Firsts

こんばんは！
It has been awhile since my last update and there is a lot I want to catch everyone up with as well as mention some things I failed to mention in my previous posts.
*Warning this will be a long post*

I am now living with my new long term host family. (Pictures will be coming soon)
This host family is a lot bigger than the last family I was staying with.

Natsuko-san my host mother speaks very good English which makes it very easy to communicate with everyone else in the family. She currently works once a week as a English translator and instructor. However the rest of her week is also very busy because she also works once a week as a sewing instructor, attends a japanese calligraphy class, and two different painting classes. Natsuko-san is very fun and friendly and I really enjoy talking with her. She also is helping me everyday to learn new Japanese.
Makoto-san is my host papa (as I call him). His English appears to be non-existant, but I think it is more that he is shy to speak it. He is a rather silent papa, but he always asks me a few questions (in Japanese which Natsuko-san translates) and enjoys seeing when I am amused by something as well as when I speak the limited Japanese I know. Something I find interesting is that unlike my last host father (who I still like to refer to as お父さん) he always comes home in time for dinner with the family. However, I have only been with this family for 3 dinners, so maybe this will change? But I think since he is a Doctor and not a businessman he does not follow the same tradition/custom of going out and drinking after work with co-workers. (Don't mistake this for meaning he has not drank after work, because he does, but at home)
Julie is my 15 year old host sister. Her English is about the same as Miki's (my other host sister from my previous family) Although Julie and Miki are the same age they are both very different types of girls. She is very sweet and I enjoy spending time with her even though our communication is sometimes limited due to the language barrier.
Yudai or Yu-chan as he is fondly called is my 13 year old host brother. His English is very very limited but he seems to enjoy speaking the little bit of english he does know to me. He is so cute and very friendly.

Today was my first official day of school so I will briefly give you a rundown of my day (which had turned out to be more hectic than originally expected)

In the morning I had woken up around 7 because I had my Kanda entrance ceremony at 9:30 and wanted to have plenty of time for breakfast,getting dressed, and the commute. At 7:30 my host mother informed me that the Keiyo line (train) was down due to strong winds. And she said that the Musashino line would probably running slower also due to high winds and gave me a alternative route to take. However, both of the Musashino and Keiyo lines are the regular, fastest, and cheapest routes of getting to school. So I met my commuting buddy, veronica at Myoden station 20mins earlier than we would have normally left. Our first train commute was fine, because we were riding the Tozai line which isn't as affected as the other rail lines. Once we arrived at Nishi Funabashi (our transfer station) we began to experience the chaos of the shutdown trains. Nishi Funabashi station was completely jammed with people trying to figure out how they could get to their destination. The pay machines had been turned off due to the overcrowding of people, so everyone ended up getting a free ride. Once on the train that we needed we were slightly crammed due to it being one of the only lines running. It turned out we needed to transfer at another station due to the high winds and our next train was unbelievably packed! The train was stalled sitting on the tracks for 20 minutes waiting to see if the winds would die down. From the moment we had stepped onto the train it had already been packed, and during those 20 minutes more people kept crowding onto the train! It was a very crazy experience to be on such a crowded train. After 1.5 hours of commuting (which normally is done in 35 minutes) we arrived at school exactly on time for the entrance ceremony.

The entrance ceremony wasn't too interesting so I will not bother writing about it. After the entrance ceremony it was time for the Japanese placement exam. Since I am a very beginner I only had to take the katakana/hiragana test, which wasn't too awful. Following this I went to my Kana class, which turned out to be not as useful as I had hopped for it to be. But this was only because we were going over what I was already familiar with, the next two classes however will be more useful since we will go over things I am not as confident with. After Kana class I ate a yummy Udon lunch, then went to Japanese pop culture class. It is a 2hour 40minute class. Today we didn't do much for the class so there is not much for me to write about, so this pretty much summarizes the highlights of my day.


Ok so something I wanted to share about earlier but had forgotten to is in regards to the Japanese bath. Here in Japan it is customary for everyone to bathe at the end of the day. However, bathing means something quite different in Japan than in America. In Japan before bathing you first shower off, shampoo/condition, and wash the body with soap. Only once you are completely clean is it okay to enter the bath. Not anything too unusual yet. What makes Japanese bath unique is that all members of the family bath in the same bathwater. So once you are done soaking you get out of the tub, but DO NOT drain the water because the same water will be used by everyone.

I have to admit that I had originally been very opposed to the idea of the Japanese bath. In my first homestay my お母さん drew up the bath and had asked me to go ahead and bathe first. Since I was bathing first i thought okay it should be fine. So I went ahead and soaked in the tub. However the following night お父さん bathed first and so I did not really feel like using the bath after, I just wasn't comfortable with the idea yet.

Now in my new homestay I am always the second to bath and I actually have used the bath after my host sister (Julie) has bathed. It is not so terrifying as I thought it would be, but it is definitely still quite out of my comfort zone. Some days I choose not to bath and only shower. But it really is a unique/interesting experience.

おやすみなさい！
ケリ