Wednesday, December 16, 2009-

With no homework to worry about I am free to spend my time after school doing whatever I feel like. Today was a fantastic after school day! I spent an hour and a half reading my new Soccernomics book that I got from Grandma Estenson at the town rest stop (this is the one with the great gelato and the friendly old ladies working behind the counter). Well today I snagged an absolutely delicious sweet potato pie that was made by hand at the rest stop (seriously, rest stop is an awful word for this place). It was only 100 Yen (about $1.10) and the old ladies behind the counter decided I looked too cold as well so they gave me free green tea on them. They then proceeded to give me seconds, the best spot by the window, and a handful of red, ripe strawberries! It was perfect. It was my today’s little something. Old Japanese women are so giving and won’t stop feeding you until you feel like you’re going to burst. Apparently it’s a universal Grandma thing!

Anyway, as I left the rest stop I spotted Miki and Seiya on their scooters and we headed to the 711 convenience store for a while. Sadly, that is the first time I’ve ever hung out with one of my school friends outside of school. I’m seriously warning any exchange students coming to Japan: DON’T EXPECT TO BE VERY SOCIAL HERE!! It’s not that students aren’t kind, it’s just that they literally have to go home or to their jobs right after school. And in my case it’s tricky when almost none of the students live in town but commute by scooter. I’m sure there are exceptions, but it seems to be true for the other Tochigi exchange students as well.

After 711 I went to the Kobayashi’s store where I was fed even more and helped them wrap literally hundreds of packages. Their business is REALLY doing well now around the holidays, but they’ve told me it’s even busier during the summer. I can’t even imagine it!

I wish I had taken another picture where you could see my next host dad, Hiroshi Kobayashi, better. He's the one on the left behind the guy in the mask. He's great. Really fun and young and I can already tell that he's super easy to get along with.

PS can you tell how many boxes there are? This isn't even busy. Last week was FULL!

That's my host grandma on the far left. The other two are her little grandma friends. They're working to package even more boxes. Yeah, they pretty much love me ;)

My host mom, Sumie (sp?), is in the middle. Again, so easy to get along with and she's got a great sense of humor.