031

Well, firstly I'm safe and sound in my next and final host family. I'm back in Megumino which a nice little town suburb of Eniwa. My home is across the road from the station, and although I get the train sounds through my window constantly, it means no worries about getting to the station on time. Yay!

I'm again back at school being bored to death daily. It's started to get mighty cold but sometimes we hang out in Sapporo. So one evening, Sam, Chiharu (my host sister) and I hung out in Odori and later met with Dakota and some Swedish people that were at Dakota's school for a week-long exchange.

I also went out the next night with Kaela and her friend Sakura. We went to Susukino, sort of like the night-life area of Sapporo, and went to a Japanese pub for dinner where Sakura's friends worked, so the atmosphere was very friendly, and apart from developing huge blisters on my feet from buying new shoes and wearing them that night, it was a very fun night.

On Sunday 17th, there was a huge Rotary District meeting in Sapporo - I had to leave at 7am and the meeting started at 9:00. There were Rotary Clubs from all around Hokkaido, and we were in a big hall thing and important people were there, such as the Governor of Hokkaido and the Mayor of Sapporo and people like that. Felt important!

The rest of the day was like a workshop meeting that the young people (RotarAct/RYPEN/YEP etc) were doing. It was EXTREMELY BORING because it was like a brainstorming session in Japanese, and so we zoned out until we got private tours around the hotel that was hosting the meetings - the most expensive hotel in Sapporo. So we got to see all the mega-expensive suites and stuff. Then after escaping during free-time for purikura and coffee, we came back for a fancy supper. It was a pretty good day in the end.

Monday was a day off from school because my school had lessons on Saturday.... I didn't go though, because even though I saw it, no-one came and said I HAD to go, so I presumed it was a study thing or a test, so I didn't go. To be honest it would have been a waste of time anyway.

Oh yeah. I have a new friend - Kota. I was walking from school to the station on Friday afternoon and he rode his bike up and got off and walked with me because he had seen me walking alone the day before and thought he'd come and talk to me. So that's nice to finally have a friend at school, although he's in the grade above me. And he's the only one in the whole school who's said happy birthday, too. Too bad I have less than three months left here.

Anyway, that's basically it. It's my birthday tomorrow, and I have a small stash of presents from my family that they posted over.. my host family have said I can have a little get-together on Saturday, so, I suppose I won't be completely alone for my birthday this year after all :)