Skip to main content

Danielle- Saitama

Saitama


Hey, everybody! So these past few weeks have been an exciting, emotional few weeks.

First of all, I moved! As much as I loved Yachiyo, Chiba and the host family I stayed with, it was time to move on (rule as an intern is to change host families every 3 months). Now, I'm living in Okegawa, Saitama, and though it's only been a few days, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT HERE, TOO! Veerrrry country here, complete with gravel roads, rice fields surrounding the neighborhood, frogs croaking all night, and the nearest train station being a 45 minute walk away. It's definitely a great fit for me. And my new host family has been wonderful to me. Again, I've been so lucky. :)


That was the exciting part. The emotional part involves a really good friend of mine (who's been my interning partner these past 8 months) returning back to Mexico. He only has one week left here in Japan, and I know I'm really gonna miss him a lot. Thanks for the good times, Miguel!! I'll see you in Mexico!


So... I guess that's that for this blog post. Lots going on to keep my mind occupied lately. Having such a great partner and friend leave me so soon reminds me how fast time is going by, and how I, too, will be heading back to America soon. But I try not to think about leaving, because there is still so much I want to do, and so many people I want to meet while I'm here! Thusfar, it's been an absolute dream-come-true being here, being able to do the work that I do, and help out in the ways that I can. It's been a great experience, and I hope for the best these next 3 months. :D

Comments

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...

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...

Stephanie- Dr. Suzannes Flynn's Visit

Dr. Suzanne Flynn's Visit This week Dr. Suzanne Flynn is visiting LEX/Hippo in Japan so we have been busy in the office preparing for the various lectures and workshops that she has been involved in. Dr. Flynn is a professor of linguistics and language acquisition at MIT in Boston and also a member of the LEX America Board of Directors. Yesterday she gave a public lecture which was attended by many Hippo members on raising multilingual children (and becoming multilingual adults as well). The session also included a lecture by Dr. Sakai, a Japanese brain researcher on language and the brain, followed by a question and answer session. I was one of the MCs, along with 3 other interns, and introduced myself and facilitated parts of the session in English, Spanish and a little Japanese. One of the new things I learned was how to thank a speaker and solicit a round of applause from a Japanese audience: "Sakai sensei arigato gozaimashita, mo ichido hakushuo onegai shimasu....