The First Real One!

So, I’ve been here since Monday (I’m writing this on Saturday, but I won’t be able to post it until Monday), so by the time you all read this it will have been a week in Japan for me.  All I can say is this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.  Let me start with some fun stuff and then I’ll get to the more interesting challenges.

 

As I’ve probably told you guys, I am one of 8 Midd kids here and all but one of them I know pretty well, so it’s really nice to have some friends I can talk to.  I still haven’t talked to anyone in the states in person, which hopefully I’ll fix soon.  I just signed up for a Skype account, which if you have a computer with a microphone or a webcam, we can talk online for free, so if you like, check that out at skype.com

 

Anyways, Japan is crazy.  I’ve eaten more than 20 things already (most of them fish) that I still have no idea what it was I ate (which may be to my benefit), drank a soda that tasted exactly like an apple, with an aftertaste of the apple skin.  I was impressed.  We stayed at the Kyoto Tower Hotel from Tuesday to Thursday, and last night I came home with my host family, who is extraordinarily nice, but speak no English whatsoever.  We all drank a bit last night and had a good long conversation to break the ice and there were surprisingly few moments of complete misunderstanding or inability to communicate.  Not to say that there weren’t any, but I can communicate much better than I thought I would be able to.

 

Reading stuff, however, is a whole different story.  It’s impossible and there’s nothing I can really do about it.

 

My family lives a bit out of the way, my commute is 45-60 minutes, and requires that I take a bus, which only comes ever half hour, so if I ever miss it, I’m half an hour late for school.

 

On Thursday two students from the Doshisha Daigaku (where I go to school) showed me how to commute to my house and back and helped me do a bunch of paperwork I couldn’t read, and they were really awesome.  However, when we got to my house and rang the doorbell to say hello to my host family, my host mom stepped out the door and immediately into a huge pile of dog crap, courtesy of my “host dog” Yanchan.  Needless to say, it was a pretty embarrassing moment but we all just laughed and me and my guides were on our way.  They took me to two awesome meals, and then to a huge arcade, 7 floors of video games.  I honestly wasn’t sure what to do with myself at that point.  They don’t start school for another month, so I’m not sure when I’ll see them again, but I’m hoping they’ll be my first “Japanese friends,” I think we hit it off pretty well.

 

I also am thinking of teaching English as a small part time job.  All I have to do is stick around school for a few hours once a week and speak English with Japanese students, I don’t even have to instruct, just have conversations, and I think that too will be a good way to meet people.

 

Today the AKP students all went to a huge shrine together and received a blessing from the gods for a good school year and then my family took me to an amazing sushi lunch, and now I’m here.

 

It’s all very overwhelming and I’ve had some intense moments of home sickness, and have also reconsidered my position on Japanese food a little bit (It’s all delicious, but my stomach is just not used to it).  It’s definitely been tough, and I stick out like a sore thumb (I get STARED at, like, really really stared at.) But, luckily people seem rather delighted when I speak to them in Japanese, and most people are enthusiastic about speaking with me, although just about every one I do speak to ends up asking me questions about their English.  I guess we all have to learn from each other.

 

I miss you all who are reading this, and it’s been a bit tough.  When I’m with my friends, it’s great, but of course a host family is a sort of strange situation, sometimes we’re very talkative and sometimes I just can’t think of anything to say at all.  But of course I’ll manage, and it’s only week one, and on a normal weekend I would probably be hanging out with my friends, but this weekend is obviously a hang out with the host family time.  I swear I’m not neglecting them right now as I write this, we hung out from about 8 in the morning until 2 today, and I’m currently “napping,” but I should probably go back down stairs soon and try to strike up a conversation.

 

By the way, Dad, my host father LOVES golf.

 

Hope you’re all well, good luck with the school year or whatever it is you’re up to!  Thanks for reading, too.  If you all get skype I can talk to you in person some time.

 

Jya, mata.