Cathryn Salamone -- Japan

November 5, 2008

One of my sponsoring Rotary Clubs, Kochi East Rotary Club, gave me a birthday party on my exact birthday, October 13th. Most of the Rotary club came, along with a few friends from school, and some aquaintences that I have made since coming to Japan; some of whom are including members of the English night class that I help with every Monday, friends of my host family, and others. It was held at an Italian resturant, which was so perfect because my heritage is half-Italian and having Italian food came me a little piece of home. It was a great time, and I wore my host mother`s kimono. I am so, incredibly grateful to the Rotary clubs for hosting such a fun party for me.

In addition, toward the end of October, I went on a Rotary trip to Okinawa, the southernmost island chain of Japan, with two other exchange students on my island of Shikoku. It was just for a weekend, but it was incredibly fun, and it was a great chance to meet the other exchange students on my island, although we are at least an hour away from each other.
Finally, every third Tuesday of the month I go to Rotex meetings with the other Rotex officers and former exchange students from my school who went to America last year. We are raising money for children in Cambodia, and we are going to bake some treats during Christmas time (either my mother`s banana bread recipie or my Grandmother`s chocolate chips -- tough choice!!) to sell at Rotary meetings.

I continue to attend Koto club every day except Thursday, which is Nihon-Buyou class (Japanese dancing). I am submerging myself in the vast and traditional culture of Japan and I am absolutely loving it. I am keeping busy with my clubs and I realize the importance of being busy as an exchange student -- only rarely am I homesick, if at all, because I am so busy and am making friends through my clubs. It is definately a good thing to stress getting involved to exchange students, because being idle and bored only brings homesickness. I am so happy that I attend Rotary meetings frequently and have many things going on after school.



I am healthy now, but I had a fever right after my birthday and had to go to the family clinic, where I was given antibiotics to help my coughing and fever. I got to 100% by the end of the week, and now I am perfectly fine! =)

An incredible amount of things happened in October. I don`t think I`ve ever been more busy in my life! The month started with me going on my school field trip to Hokkaido, Japan`s northernmost prefecture. It is on the same line of latitude as New York, so the weather was refreshingly cold and a little chilly, as it was still summer-like weather in Kochi. I also saw some things akin to New York that I haven`t seen in Kochi, like fall foliage and birch trees. Hokkaido was a lot of fun and I was able to make many more friends in my class during the trip.
On the 13th, as I`ve written above, my host Rotary club threw me a birthday party which was such a nice surprise. I never expected a birthday party when coming to Japan, and not nearly one so great, with so many people that I knew and met who came. I truely feel blessed with all of the things that Rotary has provided for me, including my school uniform, my trip to Okinawa, some spending money for my trip to Hokkaido, and including me in on several Rotary activities, such as the Rotex meetings.
School has been very rewarding. It is very difficult to understand my teachers and the lesson being taught, but I am still being submerged in the japanese language and I still am being exposed to new words and phrases and how the speech sounds, which is essential to me learning the language. My Japanese is coming along well, and I am working hard to begin understanding the content of the lessons in class. I am studying the japanese kanji, or characters, slowly but surely, as there are around 2,000 of them in use.
Finally, the Rotary-sponsored trip to Okinawa was wonderful. It was a weekend long, but it was such a great experience to share stories with my fellow exchangers on my island and to hear how they are getting along with their host families and with school life. There aren`t any other Rotary exchange students in my area, so I was happy to have had that opportunity to meet the other exchange students in Okinawa.

I am so happy here in Japan, and I am learning lessons here that I will take back to America with me...things that I`m not sure I would learn back home, in a completely comfortable enviornment. I love being abroad and learning and experiencing, so much so that I`m not quite sure how to express it in e-mail form. I want to thank Rotary already for giving me this opportunity, as already I am enjoying myself and seeing that it is incredibly worthwhile and will definately be, I think, the time of my life. So, I`m experiencing all that I can in my year!