Hello! I have been super busy lately so I am sorry I have not posted another update. I want to share these 2 stories with you and hope you enjoy them as much as I did experiencing them.
The Dental Check
My host brother thinks I eat way too much but I just say I am a growing boy. I told my host mom that in America I normally eat snacks throughout the day to keep me full between breakfast and lunch. The next day she gave me a pack of chocolate bread to take to school in addition to my lunch. After the first 65 minutes of school, I was starting to get a little hungry. I opened the bread bag and offered a piece to my host brother, Nori. He thankfully accepted and we both started eating the delicious bread. Half way through, one of our classmates came up to us and said something to Nori in Japanese. I wasn’t sure what was said but Nori said “uh oooh” and stopped eating. He then proceeded to translate what had been said. Both he and I had completely forgotten the dental check next class period! I grabbed my water bottle and tried cleaning bread out of my mouth. It definitely didn’t get all of it but it was better than nothing. Nori and I, along with my classmates, walked to the auditorium where there were multiple people checking students’ teeth. Each person went to a separate station so Nori and I were separated. He is typically able to translate the Japanese that I do not understand. I unfortunately never got a “what a dentist in Japan might tell you” unit in Japanese class so I was pretty clueless what he was trying to tell me. I opened my mouth and he inspected my teeth. He said some more very quickly spoken Japanese and then finally said “Beautiful!!”. Finally something I understand. It was very funny the way he said it and I have never had someone inspect my mouth and say “beautiful!!”. All is well that ends well.
Happy Birthday
Nori was busy the day that this occurred. My host mom and I rode our bikes to get lunch. I was not sure where we were going because when I asked she said follow me. We hiked through narrow streets that all looks very similar. After 10 minutes or so of biking we arrived at a very small cafe. She went inside and came back to inform me that it would be about a 20 minute wait. We walked through the neighborhoods and attempted to talk. I was able to say enough Japanese and her English was good enough that I think we understood each other. We returned to the restaurant and were seated. We ordered noodles. It was very busy and pretty noisy. There were 5 tables in total all full with happy people. We ate salad and then spaghetti. After we were served a cheese cake desert. While we ate, the restaurant cleared out a little. Two tables away but still very close, a birthday celebration was happening. The whole cafe stopped and we sang to a very happy, little old lady. They brought her out a delicious looking cake topped with fruit and 4 candles. The candles burned warmly on her aged face. Her eyes were very bright and she looked very content to be there. She was with what I assumed to be her daughter and a couple others. The chef came out and took a picture with her and she just was so happy to be there. I later learned that she was turning 92 years old. The more time I spend in this foreign country and culture I have come to see how alike we humans are. This was a great example of it. No matter your age, gender, beliefs or back ground, I think we enjoy being celebrated. Also you can never be too old to be happy.
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