Christmas Gift Exchange With My Japanese Penpal

Konnichiwa!

Welcome to my blog; I just know you're as excited for the holiday season as I am :) I want to introduce you to my penpal from Japan. Her name is Ayana. She's seventeen and we've been talking since the summer. Ayana's a really cool girl; she has a little sister and an older brother, she's a big One Direction fan, and she has taught me a lot about what life is really like as a teenage girl in Japan. I've got to say, with the tough educational curriculum there, I'm not jealous! Here's a picture of the cutie<3 

Isn't she lovely?

Well for Christmas we decided to do a gift exchange. I wanted to do a theme for mine: Christmas in America. So I got her a bunch of little things and wrote a letter explaining how each item related to the holidays in the U.S. and how she could use it. I gave to her- sugar plum lotion, mocha cappucino packets, pink striped fuzzy gloves, peppermint bark dipped in dark chocolate,   and then the last two items were a fusion of America and Japan to symbolize our friendship. They were a "hello kitty" Christmas ornament and a framed haiku poem that I wrote for her about the snowfall. And then I wrote her a second letter about my family's Christmas traditions in case she was interested.

here are my little presents for her^

I recently received, via the mail, her present for me and I simply could not wait til Christmas to open it. I was already so intrigued by the real Japanese postage stamp!

here it is^

Anyway, here is what she gave me. It was this ADORABLE little christmas book with a Father Christmas on the front. His beard is actually furry! On each page there are little encouraging messages written in Japanese characters (Ayan kindly translated to English beneath each). And on the last page she wrote me a special message<3 Here are some pics

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to make international friends online; if you are even considering a penpal you should definitely go through with it because it will bring you great joy and you will learn a lot about another culture:)

Keep it kawaii folks!

-Ainsley