You don`t get pictures!

Rawr!
You don`t get pictures in this post because my iPod is charging! (Therefore using the USB that I would plug my camera memory in!) And I like listening to my iPod on the subway so...Yeah. Deal with it!
Besides - this post will be short! I do not like spending too much time on the computer. I feel as if it is slightly rude towards my host family! And so - I have held strong and not checked facebook yet! But I probably do use a little too much English.

My family and I use a mixture of Japanese and English. And we ALWAYS have a dictionary handy. Infact - there are normaly three dictionaries sitting at the dinner table! It`s very important for when I go...`Ano...kore wa nan desu ka?` (Um...what is this?) Though sometimes they try to tell me and I ask them not to! I would rather not know! I just try it.

So. Food.
Lots of rice.
Everyday for lunch my mother packs me a bento box! It`s always very yummy! It includes rice.
I also eat rice everyday for dinner.
When I get home...I don`t think I will ever want to eat white rice again!
They eat so much for breakfast! They have cereal (though I think they bought it just for me), fruit or yogurt of some sort, bread, and some sort of vegitable.
Normally I don`t eat a lot but lunch isn`t until one!
So yeah. Let me count the vegitables I have eaten...
On second thought - I want to keep them in my stomach!
I am being true to my word and trying to try everything my okaasan makes - which includes lots of vegitables. Yuck.
Thing about Japanese food...I WANT SALT!
They say - oh! This is salty!
But it`s really not!
And they go - oh! This is sweet!
...but it`s actually kind of bitter!
But my mother is a very good cook and I have also discovered the wonders of Hokuo, a bread store on the way home, and Mister Donuts!
And let me tell you - I have a new found appreciation for bread. Especially chocolate bread.
Amazing.
And today I caved in and bought my first Japanese candy! Only a little though!

And school...
Everyday I have school! Sunday is my only break - I have half days on Saturday!
I am in class 3B!...and the only exchange student in that class.
My day is mainly filled with Japanese language classes but spursed throughout my week I have music, Oral Communication (aka - English), Gym, and Home Ec/Cooking.
And after school I have dance practice for the school festival. I leave practice around 5 so I get home around 6...but my Japanese classmates don`t leave school until around 7!
Let me tell you...Japanese people are crazy! haha
I just don`t understand them!
...and not speaking the same language doesn`t help!
But I try my best at Japanese - and they like trying their best at English.
Between that we get a mangeled form of conversation just right for awkwardness!
Once they approach me that is...normally the students just stare. Since I have been at the school for more than a week now the staring has relaxed a little...but I still get it a lot on the subway.
Japan has...no diversity! So I really stick out as a foreigner and everyone just stares when they think I am not looking...and even when I am!

And so - the other exchange students and I have a joke that... coming to Japan is like puberty!
Mood swings, awkwardness, self-confidence is all over the place, and yes...even the occasional pimple.
We call it...Spontaneous puberty!
So I am all over the place! haha. One minute you are having a great time and the next you are frustrasted with the language and are homesick. But with everyday it gets a little easier and there is nothing you can do except throw yourself into your studies and try to make friends!

And! I am doing my best!
I am having the experience of a lifetime!
This will always be something I will remember and I feel like I am coming to know myself better and discover new things about myself and...all that jazz!
Plus - I really miss church. But I feel like I desperately need God here...and so I am in earnest pursuit everyday. Prayer,　journaling, reading my Bible, reading The Organic God (great book by the way - thanks, Corey!) and just...relying fully on my God.
This trip was a gift from God and I rely on my Savior everyday for strength and guidance. I also spend a lot more time in prayer - any chance I get, really - and I know God will see me through every day and anything!

And so!
I have probably been on the computer too long!
This post was brought to you while listening to Never Let Go by Paramore and From First to Last by...er...someone!
:)<3