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