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Stephanie- Life at home in Edogawa-ku

Life at home in Edogawa-ku

This is where I live now, in Edogawa-ku, with my second host family. They are a lot of fun!
View from our apartment building
View from the train station
Sometimes in the evening I watch T.V. with my host mom. One of the shows she likes to watch is CSI (dubbed in Japanese, so it's always a challenge for me to figure out how they solve everything), which is funny because my mom in Wisconsin also loves that show and we used to watch it together a lot. When I went to Mexico, my host mom Martha, also liked CSI and we would watch it together in Spanish. It's funny the things you find that are the same all over the world!

My host dad is a manager for a big Japanese department store (and one of his hobbies is running marathons!) He works late a lot of the time, but when he comes home everyone talks and when he has days off, everyone does things together, like attend different Hippo events. Sometimes he brings little gifts home with him too. The other day he gave me a keychain with the name of the station where we live, 平井 (Hirai), which looks just like the signs in the subway! This way, I will always know how to find my way home, or if I forget where to get off, someone on the train will see the keychain and let me know that this is where I get off! Haha...well, maybe :)

My host sister Maron-chan is a lot of fun too and always teaches me new things in Japanese. Sometimes we play games, but since I don't think I've figured out the strategy yet, she always wins! Except tic-tac-toe, that one I have pretty well figured out. :)

In the evenings, I usually do the dishes and sometimes help prepare dinner. It's great because I can help and at the same time learn how to prepare different Japanese foods so I can make them once I go home.  The other day I learned how to make tenpura. It was delicious!


The other day, we were watching the news and I didn't understand what the news report said in Japanese, so my host family re-enacted the whole scene for me in our living room! After that, I understood it very well! :)
Cast: 
Mom（バンビ） - Bus Driver
Dad, さとちゃん - おじいさん (Old Man）
Sister, かのちゃん - Disturbed Young Man
Scene 1:
おじいさん (Old Man) gets on the bus, taking a very long time to figure out how to figure out the ticket machine. Disturbed Young Man gets angry and starts yelling at and hassling おじいさん.
Scene 2:
Bus Driver tries to get Disturbed Young Man to calm down, to no avail.
Scene 3:
Bus Driver intervenes in an attempt to separate Disturbed Young Man and おじいさん.
Scene 4:
Disturbed Young Man stabs Bus Driver and flees the scene!

ありがとう家族！

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