March 8

I didn’t notice it, but as of yesterday, I’ve been here for exactly two months. So, eight weeks down and eleven left. Time really is flying...

Most of the morning was pretty boring. I did chores and tried to plot my trip for the week-long break that’s coming up after this week. At one point in the day, okaasan’s other son (or son in-law) and grand daughter came over. I had been cleaning my room, so, not being called to join them, I stayed in my room until they got ready to leave and okaasan called me to meet them. We exchanged hello’s and I even got a reluctant hello out of her grand daughter, which is more than I can say for Manachan.

Okaasan showed me how to make fried rice (the Japanese way) and told me I was good at using chop sticks since I used them instead of the spoon she gave me. She said even she uses a spoon for rice when it’s not sticky or in a bowl.

In the day, I could hear Obama’s voice from upstairs. It seems, Otousan likes to listen to (and read) his speeches.

I hate to write about food only, but this day really was pretty boring, so the only interest came from meal times. For dinner, we had sashimi and okaasan’s home-made mix of mame (brown soybeans), ninjin, the Japanese root I can’t remember, and vegetable gelatin (it’s pretty good despite the description). She made a salad of fried tofu, bamboo, and wakame that she was convinced I wouldn’t like, and when I tried it, it was confirmed (it wasn’t bad, but I didn’t have a particular taste for it). She told me it was good for my hair and that all seaweed is good for all of you. Then she told me my skin was good, so it didn’t matter because I’m young.

We spent the evening watching TV. For a while, we watched a comedy where one old man in a kimono gives challenges to about seven other (slightly less) old men in kimonos. Depending on how they perform, they lose or gain pillows to sit on. I wish I understood what they were saying because it looked honestly funny (as confirmed by Okaasan’s reactions). One of the challenges was to respond to something with i_____ and mo_______. Another was to give a toast (or a request while drinking sake) to one’s wife (portrayed by the oldest man). A third (which required wearing wigs) was to impersonate a geisha by reciting (made-up) verses.

Among the other things we watched was the World Heritage documentary on giant, round clay compounds in China. We had seen it once before, but I think the information was a bit different this time. We also watched a show about astronauts (I’m guessing from NASA), the application process, and the logic/team tests that they are subjected to.