So the first thing I'll mention really doesn't have much to do with Japan itself, but while I was on the plane (still over the Pacific Ocean) I couldn't help myself:
So anyway, I spent most of my first week here getting to know my host family and their friends. Since they own a restaurant (located on the first floor of the house), people come in and out all day, so I was constantly practicing my conversation skills whether I liked it or not...
Unfortunately I'm terrible with names in the first place, and even worse with Japanese names, so I can't actually list them for you... but the second person from the left (little older guy with glasses) is around 95 years old and still quite "genki" (healthy), considering he survived the three-hour bus ride from home to the restaurant.
The two people on the far right are my Host Mother (Kazuko) and Host Father (Teruo), and I believe they're the two youngest people in this picture at 65 and 62 years old, respectively. They're super-nice people, and have apparently been hosting exchange students for at least the past 20 years. Side note: Host Father is more or less obsessed with Al Capone, but I don't know why. Side note on weird obsessions: Jewish friend's host father is apparently obsessed with Adolf Hitler and has a portrait of him on the wall. Awkward...
About a week after I arrived I went to Nagoyako (a nearby port). I had seen the giant light-up ferris wheel from a bridge near my house, and was intrigued enough to get on the subway and spend the day hanging out at said port. I spent most of my time at the aquarium but also went to the Antarctic Expedition museum, which was entirely contained inside of an orange ship called "Fuji":
Here, I learned that Antarctica's future is actually quite bright:
I also went to the Nagoya Aquarium (I can't resist a good "suizokan"), and made good friends with the eels in particular (they were very kind):
And of course there were lots of other fabulous things...
Unfortunately, that's all I can post for now... there are definitely people lurking around waiting to use this computer. I will be posting more photos as soon as I can, but for now, you can visit my flickr page to see more. Jaa ne!
