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.