Daniel- こにちわ！！

こにちわ！！　(Daniel)

Hello,こにちわ, bonjour, Привет!

My name is Daniel Panasenko, and I am the 2012-2013 LEX intern in the Hippo office in Tokyo. I am from Sacramento, California, although originally from Dnipropetrovs'k, Ukraine.

I first came across LEX and Hippo when I came to Japan with People to People in 2009. I was hosted by members of the Hippo Family Club for four days, and I enjoyed the experience so much, that I came back to work for Hippo as an intern.

Although I am fairly new to Hippo, I have been received warmly and welcomed into the Hippo family. Everyone at the office and at the family clubs are very kind, supportive, and incredibly patient as I unintentionally butcher their language.

As the year progresses, I will blog about my experiences in Japan as well as my insights into the language and culture. Although I am a bit overwhelmed by the novelty of the lifestyle and language, but I am more than happy to be here, making fascinating new discoveries along the way.

Comments

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...

Daniel- Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 「メリークリスマス」　(Daniel) A knock came at the door around eight in the evening, just as we were finishing eating dinner. I yelled out, " IRANAI～～～ ", meaning "we don't need it", pretending that it was some late working door-to-door salesman. My host mom laughed and went to answer the door. She came back carrying a huge USPS box from America. Oops. Just kidding. I need that. I really need that. My parents in the US decided to surprise me for Christmas by mailing me a box of my favorite items from America. They somehow managed to pack a pair of pants, two jars almond butter, five boxes of gum, four giant chucks of halva , and four packages of chocolate. I have no idea how my parents managed to shove all of that stuff into such a small box. But knowing my parents, there is always a way. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to receive my gift. Although my parents told me about the package beforehand, its physical presence was so overwhelming. I fe...

Daniel- I have Guests!

I Have Guests! [訪れていた] (Daniel) After a trip to the Middle East, my sister and her husband decided to return to the US flying over Asia instead of Europe, so that they could stop by in Japan and say "Hi". Y-A-A-A-A-Y. It felt really good to see some family after seven months away. Unfortunately, the two of them could only stay for 3 days, so we were quite busy during that time. The three of us visited obvious famous places like Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Asakusa, and Akihabara. But I personally enjoyed going to a park where we did the tea ceremony in a tea house on the park's pond. The two of them found it strange that there were no chairs and the process to drink some tea was so formal. I guess I didn't really think about it, I have become so used to traditional tea ceremonies that they don't seem strange to me anymore. I guess I'm becoming a local I also really enjoyed introducing my sister and brother-in-law to my co-work...

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