April 5th—Way Down South
As I write this, I’m on the train going to Miyazaki. I’ve been on this train, from Kokura (northern Kyushu) for about 2 hours and I’ve got about another 2.5 to go….dag yo. This train is old. I’d say it dates from the 60s or 70s. It rattles and creaks and there are no English signs or English announcements. It’s still a tokkyu express though and it’s my way to Miyazaki. I should probably be more nervous than I am about this whole thing. Then again, what is there to be nervous about? Whatever happens happens and in the end, everything will be fine! The scenery is nice along here. We’ve spent a good part of the time going along the coast (we’re actually in a tunnel right now) and the water is turquoise or light green…very pretty. There are also a lot of mountains…well…tall hills in this area, and the land is heavily wooded. I wonder what Miyazaki will be like. I’m sure it will have many things in common with every other Japanese city: pachinko parlors, restaurants, gift shops, convenient stores, etc etc, but maybe it will be nice. I’m hoping it will be nice because I have to spend the next four months there! Well, I just don’t want it to be exceptionally boring or ugly…but…what exactly am I asking for or do I expect to be there? It’s not a small city…300,000 about, but that doesn’t mean that there will be anything to do there. I guess I’ll just have to see what it’s like when I get there. And my host family! What will they be like? All I know is what was written on that host family application paper. Well, I guess they’ll be nice…I dono…maybe not. The only person I’ve communicated with is my host father. What about my host mother, brother, and sister? What will they be like? Some pictures were sent to my house from them, but they arrived after I left and my mother neglected to scan them and e-mail the pictures to me like I asked her to…I guess she doesn’t love me, so now I have to be in a state of ignorance for another 2.5 hours until I see them. For some reason, since they lived in the US for a while (Houston, Texas…1996-2000) I imagine them as being more arrogant and sophisticated than the average Japanese. Maybe I imagine that’s what living in America…seeing the outside world and being away from polite, conservative Japan for so long might do to them. Well, maybe they wouldn’t have been that affected by it. I don’t know…they must be different from ordinary Japanese if they lived in the US for 4 years, and are willing to have a nutty American (yours truly) living in their home for four months. There’s nothing I can do about any of this though. I just have to wait another few hours and then I can find out. An odd though just struck me. I’ve wanted to do this (living with a host family for a while and go to school in Japan) for the past 18 months. And now, after all that waiting, and after all that work and toil to get here, I’m finally only a few hours away from actually starting that dream. It seems that I’ve been in Japan for a month already (it’s been 10 full days in reality), and I haven’t even BEGUN the main thrust of my reason for being hear. It’s pretty nutty. Well, I’m just blabbering now. So, I’m going to go read a book or something and I can finish this entry maybe tonight after I get settled in and figure out what is going on I have some time to myself.
Ok, it’s now 1am, and I’m in my room in my new home! This is exciting. I’m going to try and be quit about it though because it’s pretty chilly in here and I want to get into my little bed and go to sleep. Well, I’ll give you the short version of it. Exactly on time, I arrived safely, as planned, at Miyazaki station. I wasn’t sure exactly where I would meet my host family, so I just went with the crowd. As I neared the ticket collection booth, I saw a man in his 40s and a young boy wave to me. So, I figured that was Dad and Ryoichi. My suspicions were correct! Anyway, we drove back to the house and along the way we talked about Miyazaki a little, the Ocean Dome (which we passed on the train and I was in a frenzy of excitement), my interests, school, food…things like that. When we got home I met Eri (host sister) and mom. They are all very nice and we’re getting along well already. After I brought my bags upstairs, I tried on my school uniform. It was pretty exciting and I was nervous because I feared that it wouldn’t fit correctly. My fears were confirmed when I tried to button the pants and they were a bit snug. That’s what happens from eating too much food in Japan and not getting any exercise. I wonder how the Japanese do it…there are so few fat people in Japan compared to people in America…I really don’t know. I guess my body just hates me! Well, I’m going to try and be more reasonable with what I eat and hopefully I can lose a few of these unneeded pounds and I’ll have more energy and my clothes will fit better! Anyway, the uniform fit all right, it wasn’t really bad. I like the way I look in it. It’s exciting. You can see a picture of me on this website (if I’ve put it up yet)! Anyway, it should be nice never having to worry about what I’ll wear to school. This will make my school fashion very easy. Moreover…ummm…I don’t know what I was going to say. But one drawback is that I think it’s going to get very hot in that uniform when it starts to get hot…and…oh boy…will it every get hot! I wonder when they will switch over to the summer uniform (no jacket and a short sleeved shirt instead of a long sleeved one). Anyhoo, after that and a little bit more hanging around we all had dinner together and that was nice. I’m getting along just fine and things seem to be going quite well. We watched TV for a while and I was able to follow along to the extent that I also found the program entertaining and amusing (when I understood the joke). Then we watched Beauty and the Beast (dubbed in Japanese). I was only half watching. I can’t remember what I was doing instead…hmmm…I may have been looking at my exchange student handbook. Speaking of the handbook, I showed it to my host mother and asked her a bunch of questions out of the back like I was supposed to and I got some questions answered. We’re going to go over things again though when my host father is around (he had gone to bed already). Tomorrow I think we’re going to get my Foreigner Registration Card thing done. I plan on getting a cell phone, and I can’t do that unless I’m registered (so they can keep an eye on me I suppose). On Monday, I’m going to the school to meet the principal of the school. Maybe I’ll be shown around too or something like that. And school starts on Tuesday! Nutty stuff! Well, anyway, the next four months should be fun, exciting, embarrassing, confusing, enlightening, degrading, uplifting, and everything else, so you’ll be sure to hear about it.
-Maikeru