first homestay

The kids have the mumps so they can't go to school so I've been helping take care of them. They are all sick, yet wild and loud as ever. The good news is my host father doesn't have to go to Niigata until Friday now, but he still works long days at the hospital. I'm starting to get frustrated with not being able to explore, so I took an hour walk around the city. I found a temple near the house. It was full of white oragami chains that are used to heal any illness by touching it to your place of pain. I also found some pachinko parlors, one of which is right across from our house. The roads in Japan don't have names and a lot of them are just wide enough to fit one vehicle, so if two are sharing the road one has to pull into a driveway or off to the side and let the other through. They also drive on the opposite side of the street here, so it's confusing which way to look for oncoming traffic when crossing the road. I love the candy here. For some reason kit kats are really popular and they make them in tons of different flavors, like melon or kiwi. I haven't tried one yet but I will. They also have this gum called "black black" that has niccotine, caffeine, and codeine in it. On my walk I also found a vending machine with pepsi and mountain dew right by my house, so at least I'll have caffeine for my next couple days of babysitting.

Maebashi, Japan