Woah! A Foreigner!

So there aren't really a lot of foreigners in Ojiya. More than most small cities because of the program, but still not many. People know there are often foreign kids in the city, but people are still surprised and excited to see us.

When we went to the Nagaoka Edamame Festival, the judges were very excited to have the foreign teams, the camera men were on us a fair amount, and a lady asked to take a picture with us. Similar experience when visiting schools. Kids would open up windows or come into hallways or classrooms so they could see us, say hi, and take pictures. At the super market or on the street, people will come up to us and ask where we are from. We have been in the newspaper a couple times as well.

Because the guesthouse I live at is in a village, people are a little more surprised to see a foreigner walking down the street. People are also more likely to look at you from a car because it isn't as obvious they are looking at you. Quite often I will see people looking at me as they drive by or slowing down a little then speeding up again once they are past me. One time I was walking and an older guy tried to talk to me but my Japanese isn't very good so I didn't know what he was saying. Just this morning a guy went and told his family there was a foreigner walking or something because suddenly there were five Japanese people coming over to look at me. I was asked if I lived in the guesthouse and how many people lived there. Three of us live there, but I walk outside the most. Well, I don't just walk. I also stand outside the house and dance. People seem to enjoy that a lot and some that have met me will wave at me if I'm outside.

One of my housemates and I went to a festival last Friday and they let us try the taiko drums and the people that ran the food stand gave us free food and wanted to talk to us. Many people did, actually. My housemate speaks much better Japanese than I do, so they mostly talked to him, but I did a little talking too. There was traditional dancing at the end of the festival that I participated in. That was pretty cool. 

At this point I also have the "Woah! A foreigner!" mindset. In general the only foreigners I see are the people in my program so when I see one while walking around or at a school or at a tourist spot I look at them a lot too 😆.