When I finally arrived at Narita International Airport, I made five more people heading to Nanzan, and with all of the self-introductions and conversation, the three hour lay-over and subsequent hour-and-a-half flight go by very quickly.
Piece of advice: Don't wear pants with tons of metal on them when if you plan on flying! The decorative zippers on my jeans set off the metal detector at Narita Airport security, and I got a thorough pat-down from a very patient security officer.
After landing in Nagoya, I picked up my luggage and went towards the exit, and through the glass doors I could see crowds of people holding up signs with people's names in them. I saw my name, and my nodded towards my host father who was holding it up. As I approached him, he extended his hand to shake mine, and in English said, "Welcome". As we walked out to his car, he asked how long my flight was, if I was tired, hungry,etc. I told him that I wasn't very hungry, so he told me that we would go straight home then. After loading my luggage in the trunk, I approached the right side of the car to get in, and he informed me that that was the driver's side, so I had to go around and sit on the left side. I thought to myself, "I haven't left the airport, and things are so different already!"
The ride home took about an hour, during which I managed to make small talk with my host father. He told me that his wife and daughter were waiting at home. In that hour I learned that he and his family hand spent several years in the United States, that his daughter played the euphonium, and that despite his father being a Toyota engineer, he rocks a Honda. Even in the dark, as we drove through the city towards my new home I could see that had it not been for the street signs, I could have been traveling down any highway in the U.S.
When we arrived at the apartment complex, he drove into the parking lot, and asked me to take all of my luggage out before he parked the car. I didn't understand why until he walked out of the car and pushed a button on a terminal next to a parked car. The platform under the car then rose up, revealing another platform with another car, and then an empty one, which he backed the car into, got out, and then hit the button again, and the car sank back down into the earth. I've never seen anything like it.
As he finished parking the car, my host mother, Etsu, came out of the elevator and after introducing herself, hugged me. My host father picked up one of my suitcases and led us to the elevator, where we rode up to the third floor, towards what will be my home for the next 9 months.
*There will be little to no photos of the house or possibly even my host family on this blog, as many Japanese are very uncomfortable with having pictures of them or their homes made public. There are actually no photos to post so far, because I've been so busy and tired and have completely forgotten to take them.
When we entered the house I was greeted by a very spunky, high-strung poodle named Berun, who still barks whenever he sees me, like he forgets that I'm in the house. I'll win him over soon.
I will say that the apartment is fairly small, and my room is quite small and narrow. The bed is about 3 feet the ground with drawers and shelves underneath it, and on the opposite wall there is a small closet. The most spacious thing is the desk, which I think may actually be bigger than the one I had at IU. There is an air conditioner in the room, but I ended up not using the first night, despite the humidity, because while my host mom told me that I could use it, I've been told by many people how expensive utilities are.
During the tour of the house, they were very understanding of my not understanding much, and each time I apologized for not understanding something, Etsu patted me on the shoulder and said, "Haha, Japanese is difficult, isn't it?"
I was asked to unpack right away, which I did, after which I was drenched in sweat. It is incredibly humid here. I was able to wrap m the gift I had gotten them ( Albanese Candy (from a factory near my hometown) and a hand wire-wrapped gift from my mother. Both were well received, and that was a relief.
I met my host sister, Nanami, who is 12 years old. She said Hello to me in English, and then introduced herself in Japanese. I've been here 4 days now as I'm writing this, and I have yet to speak with her. She has just started middle school, and after school she has band practice. When she gets home she is very tired, and after dinner she practices her violin and goes to bed. She also has club activities on Saturdays. I'm sure I'll get to know her later, but so far she's still a stranger. Etsu (whom I address as Okaa-san, meaning "mom") told me that she is very shy.
After all of the unpacking and brief introductions, Okaa-san showed me how to use the shower (not difficult, but different from the one I have at home) and I took a shower. When I finally crawled up the step ladder into my bed, exhausted, I made the terrifying discovery that the 4-inch futon laid out over the bed made for very little cushion. I might as well have been sleeping on the floor. Every night since, I have gotten used to it a little more, but I'm still having a hard time getting to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up at 6 am and could get back to sleep. So far this week, that's the latest I've been able to sleep in. I got dressed before leaving my room, and when I got to the kitchen, my host mother was making breakfast. She made french toast, and I must say that it was much less sweet than the kind that we have in the U.S. She also gave me a small cup of plain yogurt with about 4 blueberries in it, a small salad, and a banana. Every subsequent breakfast has been some kind of bread component accompanied with the salad, yogurt, and banana. So far I'm digging it.
Nanami left for school shortly after, and my host father went to work. My Japanese is so far not very good, but Okaa-san explained to me that he is some kind of IT specialist. She told me that she was going to take me to Nanzan University so that I would know how to get here in the morning. We decided to go by bike, because on foot it takes about 40 minutes.
Now, I am a good 60 pounds overweight, and this summer I didn't do nearly as much walking as I do during the school year, so I thought I knew in advance that I would be tired, but even then I was overestimating myself. The whole way their I struggled to keep up with the near-fifty woman on her bike. The town is riddled with ridiculously steep hills, and the humidity was intense. We had to stop for a while about half way there, and then we parked the bikes at Nagoya University, which is about a 10 minute walk from Nanzan University. The last hill up towards the university was the biggest of all. If you've ever seen the scene in Howl's Moving Castle when the witch is climbing the stairs, that's how I felt. When we went up through the gate, we decided (entirely for my sake, she was fine) to stop in the dining hall and rest a bit.
Inside, she told me to pick out something to drink. I didn't want anything sweet, fearing that I might throw it up, but I was having trouble choosing because the labels were hard to read. I finally settled on a bottle of Mugicha, because I recognized the character for tea on it, and Okaa-san told me that it wasn't sweet. When we got up to the counter, she offered to pay and I thanked her. We sat down on a bench and I cracked it open. I took a swig, and it tasted like unsweetened tea with a peanut aftertaste. It was awful. But since I was dying of thirst, and Okaa-san bought it for me, I drank almost all of it.
She asked me if I remembered how to get there, and I realized that I might not, because I had been focused on following her and not so much on remembering the route, so I told myself that I would pay extra attention on the way back. We went almost all the way back, though, when she pointed and said, "Remember we came from that way", and then we continued on a different route to purchase a subway card and some toiletries. I remember passing a KFC and seeing a statue of a Japanese Col. Sanders. I regret not taking a photo, but if I go back I'll post it for sure.
She told me that she didn't feel like cooking, and that she would buy me lunch at the store, and when we got home she would eat some leftovers. I ended up getting several things. The first I forget the name of, but it was like a fried potato pancake with meat in the center. Then I got two onigiri, which are balls of rice with various fillings. I got one salmon and one seaweed. I also got a small thing of vegetables. I took it to go, so that we could eat together back at the house.
When we finally got home and parked our bikes in the garage, I could barely walk, and I must have looked it too, because she seemed very concerned. When we got up to the house we sat down and ate. Everything was delicious, but I had to save the seaweed onigiri for later. After we ate, we had a long discussion about various things that I don't remember anymore, and then I excused myself to go study a while for the next day's test.
Instead of studying, though, as soon as I got on the computer, Chelsea called my on Skype, and she told me that she was settling in very well. She had helped her host mother cook yakisoba (fried buckwheat noodles) and I thought that it was a great idea. I would love to learn how to cook some Japanese foods. After we talked, I went into the kitchen to ask Okaa-san if I could help with dinner. She obliged and let me peel the vegetables for the potato soup that she was making.
During that time she asked me about who cooked in my family, what we normally ate, etc. She was a little surprised to hear that my father does all the cooking, and she said, "Your mother must work very late, then." I had a bit of a hard time explaining that that was not quite the case either, but with my limited vocabulary I couldn't explain much. I did tell her that one of my favorite things that my dad makes, however, is potato soup. She laughingly told me that Japanese men almost never cook. "Otou-san (the host father) never comes back here", she said, gesturing with a knife around the narrow kitchen.
After peeling the potatoes, carrots, and onions, though, she told me that all that was left was to cook it, and that I could go back to my room. I wondered if I had invaded her space by asking to help, but I would find out later that that wasn't the case.
Shortly after Otou-san and Nanami came home, it was about time for dinner. During dinner, she told the family about how pitiful I was trying to ride the bicycle up to Nanzan U. "She was so red, and I was worried!" Everyone laughed, and I must admit I was quite embarrassed (definitely not for the last time). I admitted that I wasn't quite sure if I remembered how to get there, so they lent me Nanami's cell phone in case of an emergency the next day.
After that, I took a shower, and spent the next hour on Google maps, trying to virtually practice walking to school. At about 10 pm, I shut my computer down and crawled up into my hard bed, hoping that I would be able to get up earl enough the next day to make it to the school.
The next morning, I woke up at 4 am and couldn't go back to sleep. And so it goes.
