Laura

Laura is our teacher guide.  She is funny and kind .  I like her jokes.  Her jokes always made me fun.  We learned a lot about American culture from her.  She used to call me Mayuku, b ut my name is Mayuko .  It seemed to be difficult for her to remember my name.  Laura, please don’t forget : my name is MAYUKO!

Feb 17 (Mon)   "Fire Department "   
   We went to a local fire department after lunch.  We asked firefighters some questions about firefighters and the system of the fire department in the US.  We learned that many firefighters worked as a volunteer in America and many female firefighters worked there compared with Japanes fire department .  Then, we looked around the facility and even tried on a firefighter suit.  The suit was very heavy for me. The firefighters were very kind and cool !

Feb 18 (Tue)   " Shopping and Making a Snowman"
   We went to Tacoma Mall. We first ate sweet doughnuts at Krispy&Kream and enjoyed shopping at the mall.  The American doughnuts were sweeter than Japanese ones.   We enjoyed shopping many things because  Tacoma Mall was very big, but  we got tired because we walked around a lot.
   After shopping, we came back to the study center and made a snowman with a sock .  The special  guest who came to teach how to make a snowman was Haruka’s host mother Jane.  She gave us clear instruction.  Thanks to Jane, we each made a pretty snowman.
   After school, Adam, Marianne and I cooked up frozen cookies.  It was very easy to cook up and very delicious.  I liked it .

Feb 20 (Thu)   "Seattle Sightseeing"
   We got up earlier than usual and went to Seattle.  We visited many places such as the University of Washington, Space Needle, the first Starbucks store, Pike Place Market, Safeco Field and so on.  I got into everything in sight .  We bought enough amount of souvenirs for our family and matching T-shirts for the homestay members.  We had a very good time.






Feb 21 (Fri)   " Green River Community College and Nursing Home"
   We visited Green River Community College in the afternoon.  The college was surrounded by nature.  There we  met our good old friends Tamami and Yuki for the first time after about six months.  They had been studying abroad for 6 months there.  We enjoyed talking  with each other for a while.  Next , we visited  a local nursing home .  It was so big and like a castle.  We sang a Japanese song "Amefuri (rain song)" for seniors who lived there, and then talked with them.  We were happy because they seemed to enjoy our company!






Feb 24 (Mon)   "Elementary School"  
   We went to an elementary school and taught the students how to count from one to ten in Japanese .  A ll the students were very powerful, friendly and cute .  We also wrote the children names in Japanese.  They were highly interested in Japanese.  We had a good time, but we got very tired in the end.  The children were so active .…

Feb 27 (Mon)  　" Leavenworth "    
    We got up earlier than usual and went to Leavenworth .  There was a little snow on the ground.  The view of Leavenworth was so beautiful and the buildings were so cute .  It was like a German village.  We enjoyed looking around many different kinds of shops.

Feb 28 (Fri)　  " Go Bowling and Mizuki’s Surprise Birthday Party"
   We went  bowling in the afternoon with my host family Adam and Marianne, and Mizuki’s host mother Gwen and host sister Hannah.  Laura is a very good bowler .  She taught us how to throw a good ball.  According to her instruction, it’s the best way to throw a ball in the form of “I am beautiful!”   Thanks to Laura’s coaching, we bowled better than before.
   We also had Mizuki’s surprise birthday party there.  We homestay members gave Mizuki a few presents.  I was happy that she looked very surprised and happy.  We also ate a piece of birthday cake.  I think the party was a complete success!






Mar 3 (Mon)   " Sayonara Party"   
   We had our Sayonara Party in the evening.  We changed into Yukata and gave our presentation about Japanes houses  to our host family.  I made a few mistakes in the presentation because I was so nervous, but the other homestay members kindly helped me out and made something up.  Many people came to the party, we really enjoyed eating, talking with each other and taking pictures.  Thank you for coming for us!

   After the  Sayonara party, Adam, Marianne and I went to an  ice cream shop .  They had so many different kinds of flavors and toppings to choose from.  It was very delicious !

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