And here it is! Told you I could do it.

Back to the grindstone of school, ugh! Kansai Gaidai is really like an island of foreigners in the middle of Japan, and I'm really glad I'm doing homestay so I can get out of that bubble and experience the rest of Japan. At the university you speak in English and talk to other people who speak English, and your classes are in English so you could get by without knowing any Japanese (which a lot of people are doing). Speaking Japanese at home is definitely kicking my butt, but it's very good practice. I’ve got the basic topics covered, but venturing outside of those areas is when I stumble and make a fool of myself. Okaasan is very understanding and helps me correct my mistakes. She speaks some English, and while she’s not fluent she could have a very good and understandable conversation in it.

I’m jumping ahead of myself. Back to the days before I knew my host family!

First of all, look what I found!!



Not quite American style, but it still counted as a burger and fries. Now all I need to find is a place to buy milkshakes and I’m set. Also, that lime green drink is melon soda. I absolutely love the stuff, and I really hope they sell it in the US.

Saturday consisted of venturing further into downtown Hirakata, where we found both the burger restaurant and a certain haven of all things cute, otherwise known as Kiddy Land. The cuteness was overwhelming, and there was so much I wanted to buy but didn’t (like Miyazaki lunch boxes).



However, before that Jackie, Nicole and I found a playground/shrine on our way to Kansai Gaidai from the Seminar Houses. Apparently it’s a really old shrine, but for some reason it’s a playground too? Anyways, we took one of my favorite pictures so far there.



Sunday I met my host family. I was sort of anxious about leaving the Seminar House because I had grown comfortable there, and I was even more anxious about meeting my family. At the same time I was ready to leave the limbo of not having a permanent place to stay, so things sort of balanced out. Long story short, I’m now living in a small apartment with what I think is a really great host family.

First of all, my family is Mormon, but I think the practice of Christianity is a little different in Japan. I’m still trying to figure that out. My curfew is 11:30pm, I can take showers in the morning (traditionally, Japanese take baths at night), I have a key to the apartment, and I’m allowed to have a friend sleep over for one night if I ask far in advance (any takers?). Okaasan (mom) is really engaging and kind, and she's very helpful with everything. She thinks I'm amazing at Japanese and told the interpreter at our meeting that I should be chosen to give a speech at the graduation ceremony at the end of the semester! I don't think I'm that good. She also cleans a lot and takes care of everything and everyone in the apartment. The apartment is filled with cute, frilly things that I know Otousan had nothing to do with. Otousan (dad) is quiet and hasn't said a lot, but he's a kind person. I don’t see much of him because he works very long hours (he leaves the apartment at 7:30am and doesn’t come home until 10pm). Taiyo is 2 years old and SO CUTE. He loves trains, cars, and buses, but most of all trains. While I was unpacking he kept coming into my room with his little toy Shinkasen and saying something like "enkanshen! enkanshen!" If you think learning a new language is hard, try understanding a little kid also learning to speak that language. However, Taiyo is still cute! Sometimes a little hard to understand, but I'm picking up on it. Sometimes he is a 2 year old and fusses when he doesn't get things he wants. He really likes to come in my room and bounce on my bed.



I haven’t been able to get pictures of Okaasan and Otousan yet because they’re always busy, but I’ll show you when I do (probably this weekend because I’m spending all of it with them).

The apartment is on the 10th floor of the building so I have a really good view of Hirakata and the surrounding mountains, and I mean a really good view.





I mentioned that the apartment is full of cute and frilly things, right? My room is no exception. From the pink flowery wallpaper to the teddy bears to the Hello Kitty clock in the closet, this room has no other possible description but cute. So far it’s not overbearing and I’m fine with it, but ask me again in a month or two.







We also have two dogs, and even they don’t get to escape the cuteness of Okaasan. She dresses them up! This is Rena, a girl. And she’s wearing a dress.



The apartment is small by American standards, but I’d say it’s a decent size for Japan. It has a lot of really cool gadgets in it too! Like:
- the heating coils under the floor in the living area that keep the floor warm (houses in Japan don’t have central heating and it’s expensive to run the heater all the time, so they have different ways of staying warm, like using lots of blankets at night and setting timers on heaters. Also, see next line.)
- the heating pad at the end of my bed that keeps my feet warm at night. I looove this thing.
- The toilet/sink thing. No, seriously. The sink is on top of the toilet and a part of it, and when you flush it the water that will fill the tank is what you use to wash your hands with (it’s clean, you know?).
- The shower. Next paragraph.

First of all, the toilet and the shower are in separate rooms across the hall from each other. The shower room is split into two parts: the shower area and then the sink and washing machine. The shower itself IS a room, because it looks like this:



In Japan you traditionally take a short shower (just getting clean really) before soaking for a long time in the tub in really hot water. You only turn on the shower/hose water long enough to get wet and then again to rinse off, and you on the stool to do so (it’s in the corner in this picture). Rather interesting experience, and I have to say it does save a lot of water.

As I mentioned, I tried fish for the second time in my life and I didn’t get sick this time. I was studying in my room and Okaasan came in holding a fish and said "Taberareu? Can you eat?" Panic moment! She gave me two little slices of it at dinner so I could try it, and also took a picture of me doing it.



I didn't even think about it, because I knew if I did I wouldn't eat it. But I did! I just put it in really quick and chewed. It was ok, and tasted just like it smells – greasy and something else. I don’t think I could eat that all the time, but right now I'm making it a point to not ask what things are until after I try them first, and so far it's working. However, when I saw the shrimp in my bowl in last night I knew I couldn’t eat it. I stared at that thing for a long time, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Shrimp is just so unclean and gross looking! Yeah, childish moment.

Sonja, cafeteria food here at school is pretty good. It’s definitely the cheapest thing around, so it’s nice when you’re trying to save money in an expensive country. They have a variety of Japanese things, and every now and then they have spaghetti. Yum. ^_^ The only problem is that sometimes I can’t read the menu because of all the kanji I don’t know!

I haven’t been able to meet the bagpipe group yet, and it’s driving me crazy that I can’t practice. They meet in Osaka which isn’t far, but I still have almost no idea how the trains work around here and that’s how I have to get there. Okaasan said she would take me, but the first weekend we can do that is the 21st. There’s no place I can practice, either at school or at home, that I won’t be a major disturbance. I’ve been practicing on the chanter without the reed, but I’m going to be so out of practice with the pipes that by the time I get to the band that they won’t even recognize me as a piper.

I must say that is really cool to learn something in class and use it immediately after leaving the classroom, or study something for homework and see it on the streets five minutes later. Living in the country you’re study about is just AMAZING, because everything is applicable! I’m taking a Japanese history course, and when the teacher talked about a shrine near the seminar house I had to do a double take because I realized that I had BEEN there just the day before!

Ok, now for crazy stuff.

Space is really limited in Japan, right? Well, they have crazy ways of saving it, like this thing: the Japanese version of a parking deck. This thing has three levels, and you park your car in the bottom level. So how do they get to the top, and how do you get it back down? You press a button, and a machine rotates the cars between levels. Seriously, how cool is that?

Taiyo on Setsubun, which is a festival celebrated to "clear the evil spirits out of your house". Someone is chosen as the "demon" and other members of the household throw beans at the "demon" to chase him away while chanting (basically) "out with the old, in with the new". Taiyo and Okaasan went to a small festival for children, and Taiyo came back with this mask and demanded we throw beans at him.

A public toilet. Oh dear. But this one actually had toilet paper! Normally they don't, and you have to carry tissues around with you just in case.

Vending machine on campus. Vending machines in Japan are crazy and they're everywhere. They have just about anything you could want in them, from cold and hot drinks, snacks, instant meals, even cigarettes. The thing is you're not supposed to eat or drink while walking in Japan (it's considered rude) so if you buy a drink from a vending machine you have to stand there and drink it or take it with you to drink later. Weird.

Mail box!

Also, I have a mailing address that you can send real physical stuff to! I'm not going to post it here because this is a public space, but if you want to send me something send me an email and I'll let you know. So far I'm not homesick and I think I'm settling in quite well, but again, ask me again in a couple of weeks. The only thing I'm really missing is eating until I'm full, because it just doesn't happen in Japan. I'm also missing a lot of American foods and snacks, but I think my parents are going to cover me on that. ^_^

Oh, if you have any questions about anything in particular, leave a comment here and I'll try to answer it in my next post.

Till next time!