I have really enjoyed meeting so many of Seika’s family, and also I always love staying at Seika’s parent’s house.

Hi Milky! (The family dog)

At one point, Seika’s Grandma was staying with us, and also Seika’s brother’s family was all visiting, so it was a full house filled with noise and love.

Seika’s oldest nephew who I met last time is around 2 years old now. I was able to show him pictures of him and all of us together from my last visit, so he could recognize that we knew each other. It helped break up the shyness at the beginning between us. Soon, we were fast friends again!

Sweet daily phrases that I enjoyed using and home and got very comfortable with:

General greetings:

• おはよう (Ohayō, Good morning)
• こんにちは (Kon’nichiwa, Good afternoon)
• おやすみ (Oyasumi, Good night)

When someone is leaving the house:

• 行こうか (Ikouka, Shall we go?/Let’s go)
• 行ってきます (Ittekimasu, I’ll be back)
• いってらっしゃい (Itterasshai, Take care)

When someone is back home:

• ただいま (Tadaima, I’m home)
• おかえり (Okaeri, Welcome back home)

I heard and learned a lot more casual familial style of Japanese compared to what I would have experienced had I only interfaced with service workers in formal settings. I am grateful for the family bonding I get to belong to.

Last time I visited, I met a few of Seika’s friends and family. This time, I met even more. Everyone was very excited to meet me, even if they couldn’t speak English. Those who studied abroad in Canada or Australia were able to show everyone else that they can, in fact, speak English. That was fun for everyone! I look forward to seeing everyone again and perhaps meeting even more people next time. I will keep practicing my Japanese so I can contribute to a richer conversation every time I come back!

It was great to see Seika’s grandpa and uncle for Yakiniku again, and it was fun to see Seika’s nephew play around with the grandpa and uncle. There were a lot of smiles and laughing.

After dinner, we all gathered briefly at their home, and I also said hello to Seika’s other grandma who had passed away. I never got to meet her in person, but I got to say hello to her at her butsudan (仏壇, Buddhist altar) that remains in the home.

Seika’s brother, sister and law, their kids, Takuro, Seika, and I went to a nature farm restaurant with a petting zoo. Fun for us, and fun for the kids! We rented a car to get there and there were a lot of fun plants to look at for sale. We fed 鯉 (koi) fish and goats, and also the nephew got to pet a rabbit.

Seika’s parent’s took me out for meals to and I got to experience a lot of interesting foods and meet some of their restaurant-owning and bar-owning friends. I felt like a celebrity and everyone was so excited to meet me!

I kept wanting to offer to pay, but they are so hospitable, so I was only able to say:

• 甘えちゃおうかな (Amae chaou ka na, Is it ok? should I be spoiled?)
• ごちそうさま (Gochisōsama, Thank you for the meal)
• ありがと ございます (Arigato gozaimasu, Thank you)

When Seika and her family visit America, I will return the favor a lot! I look forward to it.

Seika’s grandma was recovering from a sickness, so she was staying at Seika’s parent’s place for a few days. She was wearing a mask most of the time. We traded English lessons and Japanese lessons. She is able to write in cursive and print, and she knew a few English words and phrases, and told me about her love for ballroom dancing and how she liked old American movies. For the most part, we communicated through Google Translate. Sometimes she would say something to Seika’s mom, her daughter, in Japanese and tell her to translate it to me, but her mom had to use Google Translate to facilitate that, so pretty quickly she put Google Translate on Grandma’s phone. We had a good time!

Later in the week, we went out to a fancy lunch with Seika’s grandma and two of her girl cousins. We celebrated her 83rd birthday.

I joined Seika’s cousins and brother and all their kids for an Indian dinner. My stomach was full from some Kushikatsu I had eaten right before as it was my last day in Japan, but I was eager to join them for the togetherness. We were 6 kids and 7 grown ups and a lot of smiles and laughter. Seika’s brother and one of her cousins spoke some English, but otherwise, it was nice to just be. A few of the young kids have been learning English through online videos, but they were too shy to talk to me. We took a picture all together, and I am excited for when I see them all again and can show the kids “Look! We met before! I am your friend!”

The kids are called by using the suffix “chan” (ちゃん) at the end of their name by their family members and close friends. Sometimes the name is shortened a bit to flow better with the suffix. For example, てんま (Tenma) is called てんちゃん (Ten chan), and まなと (Manato) is called まなちゃん (Mana chan). I like it.

I look forward to all the future visits, and I am eager for my future children to get to play with all the nephews and nieces and Seika’s future children. My kids will need to learn some 日本語 (Nihongo, Japanese)!

(Looking back at all my photos, I now realize that the majority of my pictures are taken at mealtimes! HA)