Hi everyone, I hope you’re all having a lovely beginning of the new school term. Did everyone have a fun summer holiday? It seems like lots of you were very busy with clubs and homework over the summer, but I hope you all had an opportunity to relax a bit too.

I had a really fun and relaxing summer holiday. I visited some beautiful places around Japan, and I also went on a trip back to Christchurch, New Zealand to see my family.

The seasons in New Zealand are opposite of Japanese seasons so it was the end of winter when I visited, but it was actually quite warm, and some of the blossoms were coming out so I got to have a second hanami this year!

My mum had her birthday while I was there, so my family had a big party at our house. We made and ate lots of delicious pizza, and hung out with friends until late. It was a lot of fun! There was also an arts festival in Christchurch when I was there, so my family and I went to a few nice events, my favorite one was a concert where famous NZ musicians made songs using Shakespeare’s poetry.

My family lives very close to the beach, so I took my family dogs, Ted and Hattie, for a walk on the beach every day, it was a really nice way to relax.