3 Days without internet=one long blog

This is going to be a long one..three days without internet adds up!

Saturday was the day of the home stay. We had to have our big luggage in the lobby by 9 am so it could be sent back to the hotel in Tokyo (the luxury hotel…the other two were luxury in the lobby and small in the room). At 9, the Tama group had a meeting to discuss our presentation. Aaron from Minnesota and I will be discussing the visit to the Jr. High and the non-sighting of Monster and Helicopter parents. The term was brought up at four different occasions…and not by us. It was in English too!!!!

So, after the meeting, we all sat there in a line waiting for our host family to arrive. One by one, they arrived and the rest of us felt like the “unchosen.” My family…made up of Hirofumi, Fusako, and Sakura (age 8) arrived right at 10. I was in the bathroom. For those of you who know me, that won’t surprise you. For those of you that don’t know me…read this blog. I seem to have a fascination with bathrooms. BTW, if you walk right out of the Tama City women’s restroom and don’t make a quick right…you are in the men’s bathroom. How do I know?

Guess what? They speak NOOOOOOOOOOOOO English! We went to their car and it is a HONDA. The man told me he works for Honda. I said, "I have a Honda!" Immediately we have a bond. He thanks me for buying a Honda.

We stopped at a store and the Fusako got out and returned with iced coffee and a cold Coke for me and drinks for everyone else. Off we were to Kamakura. They had not been in four years and Sakura was really excited about it. We stopped at Denny’s (Japanese version) on the way there. It was a long ride of little talking (about 2 ½ hours). Fusako had a Japanese to English dictionary, but I had nothing. I mentioned this and we stopped at a 100 yen store to buy one. It had a good selection of words, but not spelled out phonetically…but in Japanese characters. When I wanted to say something, I had to show it to them.

We finally arrived in Kamakura and walked through the crowds to the Giant Buddha. Sakura was really excited and we took lots of pictures. You will notice that she does the peace sign in every picture. Seems all the children do that. They bought me three souvenirs and we lit some incense and swept the smoke to our “hurting parts.” The family is Christian (rare around here) and I imagine that is one of the reasons they have me. I put the name of my church on my bio. It was nice to share that bond. Interesting note…the entire music selection today was in English and he played the Backstreet Boys and Billy Joel. We were able to talk a little about movies. They love Indie Jones and Harry Potter.

The trip home was very long. Sakura was delightful and we played Nintendo DS (learning to write in Japanese), rock, paper, scissors, slap the hands, thumb wrestling…just about anything that didn’t require talking. We stopped at the supermarket to pick up dinner fixings. I was a little concerned when she picked up the octopus. I learned very quickly to not look anything too long or it ended up in the basket.

Finally at the home, I was able to really relax. They have a very nice 3 year old home. Beautiful floors and lots of room…more than I expected. I presented them with my gifts and they were overwhelmed. They loved the HMS shirts and Hirofumi put one on immediately (thanks HMS PTA). They loved the Virginia coins and the Virginia book. Later as we looked through it together and we were able to piece a conversation together, she pointed to the words “a treasure” in her language book. I was touched. She really liked the Bath and Body Works lotions (great suggestion from Mrs. Gale).

While Fusako fixed dinner, Sukura and I did origami. She is amazing…especially for only being 8 years old.

Dinner was…ShupaShupa (probably spelled and misinterpreted) and it was a thin beef slice that you swished in boiling liquid 3 times. It was delicious. Shrimp pizza…pretty good. Pasta with cabbage and ham – good. Warm custard of ???? and two other things. It was a feast. I really enjoyed their company.

The bath part was next. The bath is an experience. First the “bath” room is separate from the toilet room. So make sure you “toilet” before bathing. The bathroom is completely wet-able. First you wash your hair, face, body, etc. Show off onto the floor and then get into the hot water. BUT, you don’t let the water out…because you were already clean, everyone can use that water. I was first. I made it. I think I was supposed to take longer, but I was a little nervous about the whole deal. Great experience though.

After the bath, we all looked through the Virginia picture book. It is a beautiful book. We got out a small globe and figured all that stuff out in our halted English. I was really happy to have had this experience.

So now (as I write this) it is 11:30 pm and I’m about to go to sleep on a tatami mat…and looking forward to it. Tomorrow, I think we are going to a big electronics store before they drop me off at City Hall.

Sunday – I heard the clanging of pots and pans about 7 am. So, I readied myself in my “room” and headed downstairs. Only Fusako was up. We looked at picture albums of her friends, Sakura as a baby, Fusako in the hospital (she was badly bit by a dog), and the grandparents. It was a special time, because we could ask questions or point out similarities and differences in our lives. Sakura joined us a little later and we played more WAR and did origami.

After a huge breakfast, we went to the department store. Seven stories of stores – Sakura said “Shopping is Gooooooooood.” Again, I had to watch where I was looking because she wanted to buy me everything. She insisted on buying origami paper for my students and she sneaked away and bought a lovely plate for my family. I don’t know how I’m going to get all of this stuff home.

At 3 pm, we had to be at the Tama City Hall to board the bus. All of the Tama group’s home families stayed until the bus left. They waved us away and it poured outside.

We rode the bus for about an hour and a half to a ryokan. This is a traditional Japanese Inn. It was in the most beautiful setting. It sits along a rushing river and it was so lush with greenery and flowers. I shared a room with Tammy from Missouri and Tiffany from North Carolina. The room was very simple, yet very lovely. The floor had tatami mats on it. There was a low table with some citrus tea waiting for us. There was a small porch that overlooked the river (about 15 feet away). We were told to take our bath and meet in the dinner room at 6:30. Note that a traditional Japanese Hot Bath is for everyone…at the same time. You shower first, then get into a big “hot tubbish” thing. It was a citrus bath, so there were lemons floating in it. Well, the three of us decided to wait until after dinner to bathe. So, we put on our robes (I can’t think of what they are called – but make sure it is left over right when you wrap it around your body!) and headed to dinner.

Dinner was beautifully served. Everything was “food show” worthy…looks-wise. I tried to taste everything, but most of it was beyond me. We had a great time learning Japanese songs and a Japanese dance.

After dinner, Tammy and I headed to the bath. We are both pretty modest, so she showered and hit the bath while I waited outside and then she did the same for me. Oh well…

We slept on futons on the floor. It was very comfortable. They were all laid out when we arrived back from dinner.

Breakfast was another feast of stuff I won’t eat. There was soup, salad, fish, rice, stuff and stuff and more stuff. It was beautiful to see.

At 10 am, we started our two hour trek back to Tokyo. We were all excited to arrive back at the big fancy Grand Prince Hotel. We were given the same rooms and our luggage had already been delivered. The service here is impeccable.

Eight of us went to lunch…craving something that was not fishy. Across the street is a pasta and pizza place and they were able to fit us all. Although it wasn’t what we would have served in America, it was delicious. We all snarfed it up.

Back at the hotel, three of us worked on the presentation that we will make on Wednesday. So far, it is looking goooooooooood. Lorry from Florida teaches film and she has some great ideas and knows how to do it right.

Five of us decided to meet at 4:30 and go to DisneySea right outside Tokyo. It is just two subway rides away. They have a 6 pm to 10pm pass that was just right. We arrived at 6 and walked right in. The weather was slightly rainy, but there were no lines anywhere. We rode a version of the Tower of Terror, the Storm Chaser, and Indiana Jones thing, a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea thing, a couple of roller coasters and watched a couple of shows. It was a lot of fun.

Okay, that was a long one. Night