Akemi Saito

2006-07 Inbound from Japan

Hometown: Saitama, Japan

Sponsor: Urawahigashi Rotary Club, District 2770, Japan

Host: Bartram Trail Rotary Club, District 6970, USA

School: Bartram Trail High School

Bio

Akemi's Bio

In July, 2005, I suddenly decided to study abroad for a year. I liked my high school very much, but the poster of Rotary Youth Exchange program put in my classroom caught my eyes. I like thinking about the world such as cultures, foods, nature, geographies, languages and sports…. Seeing a world map makes me feel traveling there. I don’t know how do I explain it, but anyway I love to know other countries. So I desire to be a Rotary exchange student at once though I’m a little sad I can’t see my family and friends for a year. It is in January I decided the country, USA, which I would go to. I am very happy to go to Florida. Everyone -- my parents, teachers, and friends told me it is a very good place.

I am so excited. I want to know a lot of different cultures and enjoy in Florida for a year!!!

August 15 Journal

8/11-13 ... I had an Inbound Orientation Weekend those days. I didn’t know how long did it take to Montgomery Presbyterian Conference Center because I slept in the car, but I was very excited to meet the inbound students.

There are 28 students who got together there and they all looked very nice. First of all, I was surprised at many inbound students spoke English fluently. I can’t speak English well though I have studied for 7 years. So it was a little hard for me to talk to them, but I felt I am able to improve speaking English. The first night of this program, I talked to many friends until 1:30 am. I go to bed early every night, but I forgot sleepiness that day.

On the 2nd day, we had important meetings that morning. We talked about how to be a successful exchange student. In the afternoon, we played with friends in the woods. We thought how we solve the given problem. It was a lot of fun. After, we swam in the lake. I also took out a boat with my friend, Cee, and we enjoyed the big nature of Florida.

On the 3rd day, I did the high ropes course. I have a fear of height, so it is very hard for me to carry it out. I almost started crying, but I had to go forward. It took pretty long time but I felt pleasure after the high ropes. Mr. Al Kalter — my host father — told me that I got over my difficulty, so I should be proud of myself. Yes, it was very scary but I did it!! I will never forget this memory.

August 30 Journal & Pictures

Hi, everyone, how are you? Me? I’m very fine!! It has already passed one month since I came to Florida. I have been having a very exciting life. Today I’ll write about this month.

It is very hot in Florida. The temperature is around 91-94F here. It is about 33-34C. It might be almost same temperature as Tokyo, which is a big city I can go within 15 minute by train. (Because Tokyo is getting many buildings and people. That’s serious problem.) But I feel like about 40C here. Soooo hot!! The sun is very bright and turned my skin brown. I always used sunscreen in Japan, but now, I don’t care. I like Florida’s sun!! There are no mountains but also many tall trees here. I sometimes see wild animals such as squirrels, ducks, cranes, armadillos, sea gulls, pelicans, lizards, and many bugs…. They are rare animals for me though not for local people. Also, in the evening, I can see many stars. Those are huge differences to compare to my home town. I like Florida’s nature!!

Now, I live in Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville is located north east of Florida. It is a pretty big city. I was very nervous when I was in airplane. It was so unbelievable event for me. I boarded the plane, changed planes ALONE! I always depend on my parents or other people, so it was my progress. I will live away from my parents and live in Florida for a year. How I will be depends on me. I want to get over my future difficulties and be a great person a year later.

My host family are host father, host mother, host sister (2 years older than me) and three cats. We play games named "Rummikub" while having a dinner. It’s a little difficult game but very fun. After dinner, we often go cycling or walking. They are good exercise and I love them! Now, Paola, an Ecuadorian girl, stays with us. She was an exchange student 7 years ago, and came to visit our host family. We talked about many things.

I went to many places these 4 weeks. I went to friend’s house, huge shopping mall, local library, beach, sports gym, St. Augustine, movie theater, birthday party, Inbound Orientation, bowling, football game, Tallahassee, cave, downtown… every day is very exciting. I have been to local beach three times. The sky was so clear and sun was bright. I like sounds and smells of waves. I swam in the sea. I thought I wonder what there is at end of this sea.

I went to St. Augustine on August 6. I heard it is oldest city in the USA. There were many B&B inns. In other words, many tourists visit St. Augustine. We went in Alligator Farm there. It has a lot of alligators and crocodiles from all over the world. We saw various alligators such as white ones, sharp chin ones, huge ones… I just ate alligator meat the day before (and shark the 2 days ago!), and it was very tasty, so I wondered those are also delicious.(#^ _ ^#) There were southern birds and turtles, too. We enjoyed the Alligator Farm a lot!! I want to go there again.

What’s more, I went to Kennedy Space Center last weekend with Nathalia and the Klein family. I wanted to go during my stay in Florida. I took busses and saw buildings which launch a rocket and real rockets! It was very big. I also saw rooms inside the rocket. They were pretty small and I thought it would be boring for me stay there for a couple of weeks. After the tour, I saw the 3-D movie of space. It was wonderful and I felt like I went to the moon. That day, I had a very wonderful time, and also could know how difficult to go to cosmic space. Thanks to many people who dreamed to go to space and researched a lot, we have the technique of space now. It might be soon to come the day that even normal people can travel to the moon.

I go to Bartram Trail High School. I take school bus every day, and it takes about 40 minutes. Most of senior students (12th grade-about 18 years) go to school by own car, because people can get driver license from 16 years old in America. I went to my Japanese school by bicycle, so they’re different for me. I am a junior (11th grade) student. It means almost 2nd grade in Japanese high school. My school started from August 4th. I remember I was very nervous that day. The school was very big and full of many students (It has about 3000 students!). American students don’t have school uniforms. So they wore clothes which they like. I have 5 classes every day: English 3, American Sign Language, Algebra 2 (math), 3D art, and USA history. They are hard because I can’t understand what the teachers say. Students often ask or state their opinion. It’s different from Japan. I always listened to teachers, copied the board, and took tests in Japan. So I think discussion-classes are good. I’ll study English harder and I want to participate in the discussion soon. I move between classes within 7 minutes. I had class room and each subject teacher came and taught us in Japanese school, so it is a different!! Each student has own subjects, so we don’t stay with same friends all day. And we don’t have school festivals (in my Japanese high school, we have some festivals and events and they are so exciting). But I made friends gradually. I’m happy to have kind friends.

Oops! I wrote a lot this journal. I want to write more because I found many things every day. Bye!! Happy Rotary!

At Mickler Beach	View of the ocean	Boarding the school bus	Inbound orientation
With Paola at the Alligator Farm	White (albino) alligator	Small gators, but many	At Florida Caverns State Park
First American burger!	Kennedy Space Center	Astronaut suit	Rocket ship

October 8 Journal & Pictures

Hello, there! I can’t believe it - already two months have passed since I came here. It’s so early!!

On September 1st, it was the day before Paola who is from Ecuador and stayed with us for a month left Florida. We went to downtown to see outdoor concert on that day. A lot of people got together near the blue bridge (and Paola loves this bridge), it seemed like a festival. We saw a hamburger fast-eating concert. The fastest man ate 9 hamburgers in 2 minutes. It was awesome!! After, one band played their country music, and many people danced. It was a fun time.

On September 4th, we went to museum in downtown. We saw many reptiles. And there was Florida History Exhibit. I couldn’t read English so much, but I could learn the history from the New Continent to today a little. I get interested in the history. So I want to go there again when my English is improved. In the afternoon, we went to Believe or Not! Museum. It is one of my favorite TV programs. There were many exhibits from all over the world such as clothes made of human hair, rice written small letters and pictures of a man lying on the nail bed. It was like Guinness Book of World Records. I saw many strange things.

At the end of September, I stayed at Nathalia’s house. On Sunday, we went to the college and saw a football game. It was Gators vs. some team. It was awesome!! There were about 80,000 people wearing blue or orange shirts in the college stadium. I also saw bands and cheerleading. I couldn’t believe the game was just a college game. Many football game players ran, tackled, and scrambled for the ball. When the Gators got points, the supporters were very excited. It was a wonderful time.

These days, I feel I am changed a little. At first time, I couldn’t understand what Americans say because it was too fast for me. And I couldn’t speak English very well. So I was a little nervous. But I tried to tall to anyone even if my English is broken. Then, I made more more friends. Many American people are kind and friendly. And I feel my English ability is improving. Now I’m so excited to meet and talk to my friends at school every day.			Burger eating contest
Country music concert	Downtown Jacksonville	It's a happy day	One kind of gator
At the Museum of Science and History	Downtown Jax from across the river	At Ripley's Museum, with a tall guy	Taking a cooking class with my host mom
Saturday night at "The Swamp"	Is Akemi becoming a football fan?	Another kind of Gator - or 11 of them!	Japanese art exhibit at the Cummer Museum

November 18 Journal & Pictures

Hey guys! How are you doing?

These days, I feel cold every morning and night. I can’t spend the time without a thick jacket. But in the day time, sun is always bright and it is hot. Sometimes I take off my jacket. Oh, I see, this is fall in Florida!

Recently, I have spent very busy and fun times. Last month, one day in October, I went school as usual. And I noticed most of students wore casual T shirts and colorful pants such as Sponge Bob, Spiderman, or cute characters. I thought “What!!?? Why everybody wore pajamas!?!?!? ” Yes, they wore pajamas in school. Some of the students wore bathrobes, big slippers and hair curlers on their head, or held teddy bears. At first I was so surprised and I had no idea why they dressed up. After, my friends told me the week was a homecoming week, so students were excused to strange wear. So, the day was “Pajama Day “, so that’s why many students wore pajamas. It was on Monday, and Tuesday was “Decade Day” which means students wear old fashions. I wanted to join in the strange wearing week, so I wore Japanese traditional cloth, yukata, on that day. Other funny costumes were: old rock style with crazy hair, disco style with shining suit and sun glasses, old cute style with vivid colorful shoes and accessory, or earnest style with Y shirt (all buttons are closed), tight half pants and old–fashioned glasses… They looked so funny! Then Wednesday was “Nerd Day” and students wore a little stupid fashion. For example, a person wore a high heel shoe on the one leg, and the other side she wore a sneaker, or other people wore colorful briefs over the jeans. The week was soooo funny .. My Japanese school never has such a week, so I enjoyed it very much.

After the week, we had Rotary Inbound Weekend, and we met again in Daytona. On Friday, I stayed with another family and Ida. There were nice host parents and three pretty host sisters. That night, one of the sisters had her homecoming festival, so we also went with her! Actually my school’s homecoming dance party was on the same day of the inbound weekend, so I was a little disappointed that I would not go. So I was very happy. I put on a white dress and high heel shoes. I felt like Cinderella at that time. The dance party hall was filled of many students wearing beautiful dresses or cool suits. They danced danced and danced, and we danced with many kinds of music. It was a wonderful time. We left there at 11 pm but the party lasted until 1am. Thank you very much McGrane family!!! Of course, I liked the time with exchange students. I had been to Kennedy Space Center in August but I was happy to go there again. But I thought all students enjoyed more talking with other students, taking pictures and buying souvenirs than seeing the place. Haha, it was good memory, wasn’t it? I also liked to see many motor bikes and sports cars. It was amazing. It was a very great time.

Oh yes, last month, we had Halloween. On October 31st, there are many funny dressed people again. After school I went to my friend’s house and dressed up. I had no idea what to dress as, and finally I decided to be an old lady. I wore old dress, put white powder on my hair, and drew wrinkles and spots on my face. I walked like old people. I and my friends hanged out Natalia’s neighborhood and we did trick or treating. Many houses decorated their house very nice, and some of them surprised us because when we opened the door, a skeleton was standing up!! After the trick or treating, we got a lot of candies. My host mother was surprised to see them. I ate too many candies and now I don’t want candies any more… but I love ice creams!!! haha

Then, see you later!! Hannah and Evan, please enjoy Japanese life! Everybody, enjoy our wonderful life!!! I love America! I love Rotary!! Ai wo komete, Akemi Saito			Halloween stuff for sale
I decorated my host family's front windows!	The other window's Halloween decorations	My good friend Dominique wearing a gorgeous dress	Bonfire at my school's Homecoming festival
Ready for Homecoming (in a borrowed dress!)	On the dance floor at Mainland's Homecoming	Music and lights at the Homecoming dance	Inbounds together at Kennedy Space Center
Lunch at the Space Center - Moon Soup!	Emma and me in our Iron Horse Saloon shirts	Motorcycle drivers in the Wall of Death	Daytona weekend host family (thanks!)
Blue Angel plane at the Jacksonville Air Show	Another plane in the air show	Blue Angels in flight - very amazing!	All dressed up for Halloween

January 17 Journal

Hi there, how have you been? Now it is 2007.... the new year has already started...I can't believe it!! I have been staying in America for 5 months, but I feel very very quickly for me!!!!

In November, it was very cold. I don't like cold and I don't have enough to be warm clothes, so I was shocked that there is a winter in Florida!!

But between the Rotary Disney Trip, it was an amazing memory for me. And the 4 days, it was very warm (hot) and we could hang out wearing summer clothes. On the first day, in MGM, there were not so many people there, so we could ride the Rock'n'roll coaster without long waiting. And the car stunt show was also exciting. If the stuntmen in their cars make a mistake, they might be a big accident...it really made me enjoy. On second day, we went to Magic Kingdom. As you know, we have Tokyo Disney Land in Japan, and it is similar to this Magic Kingdom. But for me, it was pretty different. Because on that day, we joined the program which taught me how the attraction works before the Disney park was opened. So, we rode the Space Mountain with light on!!! (You know, the Space Mountain is a popular roller coaster and runs in the dark space) It was very interesting because we feel very different if the light is on or off. And also, we rode the Big Thunder Mountain holding a glass of water! (This attraction is also popular roller coaster) As you imagine, we got wet.. very wet....I tried not to spill the water but I couldn't ...(This is not Sprash Mountain !!! haha) At the night, we saw the fireworks with Cinderella Castle!! It was... I can't describe how beautiful it was... I really liked the night!! On third day, we went to Epcot. I like this park the best. There are a lot of countries' pavilions and we saw all of them. We felt like we really visited the countries! And of course, I liked the Japanese Pavilion! I ate the Japanese noodle, Udon, there (because I can eat Sushi or other famous food in America, but I can't eat this Udon outside Epcot!) I talked with Japanese staff in Japanese there, but I couldn't talk in Japanese fluently!! And I felt very weird speaking in Japanese!! haha On fourth day, we went to the Animal Kingdom. We ride the big roller coaster which looks like Mt. Everest. It was so thrilling! I like this attraction the best!!! So, these four days were so nice and it was very good memory. But my condition was not good and I had a terrible sore throat before this trip. But I rode many roller coasters and screamed .....yes, I was not able to speak with normal voice...haha But I really enjoyed! Thank you Rotary!!!!!!

After the Disney trip, I was very busy... I had midterm exams in school (I had a lot of homework....+_+), but I switched my host family then. My second host family is very nice. And they have two horses in their farm, and I have been there. The horses are much bigger than I expected!! And I rode the horses!! I haven't ridden them before, so it was a nice experience!!

During the winter vacation, I saw the Christmas decorations all around!! I think the light illuminations of the houses are very pretty !! I was very excited for the Christmas!! On 24th, Christmas Eve, I went to the church with my host father in the mid night. I didn't know how to pray but I tried to do same like other people. I haven't cared about religions very much before, so it was very interesting for me. The next day, December 25th, I was given socks which have a lot of presents in it from Santa! (Thank you very much, Santa!) I also got some presents from my host family!! I ate a lot the Christmas dinner, and I really liked the American Christmas!!! Also, I experienced the other religion ceremony, called Hanukkah. It is supposed to last for 8 days and people open the presents every morning, but I did only 1 day. Any way, I also like this Hanukkah!! Because I can get a lot of presents !!(hahaha) I was glad to experienced these two different ceremonies.

For Japanese, the New Year is a very important ceremony. End of the year, we clean our houses and we look back about the past days of that year. And at the time, after the Christmas I felt a little sad. At the time my family, and many friends were having fun for Japanese New Year vacation. Often I really wanted to talk with them. And I realized how nice my family, and friends are. Before I left Japan, I was very busy and I tended to forget to thank to them. But, they were always helping and supporting me. Still now. That's why I am able to be here. Thanks to them, I have had a nice time in USA. I really really appreciate my dear family, my kind and funny friends, my school teachers, and Rotarians & Rotex. I am a very happy girl that I have many nice people. I want to say in a big voice, "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!"

And on New Year's day and Eve, instead of Japanese traditional Oshogatsu, we had a very wonderful event. On December 31st, most of the exchange students get together and we joined the Rotary Parade in downtown in Jacksonville. It was pretty fun. We felt like a star!! After that, we had a party at Olof's host family house! It was a very fun!! We ate a lot, played basketball, ping pong, trampoline! And after the counting down for New Year, we sprinkled the champagnes (but it was a grape juice) and jumped into the swimming pool!! It was a crazy night, wasn't it ?? We stayed up late until 4 o'clock!! It was a very very nice New Year party for me!!

Now I have already finished my winter vacation and been to my high school. This second semester, I want to try many things and talk to people many times!!! (I am taking Spanish class and it is very interesting!)

And in 1 week, we have Key West Trip!!! I am so exciting now !! And also I have New York trip in February !!That will be so much fun time for me !!

Then, see you soon!!!! I hope every body will have great time in this 2007 year!!!!!

Akemi

March 25 Journal & Pictures

Hi there, how are you doing? These days I haven’t written my journals sometimes. Because I have been busy… I have a lot of things to do! (including homework though…) But I am enjoying a lot! That is the best!

OK, then I want to talk about Rotary Seacamp! We inbound exchange students went to Florida Keys for 4 days in end of January. It was a long drive to get there by bus… But haha, it was very fun to watch the video in the bus!

On the first day, we went to a kind of museum of sea animals. I touched many weird animals living in the ocean. The feeling was very strange… At night, we had a campfire. It was a lot of fun! In the sky, there were thousands of stars. And I saw a shooting star! But first I didn’t know if it was true or not, because it was very fast… Yeah, I definitely I saw! I hope my wish will come true. On second day, in the morning we have some meetings and introduced ourselves. In the afternoon, we wear the long-sleeve-swimming suit, mask with J-shape tube, and special shoes! Yes, we did snorkeling! I had never done like this great experience, so I was very excited. We made some groups and rode on each boat. The view of ocean from the boat was very beautiful. 360 degrees around us was just green ocean. Sky was clear blue. And we caught a lot of water spray on the face. When I was looking at the ocean, I wondered what there was beyond this horizon of ocean. I don’t know how I can describe, but I felt very very happy at the time.

And seeing inside the ocean was awesome. I found a lot of sea animals such as star fish, sea urchins, shells, corals and fish. I had never seen real sea creatures just in front of me, so it was a very exciting experience. At night, we had dance party. It was crazy… we danced for 2 hours but it was over very quickly. Everybody enjoyed that night.

Third day in the afternoon, after the second snorkeling we discussed about our group’s problem, sea pollution. And after the dinner, we made presentations of each group’s environmental problems such as ozone depletion or acid rain. All of the group’s presentations were very interesting and great. Many exchange students asked questions of each other. The discussion lasted until 11 o’clock. It was very interesting for me to learn our problems which we should work to solve. This is our precious earth, so I want to improve my life and tell other people to protect our earth. And 4th day, we said good bye to the place which we stayed and went to Key West. We hanged out in the town. It was end of January but it was very humid and hot. We enjoyed the shopping for a few hours and went back to our home. So, it was very great trip. I learned many things in this trip and really enjoyed. I didn't expect we could swim in the sea in winter, so I was very glad.

And there was an another trip. The last end of February and beginning of March, I traveled northeast of USA for 10 days with Rotary exchange students. Oh my god, it was a great trip. On the first day, just we rode bus all day. I know every one were tired but we enjoyed talking with other students or watching movies, so it was fun. Second day, we left first hotel in Ohio and again rode bus for long hours. Then we arrived in Niagara Falls!!!! It was very cold there and I saw a lot of snow! It was pretty cool because I came to a very cold place from the Sunshine State, Florida! It was very cold so we just saw the falls and took a lot of pictures and left there. At the night we had pool party and it was so much fun! Third day, we came to Boston! It was very old city, I think. It was very different from Florida. There were a lot of old red brick buildings. Just we hanged out in the town (and we lost the way) but we really enjoyed it!

Fourth day, we went to New York City!!! We saw a lot of tall buildings from our bus. First of all we rode a ship and went to Ellis Island. It was the first place that long time ago many immigrants came and applied to be American. So there were many displays of immigrants. I learned about this island in my American history class before so it was very interesting for me. In Japan, most of the people’s ancestors are Japanese, but American’s are not. Lots of kinds of people are living in USA, so it is the biggest difference between Japan and USA, I think. Then we went to The Statue of Liberty. It was very big. We enter inside of statue (just statue’s stand though). The view from the stand was beautiful. I was very glad to come there because I wished to come to New York City. In the evening, we hanged out around Times Square. I saw many many tall buildings. We couldn’t see the sky unless we face up to the sky. Buildings were very bright. On the road, many cars were filled and we heard sounds of the car horns many times. And people were walking very fast. It was very busy city. I was very surprised. On the fifth day, we came to NYC again and visited several places such as old church, World Trade Station, Chinatown. After that we have plenty of free time and we really enjoyed shopping.

Sixth day, we went to Philadelphia and visited old building which was the place the Declaration of Independence were written there. Also we went to famous art museum and huge shopping mall. Seventh day, we arrived Washington DC. We saw couples of memorial; World War 2, Korean War, Lincoln statues and Vietnam war, Iwo Jima statue. And we went to White House, too. It was very interesting to see historical places. Eighth day, we went to two places such in the morning. We saw a lot of graves for War. And we visited Air & Space center. In the afternoon, we had a free time so we went to art museum in Washington DC. Ninth day, I said goodbye to every student and came back to Florida. This is my awesome journey. I met a lot of fun exchange students and made a lot of friends. Still I remember their voices and I really miss them… But I was very glad to meet them. This is one of my best memory. I hope we can meet them again some place…

One day, I was very disappointed because I had very sad things. I don’t want to talk here, but at that time, my friends and my host family listened to my story very warmly and encouraged me. I felt very glad. Because I have a lot of kind people who are supporting me. And I thought next time, if someone is in trouble or depressed, I would like to help the person just like my friends and host family did for me.

And then now I moved to my new host family. I was sad to leave my 2nd wonderful host family but it is very close and I am going to meet them soon. And my new host family has 2 host brothers. My host parents are very nice and funny. It seems I can enjoy rest of my exchange life with my new host family!

Then, see you next time! Love, Akemi

May 15 Journal & Pictures

Hey y’all, what’s up!?

Now I am in my busiest and greatest time right now. Every day I meet new people and talk various stories. They are very nice and now I love to talk with new people. Now I think about myself, just 10 months ago, I was a kind of shy and afraid to talk with new people. But now, I became to talk more with anybody and I often even ask my teachers some questions during my classes. That means I am really joining the American high school with American students. Comparing to beginning of my year, I just sat on my chair and looked ar teacher talking something, so it is big difference.

OK this journal, I have a lot of stories that I want to write.

In April, I experienced traditional American culture. 4/8, on Easter day, during I was sleeping, Easter bunnies came and hid their eggs and left thousands of candies! When I got up from my bed, I completely forgot about Easter, but my host mother told me to find eggs, so we competed to find colorful eggs with my host brother and sister in living room. It was pretty difficult to find all of them. I found 5 eggs and it was a tie with my host brother. Later we went to church together, and it was completely full. I learned this Easter day is very important day for Christians. In Japan, I think most of the people don’t care about our religion very much (of course some people believe), so it was nice experience for me. After we got home, my host sister and I made Easter dinner with fun chatting. It was very nice day.

Just middle of last month, I was given great opportunity to visit an elementary school by one of my host club Rotarians. He asked me to make presentations to 4th grade kids for 1 period. So, for long time I think about my country, Japan again. What is my country? I read some books written about Japan, and I found a lot of new information. And then, I thought how I make elementary kids to have interest of Japan. So I made power point which has many pictures and a poster. Actually, I was a little nervous to talk in front of 10-year-old kids for 40 minutes. I was afraid that I would have speaking mistakes. However, I didn’t have to worry about it. I talked with kids very merry, and soon they seemed to have interest in my presentation. I showed world map and asked them where Japan was. Also I asked how much bigger USA than Japan. Then every student in the classroom hands up and they looked like “please point me, I want to guess!” I couldn’t decide which student I should point first, because every student’s eyes were brightening. Besides, I talked about Japanese elementary school comparing with American school, Japanese foods, sports, traditional cultures and so on. Students listened to my presentation carefully, and were surprised those differences. I also taught Japanese traditional arts, Origami to kids. At that time, Children’s day, which is on May 5th was coming soon, so I taught how to make samurai hats (on children’s day we decorate samurai dolls) with piece of newspapers. Kids seemed to like those hats. They asked me to make other ones, but I didn’t have enough time to do it, but I wanted to teach more. The 45 minutes passed very quickly, and when I was leaving the classroom, every students said, ”Arigato for coming!” including Japanese words, “thank you” which I taught them just a few minutes ago. I was very very glad to hear that! I remember when I was in elementary school in Japan, we had international event and people from other countries showed their traditional things or taught us their languages. It was very interesting for me to know other countries. And this time, now I taught my country to young kids and they experienced same things, so I was very glad to do that. This visiting school was one of my great memories!

Right after I visited elementary school, just 2 days later, again I got great chance to teach origami to students during lunch time in my high school. I took art class last semester and the art teacher has interests of Japan, so she asked me to do that. Actually, on that day, school held art festival during lunch time, and they show their works. So one of the tables was my origami teaching place for me! That day, some other students who also have art classes helped me to have origami table, so I taught some origami such as crane, ball, box, ring, heart, shuriken and so on. Soon they understand easily and they also taught origami other students. It was great time!! Many students asked me to make origami, and after they completed to make them, they looked very happy! it was my pleasure to teach my traditional culture to many students in America!

Last Rotary conference was also fun! I was very glad to meet new outbound exchange students! I know their feeling, which is a lot of exciting and a little nervous to stay in other country for a year. I remember same feeling clearly… now I feel very weird because my year is almost over. I wish I could be back my beginning of year and I want to have the feeling again! At the night we stayed at YMCA and played played played… it was very fun to play basketball at midnight. Next day we went to Florida museum and we saw hundreds of butterflies. It was precious time to see them very close. They are beautiful and fantastic!! (But I really hate the things before butterflies…x_x)

I came back to Jacksonville from YMCA on Saturday, and at the night I had prom dance party! It was also my new American experience. During the short time, my host mom helped me to do my hair. At the party hotel, there were a lot of beautiful girls and cool boys there. I couldn’t think they were same students in school. I was kind of nervous to dance there, but it was very fun! The prom lasted until midnight, but I forgot about the time.

Just beginning of May, my host mom and I visited New England: Connecticut and Boston for a week. My host sister who lives in New Jersey is going to marry her fiancé (Congratulations!), so we went to up north to cerebrate her. There, the view was very different! There were many hills with lots of no–leafs-trees, or just new buds and they looked autumn. First day, we visited my assistant English teacher’s family who used to teach in my high school in Japan last year. It was very fun to talk with them and I felt it was very small world! On second day we visited Boston and it was my second time. I am so lucky to go there again!! We took bus tour and saw lots of old buildings and churches. The city was much different from Jacksonville and I like Boston! And in Boston, baseball team, Red Sox is very famous, and I saw much stuff which says Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japanese baseball player. I don’t see baseball very much, but I was very glad to see them. I am very proud of him. On fourth day, we had a party called a shower to cerebrate my host sister. In one house, many girls and ladies got together. My host family has big family and I met many people. We suppose to stay up north for 6 days, but we had misunderstood the day which we left, so we have to stay one day longer. It was lucky for us. We went to Old Sturbridge Village on extra day. There were a lot of old buildings such as church, bank, farm, school and so on. In each place, there were people who wore old clothes and they explained details of those eras. My host mom seemed to be upset when she found our flight was next day in that morning, but we really enjoyed seeing and listening the story in the village.

After we came back to Jacksonville, I realized I have few days to go to school. And these days I feel I am really enjoying my school. Always my good friends and I laughed a lot. As I wrote above, at the beginning of this year I was kind of shy to talk to new people but when I noticed, I have a lot of friends in my school. Then, now school is almost over. Recently I feel strongly sad to leave my high school. I have a lot of memories there. I cannot describe this feeling easily. But I will NEVER forget that I went to American high school, studied in English there, and made wonderful friends in my life.

I have about 2 weeks left right now, but I feel still I have enough time. I feel I will stay in America longer. I cannot imagine 2 weeks later I will be in my room in Japan. The 2 weeks must pass very quickly, but I need to hang out with my friends and visit people whom take took care of me. I want to live every day preciously and enjoy those each moment.

Love for every one,

Akemi

Coloring eggs was so much fun	I've never cooked such a huge ham before!	Presentation about Japan to kids	Me with the kids in the classroom
I made a poster!	I am teaching Origami in the school yard	Exchange students Japanese team	Butterfly!
My American prom!	My favorite clam chowder!	I have never thought about this idea, "Dice K"	It was my 2nd time to come here!!
Learning old culture	My sweet friends in school	Nathalia and me	My school!

June 22 Journal & Pictures

So, 3 weeks have passed since I started Japanese life again….

My final 2 weeks was great. First, I turned 18, which is adult age in America, on May 27. On that day my host family took me to Universal Studios Florida, we did lots of attractions. I really enjoyed all rides there such as E.T. one and Mummy roller coaster. It was fantastic day and I completely forgot I became 18 years old that day.

Oh, before that Universal Studios, I went to EPCOT in Disney World with my best friends again. (I have been to EPCOT three times in a year and I love it!) Day before the Disney day, I stayed at my friend's house, and we talked a lot for long time at night. We knew we were going to not to see each other for long time, so we talked whatever we want to talk. It was wonderful night. In the EPCOT, we really enjoyed the time! It was nice to visit lots of nation’s pavilions, have snacks together. I won’t forget to see beautiful fireworks together at night.

2 days before my departure day, I held a party because I wanted to see my dear host families and friends. It was great night---- I don’t want to remember because it was very very fun night and make me sad. I felt so happy to have nice friends. On that night I didn’t feel to go to bed so I stayed up late till 3am.

My last night… which was June 1st on Friday, I was very very busy to pack my suitcases. I had lots of stuff and I didn’t want throw them away, so I tried to put all of them into suitcase. But my 2 suitcases were too heavy to carry and each of them had over weights. I left most of my clothes that I wore in Florida, but I had to leave other more stuff (most of them were junk though). I kept preparing my suitcase till late at night. Also at night, I talked with lots of my friends on the phone. It might be last time to chat with them….I was thinking something like that, so I became so sad. I made a lot of friends here. At the first time I came here I didn’t have any friends and I couldn’t speak in English very much. But finally I made many many friends, and we could knew each other well. Then, it was time to leave….. I recalled my memories. I noticed a lot of kindnesses from my friends. I felt very happy. So, I didn’t feel to sleep that night again, so I watched TV, or my pictures (you know, I took more than 5000 pictures in a year). I thought just going to bed for my final night is wasteful of time. I was remembering my daily life, family, friends, fun and bad time in this year. When I noticed I was sleeping on the couch and June 2nd, my departure morning came.

Still I feel I am in Florida and can meet my host families and friends just tomorrow. To achieve this, I have to get airline tickets and fly for 14 hours to Jacksonville actually, but I feel a strong connection with people in Florida even if we live in other side of earth and 12 hours opposite time. It is true that Florida is my second hometown… I don’t know when, but I am sure to visit there again and meet my host families and friends. Till then, see you later… I am so looking forward to see you there!!!!

And thank you very much for dear host families, my host Rotary club, lots of Rotarians, my friends, my teachers in BTHS, my high school, and my family!!!! You made my year wonderful.

Thank you very much for everybody!!!!!!!!

06-07 Rotary exchange student from Japan

Akemi Saito