Visits

So last week Thursday, my cousin arrived in Japan!!!

Yay!!!

I only feel horrible that somehow I got mixed up on her flight and was waiting for her at the wrong terminal...luckily after only a few minutes of waiting and getting that "something's wrong" feeling, I found out I was at the wrong terminal and took off running to the right one. I found her at the payphone looking rather confused and troubled (because had just tried calling my cell but failed to understand...).

Anhyhoo, we made it back to my place safely and so far we've been having days filled with things to do, people to meet (some unplanned) and (for my cousin) pictures to take.

So Friday night, one of my host moms invited to her place for dinner. We met her at hte bus stop, took a bus to her place (she lives out of the city. In the country side, really), had dinner with her and her sister and spent the night. For me, it was like when I first came and decided to take up my host mom's offers to stay with them instead of the hotel. Then on Saturday, my cousin and I came back to my place (I did some cleaning...bit of a weekend routine for me... ehehe^^;;) and then met my other host mom for a Summer Festival and dinner. This host mom's friend was nice enough to pick us up and take us to my host mom's house. Again, very much deja vu to my first week in Japan. hehe.

The only bummer in all this was at the exact moment my host mom arrived to pick us up, I got a text from a friend, stubbed my toe, got a text from another friend, noticed I broke my toe nail (in the middle...part of the tip going in where all the pink part is) and then got a call from my host mom's friend to tell me she arrived. That was a really crazy 1 minute. And quite painful. Yay...let's see how temple hopping in Kyoto and train hopping in Tokyo goes... :/

Oh~! But both the dinner and summer festival were a lot of fun! And my cousin wore a yukata! But...I think she got tired of it after a while. haha. Yea...I had forgotten to mention that to keep it on, the obi (the belt & bow part of the yukata) has to be put on a little tight. Otherwise, it can easily open up and yea...I don't think she wanted that kind of show. I'm strangely ok with it...and the wooden shoes...hmm...

Then on Sunday, I finally got to meet 2 of the new ALT's! They've been around since Wednesday but I've been busy with other things (namely my cousin) that I've been having bad timing to meet them. But I finally did!

I've been keen to meet them since I'll be a block head this year. The JET's in Fukuoka are separated into blocks, or groups based on location. I am part of block 6 and along with my buddies Emmett and Lupita, we're going to be "blockheads." Basically we plan events for everyone in our block so that they don't feel lonely and so that we can get to know each other better and all that fun stuff. Furthermore, we act as contacts for them. If they have a question, they can come ask us for help or advice. So...a little like being an RA in college. :P

I will unfortunately miss the first block event because I'll be in Tokyo with my cousin. So I didn't want to make my new block feel I'm abandoning them so I've been wanted to go and say "hi" for a while. ^^;;

Later to come:
*Maid Cafe
*Fireworks Festival
*Block informal dinner (at Son House!)
*JET Fukuoka Orientation (Beer Garden)
*Kyoto
*Tokyo