hisashiburi da ne (it's been a while)

I've gotten numerous requests to post as soon as i could manage, as i haven't posted in nearly a week. The reason is mainly school. I am stressed after classes are over, and i usually just want to jump on the streetcar and press my headphones against my ears to immerse my head in the healing waters of English. It's not that Japanese is poisoning me or anything, it's just that English sounds that much better after so much Japanese. Like eating a piece of cake after gnawing on a brick of charcoal. But not that gritty.

My mom sat me down the other day and said, "There have been a few things that have been bothering me recently," and then charged straight into a rampage of motherly scolding, Japanese style. Which means that her language was dotted with projectile-like "ne"s (the Japanese variant of "right?") and motherly pats that seemed more like mean pokes.
She asked me, "Has your bed been comfortable every night when you lie down? Wonder why it's so comfortable?"
Then a stare.
"O-kaasan?" I venture meekly.
"Yeah, O-kaasan! I work all day and all night to make this house clean. Clean, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's very clean. Thanks to O-kaasan," I mumble looking at the table.
"And when I clean your room every day, I notice that everything is so messy! Your papers are mixed with your schoolbooks, some papers are on the floor, your bed isn't made..."
"But O-kaasan, it might seem disorganized, but i can find everything just fine--"
"No. When you enter society, you'll need to know how to organize your life! Do other host parents care about these things? No! Do I harbor bad feelings about things my host student does, but instead of expressing them say 'Oh, it's okay. Oh, I don't mind?' No! I say things directly, and it's always better that way!"
And so on...

It was a learning experience. Never got scolded in Japanese before. More later.