Shiwagi-gawa

Umeda Family ❤️

Kimoko (from the Marshall Islands) and I were paired up with the Umeda Family. They were so lovely, inviting and eager to talk with us, despite the language barrier.

Upon arriving to their home, I was slightly taken a back. It looked like the house from the film '8 year engagement' which I had watched a week before. It was a really nice place to stay, even though it was only a night. I got to experience a lot of furniture unique to Japan which I was pretty happy about.
° A futon - super comfy, I had a wonderful sleep.
° A genkan - it was a little bit of a hassle considering I was wearing docs, but I quite like the concept.
° A kotatsu: I'm in love. I knew I would love it but I'm glad I could experience it in person.

Our homestay parents were very sweet and wanted to share a lot of their culture with us. We made oragami, helped out in their garden, watched some sumo, made traditional confectionery sweets and dinner.
It was a lot of fun. It was quite cool how we were able to connect and do these activities without talking.
I really enjoyed playing cards with them, they were fun and it was sweet to see how Mr and Mrs Umeda interacted. A thing that I noticed was that they called each other お母さん(mother) and お父さん(father). It surprised me, but I found it cool :)

I did try my best to converse with them in Japanese. However, I was limited with my vocabulary and grammar, so I struggled a lot (especially due to the lack of WiFi to assist me). They had a device called a 'pockettalk' which worked as a translator for us, and although I was grateful for it, I often had to use it myself becaud eI wasnt proficient enough in Japanese. I felt so defeated. By the end of the day I was so exhausted and emotionally spent from it that I cried. (Made worse by the fact that I had no one to talk to.)Read more