Did You Bite Anyone Today?

I have tons of homework like always, but writing my blogs is too fun to pass up :) So here we go.

I have kind of gotten into the swing of things lately, so it's been nice to start feeling like I have a routine. I would love to add more stuff to my schedule, though, so I'm going to have to start searching out opportunities to do new things. After all, no matter how much I study, there will still be more studying to do, and I can't just study my life away!

Last weekend we went to my host dad's house again. I don't know if I described my first trip there, so I'm going to describe my second trip as well as I can so you know how it went. Because I'm assuming that you want to know how it went. Because you're reading this blog.

My host dad's parents live about half an hour away, in a smaller city in the country. They live in a huge house, especially by Japanese standards. My host dad's dad (I think I might call him my host grandpa from now on) owns the practice/hospital/whatever you want to call it that my dad works for, so he makes a fairly good amount of money. But not too much money. I'm actually writing a report on doctors for my Japanese government class, and I've found that doctors' salaries in Japan are much less than in the US. But back to the story.

My host grandpa's pretty much the typical Japanese grandparent -- loves spoiling the grandchildren and drinking beer. He also loves to give stuff away. He tried about a hundred times to get me to drink beer and wine at dinner. When I left their house, he insisted on giving me $100 just like he gave the rest of the grandchildren. And, like most elderly Japanese people, I can't understand a single. word. he. says. But really, any time I feel like I'm understanding what's going on, he'll say something and I'm completely lost again.

My host grandma seems to be a pretty strong lady. She has a pretty big personality from what I can tell, and she is used to taking care of everyone in the family. She's very nice, but I get the feeling that it's more of a politeness than a genuine niceness. I mean, she's definitely a good person, she's just one of those people that while you know they always have good intentions, you're still a little scared of them. Also, to support my claims, my host mom told me that my host dad's older brother had a falling out with the mom and that they don't really communicate that much anymore. 

But anyways, we went there this weekend and saw a festival. This festival was a lot bigger than the one I went to in Nishinomiya, and the people were a lot more drunk. Sorry, but it's the truth. Instead of one shrine, this time four smaller shrines were carried around. I guess there's a slight competition to see who does the "best" job carrying the shrine, but really it's not about the competition; it's about being together.

My host parents explained to me that festivals like these are starting to disappear because people live in cities where they tend not to be close to their neighbors, don't really feel attached to the area, etc. For example, at the festival, my host grandma seemed to know and talk to pretty much everyone, and after the festival a few neighbors came over and helped cook dinner at my host grandparents' house. My host dad explained to me that traditionally families would cluster together and tend to help eachother get by, and that his family is in this way a very traditional family. 

But for all of the Japaneseness (did I just make that word up? yes.) of my family, I think there are some things that every family, no matter where they're from, goes through. For example, here's a conversation from the dinner table tonight:

Host mom: "Jion, did you remember our promise?"

Jion: "Yep."

Host mom: "And did you bite anyone at daycare today?"

Jion: "Nope!"

(Backstory: Jion bit a kid at daycare the other day and the teacher scolded my host parents for a couple minutes  when they went to pick him up. When they told me the story, I thought it was cute that my host dad closed it by saying (in English) "We try to make him behave, but for now we love him just the way he is.")

So yeah, I guess I'm just trying to say that there are both differences and similarities between what I've experienced in Japan and what I see in the States, but there are definitely more similarities than differences. Make sense? I hope so.

Also, here's a story I can't help but laugh about every time I think of it. It's probably one of those "you had to be there" types, but I'm going to tell it anyways.

Yuta is in charge of taking the dog for its nightly walk. I go with him a lot of the time because if I'm with him, he likes to ride his skateboard-like thing  (picture somewhere around here  -- you can't miss it) while I hold Louie's leash. Last night I thought it would be a good idea to give Yuta the leash and let Louie pull him. You know, like Cesar Millan. And at first, it worked just like it does for Cesar. Louie took off at a pretty good paced jog, and pulled Yuta at a pretty good pace behind him. But unlike Cesar's dogs, Louie is not trained. So when Louie saw another dog a couple hundred feet ahead, he took off running. 

So Yuta was flying crazily behind Louie, who was running at full speed. Got the image in your head? Good. Yuta spent a couple seconds screaming, but luckily he's Japanese, and the little bit of ninja in him came to the surface (or at least that's what I like to think). Somehow, Yuta jumped off of the board and managed to land and run behind Louie without falling, then he slowed Louie down. It was pretty cool.

And yeah, that's all I have to write for today. I just skimmed a little bit of what I wrote and noticed that my vocabulary today is completely AWESOME, and for that, I apologize. But even with all of the "I think" and "I guess" and "yeah" crap, I hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time!