How are you. I am Lydia. Nice to meet you. (lit This is our first time [meeting]. I am Lydia. Please take care of me)
Here I am. I have moved into my new home and met my family. They are super nice and, because they have hosted so many students in the past (15, my host mother said), they seem more open and playful than your average, 60 year olds.
Here are some quick facts: My mother is a traditional housewife. She does the shopping, cooking and cleaning (Except for mine, apparently. Ha!!). My father is a retired policeman turned 'government worker.' I'm not sure what he does, but he probably is behind a desk all day. My brothers, ages 33 and 29, are both policemen AND they still live at home. Take that, mom!
Right now, I'm chilling in my room, listening to someone play some sort of recorder (that instrument all of us learned in 4th grade). One thing that is similar to my home-stay experiences in Osaka and Tokyo is that the houses are squished together. They are all about three stories high but, using my house as an example, the bottom floor is used for the car. I think my family has a pretty sweet gig: They have a nice kitchen/dining room, a tatami mat room (6 mats in size), four bedrooms (mine, parents, brothers), a sweet entertainment area FILLED with manga, a bathroom and a shower/sink room (i think each floor has this, but I don't use the third floor, since that's where my brother's rooms are so I am not so sure).
Here are a few pics. I don't want to post too many, since it's kind of an invasion of my family's privacy:
View from the top of my house, main street, facing.....right.
Well, there you have it. That's a slice of my new little life. Sorry, no rhyme intended.
School starts Monday, and once I get my class schedule, I'll post that. Until then, I need to find a way and place to withdraw money. Tomorrow we go to Kamakura, then Friday I go to Waseda to have a final orientation/ home-stay language lesson AND get my Japanese cell-phone. I will also try to get the health check so I can use Waseda's gym and other facilities. Then this weekend, I will try to withdraw money, if I have not already done it Thursday or Friday. I am almost out!!
I'm outie!
Lydia
5 comments:
nice blog.
what classes are you taking?
hey girl! wow, your host family's pretty well off... i'm surprised at the amount of space. (: and they do sound nice, especially your 'parents'! are your brothers cute? XD love, clar
Hi Lydia!
I'm excited to see what you'll be up to - be sure to take lots of pictures!!!! :)
Wow! That's really, really big for a Japanese house. I hope you're completely surrounded by oodles of Japanese culture. I also hope when you get back, you speak it fluently. Oh, you and Annie, always going off on these incredible adventures to other countries...have fun! I'll be checking up/stalking you. :)
i like your blog! :) glad you're having a good start to the japan experience! --gregg:)
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