So my last entry was from near the end of the Spring holidays. Since then, quite a lot has happened. On the 31st of March, I moved on to my second host family. The whole day, I did not see my first host family at all. I woke up to an empty house (which I was used to by then), but they didn't call or anything for the entire day. So I still don't know where everyone was that day. At about 4pm my host dad phoned me to make sure I was home, and then 10 minutes later they were yelling down the hallway for me to bring my gear coz we were going. So I dunno. I was sort of expecting more of a farewell lol. 
My second host family was the Murayama's - their daughter, Haruka, is my friend and is going to Australia on Rotary exchange in late July/ early August. She'll be going to live in my town and at one stage with my family, so I find that really cool.Anyway, living there was quite different. Firstly, of course, there was no internet, so I spent my free time editing videos (I finally got a working version of Movie Maker, thanks to a friend of mine), or watching TV downstairs. Their family is made up of the mum, the dad, an older brother (18), Haruka (16) and another son Natsuki (12). I soon discovered that the older brother had very little to do with the family, and I very quickly got the impression that he was either extremely shy, or rude, or he just didn't really like being at home. He was always in his room and only came downstairs for dinner, and he never spoke to me or even looked at me. I didn't care really, because I just never saw him so it didn't matter.
Haruka always was at basketball practice or English lessons, so I didn't really see her as much either, but Natsuki was home most of the time. Unfortunately he is very quick to get on your nerves! He's full of endless energy and at one stage I was leaning against my door from the inside so that he couldn't get in lol.
Anyway, a quick list of events/places I went to in April;
April 1st was Lindsey's 18th Birthday. She's the exchange student here from New York, and all the exchange students met up in Sapporo to go to karaoke, which was good fun. We also did Purikura, but you do that whenever you do something, so yeah.
April 3rd, my host dad took Natsuki and I to Sapporo where we went to the top of the JR Tower; at 38 stories high, it's the tallest building in Sapporo. It was good weather, and now that it's warming up there is no snow around anymore, so I'm back to wearing normal layers of clothing. Anyway the view was amazing, and I had a super tasty hot chocolate while I sat in a chair by the window and looked over the city. Haruka later met up with us and then we went and visited the old Ski Jump from when Sapporo hosted the Winter Olympics. 
April 4th, I got taken out for a welcoming dinner. We all used it as an excuse to dress up nicely, and it turned out to be at the same restaurant that we went to for coffee when I first arrived in Japan. And it was super tasty! Afterwards, we went to the Eniwa Cat's Eye (Cat's Eye is like a gaming arcade/karaoke parlour. Those back in the Merimbula area reading this, it's basically like a completely awesome version of Top Fun). I discovered that my host grandpa/counselor is an awesome singer.
April 6th was Natsuki's Junior High School entrance ceremony. The Junior High he now goes to is the same one that his mother went to. That's cool I reckon. Anyway, I realized I was extremely under-dressed for the occasion. I was wearing my red pancake shirt and all the mothers were wearing sophisticated skirt-suits and all that. It went for about 2-3 hours, just speeches and the students having their names called out and then photos and things. So it wasn't that exciting, but still interesting to see just how serious the Japanese treat ANY kind of ceremony. My host mum was shocked to learn that no, we don't have entrance ceremonies in Australia lol.
April 7th, nothing much happened but I'll chuck a few photos in here; we had a bunch of Swedish people attend the Rotary meeting for some Rotary thingo, they spoke English so that was cool. Haruka and I rode our bikes back home after wards (no snooow! Yay. It's interesting how I was so excited about snow in the beginning but now I'm glad to see it all gone lol)
April 8th marked the first day of the new school year for me. I'm now 2年生, the second year of High School, or in comparison to Australia, Year 11. As I walked into the front entrance where everyone takes off their shoes, it was completely packed; everyone was bustling to see which class they had been put in. Seriously, there were girls crying in the hallways because they hadn't been put in the same classes as their friends. It was deafening, the screaming and yelling and crying and whatnot. I was put in 6組, so I'm not in the same class as Haruka anymore. But that's okay, I still know a bunch of the girls in my class. And I'm pretty sure I got the best seat in the room.
April 11th, we went on a Rotary trip to a place called Noboribetsu, which is on the southern coast of Hokkaido. It was about a 2 hour drive from Eniwa, and I saw a volcano on the horizon! How exciting. Noboribetsu is famous for its onsen, which I wasn't too keen on. Anyway, it was only for one night but it was very fun - we were staying in this posh hotel which had these beautiful traditional Japanese rooms. While all the Rotarians went to the onsen, Haruka and I changed into our Yukata and did Purikura, went shopping, and just bummed around until dinner. Dinner was a very traditional Japanese feast, with sashimi and crab and stews and things. I didn't really eat that much of it. Oh and we played this game with Toppo (similar to Pocky), where, in teams of 4-5, we each held a Toppo stick in our mouth and passed a rubber band down the line of people using only the Toppo stick haha. I think my group came second. That night we spent a few hours in the biggest hotel room with the majority of the other Rotarians, where we watched them get drunk and arm wrestle haha. I attempted to arm wrestle but lost epically. 
April 12th - in the morning, at 7am, Haruka and I woke up and ended up going in the onsen. Luckily, there were only 2 other women there, it was a very large onsen room, and it was super steamy so you could barely see anything. So I didn't mind it that much in the end. At 9am, we all jumped back in our bus and went back to Eniwa. Haruka and I rushed home and changed into our uniforms and host-mum drove us to school by 11am-ish. We had to go to school because it was a club presentation day for the new 1st grade kids, so they could decide which they wanted to join. I helped with the calligraphy one, and also did an English conversation speech with Maimi, which was cool. Maimi is really nice, I just don't see her much because she's in the year above me. All the 1st graders, of course, were staring at me because it was the first time they'd seen me lol. Ah well.
April 18th, I had organised to go to Sapporo with one of the other exchange students, but in the end it was a small bunch of us. We just basically did Purikura of course, played this gambling game and won nothing, went shopping, and went to Starbucks twice. Rachael, the Canadian exchange student, and I looked at the pet shop (there was an Australian lorikeet there.. hmm) and of course there was the Pokemon Centre. In the evening after the other exchange students left, the other Australian and I decided we'd see a movie but we were too late, so we thought we'd go and walk to Odori to see the TV Tower at night. I love the city at night, and Sapporo is great. It was cold, but not too bad, and there were barely any people around so it was quite nice. The TV Tower is really cool to look at with all the fairy lights on it, and it was nice to see the city without snow; last time I'd been to Odori it was for the Snow Festival, so it made me happy to see grass and flowers and things. I can't wait to see it in (proper) Spring or Summer.
Now, this night is where everything changed quite dramatically. I was on the train home, and it was about 8:45pm. Haruka sent me a text saying that my host mum wasn't going to be able to pick me up from the station, and I'd have to walk home. She didn't say why or anything so I just said okay, but I was a little annoyed. It was cold, and I didn't have a proper warm jacket, and it's a 20-30 minute walk home. And in the dark in the streets is a bit creepy. My phone, of course, had to run out of battery just as Haruka called me, so then I had no communication. I power-walked home to find everyone gone, and the front door locked. This made me angry. "Why do they think they can just leave me like this???!!" I walked around the side of the house after ringing the doorbell , and saw the big brothers light on on the second floor. That made me dislike him even more; he was home but he wasn't letting me in! In hindsight, maybe he was listening to music or something, but still. So like another half an hour later the front door finally opened and he let me in, and talked to me for the first time (in super fast Japanese so I had no idea what he said anyway). All I could hear was "hospital", "Haruka", "Mum", "Shota's house", "Let's go" - sooo... I was confused and still didn't know what was going on. So I just put down my shopping and followed him to Shota's house - that's the first house I was at, for the first week. Shota is the older brother (12).
Anyway, after looking a bit bewildered and finally talking to Miwa (Shota's mum) in a mixture of Japanese and English, I discovered that my host mum had collapsed in the bathroom and had to go to hospital - she had suffered a blood clot in her brain. And as Miwa was talking to me, my host mum was actually going into brain surgery in a nearby hospital. It was definitely a shock, and I felt terrible for being angry before. But to be fair, I had no idea at the time.
Anyway, after looking a bit bewildered and finally talking to Miwa (Shota's mum) in a mixture of Japanese and English, I discovered that my host mum had collapsed in the bathroom and had to go to hospital - she had suffered a blood clot in her brain. And as Miwa was talking to me, my host mum was actually going into brain surgery in a nearby hospital. It was definitely a shock, and I felt terrible for being angry before. But to be fair, I had no idea at the time.
So, in a nutshell, she was in surgery for about 8 hours, I stayed in Miwa's house for the next 2 nights, and it was decided that I would be moving out early, either to my 3rd host family, or to another Rotarians house for the remaining 2 months. I visited my host mum in the ICU the day after her surgery, and she was sleeping but she woke up when we started talking. She said sorry to me ("No!! Don't apologise!!"), and she was looking a lot better than I was expecting. So that was a relief.
Anyway. It was decided that I would go and live with a different Rotarian for however long, until I either go back to Haruka's house when her mum gets out of hospital, or when it's time to go to my 3rd family. I'm not too keen on returning to Haruka's house, because her mum will have been in hospital for a month, and I presume that she will need all the rest she can get. I doubt having a fourth teenager in the house would help. I have a feeling that I would just be that little bit more extra strain, and I don't want to hinder her recovery at all. I personally think it would be better for her and for the family if I didn't go back to their place.
So, now I am living with a man named Mr Saito - he lives alone with his two dogs, Saburoku and Ganjiro, and his youngest daughter, Miki, is here a lot. She's now married, so she spends the nights at her husbands apartment, but she cooks dinner here and sometimes sleeps here too. I have only been here for a week, but I love it here. I don't know what it is, if it's because I'm the only child or if it's just their personalities or the fact that they have dogs or just all of the above, but it could easily be my favourite host family so far, even though living here was unplanned. Mr Saito lives in Megumino, which is the neighbouring town to Eniwa - only like 3 minutes by train. 
It's a 20 minute walk to Megumino train station but now I ride the bike that the Muramoto family (first host family) lent to me, so it takes all of 5-10mins. I like Megumino, it's a small town, with no high-rises really. There's the one main street, and there's a shopping centre next to the station, and a KFC. I know where the karaoke place is too lol. Megumino is where my 4th host family lives as well, so yay lol.
Okay, I think that that's enough for now. There's another blog I want to write as well, so that will be here eventually.
Please check out my YouTube channel if you haven't already, it's: http://www.youtube.com/user/laurainjapan2010 and it has all my videos from Japan so far. I'll be trying to keep it as up to date as possible.
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