- Caught Melissa's cold, which has mostly just left me dragging a bit. I think I might be able to kick it tonight with a good meal and a lot of sleep.
- Arrived in Tokyo, stayed in swanky hotel that I was too congested to enjoy much. I did like the yukata that came with the room. Wished I could keep it.
- Haven't talked to lots of people from the program yet. Some of them are very nice people, some made a very bad impression on me from the start, and some I haven't formed an opinion on yet. I'll have to wait and see. I'm not good at talking to new people more often than not...
- Sophia campus is a lovely place, in a lovely location, with an incredibly lovely cafeteria. I got curry udon, guys! And it was tasty!
- Stayed in yet another swanky hotel, though I had it to myself that time. <3 And another yukata!
- Am living with my host family now! My room is pretty big, actually, and I have lots of space. And internet, as you can see. It's an apartment in Nerima, which is apparently where the Ju-on movies are set. Ohshit. Anyway, I'm on the fourth floor, with a good view of the city. Pictures are forthcoming. I have to upload like 20,000.
- The dad is Tsukasa, but he likes to be called Nomu-san since it's the first part of his last name. He's a really nice guy and totally hilarious, and I've probably talked to him the most so far (random conversations about American politics and the English language in my broken Japanese FTW.) He just showed me to the train station, which is about a fifteen minute walk from here, and taught me how to get to campus. Best part so far was when I was helping him fold some laundry, and he held up a pair of the youngest daughter's pink cherry underwear and went, "Oh, these are mine."
- The mom is Michiyo, and I call her Michiyo-san because she's way too young to be my mother. I haven't gotten to talk to her as much because she's very busy; she teaches piano a lot and handles the cooking/etc, so I'm in awe of her. She's extremely sweet, and she made excellent o-nabe last night for my welcome dinner.
- The oldest daughter is Mai, who I call Mai-chan of course. She's eight, and she's so adorable and sassy. She's pretty much always hungry (every other word out of her mouth is "tabetai"/"I want to eat") and she plays the piano beautifully. She had a contest today, but unfortunately didn't place. I felt so bad for her because both of her friends got awards. D: Mai-chan kind of loves me already. She had me teach her some English yesterday, and then was absolutely attached to my hip. "Bekki, I'll help you unpack~." "Bekki, do you want to watch dramas~?" "Bekki, want to play DS~?" So cute. *A*
- And the youngest is Kana. I call her Kana-chan, and she refers to herself as Kana-chan, but everyone else calls her Kanayan. She's five, and mindblowingly cute. She plays piano a bit too, and is very musically inclined; at least, she sings almost everything. She's a little shy around me, mostly just smiles and stares, but occasionally she'll mumble something like "Bekki has cute stuffed animals" and so on. She's got a cold right now, so maybe she'll be more outgoing once she's better.
- And then there are the cats, Shigeo and Tocchiko. Both of them are way, way friendlier than Holly. They just climb all over you.
- My birthday is tomorrow, and I'm not sure what I'm doing. Melissa and I were going out, but she might want to do something with her family instead. But Nomu-san and Michiyo-san were so happy that I was going to celebrate with someone (Michiyo has a piano recital all day, so they won't be home until dinner), if Melissa can't do it, I'll go out by myself without letting them know the plan changed. I'm sure I'll find something fun to do.
- I should be online in the early evening (yours, that is, my morning) for a few hours, so I'll talk to you if you're around! I will hopefully be able to write, too.
Time to go chill with the girls. <3
