First Post

August 17, 2018

Today is my last full day in Canada. This is my first post, so I hope it works out and everyone can see my cool adventures in Japan!

Second Post, Travelling on the way to Japan

August 19, 2018

A very tiring, but exciting experience. I went on a very short flight to Vancouver, and got some food. The longest wait was 7 hours in the Vancouver airport. It was getting close to boarding time and no one was there! Apparently I was at the complete opposite end of the airport 😟I made it onto the flight on time and it was a 12 hour ride to Taipei in Taiwan. When I first got on the plane I mixed up my boarding ticket with my pass to get to Osaka, and I was sent to the business seating area (which was very nice) but someone was sitting in my spot! After he got up and searched for his ticket I found out I mixed mine up and had to wait for them to find my seat while other flight attendants offered me drinks 😅 After that I was in the right spot and got to sleep a little/eat a good meal of shrimp rice, fruit, bread, and juice. I’m in Taipei now and waiting for my next and last flight to Osaka, Japan! It’s only about a 5 hour flight, and I’ll get to meet some people there :)) (I will add photos in a bit when I figure it out on my device) 

Third Post

August 21, 2018

I went on the plane to Osaka, and met both of my host families! I will stay with one for 1 month and the other for the rest of my stay in Japan. They were very friendly. I got to the house to meet their Ainu dog and eat dinner with the family, while we waited for some other guests to arrive to have a welcome party for me! They were all very nice and I get to practice my Japanese a lot! 

Fourth Post

August 23, 2018

Today we walked to a cake shop and looked around in a convenience store. My host mother’s friend works at the cake shop, and I got introduced to the other chefs. We got ice creams and mini cakes:)

Fifth Post

August 25, 2018

Today I went to Katsuo-ji-temple! It was an amazing experience. The temple is on top of a mountain, where the forest is thick and a vibrant green. I went with my host mom and sister. We loved finding all the hidden Daruma scattered around the temple and feeding the koi. We easily spent a few hours exploring, and taking pictures! Afterwards we got some ice cream, and relaxed while enjoying the incense.

I think it can go to my profile and see photos there. 

Sixth Post

August 25th, 2018

First day of school

For my first day of school we woke up at 6:30am and got into our school uniforms, ate breakfast and headed out the door. We took the train to school. When we got there (host sister and I) we went to separate places and I went to the teachers office to do an introduction into a mic. After there was a big ceremony and I said the same speech (in Japanese) and then in English! Then we went to classrooms and talked a bit- I made a lot of new friends! A lot of students would stare at me and then as soon as I turned my head they would scream ‘Kawaii! Kawaii!’ Which means ‘cute’ in Japanese..😂💓 After school I went shopping in Kyoto and to a chocolate shop with three friends and we all had a great time:) 

Unfortunately I couldn’t meet my friend, Rion, who goes to KGN (my school in Japan, and also went to Belmont Secondary school (my high school in Canada-how we met) because of the recent typhoon stopping trains from going on their usual routes. I will see her next week though and am excited 😊 

Seventh Post

September 8th, 2018

So far, I have been very busy with school, but I still have time for fun after school (like karaoke) and on weekends! Today we drove to a KFC  restaurant for lunch, where my host family and I met up with my host moms parents! They were so sweet❤️ Her mother makes flowers out of cotton and teaches other how to, so she gave me some flowers as a present and also some old Japanese paintings for my parents! They have a traditional Japanese tea ceremony room we got to look in as well. It was beautiful. 

After their house, we all got into the car and drove to Shiga, where the biggest lake in Japan is! I thought we were going to hangout there for a bit but we drove to an old Japanese Castle instead. I read about them in books but seeing it in real life was amazing!! There were tall, square rock walls surrounding a river with very calm and reflective water. It reflected the rocks, trees, and bridges. We all went to a path that goes up the mountain and climbed up the many stairs to the castle. The castle was used over 400 years ago, and was re-built. My host mother and brother and I went inside the castle while the others waited outside. We had to take our shoes off and put them in a bag. The castle looked different inside than I imagined it would look, all made of wood (not painted) and spacious. The stairs were so steep to the next level that it was like we were climbing a ladder, but instead of grabbing he next stair we had the railing. After we got back down, we got our shoes on and handed the plastic bags back to the staff and we all headed to the garden in the castle grounds. It started to lightly rain, and I got nervous that we’d all get soaked, since the last time it rained on me in Japan I was walking to school, had no umbrella and got completely soaked! This time it was just a nice rain. Anyways, the garden was gorgeous and very zen. The evening sky reflected on the garden water and the bridge reflecting as well made it even more pretty. After the castle we went to a Chinese restaurant and ate a lot, then got ice cream back at my host moms parents house with a friend of mine and my host sisters from school. It was a great day! 

Eighth Post

September 19, 2018

Today was my first time going to Universal Studios Japan! It was so much fun, I literally had a blast with my friends. The lineups were really long (some were three hours) but they were worth it! The Harry Potter ride was so much fun and so was the Spider-Man one! I hope I can go again someday soon. 

Nineth Post

September 30, 2018

About a week ago was a half day at school for me, as I was going out to have lunch at a pancake restaurant with my host mother and my next host mother. The pancakes were good, but tasted a little undercooked (and had a jelly like movement) so I guess they were supposed to be that way. It was a place called ‘Fleur’ near Kyoto Tower at Kyoto Station! 

Tenth Post

September 30, 2018

September 21st was my last night with my first host family. Earlier in the day at breakfast, they were crying a bit. After school I came home with Chisei (my host sister) to a big dinner and my host mother’s parents! They are the nicest people I’ve met. We had a great dinner with pizza, chicken, beef (lots of meat) and for dessert, a beautiful chocolate cake that had a small cracker with icing saying ‘Anna, see you again’ and then in Japanese. We did some small fireworks (sparklers) outside with more friends of the family and said our goodbyes. 

Eleventh Post

September 30, 2018

On my last day with my first host family, I woke up, packed everything up, and went downstairs at lunch time. My things were packed in the back of the car and we drove to a Ramen restaurant! The food was delicious and I was told that I was good at eating the ramen Japanese-style. After that we went straight to my next host family. They were so nice and happy to see us. The house is very tiny, but it’s not too small to still be comfortable in! We went out for dinner at a buffet restaurant after some shopping at a big mall in Kyoto. 

Twelveth Post

September 30, 2018

We went out to a temple nearby my new host family! It was beautiful and we saw a newly wedded couple in their Japanese wedding attire. They looked amazing. I can’t wait to go back there again to see the huge tree in the centre of the temple grounds with golden leaves.

Thirteenth Post

September 30, 2018

My friend from KGN (my school’s name) went out with me to a very popular city in Kyoto called ‘Kawaramachi’. There were lots of foreigners, and just people in general. It was raining really hard, but most of the shops and food spots are under a roof in something like an indoor-street. I bought some souvenirs and we went to a movie theatre to buy some milkshakes. They were delicious! After that we went to a nearby Wendy’s restaurant (where they sell spaghetti..SPAGHETTI) and we did some homework. It was a fun day. 

Fourteenth Post

September 30, 2018

Today was the sports festival at Kyoto Gaidai Nishi! My first and last sports festival, and it was amazing. At first I didn’t think that I would enjoy it because everyone I had asked ‘are you excited for it?’ had answered with a ‘not really’ or something similar. However, the sports festival was fun and everyone seemed to have a good time. There were multiple mini-games played and we could hangout with friends from any class if we weren’t in the particular mini game being played. At the near end of the festival, one of the English teachers there came up to me and we went to a conference room back at the school for a short meeting with the people who set up my exchange and made the whole thing possible for me. I remember seeing them in my Japanese class in Canada for the first time, offering the information about this exchange, and I remember the feeling of ‘I want to do this!’ I’m so glad I could see them all again in Japan. I received some of my favourite chocolate bars and letters from Canada from my family, they were so sweet♥️ 

Fifteenth Post

October 12, 2018

Mid-terms are coming up for the students at KGN, so my friends and I aren’t able to hangout as often after school but today, my friend and I went to the mall and tried a cool chocolate bar (Wonka) and had a good time! I have two tests while the rest of my classmates have around eight!

I feel like the last two weeks have been going by fast- which is not good because I want to have as much time as I can with my friends and in Japan! I’m so glad at the near end of my stay I’ll have two weeks of break to explore and have more fun. 

Sixteenth Post

October 13, 2018

It's Sunday, and I went to Toji temple in Kyoto, as well as the Aquarium afterwards! The temple was amazing and had a very peaceful garden and pond. There were lots of koi fish and many turtles in the pond. The Toji Temple is a prefecture by Kyoto Tower, and is made up of five stories. It lights up at night! It is very tall, and there's no going inside it. There happened to be a market today- as there is one every month on the 21st at the temple, so it was very, very busy. We ate some karage, which is just fried chicken, and we got some 'ame' (candy) on a stick. It was delicious. The aquarium was big, and filled with interesting underwater creatures. Some I've never heard of or seen in the aquarium in Vancouver, Canada- such as the Japanese enormous red sea crab (Spider Crab) and some worms that poke out of sand. We saw jellyfish, stingrays, clown fish, and even went to a dolphin show afterwards. It was very bright and hot outside, but so worth it because we got to see three dolphins doing amazing high jumps and tricks. The people running the show were very enthusiastic and got everyone clapping along with their hands and repeating some Japanese words (I didn't understand) but it was awesome. After, we went to a restaurant where we got two pizzas. One was cheesy with a raw egg in the centre, and the other was like an average cheese pizza but was covered with corn on the top. It was interesting but yummy. I got some chocolate ice cream and my host mother and I watched my host brother play at the park until I was finished, and we went home.

Seventeenth Post

October 14, 2018

Today I went to Kinkakuji with my host mother and my two host brothers. Kinkakuji is a temple in Kyoto known as the, "Temple of Gold" because the top floor is entirely covered in genuine gold leaf. It was very busy and hot, there were so many other foreigners as well. We all walked around the premises and looked at the shrines, took lots of pictures and bought a few charms. After that we went home and took a little rest. There was a small parade of floats that children were carrying around the neighborhood and passing shrines with, so I got to say hi and talk to a few people as well!