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Friday, June 19, 2009, 11pm
Two days ago, I met my home stay family yesterday. My host mother is so nice; always in the kitchen cooking though. That is her job, besides teaching Japanese to foreigners that are beginners and want to learn “survival Japanese”. My host father loves baseball, used to play as a kid, and loves Hideki Matsui. I also live with an 80 year old grandma. This morning I had a hot dog, croissant, and yogurt (the yogurt is amazing here because Hokkaido is largely known for the farming agriculture). They told me that Japanese people eat a lot of breakfast. That’s going to take some time getting used to I guess, because I usually hate breakfast, but, I eat everything and the mom seems happy that I do. I think it would be rude to leave anything over. I eat dinner with the Japanese high school girls that live in the dorm next door that the father and mother run.
Today I told my host mom that breakfast is a little much for me. I asked if on some days when it’s convenient if I could bring it to school and eat it and she was really nice about it. My problem is that it takes some time to get to school, and let’s just say my metabolism is quite fast.
School takes about 35 minutes: walking to the street car takes 10 minutes, the street car takes 15 min and the walk to school from the street car takes about 10 minutes. But I told my host dad I wanted to use a bicycle and he told me he could let me borrow one, but that it is dangerous to use a bike. (Dangerous? Japan feels like the safest place to me! People leave their bikes unattended in one spot for the whole day and no one takes it!) He said it might be dangerous because of traffic. I kind of live in the busy part of town, but it’s nothing like NY.
I think I’ll experiment with my bicycle this weekend so I can figure out if I can get to school or not. All the streets are paved so it should be easy.
I really like my host mom. I had a two hour long conversation with her today solely in Japanese. I think I need to be more confident in my Japanese. I’m scared I might be too informal, so I speak slowly so I can catch myself before I talk. My host mom is surprisingly easy to talk you. My host dad tells me to tell him things frankly, but I still feel quite a mountain of distance between us that I don’t think we’ll ever overcome. I feel like I should be speaking to my host grandma in honorific form so I feel bad when I speak to her in Japanese. It’s a totally indirect conversation. My host dad and grandma talk about me when I am in the same room not even 3 feet away. I understand everything and they even say that it seems that I understand everything yet their conversation about me continues: Slightly weird. My mom told me a bike cost about $100 (10000 yen). It’s cheap because they import it from China. They are pretty nice looking bikes that seem to be made for short Asian people. I can’t wait to get lost within this city!
We have to do an independent study project for the HIF program. I decided to do my project in relation to sexism and how men/women view each other as well as the opposite sex. If I want to live in this country one day, I need to know if traditional Japanese thoughts are changing. I’ll keep you updated.
Today I had another cultural class: tea ceremony. We went to a high school in which girls that had the interest, took tea ceremony classes 3 times a week. It’s like an etiquette class. Although the activity welcomes males and females, the males don’t seem to participate: it was all females. We sat on a tatami mat, ate some sweets, and drank some sencha (I learned that oolong tea is partially fermented and black tea is completely fermented. Green tea and sencha are not fermented at all). There was a scroll in the room that explained the importance of respect and harmony and this was written in Japanese calligraphy. I realized my room in my host family’s house has this same set up: tatami mat, and a hanging scroll with calligraphy. It was then I realized I shouldn’t have moved my bed in front of the scroll in my room, even if it meant to make my room look spacious. I know my host mom came into my room the other day and today I saw her and profusely apologized. My family is used to have host kids I guess (they have been doing it for 14 years) so she said it doesn’t matter and I can do as I like with my room, but I felt bad so I told her I already moved it back to the original space and she was so surprised. I kind of like the hanging scroll and flower arrangement in front of it. It’s supposed to convey the feeling of the season. Since summer is coming, she put some real flowers in it so that one can look at it, smile, and be able to feel the approaching season.
Tomorrow is Saturday. I get to sleep in for once. Everyday I have to wake up at 7am and I sleep around midnight. My host mom and dad are taking me to the flower festival. All of the local flower shops and etc bring their flowers and there’s a show. I’m curious.
Oh, by the way, Hokkaido is really cold. I have been wearing 3 layers everyday (shirt, long sleeve, and jacket). My host grandma is so worried I’m going to catch a cold. Which is a great example of the paranoia of swine flu that is sweeping this nation.
PS- I only brought one suitcase, so I think I went through my entire wardrobe of clothes in one week. Damn, I’m a bum.
Two days ago, I met my home stay family yesterday. My host mother is so nice; always in the kitchen cooking though. That is her job, besides teaching Japanese to foreigners that are beginners and want to learn “survival Japanese”. My host father loves baseball, used to play as a kid, and loves Hideki Matsui. I also live with an 80 year old grandma. This morning I had a hot dog, croissant, and yogurt (the yogurt is amazing here because Hokkaido is largely known for the farming agriculture). They told me that Japanese people eat a lot of breakfast. That’s going to take some time getting used to I guess, because I usually hate breakfast, but, I eat everything and the mom seems happy that I do. I think it would be rude to leave anything over. I eat dinner with the Japanese high school girls that live in the dorm next door that the father and mother run.
Today I told my host mom that breakfast is a little much for me. I asked if on some days when it’s convenient if I could bring it to school and eat it and she was really nice about it. My problem is that it takes some time to get to school, and let’s just say my metabolism is quite fast.
School takes about 35 minutes: walking to the street car takes 10 minutes, the street car takes 15 min and the walk to school from the street car takes about 10 minutes. But I told my host dad I wanted to use a bicycle and he told me he could let me borrow one, but that it is dangerous to use a bike. (Dangerous? Japan feels like the safest place to me! People leave their bikes unattended in one spot for the whole day and no one takes it!) He said it might be dangerous because of traffic. I kind of live in the busy part of town, but it’s nothing like NY.
I think I’ll experiment with my bicycle this weekend so I can figure out if I can get to school or not. All the streets are paved so it should be easy.
I really like my host mom. I had a two hour long conversation with her today solely in Japanese. I think I need to be more confident in my Japanese. I’m scared I might be too informal, so I speak slowly so I can catch myself before I talk. My host mom is surprisingly easy to talk you. My host dad tells me to tell him things frankly, but I still feel quite a mountain of distance between us that I don’t think we’ll ever overcome. I feel like I should be speaking to my host grandma in honorific form so I feel bad when I speak to her in Japanese. It’s a totally indirect conversation. My host dad and grandma talk about me when I am in the same room not even 3 feet away. I understand everything and they even say that it seems that I understand everything yet their conversation about me continues: Slightly weird. My mom told me a bike cost about $100 (10000 yen). It’s cheap because they import it from China. They are pretty nice looking bikes that seem to be made for short Asian people. I can’t wait to get lost within this city!
We have to do an independent study project for the HIF program. I decided to do my project in relation to sexism and how men/women view each other as well as the opposite sex. If I want to live in this country one day, I need to know if traditional Japanese thoughts are changing. I’ll keep you updated.
Today I had another cultural class: tea ceremony. We went to a high school in which girls that had the interest, took tea ceremony classes 3 times a week. It’s like an etiquette class. Although the activity welcomes males and females, the males don’t seem to participate: it was all females. We sat on a tatami mat, ate some sweets, and drank some sencha (I learned that oolong tea is partially fermented and black tea is completely fermented. Green tea and sencha are not fermented at all). There was a scroll in the room that explained the importance of respect and harmony and this was written in Japanese calligraphy. I realized my room in my host family’s house has this same set up: tatami mat, and a hanging scroll with calligraphy. It was then I realized I shouldn’t have moved my bed in front of the scroll in my room, even if it meant to make my room look spacious. I know my host mom came into my room the other day and today I saw her and profusely apologized. My family is used to have host kids I guess (they have been doing it for 14 years) so she said it doesn’t matter and I can do as I like with my room, but I felt bad so I told her I already moved it back to the original space and she was so surprised. I kind of like the hanging scroll and flower arrangement in front of it. It’s supposed to convey the feeling of the season. Since summer is coming, she put some real flowers in it so that one can look at it, smile, and be able to feel the approaching season.
Tomorrow is Saturday. I get to sleep in for once. Everyday I have to wake up at 7am and I sleep around midnight. My host mom and dad are taking me to the flower festival. All of the local flower shops and etc bring their flowers and there’s a show. I’m curious.
Oh, by the way, Hokkaido is really cold. I have been wearing 3 layers everyday (shirt, long sleeve, and jacket). My host grandma is so worried I’m going to catch a cold. Which is a great example of the paranoia of swine flu that is sweeping this nation.
PS- I only brought one suitcase, so I think I went through my entire wardrobe of clothes in one week. Damn, I’m a bum.
i love your blogs! you're so descriptive, i feel like im there...but im not boo...
ReplyDeletewhen can we skype again? btw, i like your poem and the panda picture!!!! did you find a good picture uploader?
i wish u were here too.
ReplyDeletei can skype around 7:30am-9:30am every morning, your time. weekends are different. i might be on during your night time.
i just used picasa. but already used 25%
Wow. Thanks for updating big.
ReplyDeleteIt makes it feel like you're near me instead of half a world away.
I like your topic for the independent project. Are you going to concentrate on a certain area or keep it general?
My topic: I'm going to give people scenarios, young and old and ask if they think a 30 or 40 yr old women should quit her job to get married and take care of kids, and vice versa. Also, I'll ask ppl if the women makes more money, should the husband quit to take care of kids. Keeping in mind there is no such thing as daycare/babysitting.
ReplyDeletei also ask how women/men should live their life.
eh, it's a sucky project. but i also have to think of another for my program in the fall. apparently i need a project for them as well.