Hello!!!


Time for a fresh update now!


First of all it is almost Christmas so.... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

On to the update. I have been laying low for a while and enjoying my new host family :D I spend a lot of time at home just studying Japanese! I recently took the level 4 Japanese language skill test and I am excited to find out in February if I passed or not. When I am not studying Japanese I like to visit with my host family! Since my Japanese has been gradually getting better all I want to do is talk to people and I think talking is one of the best ways to keep the progression moving!



My birthday was a good day!! My host mom worked so hard making cake for me and all of my friends!! And then after that we went out to Karaoke!!!! And in the Evening I enjoyed a nice dinner with all the Rotary members! They gave me flowers and a cute new outfit!!!!







The day after my birthday my family took me to Nagoya! I spent the first day with my host sister and her boyfriend at an amusement park! We rode sooooo many roller coasters!! The second day we went shopping!! Because it was my birthday, everyone was buying me presents! I want to thank them so much! I loved everything!





Last week I went to Tokyo with my school! It was a great experience! On the first day I went to Uenokouen to see the zoo! Nobody from my class chose the same trip so I had to make new friends! It was fun!!





On the second day we went to make a traditional Japanese craft! It turned out so nice!! And in the afternoon I was reunited with my class to spend the remainder of the day at Tokyo Disneyland!









The final day I talked with my friend the entire way back from Tokyo on the train!! It was a great trip and it really helped me to break the ice!




These are some of my friends from class!!






This is my class teacher! Motoki Sensei

Hi all!

Hisashiburi ne?! (that means it's been a while hasn't it?!).

So much has happened since I last filled you in. I have made the change to my second host family already. I love them! They don't speak any English but it's OK because I am able to understand what they are saying now! Communication is difficult but I can do it!

This is my new host family!

Okay so update time... I was in a fashion show for snowboarding wear! SO COOL! I never thought I would be a model in Japan!

Also my previous host mother's brother's wife took me to see some traditional geisha dancing. It was beautiful to see! There were so many colours!

This is me and my first host mother

School is getting better and better all the time! Finally I am conversing with my classmates in Japanese! It is so great! I have made so many friends at school and outside school! Everyone knows my name! It's crazy! Also on Halloween I baked cupcakes for my entire class!

Soon it will be my birthday! I will be 18 and Rotary wants to celebrate it with me :D I am happy! And my host mom wants to make me a cake and have some of my friends over!

Take care until next time!

Konnichiwa!

This was a fun two weeks!

I was invited by the Rotary Club in Takaoka to participate in a festival! All of the other rotary exchange students were also invited so we got a chance to get to know each other better!

It was a lot of fun. We had to dress up in these outfits called Hapi (pronounced Happy) and push one of the traditional festival floats! Sorekara (and after) we walked around and visited all of the shops set up in a long street. There were so many people there!

After that I went to Tokyo for the weekend! Tokyo is AMAZING! there is so much to do! My first day there my host brother Hiroshi lead me around. We went shopping and went to Kareoke and out for dinner with his friends!

My second day in Tokyo, my friends from yokohama came to Tokyo. They took me to a theme park and out for lunch and shopping in harajuku! We took so many pictures!!

Woah! OK so i have been a little slow in updating this!

so on the 13Th and 14Th i didn't end up going to Tokyo... but i did go sailing! Horie-san (rotary member) took me and the American exchange student Mike, sailing! it was awesome! We saw fish jumping! it was very exciting!

My host mom took me to Kanazawaon the 15Th because it was a school holiday! She took me to The old ninja building and also a very beautiful garden

This weekend i went to Osaka and Kyoto with my host mom and her friend! We went to universal studios on Saturday in Osaka. It was so neat! everywhere you look is like the set of a movie.

Sunday morning we went to the Osaka aquarium!! It was beautiful!! I saw so many cool fishies! :P

Later We took the train to Kyoto! We saw some really cool temples and castles and walked around. The next day we went to more temples and then went shopping!!!! shopping in Japan is sooooo fun! There are so many cool things to buy! I am going to run out of money

Hey again!!

so this was a very very exciting weekend for me :D My host mom took me to Hakuba to see the mountains! We went with a group of her friends from her ladies choir. They were all very nice ladies! On the first day my host mom took me to the site of the 1998 winter Olympic ski jump!!! it was HUGE!

we went up and i got some great pictures and we even watched some people go off the jump!! I didn't know they could do that without snow but apparently they can. In the evening there was a concert at my hotel. It was great! We got all dressed up!! Everything was so professional and the musicians were extremely talented! WOW!

The second day we all went up the mountain! The view was amazing! Japan is so beautiful!

Next weekend I'm off to Tokyo!!!

I'll report back soon!!

Hey all!! so this was a very very interesting start of the week!! first off I bought a new cell phone!!! it is super nice!! And the instructions are in Japanese of course ha ha.

The next day was my FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! I can't understand very much at all but i am trying. On my first day of school i had to do 3 speeches! one for the teachers one for my class and one for ALL the grade 2s(grade 2 is my grade which has 16 and 17 year old students). After school i went to my first Rotary meeting in Japan!! And i did yet another speech! ha ha Japanese like speeches i guess! Anyways i met the rest of my host fathers for the year there and they all seem like very very nice men!

After the meeting i went home to clean up and DRESS UP!! My host mom asked a very nice lady if she would help me wear my yukata! It looked so nice!!! We went to see the Owara dances which are very very famous in Japan! I was the only non Asian person there.. SERIOUS! and everyone wanted to take a picture with me! And the Owara dancers themselves came up to talk with me... not that they could say much.. haha.

The next day I went to school and then my host brother took me out for Kareoke!! which is an absolute BLAST! I have to admit that i almost did not try it but i am very glad i did! anyhow.. it is late and i am super sleepy!! OYASUMINASAI!!

Konnichiwa!

I arrived in japan on Saturday august 23rd! It is wonderful! I was so excited while I was on the plane. When I landed The Toyama rotary club greeted me with big smiles and a big sign that said welcome Riley!!!! I felt so happy!!! The next day my host mother and her friends planned a welcome lunch for me! It was delicious!! I attended my first of 6 Japanese classes this morning. When the classes are finished I will go to school! Today I went shopping with my new friends and I also visited my new high school to meet my principal and teachers an also get my school uniform. My host mother took me many places around town! We went to the supermarket to buy ingredients for dinner and then we went to the Favora shopping centre! She bought me Yukata! it is beautiful! I am very excited about Japan so far and I can't wait for school to start!

Yokohama Students

As my departure date SLOWLY approaches, I have been involving myself with many activities. I am currently hosting a Japanese student at my house and i am also a student leader for their group from Yokohama. It is so much fun! I am learning much Japanese and I am making many new friends! The job of the student leader is to take the students around on tours of the many different areas that we travel to including, Toronto, Niagara Falls and St. Jacobs. This has been a wonderful beginning to my summer and a great introduction to the people in Japan. I can't wait until my journey to Japan! It will surly be unforgettable.

Welcome to my very first blog post! I'm Riley and i am a Rotary exchange student.
I am extremely excited about my exchange to Japan. I will be going to Toyama City for an entire year! My departure date is August 22nd. My plane leaves at 1:00pm... The countdown is on! I have been doing some research on my city and i am very pleased to find that it is a smaller city located right on the coast of Japan! there are mountains too. Maybe i will be able to go snowboarding in the winter! I have also researched my school... though i can't read a word that it says on the web page ha ha. Here is the link for my future school: http://www.tomiichi.ed.jp/top.html

So far i have been making my pre-departure preparations. This also includes buying Canadian gifts for my future families! I have a whole bunch of gifts and pins that i will hand out to my host families, friends and the Rotarians. i hope there will be enough! One thing is for sure... Japanese people give presents for EVERYTHING!

I will continue to post news about my trip!

thanks for reading!