Next Stop, the Takeushi's

After having spent 3 days observing an elementary, middle, and middle/high school, we're off to our host families. I was disappointed by our last observation of the high/junior school, as the high school students were in testing, and, for reasons that escape me, save for a 10 minute walk about, they didn't let us observe jr. high classes. So basically, we spent a whole day in a room, talking to one another...As Maureen, fellow Michigander (and camper) observed, "It's like at camp when everyone finally gets sick of one another" -Exactly. Japanese surroundings or not, we were pretty tired of one another's faces, and longing for some external stimulation by 4:00. Probably the best part of the day was seeing how many times we took our shoes on and off. The rooms we were situated in for hours were in another building and it was pouring rain. One of the rooms was a tatami room, which means shoes OR slippers allowed, so most of our day went like this:

1. Enter building-remove shoes-put on slippers


2. Remove slippers (hope you wore socks or have a pedicure) enter tatami room


3. Leave tatami room, put on slippers


4. Put on shoes, leave in pouring rain (BYO slippers), walk 50 yards, remove shoes, put on slippers




5. Go to gym, remove slippers
   
   
6. Leave gym, put on slippers; leave building, put on shoes, carry slippers, change to slippers, then off again in tatami room


7. Leave tatami room, put on slippers; walk to bathroom, take off slippers, put on toilet slippers; pee, leave toilet, change to slippers; back to tatami room and off with yer shoes!
   

Ok, so it's a really poor representation of the shoe/slipper/no-slipper conundrum us Americans are trying to figure out. Though I would never have thought of integrating phys. ed into my follow-on plan, I've decided to create a "shoes-slippers-no slippers-bathroom slippers" obstacle course for my LifeSkills kids with little questions at each shoe exchange place. What a digression...

Another observation: Gangsta' has hit Hikone. I was deeply saddened to see teenaged boys with their pants way below their waists, so much so that I apologized to the principle of the Jr. high school for this (unsightly) trend. We might not import cars to Japan anymore, but boy, we've got prison pants to be proud of...GO AMERICA!!

Last observation: As you all have read, i'm slightly obsessed with toilets here...it's hard not to be, as the Japanese are also REALLY obsessed with their toilets. Although many of Tokyo's toilets were "Western" (i.e. have a seat), all the school's we've gone to have traditiona (i.e. squat to pee) toilets. It's hard to get my head around the dichotomy of a place that has heated toilet seats with warm water spray, the sound of rushing water, and butt dryer (no, really, I couldn't make that up), and in the next stall, a hole (albeit, pretty and clean hole) in the floor. THANKFULLY, they've provided instructions

(not for the squat to pee, althoughugh many of us American Women might be glad for that) on how to operate the toilet and I LOVE THIS. Here are some images from the toilet in my hotel room. Also, the toilet paper cosy is from the hotel's downstairs bathroom.

I'm (almost) all packed up and ready to head to the Takeushi's, my host family. I've always had issues with staying overnight at someone's house (I have a fear of overstaying my welcome). As communication issues will be inevitable, this exchange is really pushing my boundaries so I'm a little stressed out about it. After leaving the Takeushi's, our gang will head off to a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese Inn where we'll stay for a night, bath in the place's hot springs and eat a traditional Inn's food, then leave on the following day back to Tokyo. I wish that I could say that I've SEEN Hikone, but save for our day trip to the castle/gardens, our schedule has been really sight-prohibitive, thus yesterday's experience of sitting in a room for hours with the likes of our ilk was really frustrating. I'm assuming this is the last of the Internet connections I'll have for the next 3 days, so don't worry mom, pop, and albino, I'm not dead, just in transit.