My Princess, Angel

I am living with my home stay family since I came here almost seven months ago. When I arrived at my home, they introduced me to many pets, in fact, a big dog, Kimba, a small dog, Angel, a cat Hana, the other cat, Franco, and a bird, Bravo. My family and I like living with animals, but especially, we really love Angel because she was cute and smart. However, in the morning this month of October 16, two strange big German shepherds were in out backyard and at the same time, we let our dogs out to there, but we didn’t notice about big dogs. The reason we recognized these dogs that my home stay sister, Erin, woke up because of the strange bark, and she went out to the backyard. After that, she found Angel was really hurt; moreover, of course, we were confused and paniced. My host mother, Dawn, and Erin brought Angel to the hospital immediately, and she was operated. She was almost died on Thursday and Friday, but she was fine on Saturday and Sunday. The woman from the animal control said that the big dog’s owner was our neighbor, but he told a lie about the event. He said that his dogs were in hid house at the same time, but Angel were in his house but Angel came to his home, and that was why the dogs bit her. On October 19, we went to see Angel to the hospital which is near San Diego; also, at the time, she was O.K. I think she could notice we went there to see her. She sometimes open her eyes, and sometimes tried to give a kiss to us. We were glad to see that she was getting better. However, Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, she died. Dawn, Erin, and I cried so much, and it was hard to understand firm the sky. We still love Angel. You are our princess.

Japanese Halloween

Obon is a one of most important festivals in Japan. The Obon Festival is kind of a Halloween. People think that sprits come back to their hometown during the Obon Festival. There are several types of the Obon Festivals depend on the city or town.
From August 13 to August 16, is Obon in my hometown. My family and I visit a grave and light a chochin in August 13. The chochin is a kind of lantern, so it is like a jack-o’-lantern. We go back to our house with chochin because we believe sprits follow the light, and they can find the house. After we go back to our house, we have a party. Our relatives visit our house in order to see us and say hello to the sprits. However, we usually have a special meal, for example, sushi, tempura, or sashimi. We talk about what has happened to me these days with that meal and alcohol. When I was a child, I was too shy because as I mentioned, many people come to my house, and they tried to talk with me. I didn’t want to talk to them. Actually, I tried to talk with them, but I couldn’t because I felt nervous. However, I like this festival now because I can see my relatives, and I can talk about my college, friends, travel, or other things. Finally, we light a chochin and visit a grave again in order to let the sprits back. Then we put out the fire at the grave and return to our home. The reason we put out the fire is if we have a fire, spirits can follow us to visit our home again. However, spirits have to go back to heaven, so we have to put out the fire and say good bye them.

Welcome to my blog!!

Hi.
This is Helen's 600 writing for the fall quarter at UCR extension.