Hello! (echo echo??)

I’m ba-ack! No joke! My third family has the internet! Now don’t everyone fall out of their chair because they’re so elated to hear from me! So much to write, so much that I’m sure left my brain the instant I set out to write this. Let’s start at the middleish! I went on a road trip with my last family to Kamogawa (home of Oscar, giant orca of Japan’s Sea World and the origin of my embarrassing farmers tan). First we stopped at a place called Tateyama. I swear we climbed AT LEAST 2,000 stairs to see Japans biggest stone carved Buddha. I’ve seen the largest bronze one too, minus his face, it was stuck in the clouds. Anyway, after dying from stair overload we went back down the mountain (stairs) to the beach. There was a sign that said ‘no swimming’ yet there were surfers every where. My host Aunt explained that they never actually ‘swim’, they stay on their boards and let the surf carry them in. I don’t know how they get out in the water though… I managed to retrieve some ugly rocks and some pieces of neat looking plates from the waves, only getting my pants soaked to the waist. I blame the ugly rock I was bending over to pick up when a big wave snuck up on me. We stayed at a ryokan, traditional Japanese hotel. I ate whale for the first time and it was SO good. However the whale jerky took some getting used to. Some of the sea food I ate around, but I also tried sea urchin. Later on I went to Tokyo with my host father. First we went to Tokyo Tower. We went to the highest part where you (theoretically) can see Mt. Fuji, but wouldn’t you know it was a cloudy day. The view was amazing anyway. They have a wax museum and I had my picture taken with Mona Lisa, the Beatles, Frankenstein’s monster, and of course our… lovely man Bush. Tokyo Tower also has a neat trick art gallery where you can appear without a head or being eaten by a genie. After T. Tower we walked (can anyone imagine the stubs I must have for legs now??) to a nearby water bus port. The water bus travels up a river to take you to Asakusa. All along the river is a place which I believe is called ‘blue street’. If it isn’t, it’s blue something. Anyway, it is a well known place where the homeless make their… homes. They use mostly blue tarps, which led my sharp intuition to believe it is blue street. In Asakusa I experienced the occasional wave of stinkyness. Did I mention the brown cloud I also saw from Tokyo Tower? That only lasted until I was then hit by the smells of Japanese pastries cooking (smile smile). I only ate one, not big on bean paste. Mmm… yeah. I will write again later. My host family is convinced I’m writing a book and there’s this thing called sleep which I quite enjoy.