Home Stay

I am going to combine the next 2 days into one entry. It was such a wonderful experience that I am not sure I can really describe it but I will try. On Saturday and Sunday, I stayed with my host family, the Kuramae family. Although they spoke very little English and I spoke even less Japanese, we were able to become good friends! We started off our day by going to a local shrine where their son had recently celebrated an important event. In every child's 3rd, 5th and 7th year of life, they have a big ceremony with fancy kimono. This particular shrine is a national treasure and was established in the 1300's! Wow that is old! I learned how to make a wish at a a shrine which was neat. Then we went food shopping which is fun to do in a foreign country. It was neat to see all of the different foods. We got everything that we would need for our evening meal and also for breakfast the next day. Then we went to lunch at their favorite noodle restaurant. It was sooooo delicious. After lunch I got a real treat! We took a ferry across to Kyushu island and went to a castle! Keisuke, the father of my host family, explained that this is a "mountain-style" castle. It was built for protection and was much taller and sturdier than the castle I saw in Kyoto. The one in Kyoto was only one story and this was atleast 4 stories high. Anyway, there were lots of things to see in the castle and actually some of it was in English! After the castle, we headed home and took the bridge back across to Honshu island where Shimonoseki is located. When we got home, Akiyo made dinner for us and the kids went to bed (I think they were worn out from all of the excitement). Dinner was HUGE and I was full before the main course came out. I got to do "make your own sushi" which is kind of like "make your own tacos". It was really good and I ate my first blowfish sashimi without even realizing it. Sashimi is uncooked fish. Blowfish is a kind of fish that is also called Pufferfish or Fugu. 80% of all of the Fugu in the world is caught off the coast of Shimonoseki. That is why it is known as Fuguworld. Unfortunately, if not prepared correctly, Blowfish (fugu) is poisonous and very deadly. I was glad to have eaten it without knowing it or I might have been scared. After dinner, some relatives came over to meet me and to teach me how to tie an obi for my kimono. An obi is the sash that goes around your middle like a belt on a kimono. They dressed me up in a kimono and taught me everything about wearing one and then we took some pictures. It was REALLY fun. Then they GAVE me the obi that I tried on, to bring home and wear with my own kimono. I couldn't believe how sweet and generous they were. Obi are very expensive and I was touched that they took all of this time to help me.

After all of the excitment, and after grandma and aunt left, I had a bath. In Japan, you take a bath everyday, but you shower FIRST. Everyone shares the same bathwater (which is heated by a special heater in the tub) so you have to clean very well first. By that time it was very late so I headed to bed. The guestroom is a part of the living area that has sliding doors that close it off on all sides. The floor is made of tatami mats. Just like how we learned, there was a small low table and an alcove where there were flowers and a wall hanging. They rolled out a futon mattress which was surprisingly very comfortable. Maybe I will get a futon and get rid of my bed. :) The next day, we spent the morning chatting, eating and playing. The son who is 2 years old is very into trains so we played with his toy shinkansen (bullet trains). We also sang Beatles songs together and I showed them this website on the computer. It was a wonderful, relaxing morning. They made me a beautiful breakfast with wonderful breads, fruits yogurt etc. And then we went to the aquarium where we saw a dolphin show, penguins, and lots and lots of blowfish of every size, shape, and color. It was great. We had Italian food for lunch in a restaurant that was surrounded by the dolphin tank! Cool!

Finally, it was time to go. I had so much fun with my new family that we all cried when it was time to say goodbye. I told them that they should come and stay with me in Houston and they agreed that would be fun. Keisuke, (dad) said that he wanted to go to an Astros game. We all vowed to keep in touch and email each other. I want to learn Japanese and they want to learn English so we will teach each other. I already miss them, and I haven't even left Japan...