All Kumamoto souvenirs have Kumamon on them.

It's late, and I know it. Yesterday my host family's last exchange student came to visit and she's staying with us for a week so I didn't really get a chance to write anything.

This week my friend from school had to give a speech in English (everyone has to for English class) and she chose events from 2012. I was one of them, and she made a little poster with a couple pictures of me and then my name on it. :3 I felt so special. I'm not even really thinking about going home yet so I haven't gotten too sad... meaning that I'll probably be a mess when I actually am leaving.

I had my last day before Winter Break on Thursday. Everyone else still has class until... drumroll please...



the 28th! Yes, they have school on Christmas. I was shocked too. I knew Japanese students worked hard, but I found that bit kind of ridiculous. So of course everyone was super jealous when they found out I was done. Muahahahaahahahaa... I also had to take all of my stuff home for some reason. It felt really weird to leave my spot empty and a little foreshadowing. :/ After the break I bring everything back, though, so no worries, I get to go through the very heavy process of transporting everything back again!

On Saturday I went on a money binge. And the part that I should feel very good about is that all of it but one thing is for others. I tend to be stingy about money in large quantities however, so as I kept handing over money and my arm kept getting heavier, I continued to plunge deeper and deeper into Spending Shock. And yes, I'm sure that's a thing that I'm not just making up. I won't say how much I bought, but I will say that a few times I caught my jaw hanging open.
This was one of the places I went to buy お土産 (souvenirs). It's right near Kumamoto Castle and free to go into this part so... yeah. It's basically a mini-town type thing that has a bunch of shops to look for stuff to buy. Most of it has Kumamon on it. 

 And THIS is what my lunch looked like. No need to be jealous... only you should. Because it was one of the single most delicious things I've eaten here. It was tempura chicken on rice with and egg and the best sauce I've ever had. It was kind of spicy but not to the point that I needed anything to water it down... Just perfect. I have to give Andres credit, though, because he's the one who suggested it. I've made it up in my mind that I have to go back before I leave.

 For anyone in the States, you'll recognize the top two bags in the next picture! It's this really cool, 409 yen shop that has a bunch of really cool stuff. I just happened to stumble upon a Target and Kohl's bag... even though they have neither in Japan.

 Yesterday, my family's previous exchange student came to visit for a week, so I spent a lot of the day talking to her. She's from Massachusetts so yay for fluent English! She's really nice, so I have a feeling it'll be a fun Winter Break.

For dinner yesterday we went to a buffet called Healthy Eating. Now that I think of it, it wasn't too healthy but whatever. It reminded me of a really high-end, expensive retaurant because of the interesting plates and the setup.

This was the first of four plates. Starting from the top going clockwise: potato salad, potato gratin, sashimi salad (salmon), something I don't know the name of, hamburger, potato, chicken drumstick, potato wedges, and the middle in pasta salad. ALL of it was delicious.

I decided to give you guys a little perspective. ;P

And here's my dessert! Ice cream with corn flake-type cereal (that's very popular here) and chocolate sauce, sponge cake and chocolate cake, a saltine with fruit and cheese (I think), and fruit with yogurt. BEST MEAL OF MY LIFE.

After dinner, everyone just wanted to go to sleep so there was no time to update this thing so I'm sorry that's it's a few hours late.

But I gave you pictures of food, so it's okay, right? Right?

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-Ellie