Host Family! Well... more like, host person!

So we got our host family assignments a few days ago. This was one of the things that had really kinda scared me during the wait - I mean, spending that much time with one family could be really painful/traumatizing if we didn't get along. That being said, my host family ended up being just one person - a 73 year old grandmother named Ryuko Takasaka. At first, this really scared me; with just one other person in the house, I need to make a great impression. Plus, I think that she, as an elderly person, might expect more in terms of traditional etiquette and stuff. Not to mention I can't read any of the kanji (characters) that describe her job or her interests. Thanh translated some stuff for me. It has something to do with color, industrial arts, and other stuff that I still don't know how to make sense of. So I was kinda worried for the first day.
But I talked to my parents, and, as always, they talked some sense into me. They reminded me of all the good stuff that would come out of this. They reminded me that I chose HIF because it was a less urban setting with a more traditional lifestyle, so having an elderly host would just make the experience even better. Plus (and this is what I'm still hardcore psyched about), she'd have been alive during World War II! That's so exciting to me - how many times will I get to interact with someone who lived through that? And she'd have been old enough to remember it, too - she'd have been just younger than me when the bombings happened. I'm so excited to get a firsthand account of it! I think this is going to be great. You guys can expect a lot of posts that deal with that. I'm so excited to talk to her!!! ...If you can't tell, I'm something of a history nerd.
Anyway, I tried sending her an email, but I think the program might have made a mistake - my email got returned =(. They said the designated address wasn't valid. Oh well. I emailed HIF about it, so they should get back to me soon.
So I guess that's really it. I'm now even more excited than before to go over - the history nerd in me is pumped. Only 9 more days!

EDIT: Oh, wow - totally forgot to mention something I found morbidly funny. Because of swine flu outbreaks, we're being quarantined for a week in a separate facility!! YES! But seriously, it shouldn't be that bad. I mean, it'll be the only time I get to live with the other HIF-ers, who will all be as jetlagged as me! Plus, they give us a good amount of money for food. Yay for quarantining!

Pre-departure thoughts

Gah. Two weeks(ish) until Japan. I think it's just starting to hit me now that I'll actually be there for two months, so I've been kinda freaking out about it. I kinda suck at the language already, so I think I might just crash and burn when I get there. Plus there's so much stuff about etiquette that I don't know at all and I really don't want to mortally offend my host family or anything... so "Gah" pretty aptly sums up my feelings about it right now.
Despite worrying, I'm still excited to go - even if I suck at Japanese, getting to go/see places should be fun. I mean, how many other times will I get to travel to such a cool place with full funding? It's a great opportunity. Plus, some people I know are going to Japan (Soyoon, Tommy, and Juliana from my college, Morse). Thanh's also doing HIF and we both kinda suck, so we'll probably be in the same level of instruction.
Oh, yeah - I got my gift for my host family today ("omiyage"). It was such an annoying task to complete - I didn't want to be too typical and get them some Yale gear, but I didn't want to get something inappropriate. I mean, Maruyama sensei said that we should get stuff that's tough to get within Japan. I ended up getting them something from India (a decorative good luck plate)... hope it's OK.
But yeah, that's about it for now. More to follow when I start packing and actually planning for this trip.