Skip to main content

Ali- Kansai workshop

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Kansai: Kobe (Ali)

Kobe Harbor
                My final stop in Kansai was Kobe. Originally, I wasn't supposed to stop in Kobe, but my Kobe host mother was having a workshop and asked the office if the visiting intern could attend. I am so happy she did! After attending the Kansai workshop for this year's Yearlong-sei and Seishounen on Sunday at the Osaka Hippo office, I went to my host mom's workshop.I think the goal of the workshop was to get members excited about going on homestays. At the workshop we heard from various Hippo members about their homestay experiences. Yearlong-sei and Seishounen also talked about where they were planning on going and what they were looking forward to. I was neat to hear everyone's stories.
Kobe Luminarie

             On Monday, I  attended a fellow planning meeting at the Osaka headquarters with my host mother (think it was for an event to invite non-hippo members to see what Hippo is like). We talked about what made Hippo special and how to explain Hippo to non-members. Having experienced both Hippo and Labo exchanges in high school, I talked about the differences between the two language clubs. Afterwards we met up with my host brother and had Udon. It was delicious! Then we went and did a little shopping.  I bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Japanese. I want to challenge reading it in Japanese. However, I haven't made it passed the first page yet. (I've been busy! I haven't given up, I promise!!) When it got dark we met up with a former hippo member and went to see the Kobe Luminarie. It was beautiful! Over 200,000 little hand-painted lights were used to make this display. What is really neat about the display is that it is a memorial. In 1995, Kobe was struck by a huge earthquake. The Luminarie was created to bring hope to the people of Kobe and remember those who died. It was so popular that the citizens of Kobe asked for it to become an annual event. It now in its 18th year and millions of people come to see it every year. Afterwards, we went to get a bite to eat near the Shinkansen. It was my first time going to a kushikatsu restaurant. Basically they put different food items on skewers and deep fry them. Can't go wrong with fried food. (^.^)
When we finished, we went upstairs to the platform to welcome home a Hippo member that just came back to Japan from his yearlong in New Zealand.  

Eating kushikatsu
               On morning Tuesday, my host mother and brother took me to Kobe's Harborland. There they had a shopping mall right on the pier. I really wanted to see the ocean while I was there. From my host families mansion I could see the ocean, teasing me from the distance. Till the age of six I lived in Southern California. During that time I practically lived on the beach. Having moved to Washington State, to a small town five hours from the ocean, I take the the opportunity to visit the beach when I can.  With the ocean so close I just had to go see it. After saying goodbye to the ocean, we went to visit the Hippo member that returned from New Zealand. We tried Vegemite and listened to his adventures.  Poor kid had a rough start, he missed one of his connecting flights to New Zealand! He had to call his host family to tell them what happened. I heard from my host mother and brother that he used to be shy and didn't smile. I am amazed at how much he has changed after only a year. I wish more American kids would study abroad, it is a great opportunity. I think that the future of Japan is brighter because of students like Ka-chan.
 Welcome back Ka-chan!
                On Wednesday, I returned to Tokyo on the shinkansen. I had such a wonderful time. I really want to go back! Not to mention I want to try the chocolate roll cake (it's entirely made out of chocolate *drool*) my host father told me about... 








I hope to be able to see more of Japan and meet more Hippo members soon! 
Until next time. Bye Bye!

~Ali

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stephanie- Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays! Hi Everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Japan! Christmas isn't as big of a holiday in Japan as it is in the U.S., but I did have a nice Christmas dinner (Japanese style) with my host family on Christmas eve and we had several Christmas themed Hippo activities and a potluck party with some of the neighbors. I made eggnog for the occasion (my first attempt but it turned out pretty well!). My host mom even borrowed and put up a little LED light-up Christmas tree. My host family also bought me a little box set of Japanese hiragana stamps as a Christmas gift which was really sweet of them, and it is helping me to learn hiragana characters. :) While Christmas isn't as celebrated as it is in the U.S., New Year's is a very important holiday here. Today is the last day of work at the office before the new year vacation so, as is the Japanese tradition, this morning everyone helped clean the entire office. This type of cleaning  even has a name - ...
Post a Comment
Read more