Seasonal smurfs and as always, karaoke.

Hisashiburi, ne! If you were in Japan and happened to speak Japanese, you would understand that I am implying the spunky English phrase, "Long time, no see." This is especially appropriate, not only for the spunk implied, but also since I have indeed not posted for almost 3 weeks. That all ends...now.

Anyway, let me see where I left off--egads, it does truly appear that I stopped after finals. Remind me never to not write for 3 weeks again...

Okay.

After finals, there was one week left before we reached the long-awaited, much-anticipated winter break. That weekend, my host family and I went to Hayama and Yokohama, which are very close to the sea. We stayed in a ryokan (trivia time! a ryokan is a] an outdoor wigwam-type structure; b] a traditional Japanese inn; or c] a refurbished cave. If you don't know, you should have read my earlier posts. {hint: the answer is b.}) In the inn, we randomly met my gym teacher, who just happened to be vacationing at the same time in the same town in the same ryokan, and get this--entering the same onsen (public bath.) It was ironic. (Trust me.) During our weekend trip, we went to the top of this very high picturesque scenic mountain (at which time my camera inconveniently ran out of battery), played intense-yet-contained ping-pong, went to the ocean, and went to a few temples, at which we washed our change for good luck and got a look at the inside and outside of a very large Buddha. Oh! Also, we went to "The Venetian Glass Factory" in Japan. This was interesting, not only because everything was made out of glass and the gift shop was several thousand yen out of my budget, but also because one of the staff there told me I looked half-Japanese, this conversation spurring me later to ask my host family if I looked half-Japanese on various random occasions. For instance, my host family would ask me about the next day's plans, and I would answer, and out of the blue say, "Do I look half Japanese? Really?" (except this question was in Japanese.) And always, my host family would way no. Finally, a couple hundred times later, when my host mother asked me something, and I asked the question again...

"Are you hungry?"
"Do I look half Japanese?"
"Yes, you look half."
"Really?"
"No, I'm lying. Are you hungry?"

Alas, I do not look half-Japanese. Alas. =D


My dad came that weekend, so after I got back from the weekend trip, I met my dad for the first time since I left, so 3 and a half months. To put it plain and simply--it was really great to see my dad.

There were 3 days of school left that week before we got to break, so Dad came to school on Monday for half of the day--meaning he saw my Japanese class for 2 hours and came to Chemistry. I have to give him credit for not going crazy that day, since it was obviously not too interesting because it was all in Japanese, but at least it was only a half day. I show-and-tell-ed my dad to my homeroom class--it was as chaotic as my first day. All my classmates were screaming "cho-kakkoi!" aka "super-cool." My dad IS super-cool, thank you very much. =)

After a few day in Tokyo, during which we did the school visit and went out to dinner with my host family, my dad, Natsu, and I went to Nagano and Hakuba to ski, but also to see nihon saru = super-duper-uber cute Japanese snow monkeys! I told my host family about our plans to see snow monkeys, and they all didn't believe that there were any where we were going. I don't think Natsu believed me up until we actually saw them. ("But they're real! I promise! The monkeys are real! I've SEEN them! I PROMISE!") The monkeys were in a special monkey park, and had their own little monkey onsen, and us eager tourists could come right up to them. I took about a BAZILLION and a half pictures of them, because they were cute. They were so cute that it didn't matter that there was monkey poop everywhere--that's how cute they were. Awwwwwwww.

After the monkeys, we went skiing the next few days. Dad and his executive power decided that we were all going to have a half-day of skiing lessons so that we didn't kill anyone on the slopes by accident (which I don't and didn't think was such a bad idea--the lessons part, that is--accidental death by bunny skier is bad.) We somehow ended up getting lessons from a New Zealander named Dan who also spoke Japanese pretty well (Englishese? Japanenglish? Reasonably accurate Japanese with random English thrown in as needed), so everyone understood. Dan definitely defined the term "saucy chap" because he was really funny, unfortunately unsually at Dad's expense--however, he (Dad) had a good sense of humour about it, so no harm done I guess...but for example, Dan was more than liable to say something to the effect, "Looks like Papa Smurf has taken yet another fall." Nevertheless, Dan was really cool, and I guess we weren't that bad--he taught us, among other things, how to ski backwards and do a 360 degree spin. Kakkoi!
After skiing, Natsu went back home, but Dad and I, instead of going to Kyoto, like we planned, we factored in a) Dad was a little sick, b) the train expense, c) we didn't really want to go to Kyoto and decided to take a different plan of action...we canceled our Kyoto hotel in time to not have any fatal expenses charged, and went back to Tokyo to do a lot of Christmas shopping for my family, and just generally relax instead of pull a high-paced rushing-from-temple-to-temple touristy route. We found a cheaper hotel around the middle of Tokyo (which in and of itself was interesting--it was "Japanese sized," according to one review, which meant for us "hearty 'Murkens," (that term did NOT come from the review), everything was a wee bit small--aka I tripped everywhere--out of the toilet, trying to change, trying to get to the bed--our luggage covered 98% of the floor space. This is where we spent Christmas...my dad videotaped our mini-celebration and gift-opening, we watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" via YouTube and we Skyped our relatives. It was merry, and very alternative, considering that every year before know we have always been with our whole family and our grandmother comes and we eat a special Christmas meal and we have a real fake tree...but I'm glad we still had it, in that little Frodo Baggins hotel...

All good things come to an end, and as such Dad had to leave. That was pretty sad. However, I had no time to start a weep-a-thon! There was karaoke to sing! The next day, my two friends and I went to Shibuya, which is remniscent of New York, though probably safer. We did karaoke for 2 hours (speaking of marathons...), walked around the 109, which is a very trendy and ginourmous mall, and took purikura. Fun indeed.

The next holiday that is literally around the corner, and arguably a bigger deal (at least in Japan) is New Year's Day. My host family is getting ready for a special 2 day celebration with extended family and special meals--also, I am working on sending out nengajo, which are the Japanese equivalent of Christmas cards. Very big deal. In Japan, the Imperial Mail (I think) promises to deliver your cards on January first if you post it in the mail at least a week ahead of time. They often hire college students for these seasonal pressing requirements. Behold, my nengajo.

This post or the next will be the last time I write from my current host family's computer--I switch families on the 13th of January. That will be a truly sad time indeed. I have really--not only gotten along with--but truly had a great time and felt really cared for here. I really enjoy my host family and I am going to miss them a lot because we have had boundless good memories, and they have taught me SO much. They will be a really hard act to follow, so to speak, but I will be as open as possible to my next family!

Season's Greetings. Have you ever said that in conversation to someone? Heh heh. It always sounds a bit odd to me. But, I greet you now as seasonally as I can! Later, gator.

PS <-- this is my nengajo. created and copyrighted by me. no stealing! =P
PPS MWEH! I always arrange my pictures so that they are neat and orderly, but then I switch the font/size/do some other wacky stuff, and my hours of strenuous (trust me) effor go up in smoke....yahhhhhhhhh. Enough complaining, Audrey.

To clarify...

A note of clarification for my last post:

Contrary to popular belief...I do know that Pope John II is dead, and to fully convey his present persona (or semi-lack thereof) I would need many maggots and worms, Rebecca; regardless I will be portraying Pope John Paul II in January. I hope I'm not letting anyone down.

for you, I have kimochi L--O............V--E

This last week, I took the dreaded shiken (final exams) that plagued the dreams of my classmates for weeks on end before. Big fun.

On Sunday, I took my Japanese Proficiency Test, which was okay, I suppose. On my practice exams leading up to it, I was doing very well (90% and above), but I'm not so confident that my actual test was so good. Alas, but I'm not worried, so long as it's over with--and I pass...=D...I went with Kobayashi-sensei to Tokyo Universoity, where the annual test was held this year, 30 minutes early, I might add...she wanted to people-watch all the foreigners, which I myself will admit was entertaining in a country where some 985 of the population is Japanese (if my statistic is accurate.)

On Tuesday, I took my chemistry exam. I thought I did really well (though perhaps I have jinxed my score by admitting that) considering the class is in Japanese, and while the exam was in English, it was nevertheless a little daunting trying to study. But again, I think I did quite well, I hope, in contrast to math...Math--where to begin...at first, I understood everything and life was hunky-dory--until my understanding somehow plummeted down to a fiery abyss full of complex logs and everything started to seem like "15 log snarkle to the humpity-dink power of 2 divided by a grocery bag full of elderly dancing crocodile-handbag carrying baboons in an economic crisis times 2 over your mother's aunt's cousin in laundry machine's electric cord..." And then this math problem was actually in Japanese. I exaggerate only a little, and I will be happy to testify that math is NOT the universal lanuguage--I guess that leaves music and/or love. But anyway, when I actually started to kinda sorta figure out the math (the night before the exam), I didn't have enough time to finish and left with the final glimpse of my exam being taken away from me, only partially completed and probably half or more wrong. Pity.

Friday was free, since I myself and and my classmates had labored over exams--them even more so because they have 9 subjects in which they are tested. My host parents both had their own separate jobs, and Natsu had prior plans with a friend. Kobayashi-sensei invited me to come with her to the Japanese National Museum of Art (I think) to see this year's commissioned paintings. What I didn't realize was that this meant so much more. Not only did we see this museum, even before that:
-Kobayashi-sensei gave a grand tour of her old college

-we ate lunch

-we randomly went to the United Nations University and met this super-nice bilingual college student

At the museum, we looked at a zillion paintings. They were all really impressive, and just walking around an art museum felt really artsy, suave, and relaxing, but after about 100 I was exhausted, since this last week I have had a pretty bad sore throat and semi-fever (don't worry! I'm fine.) Kobayashi-sensei, too, was tired, so we went home, and the day ended.

On Saturday, we had a half-day of school (a Saturday program, which usually happens maybe once a month.) During these programs, we generally always go to the chapel and listen to a multi-hour speech about hapless children around the world. I am completely for saving the children, but when every month I hear "Don't forget the children" for 2 hours, it gets a bit repetitive. After these programs, everyone writes about their thoughts about the program in those blue college examination notebooks--anyways, this week I wrote (in Japanese! I was surprised--I hope I mildly conveyed my general idea somewhat accurately) that I thought the Saturday programs could be improved if they branched out to a wider variety of topics (since this year's topic is only "Save the Children) instead of the same one for a year. But maybe that's just me.

Yesterday, my host family and I went to Asakusa, which is famous for the many crowded shops within a large temple complex there. I myself found a shop dedicated to my favorite cartoon (Totoro!) and bought myself an obento box(lunch box.) Most definitely worth it, I must say.

Next Saturday or Sunday, while my host family and I are spending the weekend in Hayama, my dad leaves America and will fly to Tokyo! Yay! After he comces, we will be here for a few days, then my dad, host sister and I will go skiing in Hakuba (supposedly very nice) and then my dad and I will go to Kyoto for the remaining time. I am really looking forward to traveling, but mainly I am really excited that I will see my dad. I know I will be homesick when he leaves, but my wild adolescent emotions will be slightly padded by the fact that I will very likely meet Josh (other exchange student from my school in Osaka) and his family a few days after my dad leaves. =D

In January, as part of my once-a-week Christianity and Ethics class, my group (4 people, including Natsu and I) have to do a project about the pope. As I am a bit of a disfunctional member of our otherwise productive group, I am going to handle the entertainment section of the project, which means that I will be dressing up as the pope, reciting a few lines in Japanese (akin to "Hello, I am John Paul 2. I live in Rome.") and breaking out into interpretaive dance to a pope-ular (heh heh get it?) J-pop song (J-pop =Japanese pop, pretty much the one dominant music style here, besides Japanese oldies...) This should be interesting. But I have to work on a decently pope-ish costume.

Also in January, Natsu and I will be doing the school talent show. She plays piano, I play violin, and that's all you need! Actually, we probably need to practice, too. We will play "Meditation from Thais," official winner of the romantic nostalgic over-played song of the year 3 times in a row--but I still really like it =). We stayed up until 3 in the morning trying to figure out a name for our group, since we had to decide the next day--200 random names later, including "Big Tofu," "BANANANA," "Da---me," "Masuda Takahisa wa Natsu ga dai suki," "GUMP," "No calorie coca-cola," etc....I wanted to call our group "Daibutsu" meaning Buddha, because of the stereotypical meditating sound "ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN" which has the letters A and N, as in Audrey and Natsu, as in "ANNNNNNNNNNNN," as in Daibutsu, as in...don't worry, I don't think either Natsu and I got it at all. We eventually decided on "Jasmine Tea," because, as the best of us know, jasmine tea is good hot--and cold--and is good for our health. More news on this later.

Interesting tidbit--because I told Sakurai-sensei about my desire for Mexican food a while back, and subsequently cooked it for my host family, I have been offered the never-before seen opportunity to, in February, teach a Mexican food cooking class. I definitely want to do this, but I am worried because I am far from qualified--but Sakurai-sensei told me not to worry and assured me that likely very few to none of the girls have ever had real Mexican food, so even if I mess up, no one should be able to notice. Very encouraging.

I have been a bit out of contact with everyone this last week, mainly because of studying for everything, but this week should possibly maybe be okay to communicate. However, that all ends next weekend, and I'm sure to be impossibly busy, as you too may be with trying to control your cheery wintery spirit.

A compilation of con-temple-ations

I would say that I just got back from my school trip to Kyoto and Nara, but that would be a lie. I got back last week, and since then I have been procrastinating--but not anymore!

A little background...

Kyoto and Nara were both at one time capitals of Japan, meaning that there is a ton of temples and palaces and temples and palaces (and temples.) I emphasize this because in the reasonably short period of 5 days, we saw 20 and some more of these. But more on that later.

On day 1...

After an overly early start (5:30 am) I met a friend along the train route and we went together to Tokyo Station's Shinkansen station. Shinkansen is the Japanese word for "train that goes zipping through the countryside really really fast by means of electro-magnets [I believe] and has seats that flip around and is roomy and comfy." The ride was 3 hours, during which smart people slept, and my friends and I played cards. This didn't present itself as an issue until we got off at Shin-Osaka station and promptly boarded a bus to go start the temple-excursion once and for all. After somehow sleep-walking through 2-3 temples, we arrived at a Japanese inn, called a Ryokan. A ryokan is different from a normal hotel in that in general, upon arrival you change your shoes for slippers, the rooms are empty, save for perhaps a futon closet (maybe), and only have a half-bathroom attached. There are no beds, but at night, either the staff bring a rolled up futon for you, or you do it yourself and get them out of the closet. In regards to showers, or conventional lack thereof--I officially really like onsen. Onsen, as mentioned on multiple occasions, is a communal bath one takes with family/friends/strangers, or any assortment of the three. There are 3 parts to onsen...the changing room, the seated line of showers, and the steaming hot bath itself. These are all pretty much self explanatory. Anyway, before I tried, I was really--anticipatory, but everyone acts completely normal about it here (because it is to them) so it's actually really fun. You'll have to trust me on this one. Fun fun.

MANY MANY TEMPLES.

Everyday we went to 4-6 temples. While this was cool and historical in the beginning, we all got temple burnout really quickly. The push to get to the next temple often meant that we had strict time limits to look around and were sometimes running out of one temple to get to the next. Also a contributing factor to our temple burnout was the fact that all the temples have extremely similar architecture, and when we were roing through each so quickly, they all soon seemed to be the same--this is unfortunate, because we saw some really famous and important temples and treasures--for example, the oldest temple (1400 years old), the oldest Buddha statue (also 1400 years old), many famous tierred (spelling?)-towers...sadly, only a few really stand out.

At every temple, two things you are always guaranteed to find are lucky fortune papers (I forgot the Japanese name) and omamori. The fortune papers are usually ￥100 (around $1.00) and if you are or have a convenient friend with you who can read a translate Old Japanese to some extent, you can take a hypothetical peek at your future. I got one, and found out about my life's length, love life, money luck, health, etc. This was nothing too special, but guess what! It's an ideal time for me to buy or sell land! Just my luck...[now, my mom has told me that she is going to give me a plant for Christmas. I hope that counts.] Omamori are essentially lucky charms for your every need. The most common ones were "victory," "good luck," "good health," and that sort of thing, whereas some of the bigger temples branch out to a wider variety of needs, like "Traffic Safety" and "Conception." Whatever floats your boat.

Two random things: On many statues of the Buddha, the fingers are webbed like a frog's. This is because the Buddha can technically save more people when he employs a scooping technique. (After the trip, my host family was watching television when the TV host randomly asked the trivia question, "What is a characteristic of the Buddha's hands themselves?" Guess who got it right? [me]) Also, many temples post signs warning passerby not to take pictures or sketch. I had to restrain my oh-so-passionate urge to sketch. Honestly, I think if you are going to work so hard to do a sketch of all that we saw, you might as well go ahead. Either it's not very good at all and there is no loss, or it is great and you have brought art into the world. But I guess that belief is the minority.

Another constant throughout the trip was a tremendous amount of inclines, stairs, or inclines with stairs. Though tradition calls for religious buildings to be as high to heaven as possible, it doesn't allow us tourists much relaxation time, especially at our high temples/day ratio. We were learning about each of these temples while doing so many stairs (such a workout...) that I supposed we were being en-lighten-ed...get it? never mind.

The fourth day, we were in Kyoto, and we had essentially the whole day off. I was with 4 of my friends, and we went to Kiyomizu (very famous) temple, got yatsuhashi and other omiyage and went some other places, too. Kiyomizu is very famous because it is very high up (naturally) and is very large as well. It might be famous for other reasons, too, but I have yet to discover those. Anyway. After mulling around the temple for a little bit (remember, temple burnout!) and checking out the wide variety of omamori (this is the place with Traffic Safety and Conception,　etc...)and ever larger variety of tourists (there were soooo many), we took advantage of our freedom to buy omiyage. As mentioned before now, omiyage is the word of souveneir, and bringing them back for everyone you know is pretty important. This wasn't such a huge deal for the people I was with, sinc ethey were the grade above me and most of their friends were on the trip with them, but for me, I had promised about 60+ people omiyage inadvertantly by being friendly with them. The best option in general for in masse omiyage from Kyoto is yatsuhashi. Kyoto is famous for yatsuhashi, which in and of itself is baked rice flour, sugar, and cinnamon, usually containing ankou (Japanese sweet beans) or other varieties of things. To some people, yatsuhashi doesn't stand out as something particularly special, but I myself find it de-licioussss! I brought back so much for my classmates, Japanese teacher, host family, etc...

Also on the free day, we went to this restaurant that was very old (100 years!) and very traditional. We had yudofu, which was mainly tofu and tempura veggies, but that said it was the best Japanese food I have ever had--and I have tried some really good Japanese food, I must say. Check the website. http://www.to-fu.co.jp/english/index.html When my dad comes to Japan, I really want to take him here to try it--it was that good.

We went to Kyoto at the second best time to be there (spring is the first--think cherry blossoms) because fall means dazzlingly brightly colored leaves. Check the pictures--but even those don't completely show how beautiful it was. While our time in Nara was sooo cold and rainy, when we got to Kyoto, the mos tof it had passed--so the sun was out, we saw 2 rainbows, the weather was pretty perfect...it was great. We walked through a bamboo forest, as well--it was so fresh and cool, besides the fact that we were again running to be on time for the next place. One thing I am still trying to understand is why there were massive amounts of flowers blooming when we were in Nara. I saw at least 2 more-than-flourishing flower gardens next to people's houses, and in at one temple, there were hundreds of thriving camellia flowers. I'm sure there's something I am missing here, especially since my knowledge of Nara's flower growth patterns is pretty non-existent, but I thought that if we all were freezing cold, the flowers techniquely should be, too. But enough about nature--it was fantastic, but as a 3rd-party observer, oh dear reader, there's only so much you can get out of my description of my flower/bamboo/leaf enjoyment.

In Nara, there are a sort of deer they call shika, which Nara is famous for having. These deer are reasonably docile (though my friends warned me to stay away from the male deer--it's shika mating season) and for a cheap price you can buy deer crackers and feed them. If you hold the deer cracker above the shika's head, it will bow, and then you can feed it the cracker. We tried the deer crackers, and we decided that they were a bit bland, but would be tasty in ice cream. (Baskin Robbins, I'm sure, will soon release "Crunchy Shika Crunch.")

Maybe the best part of the trip was actually apparent after I got back. This week, after the Kyoto trip, many of my classmates have told me that I speak and understand Japanese a lot better. I suppose I was speaking more Jpaanese--though I'm not sure why a class trip would awaken any latent Japanese skills within me. I don't think I have made any groundbreaking self-discoveries, but I do feel like I am reasonably significantly better than 2 weeks ago. Yay!

We took the shinkansen back, during which I attempted to catch up on all the homework I had, like this blog post, so successfully put off. I finished my kanji flashcards, to say the least, but I pretty much procrastinated while doing my homework. I didn't know that was possible. (Don't worry, I got it all done in the end.) I apparently hadn't learned from the first shinkansen ride, though, because I didn't sleep at all, even though I knew that I was going to karaoke with my host family and their relatives when I got back. During karaoke, it was pretty fun--although really awkward for me because I knew I would have to sing, and I am pretty shy about singing in front of people I don't know. I suppose I got over that by the end, because I sang 2 songs (English--not going to try to sing a song I don't know in Japanese yet) and before I knew it we were going home. Needless to say, I was completely exhausted at the end.

Today was my Japanese Proficiency test (Level 4, in case you were curious) at Tokyo University.There were soooo many foreign people there, most 25 years old and above. *insert deep annoucer's voice* They gathered by the thousands. Their reasons were different, whether it be for college or for a job--but they all came together for a common goal that would affect the course of their futures forever--bringing some together and pulling some apart. They all had one purpose there--to take the test.

Okay, okay, sorry, that was a little melodramatic. I was definitely the youngest person in my room, though, and I still am not sure my purpose for taking this test besides the fact Sakurai-sensei and Kobayashi-sensei told me to. In my practice tests, I was doing actually pretty well on the 3 sections (Vocab/Reading, Listening, Grammar), scoring 90% and above, but in retrospect, I am not as confident about today's actual test. The listening sections were really annoying. They would always be something like [translated]

Narrator: A man and woman are talking. What day was it yesterday?

Man: Today is Thursday, isn't it?

Woman: No, it isn't. Tomorrow is Thursday.

Man: Is that so. Ummmm, wasn't Thursday two days ago, because today is actually Friday?

Woman: Is that so.

Narrator: What day was it yesterday?

Audrey: Wait, wait, wait, what?

I won't sweat it too much--I don't have enough adrenaline to last me until February. However, technically, if I'm correctly informed, my PSAT scores should be rebounding to be about now. That would be nice.

This week and is pretty important because I have finals in my two real classes, math and chemistry. This could be interesting. I am actually not too worried about chemistry, because the teacher promised me an easy test over a list of things from class, making it really easy to study (contrary to my prior belief), and I am going to meet with a math teacher tomorrow who speaks English to aquire 100% understanding of the class...I had my first dream in partial Japanese, by the way. I only said one phrase ("Are you okay?"), but I think that counts for something, right? I have had so many dreams here in Japan--about 4 or 5 a week.

I have been a little more homesick than usual, but I think that's because I am not quite as busy, since all clubs (including my track and field team) are canceled because of the exams. I am bracing myself for when my dad comes, because I think that when he leaves I will be sooooooo homesick, since he can go home and I still have to stay (have to in the least unwilling of ways--I love Japan!). I miss my friends and family a lot everyday, and there isn't one day that I don't think about them. But regardless, I'm really looking forward to seeing my dad, and no worries, concerned reader! I have to much to do to be homesick for more than an hour, at most.

Isn't the title great?

AUDREY, who apologizes for posting this in such an untimely manner.

PS Hey! A squid! Also, I would like to apologize--there are so many pictures in this post, but they are all really poorly organized. Sorry.