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Published: January 20th 2006
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The family
Left side: Yukosan, Shiori (11), Sumire (9). Right side: Seiko, Kazuya (8). This morning as I was working out in the gym I just joined, listening to some futuristic music over the speakers, I had this moment: I can't believe I am living here in Japan! I have been here for a week and a half now (hard to believe!) and I love it already. So much has happened that I don't even know where to begin...
It's weird; Singapore and Malaysia sort of felt like Asia, but Tokyo is definitely Asia "full-on", as my Australian friends would say...
I arrived in the morning on Tuesday, the 10th. Like I had figured, the 2 degree C weather was quite a shock to my system after spending a month in the southern hemisphere. Everything went smoothly as far as meeting my family was concerned. My host mom, Yuko, and the woman who had helped arrange the homestay, Seiko, took me out to an elaborate lunch (after I had just eaten a box of chocolate macadamia nuts since I thought we wouldn't probably eat until dinner!). They showed me where my school is (only a 33 min. walk!) and later I got settled in before the kids came home from school. Their flat
is huge by Tokyo standards and very nice. I have my own room complete with tv, dvd, and cd players. The family has a little chiwawa named Goemon and a turtle whose name I cannot pronounce or spell. The closest train station is a five minute walk away and there are loads of nice restaurants and shops right here. The gym I joined is a ten minute walk. It really is the perfect location. The children are very sweet but very shy. Shiori is 11, Sumire is 9, and Kazyua is 8. There is another one on the way...Yuko just found out she is pregnant so everyone is very excited! So I am now Lauren-san and the children fight about who gets to sit next to me when we go out to dinner, my picture was show and tell for the children at school, and they keep telling their mom that I am so pretty.
Everyone's English is not so good but we are working on it a few hours a week. I hope by the time I leave that everyone can read basic sentences. Right now Yuko can somewhat understand me if I speak VERY slowly (which is
difficult for me!) and use hand gestures for everything. The children cannot really understand me at all unless it is something like 'Have a nice day!' I am also working on my Japanese. I began lessons this past week and already know quite a few words, much to my surprise.
My classes are Tuesday-Friday evenings and it is taking some getting used being in class at night since I haven't had night classes since undergrad. The professors are all very good and so far everything seems interesting. I am still looking for a job since I have the days free, and also looking ahead to what I will be doing from May-July, once the program here ends. I am leaning towards working in NZ or Australia but we will see if that works out. The students in the program are nice but it is not that exciting being back with mostly Americans again... Unfortunately most of the locals are quite a bit older, with full time jobs and families at home, so not exactly people to socialize with. I am looking into working with some Japanese girls who are about my age on their English. I figure it is
a good way to help them, make some extra money, and hopefully end up with a few non-American friends here.
I have also spent a fair amount of time with Seiko, the woman who helped arrange my homestay. She is very sweet and likes showing me around. She wanted to hear U2 since I have been talking about them and people don't seem to know who they are. So we went to a cd store and I put on some of their most famous songs and her face lit up and she kind of started dancing when she realized that she recognized their music. Honestly, it was PRICELESS!!!
I have many thoughts about Japan after just a week and a half. In many ways, it is exactly like I had thought it would be: yes, everything is expensive; yes, Hello Kitty and kareoke are huge here; there are vending machines everywhere; the electronics here are unreal (even the cheapest car has a state of the art GPS and my free mobile phone has incredible capabilities), lots of people really do wear hospital masks out and about (and not just the elderly) and yes, you take your shoes off
to enter places just about everywhere. Of course there are some things that are different or even the opposite of what I expected: there are no street names (which can making telling a cab driver where you live very difficult, believe me), there are no garbage disposals, the portion sizes are bigger than I had expected and sweets and junk food are abundant like anywhere else (and I thought I was going to lose weight just existing in Japan!), and many, MANY people smoke. I have eaten tons of Japanese food-Yuko is a wonderful cook-and I love it all (even though I cannot tell you exactly what a lot of it is and they can't tell me either). But I still made a grocery store run for my wheat bread, skim milk, and peanut butter. I guess in some ways I really do have American tendencies. Yuko and the kids were laughing at the peanut butter...'Why do Americans like peanut butter so much?' Other surprising things: people are very trusting; Yuko and I went for coffee and she left her keys in her brand new, top of the line Mercedes for 45 minutes while we were gone and I about
had a heart attack! She has also told me that I can drive it if I want. Hmm, I think attempting to drive on the left side in Tokyo traffic in a car that is probably worth more than my life has bad idea written all over it!!! Also, much to my surprise, people here do not walk much. Everyone looks at me as if I have three eyes every time I leave to walk the 33 minutes to school. They also told me the closest train station to take the train to the gym (a ten minute walk!!!!!!!)...
Even though I feel settled in, I am still in that 'everything is new and interesting' mindset which isn't a bad way to be I suppose. So that means I keep taking pictures of vending machines, streets, food, you name it....I'm sure it will wear off soon but I am just so happy to be here and really can't even believe it. I can't quite put my finger on it but there is an energy to this city that is just indescribable. I haven't really been out much at night since I have been spending a lot of time with
the family, but I am eager to get out and see what the nightlife is like here. This weekend though, I will be busy attempting to get U2 tickets online Friday at midnight (Yes that's right! U2 here in Tokyo on 4 April. Bono loves me!!!!!!!!!!) and then on Saturday night we are going to Yuko's mother-in-law's house for dinner because she wants to give me a kimono. Apparently receiving a kimono is a very big deal so I am very flattered that she wants to give me one. I'm sure we will take lots of pictures too...
My updates from now on won't be as frequent because obviously I will not be traveling as much but I will still update occasionally so check back. Or even better, take advantage of the specials to Tokyo and come visit me!!
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Ally
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Awesome pictures- especially the sumo wrestlers! good luck getting U2 tickets... ;-)