The last few days were taken up by a home-stay, where I got to spend time with the Yamamoto Family in Yokohama. I was right next door to one of the other councilors, Natalie, and our two families spent most of our home-stay together, hanging out, going shopping, eating way too many potstickers (oops.) and generally having an awesome time. My host family was a family of four, Kaori-san, Keiji-san, and their two children, Ena-chan and Lisa-san! They were amazingly nice to us, and took us to do all kinds of awesome things. As it turns out, Keiji-san actually has a good friend who lives in Denver, and spent a good amount of time in Denver and Boulder himself. Small world, isn't it?
They took us to our first Japanese festival, we went to their local shopping mall and oogled all of the super-cute things to purchase, went to an art class and an awesome pottery store, and I ate more homemade gyoza than is probably healthy or humanly possible. Three nights wasn't enough time with them, but we made the best of it and I had a great time. I was so happy to have the opportunity to practice my Japanese and get a taste of a real Japanese household. (Dad, we are getting a heated toilet seat. I've made up my mind--there's no arguing with me.)
Until next time, from Japan:
-Allison