nothing to prove

homestay

This last weekend I traveled 30 minutes by bullet train to the small city of Shiozawa, located inbetween Sanjo and Tokyo. In this village, more famously known for growing the best rice in all of Japan, was my homestay from my previous stay in Japan. The trip marked the third time to their home, although this was the shortest visit of all three. As usual the family feed me a rediculous amount of food and drink, which I gladly accepted. Let's be honest, cup of ramen wasn't really cutting it anymore. Other than that it was actually a very relaxing weekend, filled with sleep, laying around, and the occassional tradition (for example we went to pay respects to thier grandfather). Overall a great weekend and exactly what I needed to recharge.

The family below is my homestay. Although, only the two older adults and grandmother actually lived in the house I stayed in and the other famiy are the cousins of the mother. It was great to see them, especially since they had a daughter since last time I was there. However, the daughter that is my age, who is actually the only one who speaks any English, went to a high school reunion so I was left with my little green dictionary, poor Japanese, and so sporatic English words that they would conjure. Sometimes I feel like thier adopted son because of how well they treat me all the time but there is this small thought in the back of my mind that they are trying to hook me up with thier daughter, obviously not going to happen. In any case, they have always gone out of thier way to help me and take care of me.

posted by Aaron @ 6:53 AM