This week has been absurdly busy for me, mostly due to the fact that a Professor from MIT (Dr. Suzanne Flynn) is visiting Tokyo to give a set of talks about her research in the feild of language and language learning which, as it turns out, happens to perfectly support what Hippo Family Club is already doing. I think the people here at Hippo are looking at this as a huge break and hopefully will help the public realize the ease of naturally aquiring a language vs. studying. And more importantly, the importance of learning other languages and supporting a multilingual enviroment. The United States boast diversity but really, most Americans are only exposed to English when we have the opportunity to nurture a multilingual enviroment. Anyway, I have been busy getting ready for her to arrive and yesterday I went to Narita to help welcome her to Japan. Besides that, we are having a big workshop tomorrow and I am on of the MC's and I am a native english speaker so I have been doing a lot of english checking and translating this week. On top of that, I have been to 3 different hippo clubs this week. I have come home around 10pm every night (sometimes later) It has been an exhausting schedule but I am really enjoying it.
I'm busy, but I enjoy getting to meet with people, talk with them and feel like I am apart of something. Part of the reason why i am busy is now I have made a lot of friends and we are realizing i don't have a lot of time left before I leave so I want to make sure i get to spend time with everyone.
anyway, that's all i can write for now
but i'm doing well
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Some words
It's May which means I am in the the last 3 months of this year long experience. It has been a long time since I've strolled through boston with a Tealuxe cup of matte in my hand or pushed off in that wonderful red cannoe in North Waterboro. But I know that as soon as I come back from Japan I'll be reminicing about the inari zushi from 7-11 and being able to get to anywhere I want just using the trains. But really what I miss the most from the states are the people and I know it'll be what I miss the most from here.
We recently had a long vacation called Golden Week at the begining of May. My host family and I took the opportunity to go to Gunma-ken (where my host dad's parents' house is) and Nikko. It was my first experience traveling with the twins but we actually had a fantastic time. I actually think I prefer sight seeing with kids, or atleast Fu and Nori. We jumped up and down all the stairs around the temples and ran around the more open areas and sang songs while we walked or skipped. They held my hands the whole time and I really felt like we spent some good quality play time together.
When we sat down for dinner on that first night at the hotel, Fu chan started saying "I want to sleep in Jess's room! I wanna sleep in Jess's room!" since I had a room to myself that had two beds. " I wanna sleep in Jess's room because I love Jess! I wanna be with Jess!" You can't get any more welcoming than that. But dispite her demands, her mom had the final say and insisted that she sleep with everyone else. What was really suprising to me though was that when we went to the hotel, it was the first time in Nori and Fu's lives that they have slept on beds! ever since they came home from the hospital, they have sleped with their parents on a futon. I guess my host parents were a bit worried about how well they'd handle the beds but they ended up being okay. (but Nori is a squirmer and almost wiggled his way off the bed a couple times since he usually just tumbles around the room in his sleep)
We spent a couple nights at the grandparent's house in Gunma and of course ate lots of food and got lots of sleep. overall it was a fun and relaxing Golden Week vacation.
Last night I was cleaning up my room since I have little storage in my new room, it has a tendancy to get messy really quickly (nothing new really). As I dumped out all my clothes onto my bed for refolding and organizing, the twins came running in demanding an explination. After letting them know I wanted to clean up my room, Fu-chan's little eyes lit up "ishyoni yaru?!" "wanna do it together?" at first i was hesitant since it's hard for me to explain where I want certain things but we started with my clothes. Fu-chan has already been helping her mom fold the laundry so this was perfect for her to do. She set to work folding but meanwhile Nori-kun had different ideas about what "cleaning" meant and set about further messying my room. So i handed him a deck of Doraemon cards to keep him busy. Nori got a little bored with the cards so he decided that he'd help out by setting up a fan and a radio, which actually was really helpful. Fu and I were an efficiant folding team and got the task done in pretty good time. While we were folding clothes, Nori-kun kept himself busy having dialouge about a game he invented for himself with the cards. I don't really know what he was talking about but I did hear him say a few times "powaaaa aaappu! (power up)" followed by some really intense sound effects. When we had finished folding clothes, we tidied up my desk so that we could have a spot to play Babanuki (Old Maid). Card games are still a bit too difficult for them to grasp (openly saying "I have the Maid!" when the cards are dealt, and having issues puting only pairs down, instead of three of a kinds) but we mannage just fine. Just as we finished our second round it was time to eat. As we left my room, Fu Chan grabbed up my hand and said " I wanna sit next to you, Jess because you are so nice!" and we made our way to the dinner table hand in hand.
We recently had a long vacation called Golden Week at the begining of May. My host family and I took the opportunity to go to Gunma-ken (where my host dad's parents' house is) and Nikko. It was my first experience traveling with the twins but we actually had a fantastic time. I actually think I prefer sight seeing with kids, or atleast Fu and Nori. We jumped up and down all the stairs around the temples and ran around the more open areas and sang songs while we walked or skipped. They held my hands the whole time and I really felt like we spent some good quality play time together.
When we sat down for dinner on that first night at the hotel, Fu chan started saying "I want to sleep in Jess's room! I wanna sleep in Jess's room!" since I had a room to myself that had two beds. " I wanna sleep in Jess's room because I love Jess! I wanna be with Jess!" You can't get any more welcoming than that. But dispite her demands, her mom had the final say and insisted that she sleep with everyone else. What was really suprising to me though was that when we went to the hotel, it was the first time in Nori and Fu's lives that they have slept on beds! ever since they came home from the hospital, they have sleped with their parents on a futon. I guess my host parents were a bit worried about how well they'd handle the beds but they ended up being okay. (but Nori is a squirmer and almost wiggled his way off the bed a couple times since he usually just tumbles around the room in his sleep)
We spent a couple nights at the grandparent's house in Gunma and of course ate lots of food and got lots of sleep. overall it was a fun and relaxing Golden Week vacation.
Last night I was cleaning up my room since I have little storage in my new room, it has a tendancy to get messy really quickly (nothing new really). As I dumped out all my clothes onto my bed for refolding and organizing, the twins came running in demanding an explination. After letting them know I wanted to clean up my room, Fu-chan's little eyes lit up "ishyoni yaru?!" "wanna do it together?" at first i was hesitant since it's hard for me to explain where I want certain things but we started with my clothes. Fu-chan has already been helping her mom fold the laundry so this was perfect for her to do. She set to work folding but meanwhile Nori-kun had different ideas about what "cleaning" meant and set about further messying my room. So i handed him a deck of Doraemon cards to keep him busy. Nori got a little bored with the cards so he decided that he'd help out by setting up a fan and a radio, which actually was really helpful. Fu and I were an efficiant folding team and got the task done in pretty good time. While we were folding clothes, Nori-kun kept himself busy having dialouge about a game he invented for himself with the cards. I don't really know what he was talking about but I did hear him say a few times "powaaaa aaappu! (power up)" followed by some really intense sound effects. When we had finished folding clothes, we tidied up my desk so that we could have a spot to play Babanuki (Old Maid). Card games are still a bit too difficult for them to grasp (openly saying "I have the Maid!" when the cards are dealt, and having issues puting only pairs down, instead of three of a kinds) but we mannage just fine. Just as we finished our second round it was time to eat. As we left my room, Fu Chan grabbed up my hand and said " I wanna sit next to you, Jess because you are so nice!" and we made our way to the dinner table hand in hand.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Coconut and Cherry Blossom Trees (super long post)
Yep. It is definitely spring! It is in the uper 60's, blue skies and a soft breeze. Today I went with people from work to Yoyogi park to have lunch under the falling cherry blossoms. It is truely amazing how such gentle wind can give birth to such a heavy shower of flower petals. I have pictures on the way but they don't do the feeling any justice. truely amazing.
But today, what I really want to write about is my experience sitting under coconut trees in Thailand last week.
I went to Thailand from the 26th of March until the 4th of April. It was such an awesome time, I can't wait to go back!
The night before departure I stayed at one of the group leader's house since she lives closer to Ikebukuro where we would change trains a few times and eventually get to Narita. The next morning when we managed to scramble out of her house around 5am, a few snowflakes fluttered above our breath. We missed the first two trains by just a hair which set us back pretty far and we ended up getting to the airport half an hour late. As we made our way through passport check, I was pulled aside since I had joined the rest of the group in the Japanese Citizen Only line by accident and I was asked in English (its been a while since someone has spoken to me in English outside of friends and family) "Excuse me ma'am do you have a Japanese Passport? No? This line is for Japanese Only" It was a bit shocking and embarassing. But thankfully, it wasn't just me, Ipuni (the woman i went to the airport with) is Korean so we got to wait together in the extremely long "foriener" line. And as we boarded the plane the airline staff said "ohaiyo gozaimasu" to the people in front and behind me but "good morning" to me. I guess it really doesn't matter what language they greet me in, but within the group i felt seperated(which isn't a very good thing in Japan) But I just laughed it of. Actually, on the way to Bangkok, the airline staff didn't speak Japanese so I could help out when they talked to the kids in English.
We took Singapore airlines which has Amazing service. The meal was actually filling and the inflight entertainment center was sweet. They had a hand set that could also function as the channel remote and a game controller. I played some Game Boy Classic Kurby for about half an hour before playing a Thai Language learning game until finally I decided to just watch movies. There were probably like 20 different movie channels and you could pause, rewind and fastforward. I watched a bunch of new movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (on the return trip), Secret Life of Bees, The Day the Earth Stood Still and clips of a couple others that I dont know the names of. The strange thing about watching these movies is that because they were in English, I got really really sucked into the emotions and the stories. (I hardly ever cry at movies but I cried during the Curious Case of Benjamin Button like 3 times and once during the Secret Life of Bees) Probably because its been a while since I've understood what was coming out of a television.
From Japan to Thailand, our flight path took us right over Mt. Fuji. The birds eye view is probably my favorite view of Fuji-san. And flying over Thailand was really spectacular too. Green covered Mountains, rivers farms and villages spread out below us. the sky was riddled with the most volumous and fluffy looking clouds I have seen in a while. At one point the plane passed through what seemd like a cooridor of clouds towering over us. As we got closer to Bangkok you could see long rows and clusters of l ittle monopoly looking houses all with the same color roof. (mostly red but there were green, orange and blue groups too).
When we entered the airport, a couple of monks strolled by and a band of young boys were playing traditional Thail instraments near the entrance. Jungle like flora was all around us and it finnally struck me that I was in Thailand. We took a 30-40 minute bus ride to the hotel. We spent the rest of the evening feasting on delicioius Thai food and chatting. The Thai host organization leader was really awesome. He was always smiling or laughing and cracking jokes. On our walk back to the hotel i noticed really strange light bursts in the distant sky that i couldn't quite make out but seemed like either fireworks, heat lighting or real lighting. I asked the Thai leader and he replied in Japanese with a huge grin " Oh that? It's just the clouds playing." ("それ？雲の遊び")
3/27 After eating a big breakfast, we met our host families and played games together. My host mom and I got off to a good start. We played a game wehre we had to hold a baloon between ourselves and our bost by the hip. And they taught us all how to say " I'm beautiful" in Thai("chan suai") which I often said when my host family took pictures of me as a joke. Afterwards, my host dad picked us up and brought us to a shopping mall where we met up with my host and her friends. We grabbed mango ice cream (with sweet green rice), and i bought some sandals for 90bahts (around 2 or 3 USD). We went to my host family's house where I unpacked my large luggage and packed a small bag for the following 3 days.
My host mom had told me soon after meeting me that they had made plans to take me to a rual place south of Bangkok to stay in their grandmother's sister's house. It took about 2 or 3 hours by car passing through rice and salt fields. Eventually we got to our first destination, Amphawa in the Samut Songkhram Province. This spot is most famous for the large floating market located there. My first experience in the market was pretty shocking. The amount of smells, sounds, sights and people were overwhelming yet facinating. The first 15 minutes we walked through a regular street with food carts busily preparing food along with some booths that were selling toys made out of coconut shells and the like. Eventually we reached a bridge and as we climed over it, the floating market was revealed. Some boats were packed full of fruit while other were cooking up fried rice or noodles. The mixture of smells was a bit much but it all comes with the experience I guess. Over time, as I visisted markets every day, I started to get used to the offensive wave of smells but the 100 humid weather doesn't exactly help matters out.
Around sunset we took a boat down the river to go firefly watching. The fireflies in Thailand only live in one certain kind of tree along the river. As the sky darked, it became obvious which trees they were living in. A delightlful flickering of light came from the leaves and one could have mistaken them for dim christmas lights set to "random". We spent about an hour and a half on the river before returning to the market and buying dinner to go. The car ride from the market to my host grand aunt's house took about 30 minutes but it really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. My host family and I cracked jokes about seeing ghosts in the forest and all kinds of other funny things. When we arrived it was pitch dark (something i dont see in Tokyo) and there were coconut trees all around. We ate dinner next to the canal in front of the house. After eating we all went swimming/bathed in the river with tons of bats flying about over head, and fish swimming around us. my host dad caught a small needle fish in his hand and jokingly threw it at me. But it was really amazing to be back in nature and away from the lights and sounds of the city. Soon after we got out of the river, we went to bed.
to be continued!
But today, what I really want to write about is my experience sitting under coconut trees in Thailand last week.
I went to Thailand from the 26th of March until the 4th of April. It was such an awesome time, I can't wait to go back!
The night before departure I stayed at one of the group leader's house since she lives closer to Ikebukuro where we would change trains a few times and eventually get to Narita. The next morning when we managed to scramble out of her house around 5am, a few snowflakes fluttered above our breath. We missed the first two trains by just a hair which set us back pretty far and we ended up getting to the airport half an hour late. As we made our way through passport check, I was pulled aside since I had joined the rest of the group in the Japanese Citizen Only line by accident and I was asked in English (its been a while since someone has spoken to me in English outside of friends and family) "Excuse me ma'am do you have a Japanese Passport? No? This line is for Japanese Only" It was a bit shocking and embarassing. But thankfully, it wasn't just me, Ipuni (the woman i went to the airport with) is Korean so we got to wait together in the extremely long "foriener" line. And as we boarded the plane the airline staff said "ohaiyo gozaimasu" to the people in front and behind me but "good morning" to me. I guess it really doesn't matter what language they greet me in, but within the group i felt seperated(which isn't a very good thing in Japan) But I just laughed it of. Actually, on the way to Bangkok, the airline staff didn't speak Japanese so I could help out when they talked to the kids in English.
We took Singapore airlines which has Amazing service. The meal was actually filling and the inflight entertainment center was sweet. They had a hand set that could also function as the channel remote and a game controller. I played some Game Boy Classic Kurby for about half an hour before playing a Thai Language learning game until finally I decided to just watch movies. There were probably like 20 different movie channels and you could pause, rewind and fastforward. I watched a bunch of new movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (on the return trip), Secret Life of Bees, The Day the Earth Stood Still and clips of a couple others that I dont know the names of. The strange thing about watching these movies is that because they were in English, I got really really sucked into the emotions and the stories. (I hardly ever cry at movies but I cried during the Curious Case of Benjamin Button like 3 times and once during the Secret Life of Bees) Probably because its been a while since I've understood what was coming out of a television.
From Japan to Thailand, our flight path took us right over Mt. Fuji. The birds eye view is probably my favorite view of Fuji-san. And flying over Thailand was really spectacular too. Green covered Mountains, rivers farms and villages spread out below us. the sky was riddled with the most volumous and fluffy looking clouds I have seen in a while. At one point the plane passed through what seemd like a cooridor of clouds towering over us. As we got closer to Bangkok you could see long rows and clusters of l ittle monopoly looking houses all with the same color roof. (mostly red but there were green, orange and blue groups too).
When we entered the airport, a couple of monks strolled by and a band of young boys were playing traditional Thail instraments near the entrance. Jungle like flora was all around us and it finnally struck me that I was in Thailand. We took a 30-40 minute bus ride to the hotel. We spent the rest of the evening feasting on delicioius Thai food and chatting. The Thai host organization leader was really awesome. He was always smiling or laughing and cracking jokes. On our walk back to the hotel i noticed really strange light bursts in the distant sky that i couldn't quite make out but seemed like either fireworks, heat lighting or real lighting. I asked the Thai leader and he replied in Japanese with a huge grin " Oh that? It's just the clouds playing." ("それ？雲の遊び")
3/27 After eating a big breakfast, we met our host families and played games together. My host mom and I got off to a good start. We played a game wehre we had to hold a baloon between ourselves and our bost by the hip. And they taught us all how to say " I'm beautiful" in Thai("chan suai") which I often said when my host family took pictures of me as a joke. Afterwards, my host dad picked us up and brought us to a shopping mall where we met up with my host and her friends. We grabbed mango ice cream (with sweet green rice), and i bought some sandals for 90bahts (around 2 or 3 USD). We went to my host family's house where I unpacked my large luggage and packed a small bag for the following 3 days.
My host mom had told me soon after meeting me that they had made plans to take me to a rual place south of Bangkok to stay in their grandmother's sister's house. It took about 2 or 3 hours by car passing through rice and salt fields. Eventually we got to our first destination, Amphawa in the Samut Songkhram Province. This spot is most famous for the large floating market located there. My first experience in the market was pretty shocking. The amount of smells, sounds, sights and people were overwhelming yet facinating. The first 15 minutes we walked through a regular street with food carts busily preparing food along with some booths that were selling toys made out of coconut shells and the like. Eventually we reached a bridge and as we climed over it, the floating market was revealed. Some boats were packed full of fruit while other were cooking up fried rice or noodles. The mixture of smells was a bit much but it all comes with the experience I guess. Over time, as I visisted markets every day, I started to get used to the offensive wave of smells but the 100 humid weather doesn't exactly help matters out.
Around sunset we took a boat down the river to go firefly watching. The fireflies in Thailand only live in one certain kind of tree along the river. As the sky darked, it became obvious which trees they were living in. A delightlful flickering of light came from the leaves and one could have mistaken them for dim christmas lights set to "random". We spent about an hour and a half on the river before returning to the market and buying dinner to go. The car ride from the market to my host grand aunt's house took about 30 minutes but it really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. My host family and I cracked jokes about seeing ghosts in the forest and all kinds of other funny things. When we arrived it was pitch dark (something i dont see in Tokyo) and there were coconut trees all around. We ate dinner next to the canal in front of the house. After eating we all went swimming/bathed in the river with tons of bats flying about over head, and fish swimming around us. my host dad caught a small needle fish in his hand and jokingly threw it at me. But it was really amazing to be back in nature and away from the lights and sounds of the city. Soon after we got out of the river, we went to bed.
to be continued!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Nori-kun and Fu-chan
The spring sun is out to play after a few days of rain and clouds. The plum blossoms have sprung out of the grey blanket of winter and it is time for change and rebirth. Sunday I moved into my new host family's house. I was greeted with running-start hugs from 2 twin 5 year olds (a boy and a girl) anxious to start playing. My new house is on the 3rd floor of an appartment building and is much smaller in size, but perfectly comfortable. I already feel right at home.
The Twins
Fumina (Fu-chan)
Fu-chan is a very bright girl. She really loves talking and singing. At the dinner table she is usually the main speaker (and the last to finish her food) She finds almost anything hilarious and is constantly busrting out in laughter over anything. When we were about to eat our first dinner together she came to the sudden realization that there are now more girls than boys in the house which was probably the most exciting news in a while. "yaaay! otonna team wa tsuyooii!!" "Yay! The girls team is the strongest!"she boasted as she broke out into a little dance (which was closely followed by bursting out into laughter) She really makes the home atmosphere light and fun.
Norifumi (Nori-kun)
Nori-kun is a little more analytical in his play (although he is prone to his own laughing fits) He really likes watching TV but even more so, he likes telling me all about the program he's watching (who is related to who, who has done what and so on) even though I can only understand 40 percent of what he's saying. He has also spent some time telling me about some robot characters that he likes and explained to me that the cars in the parking lot "are all the same thing but they all have different marks!" (Nisan, Toyota etc..) He is much quieter than his sister but he keeps very busy
When they found out that I like to draw, nori-kun got out the pencils and fu-chan grabbed paper for everyone and we sat down and drew together on the first night. Before we started drawing they said (all in Japanese of course) "Jess, draw something you like, and we'll copy you" I suggested that they draw whatever they wanted to but it seemed that they wanted to draw whatever I wanted to. I drew the three of us and the results were more adorible than I could have imagined (my two biggest features are my eyes and hair) It was the first of I'm sure many "drawing time"s which makes me really happy. (I might even be able to use some of my art education knowlege) Some other games we've played so far are Rescue Team, Barbie Fashion, Building Tokyo Tower, pingpong, top spinning, and a little origami and more. I have a lot of fun playing with them even though I can't yet understand everything that they say (children speak much differently than adults..much harder to follow) but I have a feeling my Japanese is only going to go steaply uphill in the next coming months.
The kids are still in kindergarden and are just starting to be able to read and write. Yesterday Nori-kun was making a sign for their room that said "Nori Kun and Fu chan 's room" "norikun to fuchan no heya". He was having a hard time writing fu-chan's name so I helped him out and it was an extremely gratifying experience. I really feel like an older sister now that I can share such an important thing as how to write. I am so grateful that I learned how to write hiragana and katakana 5 years ago.
My host Parents
Host Mom: Emera
She is a Hippo Fellow (group leader) so we often talk about Hippo related stuff. I really enjoy talking with Emera because she is really light hearted, enjoys joking around and is genuinely a kind person. She has a lot of patience and i get a sense that she is really interested in listening to what I have to say. She is a very powerful yet extremely nice mother and I already have a lot of respect for her.
Host Dad: Masami
I haven't spent too much time with him since he is like the typical Japanese father, first out the door and last to come back home (both usually while everyone is still asleep) but on sunday when he was around, he seemed really kind. He asked me a few questions but mostly concentrated on playing with the kids which was really nice to see.
I am really pleased with my new host family situation.
I want to write more, but I am already late..I just wanted to throw a quick update up while I had the chance. (work is super busy!!!)
love and miss you all!
until next time (cause we all know it could be a while...)
ja ne!
Jess
The Twins
Fumina (Fu-chan)
Fu-chan is a very bright girl. She really loves talking and singing. At the dinner table she is usually the main speaker (and the last to finish her food) She finds almost anything hilarious and is constantly busrting out in laughter over anything. When we were about to eat our first dinner together she came to the sudden realization that there are now more girls than boys in the house which was probably the most exciting news in a while. "yaaay! otonna team wa tsuyooii!!" "Yay! The girls team is the strongest!"she boasted as she broke out into a little dance (which was closely followed by bursting out into laughter) She really makes the home atmosphere light and fun.
Norifumi (Nori-kun)
Nori-kun is a little more analytical in his play (although he is prone to his own laughing fits) He really likes watching TV but even more so, he likes telling me all about the program he's watching (who is related to who, who has done what and so on) even though I can only understand 40 percent of what he's saying. He has also spent some time telling me about some robot characters that he likes and explained to me that the cars in the parking lot "are all the same thing but they all have different marks!" (Nisan, Toyota etc..) He is much quieter than his sister but he keeps very busy
When they found out that I like to draw, nori-kun got out the pencils and fu-chan grabbed paper for everyone and we sat down and drew together on the first night. Before we started drawing they said (all in Japanese of course) "Jess, draw something you like, and we'll copy you" I suggested that they draw whatever they wanted to but it seemed that they wanted to draw whatever I wanted to. I drew the three of us and the results were more adorible than I could have imagined (my two biggest features are my eyes and hair) It was the first of I'm sure many "drawing time"s which makes me really happy. (I might even be able to use some of my art education knowlege) Some other games we've played so far are Rescue Team, Barbie Fashion, Building Tokyo Tower, pingpong, top spinning, and a little origami and more. I have a lot of fun playing with them even though I can't yet understand everything that they say (children speak much differently than adults..much harder to follow) but I have a feeling my Japanese is only going to go steaply uphill in the next coming months.
The kids are still in kindergarden and are just starting to be able to read and write. Yesterday Nori-kun was making a sign for their room that said "Nori Kun and Fu chan 's room" "norikun to fuchan no heya". He was having a hard time writing fu-chan's name so I helped him out and it was an extremely gratifying experience. I really feel like an older sister now that I can share such an important thing as how to write. I am so grateful that I learned how to write hiragana and katakana 5 years ago.
My host Parents
Host Mom: Emera
She is a Hippo Fellow (group leader) so we often talk about Hippo related stuff. I really enjoy talking with Emera because she is really light hearted, enjoys joking around and is genuinely a kind person. She has a lot of patience and i get a sense that she is really interested in listening to what I have to say. She is a very powerful yet extremely nice mother and I already have a lot of respect for her.
Host Dad: Masami
I haven't spent too much time with him since he is like the typical Japanese father, first out the door and last to come back home (both usually while everyone is still asleep) but on sunday when he was around, he seemed really kind. He asked me a few questions but mostly concentrated on playing with the kids which was really nice to see.
I am really pleased with my new host family situation.
I want to write more, but I am already late..I just wanted to throw a quick update up while I had the chance. (work is super busy!!!)
love and miss you all!
until next time (cause we all know it could be a while...)
ja ne!
Jess
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Saikyo Line aka Psycho Line
Just a brief little post about my adventures yesterday.
I spent all weekend in my futon trying to get my fever down. I had a temperature of 100.9 on Friday and it mannaged to work its way down to normal by Monday morning. I took a little extra time getting ready for work since I had permission to go to the Nerima City Office before going to work. I needed to get a re-entry visa for when I go to Thailand (but the travel agency needs it way in advance of course). Following my host mom's hand drawn map, I mannaged to find my way to the City Office only to be told that I had to go to the opposite side of the city to get my re-entry visa. I hopped on the train and made my way all the way to Shinagawa Station (about 15 minutes past Shibuya) and find the bus that would take me to the Immigration Office. I got in line for the bus behind a Mongolian Sumo Wrestler and infront of a very Russian old man. I think the diversity on the bus to the Immigration office was the most I've seen in one small area since I've been here, but I guess that makes sense after all.
The immigration office is much like going to the DMV. You take a ticket, wait in line, and the people at the counter look like they haven't had a good day in months. After an hour of being in the Immigration Office I was granted permission to get out of the country and come back again. yay! That was one big thing on my to do list that was scratched off my list. The bus ride from the Immigration Office was like taking a tour of the Tokyo Harbor Area. It was an unexpected chance to see huge barges, cranes, fork lifts, pipes and all the rest on a Tokyo scale.
Next, I needed to make it to the Olympic Center in Yoyogi before 1pm. There was a Hippo Workshop going on for Group Fellows (Chaperones who go with exchange groups) that my department had been working really hard on for the past 2 weeks. I mannaged to get to the doors of the workshop just in time to watch them open up and let everyone out. Oh well.. everyone said it was a lot of fun but reassured me that it was no problem that I missed it (since my visa is a time sensitive thing)
At work I stayed busy after lunch until about 5:30. After making a stop at the postoffice in shibuya I made my way to the station to make my way home. As I stepped up onto the Yamanote line platform, a man with a megaphone was announcing that the train headed towards Shinjuku and Ikebukuro had been severly delayed and directed everyone to use the Saikyo Line instead. The walk between the Yamanote line platform and the Saikyo line takes you through this wide walkway that resembles a large airport (with walking sidewalks and all). As I decended the stairs into the walkway, all I could see infront of me was a sea of people. In my experience of crowds in Tokyo, this ranked in the top 3. And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, we all squeeeezed our way down the stairs onto the platform. (I really wish it had been possible for me to stop and take a picture but there was just no way in hell I was going to risk standing still in this kind of stampede, not to mention, i hate feeling like a tourist and whipping on my camera at every crowded situation in Tokyo...i feel it gets old after a while)
As I waited inline for the next train, I made it a point to take long deep breaths of the cold, fresh air (since the platform is outside) and thought "this is going to suck." We all filed on and just when you think that there is no possible way anyone else could possibly fit, 10 more people try to push on making it litterally impossible to move any part of your body. I had one hand on my messanger bag strap while my other arm was in a really akward possition away from me. I mannaged to pull it in but still only had half of one foot on the floor since my body was tilted diagonally and was being completely held up by the people around me. As the doors shut, we all tried adjusting a bit in preperation for motion when my headphones came unplugged from my cellphone. I thought " well I can't hear anything so maybe it came unplugged from the addaptor chord" because my cellphone has very powerful speakers built into the back of it. The train set into motion and every muscle in my body wished inertia didn't exist. Especially my left foot which was trying its hardest to keep me ballenced on the outside edge of my foot. After a minute or so (after all the jolting of leaving the station) I was able to get both feet properly on the ground. As the train reached its cruising speed, there was silence, and then a very audible primal "Ooooo-ooooiiiiooooo!". My once private music selection (Shpongle- A New Way To Say Hooray for those who know it) had now been made extremely public since my head phones had come unplugged from the actual cellphone. It was imposible for me to silence my phone because i couldn't move and my hand closest to my bag was full. I wrestled with ideas to figure out how I could get at my phone but decided that it was a lost cause. I just sort of laughed to myself at the situation and didnt get to worried about it. afterall...there was no way of telling where it was coming from although they probably could have made a really good guess. :)
Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted from the ride home last night. So I was really happy that my host mom and I watched "Field of Dreams" on TV after dinner. My host mom couldn't believe the amount of open space in Iowa (and how much corn there is). I was really excited to see that in the scene where Ray is driving in Boston, he drives right past MassArt! Anyway, it was a nice wholesom midwestern end to a long day in Tokyo.
I miss everyone a lot!
Love
Jess
I spent all weekend in my futon trying to get my fever down. I had a temperature of 100.9 on Friday and it mannaged to work its way down to normal by Monday morning. I took a little extra time getting ready for work since I had permission to go to the Nerima City Office before going to work. I needed to get a re-entry visa for when I go to Thailand (but the travel agency needs it way in advance of course). Following my host mom's hand drawn map, I mannaged to find my way to the City Office only to be told that I had to go to the opposite side of the city to get my re-entry visa. I hopped on the train and made my way all the way to Shinagawa Station (about 15 minutes past Shibuya) and find the bus that would take me to the Immigration Office. I got in line for the bus behind a Mongolian Sumo Wrestler and infront of a very Russian old man. I think the diversity on the bus to the Immigration office was the most I've seen in one small area since I've been here, but I guess that makes sense after all.
The immigration office is much like going to the DMV. You take a ticket, wait in line, and the people at the counter look like they haven't had a good day in months. After an hour of being in the Immigration Office I was granted permission to get out of the country and come back again. yay! That was one big thing on my to do list that was scratched off my list. The bus ride from the Immigration Office was like taking a tour of the Tokyo Harbor Area. It was an unexpected chance to see huge barges, cranes, fork lifts, pipes and all the rest on a Tokyo scale.
Next, I needed to make it to the Olympic Center in Yoyogi before 1pm. There was a Hippo Workshop going on for Group Fellows (Chaperones who go with exchange groups) that my department had been working really hard on for the past 2 weeks. I mannaged to get to the doors of the workshop just in time to watch them open up and let everyone out. Oh well.. everyone said it was a lot of fun but reassured me that it was no problem that I missed it (since my visa is a time sensitive thing)
At work I stayed busy after lunch until about 5:30. After making a stop at the postoffice in shibuya I made my way to the station to make my way home. As I stepped up onto the Yamanote line platform, a man with a megaphone was announcing that the train headed towards Shinjuku and Ikebukuro had been severly delayed and directed everyone to use the Saikyo Line instead. The walk between the Yamanote line platform and the Saikyo line takes you through this wide walkway that resembles a large airport (with walking sidewalks and all). As I decended the stairs into the walkway, all I could see infront of me was a sea of people. In my experience of crowds in Tokyo, this ranked in the top 3. And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, we all squeeeezed our way down the stairs onto the platform. (I really wish it had been possible for me to stop and take a picture but there was just no way in hell I was going to risk standing still in this kind of stampede, not to mention, i hate feeling like a tourist and whipping on my camera at every crowded situation in Tokyo...i feel it gets old after a while)
As I waited inline for the next train, I made it a point to take long deep breaths of the cold, fresh air (since the platform is outside) and thought "this is going to suck." We all filed on and just when you think that there is no possible way anyone else could possibly fit, 10 more people try to push on making it litterally impossible to move any part of your body. I had one hand on my messanger bag strap while my other arm was in a really akward possition away from me. I mannaged to pull it in but still only had half of one foot on the floor since my body was tilted diagonally and was being completely held up by the people around me. As the doors shut, we all tried adjusting a bit in preperation for motion when my headphones came unplugged from my cellphone. I thought " well I can't hear anything so maybe it came unplugged from the addaptor chord" because my cellphone has very powerful speakers built into the back of it. The train set into motion and every muscle in my body wished inertia didn't exist. Especially my left foot which was trying its hardest to keep me ballenced on the outside edge of my foot. After a minute or so (after all the jolting of leaving the station) I was able to get both feet properly on the ground. As the train reached its cruising speed, there was silence, and then a very audible primal "Ooooo-ooooiiiiooooo!". My once private music selection (Shpongle- A New Way To Say Hooray for those who know it) had now been made extremely public since my head phones had come unplugged from the actual cellphone. It was imposible for me to silence my phone because i couldn't move and my hand closest to my bag was full. I wrestled with ideas to figure out how I could get at my phone but decided that it was a lost cause. I just sort of laughed to myself at the situation and didnt get to worried about it. afterall...there was no way of telling where it was coming from although they probably could have made a really good guess. :)
Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted from the ride home last night. So I was really happy that my host mom and I watched "Field of Dreams" on TV after dinner. My host mom couldn't believe the amount of open space in Iowa (and how much corn there is). I was really excited to see that in the scene where Ray is driving in Boston, he drives right past MassArt! Anyway, it was a nice wholesom midwestern end to a long day in Tokyo.
I miss everyone a lot!
Love
Jess
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Has it really been a month?
あけまして おめでとう ございます！！ (Happy New Year!)
きょねん も よろしくおねがいします (continue to help this year)
Here comes a broken record.....
"Sorry that I haven't written in a month...I've been so busy"
Alright, now that's over with...
Swa-dee-ka! (Thai for hello!)
I have started listening to the Thai language cd everyday during work and when I get home. I only have a month and a half until I make my journey to Thailand and I need to adjust my ears from Japanese to Thai (and try to pick up a few words here and there if possible) Afterall, I:ve been only using 5 vowels my whole life but in Thailand there are over 38....don:t ask me how that is possible....and lets not even talk about tonal variation
Christmas was totally different here since actually, christmas is most seriously celebrated only by couples (like a variation of valentines day since, they also celebrate that differently here too) But my host mom and I went to a jazz concert which was Amazing! I couldn't believe that the band we saw was my host mom's favorite band. It was a mix between ska, rock and jazz (extremely fast passed and the lights were out of controll) and what was even more suprising was to look over at my moderately conservative host mom jumping up and down with her fist in the air. But we had a great time. And when we got home, we finished the day off by eating the Christmas Cake (the single most important part of christmas in Japan) It was a chocolate strawberry cake...soooo good! Santa brought me a scarf, a bear(holding a moon) for my cell phone, tea, and chocolate.
New years was pretty relaxed despite my grand expectations for "Golden Week" At the end of December I had a couple "ぼねんかい” ("bonenkai" or end of the year) parties at work and at my hippo club. Despite the festivities I was feeling quite meloncholy and self consious for no apparent reason. But I enjoyed myself as best as I could. On my week off I spent a lot of time sleeping in, reading, and making my new years cards (ねんがじょう) which I did in wood cut. Its the year of the cow so I was able to make it pretty simple (black, white and green) so it only took me a couple days to make. As I was getting ready for making my new years card I made my way to a famous department store for craft goods in Kichijyoji (my new favorite place) called Yuzawaya which is the equivilent of taking A.C. Moores and multiplying it by 6 floors (not even kidding you) I just about died when I got to the floor for just drawing, painting and printmaking supplies (and just for the saftey of my wallet I completely avoided exploring the fabric floor). I also mannaged to find a pretty sweet 100￥ shop (like a dollar store) near by which was filled with all kinds of strange/cheep treasures.
On new years eve day I spent the day deep cleaning my room since it is extremely important to the Japanese to completely clean everything before the new year comes so that the New Year starts out with good feelings. I spent a lot of time looking at the stuff that I:ve accumulated over the past 4 months, whcih is mostly strange fliers, a couple magazines and other random things. I will be changing host families next month so I did my best to get rid of stuff that I really didn:t need. For dinner, Japanese people usually eat a very traditional japanese meal including carmalized sardines, pickled vegetables and all kinds of other strange things but my host mom made "nabe" instead which I was really greatful for (Nabe is a big soup that is kept hot on the table with a table top kerosine stove. the broth has a lot of spices and my host mom put in lots of mushrooms, tofu, daikon (japanese raddish), and other tasty things that I like. Those who are reading this who know my history of strange eating habbits might be suprised that I was infact happy to eat soup, something I had firmly placed on my "absolutely will not eat" list. I think it was all the ramen that I ate that made me change my mind.
I also celebrated Christmas/New years with the Nomi family which was a ton of fun. I really love going over to their house, everyone is so welcoming. Even nanako's grandfater said to me in his best english "you are my family" and we always have a lot of fun eating, drinking, playing, laughing and singing. We also went on an adventure to Akihabara, Electric Town, whcih was really crazy. I enjoyed it a lot because of how strange it was. There was a whole market place that had low celings, tiny booths scrunched in really tight selling very specific electric parts of all different sizes, shapes and varieties. One booth sold only switches, but was packed with every type of "switch" imaginable. Next door was a booth dedicated only to different kinds of computer board circuits, and another to wires. Totally strange, but awesome at the same time. I honestly expected to see a family of robots squeezing past to look for new parts to either use or eat (since it looked exactly like food market made out of electronics) I went out to eat in Shinjuku with Nanakos parents which was a really awesome experiences. I was able to have almost all of my conversation in japanese with them, something i couldn:t do when I came two years ago. I had a great sense of accomplishment after that visit with them.
Anyway, after eating diner my host sister who is in France called the house to wish us a happy new year. I talked to her for the first time which was really nice. I look forward to meeting her when she gets back. My host mom and I watched a countdown program on NHK which had all the major music artists perform one after another up until the countdown. But we got bored just watching singers so we had changed the channel to watch a comedy where a group of comedians were staying in a newspaper company office for 2 days and were not allowed to laugh or they would be hit quite forcefully on their back side by people dressed in all black (they resembled ninjas). We got pretty sucked into watching this show that we totally forgot that we were waiting to watch the countdown and when we finally got sick of watching the comedian show and switched it back, the confetti had already fallen and we looked up at the clock and it was 15 minutes after midnight. Oh well.
The next day we went to the nearby shrine to pay or first visit of the year and to wish for good things to come. The shrine we went to was the shrine to the god of studying. we had to wait in line for over an hour to pay our respects before heading back home. The next day we went to a different shrine (to the children's god) and then did a bit of post-new years shopping. Just like in the states after christmas, everyone goes shopping after new years because kids usually get lots of money from their parrents and so there are a lot of sales and what not. My host mom didnt't give me money but she bought me a sweatshirt and jacket (she insisted that she needed to buy them as a new years present since I am now like her real daughter) So we weathered the crowds to find a reasonably priced jacket that fit me. new pictures will be up on flickr soon so you can see my new jacket there. I dig it a lot.
On saturday the 3rd, my friend Lilla was expected to come to Tokyo from Boston. Her host mom, dad, younger sister and I met at Houya station at 12 on saturday to make our way to Narita, a 2 hour and 45 minute treck one way by train. We got there about an hour early but we were pleased to see that her flight would be coming in a half hour early. We decided to spend some time sipping tea in starbucks before waiting at the arrival gate. We waited anxiously for about an hour and a half, and she still hadn:t come out of the arrival gate. It was obvious that her flight had finished passing through customs and doubt sunk in. We tried to brain storm what could have happened and tried to go find her, thinking that she had gone somewhere strange to look for us. We even paged her several times (over the enire airport) and bugged the information people for all kinds of ideas to figure out where Lilla was. Finally, her host sister Risa commented that Lilla had written her phone number on her information sheet. after going through a long process of figuring out how to call overseas from my cell phone I called the number she had listed.
I wasn:t sure if it was her phone number or her mom's but i was certain that it was extremely early in the morning, boston time. But I called anyway. When someone picked up on the other line i thought for sure it was her mom since lilla only has a cell phone and wouldn:t be able to use it if she was in transit or in Narita airport somewhere. "Hello, is this Lilla's mom?" i said hesitantly, worrying that I was about to have to explain to my friends mom that her daughter was no where to be found. "no, this is her daughter" she replied "Lilla?" "Yes, this is Lilla, I'm sleeping, who is this?" obviously annoyed. "This is Jess...where are you?" "Boston" "Ohhh my godd......are you serious?" at that point I realised that there must have been a big mistake between time difference (even though her itinerary didn:t say she would be arriving on the 4th) and I realised that I had just dragged 3 people with me all the way out the air port, put them through an extremely stressful situation all to realise that she wasn:t going to be coming until the next day after all. After I ended the conversation with Lilla, we all had a big laugh at the situation but I still felt extremely bad since it was such a rediculous mistake to make on my part. We made our way home to attend a new years party at Waka chans house and laughed at all the craziness of the day.
Waka chan reasured us that this sort of thing happens all the time since Japan has such an extreme time difference to a lot of countries (americas and europe) and that people in Hippo are used to these sort of misshaps. it made me feel better but still....
But Lilla arrived on the 4th safely and I went to greet her at the air port with my host mom and it was so crazy to be able to speak in english with her but also to see part of my life in America very physically juxtaposed with my surroundings. She'll be going back home on sunday which is really too bad. I feel like these two weeks have gone by too fast. I took her to a lot of really interesting places and was able to talk to her about a lot of things that have been on my mind that I wanted to let out. I have found that my english vocabulary is dwindling a bit since I haven't been using it. But one very obvious thing was how much my Japanese has improved. I had to do a lot of translating for Lilla to catch her up with what was being said during converstations and to explain how to do a few things around her house and our schedule. One thing we found to be a huge obsticle during her stay here was our host families. My host mom and her host mom were constantly hounding me to tell them what Lilla would be doing while I was at work and wouldn:t take "she wants to go somewhere by herself" for an answer. They were extremely protective of her and we had a lot of frustrations about it. But over all, I had a really great time just talking and relaxing with Lilla. It has really boosted my spirits. But it is too bad that she is going back so soon.
I think that is enough for now. I will be posting pictures soon. (I already posted some from christmas and new years on flickr if you want to check those out in the mean time)
love, peace, dreadlocks and happiness!!
jess
きょねん も よろしくおねがいします (continue to help this year)
Here comes a broken record.....
"Sorry that I haven't written in a month...I've been so busy"
Alright, now that's over with...
Swa-dee-ka! (Thai for hello!)
I have started listening to the Thai language cd everyday during work and when I get home. I only have a month and a half until I make my journey to Thailand and I need to adjust my ears from Japanese to Thai (and try to pick up a few words here and there if possible) Afterall, I:ve been only using 5 vowels my whole life but in Thailand there are over 38....don:t ask me how that is possible....and lets not even talk about tonal variation
Christmas was totally different here since actually, christmas is most seriously celebrated only by couples (like a variation of valentines day since, they also celebrate that differently here too) But my host mom and I went to a jazz concert which was Amazing! I couldn't believe that the band we saw was my host mom's favorite band. It was a mix between ska, rock and jazz (extremely fast passed and the lights were out of controll) and what was even more suprising was to look over at my moderately conservative host mom jumping up and down with her fist in the air. But we had a great time. And when we got home, we finished the day off by eating the Christmas Cake (the single most important part of christmas in Japan) It was a chocolate strawberry cake...soooo good! Santa brought me a scarf, a bear(holding a moon) for my cell phone, tea, and chocolate.
New years was pretty relaxed despite my grand expectations for "Golden Week" At the end of December I had a couple "ぼねんかい” ("bonenkai" or end of the year) parties at work and at my hippo club. Despite the festivities I was feeling quite meloncholy and self consious for no apparent reason. But I enjoyed myself as best as I could. On my week off I spent a lot of time sleeping in, reading, and making my new years cards (ねんがじょう) which I did in wood cut. Its the year of the cow so I was able to make it pretty simple (black, white and green) so it only took me a couple days to make. As I was getting ready for making my new years card I made my way to a famous department store for craft goods in Kichijyoji (my new favorite place) called Yuzawaya which is the equivilent of taking A.C. Moores and multiplying it by 6 floors (not even kidding you) I just about died when I got to the floor for just drawing, painting and printmaking supplies (and just for the saftey of my wallet I completely avoided exploring the fabric floor). I also mannaged to find a pretty sweet 100￥ shop (like a dollar store) near by which was filled with all kinds of strange/cheep treasures.
On new years eve day I spent the day deep cleaning my room since it is extremely important to the Japanese to completely clean everything before the new year comes so that the New Year starts out with good feelings. I spent a lot of time looking at the stuff that I:ve accumulated over the past 4 months, whcih is mostly strange fliers, a couple magazines and other random things. I will be changing host families next month so I did my best to get rid of stuff that I really didn:t need. For dinner, Japanese people usually eat a very traditional japanese meal including carmalized sardines, pickled vegetables and all kinds of other strange things but my host mom made "nabe" instead which I was really greatful for (Nabe is a big soup that is kept hot on the table with a table top kerosine stove. the broth has a lot of spices and my host mom put in lots of mushrooms, tofu, daikon (japanese raddish), and other tasty things that I like. Those who are reading this who know my history of strange eating habbits might be suprised that I was infact happy to eat soup, something I had firmly placed on my "absolutely will not eat" list. I think it was all the ramen that I ate that made me change my mind.
I also celebrated Christmas/New years with the Nomi family which was a ton of fun. I really love going over to their house, everyone is so welcoming. Even nanako's grandfater said to me in his best english "you are my family" and we always have a lot of fun eating, drinking, playing, laughing and singing. We also went on an adventure to Akihabara, Electric Town, whcih was really crazy. I enjoyed it a lot because of how strange it was. There was a whole market place that had low celings, tiny booths scrunched in really tight selling very specific electric parts of all different sizes, shapes and varieties. One booth sold only switches, but was packed with every type of "switch" imaginable. Next door was a booth dedicated only to different kinds of computer board circuits, and another to wires. Totally strange, but awesome at the same time. I honestly expected to see a family of robots squeezing past to look for new parts to either use or eat (since it looked exactly like food market made out of electronics) I went out to eat in Shinjuku with Nanakos parents which was a really awesome experiences. I was able to have almost all of my conversation in japanese with them, something i couldn:t do when I came two years ago. I had a great sense of accomplishment after that visit with them.
Anyway, after eating diner my host sister who is in France called the house to wish us a happy new year. I talked to her for the first time which was really nice. I look forward to meeting her when she gets back. My host mom and I watched a countdown program on NHK which had all the major music artists perform one after another up until the countdown. But we got bored just watching singers so we had changed the channel to watch a comedy where a group of comedians were staying in a newspaper company office for 2 days and were not allowed to laugh or they would be hit quite forcefully on their back side by people dressed in all black (they resembled ninjas). We got pretty sucked into watching this show that we totally forgot that we were waiting to watch the countdown and when we finally got sick of watching the comedian show and switched it back, the confetti had already fallen and we looked up at the clock and it was 15 minutes after midnight. Oh well.
The next day we went to the nearby shrine to pay or first visit of the year and to wish for good things to come. The shrine we went to was the shrine to the god of studying. we had to wait in line for over an hour to pay our respects before heading back home. The next day we went to a different shrine (to the children's god) and then did a bit of post-new years shopping. Just like in the states after christmas, everyone goes shopping after new years because kids usually get lots of money from their parrents and so there are a lot of sales and what not. My host mom didnt't give me money but she bought me a sweatshirt and jacket (she insisted that she needed to buy them as a new years present since I am now like her real daughter) So we weathered the crowds to find a reasonably priced jacket that fit me. new pictures will be up on flickr soon so you can see my new jacket there. I dig it a lot.
On saturday the 3rd, my friend Lilla was expected to come to Tokyo from Boston. Her host mom, dad, younger sister and I met at Houya station at 12 on saturday to make our way to Narita, a 2 hour and 45 minute treck one way by train. We got there about an hour early but we were pleased to see that her flight would be coming in a half hour early. We decided to spend some time sipping tea in starbucks before waiting at the arrival gate. We waited anxiously for about an hour and a half, and she still hadn:t come out of the arrival gate. It was obvious that her flight had finished passing through customs and doubt sunk in. We tried to brain storm what could have happened and tried to go find her, thinking that she had gone somewhere strange to look for us. We even paged her several times (over the enire airport) and bugged the information people for all kinds of ideas to figure out where Lilla was. Finally, her host sister Risa commented that Lilla had written her phone number on her information sheet. after going through a long process of figuring out how to call overseas from my cell phone I called the number she had listed.
I wasn:t sure if it was her phone number or her mom's but i was certain that it was extremely early in the morning, boston time. But I called anyway. When someone picked up on the other line i thought for sure it was her mom since lilla only has a cell phone and wouldn:t be able to use it if she was in transit or in Narita airport somewhere. "Hello, is this Lilla's mom?" i said hesitantly, worrying that I was about to have to explain to my friends mom that her daughter was no where to be found. "no, this is her daughter" she replied "Lilla?" "Yes, this is Lilla, I'm sleeping, who is this?" obviously annoyed. "This is Jess...where are you?" "Boston" "Ohhh my godd......are you serious?" at that point I realised that there must have been a big mistake between time difference (even though her itinerary didn:t say she would be arriving on the 4th) and I realised that I had just dragged 3 people with me all the way out the air port, put them through an extremely stressful situation all to realise that she wasn:t going to be coming until the next day after all. After I ended the conversation with Lilla, we all had a big laugh at the situation but I still felt extremely bad since it was such a rediculous mistake to make on my part. We made our way home to attend a new years party at Waka chans house and laughed at all the craziness of the day.
Waka chan reasured us that this sort of thing happens all the time since Japan has such an extreme time difference to a lot of countries (americas and europe) and that people in Hippo are used to these sort of misshaps. it made me feel better but still....
But Lilla arrived on the 4th safely and I went to greet her at the air port with my host mom and it was so crazy to be able to speak in english with her but also to see part of my life in America very physically juxtaposed with my surroundings. She'll be going back home on sunday which is really too bad. I feel like these two weeks have gone by too fast. I took her to a lot of really interesting places and was able to talk to her about a lot of things that have been on my mind that I wanted to let out. I have found that my english vocabulary is dwindling a bit since I haven't been using it. But one very obvious thing was how much my Japanese has improved. I had to do a lot of translating for Lilla to catch her up with what was being said during converstations and to explain how to do a few things around her house and our schedule. One thing we found to be a huge obsticle during her stay here was our host families. My host mom and her host mom were constantly hounding me to tell them what Lilla would be doing while I was at work and wouldn:t take "she wants to go somewhere by herself" for an answer. They were extremely protective of her and we had a lot of frustrations about it. But over all, I had a really great time just talking and relaxing with Lilla. It has really boosted my spirits. But it is too bad that she is going back so soon.
I think that is enough for now. I will be posting pictures soon. (I already posted some from christmas and new years on flickr if you want to check those out in the mean time)
love, peace, dreadlocks and happiness!!
jess
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