I've started the method of typing everything out at home, so when I get to school (to the internet) I can just copy and paste for your enjoyment. yatta!

My host family is great.

My younger sister, Ann, loves to sing, especially Mama Mia songs. She's almost as tall as me and likes to point it out. We play board games and card games, hoping we know the same rules. The language barrier makes things difficult, but it helps me learn. We played jenga with colored pieces so I learned colors, and we played Go Fish so I got to work on my numbers.

I never see Ryu, he's always playing soccer. Ta has a part time job so I don't see him much either. He's an aspiring baker.

The house is small but everyone and everything fits... of course, since it's Japan. They've been hosting students off an on for about 16 years, so they're really experienced. I'll take pictures of my room at some point. It's simple but works out well.

They drive a Honda minivan. The back seat doors are controlled by the driver via remote control. There's a tv where there would be a radio in cars in America. When you reverse, not only is there a camera that shows you a view of your rear end, but it has lines representing your car, so you can tell exactly where you are (like inside the lines of a parking spot). Seatbelts don't seem to be used as widely as in the US. And of course the driver is on the right.

My Japanese needs to get better fast. I'm tired of not knowing what people are saying and not being able to communicate what I want to say. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it quickly, but for now it's exhausting. It already is improving though, and I try to use it when I can, even if it's just interjecting random nihon-go words into ei-go sentences.

I bought a new camera. It's ao (blue). I actually bought a legit case for it. Yay! I'm really excited. It's awesome.

Not having internet at home is a pain, but I'll get over it. I'll be spending more time at school and there's wireless there.

I rode the train by myself to school and back today... success! だこじょうぶ! It takes about 25 minutes round trip from my house to the station.

There is a famous comedy duo here called オードリー (Oodorii), which is my name. So whenever they're on tv my host family says "aaah oodorii!" and "ah it's you!" They're in a KFC commercial.

Three friends and I went to a Bento restaurant for lunch. We couldn't read the menu, so the most advanced speaker among us asked the owners what they recommend and we all ate that. It was good. I don't know what it was, a stew-like dish with tofu and ground beef. The place was really small, it fit maybe 15 people.

Cell phone tomorrow!