keyboard troubles 2

oh and find yourself lucky that the post is in english because for the first little bit i didn:t know how to change the language it is a little button that is where the escape key is and the way to change it to another asian language is next to the space bar that is tiny. ok i am done ranting about my keyboard (I think)

just a side note

okay so in my blogs you may have noticed that i never use apostrophes instead i use colons. i do have a reason for that. I DON:T KNOW WHERE THE APOSTROPHE SIGN IS!!! i have looked and looked and i can:t find it so the colon is where the apostrophe is suppose to be so that is why i use it. hope you are all having a great day and not having any keyboard confusion good news though i did find the @ sign. love you all, andrea

i just don:t know

So i have been trying to write this for about a week, and i am finding it really hard to put into words what i am feeling. i think it is full overwhelmization. i love my host family though they laugh at me a lot. and i love japan though i don:t, even a little bit, understand the culture. i wake up at 5-5:30 every morning because i live an hour and a half away from the school and my sister has class at 8:40 and if we left any later than 6:10 we would miss our train and as it only runs once an hour that time in the morning it she would be late. this morning on the train she struggled with the sentence I am sorry you have to wake up so early, and yes i am tired but i feel that it is worth it to get up and go. not like i have a choice but even if i did i think i would choose to go with her. Oh the reason i don:t have a choice is because it is a 10 min car ride before i get on the train, so not walking distance.
one of the first things my family did when i got to their house was to give me a gift. my family chose a practical gift that is much appreciated. they gave me a set of chopsticks that are very nice. and then they showed me my dishes. each member of the family has their own set of dishes that they use every meal. i will admit at first it was a little weird, not gonna lie. but now it is just getting to be familiar and i think i may be ok with it.
there are so many things that are different about japan and i don:t think that i can justly tell you everything that i have observed. besides observations are unique to each person so you may have to observe it for yourself.
even as i sit here i am so overwhelmed with so many things to write and not knowing how to say it. this week has been jampacked with so many things classes new people everything. my japanese language class is so overwhelming that i want to cry, and i am not the only one. i want to be able to communicate but i can:t due to my lack of words and the fact that to me everything sounds the same. i want to be able to join in on conversations with my family but only one really speaks english and even hers is poor. i want to know if i offended them. i want to leave my bed out. yes make it but i don:t want to fold it up and put it away every morning. i want to know how to use the shower properly. this one is difficult for me. and i know this trip is not all about me though that is what it seems like after that paragraph so lets try and sound optimistic. my family is amazing. i try a lot of new foods that are interesting. i live in a village that is in the foothills it is beautiful. my room is the old fashion type with rice paper walls and straw mat floors. i have got to go into a jr high class that was a lot of fun.
like i said before i really don:t know what to write but i want to tell you everything at the same time. i just don:t know where to start or what to write. the best way for me to tell you things is for you to ask questions you can do it here or in an email. andrea.sanders@oc.edu. i will do my best to answer.
love you all,
andrea

another thought on the toilets

so on top of the toilet there is usually a tap with a basin under it. yes, you are suppose to wash your hands in this water. the tap fills the toilet tank so when you wash your hands you are actually putting your germs into the toilet water for the next person. just a disgussting　thought to make your day a little brighter.
more to come on this topic i am sure.

bathrooms part 2

JAPAN
so there is one major thing that i must share with the world... I hate heated toilet seats!!! i am trying to figure out their purpose, but alas i have found none that would actually work for Japan. While i was on one of these toilets i was trying to figure out what they were for and i have come up with one explanation. I have decided that the toilets are heated so that when you go outside in the middle of winter and freeze your butt, you know the kind that freezes you to the bone and you just feel the cold radiating off you your butt, that is what the toilets are for, thought i don:t know why they are on in the summer or fall.
ok i will have to find get a picture of one and show it to you, but these toilets are scary. there are buttons and knobs and many things i am too afraid to touch because i don:t know what it will do to me. i am scared of the toilet not gonna lie.
did you know that you have toilet slippers. i am surprised there isn:t an epidemic of athletes foot. these slippers you put on just to go pee. and everyone shares them. it is rather bazaar.
half the time there is no soap in the bathroom it is weird
ok so the shower is kinda weird too... there is a shower room. you have a huge tub in it too. but i think you are suppose to just take a shower in the room and not worry about the floor there is no curtain again it is just weird it is another picture thing.
good news there is toilet paper.
haha
i think that is all i have for now but i am sure there will be another Japan bathroom blog.
love you all.