Host Family (&c)

I`ll post pictures later, but for now here`s a little bit about my host family, the Oowadas (大和田).
The dad, Minoru, is a doctor(my host mom calls him "sensei" sometimes). He`s not around very much (par for the course in Japan) but he`s really nice and easy to get along with (also a bit of a joker I think). The mom, Chizuru, is a nurse, which is a little bit out of the ordinary. I think most of my friends` moms don`t work outside the house anymore. I was pretty intimidated when I first met her--she seemed very elegant and put-together (if that makes sense). I felt like I was very grubby and clumsy next to her. But that just goes to show you that first impressions aren`t the end-all, because things have relaxed a lot since I first moved in, and now we`re very friendly and relaxed. There are also 2 kids in the family: Sae (16, daughter) and Satoshi (10, son). They seem to have your typical sibling relationship, with Satoshi being the screwball little brother while Sae yells "うるさい！" I see them pretty often in the evenings, since we all eat dinner together, and then sit at the table doing our homework. Sae and I also recently bonded over our MP3 players (she was impressed by the music videos on my IPod, especially Christina Aguilera`s "Candyman" video) and a mutual fondness for Orange Range.

In school news, we had the first brainstorming session for the HIF group project today. I`ve heard that the project was pretty much the bane of everyone`s existence last year, so here`s hoping this one will be slightly more fun and useful!