Monday, August 8, 2016

Week 10: And Then it Hit Me! I'm in Japan

First and foremost, I would like to report that Japan exists. It's all true. It's a real place with real people, real culture, and a lot of telephone poles.

Also, I'm proud to say that I've already checked something off of my Japan bucket list! All my teachers said it would happen, and I didn't really believe it would happen to me, but it's only my first week and it's already happened!

Yeah, so I got hit by a car.

Welcome to Japan!

Like actually, my trainer was trying to kill me and zipping through intersections like a crazy person, and I have to stay near her, so I was a little tunnel vision trying to not get lost IN JAPAN and then this car just started coming...... It was actually super funny! This super nice lady gets out of her car and starts rattling Japanese at me as my trainer zips out of sight. She didn't come back until a good 5 minutes.

Don't worry, I didn't get hurt or anything! My bike is fine, too! Not a scratch on either of us.

But yeah, I got hit by a car. :)

Look at my trainer and I! She's the one that's trying to kill me!

But really though, JOKES aside (her name means joke in Japanese, it's great) she's really nice!!

But do you know whose really, really nice? The ward members in Japan!!! They are all legitimately my best friends. Okay that's a bit of an exaggeration, but they love the missionaries so much.

Last night, we went to visit one of the cute old grandmas in the ward. We just stopped by, she wasn't expecting us. But then she made us dinner, it was so sweet! And then I told her I liked the pickled eggplant, so she got up and picked out the eggplant from the pickled vegetable bag so I could have more. She was so sweet.

She fed us--get this--fish flakes and avocado on rice. :)
It was actually pretty darn good, not gonna lie.
And! She gave me my first mugicha. It's this Japanese barley tea, that all the missionaries hate at first and say it tastes like dirt. I liked it. Yeah, it tasted like dirt, but good dirt, okay. It's good.

There's this thing at church called the "Fruits Basket" and it's a basket where they put food in for the missionaries in the area. That thing was FULL. We got so much junk food, and, because the gas is out in our apartment, now I won't starve!

Yeah, the gas is out in our apartment... All we ate this week was questionable vegetables and candy. Survival food!

This week we taught English classes. We teach them every week. And me and my companion teach the kids classes (SCORE!!) One of the girls is my new best friend. She is so cute and sassy, and she laughed at me when I acted doofy. We played pictionary like nobody's business. She just gets me.

What else happened--OH YEAH. WE WENT TO A FESTIVAL!!! Like an actual Japanese festival. With this really pretty investigator who is also my best friend.

Some random people came up to us and took pictures with us because we are American. Got to admit it, I love the attention.
And this nice old grandma kept giving me stuff.
And EVERYONE GIVES US CANDY!!

And some creepy guys flirted with us and showed us their tattoos, because we're American. My trainer was so uncomfortable. I thought it was hilarious. But, to be fair, that was the day I got hit by a car, so I was just happy to be alive.


Here are some pictures of the festival!





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