Sunday, June 12, 2011

Japan: Day 3 Pt. 1

Well, last night I was sooo tired, so I didn't write, butt, I'll write this morning :-) (P.S. I'm using one of the super cool pens with the four colors of ink in them =D). Yesterday we were both wide awake by 6:30 a.m., but we couldn't go anywhere until 1:00 p.m. because we had to wait on Eliz's Uncle Nathan to drive us to the bank to exchange currency and to get our bikes out of the locked apartment. So we went back to bed for about 2 hours :P and did a short Bible study and read (I, Jane Eyre). When we finally left, we met her friend Naoko at the bank and went to her friend Kaori's house, but her mom told us (more or less...in Japanese) that she had to stay late to study at beauty school and would be back tomorrow (today) around 4. but, since they were neighbors, we walked over to the Snows' old house and I got a tour. It's a *really* nice house. Nicer than the ones we have now, I believe :P Anyway, it was neat to see where they lived for two years.
Then, we walked back to the church where we are staying and retrieved bikes, and I learned how to ride a bike for the first time in about 11 years :) It wasn't so bad. I was a little swervy at first, but i was mostly steady by the end of our 5 minute bike to the Home-Mac (like a small Wal-Mart/Home Depot) and 5 minutes ride back (it helped that the bike was actually big enough for me, unlike Amberly's). At the HomeMac they have more pets than Wal-Mart. There were birds, frogs, fish, cats, dogs, turtles, tortoises, shrimp, crabs, and--get this--a pig. A black, furry pig--haha! And we definitely thought it was a dog from behind...anyway.
So we bought some of the 3-in-1 pens (black ink, red ink, and pencil) as well as one of the squishy-handle pencils, and got a call from Uncle Nathan inviting us to eat dinner with them. They were really excited--all nine of them. Megan is 15 and super sweet. Daniel, 17, is nice, too. Andrew is in the 8th grade--13 or 14--and he's really amusing. Yesterday he jumped out of the van to yell to a friend, haha. And the rest of the children are younger, so they're active and chatty and cute.
Uncle Nathan is very helpful, and Aunt Linda is sweet and sassy and caring. She can also make some mean curry. Man. I don't know what's in that stuff, but I put the chicken chunk on someone else's plate and ate two servings of rice and potatoes with it. Mmm.
And I also tried some dried cherries after dinner. I could have eaten the whole bag. Sweet and tart. Delicious.
And Nathan and Megan came over for probably an hour afterward to help set up the laptop and "Skype" phone so we could talk to our parents for free, which is extremely nice. Mom was in a good mood and liked the story about the pig and was impressed by my minimal understanding of the Japanese language within 24 hours :P "Hai" means "yes/okay." "Konichiwa" means "hello" or "good afternoon." "Gozaimas" is a way to make a phrase formal/polite. "Ohaio" is "good morning," and I can understand when people say "cute," but I can't remember how to say it....
Anyway, I'm going to brush my teeth and read the Bible and maybe then we'll bike over to Home-Mac or Co-op to get some groceries so we'll have more to eat than peanut butter, bread, bananas, and cereal :P

~Anna

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