Note: I noticed that I haven’t been turning the comments option on! Sorry if you have been wanting to comment, I will turn on comments in the future! (it won’t let me edit the old ones)
Yesterday we moved in with our host families!
Everyone was super nervous, and after a short orientation about how to live with our families, we had time to prepare our introductions. Mine ended up being ok, but it could have been better. Nihongo wa jyozu o naritai! (I want to become better at Japanese)
I am living with the Mori family along with another CIEE student named Maggie. Our host mother, Okasan, was the only one to come meet us yesterday. At first it was a little awkward between all of us but we loosened up once we got home and unpacked. We traveled our commuting route for the first time and I totally don’t remember but a couple more times and it should stick. I’m glad I have Maggie to help figure things out because she is from New York, so she I used to riding trains and she is also way better at Japanese than I am. We have been studying together and she has been pushing me to remember and get better, even when I protest, which is what I really need. We have been trying to speak to each in Japanese when we can too, because it is so easy to just speak in English only with each other.
Our house is cozy and there are many trinkets and souvenirs placed everywhere that remind me of my Grandmother’s house. The court yard is amazing, there are lots of plants, trees and flowers, and that is where Ikkyu, the family cat, hangs out mostly. Be-chan, or Babe, is the family dog and sugoku kawaii (super cute!). There is also a fish tank with beautiful fish, like angel fish and such. It is much bigger than I thought it would be. Maggie and I each have our own rooms, with desks and dressers and pretty much everything we need to study and feel at home. It’s neat to see what other students have left behind, because this isn’t the first time they have hosted students. I will have to take pictures soon and share the ones I have already taken.
So last night we ate dinner together, Otosan came home by then and had returned from a trip to Hokkaido (northern japan). Dinner is definatly a ritual or ceremony time atomosphere. Otosan talked alot, sometimes in english but mostly Japanese, and I was very surprised and proud with just how much I could understand. Okasan is definitely the definition of Japanese house wife. She made multiple dishes, like salad, corn on the cob, shrimp rice, and bread with butter and cheese. I was so surprised and grateful for how much effort she put into making us happy. Everyone sat at the table and ate, I’ve found there is a certain etique to using chopstick too, and then when the 7:00 news came out we listend to it in both Japanese and English which was really cool. Otosan told us about his world travels, he has been all over the world! Hontoni sugoi-hito da ne~ (he is a really amazing person) For example he recently went to Iraq and is now writing a book about it.
After dinner we sat down and had tea while Maggie and I gave them our omiyage (souveniors). I also shared my kodomo no toki no shashin (childhood pictures) with them. Okasan served us raspberry tea, and we had these cream and rasin cookies that Otosan brought back from Hokkaido, they were really yummy! Otosan was so interested in seeing where we came from that he got a atlas out and was asking us where we were from. I can tell that he really loves intereacting with people from other cultures, from hearing about his trips to the Middle East, Africa, India, America, etc. Also he is such a tender person, He wrote us this letter with both Japanese and english explaining house rules and introducing himself and the family, and he wrote in there that he looks scary sometime but is actually not—- awww, how cute! I can tell already that he is enjoying his retired life (he used to work for a famous newspaper) he has more freedom now to write the articles that he wants to as a freelance writer, and I can also tell that he loves his animals very much! As much as they love him. Okasan is totemo kawaii and genki (very cute and entergetic), she is always greeting us with a smile. There daughter Maki does live with them, but she works very late. She stopped in to see us last night before we went to be and she was at breakfast shortly this morning. She has tomorrow off though so I think we will be hanging out a little bit. She is older, about the same age as my sister (early thirties).
Today we went for a way around the town and down by the river with Bebe-chan. We got to see some really cute kids playing in the park with their families, rollar skaters, baseball teams (elementry, middle, and high school age) practicing down by the river, tennis players, a obasan (older lady) who comes to feed the stray cats everyday, there was so much going on!
Japan is really surprising in how awesome their technology is too. Like for the train systems, you can buy this card call Suika which you put money on then you swip it when exiting or entering and it automatically deducts the amount from your card. But the really amazing thing is that the card can be in your wallet or in your bag and you can just scan that and it can read it! It makes the process super fast. Awesome right? Also we saw an ad for a solar powered cellphone, and a cellphone that is super strong and water resistant, so if you drop it on the ground or in water for example it won’t break!
I have also noticed some things about Japan that I didn’t expect, like how you can hear the black birds/crows EVERYWHERE and it is kind of creepy. But they are considered “the messengers of the gods”. There are also a lot of butterflies! I don’t know if it is just because there are so many creeks and a river in my town or what but I have never seen so many. Also I have noticed that while I sometimes am very aware that I am a foreigner, that I don’t really feel like an outsider or “alien” because for example, when we went on our walk, I was expecting everyone to stare and while some did most people just ignored us or kindly said hello, it felt very… normal. My mind is at ease now and I have a feeling that life is going to be easier here than I thought. The only problem I seem to be having now is trying to finish everything Okasan makes, because while it all tastes wonderful, there is SO much! I get full fast haha. Like we just had lunch, and she made this amazing Ramen and I had to push myself after if was half way gone because I was already full. Ugh, my my stomach feels like it’s going to burst! I was defeated by delicious ramen.
Monday we have to find our way back to Sophia University using the trains on our own, I’m a little nervous but I think Maggie and I can handle it. We have a few orientation things scheduled then we are going for a earthquake simulation! scale 6! Is it wrong that I’m a little excited for this?
