Skip to main content

Danielle- A belated "Nice to meet you!"

A belated "Nice to meet you!" :D




Minnasan, konnichiwa! Hello, everyone! My name’s Danielle, and I have the honor of being the 2014 – 2015 LEX America Intern. Nice to meet you all!

Actually, last week, I celebrated my one-month anniversary here in Japan, but I started blogging only until just now… A lot has happened this past month, and I’m 100% sure that this internship at Hippo will be keeping me on my toes.

But anyways, let me start at the beginning.

I’m Danielle Dittmer. I’m a 23-year-old college student from Mundelein, Illinois (which is close to Chicago). My hobbies are writing stories, taking photos, computers, playing video games, and tea. My last name, Dittmer, is German. A long time ago, my great-grandpa came from Germany to America. And my great-grandma came to America from Ireland. So that makes me mostly German and Irish, like a mixed-breed dog. :D

I live on a farm with my mom, my dad, 2 younger brothers, 3 younger sisters, and my grandpa, too. On this farm, we raise chickens, goldfish, doves, and goats. I love it in the country!  When I first showed my family photos to the people at Hippo and various school visits (called kokurika), their reactions were all very similar, “Really?! What a huge family! I wish I had a big family like that!”

Me and my family were also fortunate enough to host 4 children from Japan, with whom we still keep in touch sending them mail from time-to-time for the holidays and birthdays, and I plan to visit them sometime during my yearlong stay here in Japan.

Let’s see… This past month has been loaded with new experiences. Experiences such as:
1.       Learning about the train system in Tokyo (no major mistakes yet, knock on wood)
2.       Trying new foods like monjayaki, surume, and shougayaki
3.       Working in the Hippo office in Shibuya with my super-nice coworkers who are so patient with me and my limited Japanese
4.       Trying on new clothes in Uniqlo dressing room
5.       Visiting an elementary school, where I played games and introduced myself to a group of super-cute first-graders, and gave them all high-fives afterwards
6.       Listening to a shamisen performance at the Edo Tokyo Museum
7.       Visiting the penguins at the Ikebukuro Aquarium and Ueno Park
8.   Getting help from a kouban when I got lost after getting off at the wrong exit
9.   Bathing in a Japanese bath for the first time
10.   Learning to walk on the left side of the street, instead of the right
11.   Playing piano in a Yamaha store for an hour until they kicked me out
12.   Riding a bike around town to get to local Hippo clubs
13.   Meeting more international exchange students at Tokyo Institute of Technology
14.   Working on a New Years card with another fellow intern
15.   Winning a prize doing shateki (target practice) at my first Matsuri in Gotokuji
16.   Editing/Translating English/Japanese documents for work
17.   Buying a guitar album at BookOff
18.   Meeting a very talented artist and having her draw for me
19.   Taking a ton of photos at the beautiful Imperial Palace
20.   Doing major shopping at Ikebukuro’s Animate store
21.   Shopping at Shibuya Hikarie
22.   Making so many friends that I can’t remember all their names (yet)
23.   Doing many speeches in both English and Japanese in front of Hippo members
24.   Eating really great Italian food at a café in Kichijoji
25.   Walking from Shibuya to Harajuku to enjoy the nightlife at Takeshita Dori

View from Shibuya Hikarie

Penguins at Ikebukuro Aquarium (so cuuuute!)

Beeeaautiful Imperial Palace

Matsuri lights at night

Megurogawa river

Okonomiyaki (my favorite Japanese delicacy~)

Pasmo is your best friend. Keep him/her close.

Cherry blossoms in Imperial Palace gardens

My first school visit

Train stations. I love taking pictures at train stations. :D

Typhoon weather - always fun

If they ask you to put a bag over your head when going into the dressing room, it means they don't want your makeup to get their clothes dirty in case you decide not to buy them.


I’ve learned so much so far, but I have a feeling that I’ll be learning something new every day while I’m here. There are days when I don’t even know what I’ll be doing tomorrow, so I just take things day-by-day, and do the best I can.

Also, I’m secretly very glad that it’s getting colder now. It’s really starting to feel like autumn. In Chicago, the winters are very cold and can be very long, so it’s been a unique experience wearing short sleeves in October! Especially when I’ve gone trick-or-treating in the snow a few times before!

Anyways, that’s all for now. Keep you posted! Mata ne!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 discoveri...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dannielle- Setsubun

Setsubun In February, there is a holiday in Japan called Setsubun. In celebration of the special day, I ventured out to Nagatacho (close to my work here in Shibuya) and visited the Hie Temple. It was so beautiful and peaceful up on a small hill, and oddly placed among the city life of Tokyo. It was crowded with people (but not too crowded, hence why I chose Nagatacho over Asakusa) standing in front of the temple "stage", within which we could hear some music and see some people inside dancing and preparing for the event. Because I got there earlier, I had to wait a bit, and so I talked with the older couple that stood next to me. Turns out, the husband and wife had been to the US before and lived in New Orleans about 10 years ago, so we eased into some great conversation. Very sweet people. When the event started, I witnessed a person dressed as an oni (demon) emerging from inside the temple, being drawn out by the priests who threw beans at him and shou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Danielle- Shopping Malls

Shopping Malls I noticed I don't talk about shopping enough, so here's a brief overlook of some of my favorite shopping malls (so far~) out here in Japan. AEON I have one about 5 minutes away from my local train station here in Chiba. It feels very homey to me, just because it's really spacious and open and reminds me of a shopping mall I had back in Illinois. What I love about Aeon, too, is that it has a bunch of different stores (other than just clothes). On the first floor, you have your groceries, bakery, and cosmetics, and stuff like that. On the other floors, you have your clothes, electronics, food court (talk about majorly nostalgic, especially with the KFCs and Subways), and mini arcade. Chiba is kind of out-of-the-way, and so Aeon has been a very convenient place for me to buy my toiletries and CalorieMate... and just walk around, if I feel like it. I bought my first winter coat there and some gloves, and it was all reasonably priced, I think (granted,...
Post a Comment
Read more