Catching up Part 1

I havn’t made an entry for a very long time, mainly because I have been without internet until very recently. So I have an excuse. I do promise to try and blog more regularily. But I should start at the beginning I guess.

SO, my last host family, the Ooishi’s, didn’t turn out so well. I have since realized that they were a lot stricter than I thought they were. After the angry spell with my host father, I starting studying a lot more. A lot. During winter break I studied every day from the time I got up and ate breakfast (7 am) to about lunch time. One day I actually studied the entire day, from after breakfast to about 10 pm. My brain was so tired I actually got an adrenaline high and wanted to both study more and die at the same time. Needless to say my host dad seemed happy with this, but only after we had supper with two adult Korean university exchange students. The guy was fluent in both English and Japanese and he translated between us and cleared a lot of misunderstanding up. It helped for a little while. Then, when school started back up again, I studied my Japanese during the school day and rested when I got home. Apparently this wasn’t enough for my host dad. Again with ‘talk’, but it sounded a bit nicer this time. So, determined to please this family, I decided I would get up at 5:30 every morning and study until 7, at which time I’d get ready for school. Studying at night was no use because I was always so tired from school. So that’s what I did for about two days until one day I came home from school and surprise surprise, Chida san is on the phone with my host mom and ten minutes later he’s paying us a visit.

He had actually texted me while I was at school asking when I was going to get home because he had something important to talk to me about. But, of course, I’m not allowed to use my keitai in school so I never got the text. Anyway, we are sitting down in the living room and he starts telling me something really vague and strange about the stability of the club and conditions changing and whatnot, none of which made sense (all in English by the way) and says that my next host family wants to take me as soon as possible. I knew then that he was lying, and that it was my current host family that didn’t want me anymore. I wanted to ask for the truth, but I didn’t know how, and in some way I didn’t really want to know. I knew what was happening - I was switching host families a month early - and that was all I needed to know.

Unfortunately the truth came slapping me in the face thanks to Matsuhashi sensei two days later. I had spent the previous day packing. My new host dad would be picking me up tomorrow (yes that’s right, three days notice). Anyway, I was struggling over writing a thank-you card to the Ooishi-sans because it’s just the Japanese thing to do, even though the only thing I really ever did in their house was study. I asked Matsuhashi sensei for some help, and she gave me a funny look. She asked if I had been told why exactly I was moving, and I told her what I wrote above. She seemed a bit uneasy, but she told me anyway. Supposedly Chida-san had told her the truth over e-mail. It turns out that it was in fact my host mother that had the worst problem with me. This was a bit shocking because I was always under the impression that she liked me. She never seemed mad at me. But she wasn’t happy with my housecleaning. I cleaned my room every Sunday, completely cleaned it - changed sheets, mopped and vacuumed floor, picked up any loose stuff lying around, exchanged the air ect. - yet it wasn’t good enough to her standards. I always washed my own dishes and made my own breakfast, yet somehow she wasn’t pleased enough with that either. I did my own laundry and hung, folded and put it away myself. Unhappy with that. As far I could tell I had been doing it all right. But then, I hadn’t realized then how impossibly strict this family was.

When Matsuhashi sensei told me all this, I took it well enough. I was fine. A bit spiteful, but fine. However, when she kept talking about it and trying to conjole me, I started crying. Right in the middle of class. So that was embarrassing. She suggested I write more of a sorry letter than a thank you letter, since a thank you letter might make her more angry thinking ‘Oh, she doesn’t know anything’. So I decided to just not write anything to them at all. I don’t have a problem writing a page saying thank you about things they never did, but I do have a problem with writing a page saying sorry for things I never did wrong. I did my best to please them, but in the end I just wasn’t good enough, and that’s not my problem. Maybe I’m wrong. But that’s how I feel.

In a way everything turned out for the best and I’m glad with the way it all rolled into place. Instead of spending another dreadful month, doing nothing but studying on seven hours of sleep, I was given an extra month to spend with the wonderful new host family I’m living with now. They are the Sagawa’s, and they are polar opposites of the Ooishi’s. My host dad is divorced with two children, both of which live with their mother. I live with him and his parents. Ojiisan and obaasan are very nice, and very laid back. I can talk to them easily and they like to joke around. Ojiisan likes to drink sake and when he does he gets pretty funny. The day after I moved in, Demura-san took me snowboarding for the first time. We went for two days. The first day we went to Kokusai. Before we hit the slopes, we stopped by a used sportswear store and that’s where I met Kevin, Demura-sans friend. It’s pretty cool. He’s from America and has been living in Japan for 16 years. With his help, we picked out a great board and snowboard equipment for me. Now I have my own gear - not rental! The day was amazingly fun. I fell down a lot, but most of the time it was on purpose. I found out I’m goofy, which means I lead with my right foot instead of my left. Supposedly it’s especially strange for a right-handed person to lead with their right. Demura-san turned out to be a pretty good teacher and by the end of the day we went down the whole of the beginner’s slope and a bit of the intermediate slope. I learned to use my back edge on the first day, too. That night we stayed in a condominium that looked like it was a hotel. We ordered ramen up to the room for supper and talked about the Haiti disaster and Demura-sans Rotary trip to Thailand. I also went to onsen for the first time - Finally! Although I did only go by myself. When I got there there was no one there, but halfway through another girl came. I thought it was going to be so weird being naked in the same room with another naked woman, but it turned out to feel perfectly normal. I think I was the least self-conscious of my body then than I had been for years and years which is really strange. I think that now I have that first easing-in experience, I can go to a more crowded onsen without so much nervousness. The next day we went to another ski hill that I can’t remember the name of. That day, we snowboarded with Kevin. He was also goofy, and so proved to be a better teacher than Demura-san. I went on the super-scary ski lift for the first time. The scary part isn’t actually during the lift - that was pretty cool. The scary part is getting off the damn thing. You have to move quickly with your board still attached to one foot or else the next chair that comes around will hit you. He he. But I survived. I learned how to use my front edge that day, going down a really steep slope. Front edge is the scariest to do because you’re going backwards down the slope and you have to balance on your toes. But I basically mastered it by the end of the day. Supposedly I’m incredibly good for only having snowboarded two days. I hope I can become much better at it.

After snowboarding we went back to Sapporo and had coffee and sandwiches at Jimmy Browns, this wonderful little café. The almond cappuccino was awesome. The barista made the cream and foam look like a cat’s face. We talked a lot about martial arts - Tai Chi in particular. Kevin had been practicing it for 16 years. It’s like kung fu, but it’s one of those sports that take a very long time to get good at.

The next Sunday I went to Tai Chi. It’s the complete opposite of karate in that it is a completely relaxed fighting style. The point is get your body as relaxed as possible, and move your body in a fluid way so that you can deliver the most power with the least strength and exertion. We do a lot of circle-ly hand movements. It’s like the Yin and Yang. Giving and taking. One hand is the Yin, the offensive and the other is the Yang, the defensive. The role of the hands change with their movement. It sounds complicated but it really isn’t. I love it. The class if very small. In fact, me, Kevin and Demura-san were the only people there other than the two teachers. They teach in their late master’s small dojo, in his house. The wife was very kind and welcomed us. She even brought us all coffee and snacks when the lesson was over. We sat and talked about the art, about shoudo and kanji, and a bunch of other interesting things.

Around the same time, the new exchange student party was held. I think it was on Saturday. Yeah it was. Anyway, I went to the new exchange student’s welcome party. (Jono and Simon had left a little while ago, I think I forgot to mention that). There are three Australians. One guy and two girls. Dylan, Laura and Sam. They all seem like good people. I gave a speech along with Emmi, Tiffany and Lindsey after the newbies gave their speeches. One of the girls doesn’t know any Japanese, the other has studied it for two years and the guy for five. Wow. He’s going to leave here fluent. I’m a bit jealous, I admit. After the welcome party we all went out to karaoke. That, I think, was one of the funnest nights here so far. I was really able to let loose and just sing and have fun. The best songs were ‘Beat It’ and ‘Its My Life’. Dylan was the only newbie that could come though because the other two’s families were worried that they couldn’t find their way home. That was kind of sad, but Dylan seems like a fairly dynamic person. I can tell he is just going to have an amazing year here. It was his first time doing karaoke, and after the first couple of songs we were getting really into it. It was so fun. I wish I could write more about the amazingness of the karaoke night, but that’s basically it. It was amazing.

After that, we went out to do puri kura, which was also really cool. Dylan’s first puri kura. I helped him decorate it. Ahh, it takes me back to my first puri kura. I think I’ve got senpai fever now. Maybe it’s just the motherly instinct in me. But now I have the biggest urge to gather up all the new exchangers and show them all the wonders of Sapporo eki, and Odori kouen, and Tanukikouji, and ramen shops and book stores… and cake…and ice cream. I want to take them everywhere with me and be present when they experience their first japan-y things. And I kind of wish that my senpai’s were the same way. But I know that’s not entirely possible. They will have their own exchange friends from their schools, and soon they will have Japanese friends, and in a way we will just be the rotary oldies who they might see from time to time. Hopefully this isn’t the case.

Phew ok now that that’s done, I’m going to go nurse my carpal tunnel…