It’s been a while since I write a report so Ill try to cram as much as possible.   Since my last report I have changed families twice.  I changed from the second back to the first one where I spent two months and one week ago I changed to the last family the one I am in now. Towards the end with my second family all went really well, and I moved my luggage to the first family and before moving in I went on a week straight of traveling, first I went to my districts year trip to Hiroshima and Kyoto.  That was really fun; we all got together at 5 am at the closest station and headed for the airport where we met the other foreign exchange students and future Japanese students going somewhere else next year, and the rotex.  In total it was like 50 of us plus some chaperones.  We got on our plane went to Hiroshima and as soon as we got there we went straight to the a-bomb dome and peace park, and were fortunate enough to get to hear a speech from a survivor,  that was really interesting and shocking hearing and looking at pictures of what the a-bomb did. I don’t think I’m ever going to forget what I saw and learnt there.  After that we headed for Miyajima a beautiful island, where we went to the local shrine visited the local shops, and went out again to see the shrine lit up, and spent the rest of the night talking to the other students.

            The next day we got off the island and went to Kyoto on the bullet train.  In Kyoto we spent the day going to temples and shrines, and then at night headed for the hotel there they gave us a karaoke room for the night and me and some of us went  for a little walk in the city at night.  The next day we got up early to see more temples and shrines before getting on the train  to go back home, unfortunately I suffered from a common Japanese disease called futskayoi that last day so I didn’t enjoy the view so much.  Although it was a short trip, it was fun.

            I got home like at 11 and then I had to head out the next day at 4 am on my bike to a Rotarians house because he was going to take me to Nagano, a city in the north of Japan. We went by car and stopped in a couple places to look at the cherry blossoms.  And for those of you have read my reports and remember when I mentioned the bathing monkeys when I went skiing, out of pure coincidence we stayed in a Japanese inn that was right next to the bathing monkey place, and we had a hot spring of our own from where we could see the bathing monkeys.   And then after three days of traveling and sight seeing we went back and that was the end of my spring break.    

            After that I came back and I kept going to school and exploring my city and going places after school.  Then I decided to get with some of my friends and go to the most famous theme park in Japan Fujikyu highlands, the roller coasters were amazing.  They had the tallest wooden roller coaster in the world and the roller coaster that flipped you around the most times, it takes you backwards and your seat spins as you are upside down.

            The next big event after that was the coming of my parents to Japan, they came and we went traveling in Japan, my dad, my mom, uncle, and his wife came. They were really proud of me and were surprised that I could speak well, and my first host family invited them for lunch at the house, it was nice I ended translating their whole conversation and even with the language barrier they ended up getting along really well and my host father, my real father, and my uncle, even ended up getting a little drunk together. And they decided that some day my host family will have to come visit us in Florida someday. 

            After my family went to Florida I went to my new family’s house.  It is an elder couple, they are very nice.   They don’t eat breakfast as fast as the other house use to do so I can wake up later, and now I only have to bike 15 minutes to school instead of the previous 45 minutes which is really good now because we are starting rain season. Also, the beach is an 8 minute walk from my house. And the good thing about this house is because they are an older couple with no children in the house what we most eat is vegetables so maybe I can lose the 9 pounds I gained before going back to Florida.

            Oh, and I almost forgot to say, my bike got stolen the day before my family came to Japan. I parked it in front of a pachinko place, a gambling building, and I forgot to lock it. The funny thing is that my name was written on it in big letters with a permanent marker and the bike was in a horrible condition from me riding it so much but I’m going to miss it a lot because I had so many good memories with it.  The horrible sound the bad brakes made which could be heard from miles away because I practically used all the brakes, so I would practically scare what was in front of me before I could stop from hitting it.  The dent in the back in the back of the bike from when I got hit by a car, the basket in the front for my school bag and groceries, the night light so I wouldn’t get hit by a car at night, and the half broke half bent peddle that I got from a fall one night.  And the bike had an attached lock which I had to break one time because I lost the key, so it also had a metal stick hanging from the side, and a chain lock I had attached to the front basket which is locked and I still hold the key.  Now I’m borrowing my host father’s bike for the remaining month, and this one has barely been used.  So maybe the person who stole my bike did me a favor because I think it cost more to fix that bike than to buy a new one, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with that bike before going home.  But I will miss it and never forget it.

            Other than that I wanted to quit kendo because it was taking too much of my time and I want to enjoy other things, but I didn’t want the team to be sad with me so instead of quitting I told them I needed some time off and have been there in like 2 or 3 months.  But I will go to give them my thanks and say my good byes at the end.  So after school I go to the beach with friends, or I bike around my city or I go to the city center or wherever I can.  And on weekends I m still going to Tokyo a lot, shibuya, harajuku, etc whenever I can. And just enjoying the little time I have left.

            I will save the sad last message for the one more report I will write, I know some people are already going home, so I wish the best to all over the world, and hope all the other exchange students are able to complete the things they wanted to do in this year.

Thanks again to everyone who made this possible,

Alejandro Uribe