Good Times

The only album that has been updated is the Miscellaneous one near the bottom (if Facebook isn't failing...). I figured it would be better to put all my albums in one post so you don't have to search. I think I mentioned that already. Oh well. Enjoy!

Arrival, Settling in, Sumo, Random:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae

Yabusame:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020088&id=1230390045&l=e7e5b19b1f

Night Stroll!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020137&id=1230390045&l=93ef55fb67

Performances and First Night Out!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020615&id=1230390045&l=0b59e150e5

Halloween!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021650&id=1230390045&l=7d04beda4e

More Miscellaneous:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022079&id=1230390045&l=319d3e2ac2

Osaka!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023469&id=1230390045&l=8a70469a93

Nara!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023470&id=1230390045&l=8746393553

Himeji!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023483&id=1230390045&l=ceb8dd107f

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In Japan, it's my 21st birthday! W00t! I will be going to a taiko drumming performance by the man that came into my Japanese class to teach us taiko. I'm so excited!

Other things that happened this week:
Thursday: I went with Ayane to make a traditional Japanese candy called ame-zaiku. It involves melting some sort of candy concoction into a waxy texture. Then, you have to take the candy mixture and mold it into a ball and put it on a stick. This gets very difficult as the candy is very hot! So, as your molding it and pulling at it to get it to be smooth, it gets hotter! Yeah, we wore gloves.

Anyway, once you've done that, it's time to make the shape of an animal. We were making rabbits. But you have to do it fast, or it will completely harden and thus become impossible to mold. The man that was teaching us how to do it made it look so easy. We tried and tried, but none of ours looked as nice. He let us take home two - one made by him and one made by ourselves. The differences are VAST.

We had dinner at a Hong Kong restaurant where one of the employees was fascinated with us. She was surprised Ayane spoke such good English and she was surprised when I spoke Japanese. She even sat with us for a while. It was a little awkward sometimes, but she was nice. She gave us an extra free dessert :)

Friday: I went to the elementary school that's part of Aoyama Gakuin and helped the teacher with an arts and crafts activity for their annual English Day. How perfect, right? My favorite! We made ginger bread man cookie-shaped cards!

I was there for four sessions, that involved about twenty 6th graders each and lasted for about half an hour or so. It was a little bit of madness but all in good fun. The kids were happy to say, "Hello!" to me and sometimes that was about all they could manage in English. I'm glad I had the advantage of knowing some Japanese so I could at least answer in English a question they asked me in Japanese. Reminding them that it was English day didn't work very well. They were great kids though. I received a meishi (a name/business card) from the main English teacher there and she was very happy to have me there (I was the only Aoyama Gakuin university student who signed up). She said if I ever wanted to come back or I needed any information, I could contact her. :D

At the end of the day, Aoyama had its annual Christmas Tree Lighting. It was just wonderful. We sang Christmas carols, the Christmas story was read, and the lights came on. It reminded me of home and unfortunately, I got a bit homesick. Although I loved the ceremony, I went home sad, terribly missing the feeling of friends and family hugging me and kissing me.

All was solved from getting a hug from Elizabeth at the dorm, her letting me cry for a moment and then she showed me a ridiculous Korean pop music video involving a giant anthropomorphic marshmallow. And then we went out to eat with Cat too, as the food at the dorm didn't look too tasty. Whomp whomp.

Saturday: Haha, I did nothing yesterday but laundry and read. I hadn't done it in a while. Cat and my other friend Yanique watched one of my new movies that I got for my birthday (I cheated and opened up my box...it just came in and I couldn't help myself!) called Paprika. It's super bizarre and really tugs at your mind, but that's why it's amazing! And also it makes more sense the second or third time you watch it! Go look it up, by director Satoshi Kon. He's briliant.

Sunday: I'm here...writing this. I've read all of my birthday cards from the family, read my card from my friends from England (Rachel, Kristy and Sophie! :D Yay! xoxo ) and getting ready for the rest of the day.

Life hasn't been necessarily peachy here, especially concerning human relationships and the difficulty of comprehending Japanese, but I'm trying my best to not let those things get me down. As we would say in Japanese, "ganbarimasu!" which basically means, "I'll do my best!" It's one of my favorite things to say.

p.s. My friend Mike has invited me to sing at one of his shows sometime in December and we've decided to do a cover of the song "Home" by Marc Broussard. I LOVE THIS SONG. I couldn't be happier! I love singing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1v5trmB1E

There it is. Now groove.