This one's for Busha

My friend, Brian Miguel Busha, has been bugging me about doing a 'daily life' post, so here it is. I wake up at 7:30am T-Th, and 8:00am on M and F (my classes start later those two days of the week.) I struggle to get out of bed since my room is literally an icebox. Homes in Japan don't have central heating. Instead each room has a wall-mounted air conditioner/space heater. Also, the living room and kitchen have heating through the floors. Anyway, after getting ready, I head downstairs, where breakfast is either ready, or only a few minutes wait. It depends on the day, but there is often rice and miso soup. Knowing I like pizza, my host mom also often makes toast with tomato sauce and cheese on it. The equivalent of little smokies (i.e. little weiners) show up enough since Yugo really likes those. After eating I leave in a few minutes, and Miki and Yugo send me off with a 'bai bai' or 'itterasshai' (the latter is customary). It takes me about 15min to walk to Fujigaoka station, where I take the Higashiyama Line (it's the yellow line) for 12min or so to Motoyama where I transfer to the Meijo line (purple). Car #14 sets you up in perfect position to get to the Meijo line platform quickly. From there I wait (how long depends on if I took the 8:41 or 8:43 subway out of Fujigaoka.) for the next train, and take that two stops down, where I get off at Yagoto Nisseki. From there it is another ten minute walk to Nanzan University. The whole commute takes about 45 min. Class starts at 9:20 (10:05 on the late days) . The morning consists of the intensive language class until 12:35pm. I generally eat lunch with my friends from the morning language class. The curry house on campus is good if you want to avoid the crowd. Otherwise, the #1 caferteria has excellent toritama donburi (chicken, barely cooked egg, and rice), and dagane has pretty good misokatsu (miso sauce drenched pork cutlet). In the afternoon we have our electives. They generally either start at 1:30 or 3:15 and last for 90 minutes. We have those elective classes once a week. I'm going all out this semester, taking Classical Japanese 2, Business Japanese, Creative Writing, Calligraphy, and University Preparatory Japanese(this is the one I'm worried about). I'm also just hanging out for fun (i.e. no credit) in the Japanese Literature 4 class since I want to read the books they are covering and the teacher is HILARIOUS. He speaks a crazy/broken mix of Japanese and English, has quoted Field of Dreams, and started singing in the middle of class(and that was only the first day!). This semester I'm am either going to join the Shourinjin Kenpo club, or just start training Taekwondo on my own again on Mondays after class (more often if I can). Once spring hits, I'll be practicing with the capoeira club on Wednesdays. After my classes, practice etc. end, I head home, doing the reverse of the commute I detailed above. I get home and dinner is ready generally within a half hour. This is generally when Yugo demands my attention, and I've just learned to not even bother trying to study if he wants to play, etc. before dinner. After dinner I start studying or continue to be distracted by Yugo, Tayusuke, etc. ...and I'll continue this later. I have to get to calligraphy. Let me know what you are still curious about Busha...or anybody else for that matter. The comment link is there for a reason. Later!

Apology, Skiing, drinks and live music

So, before I go onto post-Christmas activities, there is one anecdote that I forgot in my last couple posts. Upon seeing the wintergreen candy canes my mom had sent over, Yugo said, with a somewhat ungrateful tone, something to the effect of “Why did she such a weird looking thing?” I said nothing in response and simply thought to myself, “Weird? Those things are freakin’ delicious, kid.” I didn’t think much else, and simply figured he hadn’t seen a candy cane before. I went upstairs to continue cleaning my room. I took a break to look at the old photo album I brought along. And while in a happy little wave of nostalgia, my door slides open a bit and Yugo pops his head in a bit, but then closes the door. A minute or two later he does it again, at which point I tell him it is all right to come in. But he doesn’t. At which point I figured something was up. So I open the door and he is just sitting there with a dejected look on his face. Normally if he is feeling that bad he is bawling his head off for his mom or something. I ask him what is wrong multiple times and he won’t say a thing, so I just sit there with him. After quite awhile, I decide candy might make him feel better, so I offer him some…yet he doesn’t take anything. Yugo not eating candy I offer him…is the apocalypse coming?! Anyway, after I eat a few pieces of candy, Yugo has a few, but still won’t say anything. Finally, his mom comes up and asks if he properly apologized. To which I respond that he hasn’t said anything at all, and wonder what the heck he is supposed to be apologizing for. Well, apparently my host mom also heard Yugo’s comment about the candy canes and felt really bad about Yugo saying anything even close to disparaging about the stuff that was sent over. So she sat down with Yugo and explained again to Yugo why he shouldn’t have said what he did and demanded he apologize. Well first he bawls into tears, and after awhile finally manages a half crying/half wailing “GO-MEN-NA-SAI!!!” He was quite better once he got that out, and quickly realized why he had been so silent. It was kind of cute (yes, though I despise the word cute, my diminishing English vocabulary leaves me no choice…) since I could tell he felt so bad about possibly making me feel bad. He may be a whiny brat at times, but deep down he’s a good kid.
Now, onto the next big event, Nagano. So apparently, my host mom’s side of the family has been going to the same inn in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture around New Year’s for the past 30 years or so. So what I initially thought was a random ski trip ended up being a rather deep tradition. I hadn’t been skiing before, and since Nagano Prefecture hosted the 1998 Olympics, I had visions of extremely difficult hills, broken limbs, amputations, what have you. We were worried for a bit, though, as the complete lack of snowfall threatened our trip. The forecast called for big snow, but even the day before we left, nothing substantial had accumulated. Luckily, Hakuba got absolutely dumped on the night before we left. We left early on the 29th and after a 5 hour drive, we finally pulled into the inn. After dropping our stuff off, we rented some equipment. Meanwhile, the grandma had Tayusuke on the back in a sling sort of thing. He was bundled up ten times over, but with it snowed hard and the wind not helping matters, he seemed to have a look of “Where is this place, and why did you bring me here?!” We got outfitted and hit the slopes. I fell. A lot. The first attempt landed me in a fluffy bank of snow so deep, I couldn’t get up by myself. After Chi-chan (the aunt) helped me out, we continued on. After getting my balance down, I tried turning, which proved futile until she taught me to turn using what I’ve been told is called the “snowplow” position (both skis pointed inward). Turning immediately made sense. The second day I got stopping down competently and even managed to make it all the way down the mountain (it takes a good 10 min, or more if you’re a beginner like me) without landing on my keister, so I was pleased with my progress. Up until noon on the second day, only the shorter three slopes from the top of the mountain were open, but then they finally got all the prep done and opened the path that goes all the way down. I managed to get that in twice before the end of the day. The first day you couldn’t see a thing due to the clouds and the blowing snow, but the second day cleared up and revealed some breathtaking scenery. Mountains practically surrounded us, aside from the one vista overlooking the town. (Beyond the town were…yup, you guessed it, more mountains) Definitely not the kind of terrain you see in Wisconsin, and the whole experience was rather surreal. During our breaks from skiing, we went to the same restaurant for lunch both days, and it was really delicious. Nothing super fancy, just pizza, pasta, fries, chicken, some Japanese dishes, an appetizer plate of meat and cheese, but it was all done really, really well (and reasonably priced to boot!). The freshly fallen snow lead to impromptu snowman making, which then devolved into a snowball fight. I haven’t had a proper one of those in a long time. Next winter in Madtown, massive snowfight! I won’t settle for less. I also taught Yugo and Chi-chan how to make snow angels, so that was fun. When I first arrived here, when bathtime came around, Yugo would occasionally say “I want to get in with Collin!” After both his mom and I told him no multiple times, he pretty much stopped asking. But the bath at the inn was public, and Yugo’s dad wasn’t able to come on the trip, so he again wanted to go in the bath with me. He went in early with his mom to the ladies’ bath, so I thought I was in the clear, but once I decided to go in later, he continued his supplications with renewed vigor, so I caved. I pretty much knew why he wanted to go in the bath together, and my hunch was corroborated almost immediately. Upon entering the bath he quickly ran around to my front to see just how I was “different” from him. Yugo ended up not entering the actually bath after all, since the water was too hot. And I can’t blame him. Upon entering, I felt like my skin was on fire for the first 15 seconds or so until my body adjusted. That is one thing about the Japan, the bath water, or the water in onsen (natural hot springs) is often insanely hot. One onsen in particular in a place called jigokudani (Hell’s Valley) has water at a (what I think to be a dangerously) hot 192 degrees Fahrenheit. The locals boils eggs while they themselves steep in the piping hot water. At this point I’d like to quote my friend Nick’s reaction to this fact. “If the water is doing that[cooking] to the proteins in the eggs, just think of what it is doing to the proteins in your body.” It’s crazy what sort of immunities the human body can acquire.
The second night in Nagano was nothing short of amazing. I went with Miki(host mom) and Chi-chan (her sister) to an old Meiji-era building (approx. 130years old) that now functions as a private inn. Apparently they also just take in customers for drinks and food, but there was only one table and we were the only ones there who were staying overnight. The rest of the people there were all family it seemed, so we sort of felt like we were intruding. We had some sake, gyouza (dumplings) and cow intestine (yum!) for a light snack. The group staying overnight was across the room from us cooking in a more traditional fashion. There is a wood border for setting cups and plates on, but then the inside is set into the floor and has a bunch of old ash covering it. Hot wood coals are brought in and set down almost in an almost campfire-like fashion. From there you can hang a pot above the coals to make soup, etc. or cook fish on stick (much like we do with hot dogs or marshmallows). The only difference is this is all indoors. We decided we had intruded long enough, and started to leave, but one of the guys across the room said he was going to start playing his guitar and sing, and that we should stick around to listen. After politely refusing once (as it almost always customary) we accepted after he insisted. And boy am I glad we stuck around. They brought out tea for everyone (on the house) and we sat back and enjoyed. It is a bit surreal to listen to some bandana-wearing 40 year old Japanese guy sing some love song in Spanish while sitting around in a 130 year Japanese house. Even more than that, I joined in and helped him out on Yesterday by the Beatles. Memories of the time I sang that song in a quartet for solo/ensemble senior year in high school came flooding back. We all made up crazy motions right before the performance, which ended making all of us laugh during the performance. Good times, eh Busha? Anyway, this guy on the guitar was extremely charismatic, and one of the best emcees I’ve seen. He kept everyone captivated. After his show, we decided to head up to the second floor, which functions as a bit of a museum. We checked out the art and then sat down on floor pillows and just began to talk. I knew I was in for a long but fun night when one guy brought up a HUGE bottle of sake. I had to be careful not to drink mine too quickly, because everyone was only too eager to fill my cup back up. I can’t even remember all what we talked about, but one guy in particular absolutely loves American football. He seriously thinks it is the best thing since sliced bread. I told him I liked football well enough, and so he starts asking me who is on top this year. Considering I haven’t seen a single minute of NFL broadcast this year, and haven’t bothered to look up standings on the internet, I did my best to bullshit my way through a sports conversation about which I knew nothing.
Dude: So who’s good this year?
Me: Umm…the Colts? Yeah, yeah, the colts. They’re good.
Dude: How are the Patriots doing?
Me: Uh…good. Yeah, they’re doing good, too. (Desperately trying to switch to something I have a bit of knowledge about.) The team near my hometown won the Super Bowl ten years ago, but they’re aren’t doing too well now.
Dude: What team?
Me: Green Bay Packers
Dude: Oh yeah! The Packers! I know them! Not only did the guy know the Packers he seemed to act as if they were his old friend. Needless to say I was more than surprised at his detailed knowledge of the NFL. Everyone was pretty well drunk, or at least tipsy, to the point where the conversation was loud and raucous and the one guy was spilling the sake as he tried to pour others’ glasses. When I posed for a picture with two of the guys, they insisted I go in the middle of them, and then they both put their arm around me. So I do the same. I am quite sure this kind of physical contact does not happen in Japan while sober. Nothing like making friends over countless hours of conversation and a massive bottle of sake.

Christmas in Japan!

Next up is Christmas Eve. Every year they get together with a bunch of old friends from high school, etc. This year was the same and we headed over to one of the friend’s houses for lunch and stayed into the early evening. It’s pretty much like any get together in America-a bunch of food, drink and joking around. The only difference is what’s on the table. Along with a roast chicken are the onigiri (rice ‘balls’ with random stuff hidden inside), along with the beer is sake (alcoholic drink made from rice for those not in the loop). And apparently the sake they had was extremely high end, so much so that it isn’t widely sold and it is hard to just get a hold of it. It was noticeably better than other sake I’ve had, but I don’t think it lived up to its reputation. There was also some mashed potato-looking sort of thing with cucumber and other random stuff mixed in, and that was pretty good. Things quickly shifted focus as the family’s new Playstation 3 was booted up. They also had the Gundam game, and that quickly garnered all the attention of the kids and adult guys. I eventually tried my hand at it, and after a few rounds of getting acquainted with the lackluster control scheme, I made a reputation for myself as deadly with the beam saber. But basically, just like every other Gundam game, it is mediocre to the extreme, and the clunky controls hinder gameplay. But before this turns into more of a game review, suffice it to say that a good couple hours of the afternoon were spent on this game. It was sometimes hard to get a turn between all the kids, but eventually some of them started requesting to play a match against me. One kid in particular was dominating everyone, and then when me and the other kids started beating him, he burst into tears. I think he could handle losing to me, but when his friends even starting getting the upper hand, he lost it. But everyone’s mood brightened when Santa knocked on the window! Even I wasn’t expecting this. The guy whose house it was dressed up as Santa and came in the sliding door from the backyard…barefoot. Okay, so not the most convincing Santa impersonation I’ve ever seen, but he gets points for effort. The kids all called him out as not being the real Santa. (Apparently this was the first year that happened…maybe boots, or footwear of any sort, would have helped.) After a bit, the party ended, and we went over to Apita, the local department store to grab some dinner and Wii software, since my host dad also bought a Wii within the past week. The Christmas decorations already had huge discounts on them, so my host mom picked up some stuff for next year. Then we headed over to the video game section where I proved to be much more knowledgeable about the Wii than the store clerk. So it was basically me telling my host dad what he should and shouldn’t buy. I had him pick up a second nunchaku controller, the controller packed with Hamete no Wii (WiiPlay), WiiSports, and Odoru Made in Wario (WarioWare). I had to remember I was picking out multiplayer games the family could play, otherwise Zelda and Elebits would have gone in the cart, too. Then we headed to a Chinese restaurant within the department store, and it was really good. We all split a rice/vegetable dish in a thick, clear sauce, along with a whole slew of different dumpling-esque things. Busha, I’m looking to you for the Chinese name of these things. Don’t fail me. And I have completely fallen in love with gomadango, which is a dessert that consists of sweet bean paste inside rice paste, which is covered with toasted sesame seeds. Really, really, freakin tasty. I first had them while I was in Okinawa, and now jump at the chance to order the things. The only drawback is they sit in your stomach like a rock.
Onto Christmas!!!! Okay, so it started out kind of slow, but picked up after awhile. The night before at the department store, Yugo found a toy he wanted and whined like no other until my host dad decided to make it Yugo’s Christmas present if he promised to clean his toy room (which didn’t get touched during that cleaning day). Yugo wanted me to help him clean he toy room, and I had nothing better to do, so I told him we’d split the room and each do half. Of course, Yugo just putzed around while I cleaned my half. Once I finished and his half was still messy, he tried to get me to do to half of his half. But I refused and then he decided he was tired and wanted to sleep. I said that was fine and stretched out on the floor to take a nap, too. Yugo wasn’t actually tired, which I suspected; in reality he just didn’t want to clean. Later in the afternoon, Yugo wanted to draw dinosaurs. Specifically, he wanted me to take turns drawing dinosaurs with him. I quickly realized just how little artistic ability I possess when I could hardly tell which ones I had drawn and which ones Yugo had drawn.
One of the guys at the Christmas Eve gathering works at (and I think maybe owns) a hair salon, and since I needed a haircut and badly and my host dad did as well, he made an appointment for us at 5pm. Well, five rolls around and he isn’t back from whatever work he had to do. It was maybe 5:30 when he came back, and we left right away. We had to stop and drop off the platter at the sashimi place for them to use. Then we headed to the salon. This was the first time I had anything beyond a basic cut, and on Christmas no less! A santa cap clad girl rinsed and shampooed (sp?) my hair before and after the cut, which I thought was a bit overkill, but eh, whatever. And then afterwards they brought out tea. There were also two brown sugar cubes and a thing a cream, so I varied from my normal taking of tea (straight up) and threw all the sugar and cream in. Not a bad way to drink it, but I’d rather save my sugar intake for something that tastes better. After the salon we picked up the sashimi and then the birthday cake for Tayusuke (the baby) who turned one year old. Yeah, he gets the royal shaft on presents, having his birthday on Christmas. So we got back a little late for Tayusuke’s birthday party, as the grandparents had already arrived awhile ago. So we had a nice dinner, and then sang Happy Birthday for Tayusuke. For those curious, the song and the words are exactly the same, you only have to murder the pronounciation of the ‘th’ sound and you’ll fit right in! After the cake, it was present time! This was mainly comprised of presents that my mom and my dad and stepmom sent. Yugo was ecstatic over the Kamen Rider game, and to my surprise, already knew of and loves Pez, and ate (with everyone’s help) two of the three packs of candy that came with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dispenser mom sent him. He also thoroughly enjoyed the red mystic ranger my dad and stepmom sent him. The armor can even be constructed into a plane! He especially liked that part. Of course my host mom and dad were all completely surprised by the amount of stuff sent, and thanked me a million times over, but that still pales in comparison to the Nintendo DS my host dad got me for Christmas. And in his typical fashion he can’t wait to give it out, so I got it a couple weeks ahead of the holiday. My host mom got one as well. Then after a Rotary dinner (where I was cajoled into giving a little impromptu introduction speech), we went to Geo, a new/used media chain, to pick up some games. I picked out a kanji studying game, and the New Mario Bros., while my host mom picked up an English studying game and, with my guidance, Final Fantasy 3. Okay, getting a little off track. Back to Christmas… after opening the presents, we just chatted for awhile and then my Christmas in Japan came to a quiet close.

New car, Pizza Hut, and Video Games

The next day (the 23rd of December) we all went and picked up their new car. (The Jaguar was having problems and wasn’t worth fixing.) It is an Alphard, which I think might be made by Toyota, but I’m not sure. Either way it isn’t model you’ll be finding in the U.S. It is pretty much a minivan; it seats 8, has a DVD system, and a bunch of other bells and whistles. We grabbed lunch at a local Italian restaurant, Flour, which happens to be one of my personal favorites. After that I had a plan to hang out with Ken (the other guy from UW-Madison) and Tom, a friend I met here. We met at the Book-Off store in Tenma-cho. Book-Off is a wonderful chain of stores that buys and resells used books, comics, CDs, DVDs, and video games. I found Christmas presents for Yugo, and my host mom and dad. All of which were Playstation 2 software. My host dad had recently bought a Playstation 3 and the Gundam game for it, but since there are only a few games out for 3, I thought I’d pick up some old 2 software to beef up there library. I made a really good find for Yugo, as I found a Kamen Rider (Masked Rider) game that features V3, his favorite iteration of the series. I bought a large chunk of the Full Metal Alchemist series that day, but more than that, Ken randomly found a comic series by the name of ‘Super Mario-kun.’ Considering they were about $2.25 a pop and there were over 20 of them, I decided to try out the first one before throwing down the money for the whole series. We then killed time waiting for Young-kyu (or Pak-san) a classmate of ours from Korea, to meet us. Once he arrived we rode the subway to Kurokawa to grab dinner at the Pizza Hut there, which was the main mission of plan for the evening. It is the only Pizza Hut in Nagoya where you can actually dine in, and I hadn’t had real pizza for a while, so I was looking forward to this. Since almost everyone gets delivery, they just include that expense in the normal price, so I if you eat in, you get a discount off the menu price. After that, a medium cheese pizza only cost 800yen, which is about $7. You can’t get that stuffed for 800yen anywhere else in Japan-I’m convinced of it. They were pretty busy, so the lady at the counter asked us if we minded waiting a half a hour, and then looked even more horrified when she realized we were all ordering a pizza for ourselves. I had almost forgotten how good the grease on Pizza Hut’s pan pizza tastes. Mmm…all that artery-clogging goodness. After an extremely satisfying dinner, we headed back to Tom’s apartment for some serious video gaming. We tried out the new WarioWare game for the Nintendo Wii, which was extremely fun. After giving ample time to that and WiiSports, we hooked up his PS2 for some Guilty GearX2, and boy had it been awhile. I was a bit out of form but still dominated hard, only losing one match to Tom at the end. After that it was time to hook up his Sega Saturn, and we tried some games Ken had just picked up. I finally got to try out the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night, along with Gunstar Heroes and Golden Axe: The Duel. I apologize to any family members who may be reading this for all the video game lingo I just put you through.

The Semester Ends

Hey all,
So winter break has hit in full force, and oddly enough, I find myself gasping for air between all the functions with my host family. We lost three classmates from my language class. Two are going back to their home countries, and one of them, Matt, is going back to Maine for about eleven days before leaving for France to study abroad there in the spring. (He definitely wishes he was staying in Japan for the entire year, and I can’t blame him.) A couple days before the end of class, we took half the day for a wakarekai, which is basically a farewell party. Most people in the class performed some sort of talent or prepared food. A couple people did karaoke, two did a classical piece of music together (piano and singer), Pao, from Thailand, said Bangkok’s full name in Thai, which is apparently the longest city name on the record books, and it took her a good 20 seconds or so to spit it out. Machida-sensei got up on stage and performed movements from Iaido, a Japanese sword art. I performed two of my Taekwondo forms, and that went over pretty well. After the talent show was over, we chowed down on all the food. One guy from Boston made Boston Cream Pies which were to die for. I’d never had it before, and it definitely jumped up to one of the top spots on my dessert list.
About a week later, after I walked out of my last final (history), there was a party for CJS (the exchange student branch at Nanzan University), since a lot of people would be going back in a few days. One of my classmates, Lee-san, gave a really nice speech, and got me thinking about what I’ll be feeling in about 4-5months when I’m the one going home in a few days. It’s going to be rough to say the least. I’ve become horribly attached to everyone in my host family, and the feeling is reciprocal. I hate to see what Yugo is going to be like when I have to leave. He’ll be a bigger wreck than me. Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on that anymore than I have to, so back to the CJS party. My host mom came with the two kids to the party, so the party basically consisted of my introducing them to all my classmates, with Yugo constantly sticking his head under the hooded sweatshirt I was wearing, since that was gathering all the attention of my female classmates who all thought it was too cute. After grazing the free food, the party ended and a good dozen or so of us went out for karaoke. This was basically a farewell outing for the people leaving, and it was a three-hour marathon of fun. The karaoke chain of choice is KaraokeJoyJoy, because they are cheap, and the karaoke comes with nomihoudai, which basically means unlimited drinks. Granted, the cups are small, and you have to run your cup down to the front desk, so the fact that it is a pain in the butt helps limit how much you drink, but it is still a good deal. And it is something to do when someone starts singing a song you don’t care for. (‘Arigatou’ by SMAP for starters…) I’ll have to explain the enigma that is SMAP in a future post. Anyway, I normally stick the various “sour” drinks of various fruit flavors since they are sweet, but in the normal mix of ume, peach, and muskat grape sours, I ventured off the beaten path after trying a bit of Blake’s drink, appropriately named a sledgehammer. It tasted quite a bit stronger than the sours, and I realized exactly what I gotten myself into after I ordered it. The girl behind the counter threw a couple cubes of ice in the glass and then took the bottle of vodka and poured, and poured…and poured. No water, no soda, just a bit lime syrup and over half a glass(albeit a smaller glass) of vodka. I definitely started to feel a buzz after that little experiment and went back to the sours. I basically try to not be as drunk as all the salarymen riding with me on the last train home. Okay, so after starting off winter break properly with that karaoke-fest, the next day was devoted to cleaning. My host mom decided it was cleaning day since Yugo’s room was a freaking mess, and she wanted to do a thorough cleaning of the living room. I was totally fine with this, since I had been meaning to clean my room for a long, long time. So organized everything, vacuumed the floor multiple times and then wiped down the floor. And during this I finally told my host mom that I had accidently stained the floor with marker. This was a good month and half ago, but I made a visual aid for a speech I was giving in class, and the marker bled through the paper in some spots. The dots are pretty small, and I didn’t notice them right away either, but if you look closer there are quite a few of them. Anyway, even though I knew my host mom wouldn’t be mad, I was still a little anxious about telling her. But in her typical, extremely kind fashion, once I showed her the spots, she just smiled and said, “Once Yugo gets older and uses the room, we can just look at the dots and they’ll serve as a reminder of you.” It’s comments like that that get me everytime. She has even called me her ‘new son’ many a time when introducing me (don't get jealous, mom! haha). I just have to look back at comments like that to realize how lucky I am to have gotten this host family, and that we'll be seeing plenty of each other long past when I come back in May/June.