Just when you thought you were comfortable....

Alright. So pretty much changing host families is always weird and a little bit awkward. I mean, mostly I've learned to ignore that part and just sort of go with whatever, but sometimes...I just don't know. haha. You start getting used to a certain life style and boom, you're somewhere else. The rules always change! Some families are more traditional in a certain way, and the next with throw their own version of western culture into your life.

Sannohe. This little town is freezing. It's 10.5c below. I finally feel like wearing a coat. I don't usually get cold, but it's ridiculous. I had to walk to and from the train station with my last host family, but it was only 20-30 minutes without snow. With my new host family it's an hour (if not more) with snow. I'm afraid of frost bite. I mean, I'm sure it'd have to bee a lot colder, but it takes about the whole night + a bath to thaw them out. baths are painful when you're this cold. As for heating....well we are all relying on the fireplace. Which doesn't really help at all.  By morning I can see my breath. Most other families have individual heaters in their rooms, but here we are eco friendly (more so than the rest...I guess). I just kinda wonder how they think masks will save them from getting sick when we are sleeping in negative temperatures. Who knows. :P

This current family lived in Holland for three years, so they do have some idea of western culture. however, when they think they have an idea about our culture, it's somehow morphed into something...well completely not like ours. It's just the way we think; our entire mind set. So I'm probably interrupting their culture wrong too, it's just how it looks from me perspective. I'm just saying....like if we have a sandwich for lunch it's like...hamburger, spaghetti, shrimp, mayo, and cabbage. We eat cabbage instead of lettuce. It's crazy. Weird. I miss lettuce. Haha. No, somehow it works, but it's just strange. Because my host mom actually thinks we eat like that....now I wonder what a sandwich in Holland looks like.

I'm memorizing a dictionary. It's....well something to do. It seems like I should be further along by now, but Japanese is hard!!!

I'm going skiing hopefully this week. And my family is taking me to do kimono pictures. I'm excited. :) Should be fun. I've been super tired, but in a great mood because I'm drinking green tea all the time. my host sister is on a diet or something, so everyone has to drink it too!

I have more to write, but it's time to go! Haha.

It's a family thing...

So it seems like you can count on the following things in any country:

1. Someone is always making the little kids scream.
2. All the adults are yelling shut up, but no one listens.
3. There is always a "kids" table and an "adults" table. (The 17-21 year olds will go back and forth.)
4. An elderly person always makes a dish no one really wants to eat. Except the adults...kind of. :P
5. Before a family get-together, mom will run around yelling at everyone to clean. Breakdown.
6. The children will whine while doing a half-a**ed job.
7. Everything turns out fine anyway. No one notices the dirty parts.
8. You always eat too much!
9. That pile of dishes....you know the one.
10. Everyone falls into food coma.

I had such a long list. Haha. But getting together with families is a lot of fun here. Mostly because the adults always drink and they are really funny. We play card games until we have played all of them at least 5 times. :) I miss everyone, but I am really enjoying my time here.


Sara <3s