En

Well, usually after dinner we all just sit around the table and continue the discussions we started during dinner. Well, this past Thursday we got on the subject of Japanese religion. My “parents” were telling us that they were going to go to my “dad” ‘s parents’ graves because their spirits apparently come to earth for a week, I think. So my “dad” started talking about Japanese religion and how people really follow both Buddhism and Shintoism.

At any rate the conversation came to a word called “en” in Japanese. It has a sort of abstract meaning. My “parents” were explaining it to my “sister” who is MUCH better at Japanese than I am. I guess they noticed me scratching my head because they tried to simplify it a bit. They typed it in to their electronic dictionary and it said “relation, connection.” And the example it had was “strange are the ties that bind people.”

Then my “mom” began to explain that I did not choose the family that I’m staying with now when I applied for a homestay. Haru-chan also didn’t choose this particular family. And it was not my intention, for lack of a better word, to meet Haru-chan. I met everybody through, I suppose, a force other than myself. And that, basically, is “en.”

Oh, and Haru-chan had made authentic Chinese food for dinner that night. One of the dishes was made of sliced potatoes and was really quite good. We also had the staple white rice as well as spring rolls. She had also made this egg and tomato thing that reminded me so much of breakfast tacos. I should find out how to make tortillas here…

Weather

So far the weather here in Sagamihara and Machida has been pretty hot. At the house we have a TON of sliding doors and windows and screens and so on. We’ll take my window for instance. On the inside it has sliding shoji screens which are basically made up of rice paper attached to wooden frames. Then, behind the shoji screens, there’s a glass window which can also be slid open (sideways). Behind the window is a screen, just like in America, that can also be slid open. And, finally, behind the screen is a metal gate thing that, I’m guessing, is used for security purposes.

So, every morning I get up, fold up the various parts of the futon and put it in the closet. I get dressed, slap on some Gold Bond powder (because it is SOOOO hot) and then I go wash out my bite guard (because I grind my teeth while I sleep). Once I’ve said good morning to my “parents” I ask them if Haru-chan (my “sister”) is awake. If so, I go back to my room, open the shoji doors that connect me to the hallway and the storage room, unlock the glass door to the back garden, open it up, push aside the screen, and then unlock the metal gate and push it aside. It folds up like an accordion, but it’s kind of loud. I do the same thing for my window which has an oh-so-lovely view of the apartments just next door.

Basically we leave the metal gates, glass windows and doors, and shoji screens open all day to let the wind in, which is actually kind of nice. Of course, we leave the screens in place to keep the bugs out. But this is only in the back of the house. The front door is just like a western front door, always closed and locked. However, the back of the house is open pretty much all of the time unless nobody’s home or we’re all sleeping.

And of course Japan is really big on conserving water and electricity. So the air conditioning is rarely on. In fact, the only time I’ve ever felt air conditioning in the house is when we had guests over and they were preparing lunch for us. The university, however, doesn’t seem to use air conditioning. It’s so hot! In fact, it’s usually cooler outside than in the university. However the buses and trains usually have air conditioning.

Plus, when you’re taking a shower, you can’t just leave the water running like you do in America. You have to rinse yourself, turn off the water. Wash yourself with the soap, rinse yourself off, turn off the water. Wet your hair, turn off the water. Shampoo your hair, rinse it out, turn off the water. Condition your hair, rinse it out, turn off the water. I mean, it actually makes a lot of sense to do it that way, but it kind of feels like I’m camping or something.

And they also don’t have dryers here. They have washers, but no dryers. So when you do your laundry, you have to hang it outside when the weather is nice. Outside where everyone and their dog can see your underwear hanging out to dry in the sun. It’s actually rather embarrassing.


I also wanted to say thanks to everybody who's been reading this blog! And I really appreciate your comments! If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment.

Picture Catch-up

I know I haven't been putting very many pictures up, but all of my pictures are on my laptop, and I haven't been posting everything from my laptop, so here I am playing catch-up.

This is just a random picture of the outside of Narita International Airport in Chiba.

This is a picture of the hotel room that I stayed in at the Garden Narita Hotel.

This is the view from my hotel room.

This is from the bus ride from Narita to the university. Leo is the guy on the left and Kyle is the guy on the right.

These are just some random rice paddies on the way to Machida.

This is a drive-by view of Tokyo Disney.

This is a drive-by view of the Tokyo bay area.

This is a picture of Tokyo Tower in the distance.

This is Leo, he looks so much like my cousin Marcus!

This is a view of the mountains from the top floor of one of the university buildings.

Japanese McDonalds! (I haven't eaten there yet...)

This is a picture of my homestay's foyer. We leave one pair of outside shoes here and wear slippers around the house.

Notice how much bigger my flip-flops are than everybody else's shoes. ^^;

This is the toilet room. It has its own separate pair of wooden shoes.

This is the view of the back garden from my little closet room at my homestay.

This is the lovely view of the apartments from my bedroom window.

This is my little closet room where I would hang my laundry if there was bad weather.

This is the view from my morning bus stop. Very green, huh? I guess they don't call it MIDORIgaoka for nothing. ^^

This is the cat, Hachi-chan, who can open doors by herself.

Food

So I’ve been trying a whole lot of new food since I got here. For instance, Saturday night we had what my “parents” jokingly called Japanese tacos. Basically you take a sheet of nori (dried sea weed) and set it on your plate. Then you use a paddle to put sticky white rice onto the nori, which can get a bit tricky. Then, you choose from a variety of raw fish on the plate in front of you. For instance, I had three kinds of tuna, some salmon, and salmon eggs on my plate as well as cucumbers and shredded carrots. Then you roll up the nori like a taco and you dip it into a dish of soy sauce. It’s pretty good. They also had nato in a bowl, which is a fermented bean that apparently smells really bad. But I was too full to actually try it.

In the past few days I’ve also had anko which is a sweet bean paste, I think. I’ve also had pork katsu (fried pork), potatoes and this black sort of sea grass (not nori), as well as fried rice and miso soup. We also had pizza one night.

Thankfully we just have toast, sweet breads, sweet yogurt, and some sort of fruit for breakfast. I don’t think I could handle all this different stuff just after waking up.

We also have tea time once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Thankfully my “parents” were really understanding about the fact that I don’t like tea. My “dad” usually has green tea, my “mom” usually has English tea, my “sister” has either milk or coffee if she’s here, and I always have water. We also get little snacks, usually something sweet. Yesterday afternoon we had a Japanese strawberry ice cream pop.

They’ve also been feeding us at the university, usually traditional Japanese food. But luckily I’m adjusting pretty well. However, all of the almost ceremonial phrases are finally starting to sink in for me. Before you eat you’re supposed to say “Itadakimasu!” And when you’re finished, you say “Go-soji-sama deshita” which basically shows your appreciation to the cook.

Shinjuku

On this past Saturday I went to Shinjuku which is a ward of Tokyo. I got up, put my futon away, ate breakfast, got ready to leave and then walked to the bus stop. While I was waiting this old lady came up to the bus stop and started talking to me. She asked me if I was married and stuff like that. When I got back from Shinjuku at the end of the day and I was waiting for the bus at Fuchinobe station, the same old lady found me and started talking to me again. Haha!

Well, I met up with some friends at the university: Kyle (mentioned before), Joanna and Kathryn. Joanna is from Amarillo, Texas and Kathryn is from Boston. So we took the school bus back to Fuchinobe station (thank goodness it’s free!) and then we took a train to Machida station and then an express train to Shinjuku.

When we got there we ate lunch and then we walked around to try and find this store called Bic Camera which is an electronics store because my friends wanted to buy cell phones and get an internet card for their computers. Well, the internet cards didn’t cover Sagamihara, so I didn’t get one. Joanna signed up for one, but Kathryn didn’t because you have to have a Japanese computer in order for it to work. Kyle tried to buy a phone and commandeered me as an interpreter. I did my best, but Kyle needed his alien registration card in order to buy a phone. I was looking for yukata (a cotton, summer kimono), but the department stores were too expensive. Not really a surprise, though, I guess.

The train system is really hard for me to comprehend, especially when the stations always seem to be so crowded. But I think I was the only one in our group who could actually communicate in Japanese about directions, which was kind of scary. But I think I’m getting better at it, which is precisely why I came here.

Home Stay

My host family is made up of a mom and a dad as well as another host student. My “parents” are really, really nice and they’re very helpful. My “mom” was the one who met me at the university. We left the room and I gave her my gifts. We walked down to a bus station next to a university building and took the school bus to the Fuchinobe train station. Then we took a bus from Fuchinobe station to a stop near their house in Midorigaoka. Then we walk for a while before we get to their house. My “mom” asked me questions about myself and my family in America.

They live in a traditional Japanese house, so it’s practically made up of all wood. The foyer floor is made out of stone and is slightly lower than the rest of the house’s floors which are made of wood. Except for the bedrooms, which have tatami mats for floors. You are supposed to take off your outside shoes and leave one pair in the foyer. My family gave me a pair of slippers to wear inside the house. However, they have a separate pair of wooden sandels for the toilets. There are three bedrooms on the first floor of the house as well as a kitchen, den area, two toilet rooms (one for the urinal and one for the toilet) as well as a senmenjou, which consists of the sink and shower. The washer is also in the senmenjou. There is an upstairs, but I have yet to go up there.

My room isn’t quite as big as my room in America, but I sleep on a futon, so I have space during the day. A futon is basically a long cushion with a thick blanket on top of it that you use as a mattress. It also has the actual futon which is kind of like a really, really thick, soft quilt. I don’t have to use it yet, because it’s still pretty hot here. The futon is stored in the closet during the day, so I actually have quite a bit of room. I also have a desk and a little dressing table with a mirror. They also put up two calendars in my room.

That’s one thing I kind of don’t understand. There are bazillions of calendars in the house, haha! There is at least one in every room that I’ve seen so far. Some of them have pictures of my “parents’” real kids getting married and such. My “parents” also have TONS of knick-knacks. I’m glad I gave them Texas T-shirts instead of one of the Texas knick-knacks I brought for other gifts. They seemed really pleased with the shirts. The smaller one should fit my “mom” just right. However, the one for my “dad” is a bit big….

They are also hosting another student. They call her Haru-chan. She’s 20, just like me, and she also goes to the same university. However, she’s from China, and she’s been with the family since before April of this year. She’s actually in some of their daughter’s wedding photos. She’s really nice, she’s been helping me figure out the bus routes and such.

The family also has this cat that they call Hachi-chan. Basically it means “little eight.” She’s a calico with green eyes. The first night I was here I saw another cat walking outside the house. My “parents” said that it’s a wild cat that they call Roku-chan which means “little six.” Apparently Hachi-chan and Roku-chan are good friends. Today I saw Hachi-chan open the one of the sliding doors by herself to go outside! Now THAT is talent! However, she has yet to learn to close the door once she’s through.

This is a picture of the kitchen area. This is where we eat meals everyday.

This is the shower area. You're supposed to shower and then get into the hot bath.

Getting Started

I know, I know, I know, I haven't updated in a while. I'm sorry. First I had to find an adapter for my computer since the the cord has three prongs and Japanese outlets only have two holes. And it turns out I have a TON of paperwork to do before I can even think about getting any kind of internet. And of course today is a national holiday so I'm writing to you from my host family's computer.

The morning I left for the airport was quite stressful. There was a thunderstorm and so my plane was delayed by about a little over an hour. In consequence I had to RUN to the international terminal once I got off the plane in San Francisco. I barely made the flight, but I wasn't the last one on. It was my first time on a 747, though. I didn't realize that they were double-decker planes. I was on the first floor. They showed us movies like Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, Georgia Rule (which was a really messed up movie), Ocean's Thirteen, and Surf's Up. They fed us a lot on that flight, so I didn't need to eat a whole lot at dinner.

The flight to San Francisco was about 3 hours long and the flight to Narita Airport was a little under 10 hours long. I was dozing off once I got on the 747, but as soon as we started to take off I woke up and didn't go back to sleep. My advice to anybody who takes that long of a flight+ get up and walk around AT LEAST once an hour. I got some minor cramps in my thighs from sitting so long. But we got to Tokyo a bit early, around 2:00 PM, 9/11 Japan time and about 12:00 AM, 9/11 Texas time. Customs was surprisingly breezy and there was a girl from the unversity there to "pick me up." In actuality she showed me where to exchange currency and then handed me a bus schedule.

It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I got on the bus with a guy that was going to the same university as myself, and who also was enrolled at UT. So we got on the bus and it took us to a hotel called Garden Narita. Once we got there, there was an administrator from the university program to give us a packet with our schedule and room key. Each of us had a roommate for the one night we stayed at the hotel. But my roommate didn't arrive when I did, so I went up to my room and the key card didn't work. Luckily a lady had helped me with my bags, so she went to get me a new key while I settled in. The beds were actually futons on bed frames. It was pretty comfy, though. And the window had shoji screens instead of curtains. Once I got in, I decided to call my parents since they told me they would wait up for me to call them once I arrived in Japan. So I spent 15 minutes talking to them (and they sounded pretty tired) and when we checked out I had to pay about $10 for that call. But the university paid for the room as well as dinner and breakfast at the hotel's buffet restaurant.

I met some people at dinner that are pretty cool. Apparently there are about 10 people who came frmo a certain university in Hawaii. So they tend to hang out together exclusively. However, I met this really nice guy who goes to school in Hawaii, but he's from Ohio; his name is Kyle. I also met another guy who is from Denmark. His English is really, really good and his Japanese isn't bad, either. He's half Danish, half Japanese and he looks like one of my cousins.

We had to bring our luggage down to a conference room for the university to arrange transportation at about 8:45 PM, 9/11 Japan time. So, by the time I got to sleep I had been awake for about 28 hours. I had set my alarm for the next morning, but I woke up before it went off, but I guess I'm just not used to getting more than 9 hours of sleep. So I went down to breakfast and ate with some of those people from Hawaii. Then I went upstairs to get my overnight bags and then we took a bus from the hotel to the university which took about 3 hours.

Once we got there we went through some orientation stuff. They fed us lunch and we went for more orientation stuff. Then it was time to go t our apartment or homestay, whatever we signed up for. I signed up for the homestay, so we were taken into another room and then we were told that our "parents" were in the next room. So everybody got really nervous and then they started calling us out one by one. Of course, I was the first to go. So I was led into a room full of Japanese homestay parents. One man in the front had two small kids with him. My host mom stood up and we were introduced in front of everybody.

So I've been living with them for a couple of days now. I'll update some more later on.

And the Countdown Begins

So...tomorrow is the big day. My first flight takes off at 8:00 AM and I am supposed to arrive at Narita Airport at about midnight here in Texas, barring any flight delays, of course. So, it will take me about 16 hours to arrive in Japan, then I must get through customs and find a University representative and get to the hotel.

I can tell this is going to be a difficult transition for me. I'm already having a hard time falling asleep at night. And I still can't find one of my Japanese textbooks. I still haven't finished packing either. And people keep trying to tell me good-bye in person. I know that seems a little weird, but I'm on an emotional edge right now. I'm about to leave my family and country and go into the totally unknown (at least for me) and I won't be coming back for pretty much a full year. I just don't want to have a breakdown before I get to where I need to be.

But, on a lighter note, I saw the Nanny Diaries movie earlier this week which was really cute. I must admit I can identify with the main character pretty well. But, I guess that's what this trip is all about.

Also, in answer to my latest comments: Haha, I'll do my best not to get married right away. And I did not go through a company; the University's Center for International Studies arranged my homestay.

Homestay Info

FINALLY! Haha, I finally got information about my homestay! I'll be living with a family in Sagamihara. Which is kinda funny because that's in a different prefecture than my university. My university is located in Machida, Tokyo prefecture. Sagamihara is in Kanagawa prefecture. So, they're basically in different states, but they're only five miles apart, so I'm not too worried about commuting time. However, there might be more paperwork involved...which is just great.

Apparently I'll be living with 2 adults. I was kinda hoping for children, but oh well. I'm just grateful that I have someplace to live. So here is a map of the Kanto region.


The two pink dots are roughly where Machida and Sagamihara are located. Machida is in Tokyo prefecture and Sagamihara is in Kanagawa prefecture. I think I may have put Sagamihara a bit too close to that river...

My Jobless Week so far...

Well, I spent yesterday recovering from that bug and today was the first day that I didn't have anywhere to be. So I spent all day trying to find a power converter for my laptop for Japanese outlets that are only 100 volts. So I finally decide to actually look at the laptop and it's already equipped for that sort of thing.

Ugh. I feel utterly stupid.

But then I had to go pick up my younger brother from marching practice today. So I left a bit early to go watch the band for a bit.

I don't think I can express just what I felt when I heard the drumline start up and saw the flags twirling in the air. There was a nice breeze and I couldn't help but remember what it was like for ME to be in the band; THIS band. And then I hear the director's voice calling out directions to people and telling the new comers, and some of the veterans, to just march in a straight line from one set to the next and the formation will unfold the way it's supposed to. I cannot tell you how many times I'd heard that during my high school years. I miss those days. Sure, there were issues back then and I now have a better knowledge of certain people who I thought were friends back then, but I miss those days so much.

It kind of reminds me of this one part in one of the Lord of the Rings movies. In the Fellowship when they're in Lothlorien and Boromir is telling Aragorn about Gondor.

"My father is a noble man. But his rule is failing...and our...our people lose faith. He looks to me to make things right, and I-I would do it. I would see the glory of Gondor restored. Have you ever seen it, Aragorn? The White Tower of Ecthelion. Glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver. Its banners caught high in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home...by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?"

"I have seen the White City. Long ago."

"One day, our paths will lead us there. And the tower guard shall take up the call: 'The Lords of Gondor have returned.' "

If you pay attention to the music during that part of the movie, it reminds me a bit of those times.

One Week to Go

Well, my last day of work was Friday, and what a day it was. Seven o'clock to 12:30 in the three-year-olds' classroom and 2:30 to 6:00 in the four-year-olds' classroom. And then, when I got home, we had a two-year-old in the house. My mom had volunteered to keep one of her co-workers' kids for the weekend.

Then Saturday I went to a birthday party for one of my former co-workers. Started off at Chili's and then we went to the Main Event bowling alley. That was pretty interesting, I actually came in first place twice out of three times! Which is amazing because I can't really bowl for anything...

But when I got back at around midnight, my parents had stuck the two-year-old in my room, which was fine at first, but then he woke me up at 6:30 AM. And then I got sick. I spent all day feeling nauseated and icky. When I finally threw up sometime in the evening I felt better at first, but then that icky feeling came back, so I just went to sleep. And it really sort of stunk because I didn't feel like eating at all yesterday and my mom had made pancakes for breakfast. Surprisingly I'm still not hungry. But since I'm feeling so much better this morning I think I'll go ahead and fix me some leftovers...

Anyway, I have exactly one week to go until I leave for Japan. I'm starting to get pretty nervous. Especially since I still haven't found out anything about the family I'm going to be staying with (hopefully). And I still haven't been able to find a converter for my laptop charger. I finally have my two big suitcases, but all I have to do now if try to fit everything I'm going to need this year in those two suitcases. Haha, I actually had a dream last night that I was in Japan, but for some reason I was moving into an apartment. Hopefully that won't be the case....