My First Week in Japan

Hi Everyone,

After a very long day of travel I am here in Japan I didn't really have any troubles except at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo I kept asking where to go and kept getting sent to different counters. My next trouble was my luggage was overweight but all they had me do was pay money. When I got to the Nagasaki Airport my first and second host family was waiting for me. I was finally glad to get to my first host family's house and all I could think about was going to sleep. The first day we went to the supermarket and went to register for a Nagasaki id card at the city hall. We also went to the train station to pick up my host parents niece. Then we went out for Chinese food where I had a very tough time eating. The next day we went to Grover's Garden and Dejima. Both are famous historical places in Japan. Dejima was the only window to the West during  Japan's period of isolation. It was also Obon my second day here which was a day where the spirits came back. We went and visited the graves and we lit incense and firecrackers. The firecrackers were for good luck. Next we went to get gelato and I tried green tea gelato. It is not my favorite. At night we saw people carry these boats to the water to send off the spirits I think. There were many firecrackers going off so I wore earplugs. My host grandmother gave me a kimono and so I wore it that night. The next day my host father took me to the Nagasaki atomic bomb museum. It was really sad but very interesting. In the entrance area there were tons of paper cranes. Then we went to see where the bomb hit which is now a park and we went to go see a park with the Peace Statue in it. The Paece Statue is a prayer for everlasting world peace. It was unveiled on the 10th anniversary of the bombing. That night we went to an Italian restaurant and the meal lasted three hours! Meals are a lot longer in Japan than in America. At the restaurant though I had a big achievement and I tried one clam! It was really bad. Yesterday we dropped my host sister and host brother off at the airport. They were going to Tokyo to go back to school. Today we went to my school Kwassui and I met my principle, assistant principle, class teacher, and english teacher. I told them I wanted to join a dance club. But they spoke japanese and I couldn't really understand a lot of what they were saying. Now I have wireless so I will try to update my blog much more frequently!