Mi Japonesa

Well, as promised, my Japanese "sister" moved in Tuesday! Her name is Eye, or I, or most likely spelled a very different way but that's how it sounds. Anyway, she arrived late Tuesday night and will be living with us for the next month. She seems very nice, but she speaks absolutely no Spanish OR English. The first night she was here, Eleu (my host mom) asked her, "Quieres cenar?" which means "Do you want dinner?" - a relatively simple question, but she didn't understand her so Eleu dragged her to my room and told me to ask her in English, so I did, and she still didn't understand at all. It was pretty funny because we started to mime eating motions and finally she got it. Our interactions are hilarious, I really wish someone was here to appreciate it! It's hard to imagine, but she actually makes me feel like my Spanish is pretty good. At dinner tonight I asked her if she had class today and she didn't understand so I just gave up. But she did smile a lot, so I know she's nice! It must be so hard to not understand anything. I really wish I was able to communicate with her somehow because it must be so hard having just gotten here and not understand anything. I'm sure she'll pick a little bit up from just being here, but still.

So yesterday was Ash Wednesday and I attended Mass for the first time in the Cathedral. I usually go to the Church right near my apartment but a bunch of my friends from school wanted to go and we figured this would be a great time to see the Cathedral. The Bishop had the Mass and it was pretty crowded, especially considering how large the Cathedral is. They do Ash Wednesday a little different over here, which was interesting. Instead of making the sign of the cross on your forehead with the ashes, they sprinkle them on top of your head. When I saw this, I realized why I didn't see anyone walking around with ashes during the day. It was definitely different and I felt kind of dirty afterwards with ashes in my hair. Muy interesante.