Hisashiburi (Long Time No Write): Winter Break Tales

So it's been a while...no, I don't expect you to forgive me. From now on I'll probably do mini-posts so this blogging thing doesn't seem as daunting for a lazy arse like me.

I guess we should get this catch-up over with, then...End of the semester was stressful as usual, but also sad due to all the fall students leaving. Immediately after the closing ceremony/luncheon at the nearby Bon Bon Cafe, I headed out to the airport with three friends...and went to KOREA! Woohoo! I wasn't there for more than a few days, but I want to go back sometime after I've actually learned some of the language, and when it's not the dead of winter. (Thanks, Seoul, for nearly giving me frostbite.) I've been describing it to my Japanese compadres as "like Japan's cousin," but to my native English-speaking peeps I've said it's like an alternate reality Japan with some China thrown in there somewhere. I mean, obviously it has its own culture too; that's just the impression I got. We saw Busan (port city) and Seoul and had a great time (went to lookout towers in both cities, haha).

Angel-in-Us Coffee (appears in City Hunter!) :3 The interior was adorable...and three floors

 ...and Christmas tree in a square in Busan!

N Seoul Tower. Imagine this amount of city-ness in 360 degrees. Whoaaa.

There was a plethora of cute cafes (they love koppi! aka coffee), pretty Christmas lights/decorations, and couples. Well, surely there's couples in Japan too; they just do a damn good job of hiding it. Like ninjas. (Woo, stereotypes~) We also went to a club--my first real one--called Cocoon which was basically epic squared.

Oh, and then Kim Jong-Il died just in time for me to get out of the area beforehand, ehehe.

On another note, I'm afraid of my budding addiction to K-dramas--two friends from the trip got me and the other friend hooked on City Hunter afterwards, which is sort of the Korean Batman plus Death Note cat-and-mouse plus a revenge plot, romance and humor, but even better than it sounds. Now after whipping through that, I'm on a period drama called The Princess's Man, but I'm worried nothing will ever make me feel the same again. Sigh.... (Well, it'll be okay; I thought the same thing after finishing FMA: Brotherhood. And I'm fine now.) I mean, check out the soundtrack here--so BAMF.

Love it like a fat kid loves cake. No, like a heroin addict needs their fix. Too bad it's over...

Then there was the Kyodai Choir Christmas-kai (Xmas party?) that I helped plan for, involving small group performances of songs, skits, etc., plus party games (like musical chairs), with small prizes at the afterparty afterwards. It was a 大成功 (big success)!

Few days of rest, and then off to Tokyo to meet my dad and be his guide before the rest of my family showed up! Helped him with some meetings and got to do some sightseeing, which was great until he lost his passport. Urgh. (For the love of Jizo, why can't the adults be responsible?!) So that wasted some time, and we missed the Emperor's speech at the Palace on his birthday, but made it in time to sign our names in his birthday registry.

Mine's the far left--it says my name and Amurrcuh. Yeah!

The others showed up and we were total tourists and went to Tokyo Tower (right next to the hotel, how can we not go?). My family basically Gaijin Smashed all over Japan, with my sister eating more seaweed packs per day than a chain smoker smokes , and my brother proclaiming everything "honorable" or "dishonorable," and my mom and dad just generally being awkward and speaking random phrases (i.e., domo arigatou--which no one says, it's arigatou gozaimasu). From Tokyo we went to Hakone (on Christmas/my birthday mind you, so it was stressful, but we ate "Christmas cake" on the bullet train so it's okay), where we stayed at a mountain ryokan (Japanese inn) near Lake Ashinoko (with a fake pirate ship and a cablecar, whee!) with onsen/hot springs and elaborate kaiseki meals. Getting used to the whole nakey thing was hard for them (I totally understand that feeling), but eventually even my sister was willingly going in. And man was it worth it--so relaxing!

The "money shot": pirate ship, Fuji (in the middle), tori-i (red arch).

Figuring out what the meal was and how to eat it was a feat for us.

Then off to Kyoto, where I showed them the Doshisha campus, Kiyomizu Temple, et cetera...And on my mom's birthday, we went to a monkey park on a mountain and saw adorable baby Japanese monkeys (nihonzaru), then dyed our own indigo T-shirts/banners with white designs at a local craftsman's. Oh, but before that we went to Nara and got attacked by hungry deer (think seagulls in Finding Nemo) and saw one of the world's largest Buddha statues at Todaiji Temple...it was my fourth time, NBD. My dad crawled through a child-sized hole in a pillar that brings you enlightenment in your next life, which finally gave my brother the courage to do so too. Yay!

While we're on the Todaiji subject, next to that pillar there was this little kid who just looks at my dad incredulously and goes "Gaikokujin?" (foreigner?) Which I then point out to him and my siblings, who are of course amused. My dad (who actually knows zero Japanese beyond "domo arigatou") replies, "Nihongo?" (Japanese language?) The kid nods in wonder. Dad corrects himself and goes, "Nihonjin?" (Japanese person?) The kid nods again in amazement, then goes back to his dad.

...I dunno, just thought it was cute and funny. (*⌒―⌒*)

Sure they seem cute, but wait till they see food---like sharks that have smelled blood... 

Yay Gollins at Todaiji. That building's the world's second-largest wooden structure FYI.

We parted ways on New Year's Eve as they went to Tokyo to fly out (there may have been some tears...I seriously miss those guys already), and I went to Kanazawa to crash with a Tufts friend while my host parents visited their parents' homes for the three-day holiday. Tufts folks, hear me: even in Lewis, you are FAR better off than in a Japanese university's international dorm. Just...I don't even. The people I met were really cool, but the weather sucked and there wasn't much to do (as the students agreed) beyond Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen (one of the top three Japanese gardens), and maybe karaoke or drinking downtown. Also, snowww. So much of it. And no shoveled sidewalks. (After going there and Seoul, I don't mind the cold in Kyoto nearly as much!) Then the snow followed me back to Kyoto, and there I stayed until...now! I hung out with people a few times though, like when my kouhai (underclassman) from Tufts' JCC came down to visit and we went sightseeing--there were people in gorgeous kimono for their 成人式 Coming-of-Age ceremony! And we went to Fushimi Inari, a shrine dedicated to the fox god up on a hill. You've seen it in Memoirs of a Geisha--the one with aaaalll the orange tori-i arches.

Hatsumoude--first shrine visit on New Year's...so crowded! 

Awesomeness of Kenrokuen, take 1

Awesomeness of Kenrokuen, take 2

And then the new spring semester students showed up, we had some getting-to-know-you dinners, and here we are in the first week of class. Huzzah! (Here we go again...) This time I'm going to take a course on women's issues in Japanese--woah snap, can she handle it? Find out next time on Natasha's Awkward Adventures!