This is the last straw. I can deal with not using the
ofuro(not once in over 1 month!!!). I can take being yelled at. I can stomach being
ignored. I can accept
parental negligence.
I can stand for almost anything, but my stomach is my weak point. My problem is not that I have difficulty eating the food my host family gives me, but rather that I like eating it too much.
Yesterday evening, while eating dinner with my host family, I was informed by my host mother that I would only be allowed to eat 2 bowls of rice with dinner. This was the latest in a string of efforts by my host mom to starve me.
Some background information: I am tall, but thin. I have always had a big appetite, but I never gain any weight. My appetite is particularly large when I engage in regular exercise, as I do now. My host family is required by the school to give me two meals per day on weekdays. I buy lunch and snacks for myself. I am not trying to take advantage of my host family, so normally I buy the largest lunch I can, plus at least 2 onigiri during the day, so that when I go home I will not eat too much of my host family's food. This means that when you count drinks, I am paying out upwards of 1000 yen per day out of my own pocket for food.
Now, 2 bowls of rice sounds like a lot; however, the problem is that if I were to eat until completely full, I would be able to eat at least 4 bowls of rice (it is a small bowl, only about 5 bites)- out of politeness I have been eating only 2 bowls.
Now that this has happened, I am basically going to try discussing it with them and if there is no progress, I am moving.