Host Family Part III

"Tell us about living in their house. What are the rules? Where is the profile of the dog?"

Happy Halloween Everybody! I will post later about what I did this busy weekend, but first I thought I would talk about my host family a bit more and answer a few more questions I got with them.

A typical day at my house: Wake up at either 6:20 or 9:30 and shower. I eat breakfast sometimes by myself, sometimes with family members if they're not busy, and then finish going ready before going to school. After school I will come home around 6:30 and do homework or go on my computer for a bit before dinner is ready (around 7:30 or 8 usually). Most of the time the entire family eat together, but sometimes Hanako has cram school (extra school session after regular school for studying) and comes home late. Everyone talks and watches tv, sometimes I show them things from what I did that day (pictures) or check out Hanako's homework (she's a smarty pants!), or I look at cookbooks with my host mom....After dinner I kind of help my host mom straighten up the dining room then usually go do homework/computer/read/ and sleep. On Wednesdays my classes start later in the day so I usually do laundry then and clean my room if I need to. My host mom said she didn't mind doing my laundry but I told her I could do it no problem. Like I said before, they're a very awesome family and don't have many strict guidelines for me to follow, but there are a few rules:

-No boys over: I'm allowed to have friends over but not friends that are guys. I can't really understand this one because Hanako's best friend is a boy and comes over sometimes and that's okay haha.
-Only use the shower from 6 am to 11 pm: can't use it at 3 in the morning- dang ;)
-Can only use my computer in my room: my host mom said the last student they had would spend all her time on the computer and would bring it into the living room. Some family member would try to talk to her and she was so engaged on the internet all the time that they could never have a good conversation with her. So now the computer stays in my room- I have no problem with this.
-Curfew is the last train: Again, no problem with this rule either. I'm allowed to stay at a friend's house if I want to but if I'm coming home, I have to be home by the last train- usually around midnight. If I, for some reason, missed my train home it would suck because I'd either have to 1) pay a bajillion dollars to take a taxi or 2) hang out in a 24 hour restaurant until 5 am when the trains start running again. So yeah, no problems with this rule.
-No smoking at the house: Not a smoker so it doesn't matter....
-No drinking at the house: My host dad is trying to stay healthy and not drink alcohol, so everyone is not going to drink at the house to support him. This is also fine because if I want to drink, I go out with my friends.
-Dinner rules: I can come late to dinner as long as I send my host mom an email...She will keep my dinner until 10 pm. I can miss dinner too (like if I'm going out with friends) as long as I send my host mom an email by 6 (before she goes to the supermarket).
-Other things? I have to have my own shampoo, soap, and toothpaste.

Overall, these rules all make sense and are totally fine by me so it's really easy to live here and I really like it.

Also...dog's profile:  RARA-chan aka Oba-san (grandma)

Rara is a really old doggie that can't see well (eyes are white) but she's sooo cute and is my bff basically. Haha, it'll be really funny and kind of sad because you'll be sitting down watching tv or at the table and can hear random bumps all of a sudden- it'll be rara running into things on accident. She's pretty good about where things are, but the trouble comes when doors are shut (there's a door that goes from the main hallway to the kitchen/living room/dining room area).
My host mom likes to teach her commands in german...something that sounds like "HAUS" but I don't speak german so I don't know what it means exactly. haha, she gets treats of apple or asian pears after dinner and can be a bit whiny sometimes- nothing that I haven't experienced with Tatsu (my pug dog) though.
I also have to be careful because I've scared her a few times on accident. She can't see so when I come up behind her and she doesn't know who it is she'll get all scared and run away. Usually though I can pick her up, and sometimes she'll sit on my lap in my room when I use the computer.
She's kind of strange because she likes being in my room all the time and I have no idea why. I've had to keep my door shut because I don't want her getting into anything of mine, but if I leave it open we'll always be like "where's rara?" and she'll just be in my room like it ain't no thang.


wow I wrote a lot about the dog. If anyone has anymore host family questions lemme know :D

What are 3 luxuries you miss most from from America?

Luxuries??? hmmm... How about just the things I miss from America:

1) Breakfast Burritos: I used to work at my cousin's market and we made the beeeest breakfast burritos there that I crave basically all the time.
2) Bike Lanes: I ride a bike here... Who and the heck thought it would be a good idea to mash people and bikes together on the crowded sidewalks?
3) My friends: I miss people most of all. With being away for a year, I'm missing a lot of experiences with my friends that sometimes I wish I could be a part of.. At least facebook and skype is a nice way to keep in touch and see what is going on. However, on the flip side I'm making a bunch of new friends here and having a bunch of new experiences- when I leave I'm sure I will feel the same thing again...

Overall though, I'm doing fine with the not missing things too much y'know? I really do love Japan...Sometimes it can be hectic and crowded and it's a very expensive place with no trashcans anywhere, and I'm not good at the language yet so it can be confusing, but there's a lot of amazing things about it and I'm having a great time. I didn't think I was going to like living in this big of a city but it's not bad :) Sometimes I do miss Eugene though with its wide open spaces and crunchy fall leaves.

Ask me about Japan!

Have you learned any popular Japanese games? Like Mahjong maybe (yes that's Chinese, but popular in Japan as well)?

Haven't learned any yet. Haha, of course I know 'Jan Ken Poi' (rock paper scissors) but as far as other Japanese games...I don't even know what's really popular here (not many of my Japanese friends are into board games?). Shogi and Go are two old ones but I don't know if I would want to learn them..it would take so much effort because it seems so complex .

Ask me about Japan!

Do you have dreams about being back in the states?

I don't think so? Right now I can't remember really. The focus of my dreams are usually people rather than just places. And I have had dreams involving people who are in the states...

A side note that's kind of related is that I've started dreaming in Japanese a bit :) hopefully that's a good sign.

Ask me about Japan!

What part of Japanese culture do you think will stick with you long after leaving?

Hopefully the language!!!! that's why I am here after all.

Ask me about Japan!

RENKON, MY LOVE

So, among all the new things I've eaten here, renkon is my favorite (besides melon pan that is). Also known as 'Lotus Root' it's all super good for you and delicious.  I was a bit worried about eating it at first (looked like a radish or something that was going to taste bitter and gross) but I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to America if there's no renkon...Someone check their safeway or whatever and tell me if it's there :< !

Looks like this: 

From website:  http://jellyfishenglish.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/renkon-b.jpg

And then! You cook it and stuff and it looks like this

Image from:  http://www.fukuokadreaming.com/?p=831

DERICIOUS 

My host mom jokes with me and was all *In japanese of course* "for your birthday, I'm going to make you a cake...with renkon all over it!" haha <3

This is now going to turn into a really random blog post of things I've been doing this week:

This is the Japan National Theater. It's where I went and met my friend Kanako and her mom and where we watched 2 traditional Japanese dance pieces! It was amazing (different, but so neat)

Raaaamen

Lunch with Dorothy and Marco (who is now known as my older brother basically. He buys me ice cream and defends me like a big bro should )

LOOK AT THAT GIANT BOWL OF RAMEN!

Marco was all yellin at me and Dorothy like "hurry up and eat or your noodles are going to get soggy!!!" because we were too busy talking about boys or whatever ;)

MISTER DONUTS

Ate at mister donuts again one day....  wrrrryyyyyyy dericioussss donutssss

I saw this cafe and thought of my older sis, Noelle...cause she's always calling me a spaz:

And finally this is for Stephanie, because after seeing my alpaca backpack keychain, she is obsessed with alpaca stuff...and they make a lot of it here! Feast your eyes:

Why is this so hilarious?

The top one is a hand warmer (put the little packets of hand warming things inside of the alpaca)...and the bottom ones are a bunch of things like you can put a warm bottle in one and put your hands in it to stay warm? I dunno japan...I. don't. know.

Tissues

That would be a photo of the 9 packs of Tissues I collected in like 3 hours today!
When walking around the streets of Tokyo, in the busy parts at busy times you will frequently be offered little packs of tissues (advertising) ! Today I wanted to see how many I could get when I went out for lunch with friends, so I accepted every one offered and here's the result: 9 packs in 3 hours.

These are actually really useful though.
1) you never have to buy tissue haha.
2) bathrooms in japan don't have anything to dry your hands with, so you can use these

Host Family Part II

I got a request from bff Stephanie to talk more about my host family. While I would've liked to include pictures on this post, it's a bit awkward maybe to walk up to them and be like "can I take a picture to show like 50 people back home what you look like?" But I can still show a few pictures and at least tell you things about them and what it's like to live with them. :0

Host Mom: Tomoko

Yeah I've used this picture before. Sorry for looking gross in it.

Firstly, she is an awesome cook!  And in her free time she teaches a cooking class and also is a Japanese teacher (gets called in every once in a while. I guess a sub?) The family has lived in Tokyo their whole life but really hasn't traveled around Japan very much, which I was surprised about. BUT they have traveled around the world extensively and even lived in Germany for a bit (she studies German too in her free time). I think because of this, they are more of a western influenced family than a really traditional Japanese family like some of the other Oregon students got...but it's nice I think- I'm really glad I got this family because they are so open to different cultures and understanding of things. Also relaxed (I don't have to use polite form with her)  She's really funny too because she tells me all about her trips to Egypt and, like I said before, she always talks really fast so I don't quite get what she is saying sometimes but- I'm getting a lot better at Japanese I feel like because now I am understanding her more. She's kinda sassy too, like telling me about her opinions on a lot of things or people and it makes me laugh (when I can understand that is...). Usually for breakfast I have a western style meal haha (quite the contrast to my last host family where I ate rice and fish for breakfast). This time I have toast (with nutella or jelly), a banana, yogurt, sometimes really nice cheese, sometimes an egg and sausage,  sometimes pancakes! - but everyday I also eat veggies too for breakfast. This could be anything from a green salad to pieces of broccoli and asparagus (why the Japanese enjoy salads for breakfast I have no idea!). For lunch I'm on my own. And then come home after school and have dinner! It can be a number of things....Usually a bunch of little courses. So for example last night we had Nabe (tofu, fish, cabbage, sprouts  all boiled in water then you put it in a bowl with sauce), and a  bowl of soup (which had mushrooms and potatoes and carrots and other veggies), a cup of rice, and some other vegetable on the side. Dessert is usually an asian pear, persimmon, apple, or a small cup of pudding. Sometimes, like last night, she has "wagashi"...Japanese sweets from the grocery store (usually involves anko beans and smashed rice called mochi), and sometimes she makes special desserts like her chocolate cake she made last night.

Host Sister: Hanako (18)

This is Hanako (right) and her best friend since like forever, Shun (left)...(I have english conversation time with him sometimes because he wants to get better at speaking! )
Hanako loooves to sing and is missing Karaoke right now because she's studying so much. In Japan, you have to study hard and take a placement test in the spring to try and get into certain colleges. Hanako wants to go to the hardest school in Japan so she's studying her butt off (she's so amazing!) around the clock. I could not do what she does. Anyway, she's hilarious though- I don't get to spend a lot of time with her but the time I do get to spend at dinner makes me laugh. She likes to watch movies, and Desperate Housewives is one of her favorite shows (lol). She's super smart and I read her english homework sometimes and am amazed. However, that doesn't mean she can speak english...most Japanese can read or write english but can't speak it because they don't focus on that in school! Interesting right? (that's where this thing called the JET program comes in. They bring in native english speakers into japanese high schools and practice the speaking element they miss. I've thought about doing the JET program in the future but we'll see what happens )

Mikio: Host Dad
Sorry, don't have a picture or much information for him. I usually only see him at dinner but he laughs a lot at Hanako and Tomoko's witty banter, and he likes to read the newspaper, and goes swimming every day---  every week he goes to see a classical music concert! He's a businessman but I'm not sure exactly what his job is. ..

Rikako: 16

Rikako is on the left

Never met her. She's studying abroad in Canada this year. But I hear a lot about her. It was really funny because my host mom was talking to her on skype the other day and I guess she wanted to buy this $600 dress for prom! My host mom was asking me like "is this normal for prom in america?" HAHA nooooo. I told her all about prom after that, and how my sister and I treat prom a bit differently ($40 dresses vs $200 dresses haha)...and how she has to keep in mind she will also be buying shoes probably and maybe makeup and/or hair as well. She finally found a  dress though for $100 so that's good!


That's all for now. Of course I will post more stories about them if they arise...Let me know if you have questions about them? or about living at my host families house?

formspring.me

Hey guys, I started this so people could ask me questions about Japan if they have them. You can also use this as a means of telling me like "will you blog about this aspect of your time in Japan?!" because I love suggestions. I don't have the outside view on my trip (though I'm trying to post about things I haven't explained yet) so it would be helpful <3
You don't have to search for this post to get the link every time you have a new question either...I added it to the sidebar of my blog :D  seeeeeee?

"Ask me anything http://formspring.me/Mikaela1347"

Tails and Things

 Decided I needed to blog about this after going to Ikebukuro again today....

Photo by Dorothy:

 

See these tail things? They're one of the popular fashion things in Japan right now and I have no idea why. Girls will attach them to their purses or belt loops...if this fashion hits America I will laugh so hard. Keep me posted you guys!

Edit: They're not attached to belt loops and worn as 'tails'...they're literally just hanging off of purses usually.... like someone just got back from hunting or something hahaha. Here look,   even Posh Spice is in on it:

Nikko and Edo Wonderland

FIRSTLY THIS:

Yes that's me

As I said in a previous post, Thursday was a no school day for us! So all the Oregon students and some of the International Club's Japanese students took a field trip to a place called Nikko! Around 2 and a half hours north of Tokyo, we rode by bus to see a place called Toshogu Shrine and afterwards went to Edo Wonderland.

First the Shrine.  This place is very famous for 4 main things: The three wise monkeys (hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil), the sleeping cat statue, the crying dragon room, and it is also the resting place for Tokugawa Ieyasu's remains (founder of the Tokugawa bakufu aka the EDO period. Edo was the old capital...today it is known as Tokyo ;D  )

I tried to get shots that didn't have hordes of people in them- it was difficult :/

One of these pillars is upside down

The upside down pillar was built on purpose...the idea comes from the old Japanese saying, 'Once a building is completed, its destruction begins.' " Now, with the building incomplete it will last forever .

Tomo, Daichi and Kanako my adorable friends!

I like seeing the guardian dogs in all the temples and shrines I visit

The three wise monkeys

The sleeping cat...WHY IS THIS FAMOUS? no one knows but everyone photographs it.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's memorial place

 I wasn't allowed to take photos of the 4th thing though, the crying dragon. So here's a picture of it from a website. This dragon is painted on the ceiling of a hall.

From:   http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2267/2416775142_5f0699be37.jpg

 This room honestly gave me chills. A man would take these wooden clappers and bang them together really loud. At first nothing would happen except the usual wooden clacking noise...then he walked directly under the picture and clapped them together again-  this eerie echo followed,  which is supposed to be the sound of the crying dragon. So amazing!

A few other pictures from the Shrine: 

Tomo stole a bite of Daichi's bread when he wasn't looking

Nick ate this whole baguette super fast!

Kanako is so cute!

Anyway, on the way out, this group of elementary schoolers came up to a few of us to "interview" us in English. SO CUTE. Basically they were like "what do you think of Nikko? My name is ___...Enjoy your stay in Japan!"

We hit the bus again after lunch and landed in Edo wonderland, which is supposed to be a historical recreation site. It's basically an area where everyone dresses up like they're samurai and merchants and geishas and stuff and tries to recreate what the Edo period was like. It was fun except I think they played up on the kind of Western Stereotyped idea of Edo (ninjas, geishas etc). In all my college Japan history classes, not once were ninjas every mentioned...I mean this place was cool but rather than being really historically accurate it accentuated the western love of medieval Japan I think.

We had tons of fun though! And it was a really beautiful place:

Kanako and a statue of Michizane

 Everyone on the bridge were looking at these HUUUGE koi! You could feed them for 100 yen (about a dollar) and the fish would just go nuts!

OM NOM NOM NOM

Bounty Hunters

 One of the attractions was this haunted house...They had some cool things in it like this guy...In Buddhism, King Yama decides if you go to hell or not. Obviously we got sent to hell, having to walk thru all these creepy haunted rooms....but at the end of the haunted house, they had this big gold statue of Amida Buddha- signifying you survived the hell house and made it to the pure land.

Photo thanks to Dorothy!

  They also had a ninja maze! Which was really fun and actually took a while to figure out.

My favorite picture basically. Dorothy is so saaad! and lost

No fear. Mikaela aka Lewis with her partner Dorothy aka Clark, eventually figured it out. Oregon Represent.

Dorothy is too happy in this shot haha

There were live performances too! These guys put on this really impressive show, we got pics with them later

I think Nick's picture was the best though:  

 Davoodi's was pretty good too!

Other pictures:

Further proof why Doro needs to start modeling

I Heart Japan. Also, it's so beautiful- the background looks fake!

I dunno what I was laughing at...but see guys! Don't worry I'm having a great time.

That's all for Nikko! This week is seeing a traditional dance with my friend Kanako, the Niji no Kai (international club) Halloween party, and the Waseda Baseball game! I am going as a zombie school girl to the Party haha. Pics definitely to come later but here's a shot of what I have so far:

Just need to add some blood and stuff right!?

On a side note it's actually feeling like fall a bit here now. It's getting colder.... Hey you Pacific Northwest people, I hear a big storm is coming your way this winter. Good luck with that ;)

Happy Halloween everyone! Carve a pumpkin for me.

Yataimura!

Sunday night, end of a long week and getting ready for another one (no time to rest! pah- I'm in Japan). 

So if you know me, you know I am a sort of pro at making cookies (specifically chocolate chip cookies). I was finally able to make some for my host family.  Except they turned out a bit different than usual....

Here's how they normally look:

Here's the "japanese version".

All in all they were still delicious and soft, just flat and a bit different. The flour and butter is different here, as is the oven. And usually in Japan, recipes are done by weight. My host mom handed me a scale and I was like "what's dis for?" haha. Instead of saying 3 cups of flour they weigh it out.

Anyway this weekend was the Homecoming day for Waseda (a day where all the alumni can come and celebrate with a festival). So the WIC (Waseda International Club)  decided to have a sort of competition called Yataimura. They basically divided everyone into continental groups and said "you cook this area's food". My friends Daichi and Tomo were on Team Europe and wanted me to join too so I went for it.
So Saturday we went to go make all this food to sell...

Preparing Pound Cake

And Sunday was the festival day and the day for it to be sold!  We had made meat pies, "curry sausage" and pound cake.

Other friends from Oregon. Team Europe signboard...the sign basically says "gentlemen in Waseda"

GENTLEMEN (yes, i brought the mustache from home with me)

Kunpei liked the mustache too though!

Tomo and Clare (she's actually from Europe haha)

Other teams, the Americas (statue of Liberty?) and Africa group

Busy and full of drunk older people haha

Waseda Jazz club band

This is the founder of Waseda. His name is Okuma. In Japanese Kuma means bear, so the mascot is a bear. So punny!

Me and a California student with the Waseda Bear. Like my cool hat?

That's all for now. Thursday is a "yasumi no hi" aka "day of rest" which means no school! ( I think it's the University founding day...and they celebrate it by canceling class haha). So we're taking a field trip to a place called Nikko which I am. so. excited. for. - expect a lot of pictures after then. <3