On Saturday I rode the bus all the way to Gero. I was going to spend the night with Emma and her host family. The next day was the Rotary orientation, and because I live so far away, I figured that I could probably save some time by crashing there and catching a ride down to Gifu. Of course, who doesn´t say yes to a sleepover? Gero is a town half the size of Takayama, and people say there´s hardly anything to do there but go to the hot springs. Emma and I found plenty to do!
After eating lunch we hit up some karaoke. Emma and I both love to sing, and I would say we´re actually quite good at it! We were singing songs in English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and even Spanish. When we were done I could hardly speak, and my throat was sore for quite some time later, which isn´t ideal when you have to perform a speech the next day.
The funny thing is, we paid for two hours in the karaoke booth. We lost track of time when we were in there, but figured that the staff would contact us when our time was up. That didn´t happen, so we finally left. The karaoke staff told us that we were in there over one hour longer than we were supposed to be. So we had to pay a little extra. Because in Takayama they always let you know when your time is up, we could´t help but feel a little duped. We sung for over three hours! No wonder my throat hurt!
We went back to Emma´s host family and had some pretty tasty fried chicken. Emma´s current host family has been a host family more times than I can count on one hand, and outside the exchange student room, there pictures of all the kids that had stayed with them. It was really cool, and I saw some familiar faces. It made me really want to host exchange students once I have a family of my own.
After dinner we headed out to see the fireworks, but it was cold and somebody had to go to the bathroom so we watched it from inside this hotel instead. Those purple lights are fireworks, if you can´t tell. After that we headed up to the onsen. We were in there for almost two hours! Nothing is better bonding than chatting while sitting in boiling hot water, naked. The onsens in Gero are really famous for the quality of the water. It makes your skin so smooth. When I got out of the water my arms were smoother than they´ve ever been before. Eventually we got out, because we were pruning. After staying up too late talking about everything, we went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
We woke up early and got everything ready for the orientation. We were planning on practicing our speeches the day before, but that ended up not happening, so Emma, Nobu (Emma´s host bro, who´s gonna be an exchange student too), and I practiced frantically the whole drive. When we arrived at the venue, the two newbies were waiting already, so we got some time to sit and chat before the event started. Even after first meeting them I could already tell that we´d get along great. So the orientation started, and it basically felt like a flashback of my first orientation. Lots of speeches welcoming the newcomers, going over the rules, and lots of introductions. Eventually, it was time for the inbound speeches. We started off with the newbies. I was thoroughly impressed by their language skills. One of them didn´t know they had to do a speech and just winged it, and the other had prepared a really, really well-done speech. When it was time for my speech, my heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest. I usually kind of half-ass my speeches, but this time I wanted do a good job. I was able to do my whole speech without looking at my paper. My legs were shaking so hard. I looked out into the crowd, and I saw the top dog Rotarians smiling from ear to ear. It was a great feeling. Fast forward to the outbound speeches, which were done in English. Since most of the Rotarians couldn´t understand, the inbounds had to translate them. It was a little difficult, because the speeches were long and it was hard remember al the details. The outbounds did an amazing job as well. Eventually all the speeches finished and it was time for group photos.
If you look closely you can see that there are some pretty funny faces in this picture. The tradition is that the seniors call out "make a funny face" in Japanese, and then everyone makes a funny face. What makes this a tradition is, usually the newbies don´t hear or don´t understand the call, so they end up looking all proper while everyone else is all goofy. Apparently this goes back a few generations of exchange students, at least in our district.
This is what our first orientation´s group photo looked like. We had no idea we were getting set up.
We also took a few selfies
More group photos
And more selfies. I already like these kids a lot!
After a long drive passed out in my counsellor´s car, I finally arrived at home. After spending the whole day locked up in a stufy conference room, I was exhausted. It was really a long day. After telling my host mom about everything, I decided to Skype a little with my Norwegian family.
My host family also wanted to say hi, which was really fun. My host mom, sister, and nephews were so excited to say hi it was adorable. I translated, and my family back home got to hear me speak real Japanese. Everyone was so excited, I really can´t wait until all my families can meet each other this summer. I think my parents will have to start studying Japanese though, or else I´ll have a busy time acting as a translator for everyone. It made me so happy.
On Monday I was sick, so I stayed from school. I spent the day studying and watching youtube. Around dinner time I had to go to this Rotary meeting, that was going to me held at a shrine.
Turns out it was a ceremony for all the members born in the year of the sheep (since 2015 is the year of the sheep).
The guy in the funny hat is a shinto priest (?), and the same guy who performed the purification rituals at my last host family´s house. The whole ordeal gave me flashbacks to having to wake up early in the weekends. Memories. After the ritual finished I went home, while the other rotarians went to a drinking party. I saw some videos on facebook, and turns out some of the rotarians dressed up in funny costumes and did the Youkai Watch Dance. I really missed out.
My counsellor, who is a pastry chef, gave me some sweets to give to the family.
It´s shaped as a princess and an oni, which is some kind of Japanese devil/monster. Host mom told me that in this neighbourhood, there´s a tradition of people dressing up as oni and throwing beans at houses. That was apparently going to happen the next day.
Tuesday was the oni day. Nao made this oni crown at kindergarden.
I love this kid
We suddenly heard chanting and other loud sounds, signalling that the oni were coming. I stood in the doorway trying to get some good pictures. I saw some figures come towards us, and I must admit it was kinda freaky. The kids flipped out.
Just imagine it being dark and suddenly seeing this guy come towards you. They threw some beans into the doorway.
They were nice though, they even let me take a picture with them. Later I did some research on this event, and found out the third of February is called setsubun no hi, or seasonal division day. It´s the day before spring starts, and chasing of the oni is supposed to cleanse all the evil of the past year and ward of evil for the year to come. The oni throw beans, which signify good luck. The more you know.
Our interview at the burger shop aired, which I didn´t know. I suddenly got lots of messages from various members of my host families saying that they saw me on tv. I found the clip online eventually. I was so embarrassed the first time I saw it to be honest. Is that really what I look/sound like? But being on a national television show is pretty damn awesome. I also got to say hi to one of the members of AKB. I was pretty starstruck.
I finally received the photos from my kimono photoshoot. These are just pictures of the photos, cause I was too lazy to figure out how to scan them haha.
This is what I look like when I think about Hida beef.
I liked this picture so much I made it my facebook profile pic. I am never changing it again.
This is me being all serious and stuff.
This is me being happy because I´m wearing a pretty kimono.
On Saturday I had to wake up early to go to Nao´s kindergarden show thing. The production value was surprisingly high.
So many cute kids
These are little babies dressed up as daruma dolls. I just wanted to pinch their cheeks.
My host nephew is the one throwing the sassy pose.
Little elephant
It was also Nao´s Birthday party. He´s three years old now!
Kanpai-ing with Takaya
Nao´s cake. Whoever made it wrote two years old instead of three. Oops.
This is the definition of a happy kid. We were up pretty late, cause the kids were so hyped up on sugar they just wouldn´t calm down haha.
On Sunday I slept in way too late. It was a very relaxed day.
Takaya and I spent the whole day marathoning "Attack on Titan". I meant to get some studying in but that didn´t happen.
I also made crepes for everyone, so I was at least somewhat productive.
I think everyone overate, which is a good sign for me as a cook.
As a bonus, here´s that clip of me and Emma being interviewed:
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