I realized that he was looking up a word which he wanted to say to me and how to say it in Japanese. He could tell it in English to me but didn’t do that. I was so glad then.

I’ve met some people who hesitate to communicate with people from different countries because of the language problem. But I think you don’t really have to care about that. If you have a mind that you want to know about them and talk to them, then they will understand you even if you can’t speak well. Just try it.

It was only for an hour that I was with them but I had a great experience.

That’s why I love the international exchange.

That’s why I’m in a good mood :-)