Day 9, host family #2 in Yokohama

From Serena:

We did a lot! We went to a black sand beach and the water was warm! Then we went to a strip mall and I got a couple of cute trinkets. After that we went to a shrine and saw a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony and it was beautiful. After that we went and had lunch at the mall and I bought some toys. Then we went to the cup noodle museum and made my own cup noodle. Then we went to the brick warehouse district and I got some more souvenirs and some ice cream. Then we took the sea bass, a small boat to Yokohama park. There was a lot of flowers and it was awesome. After that we told the red shoe bus to the landmark tower and I bought pants cause I was cold. Then we went to china town and bought a cute little purse cause mine kinda sucks. Then we had supper and I tried jellyfish. It was weird. Then we left and went to see the night time view. It was gorgeous. :)



From Ashley:

We went to a couple shrines and then went to a high school with our host families. I really enjoyed our free time together. We went to a yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant and it was all you could eat meat for 80 minutes. We also rode a huge ferris wheel and there was a great view. The picture of roller coasters is the view from the top. We did some Japanese fireworks in the back yard and had fun trying to make sure the flame didn't run out because it only came with one candle. 

From Hope:

I finally got to meet my penpal from Japanese class, Yuki! It was amazing! We went to the Pokemon center, a Ghibli Studio store, China town, and the Cup Noodle museum together!

Together her family and I went to a yakiniku restaurant and watched Doremon together. It was a lot of fun.

From Chai:

Had tempura donburi and shirasu for my lunch at Enoshima. It was delicious, it was hot walking up the stairs on the island but by the time lunch came around it became cooler. 2nd photo is dinner at the outlet mall that is close to the Pokemon center. Hamburger steak, egg gratin topped with cheese and a side if rice. The egg gratin was kind of not good, but everything else was delicious!

From Cheng:

I really liked the homestay with the Kobayashi family. On the first night I had kara-age (fried chicken). On Friday night, the family wanted to know what my schedule consisted of and I told them school, and then work and they were really surprised at how well I was managing myself. The Kobayashi family was really amazed at how good I was at piano and was more amazed that I could sing in a deep voice. The family and I really had a fun time in the morning watching Gintama.

From Elise:

This weekend I explored Yokohama with my pen pal and her family. We went to the landmark tower for a great view of Yokohama, went to china town and ate dumplings, went to the beautiful Yamashita park by the ocean, the cup noodle museum, the beach, shopping in Kamakura, etc! We made tako-yaki at home which is grilled balls with octopus! I also ate Japanese curry, nigujyaka soup, raw tuna and rice, Japanese cherries, raw eggs with rice and soy sauce, and many Japanese candies and snacks! My host family was super nice and taught me a lot! I am very sad to leave them.

From Savannah:

Host family #2
We first went to Enoshima which was beautiful. It has a lovely shrine and a beautiful view.

Next we went to the Cup Noodle Museum where we got to draw on our cups and then actually got the noodles in our cups, upside down. It was really fun because it was customized with the flavorings we wanted, and personalized.

Next we walked to the Pokemon center which was really fun but super crowded. 

Finally we went to eat at a Chinese restaurant as a way to celebrate my stay with them. It was really fun.

From James:

On Saturday, my host family took me to Yokohama to go to the Cup Noodle museum. 

After coloring and making our own cup noodles, we went to the Pokémon center. After we bought our things from the Pokémon center, we went to the Shonen Jump store, but we didn't see anything we liked.

We then went to an Animate store in Yokohama, and then went back to our house. After playing games together on the Wii-U, and also some variations on Rock Paper Scissors, we went to bed. 

On Sunday morning, we went to the Odawara castle, where they let us try on some different costumes for a while. We all tried on the Samurai costume. After taking off the costumes, we went inside and looked at the history of the castle and it's owners, but unfortunately they didn't allow photographs inside. 

Once we got to the top, they had an area to see everywhere around the castle. We could even see the host families house.