Host Family

There are things about a country that you will never see as a tourist. These are precisely the things I like to see, the reason I like gallivanting around the world. It's not all about the Leaning Towers of Pisa and the Statues of Liberty, although when I am near landmarks, I make a point of visiting them. But the thing that makes a country for me, is the people. So I always make an effort to get as involved as possibe with the people (and as an added bonus, there is no better way to learn the language).

In February I handed in a form at Aiina requesting a home stay with a Japanese family. A few weeks later, Aiina emailed to tell me they had found a willing family and that the lady would be in touch. She asked me if the weekend of April 4th was okay and I, happy as a lark, said fine.

The family lives in Takizawa, which is a town on Morioka's border. I got into Takizawa at 6 the might, and my Host Dad came to pick me up. Now this isn't a massive station. Only 4 people got off the train and there was no one else waiting from anyone, so without introdutcion, we immediately found one another. We drove the 20 minutes or so to the house, which me mumbling in broken Japanese. When we reached the apartment, I was greated by a drawing of my flag, and the word "Youkoso!" Japanese for Welcome. I didn't even get past the genkan (Japanese style step up entrance) before I was bombarded by two little balls of energy. 2 year old I-chan ( aboy) and 5 year old Yuma- chan (a girl).

I off loaded my things in the makeshift guest room. I was quite surprised to have a room to myself. I thought I might have to share with the kids. Then I went into the living room, where we had dinner. Japanese people eat a lot. They don't eat mega-portions like in the US. But they will have meals with tons of sections. For example a restaurant set will usually be a main dish, a soup, a salad, and a drink. The size of the main dish alone is usually too much for me. I wonder how Japanese eat all that and are not fluffier than they are. Dinner was some meat ball things, some hash brown things, two types of rice (I-chan likes one and Yuma- chan likes the other), 3 different salads, and other miscellaneous. After dinner the kids showered and I-chan came running out naked as he was born. It was the first time I saw a naked Japanese male- lol!- although a few days later I would see a fully grown one on his porch in my own town.

The next day we went to Yoishi Open Market. Apparently it was the first one for the year, because it was the first week that it had been warm enough to have market. -chan couldn't come, because he had the cold, so I bought him an Ultraman mask. We'd all watched Ultraman the night before. It's this Japanese super hero series which is like a combination of Power Rangers, Godzilla and the first Star Trek. The episode we watched were from the 60's but they were I-chan and Yuma's faves.

That day I also had my first Remen. Not RAmen, REmen. Apparently Morioka is famous for it. About the Japanese word famous....Breaking it into it's parts, it is literally "has name?". So there is no difference in degrees of fame in Japanese. I think most of the time when Japanese people say famous in English, they mean what we would when we say well-known. Anyhow, enough linguistics, I also had Kuzumaki (nearby town) soft-serve and went home.

That night we watched more Ultraman and after the kids went to sleep, Shawshank Redemption came on and we saw that. It was my first time seeing the Shank. It was great.

On Sunday we went to the onsen. I had mentioned to my host fmaily that I had never been, so they took me. The onsen, is ahot spring, Japanese people go sit in a big hot pool in the buff. lol. It was actually pretty nice. I-chan had never been either. He and Yuma went pretty crazy and kept us on our toes so I don't think I enjoyed it like I could have. It's pretty relaxing though... and I didn't freak out as much about being naked as I thought I would have. After that we ate in the onsen-restaurant. I was pretty tired becuase of the heat.

We heard on the news that North Korea had launched its missile/comms satellite. It passed directly over my prefecture...It's a very interesting time to be in the East.

After the onsen we went to an icecream place and I had a rum and raisin and almond ice cream. Most places that have icecream in Japan only have Vanilla and Chocolate. I don't like Chocolate and I am all vanilla'd out, so I was happy.

Then, it was back to the train station and goodbyes. Yuma kept telling me to come again. I will.

Yesterday, I got a fantastic photo collage of some of the pics my Host Dad took on the weekend. It was great! I had such a blast. Host family is an experience I would definitely reccomend!