Spokane-Nishinomiya High School Exchange

I have now been living in Nishinomiya for 3 weeks. This means I only have 3 more weeks left. Time really does fly. I have become acclimated to my new home but the generosity of my host family continues to shock me daily. The meals that they cook and the relationship between each family member is crazy. Everyone is always happy and friendly. I believe this stems from the high level of respect that everyone holds for each other. This level of order and structure is one of the many reasons I love Japan.  For the last 3 months my whole school has been preparing for our Bunkasai which means Culture Festival. Each class chooses to do something for the two day celebration. My class chose to do a dance but other classes choose to cook takoyaki, churros, french fries, or sell ice cream, juice, or candy. Some classes performed plays or they decorated their classrooms into pictures taking areas or game rooms. In preparation for this 20 minute dance we had been practicing everyday at lunc...

Hello everyone! Wow. It has been a crazy week and I can’t believe it has already been over a week since I first arrived. The routine that I am starting to build goes something like this: 6:00 am I wake up, talk to my friends in America, get dressed, and do my physical therapy exercises (I tore two ligaments in my ankle back in March so I am still trying to fully recover from that). I eat breakfast with Nanase at 6:50. This usually consists of rice with some variations. We leave at 7:15 and walk about 15 minutes down and extremely steep hill to catch the overly crowded bus. Usually there is standing room only. After riding the bus for about 30 minutes and another short walk, we arrive at school. School starts at 8:10 and ends at 4:00 but club activities do not finish until 6:30. This means we get home at about 7:15 at which point I take a quick shower and then eat dinner with the whole family. Recently Nanase and I have been practicing our class dance that we will perform at our sch...