Kobe

I’m 20!!!!!!!!!!! And I’m in Japan!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an amazing way to mark 2 decades! I started off the day by opening all my cards I had brought with me and reading the emails I got for my birthday. Thank you everyone for your notes, I really appreciated them! I put up my happy birthday banner on my wall along with my Pittsburgh bumper sticker, and I think I’m going to wear my new earrings to dinner tonight with my family.

"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." -- Mark Twain

For my time in Kobe, I signed up to do a homestay with Osaka University students. I’m sooo glad I did! The students were amazing! We had so much fun talking to them, and explaining different English idioms and foreign concepts. For their part, they taught us a bunch of Japanese words, and showed us all around Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto!

We visited Osaka Castle, the Tokagawa Castle, and a beautiful golden shrine. We also ate a ton of Japanese food, like Ramen noodles!, and rode a million subways, railways, and buses all over Japan. It was great, except for the part where we were sweating through our clothes. It was soooooo hot and humid!

Last night, we had a party thrown for us at Osaka University. The students, faculty, and our homestay parents game to celebrate with us. It was so much fun, after the speeches and food, We all got to try on beautiful kimonos and Naoyuki played some music for us. Then we went home with our families. Michaela and I were assigned to Yamomoto san, a really nice old lady who spoke almost no English. We told her that was ok, because we spoke almost no Japanese! :) Raymond, one of the Osaka students helped us by translating at the party, but we were a little concerned about going home with her, luckily, her daughter was there as well who spoke a little English. Yamomoto san was soooo sweet. She taught us Japanese calligraphy, so now we each can write our names and America in Japanese! Then, after a traditional sweets and tea, we went to bed. They had set up mats for us in their guesthouse, and it was really really nice!

Japanese houses are very interesting. Like most people know, you take off your shoes before entering a house. That was no big deal, we were prepared for that. The toilets though are housed in a completely separate room from the rest of the bathroom equipment, and you have to wear special slippers when going into it. Also, the Japanese expect you to shower, and then take a bath. Everyone uses the same bath water, going from oldest to youngest, unless you’re the honored guest, then you get to go first. Now, since Michaela and I were in the guesthouse, the Yamomotos didn’t have as much oversight over our bathroom habits as in other homestays, so we skipped the bath. Showers were so amazing though after such a hot sticky day!

The second day was much of the same as the first, with lots of travel. It was so great to hang out with the Osaka University students. I wish we could have stayed longer. All of the guys and girls that accompanied us were so nice and we had so much fun talking to them and learning with them. I now can count to 5 (kind of) in Japanese! But don’t ask me to do it, because I’ll probably forget before I get home! When we got onto the boat, they all stayed to wave to us from the port while we were on the deck. I was really touched and I hope they’ll all look me up when they come to the U.S. next!

I’ll say one thing though; you become very close friends of the people you travel with like this. It’s crazy the way it works like that, but sharing experiences like this with even complete strangers will bring you together like no other experience. I’m so glad I made the friends I did these last few days!

And now on to China!!!!!