March 5

I guess today was interesting. When I woke up, I was bit relieved to find my throat a bit less painful than the night before, but as compensation, my ears and head hurt a bit, so I was still worried. I think the carton of grapefruit juice I drink at breakfast has a small leak in it and I hope osmosis has not caused bacteria to get into it and has not caused my sickness.

In class today, we spoke with Japanese students. It was a lot less awkward than last time because there were two exchange students for each Japanese student. We talked about things we had found in Japan (we had to bring two in to share). I talked about teruteru bouzu and hinamatsuri. Apparently, I had met the two Japanese girls I ended up talking to (there were no guys again for some reason) but I only remembered one. Japanese people though seem to never forget a face (and usually a name too) so it was a bit embarrassing. I was a bit out of it during class though since my head was feeling pretty fluffy (as I like to refer to it when you feel like you’ve got a cold and just want a nap).

I did get a few moments of fame though during our normal Japanese class time because I seemed to be the only student who got two particular answers correct on our homework. It was pretty nice, since I’ve been a bit down about my B average in Japanese.

After class, I talked with Miki (one of the Japanese girls I had talked to in class) and some of the other ryuugakusei and I realized how much more comfortable that atmosphere is than the classroom atmosphere. I don’t know why, but it’s noticeably easier to talk to Japanese people outside of class and functions. Maybe it’s because we don’t feel pressured to talk about anything particular.

I went on a Valor’s run for lunch as usual, and luckily, Mike and Anna were still there (I had meant to meet them to go there, but since I stayed behind to talk with Miki, it had become late). After I bought my food, we went to the roof of the J building, where you can see most of Nagoya. It’s only about four or five stories up, but I could see the buildings around Nagoya Station, the Sky Tower, Nagoya Dome, and mountains in the distance. It was really pretty, though a bit windy. Anna and Mike decided to drink beer on the roof and throw ichien coins at their friends as they walked below. It was pretty entertaining from my standpoint.

When things go boring, I left for home, but first, I ran into Anna, so we started walking to the eki together. On campus, there was a car (which rarely happens because we have blue-uniformed “guards” and gates at each of the school entrances. I saw the driver’s seat through the windshield and recognized it as a racing seat (thanks a lot Andrew), so I decided to walk around it to figure out what it was. I couldn’t tell from the triangular emblem on the front or the sponsor-esque stickers on the sides. Its side mirrors were half of the way down the hood and it didn’t look particularly special. When I had walked most of the way around the car, a guy (who turned out to be the owner) asked “do you like my car?” in a rather stern voice. I told him “yeah, it’s pretty cool” and he proceeded to tell me that it was an old honda and that he had restored it completely himself. I was too surprised by his tone to stick around and ask him about it, so I told him it was sugoi and kept walking. I noticed though before I left that it was a celica.

Afterward, I went home to take a long nap and study for my Japanese test tomorrow. Up until dinner time, my time at home was the same as yesterday. I’ve heard the medication in Japan is weak compared to that in America and I’m not positive I’m actually sick yet, so I’m under the impression that the best thing to do to keep my health up (outside of getting lots of citrus at breakfast and vegetables at dinner) is to sleep. I’ll probably do a massive cleaning job in my room (and maybe the kitchen, if okaasan will let me) this weekend too, just to be safe.

When I came down to dinner, otousan was still making the food, so I listened to the radio and ate ebi crackers with him while he made grilled (broiled) fish. We had rice and salad too of course, and I made instant miso. I’m going to have to start planning how to pack all the things I want to take back to the states because I’m thinking food alone will be a big space-taker. At dinner, I talked about talking to the Japanese students. When I told otousan about the teruteru bouzu, he told me about another interesting thing children used to do. In years past (probably otousan’s childhood) when they were worried about the weather (much like when they make teruteru bouzu) they would flip their geta (stilted sandals) off and if it landed right-side-up, it would be clear, but if it landed up-side-down, there would be rain.

We also talked about the kerosene truck. When it came by, otousan mentioned it, and I told him that the only kind of vehicle that gives off music in the US is the ice cream truck. Apparently, when otousan was working in California, there was a sandwich truck that would play music and come by his building (he worked for Toyota). In Belgium, there was a sandwich lady that would come by with a basket, but he said that French bread was so tough that it was too crunch; it would make his mouth hurt and get crumbs all over the place. We had some interesting conversation.

After dinner, we had some kind of okashi. Otousan had a cream puff and I had something I still can’t identify. It looks like the top of a poppy-seed muffin, but it has cream (maybe fruit flavored) in the middle and a squirrel stamped on the top. It made me wonder if there were squirrels in Japan, since I noticed I haven’t seen any yet. Another thing to ask my host family...

After dinner, I did the dishes and studied for my test. Luckily, I’ve already learned a lot of the concepts for this chapter in high school and college.

Culture Note: Japanese appliances are interestingly different from American ones. Our oven, for example, has a small drawer-like compartment at the top for broiling food. It looks like a grill rack, but it’s only about a foot across and a foot deep. You can pull it out without opening the oven. Some of the other host students say that their ovens double as microwaves, but I haven’t had a chance to see them up close. My host family has a separate microwave and a separate microwave oven as well, but then again, they have stated that they don’t have a traditional Japanese household.

I’m noticing that I’m looking forward to going home to the comforts of my house and America in general. I know that once I go back, I will miss a lot of things (like the convenience of being able to walk to the chikatestsu and get just about anywhere from there), but I feel like I can’t really settle here. I wonder if I’m already getting too set in my ways and whether having done this in high school would have been easier in terms of adapting. I hope that I’m not becoming set so that I can not be spontaneous and go anywhere and do anything.

P.S. I don’t think I’ve heard thunder or seen lightning since coming to Japan, though it has rained many times.