Emily and Hostfamily |
Emily wears Yukata |
By Emily
Hi Everyone! This is Emily. Last night I met my host parent's children and 4 grand daughters. They are ages 6, 7, 11, and 14. We played cards for a long time. I taught them slap jack and they taught me a few other games. We also played Uno for a long time.
My host family's house is very small. In the bathroom, it is just the toilet in one room and sink and bath next door. In the toilet room, if you are sitting on the toilet, you can reach out your arms and legs and touch all four walls at one time, it's that small. It's pretty much a closet with a toilet inside. But the house is very clean and very cute. All of the houses have pretty gardens outside, too..
For dinner, my host mom made a lot of Japanese food. She made tempura shrimp and sweet potatoes, carrots, and something else that I didn't eat. She also made sukiyaki - beef, noodles, and tofu. The food was in a pot in the middle of the table. You would take it, dip it in raw egg, and then eat it with rice. She also made miso soup and we had chocolate cake for dessert. It was all really good and I'm proud of myself for trying so much new food!
After dinner I gave them the gifts I brought. The dad and his son liked the Wisconsin Badgers hats I gave them and the little girls LOVED the pop rocks and push pops. Then, I showed them pictures of Wisconsin and explained what Eau Claire is like. They were amazed by WI Dells. I tried to explain the "toilet bowl" water slide at the Kalahari, but I'm not sure if they understood that it's a slide and not actually a giant toilet.
All in all, my host family is very nice. I wish I knew more Japanese so we could talk more easily, but I'm actually surprised at how much I understand and can say.
Tonight they're going to dress me up in a traditional kimono haha. They've been taking TONS of pictures of me and I'm sure tonight will be no different. It should be interesting :)
Sayonara for now!