Nihon Buyo (Ali) This last Sunday I had the opportunity to see a Nihon Buyo performance near my host families house. A hippo member had given me a ticket after hearing that I wanted to study the dance. I had a really wonderful time and am very thankful for the opportunity.  It is difficult to describe Nihon Buyo when there is no western style dance that I can easily compare it with. Movements are minimal, precise, and few, graceful yet brisk. Sometimes these motions are emphasized by props, such as fans, umbrellas, flowers, and sashes. If I had to compare it, it would be to a mime, body builder, and sales person.  As a mime tells a story through movements, a body builder shows of his strength and skill through poses, and a sales person positions their body to highlight and display a product, in Nihon Buyo each movement is deliberate to show off skill, emphasize a prop, and to tell the story. Each dance tells a different story and every movement in the dan...

Group Fellow Meetings - Omar Hello! Usually on Mondays there is a Group Fellow meeting that is held in the Youth Olympic Center near Shibuya. First I guess I should explain what a group fellow is. To put it in simple terms, a Fellow is a leader of a hippo "family." On these Mondays the Group Fellow members and do a special meeting where they can get information from the LEX Headquarters and they can also listen to special presentations. I had the chance once to speak and introduce myself in front of all the fellows once. Today I am going to talk about a special guest that we had from South Korea, Mr. Min Byeong Gyu. He and his wife helped a lot with the hippo branch in South Korea so he came to Japan as a special guest and spoke to us. It was a bit difficult for me to understand because of the language gap but I did not need words or a language to understand his passion. When Mr. Min Byeong Gyu was younger he would perform and sing opera in front of many people. H...

Elementary School (Ali) This last Friday, I went to my first elementary school for work. The school was located in Tsukuba. It took an hour and a half train ride and a 20-minute car ride to get there. The area reminded me of my hometown of Walla Walla, as it had many fields and the buildings were not jam-packed along tiny streets. It was relaxing to get away from the business of the city a bit. This elementary school was very small, about 25 students per class level with grades one through six. Despite begin a small country school, the building and gym were very nice. We were there as a cultural presentation. Like American children, Japanese children don't have many opportunities to be introduced to foreign cultures and languages. This festival (the equivalent of an American school assembly) is ideally supposed to give these elementary school students some exposure. We taught them greetings in Korean, English, Italian, Spanish, Hindi, and French.  We sang BINGO, playe...

Bubble - Omar Hello! I have been super busy here at LEX! I am having a great time and I have been participating in various activities as well as working in the office! A couple times a month there is an activity called Bubble. Bubble is a workshop where most of the "younger" members of Hippo Family Club come together and do Hippo activities. I say put younger in quotation marks because I think that all of the members are still "YOUNG"...some are just younger than others. ^_^ I had the chance to be a "Fellow" or leader of one of these meetings this week. And fortunately  for me this meetings theme was HALLOWEEN!!! So we strongly suggested that people dress up! I had a great time leading this group. I got the chance to lead the meeting with the other interns and another member of Bubble. We did various SADAS with a Halloween based theme. We also played Lotteria (Mexican version of Bingo). One of the normal Leaders of Bubble named Gori made the Lotter...

Asakusa (Ali)            Last Sunday, after attending church, my host family and I went to a guidance meeting in Asakusa. The meeting was for Hippo students interested in going abroad for homestays next year.  Students from last year got to share their experiences and encourage the potential students to go abroad. Here at Hippo there are a ton countries to choose from! The students have a choice of going to France, Mexico, the US, Russia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Italy, and Thailand for either two weeks or a month. After the presentations, Omar and I collected the students' applications. We gave them hugs and hi-fives for making their final decision on what country to visit.  I have to admit I am a little jealous that they have these opportunities; I wish I could have done this when I was 12.       Once the meeting was over, Omar's host mom and my host mom decided to take advantage of being in Asakusa and go sightseein...

(Omar) Hello! Hey everyone! My name is　Ivan Omar Olivas-Diaz, but everyone knows me as Omar Diaz. I am from South Haven, Michigan. South Haven is a small yet beautiful town located on Lake Michigan. It is a great place to live in the summer because all the surrounding lakes, and beaches. So everyone can get to know me a little bit, I will share some information about myself. I am currently 23 years old and I attend Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I am a double bachelors degree student, studying Marketing and Japanese with a minor in Asian studies. I have a variety of hobbies such as music (guitar, piano, and listening to music), sports (soccer, tennis), and I love interacting with people. When I am not at school or working I am always with friends. Ice cream is my favorite food, and I my favorite animal is probably red pandas. That information is probably irrelevant. I come from a family of 5 (including myself). I have four older siblings; two sisters an...

Hello! (Ali)        Hello! Let me introduce myself. My name is Alexandra Melling (but everyone calls me Ali). I am from the small town of Walla Walla, located in the southeastern corner of Washington state. Walla Walla is known for its numerous wineries, sweet onions, annual hot air balloon festival, and its role in the settling of the West.  During high school, my family had the privilege of hosting several Japanese exchange students through 4-H and a local sister city program. In 2006, I had the opportunity to visit one of these students in Hokkaido, Japan, who was a Hippo member. Two years later, I returned for a two month language study and homestay. In May of 2012, I graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelors of Arts in History and Social Studies education. However, having finished my studies, I decided there was one last thing I needed to do before starting the grueling task of finding a teaching pos...