I went back upstairs and packed up my stuff, and John and I went downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast here was good too. We then took our stuff back to Sophia to and had some more orientation and how to speak to introduce ourselves to our host families.
I was in the group to meet my host family later so I had some free time, so I went around the Yotsuya area with a friend, Roy, whom I'd been talking to before over AIM. He was looking for wrapping paper, and we eventually found an office depot with some. He got Jelly bean wrapping paper for his Jelly Bellys, pretty good find especially considering they only had 6 different wrapping paper designs.
I saw this driving on the road on the way there...
We then went back and went to meet our families. We were paraded in front of all of them in this big room, and it made us very nervous. Zach's family made him a welcome sign, wish I had a pic of that. It was finally my turn to introduced myself and I finally met them. It was a little awkward at first, I wanted to speak to them in Japanese, but I was way rusty and nervous, and they spoke to me in Japanese and it was difficult to understand. But we talked a bit, and they are very nice.
The dad is Italian and works for the Italian Embassy, but he know Japanese very well, and knows English, his name is Roberto. He was a study abroad student with a host family the first time he came here, which is why I think they decided to host a student. The mom is Japanese and can speak and understand some English as well, her name is Mayumi. They both came to the University to meet me. The other member is a 2 year old, soon to be 3, girl named Alice (pronounced Aliche or Ariche in Japanese, who is just so kawaii (cute)).
We got on the train, to go to their home, and it takes about 45min to an hour to get there from school. We stopped at the grocery store and they let me pick some food and some cereal for breakfast. We then got into their car, and went to pick up Alice from Mayumi's mother's apartment. We then drove to their home, which is a nice mansion condo,
and they made me feel at home. It's very Japanese style, a place for shoes at the entrance, a small area with tatami mats, and a whole shower room next to the bath which you don't shower in. The place is kinda small, but it is nice. They also have internet which I'm happy about, got to get online later and talk to people and check my email.
My room is kinda small, but it's nice, don't plan on spending too much time cooped up in here.
I gave them my gifts and they really like them, they've been using them and putting them out since I've been here. In case you forgot from my post below, I got them a Louisville Slugger mini-bat with my a message from me on it, a couple Derby glasses, a Purdue Train blanket, and some Bourbon and Mint Julep chocolates. Roberto likes the Bourbon ones, they said Italians love all chocolates, and Mayumi likes the mint ones, being a big fan of mint ice cream, just like me... I'll have to get me a box of the mint ones when I get back, they are fantastic.
I told them I was into anime and manga and they showed me some manga that Roberto had helped translate years ago into Italian.
For dinner we had Italian, we had salami and thick Italian cheese, along with Italian crackers, olives and salad. I think we also had some raviolis after that. They even let me have some chardonnay with it.
We then watched some Japanese TV, which is just as strange as you might think, probably stranger, especially the commercials. I got tired earlier that day, so I headed for to bed soon after wards.
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