Homestay!

Yay, homestay was awesome! The day before, Eugene and I hiked to Apita mall to pick up Miyage (gift souvenir) I bought a bottle of German Wine (no kidding) and some Uiro sweets, to add to the puzzles i had already bought for the two boys. Took about 45 min each way. Apita is not worth visiting, in my opinion. Consumer maelstrom. Anyway, next morning, after preening and packing and readying, i went to the lobby to attend the meet the family ceremony. Only okasan and Hiroki were able to come. Goto-san was rushing around, being incredibly helpful, as usual. Eventually, they let us leave with our families, after pictures etc. Mother was ready at that point to take me (and Hiroki) to either Toyota-shi factory museum, or an authentic Matcha teahouse. I convinced her that i had already been to Toyotashi, (i thought i detected a note of sadness; perhaps that was what they were hoping i would choose) so we had matcha. 抹茶。　It was very close to a rock of historical importance: I believe a samurai named Hideyoshi Hashiba and another named Ieyasu Tokugawa, two of the most famous in japan, (Ieyasu was fictionalized in Shogun) fought the battle of Nagakute nearby and Ieyasu is said to have stood on this very stone. Matcha is the tea used in ceremony (Sadou 茶道） But ours was prepared away from our eyes, so i am not sure if it counts as Sadou. We also ate oManju with it. (a type of japanese sweet.) It was very educational, and the garden was beautiful.
After walking around the park like place, observing the view, etc, we arrived at the 辻本　home, where i met Father; the rest weren't home yet. And Blues the dog. (though i spent a large part of the weekend under the impression he was Bruce the dog...) ブルース　you wouldn't know it from looking either. They gave me Sees candy!! It was delicious too... I wish i could have sent it home. Maybe i can find it somewhere here. I watched a little tv while Hiroki and Father let Blues out for a while. There was some Ultraman program on. Mother had to explain what ultramen are. She was pretty surprised they weren't famous in america. I am still amazed that the Japanese can take such cheesy superhero shows so seriously. The Nagoya Dragons are/(were?) in the Japan series! Everyone has been so excited (Assai Sensei, for example), and the Tsujimotos were no exception. Best of seven; i wonder if it is over now... Eventually, Keisuke and the grandparents returned. They asked me what i wanted for dinner; i suggested that if they list some options i would choose one (with the intention that they would list things that they actually had in the house to make.) they suggested Sukiyaki, and i said that sounded good. Then they revealed that they needed to go out and buy all the stuff you need to make sukiyaki. I felt kinda guilty, but not so much as when i saw how much they bought. Good lord, they bought so much food. We went to apita for our shopping. I was pretty worried that they were going to see the wine i bought them. We came so close when they were buying booze (my birthday celebration remember) but i don't think they saw it. We bought tons of vegetables: bamboo shoot, cabbage, konnyaku, shiitake, enokitake, etc. Beef. So we ate sukiyaki, then they brought out the cake and sang to me. I was really really happy that someone remembered and celebrated for me. Then we went to the onsen. The next day, we drove to Nara. Keisuke has still not done anything with us, the poor kid; too busy. It was Tsutchan (father), Yukosan (mother), Hiroki, me, and Ojiisan. We saw the giant buddha, and the great shrine, and the temple, and the worlds oldest wooden structure. Did i mention there were tame deer? They are trained to "bow" (really it is just a head bob) to receive food from the sight-seers. It was amusing. Overall Nara was great. Except for the time when i stepped on a broad bannister next to some stairs, realized they were smooth as wax, and fell flat on my arse, in that order. ...man that hurt... Also, i saw my Buddhism teacher!!! It was shocking; despite the fact that we were touring his temple; i mean what are the odds? Didn't really get a chance to say anything other than "hi" though. He was busy. At Todaiji a japanese Kaishain (office worker) from Sharp Corp. came up to me and volunteered to be my English guide so he could "practice his english," which consisted of him reciting what he knew about the temple, (which was substancial) in a fast but not excellent english. I appreciated it, but i don't see how it improved his english since he repeats the same stuff every time and doesn't make conversation with the audience. I couldn't have gotten a word in sideways if i had wanted to. Anyway, we got back, ate dinner at a chinese restaurant (probably my first real chinese food ever) and returned home. Before i left, Hiroki and Okaasan and Tomokosan (grandma) and I had a short prayer service in front of the small buddhist shrine in their house. Hiroki is a real devout Buddhist apparently, despite being only 11. They sometimes call him Obosan (honorable monk) in jest. Then i returned home! So wonderful. Coming up next, Camping with the Rover scouts, returning to the Tsujimoto home, Halloween, Hiroshima and Himeiji, and the Seto city festival, once more with the Tsujimotos. "....Gotta get Back in Time..." (Huey Lewis and the News.)