Small Things

When all is said and done, what I hope to remember from this trip is all the small things that have really mattered to me.

            Making takoyaki from scratch with my host mother and little sister in the living room, laughing as we spill the batter, flip the takoyaki, and giggle at my little sister grilling and eating the tenkasu plain.

            The meals shared with my host family; all of us together at the dinner table, setting everyone’s place, figuring out whose chopsticks are whose, and finally arranging the food in a pretty way. “Itadakimasu!”

            Walking down the side streets near Doshisha with friends or by myself whenever there’s free time.

Getting lost and just enjoying seeing the houses, temples and small shrines that are everywhere.

Enjoying the different kinds of silence I find: the peaceful silence that exists just within the gates of the shrines, the gentle silence near houses and shops which hints of life and households going about their daily activities, the hospitable silence between yourself and the people you meet on the street when you share a glance, a soft smile and a small nod...

Sitting in the living room of my host family’s house with my homework. I always internally chuckling when I see my host sisters or mother looking inquisitively at my work, and end up turning it so they can see it better at which point we laugh at its content or work on my problems with it together.

Doing homework with my host little sister. She helps me with my questions about Japanese, and I help her with her questions about English. Together we end up understanding what we’re looking at better and enjoy the process a bit more.

            Sitting with friends and talking till the wee hours of the morning, or procrastinating from doing homework by going on late night convenience store runs.

            Going to karaoke with a group of friends and singing regardless of whether we think we can sing or not. Eventually we all end up singing almost every song that comes on together and having a grand time.

            Meeting people through friends, karaoke, school or my host family and talking with them right off the bat, leading to a budding friendship that I treasure.

            Making dinner with friends in our tiny apartments and laughing as we all talk over each other and maneuver ourselves around.

            Exhaustedly stand on the train or metro going home and talk slowly with a friend, or just enjoy the silence, the rocking movement and the clicking sounds of the wheels on the track while relaxing.

            Coming home from school and sitting with my host mother (and host sisters if they’re home) and just talking for a couple hours over tea.

            Learning Japanese with my host mom, and helping refresh her English. I always chuckle when my host mother runs excitedly to get her Japanese-English dictionary, and I keep my electronic dictionary nearby for reference purposes.

            Looking out the window of the kintestu train on my way to and from school from my host family and marveling at the beauty that surrounds me. The rows upon rows of rice fields, the mountains in the far distance, the rare stork (heron or crane) that I see hunting for its food amidst the green fields, and the houses that gracefully rise out of the greenery.

            The knowledge that even though I’m not in a place I was born in, have lived in for long, or speak the language fluently, I’m comfortable here and am not worried about having any serious problems.

            Though this is not a complete list (as if I could compile that), among other things these are what have made this trip memorable. There are larger reasons that I’m enjoying this summer, but I would be remiss if I said that those were the only reasons. It’s the little things that really make every day special, and it is these that I wish to remember.