Second Day; Host Family!

Warning: this post will not have many pictures. Unfortunately, I showed up at a friend's hotel room too late to catch the actual sunrise (though the pink over the water was nice) and I have been so busy that I was not able to take many photographs today.

After waking up to the buzz of my phone at 5:50 a.m., I made my way to breakfast with members of Osaka Squad as well as some friends of my old friend. Most of them did not really speak English, but rather Mandarin, so we communicated mainly in Japanese, though sparingly. Today's breakfast was buffet-style yet high quality. The bread was especially satisfying, with one of the flakiest croissants I have ever had that was not a mess of crumbs. I decided to start the day off adventurous and tried their "Mango-Apple" juice (which was delicious) and my friend will tell you how excited I was at the deep orange hue of the fried egg.
I also want to note, without too much hubris, that I left a note for our third roommate in German and when she joined the breakfast room later on she said it was good! >.<

Anyways, after our slightly confusing checkout, we all went to orientation. Thankfully, I had paper to take notes with and practically all of the information covered is provided in a handbook that was in our welcome packet. Also in the welcome packet was a campus map, a college brochure, a course classes list, a Lagare train card with some starter money on it, orientation schedule, insurance paper, and a few other papers. We covered a wide range of topics, including host family etiquette and expectations. For those interested, students who were not living with host families actually made up a large majority of our 79-large group and were able to leave for their residence halls before the host-family informational. Some interesting cultural notes we learned will be listed below.

• All bicycles are registered in Japan (partly explaining why so many people just leave their bikes unattended when they go into buildings).
• Bicycles are treated like vehicles so have many strict rules (some of which I have already seen broken) such as: DUI, riding while holding an umbrella, riding parallel to someone, and riding on sidewalks.
• According to our handbook, Japanese people wash their clothes very frequently - as in more than once a week. Seeing the size of the laundry machine and basket, this makes sense. However, what doesn't make sense, is that our guides encouraged us to bring 2 weeks worth of clothing. 
• There is so much more to the shoe culture than I first thought. Of course, we take off our shoes when entering someone's house and leave them in an indented area. However, we are then supposed to wear a pair of slippers around the house - but not on carpeted areas. There are also designated slippers outside of doors that lead to the outside other than the front door as well as special slippers for the shower area.
• The shower area! The floor is a drain so you do not shower in the bathtub or in a small enclosed shower - the small room is the shower. The nozzle is handheld. 
• Showers are expected to be brief while baths can take longer.
• Tap water is drinkable. Everywhere. Awesome!

There is probably more, but I cannot recall at this moment.

Back to the sequential story-telling; once orientation was finished, we were moved into a separate room to await our host-families. Thankfully, no one had to wait long. Some people with host-siblings got to see them today and one later told me that she spent a lot of time playing Legos with them. Soon enough mine came and they were so nice! My host mother is a bit taller than me while my host father is definitely shorter than me (and I love it). So far, I found out he likes pottery and bread-making while she likes cooking, piano/guitar, watercolor, and more. Apparently, I am their third host student but their first student from America. After we greeted each other, I followed them to their car and began the process of balancing confidence with nervousness. At first, the car ride was pretty quiet and a bit awkward, but soon we began asking each other questions. After the first one, I began to relax - even more so when I found out that they have done this before. On the way to the house, we drove by and through my new university, which is very pretty and European-styled, and they showed me that a street leading directly to the university is lined with cherry trees. They have not blossomed yet, but once they do, I bet the view (and ensuing photographs) will be gorgeous.

One of the best parts about this house is its proximity to the university. I will only have to walk between 10 and 15 minutes to commute (meaning I can use the aforementioned Lagare card for other travel). Though I was looking forward to living in a room with tatami mats and a futon, I love my new room. It's small and has a nice desk for me to study at as well as a balcony that will also serve as a laundry-drying area. Since it is still pretty cold in Japan, my wooden floor is equipped with a large rug that has an under-rug, for lack of a better word, that is heated! It is soooooo comfortable.

The tour of the house was very interesting, not only because everything is so different from what I am used to, but also because I did not completely understand what my host parents were saying. Of course, we ended up understanding each other, but not every word or sentence got through. In the middle of the tour and instructions, we had lunch. I was able to eat soba for the first time, with sides of tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette) and spinach. Soba is entirely different from udon. Soba is wheat noodles that are thin and a bit longer than udon. Of course, it was also delicious. I am trying to acclimate to slurping the noodles, but my untrained muscles and dental situation are both cumbersome. Before we ate, my host family presented me with my own chopsticks! They are so beautiful; smooth crimson with golden cherry blossoms near the top and (my favorite part that almost made me cry) my name in katakana in gold engraved on them! Hopefully I will be able to take a picture of them and post it soon.

One of the reasons why I do not have any pictures from my host family's house yet (or of they themselves) is that we were told in the orientation to make sure to get the host family's permission to take and post any pictures relating to them and their house. The opportunity did not show itself today, but I will try soon.

Around 6:30 we had another delicious meal of rice with vegetable and sashimi (raw fish), accompanied by miso-soup, asparagus, and strawberries. We all cleaned the dishes afterward and talked about various topics, most of which I have already shared throughout this post. Just before dinner, I was able to give them a souvenir from Nevada and they seemed to really like it. One part of the souvenir was an ironwood carving and, apparently, the Japanese equivalent is cherry wood carvings. This was the moment when I realized that my host father can speak, read, and understand English fairly well. It's nice to know that if I need help, we can aid me in translation.

I feel like this has been a great day and a good introduction. Hopefully, I can improve my communication and interaction along with maintain good relationships. However, I am still trying to get used to the time change and have been tired for quite some time. It even affects my appetite! After having one extremely long day of sunlight and air travel, I honestly hoped that jet-lag would not be a problem for me, but my body is obviously still adjusting. I will try my best to stay up a bit later and sleep in past six, but we shall see.