I made my bed. Now I've got to sleep in it.

So as much as this post sounded like it would be insightful and deep, the title should be interpreted fairly literally – in my host family house, I actually do sleep in a bed that I make every night and pack up every morning. But lemme start with the beginning of the week and the beginning of classes! I’ve been really busy, so I haven’t had the chance to update. So. Sunday. Thanh, Yiwen, and I went to Goryokaku Park, a former rebel hideout fortress. It’s one of the first Japanese pentagonal forts, built by the Tokugawa rulers who were fleeing and resisting the newly instated Meiji government. The Tokugawa hid out and fought against what technically constitutes today’s government for close to a year, if I remember correctly. I have a souvenir pamphlet with the information, but I can’t read any of the kanji. Owe. It’s kind of weird/cool/interesting to think about, though – Goryokaku is technically the site of treason against the current Japanese government, but it’s considered such a huge icon of Japanese history and culture. I don’t know, I think it’s an interesting tension. Anyway, the museum area was filled with different artifacts from the Tokugawa period onward, which was super cool – The relics ranged from cannons and rifles to tea sets and bowls – it was a pretty awesome look into how Tokugawa Japan lived as it was on the verge of collapse. Anyway, the park was also really pretty – I have pictures that I’m going to upload after this post. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside the museum area, so I don’t have any of the actual relics. But ask me for the information brochure sometime; I’ll be happy to show it off.

So after Goryokaku, we walked around for a while looking for a place called “Bookoff,” where apparently books can be exchanged for ones of similar value. It seemed like a super cool concept, so we were all excited to go. But alas, our navigation skills were somewhat compromised by the fact that we 1) had no directions and 2) could not read most of the street signs (well, Yiwen could, but that’s beside the point). We returned to the hotel, fruitless in our efforts. Ah well. As the Japanese would say, “Syoo ga nai, ne?”

Okie doke. Classes started Monday! There are six classes offered (Intermediate 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, Advanced, and High Advanced) for the different levels of proficiency – I ended up getting placed into 1B (which I’m still convinced has to be a mistake – my oral exam was really actually kind of a disaster. Don’t they see? I can’t speak this language!!) with Asaoka sensei. He’s very nice, but very intense and a little bit intimidating. I always feel really bad when I mess up in front of him. But he dresses so wonderfully! He reminds me of a cartoon character, with his bushy mustache, big glasses, and high waisted shorts. Oh well. The first two days of class were super intense, because we were supposed to be the “advanced” 2^nd year students. We covered 6 chapters of grammar and vocabulary and 12 chapters of kanji (equates to roughly… 360 characters or so?) in the first two days for our test on Wednesday. Which, by the way, was a disaster. Rusty/just plain bad Japanese + 360 kanji = a barely passing grade. Oh boy. Anyway, most of the grammar and vocab is ok, because I already learned it in first year. But the kanji is ridiculous. I had a hard time memorizing the 2-3/night we had in first year, and all of a sudden he’s asking us to do 180? What? And on top of that, the second day was my “nicchoku,” as my name came first in the alphabet. The “nicchoku” is a brief presentation in front of the class about the weather, the day’s announcements, and something about your day/life. Yeah. So all in all, the first few days could be aptly summed up as a definite struggle bus.

But on to some more awesome things! Homestay! I like my host (grand?)mother so much! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! That’s how much I like her. Ok, it wasn’t all awesome. There was the brief period of butterflies just before meeting her. HIF had all 60 of us line up in this hallway outside the little conference room where all our host families were waiting. Then they called us, one by one, and we walked in to the room full of Japanese families waving and smiling and waited for one to come claim each of us. Right before they called my name, I started kind of freaking out – what if she didn’t like me? Or expected me to be good at Japanese? Or was very strict? Or didn’t talk? But all was well! Ryuko-san (she insists that I don’t use to formality of her family name, Takasaka) is awesome! I was dreading some horrible awkwardness, especially during the car ride to her house, after reading some of the light fellowship blogs from last year, but she was really easygoing and talked to me about everything and anything (she was really into my Indian-ness, so we talked a good amount about that). She lives somewhat far away from the HIF center, so the ride was kinda long, but it wasn’t awkward at all! Yay! Anyway, she took me to Kunebetsu station, from which I take a train to Hakodate every morning, to buy a month-long unlimited pass. Not only did she basically fill out the form for me, she spotted me (I was short 2000 yen)! Anyway, when we got home that night, she made me one of the greatest meals ever – it was shrimp tempura with onion, egg, rice, and a whole bunch of other delicious stuff. HIF did an AMAZING job of setting me up with a host that suited me – we have the same exact dietary restrictions, she doesn’t smoke, and we get along really well. Over dinner, we talked a little bit about the program and the people in it. She told me a bit about other homestay kids she’s had (I think she’s been doing this for a really long time), all of whom sound really cool. I think it’s really great that she cares so much about all of them (she still stays in touch with most of them). Anyway, after dinner, she showed me the titular bed making process – my room is in traditional Japanese style (tatami floors, no bed), so I used two pads for a mattress and some sheets for cover. It’s pretty fantastic. I actually sleep much better on it than I do in my bed at school. Ah well. We were both pretty worn out from the day, so we called it an early night. Next morning, she gave me a bike that I could use to get to Kunebetsu every morning (for which I’m realllly glad – it’d be about a 40 minute walk every morning otherwise) and drove to the station slow enough for me to follow her. This was a poor idea for two main reasons: firstly, she had to drive like… just under 20 km/hr so I could keep up with her, angering other drivers behind her. Secondly, I hadn’t ridden a bike in years. You know the analogy “It’s like riding a bike! Once you learn, you never forget!”? False. I almost took down a group of 10 elementary school kids walking on the sidewalk. In my defense, it was a narrow sidewalk and the kids didn’t move aside. In their defense, there was plenty of room for me to make it by. Oh well. Somehow, I made it to the station without losing a limb (or robbing a small child of one) in time for my 7:45 train. Elliot is actually in the same town as I am, so we met on the tracks, which was a cool surprise. Anyway, it turns out that a lot of HIF students take the same train as I do. Fun times. So. Later that day was perhaps one of the single coolest experience of my life – Ryuko-san picked me up after classes that day and took me to a SHINTO SHRINE!!!! Not only did we go in, it happened to be in the middle of a ceremony by an important figure in Shintoism!!! He apparently knows Ryuko-san really well, seeing as he stopped the ceremony to find out who I was and have me introduce myself to the people who had assembled there. He then let me actually take part in the ceremony, which was pretty amazing. I don’t think there’s anything that can really compare. Like, I’ve sat in on non-Hindu religious events before (church sermons and the like), but this was completely different. I don’t know, something kept me awestruck at what I was actually taking part in. Anyway, after the ceremony was over, I helped clean the shrine a little bit, putting away some fruit, etc. But I’ve decided that Japanese people are the nicest people ever. Whenever anyone talked me and I like... responded with anything as simple as a “Wakarimasita” (I understand), they got so excited and repeatedly complimented how good my Japanese was (clearly, they’re lying. But it still is a confidence booster). Then, they made me a special meal of soba, fish tempura, and a whole bunch of delicious stuff. This only led to more wonder and amazement, as they were blown away by my ability to use chopsticks “Nihonjin-mitai” (like a Japanese person). This is… also false. But I’ll give you guys the secret – During Japanese meals, there are several dishes of food set on the table, and everyone just takes what they want. The secret to wowing them as a foreigner is: when you take food from one of the communal plates, use the other end of your chopsticks. It’s done so that you don’t touch the food other people will end up eating with the side that’s been in your mouth. When I did this, everyone gasped and started complimenting me again. But yeah, it was a good experience. It swayed me so much that I decided to switch my independent study project (I was going to do Goryokaku’s history and significance) to Shinto tradition and its survival in the modern Japan. Ok… so not much else happened on Thursday, but Friday was another great day. Ryuko-san took me to a legit Japanese sushi restaurant. This is something I had been waiting for the entirety of my stay. She refused to let me pay for my portion and ordered so much sushi for me. For those of you who love sushi (I’m basically thinking of Erin right now), YOU MUST COME HERE. The restaurant is set up in a super cool way – there is no paper menu. The sushi chefs stand in the center of a large, circular conveyor belt, which bears close to 50 plates of different kinds of sushi that they offer. The price is denoted by the color of the plate it’s on – at the restaurant we went to, striped plates were 125 yen, green-rimmed plates 130, blue-rimmed 150, purple-rimmed 200, red-rimmed 420, and full blue 500. Granted, each plate has only two pieces of sushi, but it’s still amazing. Ryuko-san ordered us an obscene amount of sushi (I ended up with 9 plates or something) and refused to let me pay for my part. But let me focus of the quality of the sushi. The salmon! Oh, the salmon. Probably the softest fish I have ever had in my life. It had this amazing natural flavor and was sooo fresh. Gah! And then we had octopus and squid, which I enjoyed a whole heck of a lot more than I thought I would (the squid was a little tough to chew, but still delicious). Shrimp, clams, tuna, and several other plates later, we left, stuffed. Oh my goodness. I love sushi. There is simply nothing that compares. You guys can have your Miyas fusion rolls and stuff, but I will take legit sushi over it any day of the week. Aksdjfkasjdhfksdj SUSHI! JAPAN! RYUKO-SAN! JAPAN! AHHH!!!