Just to let you know, the times that I wrote this out doesn’t correlate with when I put them up. This one was written on the 10th, the day before I left my host family for the next.
When we got to the train station, John and my ride were there already so we didn’t have much time to say goodbye to everyone nor Yoko. It was Yoko’s last camp with us and the last time she would see us. Unfortunately, I gave her a rather sloppy farewell as well as a craptacular last camp for her to remember. I just hope she forgives me for my stupidness.
Anywho, we parted ways and both John and my ride were headed in the same direction. The people who picked me up turned out not to be my host family, but friends of my host family who lived in the same building. Their English was near none, but I tried my best in using my Japanese, or what I could remember of it since I’ve been out for a while. We got off the stop before John’s and after about a block or two out of the train station, we made it to the apartment building. Waiting at the front was my host mom.
She brought me to her apartment and there, I met her two kids, Haruya and Arisa. Haruya was a year younger than his sister who was in sixth grade and he loved baseball and was also the captain of his baseball team. Arisa loved playing the piano and she liked taking pictures, as well as purikura. Purikura are photo booths which you can decorate and add things to make it cute and colorful. They’re much better than what we have in America where you just take a picture and four pictures come out in black and white. These have color and so many different designs. We definitely need them in America. Hell, maybe I’ll buy one and bring it to America! It’s a bit expensive I’m sure, as well as getting the materials for it, but I think everyone should have the experience of having done purikura!
Anywho, my host mom and my host sibs were setting up dinner after I put my things in my room. They had been waiting for me and for their dad to come home but since he was late in coming home, they decided to have dinner then. My host family doesn’t speak English very well or know it very much, but I tried Jap-glish with them, although I must say, it’s the crappiest Jap-glish I’ve ever done before and I immediately reverted to intimate speech with them instead of polite. Blah.
As my host mom was heating up part of the dinner, my host bro got out his origami and gave a couple sheets to his sister and me. They seemed to be having trouble making stuff and not knowing what to do with the two shiny pieces of paper I had, I made a flapping bird and crane for them. They suddenly thought me to the a fantastic origami folder person. I think they’re over assuming things cause all I can make are those two and a tulip from memory. Blah again.
My host mom told me that the next day that they were going to go to Tokyo Disneyland the next day. I had no money on me. I was surviving on a minimal amount of money until I could go to the bank to exchange my last hundred, but my host mom misunderstood. She assumed that I was going to buy my own ticket, which I also assumed that I needed to do anyway and showed me a ticket that they had already bought for me and the for the whole family. I still needed money anyway cause I only had a 1000 yen bill on me and a few coins. My host mom told me that we were going to stop at a konbini (convenience store) the next morning before going to Disneyland for breakfast so I could try to take out money from the ATM there.
After dinner, my host dad came home from work and my host mom immediately told him that he didn’t have to worry about me because I knew some Japanese. He seemed happy about it. He tried talking to me about baseball as he ate and the rest of the family tried talking to me as well. The next day, we got up early and went to a konbini. The ATM didn’t want to take my card so my host mom said not to worry about it. If I wanted to buy souvenirs from Disneyland, they could take my card.
We got to Disneyland and it was freakin crowded and hot hot hot! The doors weren’t open yet so the kids and I had breakfast in the shade while my host parents waited in line. Once the doors opened, we went inside. It was a rather interesting experience because I got a souvenir from the moment I stepped in! I got a pin with Stitch on it from “Lilo and Stitch” in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Tokyo Disneyland’s opening. Anywho, aside from that, people were running, like mad rushing in kind of running. There were lots and lots of people so I figured that it was because they wanted to get to certain rides so they could go first instead of waiting long for it.
The first ride we got on was a go-cart kinda ride except it was indy cars. It was fun but I couldn’t drive the damn car. Maybe not driving for about a month-ish got to me eh? After that, we went on some more rides. Can’t really remember all of them. I tried taking a bunch of pictures and also, it was HOT! Did I mention that it was hot? During my time there, my host family and I went around Cinderella Castle where there were shows every two hours or so called “Cool the Heat.” They would splash the audience with water while Goofy introduced the show and about four dancers as well as a special guest would appear. The first time, it was Donald, the second time was Stitch and the last time we were there, it was Mickey.
Everyone got wet and I mean, EVERYONE! There was also a parade that started about an hour before each of those shows about Goofy’s new invention that had to do with clouds and rain, but the machine was “broken” so the people in the audience got splashed with water, but we all liked it cause it was hot out.
There was one ride where it was a canoe and we had to paddle ourselves with the aid of the people working there. The guy we got was kinda cute and… well, more manly looking than the ones I’ve seen in Japan since I’ve been here. Lol I hate to generalize people and stereotype them and all, but I prefer having guys being the outdoorsy and having some meat and muscles on them. I was impressed. Lol On another note, I saw Chip and Dale and my host mom asked if I wanted a picture with them, but they had quite a crowd so I skipped on that. We went to the gift shop later and I spent $100 plus on gifts… mostly for me, but I souvenirs for other people so look out friends! I’ve some Disney souvenirs! (mostly Stitch though…)
The last couple things we did was watch a short movie and show in a theatre about how Disney films started and how Mickey lead the Disney revolution, or something or other like that. It was all in Japanese so I didn’t understand everything, but I got the gist of it from watching the short film. Then there was a short music presentation by Mickey and other Disney characters. They were all played out by robots, but they’re better than anything I’ve ever seen in America. Hell, I think all the robots that I saw at Disneyland were way better than any in America. Kinda creepy in a way, but they had great facial expressions and lip synced better than any robots I’ve ever come across.
At night, we saw a show by Cinderella Castle, but since we got there late, we got rather horrible seats, but meh, it was pretty nonetheless. Then there was a parade and it was cool. What I found rather odd was that all the European characters in the Disney movies were… well, European, or rather, American. They spoke American English and they were all American. Everyone else and the extras were Japanese. It’s funny in a way, but meh. After that, we went back on the Splash Mountain ride because we had our last Fast Pass tickets to use. If you didn’t want to wait in line for three hours or so to ride on a ride, you buy a Fast Pass. It was fun and my host mom bought a photo that they too of us on the ride. We went back to their apartment that night and had udon. I also got darker and sunburned. Yay. Stupid sunblock lotion that doesn’t work…
The next day, my host dad went to work and my host mom took my host sibs and me to a Korean restaurant for lunch. I told my host mom the day before that I also studied Korean. She told our waitress that I knew Korean. It feels like it was actually my mom talking and boasting that her daughter was good at something, unfortunately, my mom doesn’t boast about me at all and actually, she insults me in front of whoever she talks to, but somehow it felt as if she could have said it. Well, I tried some Korean on her and she spoke back to me and I had no clue what she said, but tried to fake it. My host mom fell for it, but the waitress didn’t. lol I feel stupid. Anywho, I got bibimbap and put lots and lots of hot sauce in it. Hey, who knows when I can get it again?
She tried taking me to my next host family’s massage clinic, but they weren’t open yet so we skipped it. Later, my host mom took me to go with my host sibs’ calligraphy lesson. It was the most boring-est thirty minutes of my life because the whole time was spent in trying to write my first name in kanji. The teacher was one of my host bro’s friend’s grandmother and she kept making me repeat and redo certain strokes. I got so tired of it, but when she finally gave me the ok, she suddenly gave me my next task, writing my first name in hiragana. This one took longer and it made me think for a really long time, have I been writing my name the wrong way this whole time? Damn!
Hand tired and arm sore, she finally gave me the ok on the hiragana part of my name, drew a flower on it to show that I did a good job on it and my host mom took me to go see the former host family of a girl from Minnesota. They thought that I might want to speak English to another native speaker. She wasn’t there when we got there because she was still working, but came in about thirty minutes later. She spoke really good Japanese. Not bad for someone who only took one year of it and it made me feel even stupider than I’ve ever been in my whole life. I took two years-ish of it and I still suck. I can’t even remember anything nor kanji!
We talked and talked and everyone stared at us as if we had just pulled a bunny out of thin air. After having dinner together (we even had wild rice soup with actual Minnesotan wild rice!), we watched the opening of the Olympics and though it was beautiful and cool and everything, it was freakin long. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the opening to the Olympics at all! Are they usually so long? Well, we left before they finished, I’m not even sure when it finished or which part I left on.
The next day, Haruya and his dad left to go to baseball camp. I got up early enough to say bye to Haruya, but his dad had already left so I missed him. After he left, I went back to sleep for another two hours before Arisa woke me up. We went to Asakusa to check out the temple and for me to buy more souvenirs, but I never got around to that because I wore a one of my pair of shoes for the first time and it gave me blisters. I had to buy some shoes and wear bandaids. Afterwards, we went to a 100 Yen shop and I spent $30 plus there on souvenirs… and I also bought a small bottle of a hot pepper concoction of some sort cause everywhere we go for camp, I crave spiciness cause everything is so friggin bland!
Afterwards, we went back to home and later that evening, we met up with Arisa’s friend’s family, sans father. We went to a Yakitori restaurant and there, my host mom boasted about my Japanese and that I could speak Korean and used it with the waitress at the Korean restaurant. I also made a couple of cranes for the kids and one for the restaurant for the hell of it and she also boasted about my spectacular origami skills. (yeah right, I only made a crane and flapping bird)
The day after, I woke up at 11:30. Whoops! Didn’t mean to sleep that late, but I was up late reading stories on my lappy cause I hadn’t read for fun in a while. It was just my host mom, my host sister and me in their apartment because the boys were at baseball camp. My host mom made waffles and I was happy cause even I, American and all, hadn’t eaten waffles in a long time either. Lol It was good, but very sweet. Afterwards, we went to Toyosu for a Fireworks Festival with Arisa’s friend’s family, sans dad again. We got purikura, played a couple of games at the arcade, went window shopping for a little bit and I got to eat cooled takoyaki and yakisoba. When 7 pm rolled around, the fireworks started. It must have been the longest fireworks display of my whole life. I got so bored about halfway through and wondered when the hell it’d finish. After about a gazillion of messed up picture taking, they finally ended and everyone rushed to get to the train. We took the train there so we sorta rushed as well. I was hoping to see some friends, but sadly, I couldn’t find anyone.
It was a good homestay and though their English wasn’t that good and my Japanese sucked ass, I still had fun with them. It’s sad but I have to leave them tomorrow, but after we eat sushi together at a sushi bar! Yay! The day after, they’ll be heading to Fukuoka to either my host mom or her husband’s parents’ house. I’m not sure whose family lives there, but they’ll be going there for vacation so they can’t have me longer than tomorrow. Tomorrow, maybe I’ll get to see John before I go to my next homestay and his as well. Till then, ja naa!
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