smtemp
Member
Uh oh, I:m screwed 
hahah I took pictures of some ancient graves of famous people in Japanese History at a Buddhist temple. BRING IT!! those tombstones where ginormous!! And there was a HUGE scary Buddha there and when I:d look at it in the eyes, chills ran through my body. Then my host mother had me walk through a pitch black tunnel below it! I was freaked out, I kept grabbing onto her to make sure she was still in front of me.
Any way... (takes long breath) Here:s what I:ve got for you guys, been writing this out on paper first.. hahah
Last weekend I had a great homestay. I didn:t stay with my usual host family, but their friends instead.
Sachiko has a very beautiful house. She:s a piano teacher and has four grand pianos. The family dog is a corgie named Ranchan. Sachiko is married and has 2 children. Her son is 16 and her daughter is 12. Her Daughter is currently in California for a school homestay, so I got to use her room. She had an interesting thing on her bed, it was a mat made out of bamboo tiles. You sleep directly on them with no sheet. It:s supposed to keep you coller at night. It was pretty nice and comfortable, but it left marks on my body like sheets do when you sleep well. Sachiko was very kind and giving. I had to always be thanking her, but I never felt like I was saying it enough. We went to many video rental stores to find the last Full Metal Alchemist episodes so I could finish the series before I went to see the movie! Then she put me in a room with a massage chair, the T.V., and gave me snacks, so I could watch my anime in there! It felt so good to be able to relax like that after the camps we had had. (IE Chasing Children, stress, and bug bites from mosquitoes and spiders *spiders here are huge!*!)
That night I went to another friend:s home to stay. Her name was Mariko. She was also very kind and funny. She was excited to have me and just wanted to make me happy. She has one of those at home businesses where people order things from her website and she ships them. It:s merchandise from a popular book series here in Japan. That night we returned the other anime and rented MORE anime, this time I got Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon! I felt like going old school with my anime The next day we slept in, then went to see many beautiful old sites. First a water shrine where we had traditional tea. The place was gorgeous! If I ever become rich, I want to build a beautiful Japanese garden. Then we went to a Buddhist temple, a cute small one. Then we went to a very large one where some famous people from history were buried. There were also monuments for the mothers that had babies die in the womb. Inside the shrine there was a large treasure on display. In another section there was a large Buddha statue. It was so big I felt afraid standing infront of it. It felt ominous. Underneath the statue there was a dark passage with a few lit areas where we could view art. After viewing historical things she took me shopping. She brought me to an awesome anime store called Animate. For lunch we went to eat soba noodles at a tiny restaraunt that I never would have thought of going into! But the people were very friendly and the food was delicious! Later that day we met up with some friends of Mariko:s. One was a high school gril named Tomoko, the other was an older lady. We went to visit Mariko:s daughter and grandson. He was soo adorable! After that we went to the Italian restaraunt where Tomoko works and had dinner. After dinner we went to Karaoke. It was very fun! We stayed there very late then went directly to the hot spring at 1AM. It felt soo good after such a fun, long day!!
The next day we had to pick up Mariko:s grandson from daycare. There were many tiny children following me and one little boy kept pointing at me and saying *boobs* in Japanese! I told Mariko and she laughed and said "He probably thought they looked tasty!" That night we went to a concert for a famous pianist and a blind Violinist. It was very beautiful. We went out to dinner with the Violinist after the concert. He was very funny, but when he got drunk his hand:s started to wander on one of my host mother:s and she had to keep slapping him away! Can:t blame that one on being blind ;P he knew what he was doing. I:m glad I sat across the table from him.
That night I stayed at Sachiko:s again, but she had not told her husband (that I had never met before) that I was spending the night there. He comes home lat at night from work so I was already sleeping. I woke up when I heard the vaccuum, but was able to fall back asleep. But her husband opened my bedroom door and he turned on the light! I woke up confused and couldn:t see because I didn:t have my glasses on, and I yelled "What are you doing!?" He was surprised as well and quickly started to apologize in Japanese. After he left I realized how rude I must have been for yelling, since he didn:t know I was there! The next morning Sachiko was apologizing, but I didn:t mind.
There:s more I want to share, but it:s late and I need to sleep
hahah I took pictures of some ancient graves of famous people in Japanese History at a Buddhist temple. BRING IT!! those tombstones where ginormous!! And there was a HUGE scary Buddha there and when I:d look at it in the eyes, chills ran through my body. Then my host mother had me walk through a pitch black tunnel below it! I was freaked out, I kept grabbing onto her to make sure she was still in front of me.Any way... (takes long breath) Here:s what I:ve got for you guys, been writing this out on paper first.. hahah
Last weekend I had a great homestay. I didn:t stay with my usual host family, but their friends instead.
Sachiko has a very beautiful house. She:s a piano teacher and has four grand pianos. The family dog is a corgie named Ranchan. Sachiko is married and has 2 children. Her son is 16 and her daughter is 12. Her Daughter is currently in California for a school homestay, so I got to use her room. She had an interesting thing on her bed, it was a mat made out of bamboo tiles. You sleep directly on them with no sheet. It:s supposed to keep you coller at night. It was pretty nice and comfortable, but it left marks on my body like sheets do when you sleep well. Sachiko was very kind and giving. I had to always be thanking her, but I never felt like I was saying it enough. We went to many video rental stores to find the last Full Metal Alchemist episodes so I could finish the series before I went to see the movie! Then she put me in a room with a massage chair, the T.V., and gave me snacks, so I could watch my anime in there! It felt so good to be able to relax like that after the camps we had had. (IE Chasing Children, stress, and bug bites from mosquitoes and spiders *spiders here are huge!*!)
That night I went to another friend:s home to stay. Her name was Mariko. She was also very kind and funny. She was excited to have me and just wanted to make me happy. She has one of those at home businesses where people order things from her website and she ships them. It:s merchandise from a popular book series here in Japan. That night we returned the other anime and rented MORE anime, this time I got Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon! I felt like going old school with my anime
The next day we slept in, then went to see many beautiful old sites. First a water shrine where we had traditional tea. The place was gorgeous! If I ever become rich, I want to build a beautiful Japanese garden. Then we went to a Buddhist temple, a cute small one. Then we went to a very large one where some famous people from history were buried. There were also monuments for the mothers that had babies die in the womb. Inside the shrine there was a large treasure on display. In another section there was a large Buddha statue. It was so big I felt afraid standing infront of it. It felt ominous. Underneath the statue there was a dark passage with a few lit areas where we could view art. After viewing historical things she took me shopping. She brought me to an awesome anime store called Animate. For lunch we went to eat soba noodles at a tiny restaraunt that I never would have thought of going into! But the people were very friendly and the food was delicious! Later that day we met up with some friends of Mariko:s. One was a high school gril named Tomoko, the other was an older lady. We went to visit Mariko:s daughter and grandson. He was soo adorable! After that we went to the Italian restaraunt where Tomoko works and had dinner. After dinner we went to Karaoke. It was very fun! We stayed there very late then went directly to the hot spring at 1AM. It felt soo good after such a fun, long day!!The next day we had to pick up Mariko:s grandson from daycare. There were many tiny children following me and one little boy kept pointing at me and saying *boobs* in Japanese! I told Mariko and she laughed and said "He probably thought they looked tasty!" That night we went to a concert for a famous pianist and a blind Violinist. It was very beautiful. We went out to dinner with the Violinist after the concert. He was very funny, but when he got drunk his hand:s started to wander on one of my host mother:s and she had to keep slapping him away! Can:t blame that one on being blind ;P he knew what he was doing. I:m glad I sat across the table from him.
That night I stayed at Sachiko:s again, but she had not told her husband (that I had never met before) that I was spending the night there. He comes home lat at night from work so I was already sleeping. I woke up when I heard the vaccuum, but was able to fall back asleep. But her husband opened my bedroom door and he turned on the light! I woke up confused and couldn:t see because I didn:t have my glasses on, and I yelled "What are you doing!?" He was surprised as well and quickly started to apologize in Japanese. After he left I realized how rude I must have been for yelling, since he didn:t know I was there! The next morning Sachiko was apologizing, but I didn:t mind.
There:s more I want to share, but it:s late and I need to sleep
