Life with the Nakajima’s

At the Hostfamily Meet-and-Greet, another extravagant buffet was laid out for us, but this one had two plates of ornately cut and displayed fresh fruit, including papaya and mango. The best papaya i have ever tasted; not acidic at all like its Latin American counterpart that i am used to.

I will miss Carla these next couple days until i see her again…I hope she is doing well at the Inoue-sama’s household.

After a journey, from OVTA to the Keisei Makuhari station with all my baggage, that seemed awefully long at first, soon turned more pleasant as my host mother and I became more involved in conversation. The flow was easy, simple, and comfortable. I have been blessed with a hostfamily that i already knew; no awkward walking in silence and awkwardness intensified by the heat and thick humidity. We finally arrived. Outside the home, a group of old women were huddled around in the classic manner,some standing, some sitting, but all engaged in their daily gossip, according to my hostmother. I exchanged the traditional greetings and proprieties with them; pleasantly surprised and embarrassed by their strong affirmations of my ability in Japanese.

Inside repeatedly saying atsui (hot) and shaking our clothes, my hostmom and i went to the dining room, the only air conditioned room upstairs, and drank some popular summer tea with the sweetest, juiciest pears i have ever had. The bitter, almost coffee, flavor of the tea clashing and complementing the pear’s sweetness deeping the flavor of both; cooling and refreshing my spirit almost iimmediately with its flavors.

I showed my house on Google Earth to my host mother. She said she was jealous of my family for having a pool. i went on to explain how i like Japanese homes because of their more intimate and close feeling, unlike the huge and often wasteful spaces that accompany the homes of Americans.

~ by tygerburningbright on September 6, 2008.