Catch Up

Sept 4
Went to Kyoto in the afternoon with the roomies and 3 Japanese girls the university assigned. The train system is so easy and no one ended up in Queens! Anyway, Miho, Miho and Mina were all great as well as slightly crazy. They wanted to learn curse words at one point and I ended up teaching them the Portuguese swear word poha, to which they were yelling as we waited in line. They now associate Pedro with the word as he cracks up laughing as they keep saying poha which means cum. Used for our equivalent of damn. Went to visit a temple/shrine where I got to feel all buddhisty but not by much. Supposedly I have bad luck from my fortune and might end up with a kid before the year is out. Good thing this bad luck only lasts till the end of 09'. On our way down from the shrine that's way up on a hill, got some truly delicious green tea icecream. We then got some ramen before leaving, wonderfully delicious. Took the train back then the bus. Went to bed. Meet the host family on sunday and Hirakata Park today supposedly.

Sept 5
So karaoke is wonderful especially in Japan with friends and strangers. So we went out to a karaoke bar where you pay 1,000 yen or $10 for an hour of karaoke and unlimited drinks. Needless to say it becomes an entertaining experience from the start. Though the high point of the evening was when two random Japanese men joined our party and started drinking, singing and dancing with us. I had the honor of singing Hero by Mariah Carrie with on of the guys. So almost all my roommates were wasted and had thrown up at least once that night. I managed to hold my own with my own toxic alcoholic brime swirling about in my stomach, a combination of plum wine, tequila, rum, coke and sake. The night ended with drinking beers in the park and one of the roommates passed out on the toliet naked. A sight I wish to forget.

Sept 6
Met my host family today! Was nervous as hell of what they would be like, but they turned out to be fine. My host family consists of Nishino-san, Mariko-san and Hina-chan. They are pretty lively bunch, though Mariko-san keeps refering to them as a weird bunch. Mariko-san, the mother, does kendo, plays the violin / piano and has a huge geeky obsession for Samurai films and Firefly. To which I must have made a mark on her as I listed all the great samurai films I have seen, to which she would pull from her shelf and show me. I litterally named a little less than 3/4 of her samurai films. She has been teaching me Kansai-ben (Kansai-dialect) along with normal Japanese as I help her with her pronounciation. Hina-chan is their daughter who is this cute 11 year old kid that plays the french horn and violin. And whose brass band placed 2nd in all of Japan. She was teaching me some Japanese before dinner as she would point something out and give me the Japanese. Nishino-san gives that presentation of a stern quiet Japanese man most the time off in his own world not to be bothered, but he happens to be a funny guy around the dinner table. On that note, they watch tv when they eat and their house seems to be more modern/Western influenced. Which isn't bad, kinda wished I got a bit more traditional, but it still allows an insight into the Japanese family.

Oh funny note, I am not allowed to have members of the opposite sex sleep over. But same-sex sleep overs are fine. So it as my speaking partner says, "No one is gay/lesbian in Japan."