Aizu Homestay

This weekend all the new junior high school Jets were made to go to Aizu in the West of the prefecture to participate in a homestay so that we could experience 'real' Japanese family life and also do some Japanese lectures.

The last homestay I did which was when I was living in Yokohama went pretty badly, with me being the only person not to have a great family and I actually ended up leaving early as the experience was so awkward and boring.
Needless to say, that made me a tad nervous about doing it again and this time it would be for two nights and if I didn't like my family there was no escape, I would just have to gaman suru (endure it) or sleep on the streets.

We all arrived in Aizu on the Friday afternoon, paid our homestay and course fees then filed into a room full of desks. On the board were our class groups and where our seats were in the room. On each of the desks lay a brown envelope and when I found mine I pulled out random bits of paper with all sorts of informationa about Aizu and earthquakes that I expect I will never bother read. But, nestled among those bits of paper was the information about my homestay family. I was so nervous when I looked at it and everyone else had found their's... there were families with small kids, cats, dogs, who had requested certain kinds of people and had written about what kind of things they would do with their token homestay gaijin.

And then there was mine... three people and the youngest of them was 66. Oh dear. The section about what kind of person they would like... nothing written. The part about what cool Japanesey things they would like to do with their gaijin.... again, nothing at all.
I was totally gutted but not overly surprised. Just my homestay family luck!!!

However, when the time came to meet my host grandparents and be taken back to their place, it soon became clear that there wasn't any need to worry.
Although shy at first, they became chattier over dinner (and alcohol of course) and I had a really nice time with them. They were very keen to show me some good old Japanese culture so in the morning we woke up early to go and have a look at a near-by temple and then after a days worth of Japanese lessons and the most boring history lecture I have ever ever ever sat through, I was picked up by my grandparents and taken to some hot springs followed by some good old Karaoke.
I can't think of a more Japanese experience if I tried! I even had a man at the karaoke bar be rude and racist toward me. So Japanese!


They eventually sent me off with bags of rice and vegetables which they had grown themselves (as they are farmers) and told me to come back soon.

It's sad that I massively judged them before I met them but still, hanging out with an old couple really wasnt what I was expecting to be my 'real' Japanese homestay experience.