Oi! This week certainly was a buzz! Sorry it took so long to post, I barely have time to check my email sometimes, but nevertheless, I post!
So last week was pretty boring, but starting Thursday was testing at school, so I got to go home at noon Thursday, had no school on Friday or Monday, and half-days Tuesday and Wednesday. So, I did tons of stuff. Here's how it went:
On Thursday my family had a welcome party for me. It was really just dinner with a bunch of people, but that's a party. It was my okaasan (host mother), otosan (host father), grandma and grampa (obaasan and ojiisan, respectively); my host aunt and uncle (obasan and ojisan, respectively); okaasan's friend Yumi (Number 1), her husband, and her two daughters Mami and Satomi; okaasan's friend Yumi (Number 2) and her husband. I have so much fun talking to people, learning Japanese and teaching English too.
Along with my host counselor, 種市さん (Taneichi-san), his son, and some other Rotarians, we climbed a mountain. It was a smallish mountain, much like the one's in VT, yet so different. At the top was a little Shinto shrine dedicated to the kami of the mountain. What you do to "pray" to the kami is open the door, put your hands together, bow twice, clap twice, and bow once more. I say "praying" because that's what it's called, but it seems to be more like showing respect to the kami that it is there protecting the mountain.
After the mountain adventure, I went to a barbecue at Taneichi-san's house. I really like the way the Japanese have a barbecue. Everyone sits around an open grill and puts on the food they want to eat. Pretty fun, and then after I watched Harry Potter dubbed in Japanese. Hermione had the wrong voice, but otherwise it was ok. Except for the part where I couldn't understand it. But that is life in Japan.
On Saturday I woke up at five-thirty (not much earlier than usual) and traveled east to Goshogawara and Hirosaki! First we went to Goshogawara, for Satomi's basketball game. Although she was not playing (she had an operation on her leg awhile ago) I did get a chance to go to a jinja (shinto shrine), and walk around the area a bit. After the game, (they won) we went to this Tachineputa museum. Actually, it's the place where they build and store the Tachineputa floats. Tachineputa is a festival where they drive HUGE floats down the streets. For more info, http://www.enjoytsugaru.com/areaguide/gosh/tachineputa_festival.html, and there's picture's of last weeks floats on my Picasa (Go to the link under Pictures on the sidebar --->>>) We then went back to see the final basketball game, in which they won. That team is going to Tokyo for the Winter Cup, which is a pretty big thing. And then after that, Yumi, Mami, and I went to Hirosaki Castle! Make sure you look at the pictures, it is beautiful. In the spring it is especially popular for it's cherry blossoms. We walked around and then went to meet okaasan who got a haircut. Okaasan and I took the train home from Hirosaki, but first we ate at a restaurant where each table was its own private booth, which was kinda cool. The train ride was pretty boring, an we got home pretty late.
Sunday and Monday were not nearly as fun as the rest of the weekend, but that's OK. I went with okaasan to Hachinohe, where we met up with Mari (my host sister) and had cake and chatted. Mari knows English, and I guess there were some things that okaasan had to say to me. It is really difficult when you cannot communicate to someone about what you need, and sometimes you can work through it, but others you need a translator. It wasn't anything bad, just normal essential stuff.
Then on Monday (I had no school, it was a holiday) I went to Towada to see where my host family's ancestors are housed. Then we went to Misawa to a jinja. We went to bless this vial of some liquid that later obaasan drank from, probably for her health. So I got to watch a cool ritual happen.
was pretty normal, between school, Japanese lessons, archery, and another barbecue at Yumi (Number 1)'s house, which is like two blocks away from our house.
Today was awesome, because I got to go to church! Okaasan was kind enough to find and bring me to a catholic church in Misawa, where I got to take communion. The funny part is, though, that the whole service was in Japanese! However, the priest was French Canadian, and could speak English. Unfortunately, Misawa is an hour's drive away, so I can only go every once in a while.
Well, that's all. I think that one post a week seems fair, so I'll try to keep up. 私はやがて再度書きます!!! 舵誇太
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