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Published: September 25th 2006
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I haven't had time to write since I've been so busy with my Japanese Class and hanging out with my host family. I'll try to cover everything, so it might take a couple postings. I'll start with last Saturday Sept. 9 when I met my host family.
My host mom (Mama) and host father (Papa) took me to the store after picking me up from the Kirari; which is where international students stay for a short period of time on campus. At the store I got to pick out my very own set of chopsticks, a miso soup bowl and a rice bowl. I love them. When we arrived home I met ‚Ü‚Ý(Mami; pronounced Mommy) who is their oldest daughter. Their other daughter is ‚³‚â‚©(Sayaka; pronounced Sigh-aw-kaw). I also met ‚¨‚΂¿‚á‚ñ and ‚¨‚¶‚¿‚á‚ñ(Obaachan and Ojiichan; Grandma and Grandpa) Iell make it simple and refer to them as Grandma and Grandpa. Mama, Mami and I were going to go to a traditional festival at the Sapporo Dome that afternoon but it was all sold out when we got there.
Being it was sold out it was the grand opportunity for Mama and Mami to show me how to use the
Me and My Host Family
In order clockwise starting from the left. Grandpa, Grandma, Me, Mama, Papa Bus and Subway system. The Subway system is pretty easy to figure out since everything is also in English for the most part. However for the bus you can only read the numbers, but you canft count on the numbers as some of them go to the east and south and others of the same number go to the north and west. I think after a week I finally for the most part have them figured out. I havenft got lost yet except for missing my stop on the way home, which meant I had to get off at the next one and walk back about a block.
My host family knows some English so when we absolutely canft figure out what each other is saying we say a couple words in English to make sure we understand. The electronic dictionaryfs we have come in very handy for understanding words. Mama showed me how to fix my bed, which is western style so Ifm not sleeping on the floor. I love the comforters here. The one I have feels like itfs down filled so itfs nice and fluffy. The washing machine is really neat also. You put your clothes
in, close the door and push start. A few seconds later it tells you how much detergent to put in the little compartment. That covered the first day of meeting my host family. If youfd like to find out all the little details with food and other small things feel free to e-mail me. For now Ifm just covering the basics.
I've found out that Mama is a teacher for the gJapanese Home Baking School.h Therefore, we always have awesome food and believe it or not everyone I'm finally learning how to actually cook. Yikes! We had corn on the cob one night for supper so it was a little taste of home. It was grown in Hokkeido, which is the Island Ifm living on. Ifm pretty sure it was field corn because it was tough and Mama cooked it in sugar water to sweeten it. When they eat it here they donft put butter on it so that was interesting. It was delicious, which is the most important part.
I never thought I'd eat Sushi again after last yearfs experience on the J-term trip. However, we went to a Sushi restaurant and I surprisingly liked most of
Sushi Conveyor Belt
The Sushi plates go around on this conveyor belt and you grab the one you want as it comes around. the stuff I tried. Surprisingly enough the only thing I didnft like wasnft even Sushi. It was soybeans wrapped in seaweed. Either Papa or Grandpa bought me a beer so that was definitely unexpected; it was only Papa and I that had one. I also had Melon Sherbet for dessert. It mainly tastes like Honeydew with a hint of other melons. After the Sushi Restaurant Mama and I picked up Sayaka from Dance Camp. I was very excited to see her again.
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Best Wishes Everyone
Joy
(Sorry for all the gibberish in this post. I copy and pasted from word and for some reason all the apostraphes turned to f and all the Japanese turned wierd. Hopefully next time it will work proparly)
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Kali
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Joyous! It sounds like you are having a great time and really like your host family. That is great to hear. Keep having fun and don't study too hard. :)