emager in Japaradise: I really should have more to show, but I don't

It's been too long! Sunday I went to my host family, and it's been great so far! They live in a western-style house a few train stops away from my school. My room is in the only traditional-style room in the house, and it's cozy and adorable! I wasn't sure, at first, how big my room would be, because the information paper said "6 tatami mat" floor. The rooms we had in the dorms were rather small, and they had eight tatami mats, so I thought I was going to be in a vertible nook under the stairs, but as it turns out, the mats at my host house are bigger. So. My room is quite nice and quite large enough.

My room!

My family is really friendly, and they laugh a lot. My mom is giggly and fun and has a bit of a Kansai accent. My dad is nice and patient and has a silly sort of sqeuaky giggle. They have two daughters, but only one of them lives there; I'll meet the other this weekend. Saori, the daughter who lives at home, is really nice and helpful, although I for some reason have a lot of trouble understanding her Japanese. They have two dogs, which at first freaked the bejeesus out of me, but they're both rather sweet. Fuu-chan is a huge goldren retriever, but she's really old, so she's just rather quiet and relaxed. Cheru is a black poodle, and while she's a little high-strung, she's all right.

Cheru and Fuu-chan!

The first night we ate homemade pizza! It was delicious. Then udon, then last night was some kind of onion soup and someting like Japanese fried hamburgery things. I wish I had taken pictures, but I think my family would have found that weird.

Dinner table!

Japanese classes are good; my teachers are adorable. I got placed in a speaking level higher than I expected, so I'm trying really hard to catch up (we're starting somewhere in the middle of Genki book 2). Ceramics is difficult and seems like not quite my thing, but I'll probably stick to it. My last class is incredibly boring, and the first class yesterday was like a philosophy class (gag me), so I'm thinking I'll be dropping that one and adding something else.