January 8, 2011 Been A While…Again
Hi everyone. It really has been a while. Sorry about the long wait, once again. Lots of things have been going on.
First off, I changed host families. For reasons I will not go into here, I left my first host family’s house (The T’s) on November 28th, and moved to my second family’s house, the H’s. I stayed at the H’s for one month, and on December 28th, I moved from the H’s to the W’s. So here I am at W-House, one month, two moves later, with my first blog post.
This past month, spent at H-House, went by SO quickly. I had so much fun. It’s a pity I had to move, but January is the busiest time of the year at H-House, so my time there was limited to one month. But, I know the W’s, having met them a few times before, so I see no problems in this next month (my last here in Japan. *tear tear*). I have become so busy here – busier than I ever thought I would be. That elusive “Day In The Life” post I have been promising for the last five months will hopefully answer a lot of your questions, and I hope to get to it soon. Really.
Here in Nagano, we’ve had some on and off snow, but I was really happy to have had a W.C. Not a toilet, haha, but a White Christmas. Here in Japan, Christmas is not widely celebrated. A Japanese-style Christmas is to eat some fried chicken (KFC, no joke) perhaps, if your family has young children, a Christmas Cake (usually with strawberries somehow attached.) Maybe a present here or a fake tree there, but that’s about it. Luckily, thanks to some people (you know who you are!) I had a little gathering of boxes and cards to open, and that really made my Christmas more than just any other day. I was lucky, because even though I had school on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day was on a Saturday. Had it been a school day, Christmas Day would have been completely shot. But, it wasn’t, so I had a relaxing Saturday chillin at the house. I ate a Christmas creme puff with the H-Family that night, drank a Coke, and talked to Mom, Dad, and Hula for the first time in five months! I opened this and that while on the phone, which really made Christmas like it has been every year until this one, with everyone in the Ford of the Box. In Japan, New Years is the big thing. Christmas in Japan, in comparison to New Years is like a baby compared to that huge Mongolian sumo wrestler that I always see on tv these days.
It’s not much, but here are a few pictures. This is what it looks like here these days. I Took these during my walk to school from H-House. The last picture is taken from my school. School sits on the side of a mountain, so this is the view outback, not looking out over the city.
At H-House, every morning I walked through Zenkoji to get to school, as well as a smaller temple that’s right down the hill from school. In Nagano, they’re everywhere. Everywhere.
So that’s it for today, people. Sorry to be so dormant for so long and so often. I’m going to change that!
Tags: Exchange, Japan, Life Abroad, Zenkoji
- 6 comments
- Posted under Exchange, Japan, Life Abroad, Uncategorized
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Supa cuts
said
Woah!
No PRODUCT!
Lookin ‘Rockin Baby Stroller’
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khoany
said
It’s gotten so long that I’m beginning to have trouble seeing. I want to cut it, but I also want to grow it out. Ohh, the dilemma!
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Hannahsan
said
Hallooooo deah, and HAPPY NEW YEEEAAAHHH!!! clever, aren’t I. your photographs are quite nice, i am jealous of the view from your school… i hope you are enjoying your wasabi gum (!!!) and such. have a fab last month to live it up in japoonz and come home to subbie! (your bed has protection on it, mom and I made it up for you)… also email me back once in a while if you feel up to it. did you get the xmas edition????? BYE DEAHHHH
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khoany
said
Halllooooo deah, and Happy New Yeaahhhhh! clever you ahh, deahhh, clever you ahhhhh. I haven’t yet tried it! I’m waiting for a chance to try it with friends – so I can perform the experiment with a native pallate!
I plan on doing just so, deaahh, and I do extend my gratitude to you through the interwebs for providing my place of sleep with the poper and prudently placed protection. (Would you just look at that lovely alliteration?!) And I did get the Christmas edition! The sideways pictures offered me splendid neck excercize, as well as a glimpse into the lives of the Koenigs in 2010-2011. The tree is little but mighty in character, and I do believe that Mother unknowingly contributed to the Blue Bird’s victory in her tree selection. For he wants to be seen, and be seen he shall be. So! I will try to be better about emails and such! I may even try to write a letter. (So caveman! So neanderthal!) Thank you for having the good sense to be my sister!!!
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erica
said
ELLIE!!!! You must have a little recording device set up in my brain because I was just thinking of you a few days ago and how I missed your blog posts. Anyway, I was wondering if there was some way you could ship a little of your hockey talent back overseas, because I’d be willing to pay the S&H. We just got our first win today, so we are up to a record of *drumroll* 1-5-1! Yeah…. Also, in response to your last post, I have indeed starting watching Fugitive with my Hubby in it, but I have to say, I like his other KDramas better. I would just say the plot line in this one isn’t as good, possibly because the writers wanted to make it more action-oriented, and they didn’t think about the storyline as much. But you should know that the first solid 5 minutes of the show are just the writers dishing out the Rain fanservice in a liberal fashion; you name it, there’s Rain on a motorcycle, Rain swimming, Rain shirtless, etc etc. If you are looking for a good KDrama, though, one that I am loving right now is Jungle Fish 2 (it has my Baby Hubby Joon in it), and it’s all about this high school and a bunch of friends who try to figure out the mystery of their friend’s death, with other shananigans thrown in for good measure. AND, I was wondering if you had heard any of the GD/T.O.P. songs that came out on Christmas Eve. I figured you and Molly would be going to town with that!
Oh dear, this comment is getting out of hand…so in summary: I hope you’re having splendid amounts of fun and I can’t wait to spazz out when you get back!!!
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khoany
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OOHH My god ERICA! I was reading your comment and I was practically inflating! 1-5-1!! I wish I was there so badly! When I do eventually return, I think playing in games is a no, but practice should be a go! I’ll hopefully be able to “coach” from the bench! By the way, I saw the new jerseys! Looking sharp!
While I haven’t had much time to watch K-Dramas, I made sure I at least kept up with my men of the music scene! (But now Jungle Fish 2 is on my list!! Love that name. Jungle Fish! Jungle FISH!) Yes I have all the songs from that so particular GDTOP album, and lately they’ve been running with me in the mornings before school. So basically, I have been quite deprived of my K-culture and K-conversation with my K-fan chingus, so when I come home, I will be so ready to spazz out it won’t even be funny. (Well obviously it will be funny. So yeah.)