現地報告です。

28.July
I woke up with the sound of my mobile phone's alarm and took shower for about three minutes, as usual. Then I had two toasts. After the breakfast, I left home and went to the bus stop. But when I got to the street, the bus was almost arrived, so I rushed across the street …and I could! I could catch the bus! I was reassured when I saw my friend on the bus. It took about 30 minutes to the University.

Today, the class was from 9am to 1pm. It was kind of long for me but we had two break times. So, I didn't feel tired or dull. My practice partner is a Chinese University student and he's very nice. My teacher is also kind too, so I can enjoy the class! In the class, we discussed about popular tourist spots in each country in the morning, and in the afternoon, we learned what adjective to use in particular situation.

Today, we had only 25 minutes for our lunch time, which is unusual. So we had to hurry up! My friend I bought curry-rice in a cafeteria which sells a lot of Japanese food such as "Udon", "Chikinkatsu" and "Onigiri". Japanese food and culture seemed to have spread in New Zealand. Some people use chopsticks to eat Sushi!

After lunch, we had a program named "Tierra & Hibarigaoka Gakuen High schools Hamilton City Orientation Tour". First, we went to the Hamilton Garden on a bus and walked around the garden. My friend and I took a picture in front of statues. There were many gardens from different countries like an Italian garden or an Indian garden. I was surprised when I saw a Japanese garden because it was meticulously reconstructed. After we enjoyed this beautiful garden, we headed for a lake called "Hamilton Lake". We ate some ice cream there! Some had Hokey Pokey, which is very famous for its taste and the others had some other flavors. I asked a clerk "What do you most recommend?" and she said "Chocolate is my favorite...um… Do you wanna try it?" and of course I said "Yes". As soon as I said Yes, she got a BIG scoop of chocolate ice cream for me! But it was too much for one person to eat! It took more than five minutes to eat. Anyway, it was so yummy! That's all what I wanted to say! Around the lake, most of the students including me enjoyed feeding pigeons some pieces of bread. My friend talked to a pigeon like "Po-Po , here's some bread for you, it's your lunch time!". I really laughed at this. After we went back to the bus, we went around the Hamilton City. And finally, came back to our Uni! It was quite long and I got a little bit tired.

My friend and I took a bus as usual to get home. I didn't have enough time to take a nap before dinner, so I had dinner after having a short rest on my bed. I had two sausages, mashed potatoes, broccolis and cauliflowers. Sausage in NZ just differs from Japanese. The contents in a sausage are more mashed than Japanese one. But we got some original sauce on our meals and that made our dinner better one. Anyway it was a good day. I could mingle with some students from Tierra. I experienced a lot of precious things today.

To parents: Don't worry, we'll be back to Japan in safe and sound!

（K.K. Hamilton)