Life in General

Whew now that I finally wrote about Nara I'd like to talk about my life here in general, so I don't have to message everyone individually. On that note, to my lovely friends, don't be offended if I don't  get back to you much. I've found that whenever I become immersed in something English, like a conversation with a friend, my book, or a show on TV in English, I forget where I am and it's a shock when I hear people speak Japanese or "Buriana?" and remember that I can't actually understand most of what people are saying. I need to keep my head in Japan and stay focused. However, I'll still do my best to blog :)

My household is currently in summer mode. I have four sisters- two in college, one in high school, and one in elementary school, and none have started school yet. I start tomorrow, and I'm pretty nervous. My host mom helped me make a short speech in Japanese, though, which was really nice. Mostly everyone just hangs around during the day reading or watching TV or something, and I've been working on Japanese. Before we went camping, it was very hot and humid, and they don't really use A/C, so that was unpleasant. Everyone always had an iced drink in hand. I've noticed that they drink lots of coffee or watered down coffee, at every meal and throughout the day. Sometimes we eat together, and sometimes separately, usually in the kitchen watching TV, which is almost always on. I'm loving all the Japanese food, which surprises them, because apparently most exchange students don't like things such as seaweed. Oishii ^_^ I wasn't too thrilled when they got McDonalds though. Last night we made takoyaki, which I think are specially associated with Osaka. They're little round dough balls filled with some herbs and octopus pieces, and they're really good and fun to make. Note to outbounds: help with the dishes and whatever household chores you can!

Other things- I cannot get over how tiny the streets are! Often they're just wide enough for two cars to pass if they both go all the way onto the shoulder. Around my house, the streets barely fit one car, and you have to have exact timing and go onto the curb a little to make it around corners. The Japanese are definitely masters of compact- the roads, cars, houses, everything. It was strange to go into my room and not have a bed, instead folding out a sleeping pad that takes up the whole room at night. Definitely a more efficient use of space, but not as comfortable as a real mattress. Also interesting was my pillow at Nara, which was filled with hard little beads. At first when I laid my head on it, it felt like a rock and I made no impression on it, but when I made a dent with my hands, it held my head nicely and kept the shape all night. Old-fashioned tempurpedic, I guess.

My family is Buddhist, so I'm excited to learn more about that. I briefly saw their neighborhood temple, but we only stayed for a few minutes. They have a beautiful shrine in their house, and before we left for Nara they lit some candles and all kneeled in front of it, chanting in unison in fast monotone voices. It was really cool and powerful. At Nara there were these water station things outside of a temple, and they taught me the ritual of washing your hands and feet. This was really useful when I pulled a Brittany, breaking my flip flop and skinning my toe, right next to one.

Also, I'm going to learn traditional Japanese dance! I just went to my sisters' weekly lesson, and it looked really cool. They wear yukatas and kimonos and everything. The sensei was a super nice and smiley woman. Apparently I was not as much of a robot as most exchange students their first time, so hooray.