Moving in

I am at my host family's house right now.  It is in a quiet neighborhood west of my school, very peaceful.  I'm really glad I was speaking Japanese during the summer, because it makes the transition to living in a mostly-Japanese environment much easier!!  My host family is made up of three people, really.  First is my okaasan (mother), who is a housewife and likes gardening; we've been talking a lot, and she's the one explaining all the how-the-house-works things to me, like what to do with laundry and when to shower and those basic things that kind of vary from house to house.  She also explains words and kanji to me, which is really helpful.  It seems like she's made kind of a hobby out of raising exchange students--this family has been hosting with AKP for over 10 years, so she knows exactly what kinds of things I'm not likely to know about or understand right off the bat, which is really helpful! 

Next is my otousan (dad); he works from home, I'm not exactly sure doing what but whatever, and likes to watch TV.  He's been talking to me a lot too, during meals and everything.  They're both very friendly. 

Last is my oneesan (big sister).  Despite being a grownup and having a job, she continues to live at home; I get the impression that this isn't all that unusual for unmarried women, though it's more unusual for women to be unmarried at her age.  She spends most of her time in her room, listening to Arashi and doing I'm not really sure what, but she eats meals with everyone else and when we're around each other, she's friendly and sociable.  I think she's nice. 

This weekend has been mostly moving in, getting settled and unpacked, and getting into the routine of things.  Being able to speak Japanese has helped a lot; I can ask when I have questions and be pretty sure of getting the information I'm looking for, rather than just stumbling along and hoping I understood right!  Then, from tomorrow (Monday), we start classes.  Sort of.  We start our elective classes, the ones that're on cultural stuff, but the first week of class is sort of a 'review' for Japanese classes, before we take placement tests on Thursday/Friday (speaking on Thursday, listening and writing on Friday).  That's kind of nice, because it gives me some time to actually remember how to read a little before the test. 

Also I have some pictures of things.  We went on a two-hour-or-so trip to Shimabara, which used to be a district for geisha (called geiko in Kyoto) and oiran (who also have a different name here but I forgot it), the other day. It still has a lot of the old teahouses and shrines around, despite being pretty solidly a residential neighborhood now, so it was interesting to explore.