This past weekend I had a dinner party with some friends, went to Cost Co with my host family on Saturday (which was a vast sea of humanity), and spend Sunday in a nearby park with the host fam as well. The dinner party was probably the most fun I’ve had thus far. Everybody was just sort of cutting loose and goofing around. We swapped some slang with the Japanese students there (we taught them ‘hell to the no’ and ‘keep it on the DL’ and in return they taught us some swears), Kristin and I tried to teach everyone the cup game but failed, and everyone brought or made some delicious food to share though I somehow managed to get away with just picking up some C.C. Lemon and Cola at the local Sanko grocery store.
Cost Co… was not so fun. Though it was somehow strangely comforting to see American brands, I didn’t much care for the huge crowds. (Even though Cost Co was packed to the gills, their bathrooms were still better than the public bathrooms I’ve been in in the States.) I certainly didn’t go hungry there, though. There were free samples at every turn and my host mom was constantly handing free samples off to me to eat. (Not that I’m complaining!) I also had some American-style pizza there as well. (Japanese pizza is a little different than your standard pepperoni and cheese.) It was kind of nice and made me think of home, but, and maybe I’ve just been getting spoiled with really good food lately, but the pizza was pretty tasteless and less-than-satisfying. Oh well.
The park was a huge step up from the prev ious Cost Co-filled day. My host parents packed up some sporting equipment and some snacks and we walked to the park. On our way to the park, we stopped by my host grandma’s house (she lives very nearby) and picked up her dog, Biggie, to bring to the park with us. Biggie’s a Welsh corgie and an adorable one at that. On our walk, my host dad pointed out to me how pale and white I am. Thanks otosan. Haha. At the park we played baseball (or rather, the little kid version of baseball) and we played some badminton together. We snacked for a bit after and wandered the park. Both Mao (my host sis) and Rui (my host bro) ran around catching butterflies and my host mom and I chatted about Disney, Miyazaki, the zodiac, and compared animal noises in Japan and America (apparently in Japan, mice say ‘chuu chuu’). The park was really big and very nice. There were also easily thirty or so cats roaming around the place. My host mom said that they live in the park, but even though they’re wild, they let people pet them. (And they look surprisingly well groomed!). When we got back to the house, my host mom made some chocolate cake and it was totally awesome. (I have a feeling that I’m going to way a ton when I come home. I eat so much here!)
One other thing that happened over the weekend was that one of the international students went home due to homesickness. Firstly, I marvel that anyone has that kind of money. Her ticket cost her 1400 dollars. One way. And secondly… I kind of feel sorry for her. She’s going to miss out on all these great and exciting new experiences just because she couldn’t handle being away from home for a little while. Sure, there are going to be lonely and/or less than pleasant moments and experiences (I’ve already had a few myself), but the good moments and experiences like discovering a new favorite food or getting to meet and know new friends or seeing and going places no one you know has ever gone to before… All of those far, far outweigh all of the bad parts. And, to get a little faux-deep here, it’s all the good parts that make the bad stuff worth going through.
Anyway, I guess that's my two cents. I guess I'm still in awe that I actually made it to Japan (and that anyone would seriously consider leaving such a cool place after a mere three weeks or so). Another cool point for Japan: next week is "silver week" which boils down to three national holidays in a row which means a five day weekend for all the KG students. Some of the plans people are considering are spending the weekend in Tokyo or going to Universal Studios Japan. Even though I don't have any big, expensive plans, I'm still excited for the days off. Hopefully we'll be having another dinner party, and some friends and I might journey to Osaka to find the Pokemon Center (I'm not joking). I'll let you know how that one goes. Matta ne~
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