Another Post!!! Im getting good.

Within the first week of School I quickly joined the horse riding club, where I discovered they ride only english, which i do not have much practice in. So for the past month or so I have been learning to post while trotting, which is more difficult that I imagined, and also to jump. I jump measly jumps that are about knee high on a human but some of my club mates jump jumps that are shoulder high. It makes my gasp every time they achieve that amazing feat and soar over the jump. My horses name is Lavenda, despite the name that sounds very femine he is a boy. He has red hair that quite maches my huge perfectly. Though he has proven a challange, because of his dislike of generall movment and his distaste for jumping. I am now proud to say we can both manage a half an hour of trotting and mulitpile jumps with out fainting from exhastion.

With my free time when I am now at school or at horse club, which runs every day from the end of school intill seven, I am out exploring on my bike. I have gone ruffly 10 miles in every direction except strait out to sea of course. I have thus far discovred miles and miles of green horse pastures to my delight filed with foals and their mothers, forests filled with beautiful trees, hills that have heards of deer and also quite neighbor hoods where foxs run about like dogs, and birds are constantly cherping. I must say I am quite taken with the beauty of japan, and the kindness of its people. While I am out exploring many people will wave or smile to me, while all stare because I stick out a bit. And when attempting to handle japanese money, Yen, or as they say En, clerks always treat me with patients and kindness as i fumble through my coin purse attempting to count out 325 yen. It is more difficult than you think to have all money smaller than a 10 dollar bill in coins.

Intill next time which I hope is much sooner than the previous gap in my posts.

Ahh the quote that I am very much living by these days, supplied by my lovely mother. In the 17th Century a Japanese Poet named Matsuo Basho wrote, : Every Day is a Journey and the Journey itself is Home.

Finally an Update!!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to write, it has already been almost two months. Jezz how time flys. Ill start from the beginning but mind this is just a rough summery. I arrived in Tokyo and stayed there for 3 days sharing a beautiful hotel with kids all over the world. I met people from India, China, Hongcong, Australia, New Zealand, Canda, Brunai, and ofcourse Japan. It was all very sureal and leaving my friends in Orientation was like leaving every one back home all over again. I flew to Sapporo, a town famous for its beer, hehe, and met my host family. After a slightly acward 4 hour car trip we arrived at my new home. My family is more than I could have asked for, they are great. My first days of school were terrifying and exciting at the same time. Filled with speaches I had to deliver in japanese and also the exclamations of Kawaii which means cute. It was such a warm welcome, I am so happy to have chosen Japan.

Host Town/Family/School!!!!

I am sooo lucky! :) My home town is Urakawa, Hokkaido, Japan!!! It is renown for its horses and is the racehorse capital of Japan!!!! Hokkaido is the upper most island of Japan, and Urakawa is located on its eastern coast. One of its main incomes is fishing!!! So it will be similar to home, lots of docks and boats :) It is amazing there, I found a few pictures, that you can see below, and its looks so green, and amazing. Its climate, sadly, is just like Alaska's but ohh well it will be sweeter because its japanese climate! I lucked out so much, I got the best town I could imagine! Thank you AFS!

Also I have a kick butt host family! I just received pictures of them and they look awesome. My host father, is a boys sports coach, originally I wasn't told what he coached. But I figured out.... Badminton!!! Hehehehe. Just because he does that, he is awesome. My Host sister also plays badminton, so I guess I will be a pro by the time I come home! They also gave me pictures of the house, and told me which rooms I could pick, they gave me three different choices!!! Craziness, and their house is beautiful. I am so excited to meet them! Thanks again AFS for the sweet family.

Ohhh yeah, I have also been in contact with the headmaster of my school, where I will be enrolled as a second grader..... And no, a second grader does not mean elementary, it means second year of high school. Hehe. I will have a uniform, and it does include a skirt, scary. My school week goes from Monday to Friday-thank God- and each day it goes 8 am to 3 pm. So its the same time as my school here. Some schools have class on Saturday, im super super grateful that I am in one of the lucky schools that do not participate in Saturday school. The classes I think I will be taking are- English, Biology, Home Economics, P.E, Calligraphy, and Music. I do not know how long I will be able to hold up in Music, so maybe it will be traded for math, if I can figure out how to do that.

My school also offers the most amazing sports! Baseball (boys), soccer (boys),basketball (boys & girls), volleyball ( boys & girls , badminton (boys & girls ), track and field ( boys & girls ) , horse riding ( boys& girls ), soft tennis ( boys & girls ), KYUDO-Japanese style-archery(boys & girls ) and KENDO ( boys but girl can also do ) club. There are also SYODO-Japanese calligraphy, SADO-Japanese tea ceremony, library and broadcasting club.

Needless to day, I will always be busy. So excited for my life in Japan, 13 days and counting!!!