My First Week in Tokyo

It's really amazing that the first thing I see when I walk out of the subway station by my house is the tallest tower in the world, the Tokyo Sky Tree. Makes for a great marker when I'm lost! I live in the family's apartment on the 9th floor which has two bedrooms, one bath, one toilet, a kitchen area, and a living room. I have to say I'm both impressed and surprised that the room my host family gave me is much bigger than the pea sized jail cell I lived in at Furman. And I even have a private balcony!

My family is absolutely ADORABLE! The youngest girl, who I call my "backpack" because she is always jumping on me, is extremely hyper and is constantly singing and dancing around the house.

She is also a great cook! She taught me how to cook an eggplant dish the other day that was amazing!

Ingredients: Eggplant, soy sauce, ginger, onion

Directions: Poor a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and place the eggplant in on medium heat. Cook until golden brown. Sprinkle with ginger, onion, and soy sauce. Done!

Sounds different but I'm telling you it's quick, easy, healthy, and actually really delicious!

The older girl who is 11 is less interested in me and a little shy but still extremely cute. I haven't gotten to know her very well yet.

My homestay mom is very petite, a great cook, and is extremely nice to me. She even does my laundry every day! Guess I didn't need to bring the 40 pairs of underwear that I did... What I haven't gotten used to is the fact that all my clothes must hang dry outside on the balcony. What if a bird comes along? What if the wind blows and my clothes fly off? Also, I don't like all of Tokyo seeing my delicates! Awkward. The other night she folded my clothes and handed them to me (I know, she really is awesome) and there were a couple small bugs on them!! As high tech as Tokyo is, sometimes I feel like I'm in a third world country. That brings me to air-conditioning. There is none. It's high 80s with humidity at 94% and all I have is a fan and an occasional breeze from the window. The first few days were rough but I am starting to adapt.

My homestay family also practices hula often because the mom is a hula teacher on the side and they have many performances throughout the year. Though the idea of hula dancing sounds cheesy and you immediately think of old people at their exercise class, I've found hula to be very relaxing and stress relieving. I tried a couple steps and some are actually very difficult! I thought my hip hop and cheer background would make it a breeze but I was wrong. They want me to perform with them in November but we'll see!

Practiced my Japanese with this cute kid!

I've always had an image of Japanese people being very shy and composed but its good to see that behind closed doors the Japanese family isn't much different from my crazy American family. They scream, cry, and complain just as much as Westerners do. It's a relief now that I know I'm not trying to live up to an impossible standard.