home Shiga home

My host family for my homestay is wonderful. I was worried because the sheet said I was getting just a man and two kids, but instead it is a woman and her two children. Her husband is on a business trip in Hiroshima. When they met me at the train station, I was very excited. The woman, Yukiko, speaks wonderful English—she rarely has any problem understanding me at all.

I couldn’t find wrapping paper this morning so I wrapped my present in the kanji for beauty that I had painted in shodo (calligraphy) class. It was a poor excuse for wrapping paper, but luckily it ended up being okay. The daughter’s name is Mika and the “mi” is drawn using the kanji for beauty. I am glad it worked out well. The family name is Harima. The mother is very interested in tea ceremony and is very dedicated to living at home with her children. The children are Mika, 9, who has dimples in her cheeks whenever she smiles and a curiosity for life that is reflected in her shining eyes. She tends to trail behind when we walk together. The boy’s name is Keta. He always has his nose in a book, even when walking down the street; he tends to walk ahead, wandering on his own. He is twelve. The two children have a hobby of reading. All afternoon we have been reading together. Mika has probably read from four or five books. Keta has been reading the same one for most of the afternoon.

When I first met my family, we walked to their home, a beautiful house that Yukiko says is 20 years old, but that her family has lived in for 2 years. As we were walking home from the station, we stopped to buy vegetables and supplies for my visit. When we got home, she had already prepared a pork stew from scratch, which was amazing, and we ate some salmon sashimi and rice. After the meal, which may have been the best I’ve had since coming to Japan, she made me Chai tea because I said it was my favorite and then I played card games with the children. Although we speak different languages, a lot of the games we played were games I had played back at home, though I learned a couple new ones.

When we were done, all four of us walked to the nearby library—the largest in the Shiga prefecture. On the walk, I realized that although the houses here are still close together, it is much more in the country than Kyoto. There were fields and ponds, areas of landscape, and sprawling gardens. There was no hurry in getting anywhere here in Shiga. The paths are slightly winding, and the highway is the only reminder of how close we still are to Kyoto—only 8 minutes by train. The streets are lined with flowers famous for blooming in the winter, a very pretty dark pink. As we walked, one side opened up to a place with twisting gravel walkways, metal sculptures, and a small building. I wondered to myself if this was someone’s home.

We got to the area where the library is, and I found out that it was a part of a complex—a very beautiful place that mixes a pond filled with koi, surrounded by mossy gardens, with a library and museum. The pond was very beautiful and that was a waterfall that reminded me of how beautiful it is to sit up at the gorge at Shiloh. I would have sat outside forever, but it was snowing and cold. We headed towards the library, but on our way, we stopped at a teahouse that does traditional Japanese tea ceremony. We started out eating sweets, and then got the bitter green tea. I am glad that I’ve had my first tea ceremony. It was very enjoyable and I hope that I will learn more about it in my time here in Japan.

After drinking the tea, we went up to the library where the children quickly ran to the children’s section. I followed. I “read” several books that had very few words and lots of pictures. I then when to study. While studying, the green tea kick hit me and I felt 100% better than I had been feeling. We got a ride home from my homestay mother’s friend.

Since we have been home, I have been writing in my journal and talking to my homestay mother about learning new languages. We talked about the differences in English and Japanese and wrote notes to each other about what we were discussing. IT was very interesting. She has now started preparing dinner and we have made some plans for tomorrow, but I think we are all a little tired. I am going to read about Japanese literature, but I am sure I will have more to write soon.

Music equivalent of the day: Playing cards with Japanese children
Meditation/ inspiration/ thought of the day: the garden at Shiga, which I want to visit again.
What I learned: All about living with a Japanese family.
Priority: do as much work as possible and sleep well.