the holiday season

...is without a doubt different this year.

one, no snow! :(

apparently, it snowed christmas morning, but i wasn't awake to see it. 

and it was gone by the time i woke up.

two, i picked out gifts that i thought my host nephews and nieces would like---my host mom tells me they loved them ^_^  but i didn't even get to give them their presents myself. i had been out with my friends, and i didn't realize that we would exchange presents earlier in the day.

earlier in december, i had hoped to help decorate for christmas, but that didn't happen either :(

then i missed baking cookies at my host sister mari's house.

the most "christmas-y" thing i did this year was go to a get-together at lofgren-sensei's house. but it's a traditional japanese house, and we ate sushi. (which was perfectly fine ~ it just doesn't bring back old memories of christmas) but there was a tree! and we did play a couple card games though! i thoroughly enjoyed that :)

anyway, i had really hoped to spend more time with my host family, and that didn't work out---but it's okay. i have next year to look forward to! i can't wait to celebrate the holidays with my friends at midd and family in new hampshire and new york city.

:)

a feast every night

quick post about my host mother's delicious food.

i've been meaning to write an entry about this for quite some time now. anyway, it's delicious. and she cooks A LOT of it.

tonight's dinner consisted of:

• a bowl of rice
• a giant (and i mean, HUGE) bowl of ramen
• veggie tempura
• little dumpling-like things with tofu <--they were really good
• chicken wings made with amazing spices
• korokke

i'll never starve so long as i'm living with the nakamura family ^_^

[almost] flutternutter!

mama set out a new kind of bread/roll for breakfast this morning. i took a bite into it, and it seemed like there was a marshmallow-type filling ~ and since i usually spread peanut butter on whatever bread there is, i [almost] had a fluffernutter today :)

that really made my morning. i was wondering just yesterday if fluff was sold in japan...

^_^

...and what do you know

the picture is already printed on photo paper, sitting on the kitchen table waiting for me. i went downstairs, and there it was.

thank you, papa! ^_^

even more to be thankful for

• i think my host family knew early on that i liked sports and being active, but i probably left no doubt in their minds after soccer with shinpei and kento's field day this past weekend :) my host brother keita, who lives right next door with his wife shinobu & three kids, suggested this sports club [for me] to my host mom-- to which she took me tonight ^_^ sometime this week, she's going to help me officially sign up for a membership. i'll have to do a formal orientation, but i was already given the tour of the building tonight. [it's huge btw. more details later] there's a gym at imadegawa campus, but i hear it's relatively small. furthermore, class is early enough as it is, and timing-wise, it'd probably be very inconvenient.  
• my friends and i have been talking about a "girls' night" for some time now. i mentioned it to my host mom last week, and she did research on public baths and massage parlors in katsura [where we live] for me. papa's going to get me directions to a nearby onsen, outdoor hot spring. and as for the massage parlor, it's actually right across the street from the sport club, which is a three-minute walk from my house :)  AND, since mama and papa are going away to a botanical garden this coming weekend [mama, for painting & papa, for photography], she suggested we do the girls' night then-- so that we can have the house to ourselves! and because the girls are planning on spending the night, mama's going to pull out some mattresses for them.

• the temperature severely dropped last week. so i went from sleeping with the AC on to waking up freeeezing almost overnight. i found some more blankets though, so it was warm and toasty last night :) anyway, papa bought a new heater/AC combo for me and will install it sometime next week.

• going back to the sports club ~ i'll need to submit a 3cm x 2.5cm picture of myself [probably for the membership card], so papa took pictures of me tonight-- and i'm guessing he's going to do the cropping and printing of the picture for me.  *just a feeling* oh, and papa also set up wireless printing on my laptop for me last week :)

• mama also took me to get my official alien registration card this morning in kami-katsura. i thought i'd be going by myself sometime after class... getting to the municipal building from the kami-katsura station (next stop after katsura on the hankyu) isn't too difficult, it takes twenty minutes by foot though. the two doshisha students had taken me there during orientation to get my temporary one, so i had a pretty good idea of how to get there. well i woke up this morning to find directions on the kitchen table that papa had printed out for me using google maps. i definitely should not be getting lost now, i thought. it turns out that instead, they had called a taxi to eliminate all possibility of me losing my way lol ^_^

• i love peanut butter. mama knows that. before the current jar of peanut butter is even empty, another new jar appeared in the fridge this morning. and then at dinner tonight, i commented on how yummy the bread was. she asked if bagels were popular in the u.s., and i said, yes. well, i guess she's going to buy me bagels now.

• it's been rainy lately. instead of using my mom's plain umbrella, she went out and bought me a new one. it's got cute flowers on it. and they're PINK, lavender and baby blue. ちょうどいいだろう？ ^_^

kento's field day :)

kento ~ far left

my host cousin kento [technically host nephew...] had 運動会, a field day at kindergarten, and i was invited to go with the family :)  the events themselves were nothing out of the ordinary, but quite a number of things surprised me. for starters, i didn't see even one chubby kid. in the four weeks that i've been in japan, i've seen very few overweight adults. it is said that because japanese food is much healthier than american food, people in japan tend to be on the slimmer side. i don't disagree with that. however, japan still has sweets, desserts, and other unhealthy foods, so there must be a better, more comprehensive reason. 

anyway, update later about other surprising things.

toward the end of field day, everyone [including alumni, parents, and friends] was able to participate in a [very long] relay race and tug-of-war. i did both ^_^ it was definitely my cup of tea. i wasn't as competitive about the relay because there were sooo many people running in it. tug-of-war, however, i really wanted my team to win. and we did. both pulls :) after the event was over, i ran laps around the schoolyard and practiced some roundoffs and handsprings. i also did several sprints with shinpei, which earned me some brownie points with him. and the fact that i have a DS now and my love for soccer also helped ^_^

don't talk to strangers

shijo station ~ google image result

i was walking to the subway platform in shijo station when a businessman/salaryman? approached me. i thought he would ask me for directions, which at that point, i laughed to myself silently. it would not be long before he figures out that one, i don't speak japanese very well, and two, i have no idea where anything was. 

well, he wasn't asking for directions. he spoke very quickly, and all i picked up as i was rushing to the platform were the words 友達 and ビジネス--friend and business, respectively. it was probably 30 seconds before i was able to cut in and tell him that i was a student studying abroad and that my japanese wasn't very good ~ to which he responded, すみません。分かりました。 i'm sorry [for bothering you]. i understand. and that was that.

well, thinking this experience was kind of funny, i retold it to my host mom and host sister, who had stopped by to visit. i immediately knew their perceptions were different from mine when they looked worried, as opposed to amused. then i learned that there are many yakuza in shijo and i best be careful. and that i was to pretend i didn't speak japanese should something like this happen again.

though this is what nakamura-sensei from summer school had to say:

"でも、日本人のサラリーマンの中には、日本語がわからない

女の子をさがしている人もいますから、気をつけてネ!"

and in english:

"but there are also japanese salarymen who look for 

girls who don't understand japanese, so be careful!"

like many foreigners, i've fallen into the trap of thinking that japan is very safe. and while compared to america and other places, it is very safe... unfortunately, the crime rate has been slowly climbing up. so lesson from childhood relearned ~ don't talk to strangers.

>_<

soccer with shinpei ^_^

the extremely beautiful park entrance

shinpei taking a quick break from soccer ^_^

"red light, green light, 1-2-3"

naoki hunting for bugs?

i walked to a nearby park with mama and my host cousins. [technically, they're my host nephews... but that's a little weird]  anyway, 9-year old shinpei loves soccer, and i'm so glad! we juggled, passed the ball around, and played some one-on-one ~ it was just what the doctor ordered :)  we kicked the soccer ball over the fence into the kindergarten playground and had to jump it several times in order to retrieve it. it was very entertaining to say the least. 

the younger ones were playing a game similar to "red light, green light, 1-2-3" with mama. they are so adorable! after the game, 5-year old kento and 3-year old kazuma disappeared to somewhere else, while 7-year old naoki quickly became preoccupied with finding ants and other bugs...?  lol

right before we left the park, i showed them some simple gymnastics--roundoffs, handsprings, etc.  they loved it ^_^

my legs and body in general were really sore the next day ~ which is actually not a bad thing. [to me, that means a good workout haha]

:)

and the results ^_^

last minute adjustments last weekend before the competition

papa's team placed 13th out of over 50! and have two trophies to show for their hard work. papa played a slideshow of pictures from the weeklong competition on our tv ~ all he had to do was plug a flash drive in! so cool.

could not have asked for better :)

this is only a part of my room ^_^

to name a few reasons...

1. my host parents are amazingly warm and interesting people.
2. the grandchildren and lulu are so much fun.
3. my room has fans and AC ~ which is a pretty big deal in japan, i guess [concerning homestay situations anyway]
   
4. my room is HUGE. and is complete with cable, dvd/vcr player, and a playstation.
5. no curfew.　[still good to be home at a reasonable hour though.]
6. mama tends to my food likes and dislikes. [before japan, i've been a pretty picky eater... getting better]
7. i'm allowed to use their phone and kitchen. [homestays are not required to provide either]
8. i may shower in the morning or evening. [some families only bathe at night]
9. drinking is allowed in the house. [responsibly, of course.]
10. wireless internet && printer!
11. the house is very traditional. [sliding doors ~ which i love ^_^ !]
12. commuting time is relatively short.
13. mama will cook lunch for me every weekend. [homestays are not required to do so.]
14. pool in the backyard!
15. widescreen HD tv in living room.

.... are those reasons sufficient enough? それだけ大丈夫？ ^_^

the wonderful 中村 family!

yeah, i know i need a better picture of mama && papa LOL 

my host family is awesome!  mama is so incredibly nice and cooks extremely yummy food ^_^ ! papa works for horiba and lectures part-time at doshisha's tanabe campus. he's also an engineer and has spent a great amount of time with his students building a racecar from scratch. i was lucky enough to watch them practice on saturday before the nationwide competition next week.

 

formula project ~ http://www.jsae.or.jp/formula/index.html

mama and i went to the library to read while papa had his meeting. afterwards, they took me out to dinner. soba noodles. とてもおいしかった ^_^！that same day, i met more of the family. they have three children ~ two daughters, emi and mari, and a son named keita. emi has a 12-year old daughter named hana and a 9-year old son named shinpei. they live about a 5-minute walk away. keita, on the other hand, lives right next door with his three sons ~ 7-year old naoki, 5-year old kento, and 3-year kazuma. they are absolutely adorable! it's like having a ton of little brothers ^_^ ! i have yet to see mari's side of the family. she lives farther away with her 4-year old daughter haru.

kazuma :)

and i can't forget lulu ^_^ !  she's a cute little chubby welsh corgi. she begs for attention--and i give it to her lol :) i have short video clips of her online ~ ask me for the links if you want to see them.

lulu-chan with the bone i brought her from home ^_^ !

akp welcome party

the beautiful midd girls :)

i went home with the 中村 [ nakamura ] family after the akp welcome party friday night. everyone was anxiously waiting in the banquet room lobby for the arrival of the families. it seemed as though mine would never come, as i was the last one left waiting of the midd kids. finally, kuwata-san pulled me aside to introduce me to my host mother. mama was dressed in a traditional kimono ~ 本当に素晴らしい！ i didn't feel overwhelmingly nervous, but i definitely got really hot really quickly. she told me to relax and said that she had been a little nervous too.

dinner was extremely おいしかった！ many speeches were given, but one in particular について、the presenter commented that if one understood 100% of what he said, then it was very impressive. well, i didn't understand it 100%, but probably around 90-95%. i felt pretty good at that moment ^_^  

anyway, if i had written this post friday night, then there probably would've been more details about the welcome party.  the banquet really pales in comparison to the fun i had with my family this weekend. 

like two personal assistants

where we had lunch :)

after making it to campus on our own this morning and getting through homestay orientation, we each met up with two student volunteers from doshisha.  they were responsible to showing us how to get to class from our houses, helping us apply for alien registration cards, and making sure we had the proper forms to get commuting passes when we get our student id cards next week. it might not sound like much, but aya-san and masato-san were with me all day long. 

we began by going out to lunch at a nearby restaurant.  the food was really good, but i didn’t even finish half of my [alfredo sauce?] pasta—let alone the bread, mini-salad, and soup.  we each ordered our choices off the menu by putting yen into a vending machine to receive a ticket indicating what we wanted.  i wonder if there’s anything like that in the united states. 

after lunch, we took the subway and hankyu in order to get to my house. unfortunately, the map we were provided was not very clear, and we lost our way several times. it appeared no one was home, but we could hear loud [and scary-sounding] barking coming from within. i wondered if it could’ve been my host dog. anyway, we headed back to the hankyu to go one stop further to kami-katsura, where i would apply for my alien registration card. the process was relatively long, but luckily, some of the other akp students were waiting with their respective doshisha students as well. 

they decided to go to a karaoke bar for the evening. as interesting as that sounded, i was ready to head back to the hotel and get some rest. i was exhausted to say the very least. however, not wanting to rain on the parade, i agreed and went along. but because i’m a terrible singer, and because i don’t know too many japanese songs, it wasn’t all that fun for me. still, i was very grateful for everything that aya-san and masato-san did for me today. and after a little while, i was finally free to run to the comfort of my hotel room! 

…but who knew that my friends and i would be getting naked together in a public bath later that night? 

^_^

no more paperwork! for now, anyway :)

i have finished the card for my host family, the short essay for the freeman grant, and the other miscellaneous requirements. all my forms and materials for akp are sealed in an envelope, ready to go out tomorrow afternoon when i visit the mail center.

everything is also set for the freeman-asia award. i hope to receive as close to the $7000 award maximum as possible. the application process was a bit involved, but it wasn't difficult to complete. (it was definitely worth taking the time to apply.)

and now, i sit back and wait to hear about my to-be host family :)