Wednesday 17th August, 2016 (middle school)

Wednesday 17th August, 2016

I’m going to write what I did after school today.

 I was taking classes with Georgia (my host sister) today, so I went straight to the chapel with her and waited for our mother. Georgia always walks with her boyfriend afterschool and I didn’t want to bother them, so I went back to the main car park to chat with my friends.

A half an hour passed and Georgia had finished talking with her boyfriend, so I hang out with her until 5:30p.m. While we were waiting, we watched YouTube with Zenjo and Tristen. They are one of Geogia’s friends and Zenjo is half Japanese! They went soon but we had a great time while watching and I was able to speak English a little with them. We were watching a video about famous songs translated to different languages and back to English again with “Google translate.” We were all laughing because it was so hilarious that my stomach muscles hurt so bad. For example, “take me to church” by Hozier. One part of the lyrics is “She’s the giggle at a funeral,” and this was translated as “She is the conscious in a funeral.”

Therefore, Georgia and I were laughing in the car on our way home, and I’m very tired right now. The one thing I learned from this video is to never use “Google translate” with a sentence.

(A.  I. M3 girl)

This morning, we practiced the son that we will sing tomorrow. After the practicing, we celebrated the birthday of one of my classmates. He looked very glad.

After lunch, we played T-ball in the playground. I have played T-ball twice. Once when I was a junior high school first grader, the other time was in elementary school. Many people said, “I have not played T-ball,” though.

T-ball is like baseball without pitcher. Our team scored twelve points! But our team was the second place among four teams. I was very annoyed, but I enjoyed T-ball.

After the dinner, we watched Minions. The entire movie was English, but I was glad because I knew the story.

I thought that little by little, I would be able to understand English.

(H.A. M3 girl)

Today was a substantial day. First I practiced a song. We sang “YELL.” I like this song. Next, I wore a yukata. After this, I introduced Japan at the library to help my host mother. My host mother is Nikki. She teaches Japanese language at Matthew Flinders Primary School. I met a Japanese person there.

Also, I made some origami cranes. I folded with a lot of people there. After that, I had a P.E. lesson. I played T-ball. My team won, so I was happy. I want to play it once more. Today was a lot of fun. Thank you.

(C.I. M3 girl)

I will write about today. I think today was a serious day because I had many classes.

First I ate a lot of Aussie food for the Food Taste Test. I think that Aussie food is completely different from Japanese food. In Aussie food, there are both yummy and yucky things for me.

The best food of the Aussie foods was the Tim Tam biscuits. They were really good, so I bought Tim Tams after school.

The worst food for me was licorice. I have eaten licorice before because my host sister gave me some. I don’t like that taste, so I don’t want to eat one again.

After that, I had a class. I that class, I learned about English and Aussie animals. The Aussie animals were very cute and I felt that I wanted to go to Australia zoo again. I could remember some words such as marsupial, beak and hind legs. So, I was happy. But that is not the only reason I was Happy. I was also given chocolate by Marg. This chocolate was our reward for remembering a text. I love chocolate so I was very happy. I want to eat chocolate now.

After the lunch, we played a game that is like baseball. We had two games. Our team lost the first game so I was frustrated, but the second game, our team could win! So I felt better than before. I want to play this game gain. If I play this game again, I want to win.

Tomorrow, we will have a farewell party. I am looking forward to it and I can’t wait for the party. Thanks for reading.

(S. S. M3 girl)

Today, I went shopping to buy a gift for a classmate after school. I went there with M, but we shopped separately because the gifts we wanted to buy were different. I wanted to buy some snacks, Tim Tams and Shapes. Those are very good. Tim Tams are very sweet. Shapes are very salty. I like both. I wanted to go to Coles to buy those, but I got a little lost and asked some people the way to go to Coles. Eventually, I got there and bought them. After that, I wanted to buy some sandals. I could buy them too. But, I made a mistake in the size of the sandals. I bought ones bigger than my size. I also bought a black watch. It is very, very cute. The size of the watch was perfect. I also bought a birthday gift for Y. Her birthday is August 22. We will have a surprise birthday party at Y’s host family’s house on August 21. Y, C, K, and T have been invited to the party.

We will go to the pool and have a BBQ. I am looking forward to seeing Y’s surprised face.

Eleven days have passed since I came to Australia. I’d like to return to Japan, but I don’t want to return. I’d love to eat Japanese rice and noodles, and I’d love to meet my family and dog. I look forward to going in back to Japan in four days.

Tomorrow, I will have a farewell party for the high school students Junior high school students will sing YELL there.

I remember Mr. Shishido when we sing YELL because I sang a lot last year. I’d like to do our best at tomorrow’s party.

(S. H. M3 girl)

I woke up at 6:45. I was really sleepy last night, so I had a good night sleep. I ate cereal, an apple, a banana, and strawberries for breakfast. It was the best breakfast in this trip.

I went to school at 7:45. I had Sharon take me there.

At 8:30, we practiced a Japanese song. The name of the song is AKASHI. AKASHI means proof. It is a very popular song in Japan.

At 10:00, we tried some Australian food. My favorite Australian food is meat pie. I don’t like vegemite sandwich.

At 11:00, we had a class. Toda’s lesson was about Australian animals. It was very interesting lesson.

At 15:00, I got back home.

At 18:00, I ate pizza for dinner. It was good.

(K.H. M3 boy)

August 18th, 2016

<Wednesday, August 17^th>

We took part in an assembly of Secondly School, and listened to Motivation Media Presentation for personal development. It was very difficult as our teacher said, but I could understand some parts of it. The title of the film was “Everybody Hero”, and “Heroes” of various occupations were on the film. They spoke about their passion, faith, and the like.

I was affected the lyrics of a song which is “Speak Life” of TobyMac. The passage was “Speak life, speak life. When the sun won’t shine and you don’t know why.  ... speak hope, You speak love, you speak...” I thought that I had to have a confidence and a responsibility for my life and for my dream. I want to be a doctor to work for a medical emergency center. Also, I want to study English more to make my world diverse. I will make an effort, and work hard.

            After that, we went to local shops in Buderim. First, we called at a post office to send our letters to Japan. I wrote to my parents, so I’m excited how they will react when they receive it. Then, we searched some shops, such as a market, a flower shop, and a coffee shop for finding answers of the questions. We also interviewed some people in Buderim. I asked a lady who works at a beauty parlor. I was glad that she was very kind. I felt that Buderim was quiet and warm area.

            We had a barbecue for lunch in a park. We bought some food for BBQ in Woolworth, and made lunch by ourselves. I bought two loaves of sliced bread and a bottle of tomato sauce, and grilled many sausages with my friends. It smelled very good, so I was getting hungry. Other members cut onions, a pineapple, and a watermelon. It looked hard, but we enjoyed it. After we finished making them, we had them with seeing a good view. The view was beautiful, and the sausage, onions, and bread were so delicious. Some fruit was fresh, and also delicious.

            At night, I had a little early birthday party with my host family. We ate hamburgers for dinner, and I helped my host mother to make them. After dinner, I was surprised that they brought a cheesecake that was made by host father with the birthday song. I received some presents, such as a mag, a soft toy kangaroo, soap, and a candle from them. I was glad, and the cake was so tasty.

            Today, I could think about my dream through the presentation. We are going to go back to Japan in two days. These wonderful experiences in Australia were good opportunities for me to think what I want to do. In tomorrow’s farewell party, I want to tell “Thank you” to people who have looked after me.

(A.Y. H1 girl)

Today, we did a lot of things.

First, we had a gathering at Matthew Flinder’s lecture hall. We watched a short movie. It was difficult for me to understand, but I tried to listen to it and I could understand a little.

After that, we went to Buderim. The village was so beautiful! We interviewed Buderim people. They kindly answered a lot of questions though they were working. I thought Buderim people were so kind!

We went shopping to buy some food for barbecue. We had a lot of troubles to look for the food because the shop was too big!!

Then, we had a barbecue at a park. We could see nice view there. We cooked al by ourselves. It was difficult but the dishes we cooked were very good!

I really enjoyed today!

(K.K H1 girl)

At 8:30, we assembled to the school. At first, we heard “Motivation Speech.”

It was a little bit difficult for me, but I tried to understand what they were saying.

I had a great time in there.

Next, we left school, and we went to Buderim Village. We did orienteering there. Some students went to a flower shop and asked the clerk to show some flowers named “Australia”. Other students interviewed to Buderim people. We enjoyed the orienteering and we had a great opportunity to talk with English speakers.

After that, we cooked BBQ by ourselves. I cooked sausages that I bought in a supermarket. It was so nice.

We left there and arrived at school at 2:40. I was still exciting then. I had a great time today. We have two more days that we can stay in Australia. I’m looking forward to seeing my family in Japan.

(T.Y. H1 boy)

Today was a rainy and cloudy day. We went to the Buderim village. I posted a letter to my friend in Japan and interviewed people there.

After walking around the village, we went to the supermarket and bought some snacks, sausages, onions, breads, juice, tomato sauce and fruits. At a park, we cooked hotdogs. It was delicious. The view seen from the park was good.

After getting home, I was very sleepy, so I wanted to go to bed, but I remembered a very important thing... I have a lot of homework to do!! So, I will study hard in the kitchen from now.

Today was a very busy and good day. I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

(K.T. H1 boy)

 <Thursday, August 18^th>