Uh, yeah...Current Update

So apparently, Vi was right; I'm horrible at keeping a blog. This past week, and continuing on for the rest of my stay here, I'll have limited internet. I can check my mail and whatnot on the computers in the HIF building (where my program and classes are being held), but I probably won't update my blog with pictures until the weekend when I decide to lug my laptop to the 文化センタ－(Culture Center) close to my host family's house. If my laptop didn't weigh a million pounds in my bag, I'd bring it with my to HIF every now and then and use it there while I'm doing my homework after class. But considering I have to travel uphill both going to class and returning home, that's impossible to ask of me. I'll return to the topic of my homestay and what's happened in the past week in a little bit.

So last week, I had been hoping to log almost every day since I was Tokyo for 4 days and went somewhere new everyday and then made me overnight trip up to Hokkaido and met my host family. But now that it's been close to a week since then and I have homework to get to before going home, 無理だよ。That's impossible. For now, anyway. Most of the pictures that I've taken up until now have been from Tokyo, so I will write what all I did with Kristina in Tokyo. I'll probably spend part of Saturday at the Culture Center updating this with pictures and my days' adventures. For now, I'll talk about my impressions of Hakodate and my host family.

Saturday, after our 2 days of placement testing, we finally had the opening ceremony for my program, "Japanese Language and Japanese Culture", and immediately afterwards met our host family. My family's name is "Tanaka", a very stereotypical Japanese name (kinda like Smith in America). I have a Father 父, Mother 母, and 2 older sisters 姉, Aya and Sayuri. Right now, Sayuri is in Tokyo at an all girls college, but Aya has already graduated and is working for now. According to Mama, they have been hosting study abroad students from HIF for 18 years. We live about 20 minutes by JR (Japanese Railway, basically a train) outside of Hakodate, the main fishing port of Hokkaido, in a town called Nanae-cho. It's a cute little town, but since it is further up in the mountain areas, there are plenty of hills, and I have the fortune of walking up one every day from the train station. Plus, in Hakodate, I have about a 10-15 minute walk from the station before I get to a hill to climb up to the HIF building.

Hae I ever mentioned that I hate stairs? Well I hate hills even more. I remember my first time going up East Rock - so outta shape. Like I've mentioned on FB, I expect awesome conversational Japanese and sexy legs by August. Plus, I'm eating way more vegetables than I have ever eaten at Yale. (I usually have a salad on the side and call that my vegetable intake for the day. Really, it shouldn't count.)

Although I swear every vegetable that I've eaten from Papa's garden (yes, my host father spends his time tending to a garden every day) tastes like peanuts. I think my taste buds are broken are something. BTW, I tried natto Monday night. I'm so glad I have good control over my immediate responses. It. Was. So. Disgusting. Everyone in my family eats it, but after the first bite, I stopped, put my chopsticks down, and said ご馳走様でした (a phrase giving thanks to the meal just had, signaling you're finished). Everyone understood that there might be things that I don't like that I haven't tried yet, so they were cool with it, In fact, they were sorta laughing at my reactions to it. But besides the natto, I've liked everything they've cooked so far. In fact, it feels so good to have home cooked meals again. (Mo didn't really cook while I was home, so I was pretty much on my own for most of the time. :P) I've raised my tolerance of a lot of things. Such as tea. I like Southern Sweet Tea, but I'm not used to drinking regular Japanese hot tea at about every meal. I can taste the caffeine in every sip, but it's not bad, per se. Also, for a lot of meals, they have miso soup for beverage, so it's still something that I'm getting used to.

I will say that by the time I get back to America, I'll probably be ruined for Japanese food. I haven't tried any real sushi here yet, but I told Aya that one of m favorite foods is sushi with cream cheese in it. She wouldn't stop mentioning it to Mama for several days.

Although it's rather 大変 (dreadful) that I have to go uphill to and from class every day, I think it's fortunate that I'll can walk and eat pretty healthily during my stay here. Course, you won't hear me saying that I love walking up those hills. It's rather annoying that when I get to class around 8:40 that I'm sweating and it's ridiculous hot, even when it's only in the 60s here.

Here at HIF, they have a dining area where we can use the vending machines and buy lunch, but I haven't eaten there yet. I've been stopping by the コンビニ (convenience store) in the morning before getting to HIF to buy yogurt and my lunch. Monday, I went downhill to the Co-op store and bought a not so great breakfast and on top of that climbed right back up the hill. I realized that since I have extra time in the morning before I get on the train and before I get to HIF that I can stop by one of the 7/11s on the way. To prevent from climbing back up. :P

BTW, it never occurred to me, but a croissant wrapped around chocolate is genius. And I am obsessed with Strawberry Flavored Drinkable Yogurt. In fact, America should sell a lot of things that Japanese コンビニ do. Otherwise, I'll be rather sad when I get back.

During our time here in Hakodate, on top of class, homework, and kanji quizzes everyday, we're expected to complete an Independent Study Research Project. We have to meet once a week with our sensei and discuss our plans and our progress. I think I've decided on tryingto gauge how Japanese youth and young adults interpret and think of manga and anime (if they read/watch it). While I was in Tokyo, whenever we were on the subway or JR, I always saw people reading manga, and when you're walking through Akiba, it's safe to say that most people you see like anime and manga to some degree. Here in Hokkaido, it's a total different vibe from Tokyo. You could think of the area I stay in as rather rural, so not everyone is as obvious about it here. I want to know what they think like, and I feel like asking them about what they think is special or most important for them in the manga they read or why they have a favorite if they do is a common ground in which I can get a grasp on how Japanese youth think here. It's rather complicated to explain or justify why I want to do such a topic, but I find it rather intriguing. We'll see how this goes. First, I have to get over my scare of going out and talking to people and asking them about things, even though I am obviously a foreigner with not so great conversational Japanese asking weird questions about their personal preferences. D=

I'll try updating about last week on Saturday. That way you get to see more of Tokyo before you see nothing but Hokkaido. lol