Otsu! Goodbye to Final Exams!

Final exams are overrrrrr! Otsu everyone!
['otsu' is short for 'otsukaresama' as in 'good work, we all worked hard']

As for the final exam, I feel like I did pretty well on all of it except for the speaking part. My teacher thought I wasn't able to understand her, but I understood her perfectly. The problem was that I probably couldn't explain myself very well and she was the one who couldn't understand me. Of course, she probably didn't put this into consideration...But, anyways, she said that my writing was very good and easy to understand, so it was strange that I couldn't convey what I had written into speaking. I don't think that it's strange at all, though. Speaking a foreign language involves thinking on your feet--which I'm terrible at. I'm bad enough at it in English... For example, there are several times when I look back on a conversation no matter what the language and think, 'I should've said this; It would've been better if I had said that...' I do feel like I've improved in several areas, but not in speaking. The thing is, it's harder to interact with Japanese people than I thought it would be. The fact that I'm shy doesn't help. And so, I haven't been able to have many opportunities to use my Japanese on a regular basis. I told my teacher that I've been trying, but still speaking is still the hardest part for me and I really don't know what to do to improve. I do have the club in Nakameguro, but that's only once a week, which is not enough. I couldn't get a conversation partner this semester because our schedules didn't match. Hiroko-san recommended that I get a part time job, for example as a waitress because that involves using polite Japanese on a regular basis. If I do get a job, I really don't want it to involve English...then, there's no point. My teacher recommended 'shadowing' dramas, but shadowing is crazy hard...-sigh- Well, during the spring break, I'll try to work harder.

After final exams were over, my class all went to a pasta restaurant for lunch. It's terrible how 'gaijin'/'foreigners' are treated like rare animals. Well, they all fit into the stereotype and were kind of loud, but...the difference in the way foreigners are treated is too clearly noticeable. You really have to take the stance of not caring at all and acting as if nothing around you is different. I don't stand out as much as my blond classmates for example, but it's still a stigmatism that's really difficult to get accustomed to.

Anyways, in the picture (left to right): Me, Laura, Kathleen, In, Lisa, Kamelia, Alberto, Chris, Mihal, Hinata. Kathleen will be leaving in the middle of next month, but I hope that I can have classes with these people again! They're all very nice.

Now time to organize things to do during the spring break!!

Kenia no saikin wa~

Since I haven't had time to upload these before, I'm uploading a miscellaneous group of pictures that I had on my camera. 'Kenia no saikin wa~' ['Kenia has recently been up to~']

Snow Snow Snow♪

It snowed in Tokyo last Friday and Monday night! Although I had experienced snow in Kyoto this winter season already, this was the first time experiencing Tokyo snow. Apparently, it's a pretty rare thing for snow not to mention for it to pile up. So, I was lucky to experience this! By now, it's pretty much gone, but even yesterday, I saw traces of snow still on the roofs of houses and some ice on the streets.

On Friday, it was so shocking to see people acting as normal even though it was snowing. It started snowing in the morning but Japanese people didn't care. They just put up an umbrella and went right through it walking and even biking as usual. Japanese people are fearless...Apparently, Tokyo trains are weak against snow, so they were extra careful. The trains were running late as a result, but I always ride the train early, so I didn't have any problems getting to school. But really, this day especially, I thought how much I love Tokyo trains. Gah. They're so amazing I would marry them if I could. One of these days, I'll write an entry dedicated to trains so everyone can see how amazing they really are. Oh, and vending machines. I love vending machines, too. (But I digress...)

On Monday night, I saw a group of people from the dorm playing out in the snow. It was so cute.

I thought that this was a funny picture and a rare sight--snow on palm trees.

Happy New Year!

I think Monday? was the beginning of the Chinese New Year. In Chinatown, they had a dragon parade, but because of exams, I wasn't able to go see it.

I've had this up on my room door since the beginning of the year, but I thought now was an appropriate time to show everyone. I like to change the picture on my room door constantly according to the season. So far, I've had a Halloween and Christmas picture up before. As I'm walking into the dorm, I can see the picture from the outside. It makes me smile to think 'That's my room!' hehe

I didn't make it for the regular New Year, but for Chinese New Year, I had traditional New Year Japanese sweets. I like the mochi filled with red bean paste, but apparently, you're supposed to eat the leaf with it. The leaf was really bitter, though. I suppose it balances the sweetness of the mochi, but I didn't really like it so I ended up taking it off...

Cooking Corner

I made a ginger carrot soup for myself♪ It's really nice for the cold weather. I just felt so proud of my cooking that I had to take a picture! (The funnest part was choof-choofing it!)

Adventures with Aika

And so, the New Year!

I'm sorry I wasn't able to post right on New Year day. Mother left me on the 31st and Aika came to visit me the day after and stayed in my room for a week!

So, it may be late, but happy new year! 2012! Year of the Dragon!

New Years is a very important time for the Japanese. They have special decorations, that bring good luck and prosperity for the new year like "daruma" (a wooden doll that is based on the Buddhist Dharma. One eye is drawn to make a wish, and when the wish comes true, the other eye is drawn in) and "kadomatsu" (a traditional ornament left by the entrance way of a house with bamboo and flower arrangement). They have special food that they eat such as "osechi ryouri" (a huge meal that served in several large wooden bento boxes that is supposed to prevent the wife of the family from having to cook for three days), "otoshikoshi soba" (the long noodles of soba represent longevity so you have to slurp them up whole without biting them off), "ozouni" (a miso soup with a variety of ingredients and mochi balls), and "mochi" (sweet rice cake).

People go to the temple for the first temple visit of the year "Hatsumode" and the temples are PACKED. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to be New Year spirited, but I took Aika to Harujuku on January 3rd, and the temple near there, Meiji Jingu, was STILL crazy crowded with people. Too many people everywhere during the first few days of January. Shibuya was more crowded than usual too.

But, anyways, here are a few pictures that I took with my new camera (Xmas present from mother!) during Aika's visit.

One day, Aika treated me to ramen. We found a place near my dorm that I'd never been to. It was probably the best ramen that I've tasted since I've been in Japan. I'll definitely have to go again.

Another day, I showed her my campus, and we went to Tokyo Tower. This time, I actually went up it. Aika had never been, so it was the first time for both of us. It's kind of expensive to go up: about 800yen. And you take this elevator that goes up so smoothly and fast. It's like an elevator version of the Shinkansen (the Japanese bullet train). And then once you get up, THERE'S NOTHING. Well, it's not nothing...but it's not worth 800yen...Well, I don't regret it, since it was for the experience if anything else, but still...

This is the first thing you see when you get up: a miniature version of a decked out cute cute Tokyo Tower:

Oh, I forgot to mention that technically, we didn't go ALL the way up to the top. We were like half way up in the box-like middle observatory. It costs around 1,000yen to go all the way to the top most observatory...no thanks. So, it didn't seem like we were up super super high, but it was still a lovely view.

Here, you can see the shadow of Tokyo Tower on Tokyo!

Here you can see Rainbow Bridge(?) and I think Odaiba is around that area, too. Odaiba is kind of like an amusement park island just off Tokyo Bay. It's famous for it's ferris wheel and it's Edo period style bath house. Perhaps I will visit it someday.

A shrine seen from Tokyo Tower.

Mount Fuji is in this direction. You can't see it very well, though because of the fog.

A floor view. Ahh scary...

Then, one day, I introduced Aika to Stephanie and Stephanie took us to Tokyo's Chinatown. It's so China-y! So much more authentic than the Chinatown in Washington D.C. Just check out the buildings!

On the streets, there were vendors selling Chinese foods and the shop owners are almost all Chinese--which was actually kind of scary. Chinese people aren't as kind as Japanese people, they aren't as welcoming when we ate at one of the restaurants, and they are extremely and uncomfortably pushy. It was like I wasn't in Japan anymore...
This is the view on the Yokohama bay. There's a ferris wheel and theme park nearby and there's a brick road which is really nice for walking. The whole place has a really nice feel to it. Perfect date spot, too. (haha)

And thus was our time in Tokyo Chinatown. It was really nice and Stephanie, Aika, and I spoke Japanese the whole time and I felt like I spoke a lot. Aika and I spoke Japanese together the whole time she was here, too. On the last night she was here, we went for drinks at a Japanese bar (izakaya) and talked about life in Japanese. Intense, right? She was really nice and treated me to a lot of things. Right now, she should be at her grandparents' house in Hiroshima. She visited her mom's side first, and then her dad's side. I want to go, too! lol

But thanks for visiting, Aika! It was lots of fun!楽しかった♪

Adventures with mother: Tokyo Disneyland

Sorry for the wait! Here is the last post of the "Adventures with mother" series. Many of you may have already seen my pictures on facebook, but I'm reposting some of them here.

On the morning of December 30th, mother and I took the train to Tokyo Disneyland. It was my first time visiting Disney (I've never been to Disney in Florida or California), so I was kinda sorta a lot excited.

Welcome Welcome~

The train station at Disneyland is called "Maihama Station". It was named after Miami, Florida ("MAI-hama", "MI-ami") and combines the characters for 'dance' and 'shore' which not only sound like Miami, but conveys a Miami feel kinda sorta, right?

There are two sides of the Disney park: Disneyland and Disney Sea. Being that it was winter and it would be suicide to get wet, we bought tickets to Disneyland. Is ther a Disney Sea in the United States as well?

Me being excited in front of Mickey's passport at the Disneyland entrance. Mickey's nationality: Citizen of the World. But really, Japan is the country that gives Mickey the most love. No matter what age or gender, you can bet a major portion of the Japanese population owns Mickey goods. I've noticed that not just in the park, but also everyday on the train, etc. Mickey is everywhere: suitcases, keychains, hair accessories, cell phone charms, clothes... Japanese people love Mickey, probably because he's cute. He fits right into the cute cute side of Japanese culture.

First we walked through a town-like place that was full of shops. I love this picture. Mother looks just like Stitch! It's so cute!

Before we went to Tokyo Disneyland, I stocked up on research★ I remembered seeing a video done by Johnny's entertainment guys that was all about Tokyo Disney, so I decided to rewatch it. As a result, I found out that if you send a post card from Disneyland, you get a special stamp. And so we stopped inside one of the shops and bought my brother a postcard.

After that,

Our first stop of the day was Mickey churros! They were delicious and cinnamon-y!

...And then I experienced the epitome of Disneyland--the long lines. My first Disneyland ride was The Pirates of the Caribbean. It was quite well done. The pirates look so cool and Johnny Depp turns up at least 3 times and looks SO real~! In the beginning, there was a roller coaster like fall, but it was small enough. I can't handle a roller coaster fall bigger than that...

Also, it was really interesting how the ride was in Japanese and English. The introduction was in Japanese, but all the pirates spoke English. All the rides were the same in that way--the main language being English. If I hadn't been surrounded by Japanese people left and right, I would have been doubted what country I was in.

After Pirates, we went to the Stitch tiki-tiki show. This is the outside: Stitch's space mobile~

This show was completely in Japanese and it was so so cute. There were parrots that were singing and dancing and then Stitch comes and dances with them. So cute.... I shamelessly enjoyed it.

Next, we went on a raft to Tom Sawyer island. It seemed like a strange set-up in Disneyland...Is there a Tom Sawyer island in Florida Disney??

Spitting rock. At intervals, there was water that came shooting out of the eyes and mouth like it was spitting. You had to be careful not to get wet.

Indian camp out.

Samuel Clemens Fort.

It was kind of funny because I was running around the place among the little kids. I felt like a little kid, too! Except that I was bigger than all of them...

Next was Peter Pan's Neverland ride.

This ride was so so cool. We rode in a ship above London and I flew, I flew! All the way to Neverland! It was super magical.

A brief stop to take a picture with Dumbo...

And then, we stopped for lunch at ToonTown.

ToonTown was probably my favorite place. It was the most interesting, I think. Lots of things to see without standing in lines.

All the restaurants were outside for some reason, so we didn't really get any warmth (and it was super cold, let me tell you). We had a Disney-style lunch. Important.

A Donald Duck Burger. It was a shrimp cutlet instead of beef--something very Japanese probably. The bread also doesn't look edible but it was.

Along with the burgur, we ordered french fries, and french fries ended up on the reciept, but for some reason we each got a Mickey pizza...Oh, well...Mother thought it was interesting that they put corn on it. Apparently they don't really put corn on pizza in America? I don't eat pizza at all in the U.S. so I wouldn't know...

Japanese like to put corn in a lot of stuff...It's in ramen, potato salads, cans of tuna, french fries (yeah, really)...I don't know why. I don't especially like corn, but I was hungry so it was all right.

While mother went to the bathroom, I went around taking pictures of a few famous characters. There's so much competition to get pictures with them, that I just gave up and settled with just a picture of them in whatever way.

Here's Donald:

And Uncle Scrooge:

Is it just me, or are Japanese Disney characters super tiny? I feel like the American versions are a lot bigger? I've never seen them in real life, though. Mother says it's because of the beef in the U.S.

Next, we stopped by Minnie's House. She wasn't there, but her house was super cute.

I invaded by sleeping on her bed. This bed was not too big, not too small, but just right. (Although it was a bit too plastic-y...)

Then, Mickey's house. Mickey was in so the line to get into his house was crazy long. I don't even remember how long we waited in line. It must have been at least a couple of hours.

This picture is for Daddy. This is the newspaper that Mickey reads. I thought you might be interested. (Underneath it was El Tiempo Latino, though, of course. Mickey is multi-lingual.)

And then And then. The moment where all little kid's dreams come true---I met Mickey Mouse in person! The couples before us were so cute. Even the guys were crazy excited to see Mickey. One was like "Omg Mickey, you're awesome!" When one of the guys' girlfriends got a hug from Mickey, the boyfriend got upset and was like, "What about me?!?!" Conclusion: No matter what gender, all Japanese people are in love with Mickey. The end.

 Mickey gave me and mother a big hug and kiss and made our day. Gah. It was worth those two hours in line. Mickey is truly a messenger of happiness.

Our last ride was "It's a Small World". Luckily the line wasn't too long, and we got into the warmth pretty fast. This ride was so pretty. The dolls were so well made and it was really cool how they had dolls from each part of the world. Mother and I tried to name each country as the boat went along. The song "It's a Small World" played in the background in different languages.

Spain was cool. We saw Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. I tried to take a picture for Daddy, but it came out kind of blurry. It can't be helped...the lighting in the ride is not for pictures.

I had wanted to go into Cinderella Castle, but the lines were so long, and by nighttime, it was freezing cold. I settled with just a picture of Cinderella Castle at night time.

Finally, it was shopping time. There was a shop devoted entirely to Pooh goods. It was soo cute and the whole place smelled like honey. Mother bought me a face towel as a Reyes gift and I bought myself some dish towels to dry my dishes here at home.

You can seriously spend at least half a day just looking in the stores. There are SO many disney goods. At the main Disney store, I ended up buying some Mickey tights, a Japanese style Minnie cellphone charm, and Mother got me some Mickey earmuffs (cuz I was freezing...).

This was one of the things you could buy in the Disney store....only if you were super rich, though. It costs 5,000,000 yen, which, according to my research, makes it the most expensive souvenir that you can by from Tokyo Disney!

Ah, and let's not forget the famous hidden Mickeys all around the park! Here are three famous and little known ones:

Hidden mickeys make up the windows of the shuttle train that transports people from the Disney Resort hotels to the Disney park.

Outside of Cinderella Castle, you can see these hidden Mickeys along the wall! They look upside down right now, but during the day, when the sun shines through and a shadow is cast, you can see the Mickey forms on the ground.

Finally, this hidden Mickey can be found at ToonTown. It's the smallest Hidden Mickey in the park, measuring a mere 3cm tall.

By the end of the day, it was super freezing. Tokyo Disneyland is by the water, so it's no wonder. There was no place to sit calmly and warm up, so we ended up saying farewell.

Last pictures at Disney:

Thank you, Tokyo Disneyland! It was so much fun!

★★★

The next day, December 31st, I took mother to the airport at Narita. We took the regular trains, which provides a longer ride, but a more scenic view of Japanese country side--you can see rice fields! Narita Airport is really in the middle of no where.

After lunch and getting mother settled with her luggage checked in and her plane ticket in hand, we had our own little New Year's party with our traditional 12 grapes. It was sad to see her go, but I really had fun.

I'm so glad you came to see me mother! We had lots of adventures and saw a lot in just a few days. From now on, I will do my best making my way and living in Japan on my own. I love you!