Hippo Events This Week This last week there have been lots of Hippo workshops and koen-kais (events where Hippo members talk about what Hippo is and their experiences in order to introduce Hippo to new people and attract new members). My host mom is a Hippo fellow so she has been very busy preparing for the koen-kais. Almost everyone in the club participates in these events as well and there is a lot of practice beforehand to make sure everything runs smoothly. At first I thought they were preparing for only for one event, but actually there are 14 of them in this month, just for our area. I was amazed at how many flyers and posters they printed and posted all over advertising the events; it was a lot of work! There was also a workshop for the university student's Hippo club where some of the members who are studying physics shared with the rest of the group what they were learning about Einstein's Theory of Relavity from the books they are reading. I'm not exactly

Golden Week! Last week was Golden Week in Japan, when everyone has vacation, and a lot of people travel. It was a really fun week. My host family went to Thailand for a few days, so I stayed with two other families during that time and went to a Hippo camp in Chiba, where I also got to go to the ocean for first time in Japan and a pick your own, all-you-can-eat strawberry patch, which was great! I also spent some time with my host family in the area near where we live and went to a really nice Japanese garden with a huge koi pond, where we fed bread to them. I would recommend all these things to someone visiting Japan. At the beach with my host sister for the day, Belle Kujukuri beach in Chiba My host brother for the day, K, with a shell All-you-can-eat strawberry patch! With sweetened condensed milk :) Belle Making curry rice for dinner at a Hippo camp in Chiba A beautiful Japanese garden near where we live Koi My host si