Rotary Exchange, District 7190

Eliza Chappell -- Spain

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:22:00 +0000

December 13, 2009

HOST CLUB:
ROTARY CLUB MADRID-SERRANO

I attended the Rotary sponsored dinner for "Día de la Acción de Gracias" (Thanksgiving).

I have been attending school daily at IES Isabel La Catolica in Madrid and have completed all assignments, projects, and tests.

There is not much new to say, as I continue with my routine and my life here. I've been trying to take advantage of the cultural offerings in Madrid, so I've recently gone to the nearby city of Segovia (BEAUTIFUL) with another rotary exchange student friend, and I've also been checking out the many museums in Madrid with my spanish friends. Everything is going well with my friends- I have a nice close group as well as many other friends (it's easy to make friends when you're the "famous" American in school with the crazy glasses), and also with the family. We are now starting to try to arrange my USA family's visit to Spain. I must say, I haven't really gotten homesick... of course I'll have my moments, but overall I'm loving every minute of my exchange.
:)
-Eliza Chappell

Ariel Dunster -- Brasil

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:18:00 +0000

December 11, 2009

The past month went really well. My new family is perfect for me. I´ve been able to go out with my host sister sometimes as well as keep my own friend group. I turned 18 this month, and my host family made it a very special day for me. They even let me have my own birthday party upstairs in the party room.

I had tendonitus in my ankle this month, but it is getting better now. I had to take some time off of it, but I am beginning to return to the gym again and this Monday I will begin a program called "Face2Face," in which I will have a personal trainer for 40days, to help make sure that I do not overwork my ankle.

Many of the exchange students, including me, became homesick as the school year was wrapping up, but it was good because we were homesick together. We now are planning several activites to keep us distracted and create a greater bond between us. We´ve seen movies, had a sushi/ice cream night, and gone to the beach and the gym together. We also had a new exchange student from Australia enter our district for the short term program last week. Since we always have something to distract ourselves with, I don´t think anyone was homesick for more than a week.

One of the things that I love to do here is go to the Rotary meetings. Over the past month the governor has visited my Rotary club twice. I´ve also participated in the secret santa for my Rotary club and I have visited the Rotary Club of Santos a couple of times. The first time I visited this club, I actually met the man from ESSEX who placed me in Santos! He was there visiting our district.

School has ended for this year and it is now summer break. I´m spending a lot more time at the beach and the mall now. Everything here is going well and I´m excited for the holiday season to begin.

Gil Strizich -- Argentina

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:14:00 +0000

December 8, 2009

ArgentinaHost Club: Rotary Club of San Salvador de Jujuy, 4800

The majority of the month of November(9th- 27th) was spent traveling around Patagonia with fifty other rotary exchange students here in Argentina. It was a very fun trip and exposed to the great things that Argentina has to offer. We started the trip in Cordoba, then drove two days in bus to visit the Patagonian port city of Puerto Madryn, where we visited a seal colony in the Peninsula Valdez National Park and went on a whale watch. After spending three days in Puerto Madryn, we headed South to the town of Calafate, which was another two days on the bus. From Calafate we went on various excursions to experience the incredible nearby scenery, visiting the famous Petito Moreno Glacier( one of the few glaciers in the world that is still growing), and other National parks. After a couple days in Calafate we headed even further south towards the Tierra Del Fuego, crossing through Chile and over the Straight of Magellen, to reach Ushuaia(the Southern most city in the world). We spent 3 days in Ushuaia, then headed back north to Bariloche, stopping briefly to spend the night in the beautiful Patagonian town of Esquel. In Bariloche, Argentina's famous ski resort town, we visited the nearby lakes and other outdoor attractions. From Bariloche we headed 3 hours north to visit the last town on the tour, San Martin de Los Andes. This was my participation with rotary for the month of November.

Ariel Dunster -- Brasil

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:45:00 +0000

November 10, 2009

Santos- Boqueirão, District 4420

Family:
Claudenir and Prescila Coute
Rua Tocantins 77/51Santos, SP, Brasil11055-341

I´ve done a lot in the past month. I´ve attended Rotary meetings regularly. I also have begun to hang out with students from my school. I went to a school dance. It was a lot of fun because students from five different schools went. I feel like I´m finally understanding the material in school. I no longer use my Portuguese-English dictionary on a regular basis.

Unfortunately things did not work out right with my first host family so the head of the Santos YEP asked to move me to a different family because he did not think that my host parents and I were a good match. It felt bad because they were a really nice family, but I´m also very happy and a lot more comfortable in my new family. In my new family I have a 16 year old sister and an 18 year old brother, but my brother lives in a city in the south of Brazil called Porto Alegre. He´s invited me to go visit him in January, and I am happy because it is another opportunity to travel, and I only have to pay for the plane tickets.

I´ve already done a lot with my new family. We went to Guarujá last weekend. It was a lot of fun because there are no roads that connect Guarujá to other cities in Brazil, so we had to take a boat to get there. Also, Guarujá is known as "the Atlantic Pearl" because of its nice beaches. With my new family I´ve also taken a tour of Santos, gone to the coffee museum, and gone to the aquarium.

Keegan Griffith -- Finland

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:42:00 +0000

November 12, 2009

This past month has been very exciting. It started off with a vacation to the sea where we went fishing. It was to cold so we were not able to catch any fish. It was still really beutiful. It has started to snow and all the trees are covered in a snow ice mixture that is just jaw jropping. The only down side to the Finnish winter is the lack of sun. I don't think it has come out in at least 3 weeks. So it is very dark out most of the day. This darkness is making everybody really tired and grumpy. I am sure we will all get over it. My health is in fine condition, I am a bit tired but other than that I am good. I also went moose hunting. That was lots of fun. They shot a baby moose witch I later ate part of, it was allot better that cow. I will be switching families soon so that is exciting. School is going good, I have many friends.Finland is an amazing country.

Eliza Chappell -- Spain

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:13:00 +0000

November 7, 2009

HOST FAMILY:
Simon Marcos
7-4 C/ Andalucía
28007 Madrid

HOST CLUB: RC Madrid- Serano

I attended a Rotary sponsored trip to Pico de Peñalara, a mountain in the Sierras. There were about 30 other exchange students, mostly from the Madrid area, and we hiked to the top.

I have been attending IES Isabel La Católica daily and completing all assignments.

I can now say that I feel as though I fully fit in here. Everything is going wonderfully, and I'm loving life. I can just about understand everything, though speaking correctly is still a challenge. I can't believe that it's already november 7; time is going by far too quickly now that I've got a steady routine (weekdays- school, studying, family time; weekends- out with spanish friends, relaxing, more studying, etc...). All is well here and I absolutely love Madrid.

Gil Strizich -- Argentina

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:51:00 +0000

November 4th, 2009

Family Atencio
Pasaje Fatima s/n,
Yala, Jujuy
4616
Argentina

Host Club: Rotary Club of San Salvador de Jujuy, 4800

Over the last month I have met with the Rotary club twice. The time was spent discussing and preparing for a Rotary trip to Patagonia from Novemeber 8th- 27th, We covered such topics as: how much money we would need, what to pack, how to pay, and necessary letters of permission. I have also been meeting with a local rotarian every Saturday to recieve her volunteered Spanish instruction.

I have been attending school regularly and doing the assingment asked of me. However, there have been many days off due to testing and holidays. I have continued to do Jiu-Jitsu twice a week and have been going to gym on the other days. I have also been taking Spanish classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays with all the other students here in San Salvador.

I am in fine health.

Ariel Dunster -- Brazil

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:45:00 +0000

October 14, 2009

Adolfo and Solange Perez
Avenida Pinheiro Machado 678/95
bairro Marape, Santos, São Paulo
Brazil 11075- 002

My second month here was excellent. I´m already understanding Portuguese pretty well. School is probably the most difficult part. I still am attempting all of the tests, no matter how difficult. If the teacher is giving a lecture I usually lose focus quickly, therefore I usually use that time to study Portuguese independently.

I´m excited for this upcoming weekend because it will be the first time that I will be hanging out with my school friends outside of school. Friday I´m going to a school dance, Saturday, playing American football, and Sunday I´ll go to a barbeque with them.

Oddly enough, I feel like I have been welcomed in by a few families here, not only my host family. I have a friend living in the same apartment building as me and sometimes I go to his apartment and just spend some time with his family watching a movie or eating dinner. It´s also very nice because he has 3 other siblings close to my age so there´s always a lot of conversation.

Also, one of my good friends here is another exchange student from Arizona. Last weekend was a holiday weekend (children´s day) so I went with his family to a town nearby to do volunteer work. It was a lot of fun. We made candy bags as well as cake and gave them to more than 200 poor children. I also enjoyed this trip because we stayed at a camp on a farm. It was amazing there. We ended up getting stuck there for an extra day because the traffic was backed up for 8 hours.

I´ve been growing closer with my family as well. I have found some things that my family and I have in common. Both my host mom and I enjoy cooking, so I usually like to sit in the kitchen and help her cook dinner. With my father, we both enjoy soccer, and he´s actually taken me to a couple of soccer games, which is really nice. We also went to São Paulo for dinner one evening which was nice.

Other than this, mostly everything has been going well. I attend Rotary meetings every week. They´re a lot of fun and I´m beginning to understand some of the things that they are saying.

Gil Strizich -- Argentina

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:29:00 +0000

October 11, 2009

Family Atencio
Pasaje Fatima s/n,
Yala, Jujuy
4616
Argentina

Host Club: Rotary Club of San Salvador de Jujuy, 4800

Over the last month I have attended one Rotary meeting. I also had the oppurtunity to meet all the Rotary exchange students in Northwest Argentina, when they traveled here for the festival of the students . We had two exchange students, one from Belgium and another from Seattle, stay in my house for three days. In addition to that, this past Thursday there was a meeting of Rotary members and exchange students to discuss a possible Rotary trip to Patagonia in November.

I have continued to do Jui-Jitsu two times a week, and go to the gym three times a week. In addition to that I take Spanish classes on Wednesday and Thursday nights, with all the other Rotary exchange students here in San Salvador. I have also started school back up again after the week long break for the festival of the students.

I am in good health.

Eliza Chappell -- Spain

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:24:00 +0000

October 8, 2009

HOST FAMILY:
Simon Marcos7-4 C/ Andalucía28007 Madrid

HOST CLUB: RC Madrid- Serano

PARTICIPATION IN ROTARY FUNCTIONS: I attended a Rotary meeting/meal with the other exchange students and met my counselor. I also attended the Rotary Exchange Orientation weekend with the other exchange students.

PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL ACTIVITIES: I have been attending IES Isabel La Católica daily and completing all assignments.

My first month in Spain has been wonderful. My host family is perfect and they are trying to make me feel as at home as possible. School is nice, although it is still difficult to understand everyone. I'm beginning to get into a routine here and have friends, and it's starting to feel like my home. My spanish is coming along little by little, and I'm trying hard to reach fluency as quickly as possible. I honestly am not feeling homesick for the most part, although I'm a little bit sad to miss the Upstate New York fall colors. I'm not sure what else to say, but I assure all is well with me.

Gilbert Thomas Strizich -- Argentina

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:06:00 +0000

September 15, 2009

District 4800
Club of San Savador de Jujuy, Argentina

Home address:
Familia Atencio
Pasaje Fatima S/N
Yala, ep 4616
Provincia deJujuy
Argentina

During the last month I have attended two Rotary meetings. At the first meeting, all of the exchange students were introduced to the members of the Club. We then discussed possible community service opportunities that we could participate in. During the second meeting, the majority of the meeting was spent discussing whether or not the Exchange students should take language classes at the local University.

I have been attending school regularly. However, because it is the 'National Festival of the Students' in September, all of the local schools have been working on their parade floats, so most of my time in school has been spent making paper flowers. Once the festival is over at the end of September, normal classes will start up again. I have also been attending a local gymnasium to work out, and in addition to that have been taking Jui-Jitsu classes at another local gym.

I am in good health. I had a minor cold early on, but that has since gone away.

Ariel Dunster -- Brazil

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:54:00 +0000

September 14, 2009

NAME/ADDRESS OF HOST FAMILY:
Adolfo and Solange Perez
Avenida Pinheiro Machado 678/95
bairro Marape, Santos, São Paulo
Brazil 11075- 002 .
.

WHAT WAS YOUR PARTICIPATION IN ROTARY FUNCTIONS DURING THE PAST MONTH? .
*Attended 3 meetings
*District orientation meeting for all exchange students in district 4420 (Santos, ABCD, São Paulo)

WHAT WAS YOUR PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL/EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES DURING THE MONTH?
*Attended class regularly; completed work and tests in several subjects; stayed after school to complete labs
*Attended a PE class afterschool once a week
*I play soccer with classmates afterschool on Fridays .

WHAT IS THE STATE OF YOUR HEALTH? .
*Good; taking extra precautions because 5 students in my school were diagnosed with Swine Flu

I gained 3 pounds in my first month, but I just joined a gym 2 weeks ago that I go to 4 times a week. I have made several friends, and they are all very nice, patient, and accepting of me. I am learning new sports, such as handball and surfing. I´m enjoying trying new foods, and I´ve begun a Brazilian recipe book.

Keegan Griffith -- Finland

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:37:00 +0000

September 9, 2009

Host Club: Akaa, 9883, Finland District 1390

Pyhtilä
Rauhantie 8
Vesilahti, 37470
Finland

Participation in Rotary: Attended 2 meetings and a fundraiser.
Participation in School: Went every day.

Everything is going well here. I am slowly learning the language. I have made many friends who are eager to speak English. The weather is starting to get colder but that was expected. The school is very nice the lunches are free and very good. My host family is wonderful, I have a host brother who I hang out with all the time.

Keegan Griffith
Finland

Maddie Lang -- Norway

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:40:00 +0000

April 24, 2009

April in Norway has been constantly switching between winter and spring. For the first half of the month, there was still snow on the ground, which was discouraging as I expect spring to begin in April. For the second half of the month, the weather has been switching every few days between warmth and sunlight, rain, and snow. We had a week long Easter vacation, which I spent in the county of Bø in a small fishing village, home to only 18 permanent residents, right on the ocean. The nature was beautiful, and I went ice fishing in a lake and fishing in the ocean. We are now back to school, where I can converse fairly comfortably in Norwegian and I understand almost everything that the teachers say. I go to school every day and spend my afternoons at the gym or hanging out with friends. I live in a very small town and can walk everywhere I want to go. I am starting to get excited about coming home again and seeing my family and friends again. However, I have made great friends and it will be sad to say goodbye to them in just two months.This has been a great year so far, and I am sad to see it nearing its end!

Brittany Cruise -- France

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:03:00 +0000

March 04, 2009

This month went by even quicker then the rest. I met the local Roteracts here and went snowshoeing with the other students. It was a beautiful weekend with plenty of snow and sunshine. I also spent three days in Paris, and met my next and final family. I still haven't been to the new house, as we've been at their chalet in the mountains just north of our town for the past two weeks. I've been outside cross country skiing or snowboard almost everyday. Sad as I am that vacation is almost over, I'm excited to see all my friends as school again. This past month was a blast and I can't wait for the months to come, they should prove to be especially busy. There's also a huge conference in Toulousse, France with ALL the inbounds this year. I'm looking forward to it with impatients because it means I get to see all the friends I made the first day of this trip who're scattered throughout the country, and the people from my region who I've become close with. Less then 90days to go at this point.

Cathryn Salamone -- Japan

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:57:00 +0000

March 2, 2009

On the weekend of February 7th, I boarded the train for Okayama Prefecture, which is on the island Honshu, north of my island. That weekend was the 3-District Rotary Orientation for the outbound Japanese students going to either America, Canada or Australia. I was so excited to meet other exchange students, something I haven't done since the Rotary trip to Okinawa in October. As you can imagine, I was pumped to share my stories (and speak in English, for that matter) with other exchangers in Japan. I am the only exchange student in my entire prefecture, or state, along with three other exchange students on my entire island, so I haven't had much opportunity to meet with other exchangers. I met the two Australian exchange students who just came to Japan in January - they are the other two girls on my island, the fourth being a boy from Detroit. It was wonderful to talk with them, and I loved answering their questions when they had them. It gave me a really amazing feeling when I was answering questions, because it somehow gave me a senior kind of feeling -- like I was now a pro at this or something because I've been here for six months. They asked the same questions that I did when I came. It's hard to explain, but it gave me a wonderful feeling. I had an amazing weekend eating wonderful food, sharing hilarious stories, and just hanging out with other students from around the world during that weekend.

I've been wanting to mix my extra curricular activities up a little bit. In Japan, students usually only do one club or sport, which was hard for me to understand, since in high school I did many clubs and activities. Each club meets every single day, and the sports meet on Sundays for full-day practices. It's still amazing to me all of the time that these students put into their clubs. During the winter, I too followed this hefty practicing schedule with koto club, and thus I think I've become pretty good at it. However, it's become tiresome, and I wanted to try something new. I joined the school's choir, because there is nothing here that brings me more pleasure than singing. Occasionally my host family or friends and I go to kareoke, which is incredibly fun, but I also find myself singing or humming constantly when doing work or by myself...songs from America, Japanese songs (which I sometimes make up the words to...), songs from my childhood...anything. I also can read music (I actually have my clarinet here with me, and tried to join the school brass band, but the militaristic practice schedule of 3:30-7:00 everyday was way too much...) I went to my first meeting last week and had a wonderful time, and it brought me so much joy. I am finishing my time with the koto club after the last concert, in April, and then I am going to fully persue chorus and the school's swim team. I love being busy! =)

In the blink of an eye, it has become March already. I have a feeling it's going to be this way until the end. Valentine's Day was, as you know, the 14th, and in Japan it's actually widely celebrated - although a little different. On Valentine's Day, the women are supposed to buy chocolates or bake sweet treats for the men in their life, not just their spouses or boyfriends. Women buy chocolate for their family, co-workers, friends, aquaintances, even people they don't really like. In this case, it is called "obligation chocolate", where the chocolate is given to a boss or higher individual on the business ladder out of a feeling of necesity, not out of love. On White Day, which is March 14th (a Japanese invention), the men reciporcate the chocolate to the women, usually with white chocolate. My school is an all-girl's school, so friends gave friends chocolate. I tried my hand at origami hearts and was pretty successful...I then attached a candy to the backs with a small sheet of stickers. I was given a LOT of treats and candy, as did my host family, and I think we've all gained a kilo or two. I've only gained one, which is great :) It's funny how it seems like Japan practices the western holidays, but they really are very different. I was excited to see Christmas lights and Christmas trees go up all around the city I'm in...I was half expecting and lementing a year without Christmas. Working all the way up to Christmas Eve, the tradition in Japan is to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken and eat Christmas Cake, which is any sort of cake with a Santa figure on top and Merry X-mas written somewhere on it. On Christmas Day, everyone has work/school. It's really interesting to compare the holidays. Japan has it's own unique holidays which I enjoy very much, including festivals held at the start of each new season...and having a national holiday on the Emperor's Birthday. =)

Anyway, what else is new? Not much else happened in February. Feb. 23rd marked my official six months in Japan, which I thought was an incredible date. I'm already past my half-way point, which was somewhere in mid-January, since I am leaving the first week in July, but six months just seems like an incredible achievement. I always remember my little month anniversaries, but this one struck me as huge - I now have more months here behind me than before me. Six whole months in Japan? SIX? I was flipping through my journal and passed November 23rd, with "Today is my three month anniversary! I can't believe I've been here for three whole months! It's crazy!" I laughed for a long time at that. Yes, now I can sit back and say, "Wow...three whole months. Yeah, compare that to my big six." And then it will be seven and eight and nine, and I'm going to continue to marvel at the amount of time I've been here. I remember my trip to Europe two years ago for four weeks. Four weeks is nothing now! A smigent of time against this year long journey. I've gone nowhere and done nothing in comparison to this year. I've got four more months here and I'm going to make them count even more than the last six.

Cathryn Salamone -- Japan

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:33:00 +0000

February 9, 2009

On the 18th, the Kochi Rotex organization had a half-year party for me, which was very special for me because it made it clear to me that I really was half way through. On the 19th, my host father took me to the Kochi North Rotary anniversary party, where I met my third host family, the Masaki's, whose home I would be moving in to at the end of that week.

I still go to Koto club as usual. I'm doing very well and am now playing with the middle school 2nd and 3rd years now, not only with the middle school 1st years. I'm very proud of myself, haha! In January, we had a recital for Traditional Japanese Dance, where me and the girl who is going to America next year on exchange danced to the traditional song of "Sakura, Sakura." It was a great experience, and I wore an elaborate kimono. It was great!

I feel like I'm repeating myself when I write this, but January also felt like it went by quickly. Usually January is a slow month for some, being after the holidays and slowly getting used to the day-to-day again, but somehow I was equally, if not more busy in January than I was in December. I moved to my third host family on the 25th of January, which was a nice and refreshing change to my days. In Japan I will have had four host families by the time I leave, changing after about three months. I think this is the perfect number. Of course there has been a host family that I really did not want to leave, and the three months felt like three days, but there also was a host family where I was excited for the change. It is the perfect amount of time, because I get to experience four different families and ways of living. Any more families and it would be overwhelming to have to move so often, and any fewer and I might not experience any other lifestyles of the Japanese.

School is moving along, but it seems to have lost its charm that it had when I first started. Still not understanding anything is getting old; both because all of my teachers speak in the regional dialect spoken here, in Kochi, that is difficult to pick up on (imagine someone doing an exchange in Texas or somewhere with a heavy accent and completely different words used after studying standard English), but also because I am studying a language with three alphabets and 2,000+ characters. I sit down to memorize more characters and sometimes I feel a heavy sense of futility. I think, "What is the point of memorizing these characters when there are so many, and an individual character has so many meanings and pronounciations?" Three times a week, teachers tutor me in Japanese, but I get the feeling they don't really know how to teacher their language. I don't blame them, I don't know how I would go about teaching English, but a lot of my studies is self-motivated, and being the only exchange student in my entire prefecture (state), some days it's hard to give myself the kick in the pants that I need.

My diet is wonderful - I am so delighted that Japanese cooking is so healthy AND delicious! There was a part of me before this exchange that didn't think that was possible. I'm learning Japanese cooking from my host mother and I love it. This, along with several other aspects of Japanese culture, I will take home with me to America.

Whitney McGinn -- Czech Republic

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:29:00 +0000

February 13, 2009

The month of January was really crazy for me. In the begining of the month I switched families for the first time. I was really nervous but it turned out to be really easy and I love my new family. Also this month with the help of my family I have been making big improvements in my Czech language. It still needs alot of work but it is deffinatly getting better. I have been spending all my free time with my family and friends and recently joined a girls indoor soccer team. I've realized here that its important to keep busy so that Is what I have been trying to do! So far the new year has been really great for me.

Daniel Gally -- Brazil

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:28:00 +0000

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Hope all is well. This is my monthly update.

Everything is fine with me here. I did a trip to Rio de Janeiro and I recieved three months worth of allowance from rotary before I left. Everything is working out well, I started school this week and I am ok.

Brittany Cruise -- France

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:25:00 +0000

Saturday, January 31, 2009

I must apologize yet again for my lack of updates.

December;
The month started off with a new host family. I moved from a little village just outside of Besançon to practically right in the center. My new family is extremely nice, but we don't do a lot of things together. Not like my last family anyhow. The parents work a lot and come home late during the week, so most of the time it's my younger host sister and I. We get along fairly well, so it's been nice. School is going great, with the language barrier having been down for a few months December was easier and easier. Christmas time wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I spent Christmas eve with my host family now, and spent my Christmas morning and the rest of my vacation with my first host family. I was extremly happy about that, because my first host family and I really got along. They really welcomed me as a part of the family and even brought me snowboarding with them.

January;
This past month went by very very fast. There were two other exchange students in my class and throughout my whole exchange and theirs we've been very good friends, they left this month to return home. That was a little saddening for me, but we had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories together. Other then that, this month I recieved news from home about my college acceptance and I've been accepted to the university of my choice. Other then that it's been very cold, with no snow. Mostly sunny, but very cold.

Zachary Smith -- Brasil

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:21:00 +0000

Monday, February 02, 2009

Hi, I don´t remember if I sent a report for January or not but I know I have sent one for every month before that. Any way, I am doing terrific! I unfortunatly had to start classes again today after a much enjoyed second summer break in 7 months. I am learning how to make different brasilian sweats like Brigadeiro ( if you have never tried it,,,,,, well,,, it´s really good!). The other day I made typical American Bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches for my family for breakfast which was a big hit. So it sum everything up, I am doing excellent, love my family, have tons of friends, and thank you again for all your help in getting me here. I have scheduled my return for Sunday June 21st. It was the last day that was good for my host family and was available.

Hope you're well.

Chelsea Choppy -- Venezuela

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:17:00 +0000

Friday, January 30, 2009

Everything is still going great with me. I just got back from a trip to Margarita Island with the Rotary Club here and it was beautiful. I went to beautiful beaches, ate local seafood and even swam with dolphins. Tomorrow morning I am going to Caracas to see Raffaele who was in New York last year. I´m really happy that I get to see him again and meet his family. I am doing really well in school here and just changed to my second family a few weeks ago and that is going very well so far. I don´t really have too much else to say right now other than that everyhting is going great. Take care....

Danielle Willsey -- Italy

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:48:00 +0000

Friday, January 30, 2009

I would like to start off by saying that I am sorry for not sending my monthly letter, as i have no good excuse why I haven't. Its hard to say now everything that I have been doing, but I am alive and am constantly being stuffed with pasta from my host mother. I am having a great time although everything is very different than what I am used to, and am fairly accustomed to everything now. Italian was a struggle for me in the beginning but now I feel fairly comfortable, and I am able to make friends a lot easier. I am also very fortunate to have such a wonderful host family as they are always making sure that I am comfortable and am having a good time, and love to bring me to all of the churches built in Italy. So far they have taken me to Rome, Milan, Venice, along with other major cities in Italy, and we will be going to Florence in the Spring.

School was very hard for me in the beginning but now it isn't as bad and i get along well with the kids in my class. School is only until 12 or 1 in the afternoon so i get to go home for lunch, but we have to get up on Saturdays to go to school as well. It is also different because the teachers move around from class to class instead of the students, and each class is an hour long. Sometimes its a bit hard to stay awake, but so far I have been alright.

I know that this is a very vague outline about what has been happening but I also think I have hit all the main points anyway, and wish for more information I will send it...

Cathryn Salamone -- Japan

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:42:00 +0000

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Around the beginning of December, my host family and I participated in a Rotaract event held at a local nursing home. We did the mochi tsuki, which is the process of making mochi, or japanese rice cakes, during the New Year period from December until the beginning of January. It is done by taking rice and mashing it with a wooden hammer in a stone hearth until the rice molds together and becomes one large rice ball. We made individual rice cakes with anko, or sweet bean paste, inside them. It was a great event and it felt great to help out during the holidays. We gave the rice cakes to the nursing home residents, and I think they greatly enjoyed our prescence there.

On the 10th I went to a Christmas party hosted by the English night class that I help out with on Mondays. We had traditional japanese food and it was a lot of fun. To spread the cheer, I sang a few Christmas songs, and finished with everyone singing "Jingle Bells". It was a great night. On the 19th was the Nishi (West) Rotary Club Christmas party, which was very big and included all of the Rotary members and their families. Also with Rotaract, myself and the past exchange students who went to America last year from Japan made my Grandma's chocolate chip cookies (she gave me the recipie and I converted it to metric units...I was so glad when they tasted great because I wasn't sure if I did my math right...) We wrapped the cookies in nice wrapping and sold them to raise money for the children in Cambodia. On Christmas Eve I attended the Higashi (East) Rotary Club's Christmas party, which, although this was my third Christmas party, it was the most meaningful to me, because it was on Christmas Eve and this was by far my favorite Rotary Club in Kochi City. I had a great time again, and as always, great food!

I continue to go to Koto club, and even went a couple days during Winter Break to keep myself occupied. And I continue to have Japanese Dancing on Thursdays as well.

I had another fever for a weekend but I was better by the following Monday and didn't need to miss any school. Despite the cold weather, I haven't been sick since.

I have to apologize for being so late with this report...to be honest I just completely forgot about it! December, like November, went by incredibly fast. It proceeded to get colder as the month went on, and I kept adding layers underneath my uniform because neither the house, nor the school has heating. I can say that I'm pretty well adjusted now to living without heat...I know to layer up and wear socks and a sweatshirt to bed. Christmas was difficult to get through, because although the commercial aspects of Christmas were blatantly present here in Japan; the TV commercial Christmas Jingles, the santa hats, the Christmas lights in the park, when Christmas Day arrived it was like Christmas never happened. On Christmas Day, my host parents went to work, some kids went to school (I had koto practice scheduled for that day), and by no means was it a holiday. It was weird to ride my bike to the corner store and see the roads filled with cars and people on bicycle going to work or school or wherever they had to be, just like on any normal day. But it passed thankfully, and the New Year's was a much bigger deal, thank goodness. But I will explain more about that in my January post (which will be sent soon as January is about to end...again my apologies for this being late!)

All in all though, December is really sort of a blur to me. I established a routine of going to school, going to koto practice for three hours and riding my bike home, eating dinner, studying, and then going to bed. It is said that December and January are the hardest months, and I'm very happy that I made it through them and that I'm passed the big hill of my exchange year. I'm making deeper relationships with my friends because I'm learning more and more of the language each day. There are days that I feel like I'm completely fluent and that I've known Japanese for more than only a year and a half, and then there are days where I feel like I've made absolutely no progress at all since my arrival here, that I've "plateau-ed" in my language learning. But I take each day by the day, and I learn something new about myself and about life with each passing month.

Dan Gally -- Brazil

noreply@blogger.com (David Walsh) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:37:00 +0000

January 20, 2009

Hello everyone. First of all please excuse the length of time it has taken me to write to you, I know I should have written sooner. Things are going great here in Brazil. I really love it here and my family is very good to me. They all know about what happened in Spain and there are no problems. I just got back from travelling with my family for a few weeks. We went to the beach near Curitiba and Rio Grande do Sul. I recall from a story in the May orientation that Mr. Dwyer has visited Brazil, and may be familiar with these places. Portuguese has been very easy to learn due to my Spanish and at this time I can converse pretty easily with everyone.

I think this year will be really great, and once again I would like to thank you all for helping me participate in this program and for going out of your way to help me get a second chance.

Thanks again -- Dan Gally