Skip to main content

Danielle- Hiroshima

Hiroshima Family Reunion


My job here is steadily coming to a close... I can't believe it.

July has been another emotional one for me. Many of my exchange student friends and those I've been coaching have gone back home after their year-long exchange in Japan. Said "goodbyes" and "see you again soons" to them at the airport this past Monday. So for the remainder of my time here, I'll be interning alone until next year's intern comes late August (right before I leave). ...Still can't believe I'll be coming home soon...

Anyways! Sentiments aside, I made one last long-anticipated trip to go visit family in Hiroshima!! It was short, but sweet. I went by nightbus this time (was an adventure, to be sure - maybe got 5 hours of sleep on the 14-hour trip) and arrived the next morning at about 8AM.

Needless to say, it was a wonderful family reunion!! Got to meet my little brother and sister, who me and my family hosted waaaay back (like 6 years ago), and I was glad to find that they hadn't changed a bit! They've all gotten so big, and I'm so glad we kept in touch so that I could meet them again during my one year here. I was able to fit into their family just as cozily as they fit into mine - Hiroshima is soooo lovely!

The weather was PERFECT because they live in middle of a mountain area, which kept us all pretty cool for the most part. The mountain scenery was absolutely lovely, by the way~ We did some sightseeing together (like visiting Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Miyajima), had lots of really great meals together (like Hiroshima-styled okonomiyake), did lots of shopping and purikura, but favorite thing was watching scary movies with my siblings until 2AM. Felt just like the good old days~

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- 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 - ...