My summer school

Hi,

I'm going to write about my summer school.

From July 9th, I've gone to summer school to study English.

I always take buses to get there.

There are only us (5 Toyo girls) and a teacher in our school.

We are working hard at study for TOEFL.

We will take TOEFL 3 or 4 times before we go back to Japan so we are trying hard.

The way to study for TOEFL is quiet different from other ways to learn English so it's sometimes difficult.

But, thanks to my teacher, my English is improving.

Especially, my listening and speaking skill are getting better than ever, I think.

I will keep working hard after summer school is done.

As I wrote, we are working hard at study seriously.

But also, we are having fun at summer school!

We went some field trips and had fun.

I won't forget my visit to Stollery Children's Hospital and TELUS World of Science.

And also, my summer school teacher brought a karaoke machine from her house!

All of us love music and singing so we really enjoyed singing with the machine.

As one of speaking practices, we did fashion show by ourselves.

I was a producer of the fashion show so I cordinated my friends fashionably!

Anyways, I learned and enjoyed a lot at summer school.
I really appreciate my summer school teacher, Berta. Thank you very much.

I have 2 more days so I will keep working hard until the end.

********************************

I'm very happy now because I got 2 CDs with cheap price!

The CDs I bought are sang by 'Back Street Boys'!!

I've loved them for a long time and I've been looking for them since I came here.

I finally found with cheap price so I bought today!

I will listen to them a lot on the way to Montana!

I also bought a book so I will enjoy it in August.

Bye.

Edmonton's Capital EX

Hi,

On July 27th, I went Capital EX which is one of the most exciting festivals in Edmonton with my friends.

We have a half-day school on Fridays, so we went there after classes.

It was sooooooooooo hot and bright.

There were many booths and rides so it was like an amusement park!

I really enjoyed some rides!

Especially, a coaster which is named 'NIAGARA FALLS' was so exciting for me!

The coaster dived into the water!

As I told, it was a super hot day so it was soooo good to get wet!

I was impressed with the acrobatic show by Chinese.

The show was sooooooooooooo amazing, incredible, and beautiful!

And also, I was so impressed with delicious lemonade!

I want to drink it again strongly.

We went back to home around 9:00 p.m.

But my host family was not home so I went to bed soon.

I had a wonderful time at an exciting festival!

Street Performers Festival and staying with Megumi

Hi,

On July 15th, I joined 'Edmonton international Street Performers Festival' as a volunteer.

I knew this volunteer from my cordinator, Lorna.

I like to go to festival so I joined in downtown.

We helped face painting for kids, break dance, and street performance in a tent.

There were many kids and they had fun with many activities.

It was very hot so I was lucky I could stay in a tent.

I could meet many people so I had a good time as well.

After Young Women camp, my host family went to Vancouver for 4days.

So I stayed with my Japanese friend, Megumi from 13th to 16th.

Her host family doesn't have any young kids so it was soooo quiet for me.

I relaxed and enjoyed at her house.

I watched TV and movies a lot with her!

I'd never stayed with my friend even in Japan so it was fun for me!]\

YW Camp Day1

Hi,

I'm sorry I haven't written about my YW camp yet.

After I came back from the camp, I was busy again. Actually, still now.

But I will go to Montana from this Thursday so I want to finish writing about my previous days.

In the second week of July, I joind Young Women Camp in Calgary.

After I went to summer school, my host father picked me and Mari.S up and took to Calgary.

I was tired because of packing for this camp so I was sleeping on the way to Calgary.

*Tin foil dinner

After I got to camping, I had a tin foil dinner.

It was one of dinner styles for camping and wrapped up with aluminum foils.

It was already cooked but it was still frozen...actually.

But...that's OK!hahaha

*Skits
We were divided into 4 groups and each group had to perform each skits which are like short shows.

So I planned our skits with my members.

It was fun for me!

You guys can watch my skit on YouTube!! Surprise!

If you want to watch it, please visit these pages.

But please don't ask me what the purpose or meaning of my skit...because I don't know!!hahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRsoxLACj-A

*Camp fire

We sang some camp songs and played games.

We also had hot chocolate! I love it(^^#)

*Staying in cabin

We stayed in cabins made of wood.

It was not confortable and clean.

I couldn't sleep well but that's the way it goes. It's CAMP!

To be continued...!

YW Camp Day2

*Morning Devotional

After we had breakfast, we did it.

I listened to people were reading and talking about scripture.

I was sleepy so I couldn't understand all of that.hahaha

*Nap

I was tired and sleepy so I went back to bed and slept for a while.

I had a headache so I slept deeply.

*Challenge course(athletics in forest)

We walked into forest and tried some athletic course made of wood.

I was still sleepy but I tried it.

Everyone said to me, 'Mari! This is the Canadian experience!!'

*Camp fire
We sang some camp songs, played games, and performed each skits again.

Our cabin performed 'Young Women Idol' so I sang songs infront of others.

Everyone laughed at me so it was successful!!hahaha

*Night hike
It was already 11:00 p.m. and I was sleepy so I refused once,
but everyone asked me strongly so I went.

This hiking's main purpose was to catch birds which have two red eyes live in forest.

When they found lights, they escape so we couldn't use our flashlights.

We brought our pillow case to catch them.

It was too dark and scary to walk into forest.

I was soooooo scared but I plucked up the courage to walk in the dark forest.

When I saw two red eyes and some girls jumped into forest to catch them,

I was almost going to cry but I stood.

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was ALL LIE!! There is no birds which have two eyes!!

When I understood everything, I cried a lot.

I couldn't stop crying.

I was soooooo brave so I'm proud of myself!

I don't want to have such a scary experience any more...(;-;)

To be continued...!

YW Camp Day3

*Hiking

We went hiking for an hour.

Actually, it was planned '4 hours hiking' but we went for just an hour.

But it was too hot to walk for a long time so that was enought for me...lucky!

*Canoeing

I went canoeing at the lake with friends.

It was my second time so far so I was excited about that.

I really enjoyed it.

But my friends asked me to sink into the water from the boat but I refused.

Because the lake was not clean at all so I didn't want to go into the lake.

So I got out of the boat and other girls turned over the boat and went into the water...!

*Camp fire and the testimony meeting
It was the final camp fire so we did the testimony meeting as well.

In testimony meeting, everyone except me and Mari.S talked about how the person is greatful for Jesus and this church, how I love Jesus, how much important YW is, and so on with a lot of tears in front of others.
I tried to say something in front of others but I was gonna cry so I couldn't.

I don't know why I was gonna cry but I tried hard to stop my tears coming down.

*about 11:00 p.m.

I went to bed...zzz

YW Camp Day4 / Pixie Gifts

*4:00 a.m. SUNRISE HIKE

We got up at 4:00 and went to the lake to see the sunrise.

It was sooooo freezing by the lake and I was soooooooooooo sleepy.

But the sunrise I saw was so beautiful and impressive.

I won't forget the beautiful sunrise.

After I went back to my cabin, I slept again until 10:00 a.m.

*Clean up, pack up!

After I ate breakfast, I cleaned up my cabin and packed up everything I brought.

*Go back to Edmonton!

We loaded into a bus and went back to Edmonton.

I was so sleepy because of sunrise hike so I slept deeply on the bus.

I left at 1:oo p.m. at Calgary and got to Edmonton around 3:00p.m.

*Pixie Gifts

All girls brought 4 girts to exchange with each pixie person.

But we couldn't know who gave me gifts! It was a secret!

Look at what I got from my secret pixie girl.

I got a CD case, flower candles, a pen pouch, and a small box with a gum.

How cute they are!

Of course I gave 4 gifts to my pixie girl.

The girl who I gave gifts secretly looked happy when she found pixie gifts from me so I was happy too!

I think the exchanging pixie gifts was the most exciting moment in this camp.

**************************************

As I wrote, I really had wonderful time at YW camp.

I was so glad I could join this camp even though I'm not a member of the church or Mormon.

I really appericiate everyone who helped me or was kind to me.

I won't forget such a nice camp.

The TELUS World of Science

Hi,

Today I went to the TELUS World of Science for a field trip.

It is a big science museum in Edmonton.
It was my first visit so I was really looking forward to it.

First, I watched a short movie called 'Dinosaur's alive'.
I like to learn about dinosaurs so I really enjoyed it.
It was a little hard and challenging for me to understand about dinosaurs in English but I could understand almost all of the movie!
I was impressed with the wide screen!

Next, I went to look around the galleries.

The gallery called 'the Body Fantastic' was very interesting and fun for me.

We can try some machines to learn about body.

The displays about intestines and digestion were pretty disgusting but all displays were east for everyone to learn about body.

I think young kids can learn about body with a lot of fun!

And also, I enjoyed the gallery called 'Mystery Avenue' which was about how to solve crimes.

We can try to solve a crime in this gallery.

I've never learned about that so it was interesting for me!

We didn't try to solve it because we just enjoyed looking around(^^;)

I want to try someday!!

The best gallery for me was 'Space Place'.

I love to learn about space so I was sooooo excited!

There were many displays about space, for example, models of planets, a space ship, many colorful boards which explain about place with pictures, and so on.

I'd never entered into a space ship so I was really excited about that even though it was a model.

I didn't have enough time to understand each explanations so I want to go there again!

I had fun at the TELUS world.

I want to go there again by I go back to Japan!

Bye.

MIKADO

Hi,

Today I had lunch at a Japanese restaulant which is called MIKADO.

I went there with my Japanese friends, my summer school teacher, and two GPI cordinators after the morning class.

It was my second time to go to Japanese restaulant in Canada so I was so excited.

To eat a lot at the restaurant, I didn't have enough breakfast this morning so I was super hungry!hahaha

I ate some pieces of Sushi (salmon, tsuna, shrinp, octopus, salmon roes and tsuna rolls) and ZARU-UDON.

They are all my favorite Japanese foods so I was SUPER HAPPY!!

I could relax in Japanese room(ex. horigotatsu, zabuton, tatami and shoji!).

I thought I should go there once a month for healing...seriously!!

I really miss Japanese food.
I can buy some Japanese food at W.E.M but they are not cheap for me.

So I have endured hard so far but I can't endure any more....
But I'm very happy I could eat my favorite Japanese foods today!!
I think I can endure again for the next chance to go there!hahaha

And also, I took pictures what I ate so when I miss Japanese food, I will see them.hahaha

I ate too much so I was not hungry at supper time.

I mean I didn't eat supper tonight.

Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I'm just full!

So I cleaned up my room, did my laundry, and wrote e-mails.

On this weekend, my friend Megumi will stay with me so I had to clean up my room.

I worked hard so I'm hungry now!!hahaha

I will go to bed.

Bye.

A taste of Edmonton Festival / W.E.M

Hi,

I'm so sorry I couldn't write my diary everyday. It was my aim...but I can't.

I'm still busy these days.

But I'm also having fun with many experience.

Yesterday I went to a festival held in downtown with my host family.

It's called 'a taste of Edmonton Festival'.

At this festival, we can eat many kinds of foods from all over the world.

I found a Japanese booth and chinese booth, so I was excited.

I ate KATAYAKISOBA(flied noodle), dumplings, tandoori chicken(it's from India), and strawberry cheese cake.
I was happy I could eat my favorite sweet.

There were many many people so I got tired a little.

But I like Edmonton's festivals so I was glad.

Today I went to West Edmonton Mall with my host family.
As you know, I have summer school so I went there from school by myself.

At the mall, we went to T&T market (asian super market).

We got Japanese soba, udon, mentsuyu, and so on.

I love Japanese noodles so I'm excited about that.

I hope I can eat a lot!!

Tomorrow, I will have lunch at Japanese restaulant MIKADO.

I'm sooooooooooooo excited!

Bye.

Stollery Children's Hospital

Hi everyone!

I'm back!!

Do you remember me?hahaha

As you know, I went camping in Calgary from July 10th to 13th.

I had a wonderful time and took many pictures.

I will start to write about my YW camp soon.

After YW camp, my host family went to Vancouver so I stayed with my friend Megumi.

I enjoyed staying with her and relaxed at her house.

We joined Street Performance Festivals as volunteers.

I also took pictures so I will show you soon.

I have summer school so I'm still busy.
I'm so sorry I can't write in detail.


Today I will write about my visit to Stollery Children's Hospital.
In the morning we learned about the hospital.
The hospital was established by donation from Mr. and Mrs. Stollery.
It has enough facilities for children with illness or handicap and their family.
We visited them to show how to make origami crafts and sing some Japanese songs.
It was the most emotional moment when a boy with many medical machines talked to me and tried hard to make origami crafts.
All kids and their parents were very friendly and positi
I was glad because they enjoyed our singing and making origami crafts.
I thought I definitely have something to do for them.
I hope they recover soon and we can meet again.


Today I did presentation about my visit to the hospital.
It reminded me many things like the emotional moment,
so I cried over doing my presentation.
I was surpriesed about my tears...



Anyways, I spent precious time at the Stollery Children's Hospital.
I won't forget time I spent with kids and their bright smile.
That was very wonderful experience for me.


See you tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Eri!

Hi,

I started to go to my summer school today.

My teacher is kind and friendly so I was relieved.

From now on, I will study harder with her help!

I'm so excited about study!

After school, we went to Eri's house.

Today was her 17th birthday!

We had special dinner and celebrated her with a cake and a present.

She was so pleased with cake and present we gave,

so I felt happy, too!

Eri, Happy Birthday! Hope your happiness!

Thank you for inviting today!

I had a wonderful time today.

I want to tell about my happy day more, but it's bed time.hahaha

From tomorrow, you know, I will go camping.
I was busy on working for camp these days,

but I'm soooo excited!
I will make many wonderful memories with my friends.

I will enjoy Canadian Camp and summer!

I won't write my diary from today to next Tuesday, I think.

After I come back to home, I will write about this camp a lot so please wait for me and visit my blog again.

Have a good week.

Bye.

Letter

Hi,

Today I didn't go to church with my host family.
I stayed at home to do stuff I have to do.

I wrote some post cards for my Japanese relatives.
I bought nice post cards on Canada Day.
I hope my relatives like post cards I chose.
And also, I wrote a letter to my Japanese mother.
I'm doing it still now.
I have lots of thing what I want to tell her,
so it takes a long time...
And it makes me tired...hahaha
But I can't talk to her directly so I need to write to tell my life in Canada.
Please wait for it, mom!

Tomorrow I will start to go to summer school.
I will study harder than ever to get perfect English!
I'll do my best.

Bye.

I have to do...

Hi,

Today I spent time with my host family.
Actually, I got up at noon so I spent a half of a day.hahaha
From 3:00p.m., we had Andy's birthday party.
So we cleaned up our house.
At the party, we sang 'Happy Birthday' and ate a cake again.
I filmed his singing a song so I want to show it someday.

In the evening, we went out to get some stuffs for camp.
I bought some stuffs for Camp(ex.a small pillow, medicines), too.

I'm packing my stuff for camp now.
We will stay for 4 days so it's a little hard for me to prepare.
But I'm exactly excited about this camp.
I hope nice weather and I can enjoy this camp!

Bye.

Socks Union

Hi,

Today I went shopping with my friend, Megumi.
I bought new swim suits, hair accessories, and socks!
I found very cute cheap socks! 3 socks for $5!!
It's incredible in Japan and I can't find cute socks in Japan,
so I bought a lot!
I don't have to buy socks any more...yeah!!
Megumi also bought many socks.
I think we should found 'Socks Union'!!hahaha

Almost all of this week I spent time with Megumi.
Only yesterday we didn't hang out,
but we talked on phone last night....hahaha
From next week, we have summer school so I think we can't hang out so many time.
This week we could relax together so we will work hard at study!

Today I borrowed "OC"'s DVD from the library.
I've never watched it but I've been interested in it since it was released in Japan.
I could borrowed it free! How lucky I am!!
I'm gonna watch it tonight.

Bye.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Andy!

Hi,

Today is my youngest host brother, Andy's 3rd birthday!

Happy Birthday, Andy(#^^)/

At lunch time, we celebrated him with an ice cake.

He enjoyed sing 'Happy Birthday', blowing candles, and eating.

After that, we went to the splash park.

My host brothers like to play with Danielle who is one of my friends of church,

so we picked her up and took her there.

We enjoyed playing at the park!

I played with kids for a long time, so I'm super tired now...

But it was a very nice weather so we could have fun.

In the evening, he opened all presents.

I gave him a water gun!

He can use it at the splash park, lake, and so on!

Boys sometimes fight because of water guns at splash park,

but he got his own one so they won't fight about that any more....I hope.hahaha

He looked happy so I was glad!

Today my host mother's brother went back to home.
He is so kind that he plays with kids very well.

Ginamarie, my host mother, looked sad when she took him to air port.

I miss my brother, too.

I hope I can meet him again.

Bye.

I like to hang out with my friends.

Hi,

Today I went to my friend Megumi's house for the first time.

We enjoyed watching movies and shopping.

We watched two movies I bought yesterday.

Today I bought DVDs again, so we will watch them someday.

I like to hang out with my friends.

We always watch movies, talk, and eat sweets together.

It's very fun for me.
But I've never hung out with my Canadian friends,

so I wanna try it someday...no, soon!!

Today was a very hot day.

But tomorrow will be hotter day than ever.

We will go to splash park.

Hope nice weather!

Bye.

For my English

Hi,

Today I spent time with my host family and Megumi who is one of my friends.
In the morning, we went to Superstore to get many stuff for YW camp.
It took pretty long time but I'm excited about Camp so that was fun for me.
But, I went to bed late last night so I was super sleepy.
So after we came back to home, I had a nap for 2 hours.
While I slept, Megumi was watching movie alone. (Sorry, Megumi!)

In the afternoon, we went to Millwoods Town Centre.
I bought 2 DVDs and a CD at HMV.
DVDs I bought are 'ELLA ENCHATED' and 'THE LiZZIE McGUIRE MOVIE'.
'ELLA ENCHATED' is like a Cinderella story.
My host mother recomeended me and we watched together.
I really like the story and Anne Hathaway who acts the main character in this movie,
so I bought it!
'THE LiZZIE McGUIRE MOVIE' is one of disney movies.
I watched 'LiZZIE' series on Disney Channel in Japan and enjoyed them.
I like Hilary Duff very much so I bought it, too!
And also, they were cheaper than other DVDs so I decieded to buy!
I also bought Vanessa Hudgens's CD.
She is popular as Gabriella who is the heroin in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL.
I love her voice. Her voice is very sweet.
I wanna sing songs well in English someday!
I'm working hard at memorize words of favorite musics.

I really enjoyed shopping at HMV.
Watching movies is my new hobby in Canada.
It's still hard for me to understand all English,
but I wanna be a good English speaker.
Learning from movies is not boring so I can keep learning!
I also learn good English from music.
I'm trying to remember words and sing naturally in English.
I hope I can get the amazing English skill from movies and music.

In the evening, I went to church for young women's activity.
Today we learned for YW Camp with Camp Manual.
Our Camp is coming soon! One week after!!
I'm soooo excited!!
Hope nice weather and wonderful experience!!

Bye.

Happy Canada Day!

Hi,

Yesterday was Canada day!

Of course, it was my first time so I was excited!

From morning, I went to downtown by bus and train with my friends.

I've never been to downtown so I was a littel nervous.

First, we went to the Legislature Building.

I've wanted to visit since I deciede to stay in Edmonton, so I was happy.

The building was so great and I was impressed with its scale.

After we looked around there, we took train again and got off at Churchhill.

I tried body paint for the first time! That was so fun!

We enjoyed walking around City Hall.

There were many people and many events.

We don't celebrate national holidays like Canada in Japan,

so it was very good experience for me.

In the evening, I went to Millwoods Park to see fireworks with my hostfamily.
I love to see fireworks even I'm in Japan, so I was excited!

The fireworks started around 22:30.

That was soooo beautiful and great!

There were also many people but it was fun to see fireworks with many people!

I could have fun and take many pictures so I was satisfied with my first Canada Day!

I do hope I can celebrate Canada Day again in the future.

Bye.