I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago. I usually accompany okaasan to her gospel singing group (once, we went straight from buddhist circle to gospel group,) and the other day the group leader invited us out to "yakiniku," which is sort of a Japanese equivalent of barbeque. At the tiny, smokey yakiniku shop, we were presented with various plates of fried or grilled pork, chicken and beef along with vegetables on little wooden skewers. My bravery was put to the test yet again with the last dish: horse sashimi. The meat was almost frozen and I found the flavor strange and difficult to describe-- a little tangy, maybe, but I managed to eat two or three small pieces.

After that, we moved next door to a tiny little izakaya, or Japanese bar, with a karaoke screen. The bartender was another woman from the gospel group, and we talked with her and okaasan and I drank tea and ate little side dishes of tofu and vegetables. Soon, two "ojiisan" or old men came in. Turns out that one of them was okaasan's middle school classmate that she hadn't seen in years. Everyone sang lots of enka ("Japanesu souru songu" as they tried to explain to me) and okaasan was really really good. We stayed there for almost 5 hours and talked about various things. I've been told that Hokkaido doesn't really have a dialect, but they all chimed in to teach me "Kamiisou ben" or the dialect from the tiny little town we live in. For instance, to say "yeah, I understand" people in Kamiisou apparently say "nda nda nda" instead of "sou sou sou." Also the mystery of the word "taigi" was finally solved! Okaasan always uses this word, and my dictionary lists it as "great cause" or "state ceremony" neither of which makes any sense. Apparently in Kamiisou-ben, it means "tiresome" or "inconvenient."

 It was a really authentic experience that I never could have had without my host family, and the Japanese was rapid and casual. In short, nothing that a textbook example could come close to approximating. True, about one in every three rapid sentences was lost on me, but I still count it as a victory. Looking back at my electronic dictionary history from that day is interesting: festival car, cell, folk song, pale indigo, right to remain silent, hairy caterpillar and skyscraper are among the strange collection of words I had to look up to follow the conversation.

The next Saturday, we went to Kousuke's preschool matsuri (festival). The tiny, plump children decked out in summer kimonos struck a strange contrast to their petite, perfectly made-up mothers in heels and frilly skirts. As might be expected, the children alternated between screaming with delight and wailing, and the greater part of the two hours was spent trying to organize them for group photos. Nonetheless, it was fun.

The next day, Hokutoshi, (the official name of the town I live in, combining Kamiisou and a few surrounding towns) had a matsuri as well. It felt kind of like a county fair back home, but there was also a parade with lots of traditional floats and dancing. 

In terms of learning Japanese,I've heard fellow students express envy for small children more than once-  "they learn Japanese through absorption, I learn through pain," one of my friends said. Still, recently, I've realized that a few aspects of Japanese that I've always struggled with have somehow managed to untangle themselves without any effort at all. One of these is the use of the verb "shimau," which, when connected to other verbs has a range of meanings from "accidentally did (verb)" to "completely finished (verb.)" Being able to use it is essential to speaking natural Japanese, but I could never manage to work it into my speech. Recently, however, I've found myself being able to effortlessly slip it into conversation. Another thing that's mysteriously become very easy recently is the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs. In Japanese, "the store is open" and "I open the door" require different verbs. Another example is "the parade started" and I started my homework." I'd never been able to consistently use them correctly, but recently I realized that without really thinking about it, I have no trouble differentiating between them anymore.