Spokane-Nishinomiya High School Exchange

Konnichiwa! This has just been such an incredible  experience!! I am very thankful for everything that came out of it. So many memories were made, and amazing times were had for sure. Saying goodbye will be very hard and returning to America will be bittersweet because of the connections I have made. So many good friends and unforgettable memories! I couldn't have ended up with a better host family. Meg and I were a perfect fit and shared so many common interests and our personalities go together well. My host mother is very kind and an excellent cook, Yuuri is so sweet, my host dad is silly and quirky, and Meg is funny and crazy! Also got to meet the grandparents from both sides of the family, and they are just as wonderful and endearing as all of them. As a result of getting to meet and know everyone in these six weeks that flew by, they are now my lifelong friends and forever like a second family! I will now know what it's like to miss people who are far, far away. It is...

Oh wow! Hiroshima was absolutely amazing. It was quite an impact experience, because it showed me something completely new. Before, I had just known and learned about the war and the atomic bombs, but it was all just distant knowledge, removed from being anything but just old history to me. But visiting Hiroshima, seeing the Memorial Park, the Atomic Bomb Dome, the Peace Museum...it changed the way I see those events. It gave me more compassion and new understanding of how unimaginably great fear the Japanese people had to have felt. I now have an idea of how terrifying war can be. It was shocking to learn about the history in more detail, and the whys behind the bombing. August 6, 1945 at 8:15 am the world changed forever. Hiroshima was chosen out of the seventeen cities considered to be hit with an atomic bomb, because it was decided that it would have the greatest impact physically and psychologically, being that it was quite a metropolis of its time, as well as a huge educati...

Hello! Today was the last day of school! Was very bittersweet to say goodbye to all the wonderful people I met and reflect back on all the fun times and the laughter we shared, and it was somewhat heartbreaking to realize that I may never see some of them again. Attending Japanese school was a very unique experience that provided a very different sort of perspective on society and was the epitome of the fact that not all educational systems are the same. After going to school during this period, there are definitely things about American school that are taken for granted. The biggest thing being how much fun learning is made to be in America even when it may not seem like it. Compared to Japan our schooling is a lot more engaging.To help make sure I was having a valuable school experience, some of the different teachers invited me into their classes to participate in various subjects, and I got to learn some pretty interesting things! (Described with pictures further below). I wa...

Hello! Yesterday, I rode my bike around town and using a map I searched for Shrines, or Jinja! Nishinomiya, just on this half of town has at least a half a dozen. I am not familiar with this town, and only found two. They are difficult to find if you don't know exactly where you are going or what to expect to see. You certainly find yourself surprised. Following a map the good ol' fashioned way is definitely difficult! There were numerous times that I second guessed my location and kept having to consult the map search for landmarks. The good thing is that I was able to get around, and make it home.  The first Jinja I found was the Ueno Jinja, which was very symmetrical and pretty. That one was quite different from Hanshin Jinja, which was inside a huge walled garden and had many various buildings. Here are some photos I took! Please enjoy :)     Ueno Jinja Had many Tori gates inscribed with kanji. Tori gates are symbolic of transitioning from mundane to s...

太鼓 フェスティバル ! (Japanese festival involving large drums) Yesterday, I witnessed a 太鼓 フェスティバル ! (Japanese festival involving large drums) It was very neat. It was similar to an American band concert, except the only instruments involved were percussion, flutes, and the performers' voices. We attended the drum festival because Meg's little sister Yuuri is part of aJapanese drumming club. She is really great at drumming, and also an amazing flute player! The traditional garments the students wore were super colorful and some were even super detailed. The music was surprisingly quite loud; you could feel the vibrations from the drums throughout the whole theatre. And it wasn't even all just drumming, the people danced and did cool tricks with their drumsticks! I had never before heard such a variety of overlapping rhythms played with mostly just drums . At the end, all the different groups came back on stage and played one great encore together. This was super cool ...

Konbanwa! Tonight is my first Saturday night here. It is now my fourth night here, and I think I can officially say I've shaken the jet lag. I love my host family already! They're super kind and really fun! Back before we came here, I had asked Meg what her family's hobbies were. She told me eating different foods! Sure enough, we eat lots of neat things, and go out to some super cool restaurants. My host mother likes to bake. This morning we ate cake for breakfast!!! My host family is very sweet, and also silly! We exchange humor from our cultures, and we like to laugh! Even in Japan, they have puns and "Dad Jokes!" The people here are wonderful! It's very fun to trade language, and learn from each other. Even though I've only been here for such a short time, I have already picked up so much more language. Taking the language barrier in stride, although it was not easy at first. My first day here, I was very shy. But over a few days, I've warmed u...

Hello Everyone! Just a couple more days until we are on our way! In fact, less than forty-eight hours...still unbelievable. I have not packed quite yet, but for the last few weeks I've been writing items down and keeping a list of all the things I will need. It definitely helps to start thinking of stuff to take weeks in advance, because you tend to think of new things you might want to add to the packing list at random times. Even now, with so little time left to go, I still add items to the list! It's sort of odd. There's this knowledge that I am about to experience something super cool, yet this surreal feeling makes it difficult to wrap my head around it all and actually comprehend what the Japan will be like. It really shows that you could have loads of knowledge about a country and culture and know tons about the place like a textbook, yet have not fully have a true comprehension. It's difficult to explain, but I'm sure many people understand the feeling. ...

はじめまして ! 私の名前はアマヤ•マーアチンです。 十六才です。二年かん日本語をべんきょしています。 I am a student at North Central High School. I love world languages and I chose Japanese because I wanted to learn something different.Japanese characters particularly caught my attention because of their artistic appeal. Japanese culture, their rituals, and their ways of living are all very fascinating. This exchange opportunity is absolutely amazing, and I am super excited to get to take part and share this experience with everyone! There is less than two months until we leave for Japan, and yet, it is still difficult to imagine that in so little time I will be in another country so different from my own. It is a bit nerve wracking to think that for the first time, I will be venturing off without my parents, and be an entire world away. I believe this will be a valuable experience full of learning and discovering independence, and it will show me just how different cultures can be. Thinking about it makes one realize just how ...