This Weekend

Hi there! It's snowing in Yokohama again! How is the weather in your country?


On 12th,Sat,I went to Ueno,Tokyo(東京,上野) with the international trainees and some students in my school,FINALLY!
I had been looking forward to it for pretty a long time. It was a big chance to talk with foreign people and use English and Spanish =)


We decided to meet in front of the famous statue of Takamori Saigo(西郷 隆盛) in Ueno Park.
As soon as we met,my teacher let us introduced ourselves each other. To tell you the truth,I was a little bit nervous and worried if I could communicate with them well at that time. After the introduction,we took a photo together.
The trainees are from Ecuador,Cambodia,Thailand,and China. Other people in this photo are, two are my friends,one is the staff of the training center,and the rest is me.

We went to an Italian restaurant to have lunch at first. On our way to the restaurant,I've just raised my courage and talked to the trainee from Ecuador.
"Mucho gusto!(Nice to meet you) ah...well...¡Estoy estudiando español!(I'm studying Spanish)"
I think I spoke broken Spanish actually. But I was so happy that I could greet him in a little Spanish :) Since he can speak English and a little Japanese,we talked in English,a little Japanese and Spanish.


We ate lunch and went to Ameya-Yokocho(アメヤ横丁),called Ame-Yoko(アメ横) for short.
There are many shops in Ame-Yoko. But we only just went through it,because we were caught up in talking.lol


In Tokyo National Museum,we saw a lot of invaluable exhibits.

I looked around the museum with all of them though I spent most of the time with the trainee from Cambodia. She is a curator of the museum in Cambodia. I found that she was a friend of another trainee from Cambodia who stayed with my family last year.

(The trainee from Ecuador was also a friend of another Ecuadorian trainee who stayed with my family last year)

She told me how the earthenwares made in Japan are great. Since I used to focus on the Japanese history of Azuchi-Momoyama(安土桃山時代) Era to Meiji Era,(明治時代)(about 1570~1912) I didn't know much about the primitive age. I had a difficulty in understanding what she said because of my poor English skill,but her explanation was very interesting.

I thought I should study about history again. I really need to know more and MORE about Japan.

Well,I have too many things I want to write :P All I can say is this cultural exchange event was absolute worthwhile experience.

All of the trainees were very kind and lots of fun to talk. Only one day isn't enough. The sad thing is we may will meet at their farewell party next. It's too early to say Good-Bye.

I wish I could speak English better. Then we could talk and understand each other more. How can I practice communication in English...?? If you have any good ideas,please let me know!

Anyway,I had very nice time!

I want to thank all of trainees,the staff,and my friends. I'm hoping to get a such chance again.

Wish you have a nice week :)