Tokyo DisneyLand

Hey again everyone,
On Tuesday I went to DISNEYLAND with Wakana and one of her friends, Natsuki. It was, of course, lots of fun. We left Moriya at 6:30 in the morning and got caught up in the Tokyo rush hour, which I can tell you isn't fun. Imagine the train carriage being crowded and you think the is no possible way to get anymore people on the train, then all of a sudden people with white glove push 20 more people on the already jam-packed carriage, NOT fun! So despite being packed like a sardine (twice, we were caught in rush hour on the way home to) they day was pretty fun. We went on all the rides with mountain in the name; Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain. It was a lot of fun. Although I screamed on the Snow White ride... but to be fair the witch looked pretty scary and kept popping up out of no where. It was a pretty hot day and it rained a little bit, but only for a few minutes. We also went on a few of the ride for younger kids and they were fun, I'm sure they'd be fun no matter how old I am. I won't brag to much about DisneyLand, it was really fun though.

Photos below (sorry if they're not so good, I'm not a photographer),
Chloe.

This is Natsuki and Wakana at the start of the
"It's a Small World" Attraction

These are some of the many dolls on the ride

Its a kangaroo with a joey

The Keyakidai Junior High school Sports festival

Hey everyone,
The Keyakidai Junior High school Sports festival was held on the 15th of September and was a lot of fun. I participate in the 100m, the relay and a few other 'novelty' events (well I guess that's what they'd be called back home). It was a pretty warm day and the atmosphere was like that of a festival. The sports festival was very different our sports carnivals back home in Australia. For starters there was an opening and closing ceremony, which we had practiced almost every day and the fight songs performances. Everyone got a chance to perform their fight songs and dances. Shiro-dan (the team I was in) came second overall. It was really hard not to get into the spirit of things and I ended up having a great time, even thought at the end of the day I was exhausted and I couldn't walk.

Here's some photos,
Chloe

One of the ceremonies (that's Shiro-dan in the photo)

Waiting for the tug-a-war to start

One of the events, I was really scared of falling

The Autumn Festival at the Hito-Koto-Nushi Shrine

Hiya,
Last Thusday (13th of September) I went to the Hito-Koto-Nushi shrine in Moriya. I went with Yasuko and Natsuki and I had a really awesome time. It was in the evening so it was a lot cooler and not as humid. For dinner I got to have Yakisoba (yah-key-sew-baa), which it fried noodles and a Choco-banana, which I'm sure doesn't need explaining. We saw a traditional, Chinese-style dragon dance and a fireworks show. The fireworks show was a bit different because it was done in the traditional style. It told a story and it was really interesting, I enjoyed it. After the fireworks show we went home, by that time we had been attacked by mosquitoes.

I hope you all like the photos below,
Chloe.

This is me and Natsuki at the Torii
(entrance to the shrine)

This is the Choco-banana store

A close up of the Choco-bananas, they were super yummy!

This is the traditional lion dance

Another photo of the lion dance

This is an example of some of the fireworks,
it's a fire bird!!

Earthquakes and Pictures

Hiya Everyone,

This morning (Friday the 14th of September) at 2:22am there was a magnitude 5.2 earthquake in Chiba Prefecture, just a bit north of Tokyo. Needless to say I was woken by a violent jolt, but once I realised what was going on I fell back asleep. Earthquakes don't really phase me anymore, especially in the middle of the night when I'm sleepy.

Enjoy the photos, there not of the Earthquake thought...
Chloe.

This is me and Wakana walking to School on the first day.
It was too early!!!

The other night I had purple potatoes for dinner,
that's right they're bright purple!!

This is them being fried, they stayed purple.

They tasted the same as regular potatoes but
they were PURPLE!!!

Hawaiians

Sorry everyone, I've been a bit slack (and busy and lazy),

On Sunday the 9th of September I went one and a half hours away from Moriya to Hawaiians Spa Resort and Hotel in Fukushima (foo-koo-she-ma) Prefecture. It was a very relaxing day and i had a lot of fun. There were water slides and hot springs and pools. It was really awesome. Wakana and I spent the whole day roaming around trying everything out and only meeting up with Takashi, Yasuko, Natsuki and Taiga for lunch and dinner and ice cream. We also took photos with Yasuko and Natsuki in a photo booth in the game centre there. Wakana and I went on one of the slides together, and let me say going down with two people is much faster that on your own, we screamed the whole way down.  The whole day was a lot of fun and was worth the early morning and late night. The next day though, I was completely exhausted.

Everyone enjoy the photos and please don't get too jealous ;)
Chloe

This is me coming out of the slide...
It was a lot of fun!!

This is the tube deciding to turn on me at the last moment.

Me and Wakana waiting to
go on the slide.

This is the line for one of the slides,
we're in there somewhere.

These are some dancers, they were incredible.

Me and Wakana eating Dippin' Dots ice.
It's really cool, it like eating little beads made from ice cream.

Keyakidai Junior High School

Hello,
Sorry haven't really written much lately, I've been fairly busy at school. Yes that's right I'm going to school now. I've said goodbye to the sleep ins and said hello (reluctantly) to the waking up at 6:30. I miss the sleep ins. School here is pretty different to what I'm used to back home in Oz. For example I'm in third grade here, not ninth, I have 6 classes a day not 5 and I have to stay in the same classroom, in the same seat for most of the day. That, and it's all in Japanese. The days are pretty long but I'm getting to learn a bit more Japanese, if nothing else. Another thing that's different is that before we have to go home we have to clean the classroom and corridor. At the moment we are preparing for the sports festival so that means that we are spending a lot of time outside the classroom and a lot of time outside. The school is split up into three teams, Shiro (shi-ro), Aka (uh-ka) and Ao (aow). Shiro is Japanese for White and that's the team I'm in. The other two team are Red (Aka) and Blue (Ao). It is pretty fun preparing for the festival, we get to practice the fight songs and play tug-a-war. The work is a bit difficult for me thought, but that might have something to do with the fact that it's all in Japanese and written in Kanji. I'm trying though. I've written a lot of notes in Kanji but I can't really understand what it all says. Oh well, it's all part of the experience.

Sorry there's no photos,
Chloe.

Tokyo, Sweets Paradise and Earthquakes

Hello everyone,
On Tuesday I went into Tokyo and had an awesome time with Yasuko. I won't tell you everything because most of it was shopping. Then yesterday I went to Kashiwa to Sweets Paradise. Sweets Paradise is a very dangerous place and I advise everybody to steer clear. Everything there was very yummy though. Last night I was woken up when I felt my bed shaking, it turns out that I woke up at the start of a small earthquake. It wouldn't really have scared very much if it had been during the day because I woke and everything was shaking, not fun. This isn't the first earthquake I have experienced since being in Japan this time round though, there was a small one when I came home from meeting up with the people I went to kindergarten with. It wasn't very big and I didn't really notice it until we stopped at an intersection and the car was wobbling. That's all that has really happened so far. I also had a terrible realisation today, I have to go to school on Monday. Oh well, I guess that means no more sleep ins.

Signing off,
Chloe.

This was my lunch

This is an example of a pattern you find
in Japanese traditional Lacquer ware  

Another pattern

This is a traditional lacquer ware box

This is the walk way

This is Japanese blue glass

These are traditional-style pictures

This is the plate I designed electronically

This is a traditional-style plate

If you know what's good for you, you won't
go into this shop.