Skip to main content

Danielle- Osaka!

Osaka Family Reunion


Guess who came back from a week-long family reunion in Osaka?! :D

Time for some background information! Five years ago, me and my family hosted a 12-year-old boy from Osaka. He would come to our house for one month in the summertime to experience homestay in America. It was absolutely wonderful to host him, as he was a very respectful, smart, sweet little guy. Five years later, I got to meet him and also his parents for the first time, and oh my goodness, HAS HE GROWN! I feel like such a proud, older host sister! He's in his third year of high school now, which is a notorious year for Japanese students to be exceptionally busy as they get ready for testing into college. But I think he's doing very well for himself, and I'm glad to have met up with him again after so long.

So while my little bro was busy with school, me and my super cute, super energetic host mom (my host mother, as it were) went out and did some traveling!

We visited Uji (their green tea is AMAZING)...


Osaka (met lots of people, saw lots of pretty scenery)...


Kyoto (saw lots of temples)...


Nara (saw lots of deer)...


Something cool I should mention about Osaka is that the people are a lot different than the city-slickers back in Tokyo. I found them to be easier to approach (as they have a lot of gusto!) and it's not uncommon for strangers to say "hello" to each other or give each other a nod when passing by. I felt very comfortable in Osaka and had a blast meeting all my friends out there.

Oh, and did I mention they have an "Osaka-ben" dialect that I had to adjust to? Being a lover of language, it was super fun for me to try out, and in general, I just think it has a country-charm to it - rather than the strictness of formal Japanese. :)

...And by the way, I would totally take another 10-hour bus ride again. It wasn't all that bad :D

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- 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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stephanie- Mi papa De Mexico en Japan

Mi papa de México en Japón! This last week was exciting because I got to see Javier, my host dad from Mexico again! He's one of the coordinators of LEX México so he came to Tokyo last week for work and vacation, and it was really nice to see him. Almost two years ago, I went to México as an LEX intern for 3 months, and stayed with Javier's family in Mexico City. It was a great experience, and one of the main reasons I decided to apply for the LEX internship in Japan. I did a lot of the same things as an intern in Mexico as I do here in the office like help check documents and work with the exchange groups, and of course had the opportunity to live and work in an environment where I was always surrounded by and communicating in Spanish. Though my experiences as an LEX intern in Mexico and Japan have been different in some aspects, one of the things that has always been the same is the people. All the LEX members I have met in both Mexico and Japan have corazones grandes ...
Post a Comment
Read more