June 18: Last day at Hagino and the Higuchi House
Woke up and jogged, then showered and had breakfast and biked to school. I didn’t help with any classes again, but I worked on writing replies to the third years for a while and also read Hana Yori Dango.
I wrote Ume-san a pretty long note, of course, since she’s the one who impacted me the most at Hagino. I was really surprised when she came later and handed me a cute envelope with her own letter to me inside. She said she was happy to have gotten my letter and asked me to keep doing my best in studying Japanese in order to further my dream of becoming a translator; I told her good luck for her future too and then she left, and I read her letter. I was really surprised that I could read and even understand the whole thing. I don’t know if that’s because she kept her Japanese simple for my sake or what, but I was still pleased. I hope she’ll stay in touch.
The school ended really early (right after lunch, so around 1:30 or 2 classes were over), and then we had like a little goodbye ceremony for me and another student from a college who had been doing some sort of internship thing there for the past month. We both left Hagino today, so it was pretty sad. We got up in front of the whole school (all 150ish students and staff) and said thanks and goodbye and good luck and so on and so forth and cried a little bit, and then I procrastinated leaving for a few minutes, but finally I had to go home and pack since I’m getting picked up early in the morning by my next family.
Of course when I did get home I didn’t feel much like packing so I napped. I woke up a little after 6 and then packed up most of my clothes and ate my last dinner with the Higuchis.
They got me some gifts, which was really sweet and something I wasn’t expecting. They gave me some fans to use since it’s getting to be so hot, a DVD of the Shinjo Matsuri, a handkerchief, and a cute cherry bookmark. They are so nice, and I’m so lucky to have gotten them as one of my host families!
After dinner we watched a bit of TV, and then I went to bed.
June 19: New family
I woke up a little before 7, and went out and had breakfast. Then Nishida-san picked me up at 8:45, and I said some almost-tearful goodbyes to the Higuchis (I didn’t want to be rude and cry in front of Nishida-san), and then we went to watch the softball tournament since Nishida-san’s daughter, Aya, is on the softball team for her middle school.
That ended sometime around 2, and then I went home with their grandmother, young son and older daughter, whose names I don’t quite know yet though I think the daughter’s name is Miya. We had gotten bento from the tournament, but it was katsudon, which is pork, so they stopped by a supermarket for me and got some grilled fish to put on top of the rice in place of the pork, which was really thoughtful of them.
We got home and ate lunch, then Miya took me to the Shinjo station to meet up with Andrew and Will, and the three of us walked around for about an hour and a half before I went back to the station to meet up with Yuka and Tomoko for Candle Night. Will and Andrew went back for dinner.
I had a lot of fun at Candle Night! I ran into Sayaka and her boyfriend and said a quick hi, and then there were some JET teachers there (from England and America), so I made friends with them and exchanged mail addresses, so maybe sometime over the summer I’ll be able to hang out with them. It’s nice to have people who speak English to do stuff with. I feel like all the Japanese is just slowly draining from me, that instead of getting better I’m getting worse. Maybe it’s just because I’m tired.
Miya picked me up from the station again at 8, and I went home and had dinner (sashimi, yum!), took a shower and then went to bed. Aya is letting me use her room for the week that I’m here, which is really nice. It’s cool to see what a real teenage Japanese girl’s room looks like.
June 20
I woke up this morning a little late (sometime between 8 and 9) and went out and had breakfast. I wanted to go for a jog but it was raining, so of course I couldn’t. Conan the Detective was on TV when I went into the living room, and Taku (the son; I think he’s maybe eight or nine? But I can’t tell for sure), and Aya, the fourteen-year-old, seemed to be impressed that I knew what show it was.
Taku, Nishida-san and I got to talking about American things and Japanese things, which was really funny since Taku kept saying he wished he would have been born as an American since everything is so much more interesting over in America, and I’m the complete opposite since I think the same about Japan. I love Taku, he’s a good kid. In addition to Ume-san, I’ll have to have Taku (and Aya too!) stay with me if they ever go to the States.
I talked with Nishida-san about wanting to bike around the town today (by this point in our conversation it had stopped raining), so she drew me a map of how to get to the train station from our house, and also wrote down the home phone numbers and her cell phone number in case I got lost.
I headed out and got a little turned around somehow on the way, but I found the station fine anyway since there are signs that show which was it is. I parked the bike Nishida-san had loaned me and went inside to sit down and see if anyone wanted to do something. I ended up making plans with Yuka to have lunch at noon, and so to kill some time I went for a walk around the main streets of Shinjo.
Yuka and I went to Kappazushi for lunch, which was awesome because this time I was actually hungry so I could enjoy eating all the sushi I wanted for really cheap (it’s about one dollar for two pieces of nigiri, sometimes one piece depending on the fish). I had 10 plates, which only came to about $10.50 for twenty or so pieces of sushi. I wish it was this cheap back home!
Then Yuka and I went and did some purikura, which was fun, but I’m still terrible at posing and then decorating the pictures.
Yuka dropped me off at the station and I rode my bike home, though it took me a while to find the right road since I had gotten a little lost before. I made it home fine, just before four, and then had some snacks that obaa-san had made. She made some sasamaki and some steamed pumpkin, and Nishida-san made me and Aya some strawberries in a semi-sweet milky-looking sauce. It was yummy, and obaa-san and their great-grandmother had fun telling me to eat even though I was so full, for some reason.
Maya (I was wrong before, her name is Maya) came home from work around 6:30 (she’s a nurse at a hospital) and then she, Aya, Taku and I went to the Nishida’s restaurant for dinner.
Their restaurant is a yakiniku place, where you order whatever you want to cook like meat or seafood or something and then grill it at your own table. It was really fun!
We got home and I showered and watched some TV in Aya’s room; then Aya came in and asked if it was okay for her to straighten her hair in there since there was a visitor in the living room, so of course I said yes and we hung out and talked. I found out she really likes Bones, which is one of my favorite TV shows, and she even had the DVDs of the fourth season so we put those on (English with Japanese subtitles for my sake, even though they have it dubbed in Japanese), and talked about English words and different things while we straightened our hair (mine was still wet and my blow drier doesn’t work with their outlets, so Aya let me borrow one of her straighteners).
Then Nishida-san came in and the three of us talked, and then Aya got up all of a sudden and decided that she was going to give me one of her Arashi CD/DVD sets and also a sexy picture of Matsu Jun. I’ll have to make sure to get their address later so I can send her back some more stuff from America. She really enjoyed the Nips that I brought as a gift so maybe I can send her some of those, and a Hannah Montana CD or something since she likes Hannah Montana.
Anyway, then we decided that Aya was going to sleep in here with me instead of going back out to the living room like she did the last night, and we had like a little mini slumber party. I’m really starting to like Aya, she’s super sweet and very energetic and seems to like to learn all the English I taught her. While we were watching Bones she repeated some of the shorter phrases, so I helped her with pronounciation, especially “l” and “r.” I taught her the difference between “crap” and “clap,” and also taught her “gross,” since we were watching Bones. I’m sad I only get to stay with the Nishidas for a week, since I’m having fun with Aya and Taku and Nishida-san. I have Aya’s mail address though, so I guess even after I leave their house we can still hang out in Shinjo.
June 21
Shinjo Elementary didn’t have school today, so instead Will and I went back to the Shinjo Education building office place to work with the group of girls we started with two weeks ago, when we made curry, except this time we were going to have a takoyaki party.
I was there super early, so Junko-sensei let me watch “About a Boy” on her laptop, which was a really good movie even though I wanted to punch the little kid in the face the whole time. It’s okay though, Hugh Grant’s sexiness made up for it.
Anyway, after that everyone got there, so me, Will, Junko-sensei and another girl (who hadn’t been there last time) went shopping for the takoyaki ingredients. Tako was a bit too expensive, so we bought shrimp, squid, cheese and sausage instead.
We got back and made the batter then we all got to sit down at a table since there were like four different takoyaki grills and make our own takoyaki, which was really fun.
After that we left, and Will and I went for a walk around Shinjo. Andrew mailed us when he was done with school, so we met up with him in the afternoon, walked around some more and then went back to the station so Andrew could Skype with someone.
I left a little after that to go home since I was tired. When I got home I took a nap and then had dinner, showered and went to bed.
June 22: First Day at Shinjo Elementary
Woke up, had breakfast, and then Kyoto-sensei, a neighbor of the Nishidas who also happens to be a teacher at the elementary school drove me to school. I met Will in the teachers’ lounge, then we went to the gym for our welcoming ceremony. We walked in and went under these flower arches that students were holding, then they all sang “Edelweiss” and then Will and I did a quick introduction of ourselves. Then Will went to his classroom and I went to mine.
I was with the sixth graders all day, third class. Shinjo Elementary is the second biggest school in Shinjo with over 500 kids, so every grade is split up into three different classes. 6-3 didn’t even have any English lessons today so I have no clue why I had to sit with them the whole school day, but whatever. I just sat in front of the classroom and tried not to fall asleep, since that would have been rude.
We went to the gym for recess between second and third period and played the Japanese version of tag, where instead of being “it” you’re “oni,” which means “devil” or “demon.” We also played robbers and police. Then Will and I met up again and went with the sixth graders (all three classes) to listen to them practice a song, and then we split up again and prepared for lunch. I had brought a bento that Nishida-san had made for me, but the teachers wouldn’t let me eat it because they wanted me to be eating the same thing the kids were eating.
Lunch was outside, which sucked because it was freaking hot and we had to eat on a tarp on the tarmat, which hurt like a mother. After lunch we got roped into helping to clean, and then Will and I both went to the sixth graders again to watch them swim. I about fell asleep since we were outside for so long (nearly an hour and a half).
Then after school was done we went back to the Shinjo office to check that the translations of what we’d written yesterday at the takoyaki party (our impressions of the volunteer program this summer so far) were correct. I walked home after that, watched a little more Bones, and had dinner. Obaa-chan had made a huge thing of soba, so I ate a lot because cold soba is delicious and my second favorite Japanese food (next to sushi of course).
A little later Taku, baa-chan and I walked to a 7-11 and bought some snacks, then came back and watched a bit more TV. I showered and went to bed early.
June 23
There was a big thunderstorm during the night with humongous claps of thunder and amazingly bright lightning. It didn’t really wake me up, but I was having a dream about going back to Colorado for a week to drop off some clothes and gifts and to visit Mom before coming back to Japan, so in the middle of that I kind of became aware of the storm. One of the claps of thunder was so loud it felt like it was right inside the house, and I thought it was an earthquake or something. It was pretty cool, if not a little bit startling.
At breakfast, obaa-san told me that apparently the Higuchi’s ojii-san had passed away. That depressed me pretty bad, because even though I hadn’t really spoken very much to him, he had always been nice and even had given me Japanese snacks every so often. When Nishida-san had picked me up on Saturday he had even walked out and said good-bye. He was a nice guy, which is a weak thing to say but it’s all I can manage.
Anyway, since it cleared up I got to ride my bike to school after breakfast. I was with the first graders today. First they sang me Edleweiss, then a song about cat brothers, and then they sang a rock, paper, scissors song, and then I introduced myself and they introduced themselves. Afterwards we sang Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes, in English, several times, going faster with each repetition. First graders are really funny—they like to scream in joy after every sentence the teachers says, so whenever she said, “should we do it faster?” they all hollered at the top of their lungs in reply. I don’t remember first grade very well, but I wonder if my class was that wild.
After all the songs were done they all got to ask me questions, and in one of the classes we had some free time left so we played some musical chairs, and another one we played a version of Fruits Basket called Nandemo Basket, or Anything Basket, which is where one person stands in the middle of a circle and says something (like, “People wearing green,” or “People who like chocolate,” anything goes) and then all the people who that applies to have to get up and run and switch places, then the person left in the middle has to continue the game. You can also say “nandemo basket,” which means everyone has to get up and switch. It’s really fun but kind of dangerous.
Anyway, I ate lunch with the first graders, and then went back to the teachers’ long and kind of napped for a bit since I didn’t have any afternoon classes. Will came back a little before three from his classes and then the two of us walked to his house and hung out for a while. Andrew came over eventually too, even braving a sudden downpour to walk over, but because of the off and on rain I left a little after he got there since I didn’t want to get stuck riding my bike in the rain so I left once it cleared up.
I got home and had some Mister Donuts donut holes for a snack that Nishida-san had bought me, and then watched an anime called “Major” with Aya while she did her homework.
We had sashimi for dinner, which was a bit of an adventure because when we went to the fisherman’s place he hadn’t gotten back yet, so we had to go home and wait for another hour or so to try again. During that time Nishida-san brought down a cute yellow yukata for me to try on and gave it to me, so now I have my very own yukata!
When the fisherman finally got back we left and got the sashimi from him, which was absolutely delicious since the fish had just been caught that morning. I don’t think I’ve ever had any fish caught day of. It was a real treat.
I also had like three glasses of umeshu with dinner, since for some reason they wanted me to finish it off, so I got a little bit tipsy. Nishida-san showed me a DVD of a traditional Japanese fan dance Aya did this year in March, which was really beautiful. She was wearing a kimono and had her hair and face done up all fancy and danced so gracefully I couldn’t believe it.
Afterwards she and Taku showed me some family pictures—pictures of Mai and Aya when they were babies, and also of when they went to Tokyo Disneyland a few years ago for Christmas.
The umeshu made me really heavy and sleepy so I didn’t shower, but went straight to bed and passed out from being so full and tipsy.
June 24
It was perfectly clear this morning, so I could have ridden my bike, but since me, Will and Andrew were meeting Beecken-sensei for dinner it would’ve been dark by the time I was coming home, so Nishida-san drove me to school and said that either she or Mai would come pick me up when I was done later in the evening.
When I got to school, Will and I drew a welcome banner to hang in the entryway for Beecken-sensei since she was going to come visit in the afternoon after lunch, and then we both went to the third graders’ class and had them ask us questions and listened to them play the recorder. Brings back my elementary school days, since I loved playing the recorder; but now I kind of feel bad for my parents and teachers because I never realized just how shrill that cheap little instrument really is. When class ended they all rushed me and Will and had us sign their notebooks like we were celebrities or something, which was kind of funny.
Second period we were with the sixth graders, so we practiced some English numbers and also had the ask us questions.
During recess I got roped into playing tag again with some of the girls, which was fun but exhausting. After recess I went to another third grade class and painted a rainbow with them, and then after that I went to the last third grade class, where I met up with Will again, and did some math. Then it was lunchtime, and I ate with the third graders while Will went to eat with a sixth grade class, I think.
Third graders are funny. During free time between class and lunch they all crowded around me, screaming questions in my face and pressing closer and close whenever I took an inch back to try and get some breathing room, so it got to be pretty claustrophobic. They’re good kids, but I could never deal with them for longer than I have to (that is, this week).
I much prefer the middle schoolers. I’d probably like high school students even more, but we aren’t helping out at high schools so I guess I won’t find out until (if) I do JET, and if I get a high school then.
After lunch (which I didn’t really eat since it was hamburger, yuck), I went back to the teachers’ lounge to wait for Beecken-sensei. I was really excited to see her. It helps with the whole home sickness thing to see familiar faces from Fort Collins. It’s funny—at the beginning of the week I couldn’t believe it was almost the end of June, but not I can’t believe it’s not July yet. We’re half way through our stay here, and I keep flip-flopping between being anxious to go home and wishing I could stay longer. The former feeling plagues me whenever I’m at school, while the latter I have whenever I’m with my host family at home.
I wish I could stay longer than one week with the Nishidas, because they’re exactly my style of energy/family, but I really don’t like the elementary school. I knew I wasn’t a kid person.
Beecken-sensei got to the school at 2ish, and then we talked a little bit with the principal, and then Will and I had to go to the sixth graders to do calligraphy, which was fun even though I’m terrible at it. After that was a free period for clubs, so Will and I went to the manga/illustration club and drew for forty minutes. I haven’t drawn anything in a really long time, so it was nice to be able to do that.
Once we were finished, Beecken-sensei and Nagai-san (the guy who drove us to Shinjo from Yamagata City a few weeks ago; he drove Beecken-sensei up today too) dropped us off at Will’s house. We weren’t meeting Beecken-sensei for dinner for like another hour or so, so we killed some time by watching some Strong Bad, Foamy the Squirrell, and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series. Then as we were leaving to walk to the station to meet Beecken-sensei, Will’s home stay grandmother caught us and had us come into her living area to have some sembe and tea. It was yummy, but it made us almost ten minutes late meeting Andrew and Beecken-sensei.
The four of us went to an izakayasan called Hana no Mae for dinner and drinks (Beecken-sensei’s treat, lucky us we have such a nice sensei!), and then walked around Shinjo for a bit. We went to a game center called Game Corner so Will and Andrew could play some Taiko Drum Master, and then we did some purikura. As we were leaving I did a UFO catcher and won a little Buzz Lighter button-thing.
We walked back to the station, and Mai picked me up and drove me home.
Some of obaa-san’s friends were over when we got back, so we visited for a while, and then I changed into PJs and went to bed.
June 25: Last Day at Shinjo Elementary
Same morning routine. Woke up, breakfast, rode my bike to school. Helped out with some classes, and we were done after fifth period. It was super hot, so Will and I walked to a nearby supermarket to get some snacks. I got a melon-flavored ice cream cone, which was really good and refreshing.
We went and chilled in a park by the school, where a lot of middle schoolers and elementary kids came by and talked with us for a while. We drew quite a crowed, but left after about twenty or so minutes and went back to Will’s again since we had nothing else to do and it was air conditioned.
Andrew came over again after he was back from school, and I left again a few minutes after he got there because this time I didn’t want to be late for dinner, since obaa-san had told me that one of her friends who owned a soba shop was bringing by hand-made soba for me. But, of course, as I was leaving, Will’s host grandmother stopped me and pulled me in to eat some melon. It was yummy, but I wanted to get home and eat real dinner, so I biked home and had delicious hand-made soba and tempura. After that I showered and went to bed.
June 26
I woke up kind of early, so I went for an hour or so walk. I was supposed to try and call Mom at 7ish, but my American phone doesn’t get any reception from the Japanese towers here since it’s old and isn’t 3G; I also can’t use the access number for my ISIC phone card from my Japanese phone, so I was pretty much screwed. I was really disappointed, since I was looking forward to talking to Mom and catching up since it’s been so freaking long.
I was going to ask Will to use his phone and pay him, since we were supposed to meet up later to go with Nicola (one of the JETs I met last Saturday at Candle Night) to a small local rock concert, but he never ended up coming, so that plan fell through too.
After my walk I had some breakfast, and after a little Nishida-san and I went to the 100 yen shop to buy some erasers, cutters and ink pads to made name stamps out of the erasers. We also got a few groceries from the MaxValu store, then went home and had shrimp fried rice for lunch before we started on the erasers.
After we were done with the stamps, Nishida-san put some cute decal gems on my fingernails to make me “oshare” for the concert later. I’m not exactly sure how to explain what oshare means, but I think the closest word would be “fabulous.”
I had some time to kill before I met Nicola at 5:30, so Nishida-san put on “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins” for me to watch, since they had rented it from the video store. Then she took me and showed me where my next host family is, which is kind of far again, but I guess I can just deal with biking long distances. The Tamiya’s also live in/at a temple, which is pretty cool.
Nishida-san dropped me off at the station and I met up with Nicola, then the two of us met up with her friend and went to the concert. It was a ton of fun! There were four bands playing, and I really like the second one, and kind of got a crush on the singer for the third one (but he has a girlfriend apparently, so too bad for me). I had to leave after the third band since I had made plans with Nishida-san to get dinner when she was done with work at 9:30. I walked to her shop and met her boyfriend, Sato, and while she was finishing up at work he drove me to a shop called Bulldog and bought me some mechanical pencils and stickers as a souvenir, because apparently he felt like it. I’m getting so spoiled here, more so than I already am at home.
Then the three of us went to Kappazushi for a late dinner, and after that did a quick hour of karaoke. Sato dropped us off at Nishida-san’s car, and then we went home and I went to bed.
June 27
I woke up a little after 8:30, had some breakfast, and then went on a drive with Nishida-san, Taku, and obaa-san into the mountains. Obaa-san had to pick something up from a town there, so while she was doing that Nishida-san drove me and Taku to see the Totoro tree, which is a huge pine tree in the middle of a rice field that looks exactly like Totoro (just the shape though, no face). We went back after a little bit and picked up obaa-san and their great-grandma too, who apparently had been there for a while, and then went home.
We had some udon for lunch, and then I packed up my stuff and at 3 Mai, Aya and Nishida-san dropped me off at the Tamiya’s temple. I’m with them for the next two weeks.
I was really sad to leave the Nishidas. They’ve been so kind to me and they’re so much fun. Nishida-san told me I can mail her whenever I want to meet up or something any time, so I probably will do that. She says I can bring Andrew and Will to her shop for dinner sometime, and also she wants to make plans to do karaoke and purikura eventually.
The Tamiyas are a nice family too, though. There’s Tamiya-sensei, who teaches at a high school, Mie, the mom, two daughters (Chihiro who’s in fifth grade, and Sonomi who’s in third grade), and then Hiro, who’s four years old. They also have two old dogs.
Hiro was taking a nap when I arrived, so I had a little tea and snacks with Mie, Chihiro and Sonomi, and then they showed me around their house. It’s big and open and connect to the temple at one side. The temple is really pretty and smells like incense, which I love.
I filled out a little questionarre for the girls in these little books that they have (name, birthday, favorite color, food, future dreams et cetera), and then unpacked a little bit.
Hiro woke up after Tamiya-sensei got home, and then me and the three kids went to play in the temple (after Chihiro had dropped some ten yen coins in the offering box so as not to be rude to the deities, of course). We had a ball we were playing with, so we tossed that around a bit and did some cartwheels and handstands before we went with Tamiya-sensei to buy some sashimi for dinner. We had temakizushi for dinner, which is where you lay out all the ingredients of the sushi on the table and everyone makes their own hand rolled sushi. It was really fun. The Tamiyas give off the feel of your typical nuclear family, which is kind of nostalgic and a little comforting.
After dinner I showered, watched a bit of the third Never Ending Story movie (which I never realized Jack Black was in), and then went to bed.
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