So something usually happens to put life back into perspective. My host mother's mother died on Tuesday night. I feel really bad for my family, even though I didn't know the grandmother. Everything has been very chaotic since then. My host mother ran out of the house with my host grandfather (it was his wife who died) around 8pm in a mad panic. Then my host father and sister came home. My host sister was a wreck, then they left again a few hours later and didn't come home until 1am. Yesterday I saw my host father and sister for a combined total of 30 minutes while we rapidly ate sushi and then they left. I don't really understand what happens when someone dies in Japan. I know that people are cremated, but the funeral rituals confuse me. Probably because noone has been in my house to explain them. It has been really lonely at home. It is hard being in the house when they are going through such a painful personal experience. I feel like an outsider that doesn't belong.

Tonight I am going to a step aerobics class and a fight attack class with Rebekah at her gym. It should be fun. I've been jogging a little in the park near my house and it is absolutely beautiful. Especially now that it has cooled down, although I lied. The mosquitoes are back in full force. And my Ikebana teacher only speaks in Japanese. It is difficult to figure out what he is saying because it is all about 45 degree angles and the subject and object of the arrangement. I'll figure it all out eventually. I took a lot of notes that I don't understand and need to go home and translate them.