And still more...

Friday night I went over to the Seminar Houses for our weekly cooking party. Oglivie was cooking Mexican food, as per her heritage. I met up with her on campus and we set out to find ingrediants.

Let me assure everyone, firstly, that Japan Supermarkets, have nothing but Japanese food. Now, I know some of you are saying "Well duh, it's JAPAN" but think about it. The supermarkets at home have Indian, Jewish, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Italian sections and more. True, these sections arent large, but they always make up enough of the supermarket to have an asile or half asile of "Ethnic Foods."

The second hiccup came later when we could only find taco shells and then Oglivie (who was supposed to cook for 12 people mind you) admitted that she didn't know how to brown beef. So then it became me who was leading her through the store and helping her make up a new menu on the fly to account for the lack of ingrediants.

The tacos (p.s. taco shells in Japan cost the same amount as ground beef, wtf?!) turned out good, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I then went home and collapsed. Up until now I haden't really had time to rest after Tokyo.

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Breakfast on Saturday was at 9 am. I literally got up, threw on cloths, went upstairs and ate. Which breakfast was kind of nasty. It was a traditional Japanese Breakfast. Rice (okay), Miso Soup (not bad) and a main dish. The main dish was really fatty beef, I mean like gross amounts of fat (they like fat on their meat here... ick) with Kimchi, it's spicy Korean vegtables with an odd tang to it.

Now, Ive eaten a lot of things for breakfast, but spicy and onions is not what I normally reach for. I ate as much as I could and then washed my dishes. Okasan asked me what I was going to do now, I said, go back to bed!

I slept until 1!! It felt so good.

Later in the day I went out with Oglivie and Sara to the downtown area and walked around department stores. I found the cutest pair of shorts ever that were a half inch from fitting me, I could've died. I also found out another problem I'm going to have with tights (everyone wears tights here all the time). I tried on a pair and the crotch was just above my nees and my feet were all the way in the bottom! My legs are too long! I think finding Japanese clothing may be more difficult than even I first expected.

Then that night we went to the grandmothers house for dinner as we do every Saturday. Dinner was good, but everyone eats so fast! I barely got anything, I wasn't starving or anything, but I would've liked some more.

After that I watched this crazy Japanese TV game show. It was like a game of hide-and-go-seek with Japanese idols and sports stars, in Universal studios, and the people who were it were called the "Hunters" and they looked like matrix meets terminaors. It was really amusing, and very, "only in Japan." (that's my slogan now)

When we got home Toko asked me what I was going to do, I said I didn't know. I asked her the same and she said she was going to go to the rental movie store. DVDs and CDs are really expensive in Japan, so the rental business is still a big deal here and works for both CDs and DVDs. I asked if I could come and she said sure. I think Toko and I are beginning to bond. She asked me if I ever felt lonely, and I was honest and said I did now and then. She's been with host famlies in America and in Australia, she said she understands and if I want to do something to ask her. I really appreciated it.

We ended up getting "Without a Trace" and went home and watched it late into the night.

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Today (Sunday) I slept in again. I heard my Okasan come in to do laundry in the morning and I barely remember getting up and telling her I didn't need breakfast, that I was sleepy.

I got up around 11:30, and got dressed and ready to go to the mall as Toko promised. I went upstairs and they brought back lunch for me. I apologized for sleeping so much, explaining that I was still very tired from Tokyo as I hadn't had a chance to sleep much since. They seemed to understand.

We watched two episodes of CSI:Miami, one of their favorite TV shows before getting ready to go.

The car ride was very quiet, I wanted to say something but I didn't know what. With my limited Japanese sometimes I find myself unable to start a conversation because I feel like there's nothing meaningful I haven't asked. And even if their was, I likely wouldn't understand the response given.

The mall was very cool, it's four stories tall and has all kinds of shops. We first walked around a home goods store and Okasan got glasses. Then we went down to Gap. I'm used to thinking of Gap as a fairly reasonable store, not in Japan. Everything was so expensive! 30.00$ for a cami, too lavish for me!

We then went to the grocery store (in the mall). I was originally going to cook chili, but I wanted to make cornbread to go with it and they didn't have Cornmeal. (See what I was saying about the grocery stores not having stuff?) So if anyone knows any way to make cornbread without cornmeal please let me know.

My second plan was to make baked breaded chicken and mac and cheese. Toko said she loved Mac and Cheese so I was like "Good, going with that." When we were checking out Okasan put certian things in a seperate basket. Apparentally offering to cook means I offer to buy the groceries as well.

So after a 25.00$ grocery bill (Cheese is friggin expensive here, like 3.00 for a 50g baggie of cubed chedder) we went home. I was really dissapointed to be honest. I thought when my sister offered to take me shopping we'd really go shopping... But the mall has a station right next to it, so I know how to get there on my own now from Hirakata station. So I can go back whenever.

I rested for a bit at home (when I wrote the first long blog post) and then went upstairs to cook. I made sauteed carrots, mac and cheese, and breaded chicken. I got to use their microwave as an oven and found out it works pretty good, which is a relief for future cooking and baking projects. They seemed to be very impressed to see me in the kitchen, espically so that I required no assistance other than explination on how to use their microwave or where an extra collender was.

I set the table western-style and we ate with forks and knives. Toko said she doesn't normally like chicken (She explained because she could see the animal) but that this was okay. I'm thinking it was because it was the breast fillet, which looks like any other fillet of meat. They both were saying how good everything was, and I don't think they were just being polite since they went for seconds on mac and cheese and carrots and were lamenting that there wasn't enough chicken to go for seconds.

It seemed like such simple food to me, but they loved it and were so impressed. It made me feel a bit good inside about the whole thing. Okasan kept asking me what I did to make things and kept repeating them to herself. They said I can cook anytime and I plan to, it may be a bit expensive, but cooking food I can dig into and that is comfort food makes me feel really good. Hopefully next week I can cook chili.

After dinner Toko asked to see my Japanese book. She quizzed me a bit and worked on my pronounciation. I have a hard time with Katakana words (Words that are English but then written in the Japanese syllabary. For example: Coffie = Kohee) because I know what word they're supposed to be and I just want to say it in English rather than spelling out the Katakana. Plus, it's very hard for me to say the Katakana when I think to myself that it isn't the right word.

We talked for a bit, and she said that she thinks I need to work on speaking more in Japanese. I think she's right. I've gotten a bit lazy, and nervous. It's hard always doubting your communication skills, so you fall back onto what you know and don't want to uncomftorably move beyond that.

With my new resolve I've begun a new study plan. I'm going to study for at least an hour at home (on top of studying at school) in front of the TV. The TV gives me a distraction, but the distraction is in Japanese, not like my computer which links me to the world of English. Plus, this way I get to see all the crazy TV shows.

I actually got lucky and got to see the new season of one of my favorite Japanese TV shows: Ninja Warrior. For anyone else who likes it WATCH IT! This season is great, so when it comes to G4, Do it!!

Now, I'm pretty tired, got another early day so it's futon time. I'm glad I finally caught up on everything and I'll be more regular now. Tokyo pictures/video will be up soon too, but not tonight.

Love and miss you all.