Dear Rotary,
This month was very eventful and very, very fun!
My host mother, host sister, a friend of my host sister’s, and I went to Miyajima for a visit. We met lots of friendly deer, tried some authentic Japanese food, and saw a few famous landmarks and temples.
I especially enjoyed not being the only gaijin around, since this part of Japan is a very big tourist attraction,

 

 

 

 

 

Something else that I really enjoyed this month were the Christmas parties!
As you may know, Christmas is a big deal in America and everybody comes together to celebrate it.
However, in Japan, they still have school on Christmas!
But that’s okay because the ALT at Joto threw a party for the ESS club.
And then there was the Rotary Christmas party which was also a lot of fun.
My host sister went with me to both events and that just made it all the more fantastic. 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, for New Years my host family and I went to the mountains to visit my host mother’s parents. It was very exciting to meet the rest of my host family and they were all so nice and welcoming.
We got to go around some on our first day there and had the opportunity to go into some ice caves that were incredible.
And on the first day of 2015 Kurumi and I got to wear kimonos thanks to her wonderful great-aunt!