host family

happy halloween everyone! well, what's left of it in the States, though most of you will be reading this after it has ended. i hope everyone had a great time and ate tons of candy. i won't spend too much time on halloween as japan is just recently getting into the holiday. it's popular, but a lot of japanese are shy to dress up as cosplaying is sometimes seen as a dirty/dorky thing to do. still, the small children and high school/college students are starting to get into the swing of things. there are even some stores beginning to participate in trick or treating, though the majority of japan is still very confused about the concept.

today's post will be about my host family that i had the pleasure and fortune to meet. when i started school i was given the option to do a home stay (overnight) or home visit (day only) with a japanese family. i asked for a home stay, but the family i was placed with asked that i do a home visit instead. i understood seeing as the family had two very young children (a boy in 4th grade and a girl in 2nd).

saturday (my halloween) was when i met them, i had gone out the previous night to buy them a present as that's very customary in japan and it's just plain polite. i was extremely scared and nervous beyond all reason, but upon meeting them and talking to them for just a few minutes i knew my day was going to be amazing.

they said they would take me to nagoya castle, but seemed worried when i said i had already been there. i said that i didn't mind as we weren't there for very long the last time i went, so they were excited again. haha. so cute.
on the drive there i told them about my home in the States and my family and friends. they were excited to know i was a SF Giants fan and SJ Sharks fan and that my father was a 49ers fan. the father (tou-chan as he wanted to be called which is like saying daddy) was VERY into american things. he had even been to a rolling stones and beach boy concert in the States a few years back and knew quite a lot of english. his son, shizuko, was just as into english and american things. he practiced his english on me. the little girl, mitsuki, was very shy with me at first, but by the end of the day, she was hugging me and letting me mess with her hair. the mom and i got along extremely well and we talked the majority of the time.

at nagoya castle was a chrysanthemum festival seeing as how that's the national flower of japan. i have never seen so many beautiful flowers in my life. i took a lot of pictures that i'll have at the end of this post. the parents asked if i had ever had takoyaki (octopus balls) and i told them i hadn't yet, but i wanted to try them. they ran and got me an entire case for myself and gave me ice cream and coke. it was SOOOOO good! i was amazed at how good those little things were.

once we were done with nagoya castle, they took me to osu for lunch. i didn't have the heart to tell them i had also already been there, but they told me they would take me to a place that served food only found in nagoya. i got very excited and when i saw the food i was overwhelmed. there was SO much! it was a special type of noodles and broth that you put in the lid that also served as a plate and then ate from there. it was pretty tasty, but not the best. while there, we all worked on our chopstick handling. the parents were so happy to see i could handle mine so well and asked me to teach their kids! it was amazing.

now a little side note here before i continue. a lot of families in japan are starting to change from the stereotypical and old way families worked. most families are said to hardly talk to their kids or hug them or are very strict. some friends i know tell me they don't talk much to their parents and they've never hugged their parents, especially when they were kids.
knowing this, i was a bit apprehensive to see how my host family would treat their kids. it was TOTALLY the opposite with this family. the dad constantly played and hugged his kids. the mom was always fussing about her daughter's hair and hugging her. they were extremely sweet and kind. there would be times they were strict, but nothing like i had heard in all my culture classes. i talked to them about that and they said japan is slowly changing to be a little sweeter and more understanding with their kids. tou-chan went on to explain that most families who sign up for home stay things like this are interested in western ideas, therefore they're bound to be different than the norm. tou-chan was so smart. :3
apparently a lot of my friends experienced the same revelation with their families in seeing the families being very huggy and touchy-feely, quite the opposite of japanese stereotypes.

once lunch was over, my host family proceeded to shop around osu with me and i showed them some of my fav. stores including the mexican restaurant that i ate at a few weeks ago. then my host family bought me a present! they told me that since i pray to get better at japanese, they bought me a small doll that was handmade and said if i pray to it everyday, i'll get better at japanese. i was EXTREMELY grateful and it was sooooo cute! i love it. it sits on my shelf near my bed.

once done with osu, we went back to their house. it was very beautiful and so cute and small. they had a wii which we played while tou-chan took a nap. we then had dinner for 3 hours and there was so much fish. i was stuffed! we talked japanese and i helped them with english and it was just so much fun. the family didn't want me to go home and wanted to change it to home stay, but were sad when they had to take me home. they wanted to see me again sometime, so i hope i can see them again.

so here are my pictures:　(by the way, if you click on the pictures, they will enlarge and you can see them better. just fyi)





that's my gift from my host family :3

love you all!

~星子☆