Got ya there!

Ha! Peoplez all over zha world, I haz interwebz! I am sorry, but I was too tired to write anything yesterday and the day before yesterday. So a brief summary of what I did the past 3 days...

Saying goodbye is still difficult for me. My farewell to otousan, Yoshinori-kun, Naoki-kun and Mayoko-chan was very short, because they were off to work/ school in the early morning. Okaasan brought me by car to the trainstation and then we went together to the Mito station by train. The bus ride to Toride should be short; Mitoshi and Torideshi are somewhat in the same area above Tokyo. Leaving okaasan was difficult, as well as all the friends I have met in Mito; Eddie, the Hashimoto family, the other host families...
But I staid possitive. A whole new city to discover, eh? Bring on the adventure! So we drove to Toride. We made two stops; one at an outlet shopping centre (Jake, Kevin and I bought Lego Star Wars watches! Jake has Yoda and Obi Wan, Kevin has Darth Maul and I haz the one and only Darth Vader! Kevin and I are still finding a way to destroy the Jedi masters...) and one stop at the big and famous Buddha statue in Ushikushi (牛久市大仏, Ushiku City's Big Buddha). Those two places were worth some megbytes of my digital camera, so picture time! I like!


Jake and I called Kevin, cause we found Lego Star Wars watches! We couldn't find him, untill we looked at the play corner, where Kevin was pushing away all the kids to make his own creation...


And then we bought Lego watches! YEAH! Jake is not included, cause this is a Sith Lord only picture. No Jedi allowed.


And then we ate one of the best ice cream in the world... 31! (Baskin Robbins... PACHI PACHI ICE!)


Posing a pose in front of the big Buddha in Ushiku (including Lego Star Wars watches!!)


Posing a second pose in front of the big Buddha in Ushiku (including Lego Star Wars watches!!)


The big Buddha from Ushiku and Lord Vader from Tatooine


We all were tired... Even Yuki (left) and Chihiro (Mom) took a nap!


Except for me! I was making pictures of things and doing other stuff. Here a big advertisement of the world famous guitar brand Fender!

Then we arrived at Torideshi. After some waiting, we celebrated the 21st birthday of Shin (Korea, his nickname is now Guus. From Guus Hiddink :P) and we met our new host family. My new host family is Hiraoka (平岡) and consist of otousan, okaasan, Taku-kun and Rei-kun. So I have now two host brothers of 8 and 10, who both love soccer and Pokemon! AWESOME! After meeting them, we went straight to bowling. I sucked. But I had a great time! Then we went home, had dinner and went to bed.




Up: me and Toshi-san, low: Rei and Taku

Yesterday was an interesting day. Although the day before yesterday was loaded with sadness and tears of leaving our host families in Mito, yesterday was loaded with positive energy and fun! We went to Exxmobil, a company that is specialized in enginering and energy supplies. So we went to Tokyo, Shinagawa. That was a long bus ride... it was rush hour. So we were behing schedule when we arrived there. Desiree told me it looked like Hong Kong. And WOW! Tall business buildings everywhere! I saw Fender, Sony and of course Exxmobil. We went into the building, and we were officially welcomed by the company with a chique lunch. While eating lunch, Exxmobil gave us a brief introduction of the company and their views on the world's energy supplies which are available nowdays. Really interesting presentation.　
After that we headed out to meet U35. U35 is an organization of young starters within the Exxmobil company, younger than 35 years (Under 35 = U35). With the people of U35, we attended some teambuilding workshops. I have learned a lot about teamwork and leadership. Especially when working on a specific project, with people from another country and background and with a different native tongue. After a lot of these workshops (like human knot, building a tower out of balloons and solving puzzles together as a team), we finally had diner! WHICH WAS DELICIOUS! There was a quiz and bingo while dinner, but I missed most of it because I was too busy eating. When dinner was over, we performed the Japanese medley (SMAP! and Souran Bushi for instance) and One to One. The people of U35 loved it. U35 member Hiro and I tried to figure out if we can play soccer with eachother this Sunday. But it will not be possible, because it is host family day. Too bad. I really liked those guys and I am truly disappointed we could not make this WCI - U35 event happen.
After a long day we went home (10 o'clock we were back!), I studied some kanji back home with help from otousan and went to bed.

Today I woke up at 6.30 (!), ate breakfast and played soccer with my host brothers on the street in the early morning. You can say what you want, but playing soccer is a good way to wake up! Then I okaasan dropped me off at Tsubata-san, Chong's host family. This because they have to go to work early and I still have time for attending WCI. So I had a great time at Tsubata-san's.　And then we headed for the presentations of the Toride high school students. They introduced us to Toride, on a low level. But it was entertaining enough to have a laugh at some points of the presentations.
Then we went to an old farmers house. Including a samurai room (!) and a lot of farmer stuff. Here I met 3 awesome kids; [forgot name] , Hien and Hayate. The kids were named after second world war fighter airplanes. So I asked their mother why. She answered me that her husband likes the fighter planes, and does not relate the names of her kids to war. Little strange, but interesting. Hien could not remember my name (he is 6 years old) so he called me "Chicken" (do not know why). I played with them games like, kill Hien with a fake samurai sword, attack the chicken and run around till we all are exhausted. Funny games. I got the email and telephone number of their mother, to whom I have talked the whole day about the farmers house and buddhism. Although she was not part of the LOC, she guided us today with her kids and
After that, we headed out for a project. WCI members seperated in 4 different groups, which each will go to different old shops. I went to a old shop, where Narazuke was being produced. It is tsukemono, a food that is similar to pickles in way of preparation, but has it's own... ehm... interesting odor and taste. Then I went with my group to a specialized shop in agricultural equipment, such as shovels. The cooler part is that in the Edo era, this shop produced samurai swords! OMG! They still make it, but only to offer the sword to the gods (Shintoism). After that, we were told to make a commercial for the shops we have visited as groups, with photos, film and sound. So Jake, Ray, Kevin, Desiree and I made an awesome short film about the shop. The other shops were an old ningyou shop (Japanese dolls), sakaya (sake shop) and... I forgot. Anyway, all awesome and cool.

Finally I headed back home, played soccer with the boys from 6 till 7, had dinner and am writing my blog. Now I am up to date again! YEAH! But I say bye bye, cause I need my sleep. Tomorrow is Arigatou Evento! But my host family can not come. I do not know why. But I will do my best, just because I love it. See ya later!