LEX Multilingual Presentation I'm so sorry I didn't talk about this sooner. It just now occurred to me to blog about this. ._. I'm really bad at this blogging stuff. On January 6th, LEX held their very first multilingual presentation - contest, if you will - in which high school/college students had to prepare an eight-minute speech containing their message to the world/society based on multilingual experiences they've had (such as hosting, studying abroad, etc). And they had to do it using three or more languages. There were about 30 participants total, ranging from age 16-25. There were multiple winners chosen for bronze, silver, and golds, and the winners all received scholarships that could be used on various homestay programs within LEX. Very cool, and what a great opportunity. Also, this event was so huge that members of LEX America, Mexico, Korea, and Japan all got together to observe - or in my case, judge. I felt so lucky to be there and meet ...

Multilingual Natural Immersion Camp Quite a mouthful, right? Anyways, it's exactly what it sounds like. I played a group leader for the *gasp* MultilingualNaturalImmersionCamp we had at the Olympic Center in Tokyo. The camp was set up for future/potential Japanese exchange students (roughly about 16 years old) who will study abroad for one year. The purpose of the camp was to get them familiar with listening to and speaking English and other languages. Meaning, for the entirety of the camp (to my pleasure and their dismay), they could speak no Japanese - only English. Meaning, also, that I spoke nothing but English for two days. Which was a lot of fun, but at times, was really tricky. We started with some ice breakers to help the suuuuper nervous kids loosen up a little. We had different activities for them to try out, like learning how to express themselves with body language and facial expressions, which is majorly important if they plan to communicate outside their...

The Bakery One of the most dangerous places in Japan: The Bakery. D8 *Dun dun DUUUN* Seriously, I’ve been doing my best to getting used to transportation out here. Not driving and instead, taking the train and walking. But walking means window shopping which means walking past bakeries, or in my case, it means walking INTO bakeries. Which is incredibly dangerous for my wallet. My host mama introduced me to a bakery in Yachiyo called "SunBretta", and it's cool because they also serve you free coffee or tea if you buy their bread. When I have time on my hands and have a hankering to go buy some bread at a cute local shop, I walk from my home to SunBretta to get those cravings satisfied. :) In case you can’t tell, I love bread. And I love trying new things. For this blog post, I thought I’d show you my latest baked favorites. Creme Pan (Pan = bread) Anpan (Anko = red bean paste) Chocopan (as close to a pain au chocolat I can get out here) Pizza (though ...

Happy New Year! Happy New Year, everyone! And in Japanese, "akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!" :D Considering the Japanese New Year is a lot different than what I'm used to in the US, this January 1st has been an educational one. I think I'll make this blog post "Japanese New Year food vocabulary", because of all the new words I've been learning/food I've been eating. :D Here are some of the things we ate for osechi (Japanese New Year feast): Namasu (dish of raw fish and vegetables seasoned in vinegar) Kamaboko (fish paste) Tazukuri (candied sardines) Ebi (shrimp) Ozouni (Japanese soup with mochi, different recipe depending on the family) Kuromame (black soy beans) Uirou (sweet made from rice-powder) Monaka (wafer cake filled with bean jam) *takes breath* Ochazuke (hot green tea poured over rice, we ate it with salty fish toppings) Gyoza (dumplings stuffed with minced pork and vegetables, shipped from Osaka!!) Mikan (oranges that ...