reality escapes her

My 17th birthday was on February 25th and I had two parties. One was in Japanese class. There was a jar of peanut butter, strawberry jelly, honey, yellow bananas, saltine crackers, and a loaf of bread. Jackie, James, and Sam stopped by. I skipped second hour. Sara and I had a nice little conversation about the Japanese exchange program.

I'll end up living with two different host families during my stay in Japan. I got this stack of papers last month, two copies of everything, pages with lines and lines of kanji, an official acceptance letter, a list of classes I'm signed up for, and my first host sister's information sheet. I got a letter from her:

Dear Kate

     Hello! My name is ****** Moegi. I'm glad to send a letter to you.
     Today, I want to introduce my family to you.
     My father, ****** Nobuyuki. He is a high school teacher, and is very kind. He's age is 45 years old.
     My mother, ****** Fumiyo. She is a piano teacher, she teaches the piano to small children at home. She is a good mother.
     I, ****** Moegi. I am a KC student. My hobby is reading books (detective story, "Sherlock Holmes"), and I like sports. I'm 16 years old.
     We live in Kobe-City. In Kobe-City, there are many place to visit. We want to visit there with you.
     In Japan, many good traditions and so on, there are many things to learn. I think you learn that, you will be able to understand Japan very well.
     At my school, friends are very kind, so I think you can enjoy your school life at KC.
     I want to know about your family etc.... Please keep in touch. I will send a letter again.
     If you have a question, please ask us.
     Greetings to you and yours.

Sincerely 02/16/04 ****** Moegi

Once, in Japan, I went to a Sizzler in Osaka.

The menu had a list of all the different ways your meat could be prepared, and the most well-cooked meat was still a little pink.

At one point during the meal I looked up just in time to see someone walk by wearing a shirt that said "MOTOR OIL" and I laughed at him. Then I spent like, five minutes explaining the concept of motor oil to Kaoru, but she didn't think it was funny. I ended up feeling like an ass for making such a big deal over someone's T-shirt.

I don't know what made me think of that story.

My last day of school is March 19th.

I bought plane tickets the other night. I arrive in California on March 27th, and then I fly to Japan on April 1st.

I wanted to spend two weeks in California, but as it turns out I can stay for five days, tops. Plus, I'm going to miss Pat's 20th birthday on April 3rd.

When I found out I felt like the English teacher in Donnie Darko. She was fired and she looked so calm and collected, and she stepped outside and screamed "fuck" until she couldn't breathe anymore.