Kobe, Japan and my homestay

Japan . I have been waiting eight years to see Japan with my own eyes. As many of you know, I have been studying the Japanese culture and language for about eight years now. I finally made it! The whole time I was there, I kept thinking how surreal it was to actually be in the place that I had learned so much about. The ship got to Kobe on Friday, November 14th. The customs procedures here were the most detailed out of all the ports we visited. They took our fingerprints, our picture, and our temperatures. I then went down an elevator and as the doors opened, 30 home stay families cheered for us. They were holding signs with our name on it so I went around the circle searching for my own. I found a woman holding up a laminated paper with “Jemifer Winters” written on it. I said "hello I am Jennifer" to her and she gave me a big hug. I soon found out she did not speak English very well and I was her first home stay student. I could tell she was nervous so I started speaking Japanese which I’m sure was a big relief to her. We went to lunch with a few other home stay participants. Everyone was impressed that I could speak Japanese. After lunch Yuka, my home stay mom, drove me to her apartment. It was on the 6th floor and had a nice view of Mt. Rokko . It was around 3 p.m. and I think she wanted me to take a nap but although I was tired, I did not want to waste anytime in Japan . I tried to explain that I want to go out and walk around but she either did not understand or pretended not to because she did not want to. So instead, we sat on her living room floor for two hours and talked. At 5 we drove to another home stay mom's house and made maki rolls. Again, they were impressed that I knew how to make them without any instruction. At 6 we went to a party where there were two other semester at sea students and about 20 Hippo Club women and children. Hippo is the organization that the home stays are arranged through. It was a potluck dinner, we brought the maki rolls, other moms brought a bunch of different authentic Japanese foods that I do not know the names of but were very tasty. We then played a bunch of games including Tom and Jerry, London Bridge is falling down, and the Japanese version of rock, paper, scissors. We had a grand old time with the kids. They were absurdly smart, one little boy was speaking Korean and Spanish; another boy played the piano the whole time. It did not seem like the moms were the type to push their children into doing a lot of activities after school, the kids just enjoyed learning. At 9 p.m. a few of us went to a karaoke bar and sang American songs until 11. The Japanese are very serious about singing Karaoke, which is strange to me because any other time of the day they keep to themselves and are not outspoken. Well ,put a microphone in front of their face and play an old 90’s song, and another side of them comes out. Yuka was getting tired so we drove home and I finally got to meet her husband. He is 56 years old and Yuka is only 37, they have no children, but they work for the same company. His English was no better and I was exhausted from trying to communicate with them. Yuka told me to go shower, so I did and then I took a bath. I soaked in the tub for about 20 minutes because she told me to and then I went to sleep on my tatami mat cushion.

I woke up at 8:30 and ate breakfast with my Japanese parents. We had some kind of raw fish that did not look appetizing that early in the morning but turned out to be delicious. I also had miso soup, a bowl of white rice, and a vegetable that was a cross between a cucumber and squash. Oh and green tea of course. Then Yuka brought out sliced pears and persimmons. This might have been one of the best breakfasts I have ever eaten in my life. We sat around until 10 and then Yuka and I went to another home stay mom’s house where I was dressed in a fabulous kimono. It took about 15 minutes to wrap all the layers tightly around me. We then had a traditional tea ceremony and I learned all the rules of how and when to turn the bowl, what to say, and the proper way to drink. I then was fortunate enough to make the tea for my mom. The tea was a powder I had to stir with hot water until little bubbles formed. After that whole extravaganza, we all went to an authentic Japanese restaurant where we sat on tatami mats and ate udon noodles and tempura. Once everyone was finished we piled into a car and Yuka told me she had a surprise for me. We arrived at an onsen! This is a hot spring where women get completely naked and soak in extremely hot natural bath. At first when I had to strip all my clothes off in front of a bunch of older women I felt a little awkward but then once we got in the bath it didn’t even matter that I was naked. There were about seven different types of baths. There was one with a high level of iron and so the water was a reddish tint. One bath had jets that shot up your butt, another that felt like electric shocks going down your spine. There was a salt room where you rub salt all over your body and sit in the sauna like room and then rinse it off and jump in yet another spring that was super hot. I don’t understand why we don’t have these bath houses in the states. I also don’t understand why we don’t have toilets like them. They are heated, have vibrating seats, play music, and squirt water up your butt. After the onsen ,Yuka drove me back to the ship where I met friends who I was going to travel to Tokyo with. I will save that tale for another blog. I was in all my glory the whole entire time I was in Japan . Hands down my absolute favorite port.