Missing home

All day today I was thinking about home and all of the things that I miss. I don't want to leave here yet, but I am missing things I used to do at home. I already wrote about my sisters so this one's for mama and daddio!

One thing that I miss the most right now is talking with my mom about my day. Everyday after school she'd ask me... How was school, what did you do.... It wasn't like those usual parent/child … How was it... good. What did you do... nothing. We actually talked about a lot of stuff. I loved it so much that I looked for things I could tell her later. Here, because of the language barrier, I can't really do that. And writing down everything that happens is so hard!

Then there's her cooking! Mmmmm!! Anyone that has had a meal made by Kimiko Osterloh will tell you why I miss it so much. The food here is good, but i'm always nervous before I eat it. At home I was never worried about if I would like it or not. Also she would make lunch for me everyday. I know.. i'm lazy and don't do it myself. But I miss thinking.. I wonder what she made today...

Next is daddio! Believe it or not, I miss his jokes. He always put a smile on my face even in the hardest times. I don't blame him for teasing us so much. I mean he has no boys to fight so he has to be a girl and use words! Hehe! Me and my dad would also have some good talks. Whenever we were talking about a song, school ,or anything else we would talk for hours!

If you know my dad you'll know he's always fixing things. Mr. Fix-it! There's never anything that can't be fixed for him. Once he's started on something, he'll never give up... I think I got that from him :) It makes me happy to see him when he's working so hard to figure something out for me. It's then when I can see how much he cares for me.

So that's my parents for ya. It's so hard living without them, but I know that they're supporting me from all the way across the ocean.
Thanks for everything! Love you mom and dad!

Flower Power!

Last night me and my cousin Saya went to a flower arranging class! It was so much fun! This is my creation! Pretty huh! It brightens my room! I love it! If you ever get the chance to go to a flower arranging class, I highly recommend it!


I love the color of this one!

Long Day!

So i'm at the end of my first week of 2nd semester. It's so different from Skyline! Today i was at school for 12 hours! ... 2 of the hours i was traveling so i guess only 10 .. but still Holy cow! It was a very LONG day!!!

My classes aren't too bad. The english classes are easy, of course, just fun to listen to. But the math. Wow!! They're advanced! At home i thought i was pretty good at math, but nope! ...Well i got most of it but there's one part that i didn't get and i can't figure out how it works! Hopefully i won't be too behind. We also have art class, which seems pretty fun. Right now we're starting on a stained glass thing that looks pretty cool. Then for P.E. we weeded! It was really weird, but we got a lot done and i think tomorrow we're playing volleyball.. yay!

It's hard when i can't understand what's going on, but my friends usually help me out. Tomorrow i'm having my first japanese tutor lesson so hopefully that will help me a lot with my other classes. Well 12 hours of school and dance is pretty exhausting! So i'll end here!

おやすみ!

Michael Jackson

My new dance shoes... I love them!

Yesterday we had try-outs to see who would be in the Michael Jackson dance. That dance is way fun because you can just get into it and goof off! Anyways we just tried out in groups in front of the rest of the class. Then he would cut a couple of people and make new groups. So I made the 1st cut. Then he split us into 2 groups where he had us in formations. The 1st group was the seniors in the front, then the juniors, then the sophomores in back. Well in my group there weren't any seniors so he put one junior in the front, then he put me in the front next to her! I was soooo surprised! But it was way fun! And I can't wait to learn the rest of the dance.

Dance

I'm in the dance club at my school. So every day this summer I went to dance practice. It surprised me how dedicated they are. I mean every day for at least 3 hours! Wow! Not to mention it's only a high school club, and most of the girls have never danced before this. But it's tons of fun! I've made so many friends in dance. It's nice because now whenever I see a girl in the hall they always go Ahh!! Misako!

We have so much fun together. Everyone always makes funny faces, or does silly moves. I'm always laughing at dance. Then there are the sen-pai. They make me laugh even harder! They don't usually talk to the 1st years (my grade) but because i'm a foreigner they always say hi to me and try to talk to me in English. It's so funny because they see everyone and say おはよ,おはよ... but to me it's always HI MISAKO!.... How are you Misako..... I love you Misako! Haha it's so funny!

I've got 3 really good friends in dance that I'm usually with. There are some more girls that I like talking and laughing with, but usually i'm with these 3. The 1st is Mie. She's also in my class so it's nice to have her to show me around. Also she speaks some English. Usually we're talking in half Japanese half English.... Japanlish! She has helped me a lot with translating and she's a super nice girl! Next is Shizuka. She is so nice! I don't know her as well as the other two, but she's really nice to me when we do talk. Then last, but not least! Kana! She is soooo cute! She is just a big ball of energy! She's short but it makes her so cute! It's so funny because she's always copying what I'm doing. Most of the time we are making faces or doing dance moves or something. It's funny how you don't need to talk to be good friends with someone.

At dance I can be myself. I'm not the shy, quiet girl that I am in class. Hopefully as time goes by i'll be like that in my class too.

Golfing!

.... I didn't have a picture for this one so it's just random :)

This is the path i walk down every day.

I'm a golfer! Tehe! I hung out with Saya and her boyfriend and they took me to indian food... yummy! ...the nan is huge!! Then we were going to go to a movie. That didn't work out so eventually we just went golfing. It was pretty late so we only went to the driving range. I've never done it before so it was pretty exciting! We had a contest with me and saya against her boyfriend. We had to try to hit the ball onto a green circle in the middle about 60 yds away and he had to try to hit it 5 times. Well we ended up changing it because I had beginners luck... or just skill ;P I learned pretty quick and by the end I hit it 10 times. He only hit it 8 times but he hit 100 yds twice so we gave him 2 points each. Saya..... hehe she wasn't doing to well at the beginning, but by the end I think she got it once! Whoo! Well it was a really fun night and they were really nice to bring me along!

Home!

I hate the airport! After hearing this story you'll know why. Get ready it's a long, emotional rollercoaster!

So Me and my dad went to the airport to try to get me on a flight back to Utah. My family was going home the next day with sachi, but they all had tickets. I was going standby so we thought we should try a day early just in case. The first problem was that the internet site was completely wrong! When we thought we could definitely get on a plane, we were definitely mistaken! Everything was overbooked! It was soooo frustrating! Anyways after we figured there was no possible way to get on that day we decided to head out to a hotel for the night. I have to say one of the worst parts about this was trying to leave the airport! They had to void our passports so we had to wait forever!!! Finally we got out and found a hotel to go to.

The hotel was nice. It seemed like a fun place to stay, but we only had one night there. So we went to our room, ate dinner, and tried to figure out how to get me home. We kept on coming up with all of these ideas then right when we thought we had it, they wouldn't work. I was trying to imagine myself staying in japan while my family went home so that i wouldn't be too disappointed if i couldn't get on a flight, but it was too hard! I couldn't imagine them going without me. I thought .. there has to be a way! there has to be some way that i can go home!

Anyways we came up with a couple of good ideas, and we were pretty sure that one of them was bound to work out.

So the next day finally came and after a delicious breakfast buffet we went back to the airport. There we met up with the rest of my family, then we started checking in. After all of the bags were taken care of, it was time to see if i would make it. So we walked up to the counter... i was extremely nervous! Then we asked the lady and she told us there was no way that i could get on. :( I was still ok because we still had a couple more options for me. So we tried to figure it out before they had to get on their plane. But once again there was no way i could go home that day. So I said goodbye to all my sisters then to my mom and dad. It was so hard trying to be tough then. I thought i did pretty good though, only a couple of tears fell. The hardest part of all was watching them leave. I'm not even sure if i really did that. I think i saw them start walking away then i had to rush to the train to get a hold of myself. I can't even describe what it was like, but i can tell you it wasn't fun.

On the train back home i accidentally sat in someone's reserved seat. I probably didn't look so good .. my eyes were still watery. So he just told me to stay and he found another seat. What a nice guy! After the 3 hour train ride i was finally back! So i went to my room, not feeling like socializing. Then after dinner i went back to my room and decided to check the flight one more time. I wasn't happy with what happened because i felt like i didn't really try everything i could. So while my family was flying back home i figured out what flights i could try the next day.

I left a message telling them i was trying again, then i set out for the airport one last time. For some reason my mood had completely changed. I was full of energy, excited, and hopeful! I got to the airport still happy, but nervous. When i went up to the desk to see if i could get on my stomach was full of butterflies! So i asked her then she told me that there was a high chance of me getting on!!! WHOOO!!! YA! From then on i couldn't stop smiling! Walking through security i had a huge smile on my face and i was humming. I got a couple of weird looks, but that didn't stop me. Nothing could put me down .. i was going home!!!! So i got on the plane and finally came home!