Headachessss

I have many.
There's SO MUCH LEARNING GOING ON.
Makes my head hurt. Literally I've had a headache for like three or four days. Everything you do takes more time to comprehend and respond to because you have to think so hard about it, rather than it just being natural.
I've also noticed that there is a lot less water available here, which is a bummer because I drink a lot of water. They drink a LOT of tea, which isn't really surprising.
Also, another thing I've learned is that they don't eat grape skins here. The squeeze the grapes with their fingers while they're in their mouths and then put the skins on the plate.... whhaaaaatttt.
Baha. Yesterday we did this art workshop where we made bracelets--dyed them and braided them! So much fun. Mine is green and brown. Haha then today we went to this awesome place an hour away and did kiyomizuyaki. which is japanese traditional dish painting. we made cups! Painting was so much fun. You had to take care to mix because there was only one color, but depending on how much water was mixed with it, once out of the kiln, it will come out darker or lighter. Then the host showed us around the place and took us to this olllddddd kiln that's been around for apparently a hundred years. They used to make grenade shells there, so the shells were ceramics. The whole place was really hot but so interesting!! It was a long ride home and I feel rather sick. Might go to the doctor tomorrow..
Jya~

Ohhhhh hey, Japan.

Wow.

What a whirlwind of a couple days. Frankly, I’m exhausted.

We’ve done SO MUCH already I feel like I’ve been here for two weeks. It’s craaazzyyy. I’ve decided to label this trip Gaijin Smash (Gaijin meaning foreigner) because wherever we’ve gone so far, it’s been foreign infiltration. Basically.

Anyway. The flight was superrr long, but not too bad because I slept for around five hours of it and sat next to a very pleasant woman from North Carolina who was visiting her sister who was teaching near Kyoto and an adorable little asian boy. Probably Japanese. The food was TERRIBLE, but I was just happy to get food.

The airport was crazy. Never gone through customs before, but it was all good. That was the first time I used Japanese!! Told the lady that we four were together. Then she didn’t hand check my bag. Win.

So we took the bus to our hotel, which was really nice, and got settled and all that. Explored a little, had great food (okonomiyaki), it was really fun.

So next day we went out to get denshi jisho dictionaries and ketai cell phones! That took a while because we were trying to find the lowest prices, which still ended up being rather expensive. But it turned out okay. Still trying to figure out how to work the jisho haha. The ketai is a bit difficult to work, only because it takes so long to type. But my email address on my phone is Gatewood@softbank.ne.jp so feel free to email me there! After that I think was when we went to kiyomizudera temple, which was absolutely beautiful. The view of the city and the trees was amazing. Washed our hands in “holy water” I think. And walked a lot. But it was so fun!

Friday we went to more temples (tenryuuji and kinkakuji and one other but I forget the name) and a place called arashiyama (storm mountain) which incidentally is a five minute bus ride from my homestay house hahaha. We basically spent that day making up pokemon and spirit animals for each other and putting ourselves into harry potter houses. Tenryuuji had a beautiful stone garden where apparently the monks rake into neat, tiny rows every day. There are fifteen stones and apparently you can’t see all fifteen at once and if you do, you reach enlightenment. Well Christian found this place at the right side of the temple where you can see all fifteen… so I guess we were all enlightened that day. HA! I almost forgot, that day we also (the white kids, that is) felt like celebrities because this group of Japanese school kids saw us and wanted to take pictures of with us. They came up to the girls and said “Kawaii! Kawaii!!” which is cute cute! Yeah, they liked us. Haha They tried to practice their English with us and that was amusing because they kept reading it off a paper and speaking in very broken English. One girl shook my hand for like a minute and called a couple of my friends prince and princess. Middle schoolers are so amazed by white people. Especially in the more rural areas. Anyway, the temples were really pretty and the people are all SO NICE.

Saturday! Saturday we met our homestay families! In the morning we traveled from our hotel to the school, KICL (Kyoto Bunka Nihongo Gakkou or the Kyoto Institute of Culture and Language) via taxi. We got there and had an introductory review class, the teacher was really funny, then we had a campus tour and met our families/did introductions! Messed mine up kind of and forgot to say my major, but they got the gist.. Then we went back to our houses!!!!!

My family is Yuki (mother,32), Kitagawa (I forgot his first name.. father, 36), and Rei (son, 5). They are soooo aweeesssoooommmeeeeeeee. I’ve been having kind of a hard time understanding everything and I was definitely overwhelmed the first day—yesterday. But today I feel okay! I learned about the house and basically how the routine goes. My tsuukin(commute) to the school is an hour longggg. Gaaah. But I’ll get some good reading in. or homework…. Haha. Hopefully I don't get lost. I only need to take two buses, and so only have to look for two streets to get off at. After we got back, we used the car to go get me a bus pass for now until the end of july. That’ll be useful since I’ll be riding the bus every day haha. It is so hot here. SO HOT. And sticky. Last night I used my first ofuro! In a Japanese home, they have a room with a toilet (toire or otearai) and a room with a shower/laundry/sink (ofuro!). Every night, you go in the ofuro, stand on the left, shower off, get in the boiling hot tub of water (40 degrees C!!!! omg)/some salt thing for like six minutes or however long you want, get out, wash off again with soap, get back in the boiling hot water, and get out then dry off and put your pajamas on. Then…. You do whatever haha.

Last night I thought I was going to die of heat. I sleep on a thin futon with a towel-feeling thin blanket because it’s SO HOT. There isn’t any air conditioning that’s kept on besides the one in the kitchen-diningroom-living room room. So I really never spend any time in my own room because it’s so mushiatsui (hot and humid). Before I sleep, I’m allowed to put the eakon (airconditioning) on, but it’s on a timer, so it goes off after like half an hour or an hour or something. I woke up this morning in a sweat. Kind of uncomf. But today was so much fun! There isn’t any internet besides on their realllyyyy old lap top, so I’m most likely going to be posting this while I’m at school at some point. The traditional Japanese breakfast is miso soup, rice, tamago (egg), osakana(fish), tofu, and something else I forget. So I ate that, then we went and dropped off kitagawa at his bike and picked up yuki’s friend(I forgot her name darnit!)/went to the suupaa(supermarket). Then we went back and hung out at the house and made sukiyaki (a noodle dish) and okonomiyaki!!!! Okonomiyaki is one of my favorite Japanese foods—it’s egg and cabbage and some other things I can’t name off the top of my head. Anyway that was delicious. Then we went to this place called kanshundou and made wagashi! I have pictures I’ll attach eventually but I think I left my camera cord at home so I can’t now. But it’s basically these beautiful sugary creations haha apparently later we’re going to the same place(with my Japanese class) and making something else!! Bikurishita!! It was so much fun! Then we came back and had…. Oyakodon. Which I think was rice and chicken and egg…. Everything here is delicious and healthy. Also, Yuki is a cook. She teaches cooking and is a “keeki-sensei” or cake teacher. I think she said that because I didn’t understand the actual Japanese word for it hahaha. I LOVE JAPANESE FOOD!!!! I still have another amaimono (sweet thing) that I made to eat, so I think I’ll do that now. Class tomorrow!!!!!!! Woaaahhhhhhh I’m nervous. But it’ll be funn. Also I’m inquiring about a singing club and a dance class… I think. And the hour bus ride-excursion to school. Hopefully I don't get lost……

Before I stop for today, here are some more things about japan:

-people are really particular about taking off your shoes and where you put them.

-there are vending machines EVERYWHERE

-there are trash cans NOWHERE

-Kyoto streets(at least where I live) are SO thin

-no one wears seat belts in the back seat

-lots of green tea drinking happens… allllthetime.

-you can smoke basically anywhere

-apparently you’re not supposed to eat and walk at the same time

-a lot of young people wear SOMUCHMAKEUP

-everyone walks around in high heels all the time-the women anyway

-lots of people take parasols with them when they walk because they don't want to tan haha

-I’m really tired. So that’s it for now!

            Ja~

Woah.

Four more days left in the US.
Kinda freaking out.
Stuff left to do:
_Pack
_Inquire about charger things
_Do laundry
_Buy host gift
_Finish album
_Charge things
_Read LSA handbook
_LEARN JAPANESE?!?!?!

Aaaaaaand I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.
But that's it for now. Father's Day Sunday, California tomorrow. woot.