How is everything in hot and sunny Florida? The weather in Monbetsu is extremely cold and a couple of days ago it was snowing. I have gotten so used to Florida's weather that I do not know how I will survive Monbetsu's harshly cold winter.
I am sorry that I could not send an e-mail report sooner, but October has been a very busy month for me (which is good after the long and boring month of September).
On the 2nd and 3rd of October, I attended the Rotary District Conference in the city of Kushiro. Kushiro is about a five hour drive from Monbetsu. There was only one other exchange student besides myself. His name is Jonathan Hughes and he is from Canada. He lives in the city of Furano (about a 4 hour drive from Monbetsu). The conference itself was very boring and long. There were many meetings among the Rotarians, but john and I had lots of fun together.
As you probably know, I joined the Drama Club. I enjoy being in this club because the kids are nice and are always trying to teach me japanese. The weekend after the District Conference, we went to the city of Kitami for the Drama Club's semiannual competitions. I had lots of fun. I did not act, but I was part of the staff. I helped the actors and actresses with their makeup and with their wardrobe. There were many schools from all over the District there. I met many kids. They were all very kind and tried to speak to me in as much English as they could. My school's play was very good, and we came in second place. Before returning to Monbetsu, we went to
Karaoke and celebrated our victory.
From the 14th to the 19th, I went on my school trip. We went to Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, and Tokyo. I did lots of shopping and learned lots of japanese (none of the girls in my travel group spoke a word of english). The last day of our trip we went to Tokyo Disneyland. Tokyo Disneyland is exactly like the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, only smaller. We came back to
Monbetsu by train (the duration of the ride was 20 hours). I really enjoyed myself.
My japanese is getting better everyday, but I still have a long way to go. Everyone tells me that I am one of the fastest learning exchange students, but I do not believe them. I think they say that to all the exchange students. My homesickness is not as bad as it used to be, although I do get
very homesick every now and then. All the people are very nice and are always trying to cheer me up.
Well, I have to go now. My time on the internet is limited. I will send another report in about a month. Whoever reads this, take care!!
Claudia
