people I've met to thank for it! There's 33 of us, 13 from America, 5 from University of Leeds and the rest are from France, Canada, Hawaii and Germany. It's been fun.
And it's so hot! Even tights is too much for me to wear. And I've been bitten to buggary already by mosquitos -_-
My host family
has gone to take Tokishi to nursery for a few hours, so I'm left to sort out my stuff and come to grips with the fact that I'm living with a Japanese family!
Takamitsu-san is a buisness man working in Tokyo who speaks fluent English. But because of his work I'll be spending my time with Chihoko-san, who speaks mostly in Japanese and therefore lets me practice my stunted sentences which must sound like that of a 2 year old (and still she insists on how 上手 I am. Ofcourse.)
But the best thing is a) she's hosted a lot of students from all over the world and so knows exactly how things are going to be done and got right down to rules and practicalities and b), she has a 4 year old son and so she is probably used to working out baby talk.
Tokishi-kun was friendly and happy and loving from the start, saying 'Sha-ro-tou! Shaaa-ro-tou!'again and again. He loves me showing pictures of myself for some reason, he has a bad habit of turning stuff off and on again (like my laptop while I'm on it or the light switch) and he seems content with just hanging out in my room. He's determined to make me watch the Transformers dvd until I know it off by heart like him I think, but he's perfect - I'll probably learn more Japanese from him than anywhere else xD God I love kids...
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| He keeps stealing my chapstick because he likes the smell ~ かわいいね！ |
The house is small and very Japanese. We kneel at the dinner table and the study room is a tatami room, and it's all very compact and neat.
Meeting with them was a huge ceremony at the hotel, where everyone dressed up real nice, gave speeches and had a buffet.
They made such a big deal out of it that it made me even more nervous, I seriously thought I was going to be sick, but it seems silly in hindsight. There was really nothing to worry about, of course my host family would be understanding.
Hotel Okura in Kobe was amazing, by the way, though I didn't take any pictures for some reason. The all you can eat breakfast was the best part, and the view of Kobe city was a close second.
It was 3 people per room and I was with Caroline from Illinois, America and Marina from Lion, France, and they were awesome. I went out every night after the day of orientation, for the first night to an everything is 280円 居酒屋 （Izakaya).
On the second night we wondered around and found a shop, bought some stuff and sat at the habour (which is great because the temp cools down to warm and comfortable at night from the hot and sticky daytime).
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| How does one go about eating this? |
Third night was the best, where after a day touring the city our Uni is based in, we got together with some of our guides (Japanese Konan Uni students) and went to a bigger Izakaya for some fun times!
I got to practice japanese with people without feeling embarrased (thanks to the はちみつうめしょ and りんごサオワ ：D) and got my English mocked by a bunch of Americans (It's Jelly, not Jello!) . Later, headed for the habour again to play 20 questions. Got back for about 3am. Got up for 6.30am to get ready to meet my host family for the first time...ahaa yeah.
I met up with my friend from the e-mail swap at Konan, too, and found that she couldn't speak English as well as I'd hoped -_- and by Japanese is pitiful. But maybe that's a good thing, I can practice with her better - I always feel dumb speaking Japanese to a nihonjin who is fluent in english. It seems pointless to stuggle.
I shall leave you now with these pics while I go compile my list of stuff to get and do this week (like buy a mobile, open a japanese bank account etc). Remember to keep your skype on guys if you ever want to speak to me this year x
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| ice cream and luminous green pop |
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| food is displayed as delicious looking plastic models in most windows instead of photos |
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| 'We English Speak' |
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