Day Five-- Nagasaki

(I know it's been almost a week since I returned, but I finally now feel like updating this thing. xD)


So we rushed to the shinkansen early in the morning. Of course, I was all okay to go, because I had my handy-dandy "Shinkansen Bag", consisting of some good bread, drinks, and the latest Hana to Yume magazine. I was all set~

We rode for about 3 hours before switching to a normal train in Hakata, which in the southern-most island of Japan. Another 2 hours, part of it I dozed on and off, before we arrived in Nagasaki.

We immediately met an Italian man named Sergio (I think), who is a professor at Kwassui University. It was raining pretty hard by then, so he led us through the rain to a bus. We all packed in and we drove to the school.

We entertained and scared some college students before taking a quick tour. We visited a small museum and an even smaller chapel-thing, and then we met Sergio's students, many of whome I had met through the video exchange we did in class. First it was awkward, but we formed groups and talked about everything, from future careers to Facebook. I got to talk to an English professor, a Canadian who recommended Temple University~

After our party, we took the bus again to the high school. Immediately Hikari pointed me out; she recognized me from my photo on the Moodle. She's really cute, really energetic. Her English isn't the smoothest, but she understands a lot. She kept on laughing at me for saying "hai", and told me to use the informal "un".

We walked with Tiffany and Rachel and their homestay sisters until they went separate ways. Hikaru and I took the bus for a while, and then walked a bit through these dark streets.

It sprinkled on and off, just barely, but it was enough for Hikaru to call her mother to pick us up. We walked a bit more until Mrs. Kitahara pilled up. She introduced herself as Junko (Hikaru playfully said that I could call her "Junko-chan", as a joke) and she drove us up to their house. We talked about my father's height. xD

We walked up the stairs to their house. It's cute, two stories, three bedrooms. I met Mr. Kitahara, who reminds me a bit of Dad (they're the same age, too) and he helped me drag my heavy bags up the thin staircase.

My room is about the size of mine at home, and has a heater and a table and what looks like a futon-- Joy.

They let me hang out in my room until dinner. I was so freaked out, my hands were trembling when I wrote the first part of this.


Dinner... was ugh. It was shu-mai, and stew. I tried both. I thought I would be sick, but I smiled, at it anyway, and said it was good. Thank goodness I wasn't that hungry-- I practically filled up on rice.

(Since Marsha's breakdown, Lauren and Hurley have been making sure we're all eating 3 times a day, even if we have pigged out on snacks. I've been full all day)


After dinner, we watched my favorite talk show, Utaban, for a bit before I took a bath.


Thank god I took the public bath the night before and knew how to use it...!

Now I'm back in my room, reading The Culture of Fear, writing, and trying to stay awake.