Elizabeth Speaks

Hello everyone!
Yesterday we traveled an hour to Kumomota for a soccer game against a girls team. The first game we played was againt the All-star team, which was a collection of all of the best girls in the area. They were all sooo good!! And so nice! The second game we played was against a club team. The score for the first game was 5-5. Mayu, one of the girls on Sanvino, who is amazing, scored three goals, and Mae (Faye's sister) scored two. Mayu, Kumi, and Nagisa all played on our team. They are all so fast.. no one could keep up with them, at least no one on our team! Nagasi is a scoring machine!! One of her goals was a bicycle into the back corner! SO BEAUTIFUL!!! The second game we mixed up the teams, and played a friendly game, the score was 3-2, which the A team won. Before the games started, we gave the other team a keychain, which had beads on it or a soccer ball. Then we got to know eachother, and introduced ourselves. After that, we lined up on the field, and a giant bear came out! They tought us a dance that was really weird/fun. I have never danced like that before.. and hopefully won't have to again! Apparently some of the parents got it on video or have picture of it, so I'm sure you guys will be able to see it all! Although it was really weird, it was really fun and we all ended up laughing!! The bear was the mascot of Kumomota, so the dance had different aspects of it that represented important parts of Kumomota. In the second game, some of the younger siblings came and joined the team, along with the giant bear. We all had so much fun together, and we all made some new friends. The other girls all gave us handwritten notes that were personalized. After the games, we ate lunch on the lawn with all of the players, and then headed onto the bus again. Some of the girls, when we started to drive away, ran with the bus, and kept waving at us good bye. So after the soccer games, we then drove another forty-five minutes to the Kumomota Castle. The castle was really pretty, and full of cherry blossoms. We got to go up into the top tower, and look out over all of Kumomota.But no pictures for me :(, I forgot my camera at the host family house that day. The view was really pretty, and we even got to see some smoke from the volcano. We all got ice cream afterwards, which tasted like frozen cool whip, but it was really good! We then got onto the bus again, and drove to dinner. We sat at really low tables, on the floor. The food was all amazing, as have all the meals have been. Today, we had to be at the hotel at 6:45 AM, so we could head to Amakusa. We are going dolphin watching today!!!! We are going onto a boat, which should be really fun!  We are one the bus right now, and are right beside the ocean!!! I haven't seen that in a while!! We stopped about 20 minutes ago at a little shop by the ocean, where there was a bunch of jelly fish and other little fishies!! It's really nice outside which is good because its been super cold and windy since we got here! This whole trip has been amazing! Well, everything is going great in Japan!! Only three more days here :( Love and miss you all!!
Love, Elizabeth

P.S. One of the best things so far that i think we all will remeber will be one of the little boys that was hanging around with us at our tents during the tournament. HE could dance like Michael Jackson!!! He would always walk around and do the moon walk and stuff for us!! SOOO CUTE!! We gave him and his friend pop rocks, and they freaked out!! They didn't know what was going on! It was soo funny!

P.P.S. Mom i got your email! Thanks! Love and miss you!! Say hi to Oaklee and Toby for me, and the rest of the family! See you soon!