homestay

I'm at the Masahiro's house tonight and they are *such* a nice couple. They're both very easy to talk to and have an interest in learning English. I always feel a little more comfortable when my host family is willing to learn English because I feel like I can give back to them a little more, instead of just giving them a small gift of American chocolates (even though Malleys is great stuff).

I asked why the government official had come by the office today, and Yoshida-san (the husband) explained that they had a stockholders meeting that morning. He said he thought it would be nice if Bushu interns could sit in on the meeting, which they have once a year, but the schedule usually doesn't work out.

We had katsu, tofu, rice, miso and salad at dinner, which was topped off with an tasty and adorable fruit and pudding cup for dessert. Delicious. Breakfast, however, is at 6:45 a.m. tomorrow. Yikes. After that, I'm supposed to bike with Yoshida-san to Bushu Gas. It's about a 10-minute bike ride. Another worker from Yoshida-san's section, Tobisawa-san, guided me on the bike ride to the Masahiro's house. Japanese streets are really small (about the size of an American road's lane), but you don't fully realize how small until you're riding your bike on it with all kinds of cars weaving past you. That was a little scary. The bike the company is letting me borrow is battery-powered though, so that's really cool.

So tomorrow I return to Bushu Gas for what I'm told will be a more general tour and orientation. I'll have my uniform ready (thanks to Watanabe-san, who hemmed my pants to a more fitting length, and to Fujimura-san, who found me a new pair of shoes because, although I gave the company my Japanese shoe size, the shoes they gave me were men's and not women's), and will go to the locker room to transform from regular gaijin to intern gaijin.

It's so late here now. おやすみ :D