Skip to main content

Stephanie- Move to Second Host Family

Move to My Second Host Family

Hi everyone! さしぶり！Sorry it's been awhile since I've update this last. I've been meaning to do it for awhile, but have been busy in the last month, and had been putting it off. So here is a bit of an update since my last post.

I moved to my second host family at the end of February after five months with my first host family. But it was nice because before I moved I had a chance to do lots of things with my first host family like to out to dinner and karaoke together before I had to say goodbye. One of the members of our Hippo club, Ei-chan, is a sushi chef and owns his own restaurant, so one night my host family and I went there for dinner. The food was great and we even got a behind the scenes tour (or more appropriately, behind the counter, I suppose). It was really fun!


The last day with my family, they had a farewell party for me in their apartment and lots of Hippo members and other friends and neighbors came to say goodbye. It really impressed me to see all my friends and family from Wako-shi all together and made me realize how many people I had gotten to know and made connections with in the past 5 months.

Last day with my first Hippo family
The poster that my host mom made for me on my last day.  :) The letters in the guitars spell my name in katakana and kanji and the words in the middle say "Ganbatte!" or "Good luck!" in different languages.
Rilakuma inari that my host mom and sister made for my farewell party！ Inari are delicious fried tofu pockets filled with rice, and Rilakuma is a Japanese cartoon character ('rila' is short for 'relax' and 'kuma' in japanese beans 'bear'). かわいい！！！



Two of the neighbor kids from same apartment building. Their mom is American and their dad is Japanese and I became friends with their family while in Wakoshi. We did seveal things together and they even invited me for Thanskgiving, since their mom cooked an American Thanksgiving dinner!
Though I was sad to say goodbye to my first host family and all the friends that I made in Wakoshi, I now have a new host family that is really great and I've already met lots of new people in the area I live in now.  It's nice to have a chance to get to know a different area of Tokyo, too. I now live in Edogawa-ku, in the Eastern part of Tokyo with my host mom Bambi-chan, host dad Sato-chan, and 11 year old host sister Maron-chan (their nicknames in Hippo).


The first day with my new host family! We went out to eat with some members of my new Hippo club. My host mom Bambi-chan is in the middle and on the left is a friend from Hippo.



With my host dad Sato-chan (on the right) and new friend from Hippo, Kazuyan.
Eating strawberries with my new host sister


Maron-chan かわいい！
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maddie- The First of Many New Experiences

The First of Many New Experiences So, what have my first weeks been like in Japan? ABSOLUTELY BUSY! But, also...AMAZING! Truly, it has been a busy couple of weeks here, but not overwhelmingly so. Furthermore, I`d prefer to be kept busy! Too much free time = too much thinking = homesickness. By keeping a full, fun schedule, with some relaxing and downtime, I can keep engaged with my surroundings, make new friends, and stay sane. To prevent a wall of text, let me break down for you some of my recent activities. So far, I have: Presented about my life in Wisconsin to classes of middle school and elementary school students. Eaten kaiten-zushi, or conveyor belt sushi.  Been interviewed about my biggest surprise when I came to Japan (it`s bluntness in regards to appearance, people won`t hesitate to call someone fat, or tell you that you`ve gotten skinny since they last saw you. As I`ve seen it, it`s never been malicious, just matter-of-fact).  Post filming. To my ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Daniel- Okutama

Okutama　(Daniel) This past week, my eyes were opened to the fact that Japan is much more than a concrete jungle of lights and high-rise buildings. For the first time, I was able to head west to Okutama, a mountainous region on the west side of Tokyo Prefecture. Unlike the city, Okutma is covered with forest and greenery. The abundance of nature makes it a beautiful place to visit in the fall. Not too far from Okutama is Heirinji Zen Temple in Saitama, where I was blown away by the beauty of autumn in Japan. The purpose for my being in that area was to visit a kindergarten and to give a HIPPO presentation along with other HIPPO members. Among them was a younger gentleman nicknamed Tango, whom I hadn't met before. Tango and I got along very well, and he invited me on a hike, along with his friend, the next day. Tango's family owns a very quaint Soba restaurant in Okutama. The surrounding mountains and nature really give it a traditional Japanese feel. The three of u...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stephanie-こんにちは！Konnichiwa! Hello!

こんにちは！Konnichiwa! Hello! My host sister Asuka and I in 小えど, Japan Hi everyone!  My name is Stephanie, but in Japan I've already been given the nickname  Su-chan　 す－ちゃん    (su from Stephanie since the Japanese pronunciation is su-teh-fah-nee, and -chan is added to the end of a name when you are speaking to a younger person or a friend), so you can call me Su-chan! I am one of the five Hippo interns working in the LEX headquarters office in Tokyo this year. In addition to me, from Wisconsin, the intern team is made up of Tino from Mexico, Sakun and Ken Ken from China, and Hiu-chan from Korea. It's great to have such an international group!    Before coming to Japan I attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a degree in fine art. During that time I also worked for Wisconsin 4-H International Programs, which is how I first learned about Hippo through the 4-H/Hippo summer and yearlong exchanges. Last summer I had the opportun...
Post a Comment
Read more