update

Today was pretty awesome. I went to an apple orchard with my host family and helped out there. It was perfect weather. We stopped at a village about 200 where most of the houses are 200 years old and still in use, went out for sushi, and did a little shopping at the huge department store near our house.

I went to my first kendo tournament the other day. Got my first point, which I'm really psyched about, though I lost in the end. I also got terribly sick, which was pretty miserably, but I'm pretty much over it now.

I'm BAAAAACK!!!!!

Guess what! My computer isn't broken! My harddrive wasn't wiped clear.

So the other day, my host grandfather's brother (can you tell I still don't know anyone's name...) came and drank all the beer in the house. Nothing's new there. I remembered that he actually owns the computer store next door and, upon seeing him, pleaded with him to take a look at my computer.

For the record, I thought the problem was with my cord. I tore the third prong off my plug so it'd fit into Japanese outlets, only recently, it's been sparking every time I plug it in. The ends of the prongs look burnt. So I suggested to my host great uncle that perhaps the problem was the plug and maybe if I could just buy a new one the problem might be solved....
"No!" shouts my drunk great uncle. I immediately regreted not having the insight not to go to someone who's only english vocabulary consists of "Get me a beer!" So he said he'd just wipe my hardrive and everything would be good. No! Don't wipe my hardrive! Please! So I'm pleading to him, trying to convince that actually it's not really broken and I don't need his help. He gets sorely offended and the whole family has a meeting to discuss my impolite behavior. They tell me he's a certified engineer who's been to college and knows a lot about computers. I sigh and relent (imagining him spilling beer all over my laptop as he erases all my pictures of Japan, all my word documents, all my completely-legally-downloaded music). Today, I got the half-dreaded, half-anticipated phone call. He fixed my computer, didn't spill a single drop of beer on it (that I know of), and my hardrive is thankfully still in tact. And I don't owe him a single cent.

This Sunday I'll be going to USJ with Rotary. I'm really looking forward to it (though it'll be my third time... hehe...) because I haven't seen my exchange friends in a long time.

The new school year has of course started and it's going really well. I'm well ahead of them in math and science, which makes life a lot easier for me. In my home-ec class, I'm actually going to making a yukata! Woo!

Hisashibari!

So I went into a sushi bar today with my host family. It was pretty fun. I went with my host grandma, my, err, aunt, her husband, and their kid (who I'm completely in love with). Honokachan (the five year-old kid) was eager to go play in the back kids' room, but everyone was busy eating. So I went with her (actually, I secretly wanted to play in the kids' room too) and boy did it cause a ruckus. First, Honochan is a really shy little girl. The only reason she wanted me to go with her was because the idea of actually walking into a room of screaming kids, finding a playmate, and playing with all those unknown kids terrified her. So she brought me for moral support. When we were about to enter, she told me to go in first. And then she decided she didn't actually want to play, so we started heading back to the table. She decided she really did want to play and we went in together. At first, she was too shy to mingle with anyone, so we sat in a corner and played with some balls together. But the other kids noticed me right at once. Not only am I rather big kid, but I also have the telltale blonde hair and blue eyes, which I so often forget about. Suddenly, a swarm of kids surrounded us, all shouting "Hello! Hello! Hello!" Poor Honochan curled up with me and I tried to usher us outside the attention. Only the attention followed us. They all came up and introduced themselves to me proudly in English. Even the three and four year-olds got in on it. They asked me to say something in English. They asked me if Honokachan is my real sister. They asked me all sorts of things. Parents came to check on their kids and didn't go back to their tables, so we had parents crowding around the door (when we entered, their where no parents at all anywhere in sight). We went back to the table and waited until it was a little more quiet before we went back. When we left the restaurant, all the kids came up to us and shouted "Goobye! Goobye!" I think Honokachan was proud that I was with her and pleased when I excused myself from all of them to play with her, but not so happy with all the attention. I was sorry she was thrust into the spotlight.

Actually I really like this kid a lot. Besides being absolutely adorable, she's interesting and curious about the world. And she sneaks up and tickles my feet when I'm trying to type on the computer.

Toriaizu (that's my new favorite word. Not sure exactly what it means, but I hear it all the time. Nobody can tell me what it means, so I think it doesn't have a clear translation. My guess is something like "Anyways" or "to change the subject"), the new school year started and I've got a whole new set of classes, friends, and kendo-mates. I'm in advanced classes too, so there's pretty much no chance of keeping up. I'm in math, biology, history, Japanese (the Heather version, not the Japanese high schools student version), English, gymn, art, and calligraphy. And a few free periods to kill. The hardest is absolutely Japanese history. For one, I've never studied it. For two, it's in Japanese I've never heard before, and uses kanji I've never seen before. Nakai Sensei says I can drop it if it's too much. I might, but I'll give it a little time first. I'm only here for a few more months anyways. That's wierd.

Oh yeah (toriaizu), I got my departure date. For sure. August 7. Later than I expected, which I'm annoyed about, but otherwise don't care. That means I'll have about 20 days to come home, unpack, repack, and fly across the country to college. I wish I had at least a bit of time for reflexion, not to mention seeing all my friends and family again.

Aww, Honokachan prepared tea for me. I have to go and have a tea party.
Hope this posts!

Woops!

So I fried my computer and have been using my host family's lately. I just spent about thirty minutes updating and then realized that I haven't actually posted any of my entries that I've been posting for the past few days. Woops. So I went back to them and tried to publish them. Only I deleted them. Guess I'm not so good at Japanese yet. Woops. I think I just deleted three entries.