I guess the Christmas holiday has finally caught up with me, and in the most unlikely of places. Who'd think that a few jazz-covers of Christmas songs over a bowl of Curry could stir up so much emotion. Its all okay though, because it was quickly remedied when I ran into Chris, a friend who had graduated from the University of Virginia last year, and is presently teaching English in Japan. It was true-chance meeting if there ever was one, as Chris lives 5 hours away, and was only in the city for the weekend before he flies back to the USA. But anyway, in a city of 12 million, I managed to bump into him roaming the streets while showing my friend Kohei around the city.
Anyway, thanks everyone for your support. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year (especially those of you in VA and TX). I am signing out for the remainder of the year and heading to Korea, so I'll get back to you when I return.
Months that is. I must say that so far my time here in Japan has been chockfull of high and low points. Still I think I've adjusted to living here and find it hard to believe that its only been 3 months (still 7 more to go!). I guess it is true that I really didn't know what I was getting into by going abroad, but I'm glad that I decided to go for a full year, because having to leave now would be completely disappointing. Its strange, that so many things I thought I knew about Japan can turn out to be false, other things are true, and still others I had never even imagined.
In celebration of reaching this landmark, I'd like to take some time to talk about some of the things I've been most proud of during these 3 months, and what I'd like to work on for the remainder of the year (just for some reference).
I guess firstly, I'm surprised I kept this blog up for even this long, but I think I can easily add a few more entries per day. Even having to overcome the challenges are sparse internet use at home. I'm glad that I'm longer as reserved when speaking Japanese. I used to have a bit of a complex when speaking, and feared making a mistake, but now generally just go for it and see what happens. Likewise, we've covered a lot material in our class, and I'm glad to see myself keeping up with everything, still, I believe I can study much harder and really want to get as much out of this time as I can, so I'm hoping to crack down more. In the past few months I've traveled around the Tokyo area quite a lot which has also been exciting, but I hope that I'll get out of the Tokyo area in time (wallet permitting). But enough can't be said about the friends that I've met here, and already I'm saddened by the idea that at the end of this school year we'll all be scattered back across the globe (literally). I think that for every tidbit of information I've learned about Japan, I've learned twice as much about my friends countries.
Goals for the new year: - Get a Job (you bum) - Study up - Snatch up an ever-elusive "non-english-speaking" Japanese friend
Lastly, here is a video of Tokyo that really nails the way this city feels, especially for me. I think it probably conveys more than my pictures ever good. This city really can overwhelm you with everything in it, and has been a huge adjustment for me, but I think its definitely grown on me.
Oh and here's a picture of me dressed like a little Chinese girl...
I spent this weekend in Yokohoma with some classmates and their friends. Our first stop on this trip was Chinatown (entrance pictured above), where our main goal was to eat some chinese food, drink some bubble tea, and just generally take in the sights of "Japan's Biggest Chinatown." From there, we walked down to the boardwalk (Yokohama is a port city) where I snapped these shots of one of the better developed areas in Yokohoma. It seemed to be a trend in this area for people to dress up there dogs in clothing and then bring them to the park. Which was unfortunate, because none of the dogs seemed too happy with the idea. Around the ferris wheel was a very large shopping center featuring almost any brand you could think up. Also the Christmas lights in this area for extra nice. After a bit of shopping, we all returned to our friends' house and the Japanese girls who had accompanied us for the day cooked dinner for us lazy foreigners. It was especially nice of them because they live in Yokohama, so the fact that they rode the train 1 hour just to cook us dinner and then go home was a real nice gesture. Once they left, we all threw on pajamas, watched movies til the early morning, made a few VoIP phone calls, and then called it a night. On Monday (school holiday) we went to Fuji-Q, an amusement park located at the base of Mt. Fuji. Our assumption was that many people wouldn't be there because it was a holiday, but unfortunately it was also raining just heavy enough for the rollercoasters to be closed all morning. In the end things worked out though, and everything opened up (including the sky) and the trip became that much brighter. And lastly, here are two of the three main rollercoasters at the park. Once is a 4thDimension coaster (your seats rotate) and the other is one of those pressure launch ones. I've probably never enjoyed a coaster as much as I did after riding the red one, and if you watch the video you can probably understand where all the adrenaline comes from. The high-speed launch one was also nice, especially with the great view of Mt. Fuji while you ride.
