Welcome Dinner

While we drove to Kyoto, they told me what the schedule was for Sunday night. The original plan was to stop at the school and drop off my bags, but my late arrival forced us to go straight to dinner. The host families were waiting so I changed into my suit in the car on the side of the road. It was funny, but I wanted to make a good first impression. I looked much better with a suit on than with my traveling clothes.

The restaurant was very nice and they told me we would be eating Western food. When I entered the basement all of the families and their children were clapping and cheering. All I could do was bow in appreciation for the warm welcome. Ever since they picked me up at the airport I could feel the excitement in the air. Before dinner, Sister Beatrice asked me to say a few words. Luckily I was prepared for this and gladly stepped forward, opened my notebook, and introduced myself in Japanese. They were all surprised to see that I had notes prepared and was willing to try my hand at Japanese. I then met each family individually, but the names will take some work for me to remember.

Dinner was not entirely Western, seeing as we started with sashimi tuna and sea breem, which is only served for very special occasions. The tuna was good and the sea breeze was even better. Overall, the fish was much better than what I have tried in America. The most interesting meat was the sea urchin, which had a strong, bitter taste to it. The meal was very long and included several courses: sashimi, salad, pasta, pizza, steak, and dessert.

The host families introduced themselves and the children did as well. They tried to speak mostly in English and I was very grateful. The host family for the first week, the Hotta's, do not speak English more than a few words. I thanked everyone for their kindness and went home with the Hotta family. The Hotta child, Junnpei, is very cute and enjoys my company. The Hotta's house is exactly what I have pictured a traditional Japanese family's to be like. I will be sleeping in the tatami room next to the Japanese garden. I cannot wait to see the garden in the daylight.

I tried to make some phone calls to let everyone know I arrived safely, but it was challenging. Mrs. Hotta made some calls and I was able to leave one message for Dr. Delano. I then sat down to write in this blog, but I realized I was much too tired. Junnpei brought his laptop computer and sat next to me playing math games. He is so cute. I went to bed around 10:00 pm so that Junnpei would get some sleep also. It was a great and exhausting day for me.

Well, here I lie on the tatami mats at 5:40am. I cannot sleep anymore and I am waiting for Junnpei to run into my room at 6:00am. The sun is beginning to shine through the window blinds and I can hear Mr. and Mrs. Hotta are already awake. Today I will be on the school's television program! Oh boy! I will also be speaking to the whole school on the playground. Surely it will be another long, but exciting day. Now it is time to eat breakfast, take a shower, and check out that Japanese garden!