Day 5

Today we had some more meetings to learn about schools here and also about women's rights in Japan. Also, I was given some Japanese texts books that I will show you when I get back. I didn't get to go to the 100 yen store as I planned because it took a long time to get my train ticket to Kyoto for tomorrow morning but I will go in a few days. Tomorrow, I will be getting up at 4:30 in the morning to go to Kyoto. I would really like it if you looked up Kyoto to find out some information about it. You can look in some of the books about Japan that are in the classroom or you can have a teacher or parent help you look up information online. It is a very interesting city. I will post some pictures when I get back tomorrow night. It will be a 2 1/2 hour train ride. Tonight, I had dinner at McDonalds! Can you believe it? I was just so hungry! I felt funny coming all the way to Japan to eat McDonalds... Guess what they have? They have an eel burger. It is a sandwich made out of fried eel! (another thing to look up?!) I didn't feel adventurous so I got a square chicken sandwich instead. :) Today I started to feel REALLY homesick. It is so different here and even though I think it is REALLY cool, I felt a little lonely. It is strange to be somewhere where I can't read anything or talk to many people. I can't really ask people questions because I don't speak Japanese and they don't speak much English. The few things I have learned are as follows:When you want a waiter's attention or when you bump in to someone you say "Sumimasen" which basically means excuse me. In the morning you say "Ohayo Gozaymas", in the afternoon you say Konichiwa and at night you say "Gon ba wa" although I don't know how you spell that. When you want something you say "kudasai" which means please, and people say "Hai" (yes) a LOT! It means, ok, or I hear what you saying. They also bow A LOT. So if I come back bowing all the time, you will know why :) And when you want to say Thanks you say Domo or Domo arigato. When you want to say Thank you, you say "Arigato Gozaymas" and when you want to say Thank you very much, you say "Domo Arigato Gozaymas". Again, I don't know if that is spelled right. OK more Japanese lessons another day. This is getting long. Be good and make me proud!