you know how they say bad things come in threes?...
Sooo... it has been quite an eventful few days, and most of it has not been good.
Saturday. Thinking that my host mother isn't coming to the family introductions, I don't go, I go to work instead. My host mother goes and is pissed because I'm not there. Someone informs my host mother that I'm not doing the field placement program. This ticks off my host mother more, because 1) I was being lazy, and 2) she thinks I lied about it. I do not want to do field placement because I have school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, work on Saturday mornings, and if I do kyudo again, that would take up Tuesday and Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. I want a day to regroup and do homework. I did not consider my decision to be such a big deal, so when it finally became finalized I didn't think about saying anything about it. Hence the lying part, which is a really big deal here. She tells me she was angry, that I told a lie, if she were my mother she would have hit me, that I shouldn't be lazy and studying at home on Wednesday was "dame." I hate the fact that I can't really tell when she's angry. Her face never changes, and nor does her voice. Little things give it away but I can never quite be sure.
So, great. My host family is ticked with me.
The next day was Easter. One of two days a year I must go to Mass. Finally find the address of a Catholic church. Set out two hours early to give myself time to get lost, as I surely will. I have a map but Japan doesn't use street signs, so I doubt it will help. It doesn't. I end up walking the distance between train stations, in my dress heels, no less, on the directions of people I ask on the street. Finally someone tells me about a bus that will take me very close to where I need to be. So I wait on the bus, take the bus, and walk the little ways to the tiny church. I'm almost 45 minutes late. I missed the readings and the Gospel but not Communion, and I end up sticking around a little longer after that. I head home with plenty of time, but thanks to the damn Musashino line I'm stuck at Nishi Funabashi for twenty minutes and end up having to call home and say I'm going to be late.
I do present my family with Easter candy that I've brought from home, though, and this goes over well. My host mother apparently likes Peeps and Laffy Taffy and Yuuichirou likes Cadbury eggs and Nerds, Bottlecaps, and Runts.
So that's good.
Monday. Guidance #2 and first day of class. I am late to the guidance because I fall on the slippery stairs outside the station and so have to waste time getting up again and dealing with the bloody mess on my ankle. I am not the only one who falls there today, though, so I am not so embarrassed. But I miss the train and so am late getting to Kanda. Of course the guidance is held in the building on the other side of campus, so I start off at a run and finally make it, when my umbrella goes berserk and won't close so I'm stuck outside until Hirose sensei shows up and takes over the umbrella so I can go listen to crap I've already heard.
I make it into level 4 Japanese. One thing that goes right.
My teacher is nice enough, but she seems like she is capable of being not-so-nice. Class proceeds without much of an incident. Homework is to memorize 25 new kanji combonations for the quiz tomorrow. Wonderful.
At IES I talk to Kudo-san and explain my host family mess before going home.
Tuesday. I wake up with a migraine, but take some medicine and head out. I nearly get sick in the station. I get stuck on the escalator behind a bunch of chatty old women in kimono who are insisting on standing in the walking lane. I make it to the platform right as the doors to the train close. The next train doesn't come for 20 minutes. I hate the Musashino line. I make it to class 25 minutes late. The teacher is not happy, apparently, as she glares when I come in. I miss the kanji quiz. We have a performance activity, an interview. I am not pleased because they are being taped. I struggle through it anyway, hoping not to make a fool out of myself. I think I succeed. I take the kanji quiz during a class break and score 20/22, yay, go me. One thing that goes right to make up for the three bad things. My headache eases up a little and I participate in the giving directions activity in class, and am able to describe a walking overpass in Japanese. We are assigned a 600-character report due on Thursday. Fantastic. Finally we are let out of class.
My host family does not seem too irritated with me anymore. Maybe Kudo-san talked to them. I don't know, but I am not going to question it. I will just have to walk the line for a while, no more messups.
Of course, that leads me to today, when I wake up at 10:30 because I have forgotten to set my alarm. Oops. I doubt that makes my host mother very happy. And I have a headache again. When I finally make it out of my room, I think I look yicky enough so that no one says anything, and end up sharing a pop tart with my host parents since they've never seen them before. They leave and seem to be in a good mood and not mad at me. Yay.
I leave too, intent on going to IES and then on the tour to Tokyo Tower until I find out that there aren't enough people to go to Tokyo Tower so I stay at IES because I've already been to Odaiba and Asakusa and the Imperial Palace.
Which is why I am sitting here. I think this is the part where things start looking up.
Saturday. Thinking that my host mother isn't coming to the family introductions, I don't go, I go to work instead. My host mother goes and is pissed because I'm not there. Someone informs my host mother that I'm not doing the field placement program. This ticks off my host mother more, because 1) I was being lazy, and 2) she thinks I lied about it. I do not want to do field placement because I have school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, work on Saturday mornings, and if I do kyudo again, that would take up Tuesday and Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. I want a day to regroup and do homework. I did not consider my decision to be such a big deal, so when it finally became finalized I didn't think about saying anything about it. Hence the lying part, which is a really big deal here. She tells me she was angry, that I told a lie, if she were my mother she would have hit me, that I shouldn't be lazy and studying at home on Wednesday was "dame." I hate the fact that I can't really tell when she's angry. Her face never changes, and nor does her voice. Little things give it away but I can never quite be sure.
So, great. My host family is ticked with me.
The next day was Easter. One of two days a year I must go to Mass. Finally find the address of a Catholic church. Set out two hours early to give myself time to get lost, as I surely will. I have a map but Japan doesn't use street signs, so I doubt it will help. It doesn't. I end up walking the distance between train stations, in my dress heels, no less, on the directions of people I ask on the street. Finally someone tells me about a bus that will take me very close to where I need to be. So I wait on the bus, take the bus, and walk the little ways to the tiny church. I'm almost 45 minutes late. I missed the readings and the Gospel but not Communion, and I end up sticking around a little longer after that. I head home with plenty of time, but thanks to the damn Musashino line I'm stuck at Nishi Funabashi for twenty minutes and end up having to call home and say I'm going to be late.
I do present my family with Easter candy that I've brought from home, though, and this goes over well. My host mother apparently likes Peeps and Laffy Taffy and Yuuichirou likes Cadbury eggs and Nerds, Bottlecaps, and Runts.
So that's good.
Monday. Guidance #2 and first day of class. I am late to the guidance because I fall on the slippery stairs outside the station and so have to waste time getting up again and dealing with the bloody mess on my ankle. I am not the only one who falls there today, though, so I am not so embarrassed. But I miss the train and so am late getting to Kanda. Of course the guidance is held in the building on the other side of campus, so I start off at a run and finally make it, when my umbrella goes berserk and won't close so I'm stuck outside until Hirose sensei shows up and takes over the umbrella so I can go listen to crap I've already heard.
I make it into level 4 Japanese. One thing that goes right.
My teacher is nice enough, but she seems like she is capable of being not-so-nice. Class proceeds without much of an incident. Homework is to memorize 25 new kanji combonations for the quiz tomorrow. Wonderful.
At IES I talk to Kudo-san and explain my host family mess before going home.
Tuesday. I wake up with a migraine, but take some medicine and head out. I nearly get sick in the station. I get stuck on the escalator behind a bunch of chatty old women in kimono who are insisting on standing in the walking lane. I make it to the platform right as the doors to the train close. The next train doesn't come for 20 minutes. I hate the Musashino line. I make it to class 25 minutes late. The teacher is not happy, apparently, as she glares when I come in. I miss the kanji quiz. We have a performance activity, an interview. I am not pleased because they are being taped. I struggle through it anyway, hoping not to make a fool out of myself. I think I succeed. I take the kanji quiz during a class break and score 20/22, yay, go me. One thing that goes right to make up for the three bad things. My headache eases up a little and I participate in the giving directions activity in class, and am able to describe a walking overpass in Japanese. We are assigned a 600-character report due on Thursday. Fantastic. Finally we are let out of class.
My host family does not seem too irritated with me anymore. Maybe Kudo-san talked to them. I don't know, but I am not going to question it. I will just have to walk the line for a while, no more messups.
Of course, that leads me to today, when I wake up at 10:30 because I have forgotten to set my alarm. Oops. I doubt that makes my host mother very happy. And I have a headache again. When I finally make it out of my room, I think I look yicky enough so that no one says anything, and end up sharing a pop tart with my host parents since they've never seen them before. They leave and seem to be in a good mood and not mad at me. Yay.
I leave too, intent on going to IES and then on the tour to Tokyo Tower until I find out that there aren't enough people to go to Tokyo Tower so I stay at IES because I've already been to Odaiba and Asakusa and the Imperial Palace.
Which is why I am sitting here. I think this is the part where things start looking up.