There's No Place Like HOME

I am coming home!

I am in Tokyo, sitting with my new Canadian friends at the New City Hotel in downtown Tokyo.
I had the best night of my life last night, exploring the coolest place ever, Harajuku!

I am going to be leaving for the airport and my 13 hour flight fairly soon, and I am packing up the last minute items I picked up in Harajuku.

I cannot wait to get home!
I am so excited and I cannot wait to share with everyone the many stories from my trip!

Thank you again for keeping up with my blog!

This will probably be my last blog update, so I wanted to share a few things about my time spent in Japan.

Favorite place: Miya-jima
Favorite trip: Hiroshima
Favorite food: Acorn Squash Tempura

I have had a phenomenal time in Japan. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about a different culture, tasting new foods, and trying lots of new things.
To me, it is amazing to know that 1 month ago I was completely freaking out about getting on a plane to go to another country, halfway around the world, for 1 month, but now, I can see that everything I have done has been worth it.
I am soaking up everything I can in my last 2 days in Japan, so when I come home, I will be able to share it with everyone.
Please feel free to continue to post comments and ask questions.
Thank you so much for following me and my many adventures!

LABO Camp PHOTOS

Tomo was the captain of Deneb 2. She helped my lighting the campfire on the last night of camp.
We (the campers) particiated in several rituals, songs, and chants. The IY group also led a song for everyone.

Deneb 2 group heading to the Camp fire ceremony...

The setting sun was beautiful behind the mountains.

Tomo and I chose this Outdoor Activity... we had to walk a couple of miles in the woods and in the mountains. Most of the time we were in the river, up to our waist in FREEZING cold water. Our guide told us that it was glacial snow from the top of mt. Daisen.

We wore socks over our shoes. I wore my silver crocs and they were a life saver!

I had sooooo much fun!

LABO Camp-Daisen

I have only been in Nara for about and hour and already, Nahomi, my host mom has fed me cheese cake and Belgian waffles...
I had a great time at LABO Camp!
It was a 5 hour bus ride to the mountains, but it passed quickly because I watched Juno (for the 38th time!) on my iPOD...
When Tomo and the rest of Sakamoto Party (my LABO party) made it to Mt. Daisen, we were placed in the group 'Deneb 2'. Each group consists of about 30 kids...there were about 15 groups total!
The camp is run my coaches, college-aged kids who make sure everything is running smoothly. Our groups are directed my Senior Mates, kids around my age who have been in LABO for a while.
We also had 3 Group Mothers, who stayed with our group and helped with the kids.
We stayed in hotels with traditional Japanese futons, food, and public bath.
All of the International Youth (IY) were encouraged to participate in all of the activities,　and that included the public bath. It is not such a big deal because it is just a custom in Japan and is considered a part of the camp routine.

Each camp session has a 'Theme Activity', based from a children's' book. The Theme Activity was The Sign On Rosie's Door.
We had to sing lots of songs and practice acting out the story.
It was difficult to understand what was going on, but I tried my best to just jump in and act like a little kid.

I quickly learned that LABO camp is not accommodating to vegetarians. There was meat everywhere, and most Japanese don't completely understand that being vegetarian means not eating meat in any form. I was stuck with rice and cabbage for every meal until my IY counselor smuggled me a couple of boxes of Calorie Mate, a high-fat, high-protein biscuit.

I was able to communicate with the kids even though they didn't speak English.
I taught them a few 4-H songs and games. They thought I was completely insane and funny, but that is the way you have to be to have fun at LABO camp.

It was a new experience and I had a lot of fun!