I'm breaking this trip up into two posts because of how huge they are. The first part will be Saturday and Sunday, which was spent with my first and third families, and the second part will be from Monday-Wednesday, which was spent with my last family.
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All right, so I originally intended to get up at 4AM on Saturday, had my alarm set and everything, and even though it went off, it didn't go into snooze mode, or I turned it off in my grogginess, or something, I don't know, but it didn't go off again after that and I had fallen/stayed asleep until 5:20, which is, ironically, the exact time I had intended to get on the train. Sooo I jumped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed my stuff (thankfully I had packed), and was out the door. I didn't take the bike since I would be gone for so long, plus I didn't know what my baggage would be like coming home, so I walked. I ended up getting to Tokyo station around 7:15 or so, but decided to wait to board the next train for Shin-Osaka at 8 so I could get a seat.
It was VERY crowded.
You can see the Shinkansen coming in the distance.
And a closer shot of the back of the train as it was coming in.
Thanks to the line-up of the trains, I ended up being the first in line and got a cozy window seat. I was dead freaking tired but made myself stay awake so I could see the scenery. I don't exactly get to travel through Japan like this everyday and I wanted to see what the entire area looked like between Tokyo and Osaka.
I thought I would NEVER see this stupid mountain, seriously. It's about freaking time! Anyway, Mt. Fuji.
We got pretty close, or at least, closer than I expected.
About 1/3 of the way there, the woman that was sitting next to me initiated conversation when her bottled tea fell off of her tray and I picked it up for her. She was this older lady that is studying English off and on and has a daughter that studied in New Zealand for 8 years. She seemed nice but it would have been nice to just be able to relax and watch the scenery rather than have to awkwardly chat and whatnot. But whatever. She gave me her contact info and was all "Come to my house sometime!!" since she lives right by Tokyo station and I gave her my info in return. If she ever contacts me I might do something (biiiig maybe) but I'm not going to initiate anything with her. =A=; It was a little weird.
Anyway, we eventually pulled into Osaka.
I snapped this along the way. It's Osaka Dome. Looks more like a UFO or a giant metallic pie, but whatever. XD
When I got to Shin-Osaka, I took a train to Osaka station and switched trains to head to Kii station in Iwade, Wakayama. It was a very nostalgic ride. It was really weird seeing such a small track in comparison to the huge lines in Tokyo. Having come straight from Tokyo, everything suddenly felt REALLY rural, which is funny because I used to feel like certain places were really big and busy. lol XD
I eventually made it to Kii, and my first host sister, Kimi, came to pick me up. It's weird having my host sisters drive me places. My mind is like "but they're high school students D:" and does not comprehend it. @A@
Being Saturday, everyone was home, or would be home soon. When I got there, the mom was visiting the grandfather, but Hiroko and Sensei (mom's boyfriend - everyone calls him sensei since he's the juku teacher next door) were home. Kimi made us some ramen and oh my god Hiroko. XDDD Okay, so quick story - when I stayed at that house in 2004, Hiroko was pretty normal; she was into manga and hung out with her friends a lot, liked the typical kind of music and fashion, but not long after I left, she suddenly got into visual kei and lolita fashion LOL. WTF seriously. She likes Gazette and NOIZ and has a nearly-full lolita set. It was kind of mind boggling. While Kimi was making lunch, Hiroko and I were talking about Gazette and NOIZ, and which members we liked, and what concerts we had been to lately. It was especially weird because we never really talked before. At the time that I lived there, my Japanese was pretty much non-existant and Hiroko didn't ever really try to talk to me unless she had to, so actually having a common-interest conversation was just...so weird, lol. But nice. It's awesome that she's into that stuff now but wtf way to not be into that when I was living there. D:
After we ate lunch, the mom came home. She made herself something quick to eat, and I gave her the gifts I brought from Saitama - a package of seaweed rice crackers and fruit jellies, both of which are made in Saitama. Those gifts were GONE by the end of the day. xD The mom was packing those crackers away, and the jellies were shared with everyone. I was glad they liked them so much.
When everyone had eaten something, the mom wanted take a bunch of pictures, and since I never hold back on picture-taking, I wasn't about to object. So, picture taking commence!
My first host mom (Fumie) and sister (Kimi).
The mom wanted to move outside for photos, so we did. First one of me with Hiroko (left) and Kimi (right).
Then I made the mom switch places with me because I like getting family shots.
I LOVE their house to pieces. It is such a cute house. I want one like theirs. ;A;
I also really like their neighborhood. It's really cozy and cute. The neighbors have tons of kids, so it's really noisy, but otherwise I like it a lot.
After those photos, Kimi and I ran to a super market so I could buy some pads since whoops I forgot to bring mine with me, and then we went to the post office so I could get more cash. After that we went back home and chilled for a bit, or tried to chill, when out of no where a cop car pulls up. Apparently it was the cousin of the mom, and he was stopping by to say hi while on duty. O_o;; Oookay. But once this happened, my mom was all "OMG MERA COME TAKE PICTURES IN THE COP CAR :D :D" and Kimi was all "OMG FUN" so we went out to take pictures. xD
First I got in the driver's seat.
I'm watchin' you son.
Then I didn't know what else to do, so I did the cliche peace pose. Later Kimi hopped in the driver seat and I was in the passenger side, and the mom took a picture of that, but I didn't get one on my camera. It was a pretty pimp picture though.
Next I got a picture with the mom's cousin. I was hoping I would get a picture getting arrested or something, but I think they were all "Nooo we'll get in trouble" so that didn't happen. Anyway, the cousin of the mom is on the left.
After he left, the mom wanted to go grocery shopping for dinner, so me, Kimi, the mom, and Hiroko all went together to Millenia City. I've been there several times before, sometimes on my own when I was bored, so it was another nostalgic trip. They decided on shabu shabu for dinner, and the appropriate items were purchased, along with a bunch of small ice cream things since it was 10 items for 500-something yen. We headed home after that.
When dinner time rolled around, the mom called her sister over, and her sister came over with her daughter. I can't remember her name though. x.x Kimi's boyfriend came over too, as did the grandfather, which I was really happy about. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer last year, and the doctor says he probably won't make it past this year. He's lost some weight, but he's still just as alert as ever. I wouldn't have known any difference if I hadn't been told there was one. He remembered me too, which was nice. I found it interesting that I actually could understand him now, lol. O_o I never could before, and I can't understand EVERY word, I can actually talk to him without someone acting as an interpreter for me.
We all picked a task for preparing dinner, and I decided to grate the daikon. That was a workout. In pretty much no time, everything was ready to be set up.
Mmmm shabu shabu. It's been a while.
A nice group shot of everyone. Shinta (Kimi's boyfriend), Kimi, Me, the grandfather, Mom, Hiroko, and the aunt's daughter.
Shinta and Kimi. They're going to be getting married sometime next year. So crazy. @A@ They seem happy together though, so that's good.
I had actually been trying to get a good picture of the pot, but Hiroko struck a pose, so I took it, lol.
Me with the grandfather. I honestly find it surprising that it's stomach cancer and not lung cancer. He smokes a lot (still smokes).
That was pretty much that night. We spent the rest of it chatting and watching TV. The aunt, cousin, and Ojiichan went home, and the rest of us chilled watching TV and taking turns bathing. I ended up sleeping in Kimi's bed, and Kimi and Shinta slept on futons on the floor in her room. I've never slept in her room before, so that was weird, lol. I love her room though. She has a nice big window, and the colors in the room are so warm. Again, I want that house!
The next day we all got up around 9-something, just on our own. We ate a light breakfast of toast and apple slices with some coffee since we were going to be eating lunch soon. Hiroko had planned to go to America Mura in Shinsaibashi (a.k.a. the Harajuku of Osaka) with some of her friends, and since it was Sunday, she dressed up in her lolita getup. My brain exploded seeing Hiroko in lolita. I'm still wtf-ing about it.
Had to take a picture. And of course Kimi had to get in the shot in the background. XD
I packed as everyone else got dressed and stuff. When I had free time, I decided to take some pictures of the downstairs area, because, for the third time, I love that house. ;A;
The dining area where we all ate dinner and breakfast.
A shot of the living room. They have two sliding doors, so this area gets SO much light. I love it.
Soon we headed out to eat lunch, though it was just me, Kimi, her boyfriend, and the mom since Hiroko went out and Sensei never does anything with us. We went to a tempura/sashimi place. It was kind of expensive. x.x I felt bad. But it was tasty. I wanted to get pictures, but forgot to take them. xD;;; So no pictures of that unfortunately. After we ate, we headed toward the station.
They dropped me off there and Kimi went with me up to the ticket area to be there until I had to run off to the train. We said our goodbyes, hugged, and I was off to Wakayama City.
Sunday
Since Wakayama station is only 3 stops away, I arrived there quickly afterward. I met up with Erina near the entrance, and we went through the department store inside the station because she needed to buy a swimsuit for some event. After that, we took some purikura.
Mama works at a kimono shop in the same building, and she wanted to dress me up in kimono, so we went to her shop. When we got there, there was actually a customer there and she couldn't dress me up yet, so we had to dawdle for an hour or so. To kill time, Erina and I went to a nearby McDonald's and got snacks. From there we went back into the station to window shop. We looked at some books, then went to some fashion shops. When an hour had passed, we went back to the shop and we were good to go. Mama had me pick out my kimono and obi, and oh my god, the obi I saw was sooooooooooooooooooooooo pretty. It had all these pastel colors and it was shiney and soooo gorgeous. The kimono I picked out before would work with it so I was excited. Man, if I was rich and was planning to buy a kimono, this would be the perfect set. Even if I had the money to buy ANY kimono and obi in the shop, I would still have wanted these. These pictures really can't do it all justice.
lol I love the slip-on tabi sock thingies. XD They were just like half-slippers that you stuck you feet in. Also, you can kind of see Mama in the mirror.
Seriously though, this kimono was so gorgeous. I was sad to take it off.
Since Mama still had work, Erina took me to her grandma's house, who lives on a bay.
We went through all these narrow paths to get to her house. It was kind of cool.
When we got to her house, we chilled watching the news and drank some grape soda, lol. We weren't there long. We ended up taking the grandmother with us to I think Erina's aunt's house? The grandma and the aunt's daughter, Wakana, were going to eat dinner with us, so we went to their house to wait until Wakana got home. I am super lame and didn't take any pictures of the house itself or the family, but I took a couple of pictures of the dog with my phone, LOL.
This dog was so cute. Her name is Hana.
When I got my camera batteries to cooperate for a few more minutes, I took some pictures of the view from the house. She has a really nice place location-wise, seriously. What a nice view.
When Wakana arrived, we (me, Erina, Wakana, and the grandma) headed first to Erina's apartment to park the car, then walked to the okonomiyaki restaurant they had planned to eat at. It wasn't a far walk.
Wakana and Mama. I usually call her "Okuno-mama" but apparently they recently went back to her maiden name, Nakanishi, and that's really really weird to me to say, so I just call her "Mama" now, lol. Wakana...I met her one time back in 2004, and she was much smaller. I think she was 9 then, so she's 13 now. So crazy.
This girl was seriously packing away the food. They ordered SO MUCH. We each had our own okonomiyakis, and they ordered kimchi yakisoba, some weird chicken gristle that was fried, an omelet thing that had octopus inside (it was good though, the sauce made it bleh), two side salads, a side of corn (wtf lol), and I think that's it food-wise, but we all got the drink specials where you get unlimited fountain drinks, smoothies, coffee, and soft cream, so we all had like, 3 coke or melon soda floats, coffee, smoothies, oh my god. XD Wakana seriously ate 3 or 4 cones of the soft cream along with all of her food. She even helped me with my okonomiyaki because I couldn't even finish mine. I don't know how everyone else did. I gained 5 pounds after eating that meal, sadly, not even exaggerating. I weighed myself at my next family's house, lol. >_>;;; Luckily I've gone back down, but still, man.
My okonomiyaki.
My okonomiyaki with Wakana's in the shot. I had just pork in mine. She had natto and green onion okonomiyaki, eewwww go home.
The one shot I got of the grandma, plus Erina.
Then Erina and I.
We all ate until we were pretty much on the verge of puking, and attempted to power-walk home, but since the walk was short it was pretty pointless. XD
Uhh, when we got home, we all chatted for a little bit before mama took Wakana and the grandmother home.
lol xD Wakana with Erina's new bathing suit.
The brother, Masaya, was at home with some friends over, and when we got home, they all left. I had gotten to see Masaya for a moment earlier when I had dropped my stuff off, but I could NOT get over how much he has grown. He used to be this quiet little middle school boy that was fairly otaku and stayed in his room playing games and reading manga. And while he still does that (though perhaps with more interests and a little more social with his friends), he's now taller than even Erina, and he is all manly and stuff. He looks like he's 25 or something. If there's one thing that I couldn't comprehend over the trip, it would be him.
I really wish I had an older picture for comparison. He looks soooo different. Maybe if he wasn't wearing contacts it wouldn't seem so adult-like, but man. Erina is adorable though. xD
We couldn't be up long since Erina had work in the morning and had to wake up at 5AM. @_@ We looked around at a few things on the Internet (she still has her boyfriend's laptop there, lol. She normally doesn't have a computer) before taking turns taking a bath. Erina and Mama always take a bath together, so I went before them, and dried my hair while they went in. Masaya had taken his first, but he was still up when I got out. He always seems so shy or acts like he doesn't have any interest in being around the three of us, but he'll have his moments where he seems to poke his head in for a bit and it makes me lol. This time, he came out of his room while I was drying my hair to go to the bathroom or get a drink, I forget which, but instead of walking back to his room without a word like he would usually do, he stopped to tell me "goodnight!" before going back in. xDD
I waited until Erina and Mama got out of the bath before going to bed myself. I slept in Erina's bed, which, again, was a first. Last time I slept on a HEAVENLY futon on the floor next to her bed. She slept in Mama's room. I went to sleepy land and since I had asked Erina to wake me up before she left so I could say bye, she popped in in the wee hours of the morning and I said bye. Then I went right back to bed, lol.
When I woke up for realz, I ate a healthy breakfast of Mister Donuts (again, not counting my calories, plus I hadn't eaten Mister Donuts in years so it was awesome) and then got dressed. I took a couple of pictures with Masaya and Mama before we headed out since I didn't think I'd Masaya was going to be leaving and I figured I wouldn't have the chance after we left anyway.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat is that nonsense, seriously. Put your glasses on and go back to being a skinny little nerd.
OMG I love her so much. ;~~~~~~~~~; She is so cute and kind and really mommy-like. She was the one that initiated the hug for that picture, which, if you know anything about the people here, that's usually really weird and uncomfortable and they don't like to do that, so that should say something. Despite how she's working a fairly low-paying job, raising two kids on her own, and not being able to afford more than a small apartment, she is always offering to do things. She felt bad for me back in 2004 with the previous family and took me into her home, even if it was for a short time, then she helped Erina to come see me in America, after that they both sent me that HUGE package of Jagariko, then what, she let me stay with them and paid for that huge feast of a dinner the night before? And she's planning to bring Erina and Masaya to Tokyo just to spend a weekend with me in July, the only weekend I have an extra day off. And then we're going to try to go to a theme park while staying at a fricken ryoukan for one night and a normal hotel for another, just to give me that experience. They do so much for me. She even gave me a cute pink yukata that she said no one was using, and gave me a cute pale yellow dress-like top for the same reason. And all on top of that, she's always there when I need advice and gives me her honest opinion, none of that half-hearted obligatory answering, she's very sincere about it and thus she's very mommy-like. Sorry to turn this into a mini-rant about her, but I can't express how much I love this family, and how grateful I am to know them.
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh
We walked to the station, and actually Masaya had gone with us. I was really surprised since he usually just stays home. But he went along just to see me off, so that made me really happy. When we got to the station, Mama friggen paid for my ticket all the way to the station where my school is, which isn't like a bloody fortune or anything, but it was 830 yen and it was my trip, so there was no reason for it at all. But she would not let me pay for it. She is really too nice. D: She made me cry, lol. I love her to pieces. I had to say my goodbyes since my train was going to be leaving soon, so I gave them both hugs and I was off, and Mama was off to work. I'm guessing Masaya just went back home since he had nothing to do.
To be continued.
