Kindergarten and Konpeto

When I get back home, I`m dropping out of highschool to become a kindergartener. Today I was Amiria sensei; Eigo sensei; eigo hito, etc etc. Eigo hito was the most interesting. It literally means English person, for those who don:t know Japanese.

Before I go into detail, let me tell about yesterday. I went with okaasan to Nita-chans house. Nita-chan is the friend from the teashop. We had a small party, and i got to help make some of the food. We had sushi, anko no ohagi, kinako no ohagi and some other things. I helped make the ohagi. And yes, mom, I learned how to make sushi. Anyways, the party was really fun! There were a lot of people (pictures uploaded). They were all friends of okaasan and their children. Nanami-chan is a year older then me, but we got along very well. Her mother and I had fun trying to comunicate.
I also recieved a lot, and I mean a lot, of gifts. Luckily most of it was food, so I am sharing it with my family. I brought Nitachan a gift to thank her for the tea, and she gave me more in return T.T so I`m still in debt. But it was great! we were there most of the day, and came home and started dinner.
After dinner, Ayumi and I hung out. We played with her electronic dictionary, which was so much fun! we would look up phrases in different languages. Even though it was a Japanese dictionary, it had a definition in English and Japanese. We spent a good hour doing that and studying German and Japanese.

Today I went to kindergarten, as I said above. I was sort of a teacher, sort of a student. Most of the kids and I got along well. I can:t help but think they said some not so nice things about me not knowing Japanese, but they were so cute I couldn:t stay mad at them.
I was there the whole day, and by the end I had collected so many gifts! To many... It was mostly oragami, which is amazing for little kids, and flowers, that I:m going to have to throw out soon. But so cute! I made a lot of little friends, adn somehow we managed to comunicate. I also made friends with many of the teachers. The teachers in my group look so young, I couldn:t believe they were out of high school, but they were all in their 20s.
I will go again tomorrow, and I can:t wait!!

When I got home, I helped Ayumi make dinner. Okaasan had to stay after and didnt get home until otoosan, Nao, Ayumi, and I had finished eating cake. It was a fun dinner, regardless. Nao kun doesnt talk to me a lot because he can:t speak English and my Japanese is so limited, but at tonight at dinner we all talked. We even watched the news together, which featured a lot of Japanese talking and creepy North Korean displays. Here North Korea is very scarey, seeing as how they launch missles over Japanese airways, but no one is to worried yet.

When okaasan came home, she had mail for Ayumi. One of her friends writes a comic, and a new chapter had just been finished. She has three of them, all in nice covers. They look very professional! I am going to read them when I:m done writing!!

As for the water thing, all good! Otoosan bought a cardboard box full of 2 litter water bottles the other day and said I could drink them (he also said they were only 68 yen, about 70 cents. I wish water in the US was that cheap!!
And Mr. and Mrs. Shope, for breakfast I usually have rice, miso soup (with an array of things in it) and something different my okaasan makes everyday.
Oh! And I totally forgot anout Konpeto!! Its my new favourite candy! Ayumi got it as a gift, but didn:t like it so much. Nao kun and I ended up eating a lot of it tonight! Very yummy!!
And Natsu ate the last of my Rittersport. I really hope he doesn:t get sick. And I must say he has skill. He opened my suitcase, pulled out many things without damaging anything, got out the chocolate, and closed the suitcase. Skillz. Luckily there were only two pieces left, and he seems okay. Sadly, I:m out of chocolate....
well! more later!! much love!!!

Church and Tea

First things first: I`m working on the pic thing! sorry about that!!
Second, to JT: I tried looking for the shirt, but again, the looks we were getting were aweful. And as for my grammer, you try typing on a Japanese computer. . . its so hard!!!
Miles I`ll ask Ayumi to teach me.
And again, Mrs. Emily, how can I get water? And I messed up. It`s mugicha. Good, but not water. In fact today I resorted to drinking some when I washed my hands.

So today! First, we got up and went to church! It was about a thirty minute walk for Ayumi and I, because I didn:t have a bike yet. Curch itself was VERY confusing. . . very very. . .all in Japanese. . . So hard... We did sing Amazing Grace though, and some of the slower psalms, I could sing along reading the hiragana. I`m pretty amazing at it now.
At the end of the sermon, I was asked to come up and introduce myself. That was scary.
Afterwards I met a lot of people. Some spoke a little English, most spoke none. The Pastor and his wife lived in America for two years, and one woman, who was exceedingly nice, had lived in America for 6 years. It was the first time in a long time I could speak English like I usually do.
We then cleaned the church and kindergarten classrooms. The Kindergarten where okaasan works in connected to the church. After that we ate lunch, AND there was a water fountain type thing. So I got water. A lot of water. And my first Japanese onigiri! Salmon filling, my favourite! So yummy! and some more American styled food. Ayumi also left to go meet some friends in Tokyo.

Afterwards I got my bike. From what my okaasan and otoosan said, it belonged to an old man who could no longer ride it, so he was lending it to me. And let me say, Japanese bikes are amazing. It took me awhile to get the hang of kicking off, but after a few tries, its all good. Japanese bikes are hard to explain, but they are the old kind with baskets and you sit up straight when you ride one. I`ll get a picture later.

So, okaasan, otoosan, and I then went on an adventure. We rode our bikes to a tea shop. A friend of okaasan`s worked at the shop, and we were given real green tea and green tea ice cream. Both of which where delicious. Then her friend gave be a cute little jar with some green tea leaves in it, so I can make my own tea when I get home!! I found it ironic that the store had a classical Japanese version of Amazing Grace playing. It was so serene, I don`t think I will ever forget my trip to the tea shop!
Then we proceeded to a supermarket, not the one Ayumi and I went to the day before. There we bought supplies for tonights nights dinner: SUSHI! YES! So, we shopped and left, I got to put a bag in my bike-basket, and we went home.

And, today I decided whould be a good day for gifts, so I wrapped all of them once we got home. It took awhile, but they are all wrapped now and when Ayumi gets home I will give them to everyone.

I`m uploading more pictures; password is off, and purikura pics are being posted!!!

http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/

OMG! I totally forgot to mention! In July YFU has invited me to a Tea Ceramony and a Kabuki production. I can`t wait!!

Home Away from Home

So exciting! I am finally with my host family!

So yesterday we woke up at the Keio Plaza Hotel. It was so nice! One of the YFU Japan reps went to Australia for a year and had a funny accent somewhere between Japanese and Australian.

Then we went and met some people from the US Embassy here in Japan. It was interesting... After that we went to the Meiji Shrine and then to Harajuku. Meiji was cool, until we had to clense our mouths and I accidentally drank from the cup. I will never do that again!!! I learned.

I`m to lazy to post pictures, so I am going to put up links:

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0096.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0096.jpg

In Harajuku, most people gave us weird looks... The Forever21 had a line out front... it was crazy! Then we found and H&M. We went in, but my friend Anna (the only one who would go in with me) was bothered by the weird looks people gave us so we left fast. No we were to nervous to go into the Japanese stores. A lot of weird looks...

The ride back to the hotel was long, and I was so nervous about meeting my family. Only nine of us went home today, and I was lucky to be one of them. I said goodbye to all my friends and waited for my family. There was only o ne man there, and I kept thinking he was my dad, but I wasn`t sure. Then He was introduced to me. We gathered my things and left. My host father speaks a very little bit of English, so we had fun trying to talk to each other.

Mom, I really regret bringing so many bags... the only good thing that came out of dragging them to Shinjuku station and then waiting with them for the hour train ride to Ageo was that I know I got a good work out. Especially when I had to carry them up the stairs! My arms and legs still hurt!

At Shinjuku, we met Ayumi. She is so nice! The three of us borded the train together and went to Omiya where I finally got a watch. No more not knowing what time it is! Yes! lol then we got back on the train and went to Ageo. Yes, I still had my bags.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/MinaBlack/IMG_0102.jpg

When We got to the house I put my bags in Ayumi`s room, which is where I am staying. Ayumi started making dinner when her brother, Nao, came home, followed by her mother. Everyone is soooooooo nice!

We had Japanese hamburgers and miso soup for dinner. Japanese hamburgers are amazing! So much better then American hamburgers!! They have veggies in them and aren`t greasy. Unfortunatly, I wasn`t very hungry. I ended up finnishing mine for breakfast. We slept on futon, which weren:t as comfortable as I thought. I woke up around 5, but Ayumi wasn`t up yet, so I went back to bed. I woke up many times, none of which Ayumi was awake. We finally got up around 10:30, by which time I was VERY hot! And sweaty and gross. I took a shower, which took my forever to figure out, then Ayumi and I went to the super market. I was stared at, but pretty used to it.

When we came back, she showed my her books. She likes manga a lot. Then we made a Strawberry Shortcake for her friends, but since we had no strawberries, it was a Kiwi Shortcake. Goldern kiwi are oishi. Then she helped my with some Japanese.

When ootosan came home, we went to a department store for more food. We bought things for spagetti, and then, the highlight of my life: purikura!!! American would benifit from purikura! It`s like a photobooth, but then you can edit all the pictures with cute little addons. I`ll show you all the pictures when I get home!!

Oh! And Mrs. Emliy, I have a question: I was told when I got here that they dont drink water, only moicha. Do you know where I can drinkm just plain water? I`m dying for some......

for more pictures just take the links and go through my album. JT flickr limits uploads so I:m not using it.

love you all!