Lost again, and kids in Japan.

I went out to eat sushi with my host parents today. I’ve never really had it before that I can remember. It made my stomach kind of upset afterward. It felt like I had a rock in my stomach and not real food. I don’t think I’ll eat much sushi while I’m here. I don’t really like it, but there is a lot of other good Japanese food besides sushi.

I got lost again coming home from school. I thought I’d mastered that route but I was sorely wrong. I took the wrong direction for about 15 minutes and then went back only to realize it was a circle and it would have been faster if I’d kept going around the circle instead of turning back. Then I took the simi-express instead of the express train on the seibu lines thinking it would still take me to hibarigaoka. I don’t really know if it did take me there or not. I might have fallen asleep for a few minutes and past it. Anyways, it took me an extra hour in a half to get home for a total of two and a half hours *Sigh*.

One thing I noticed about Japanese that’s kind of funny is that, unlike Americans, they aren’t embarrassed to be running everywhere. When I commute to school, I always see some people running this way or that. I’d feel embarrassed if I had to run someplace, especially in a city. Maybe it just a city thing, I haven’t really ever lived in a city. I’ve been to Washington DC a bunch but I never saw people running all over the place.

One thing I saw today that really surprised me is that 5 year olds ride the train by themselves. There were three of them and it looked like they were going home from school. One by one they got off at their own station and I guess walked home. I see kids about that age all the time walking by themselves in Tokyo. To me, they seem way too young to be going around by themselves in a city like Tokyo, but I guess it’s a cultural difference. Or maybe it’s just safe enough in Japan for people not to worry about them. I don’t think I could have imagined it before actually seeing 5 year olds navigating by themselves in a city as big, confusing, and crowded as Tokyo.

Today at school was pretty uneventful. It was the orientation for exchange students. Tomorrow is my Japanese test. I hope I can get into the intensive track. I’m pretty sure I can, but if I can’t that’s going to really suck because I need the extra credits on the intensive track. I think I’m over worrying about it though. Supposedly, only like one person out of all the people who tried that was too sucky to get into the intensive track. I hope I’m not number two.