Kimono

Okay. So Tuesday I met with two other team members for lunch. We went to this abura soba place close to campus. Before I came to Japan I had no idea abura soba existed. But it's amazing. Basically abura soba is large soba noodles with different types of oils (abura) and condiments. We got to sit on the tatami mat area to eat our food. Since we got there a bit before the lunch crowd we didn't have to wait thanfully, but a line formed outside soon after we got our food. It was kinda funny because we were literally the only girls there. Maybe girls don't eat abura soba that often? I mean, it was pretty heavy food...and I'm sure there were a lot of calories...I'm doing my best not to gain weight here lol.

After my one and only class for the day, I met my host family in Roppongi. My host brother's shichi-go-san (7-5-3, a celebration for kids who turn either 7,5, or 3 years old) is this upcoming Sunday (if it doesn't rain),  and my host family asked me if I wanted to wear a kimono. Of course I said yes. So they planned to try on kimono's Tuesday. And then they said they would pay for it. What. I was a bit surprised. I asked them if it was okay and they said yes. And at the kimono place I tried to say I could pay for some of it. And later that night I asked my host dad if it was really okay. I mean, I'm incredibly thankful, but stuff like this worries me. I'm worried that they are spending too much money on me. And since I'm worried, I feel like I'm not showing how thankful I am...sigh...

Anyway so when we are at Roppongi we head to this apartment complex a few blocks away. The store was literally in an apartment room. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it was actually pretty cool. Although it was small, tons of kimonos, etc. filled the room. At the first place we went to we got my host brother's hakama. Then we walked a few blocks to another apartment complex to go to another kimono place (which is connected to the one we went to first). And that's where I tried on my first kimono ever. This kimono store was similar to the first, except it was just for women. There were two girls working there (both pretty young looking). The first kimono I tried was pink. It was really pretty, but I kinda felt weird being in a kimono. I dunno, it just all felt surreal...we looked at a couple of them and they were all nice, but I fell in love with a purpleish one with whiteish flowers on it. And the obi is black with a pretty elaborate design on it. It's beautiful. So when they asked me which one I liked best, I said that one. And of course it ended up being in the more expensive group of kimonos we looked at. I wanted to say we should get the cheaper one instead, but I didn't want to seem rude.
And then today we went back there for my host mom to try on these kimonos that belonged to my host dad's mom. On the way over, my host mom told me that is one of these kimonos worked that I should wear it instead of the one they bought the day before. And I totally would have been fine with that. But it turns out most of those kimonos weren't appropriate for a shichi-go-san. Certain colors are only worn on certain events. A part of me is still worried about the price, but I'm not sure what to do if anything exactly. ddfdksfd.

Anyway, the rest of Tuesday night was a lot of fun. That day happened to be my host dad's birthday, so we all went out to eat after trying on kimonos. Of course the food was delicious and we had a couple of drinks. Then we went back to the apartment and had more drinks and food. We talked and drank for a couple of hours. It was great! They said a lot of things that made me really happy. And now they've started talking about setting me up with my host dad's middle son (one from his previous marriage, before they tried to set me up with the 21 year old, now it's the 18 year old lol). I think a part of me still has this wall up with my host family. They seem pretty comfortable around me, or at least are trying to seem that way, and they've done so much for me already. I guess I need to not worry about the things I can't control and just go with the flow. It's not that I feel uncomfortable here, but I think I over-think what I should do sometimes. I'm sure I'll become more natural(?) in the future. I'll keep doing my best for now!~