I Have a Host Family! November 9, 2007

Today I received exciting news!
I HAVE A HOST FAMILY.

I am going to a city called Izumi, which is in Osaka Prefecture. I will be living with the Akamatsu family – Masao, Michiko, and Eri. And their dog, Gon.
Masao is the father, and his job involves glass. I’m not sure what “glass” means exactly (eye glasses, window glass…?) but it seems that glass works (ornaments) are part of the local industry, so maybe that’s it. Masao likes music and fishing.
Michiko is a stay-at-home mom who also enjoys music and likes to cook!
Eri is their 14 year-old daughter who – can you guess? – likes music! I will be sharing my room with her. Yay for having a younger sister!

From what I’ve found out so far, Izumi looks like a nice city. It’s located in southern Osaka and has a population of about 180,000. The northern area touches Sakai city and Takaishi city, the western part is bordered by Izumiotsu city, Kishiwada city, and Tadaoka city, the eastern part is bordered by Kawachinagano city, and the southern part is bordered by Wakayama.
The topography is higher in the southern parts and lower in the northern part.
The Mount Izumi mountain ranges run through the south, and it is the hill ground and level elevations are found in the central and the northern parts of the region.

Asia Two Arrows November 4, 2007

Yesterday in Japanese class there were only 6 of us that showed up because of an anime convention that was going on. So we had a fun class and got to do things like watch a movie and LEARN TO WRITE OUR NAMES IN KANJI!!!
My name is 亜二矢. I had to change the spelling from aanya to aaniya, but it still sounds about the same. The first kanji means “asia”. The second kanji is just the number 2, because Shirakawa sensei couldn’t think of any other kanji for ni. The third kanji means “arrow”. Therefore, my Japanese name means Asia Two Arrows. I like it