Spending time with the Yamaguchi family

I am sorry I have not posted for a few days. I was away from my house, so I could not post. I was invited to spend some time with the Yamaguchi family again.

On Wednesday, Mrs. Yamaguchi picked me up in the morning to go shopping. This time all of her kids were at school, so Mrs. Yamaguchi took me to Toys R Us to look for some Keroro Gunso items. (I LOVE Keroro Gunso) I was really happy because there were Mario and Keroro things all around. I bought a lot of Keroro things and Mrs. Yamaguchi was supprised because she knew I liked Keroro, but not that much, LOL. So after leaving the store with a big bag, we went to the supermarket to get some lunch items. Afterwards, we went to pick up her daughters, Yume and Towa, from their bus stop. They go to a Catholic kindergarten and they are twins. They are super cute and try to talk to me, but I don't understand. Their bus was pink and all the students wore light blue hats. Yume had gotten a bloody nose at school I think, so she had a wad of tissue in one of her nostrils, lol. We went to Jusco afterwards, which was a 3 story super market and department store. We went to look for Keroro toys from the little capsule vending machines. (I guess they are called "Gachya Gachya") We found another spot with Keroro toys, and Mrs. Yamaguchi bought me one as a present. It was very nice. We went to their house for lunch and afterwards I was dropped off back home.

Later, my host mom said that she invited Kyoko (a friend's daughter she introduced me to) to go out to dinner with us. (My host mom was nice to try to find someone my age to spend some time with.) The previous day, Kyoko and I went to Asahikawa city to look around and explore. I had my very first purikura, lol. A picture taking machine that also enables you to doodle on the pictures you take. These personalized snapshots are about the size of a postage stamp and are printed out in sheets. There was a room with like 20 of them. It was fun. At dinner I had ordered tempura, which is one of my favorite foods from Japan. Of course, sushi tops it though.

The next morning, Mrs. Yamaguchi picked me up again to go to church. After church, we went to a car wash and we both washed the car together. Afterwards we visited both of her sons' elementary school. Koushiro is in 1st grade and Yotaro is in 3rd grade. I felt bad for Koushiro because he was the only 1st grader in his class, but it was very cute when he studied with the teacher. Yotaro had 4 kids in his class and one was a 4th grader. I enjoyed watching them in class because I was actually learning too. We picked up the girls and then went back and picked up the boys when their school ended. The six of us went to a supermarket called CO OP to get food. Right before the entrance we saw the new mascot bear of CO OP just walk out of the truck. I guess this was the first time they have done that. I was the first person to take a picture with it, lol. It was funny to see the bear dancing around the store while we were shopping.

Back at home, Yoshiro had some Keroro Gunso episodes on tape that he recorded because he loved Keroro, too. Both boys actually had Keroro underpants and Koushrio ran around in them. I would be staying the night at the Yamaguchi house. The day before, Mrs. Yamaguchi had invited me. I had my own room and a real bed so it was comfy to be able to be in a bed again lol. I drew pictures with the kids before diner and played New Super Mario Bros. with Yotaro on both of our DS's. (I am sorry you missed out on a Mario Bros. match with me, Chris Carder XD). While I was playing, the other 3 kids took my camera and started taking pictures with it. Koushiro took pictures of my DS, and Towa and Yume took pictures of each other. It was funny to look back at them and see what they did in there pictures. At dinner we had Sukiyaki, which was awesome. Everyone took a raw egg and cracked it into thier bowl. Then Mrs. Yamaguchi had a stove-type thing in the middle of the table. In a pot, meat, mushrooms, tofu, and noodles were being cooked. everyone took what they wanted one by one from the community pot and dipped it in the egg to eat it. It was very interesting and good. Since it got a little messy, newspapers were set around the table. Right by Koushiro's seat was a picture of a man and an animation with a golf club in swinging motion. It was hilarious when he was drawing pictures all over him and drawing poop pictures on him. The best part was when he drew a poop with the "swish movement" lines right were the golf swing was. I almost was on the floor laughing. We all made funny faces in the pot because our faces appeared distorted from the concave and convex areas of the pot. Mr. Yamaguchi came home from work, but he went out with his friend from work right away. I got to meet him and say hi, but that was about it. It was late and I went to bed.

In the morning, we had bread that we chose from the previous day. Of course, I chose melon pan and a chocolate filled roll. I never liked bread so much in my life. At the supermarket, there must have been at least 10 different kinds of bread I wanted to eat including the curry filled one (I misspelled it last time because I am so used to Japanese Katakana being "karee" LOL. XD)

Mrs. Yamaguchi and I then went to church. After mass, we went to a discussion about the New Testament with the priest there. He studied in America so he could speak English quite well. We met some of Mrs. Yamaguchi's friends, and we went to lunch afterwards. I had rice and pork with curry. (Well, I feel the need to say it... mm mm.)

After being out most of the day, we picked up the kids and went to the house. We played games just like before and watched Star Wars episode 3 in Japanese. It had English subtitles so I could understand at least. :D It was a an enjoyable afternoon.

Later in the day, we went to a restaurant called 5 Star to eat. We met with Mr. Yamaguchi there. It was a viking style restaurant, but a little different than the other one I went to with my host mom. This one had a grill in the middle of the table. (I'm still a bit confused as to why it is called viking style, but the best way to describe it is the Japanese version of all-you-can-eat.) The dinner was very similar to the sukiyaki, because we all chose meat to grill and and ate what we wanted. Yakitori, sushi, tempura, and melon soft serve ice cream was what I chose to eat. It was one of the best meals I have had. So many of my favorites were available to me. By the time we got home it was late, so I talked with the parents for only a little bit before going to bed.

Saturday morning we had biscuits and jelly for breakfast. I had milk tea to drink, which is one of my favorite drinks here in Japan. We talked a little and later I showed Yotaro an infinite life trick in Mario Bros. XD. Afterwards, it was time for me to go home. (Perfect timing - I have been wanting to watch Keroro Gunso on TV because it is on Saturdays at 10:00 - I would make it home just in time :D)

I thanked the Yamaguchi family for everything. I had a unforgettable time with them. They want me to stay at there house again sometime before I leave. I hope to do so, too.