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!

Placement test/funny story

So Alvarez-san from my third year class at Yale is also here at HIF, but he got placed in a higher class than me (sadness!). I`m in Advanced (second highest class) and he`s in High Advanced. When I told my host family about this, my host mom`s reaction was funny, and very Japanese:
"Well, you know, in Japan we say that the second highest class is the best. Because, you know, in the second class you can still がんばって　and move up, but in the highest class there`s nowhere to go but down!"
^_^

Photo time! (round one)

These are a bit out of order but...here we go! Some scenes from my life!


My room!!


People were sticking their feet in the water. My host mom explained why, but I forget.


A famous Hakodate squid.


The ropeway up to the top of Hakodate-yama.


Hakodate harbor. Pretty!


The view from my balcony at home.




My balcony again.




Hakodate-yama, wreathed in smoke (I thought it was a cool picture).



I get to ride the streetcar to school everyday!






This is the view of Hakodate harbor from my class room. (I have to climb up that hill every day. I`ll post another pic of it later--it looks much steeper from the bottom!)

Finally in Hakodate

So I made it to Japan! It was a really long flight to Tokyo (13 hours) followed by about 4 hours in the airport and then getting up at 4am the next morning to fly to Hakodate--where they made us go straight from the airport to take our placement tests.
I meet my host family later this afternoon--a doctor and nurse couple, with a 16-yr old daughter and a 10-yr old son. I hope they like me! ^_^
I`ll post more later. Oh, and apologies if there aren`t many pictures for a few weeks--I somehow lost my small digital camera between moving out of Yale and unpacking in Raleigh, so all I have now is my digital SLR which, while phenomenal and supremely fancy, is not exactly portable.

Getting ready...

Just a short post to get this blog going. I'm now officially a grad (scary!) and even though I've only been home for two days, it's time to start getting ready for Japan! I leave for Hakodate in just about two weeks, and it feels like there's still *tons* to do.
Hope I find out about my host family soon!

More to come when I finally arrive in Japan...