If I could sum up the last few weeks with one word, it would be change. In both good ways and less good ways there has been a lot of things that are brand new and I am doing my best to adjust and enjoy it all. First example: relationships.
As I mentioned in my last entry, my friendships and general relationships with people here have changed dramatically. The most recent being the connection I didn't realize I had yet with my host siblings. The other day I took a step back and realized how much has changed in the months that I've lived with them. It all occurred to me while we were playing an intense game of summer-hides-in-her-bedroom-then-jumps-out-and-scares-everyone/summer-pretends-to-be-asleep-until-the-kids-get-close-enough-and-then-scares-the-heebie-jeebies-out-of-them. We were all laughing so hard. My host parents even placed themselves in a spot where they could watch the show! I would hide or prepare and the kids would come to me giggling like crazy, waiting for me to surprise them. I would wait an extra second before jumping up and making a noise similar to a dinosaur mixed with "BARRGANUKCRSKIZ!!" Every single time they would run back to their room and I would chase after them, but it would only take them about a minute to emerge again to face the "monster". It was at the point where I had all three of my host siblings throwing their underwear and bedsheets at me while I was wearing my littlest host brother's tiny hat, all of us cackling like crazy, that I realized how much had changed since I came to live with them. When I first arrived my host siblings hardly talked to me and the littlest one would throw things at me daily. Not to mention using all the "bad" words in his four year old dictionary to try to offend me. In all honestly, it was not an easy relationship to build, but I'm so glad that by the time I left that house I had some fond memories and a great friendship with my host siblings.
Four days ago I changed host families again! This time my new home was only five minutes away from my previous, so the move was the easiest so far. My new room has a great view of the mountains and of my current town, Toyohama. My new family has three kids but only one lives here, so most of the time it's just me and my host parents, who are both very kind. It's very strange though living here in such a quiet house after living with three kids who enjoy to yell. I do enjoy getting a full nights sleep though.
Quick note on food: I think have officially tried the weirdest food here. Over my eight-ish months here I have eaten jellyfish, octopus dumplings, beans that are pretty much rotten, dried fish (including bones, head, and eyeballs), and parts of chicken that I'm glad I couldn't translate. But this week's meal topped it all off. This week I enjoyed black, squid ink pasta. It makes your teeth black and is one of the most terrifying foods I think I've ever seen. However, once you get over the sight, it wasn't too bad!
School is super great. If I didn't mention it before, I recently became a cheerleader at my school! One of my close friends is the captain/choreographer and has asked me to join since the last year, so I finally did! Our original plan was that I was just going to join the cheer team for a single performance of an incredibly fun dance to Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off". But now I am going to continue with the team to cheer at the three baseball games next month! Japanese cheer leaders are pretty different from American cheerleaders in the sense that they don't do acrobatics, they just dance and cheer throughout the games. Without stopping. It's intense. I'm currently learning all 30 of the cheers/dances so that I can participate next month and also preparing for my first dance next week! I'm super nervous but I know that once I've got the outfit on, the pom poms in my hands, and the music blaring, it'll all be great. I shall try to take a video and post it later!
School has become a lot more exciting now that my vocabulary has improved, I've finally figured out how to make people laugh in Japanese! If you didn't know me well in the U.S., one of my favorite things to do is to make people laugh. I will be an absolute goofball just to get a giggle out of someone, so being unable to do that for a long time was almost painful for me. But now I can make people laugh in two languages!! ITS THE BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD.
On a completely different note, I believe I am at the best and worst part of my exchange. Everyday I learn tons of new words and make a million new memories, but now that I know when I'll be returning to the U.S., I'm starting to think about life after exchange. Which is a terrifying thought for every exchange student. Waking up here every morning is the dream life that I've wanted since the age of seven, so imagining it ending is almost impossible. Because I only have three months left I'm beginning to plan exactly how I want to spend my time. One of my decisions has been to stop going to badminton club. Now that I've joined cheer club, which will be pretty intense from now until the end of July, I've realized how much I've been overbooking myself. I don't want to be exhausted for the last part of my exchange so, as sad as I am to leave the club, I know it is the best thing for me now. I will, however, continue practicing badminton in PE which I'm very happy about.
All in all, I'm trying to keep myself busy as I enjoy my time here. I'm very happy. There's so much to be learned from the people, the culture, and this country. I know I sound like a broken record but, I am one hell of a lucky girl. Until next time, this is Summer the new cheerleader! (Let's hope I don't mess up.)