DisneySea, Birthdays, and Volleyball

Me and Daisey Duck. Some cute little girl drew her a picture and gave it to her. Adorable!

Hey all! Hope everything is going well. :) I have been up to quite a bit, so here it goes!

I don't think I wrote about it in the blog before, but my host Dad invited me and some friends to a "bonenkai" (forgetting the year party) at the end of last December with his firemen (and women) buddies. It was a big hit with everyone, so be decided to have a "shinenkai" (New Years party).

My host Dad's friends really seem to enjoy mingling with us Americans, and it is nice because we can practice our Japanese. First, we started out at a restaurant in Ebisu where we dined on Peking Duck (delicious) and other delicious treats. When everyone is sufficiently drunk, (except me of course :P) we head out to karaoke. I swear, everyone in Japan is pretty much an awesome singer! It was a very good time.

Over the next couple of days I went to several birthday parties which were all very fun. One was for someone in our group, and the other for a Japanese girl. Both of the parties were for people turning 21, so they were sufficiently crazy. We all had a good time and met some cool people.


Me and some friends at a birthday party

I also hung out with Asuka for an entire day, which was a delight! We started with a early movie, "Bridge to Teribithia" which left us pretty sad. (watch at your own risk!). Then, we headed out for our usual karaoke, with asuka singing like a pop-star and me out of key. But it is always fun. Then we went to her house and played "wii-fit" which is a video came where you stand on this scale thing and play games that have to do with balance. Asuka is pretty much an expert! Then we went to a Japanese Style Speghetti place for dinner which was beyond delicious. :)

For Valentines day we played poker in a coffee shop to avoid the craziness that is Valentines day in Japan. I dont know if you know, but on V-day only girls give chocolates, then a month later on March 14th boys give chocolates and flowers in return. I of cousre gave some to my H-family which I am pretty sure Tsuki-chan devoured. My friend Lynnette was brave and gave a small Chocolate box to her favorite Barrista, which it looked like he enjoyed.

At this coffee shop one day while we were playing poker, a random Korean girl (named Mun, prounounced moon) asked to play with us. She is currently studying and trying to learn English. So we got to talking, and all decided to meet up for drinks later in the week. She brought her Japanese friend along, and we had a good time (and more time to practice Japanese!). We went to Karaoke afterwards, and, as expected, they both turned out to be pop stars. We have made further palns to visit the hard rock cafe in Roppongi, although I cannot remember why we decided on this....


Me and new Japanese friend, Naho, at Karaoke

And, just yesterday, I went to DisneySea! So much fun! Also, because it was a Monday and a little chilly (although it was sunny) it was not very crowded. So our waits in line were short and we were even able to ride some of the attractions twice! My favorite by far was the Indian Jones ride, which was out of control. The waits in line (although short) allowed us to speak Japanese, which was also good practice. We stayed the entire day!



Me and the Tower of Terror ride. They basically take you up to the top of this tower, and then drop you. Very scary!



Me and Lynette with Mickey Mouse



The group with Donald!!!!

On another note, I got on the information on my new host-family I will stay with during my internship. Here are the stats-

NameRelationshipAge
OHATA, Yuji (大畠祐次)Grand Father77
OHATA, Rika (大畠利加)Grand Mother75
OHATA, Hiroto (大畠弘人)Father45
OHATA, Hiroe (大畠弘江)Mother40
OHATA, Kana（大畠佳奈）Daughter16
OHATA, Kazu（大畠佳途）Daughter14

Big family, huh? I am super excited to meet everyone. I leave this Sunday for Saitama, which is where I will be for the 9 days of my internship. I have to prepare a presentation about myself and Alaska and my family.....better get started, huh? I am so bad at using powerpoint!!! In addition to teaching at middle and elementary schools, we have a day where we get to make ceramics and make soba (a type of noodle) which should be very fun!

I just got back from a fun sports event on campus which was really fun! We were formed into teams and challenged each other at volleyball and dodgeball. At Volleyball we won all of our games, but lost all of our Dodgeball games. regaurdless, we won first place!!! We were awarded a bottle of champagne and some snacks. I, for some reason, won the women's MVP award, and was awarded a giant sheep pillow. For some reason, I seem to get MVP awards...weird, huh?

Righto- that is about all I have for now. Later!