100% Glad, 100% Frustrated

So I told y'all I moved, but I didn't say much about my new host family or home or such. Here's a brief overview:

My new host dad is a very strict and direct elderly guy- he's been the head of a gas company for a long time now, and you can tell he's used to being the leader. A lot of people in my Rotary club are like that (my first and second host dads as well), so I'm used to it. He's also a grandpa and has hosted a bajillion times, so he's a pretty cool guy!

My new host mom is the epitome of Japanese-Kansai-older lady. She does all the cooking and cleaning and stuff, but is constantly nagging my host dad (I think it's hilarious, because it's always the big Japanese corporate heads who have wives who know how to put them in their place :D) and always treats me really nicely. I really like her, and hopefully I can get some cooking lessons from her while I'm at this house! I need to learn how to make some good Japanese dishes!

Their grandchildren are the CUTEST. The youngest girl (almost 2) always comes over to the house and plays until dinner, and now that she knows me whenever she sees me she screams, "ONEE-CHAAAN!!" It's adorable.

The house is huge. Old fashioned and gigantic. There are lots of tatami rooms and other rooms that they don't really use that are just sort of... there. But on of them is a piano room, which makes me extremely happy because now I have a place to practice that's not my own room.

They do live waaayyy out of the way, but I like taking the bus every morning because a) it's pretty and b) I can listen to my iPod for a half hour. Not to mention that it's pretty much the same route I'll be taking for the rest of my exchange, which is WONDERFUL. I have new friends to go to school with at my new station, and since I won't have to switch anymore I can (hopefully) become good friends with them :D

SO. That's pretty much my new host family info. Moving on-

I've been feeling a bit strange lately. Sometimes, I am EXTREMELY happy because of the way things have been going these past 2 weeks or so: I like my new host family, I like my new house, I've had some success recently building friendships, my Japanese is going moderately well. Things do appear to be getting better. But the other half of the time, I'm INCREDIBLY frustrated. I'm making friends, but they can never hang out, I still don't know enough Japanese to really express myself, I get homesick, etc. Mostly it has to do with how slow things feel. I'm not used to having to really work hard just to be able to communicate, nor do I really know how to make friends with these people who I don't have tons in common with. And even when I try, the results are few and far between. I'm having to do things I would normally never do, like throwing all caution to the wind and talking to/mailing people out of the blue even when I don't have all that much to say or ask. I do it because between now and July, there's not enough time to ignore a chance to deepen a friendship or say no to an opportunity. And even if my efforts go in vain once, I try again because, hey, what else am I gonna do? Ignore it and stay bored and lonely the rest of the year? I'd rather have a few friends plus a few people annoyed with my incessant mailing than nothing at all. Yet even with that attitude, it's still a frustratingly slow process. It all depends on peoples' schedule which are 90% of the time 80% full- I have to schedule things weeks in advance sometimes. It's not like America where I can just say, "Hey, wanna go see a movie tomorrow?" and off we go. That, or my friends all happen to have schedules made by test demons.

I'm not sure what to do with all this frustration. I want to figure out how I can function in this society without constantly banging my head against a wall, but there's not enough time, not at the rate things are going now! If you know me, you probably know that when I honestly care about something, I can't stand to do it halfway. If things don't pick up soon, I'm probably going to explode from impatience.

Does anyone have any tips? Any hints on how to reach out to people and such? My brain keeps nagging at me that there is a better way to get things done, but I haven't quite figured that out -_o If anyone has some quality life wisdom to hear, I would be thrilled to hear it. At any rate please comment, because I love to read your comments, be it from random people or my very own family!

Talk to ya'lls later!