2008!

Wow I am seriously really bad at this blog thing. It's been over a month since my last post, whoops! Well I will try to catch up a bit now, my first day back at school after winter break with nothing to do.

It is winter here (duh), and thus really cold. My apartment has an air conditioning unit, but it only heats one room. The other room gets cold enough for me to see my own breath, which is fun but not really. I have a kerosine heater for that room which, for the one day I used it, was heaven, but now I am out of kerosine. I'm kind of scared to go to the gas station and try to buy more. No real reason why; just that I'm in Japan and simple things like that can be scary. I am beginning to loathe the winter, and it just started. Not a good sign.

Despite the cold, however, I LOVED my winter vacation because SETH came to visit!! He was here for 2 whole weeks (!!) and we did so many things and had so much fun. His trip started with an unexpected stop-over in Alaska, when his plane from Chicago started leaking water or something and had to be turned around and flown back to the states. Unfortunate for both of us, but luckily I was able to stay in Tokyo with a lady who did a homestay at my parent's house last summer. So, I got to cruise around Tokyo, and poor Seth was holed up in freezing Anchorage! But, he finally got to Japan on the night of the 23rd, about 24 hours delayed. It was quite the ordeal, but we spent one night in Narita and were able to make it safely back from Tokyo to Toyama just in time for my final Choir rehearsal on Christmas eve. Then, on Christmas day, I sang Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Toyama Chorus and a professional orchestra from Tokyo! We also sang Silent Night and Auld Lang Syne in Japanese, complete with glowing "pen lights" to set the mood. It was pretty sweet. Seth took some videos, which I will post as soon as I figure out how.

After one day of recuperation in Takaoka/Himi (dinner with Ann-san and family!), we set off to Kyoto on the morning of the 27th. I had planned our trip so that we could see some attractions before they closed for the holiday season (Dec 28th-Jan 4th), but unfortunately some of them (Nijo Castle, for instance), closed earlier than expected. But, we still found plenty to do. We visited Ginkakuji, Kiyomizudera, Fushimi Inari (we did the whole 4km walk under the thousands of red gates-- so pretty!), the Imperial Palace grounds, Heian Jinja, and spent New Years eve at Yasaka Jinja with the rest of the Kyoto population. We also found some great little restaurants, namely Falafel Garden and a quirky cafe/bar called La Siesta, complete with old-school video games and a fully vegetarian menu. And, we took a few day trips, one to Osaka to see the aquarium (featuring penguins and a whale shark!), ride on the World's Largest Giant Wheel, and visit "America Village," and one to Nara to see Todaiji Temple (the largest wooden building in the world) and all the non-wild deer who will attack you if you have food. We stayed at a cute little hostel near Kyoto station, conveniently located near a 7-11 where we bought plenty of snack food. The only problem with the hostel was that both Seth and I seemed to be allergic to their cleaning agents. Yuck. All in all though, Kyoto was a great time and we had a lot of fun!

Then, it was back to Takaoka for some r&r. It was snowing when we arrived, so we built a snowman named Joe and threw snowballs at each other and I made my first snow angel. Unfortunately, when we woke up the next morning, somebody had destroyed Joe with a shovel. How cruel! We spent the rest of our time relaxing, shopping, eating, playing scrabble, watching tv/movies, and finished off our time together with a short trip to Kanazawa to visit Ninja Temple and the Gap (awesome New Years sales!). I think Seth's favorite part about Japan is the hyaku-en (hundred yen, less than a dollar) stores. He stocked up on dozens of useless but hilarious items. I also bought a few.

Sadly, our time came to an end, and Seth left yesterday morning to spend a week in Portland with his family before heading back east for the second semester. I tried to distract myself from his absence by shopping with my gal pals, but coming home to my empty apartment totally sucked. I miss Seth a lot, but I'm glad we got to spend two weeks together and do such exciting things! And now, I am back at work, although classes don't start until tomorrow, so again I have nothing to do. (Which is fine with me, especially since I'm a little sick). This term, which is the third and last in the Japanese school year, will be shorter than the last, and also less hectic as I will no longer be teaching the third-year students, who will be busy cramming for the upcoming university entrance exams. Hopefully, I will use the extra time to search for a job for next year!

Well, I don't know when the next time I write will be, considering my recent track record. But, there will be a next time, I can guarantee that. And I'll post when I upload my pics and videos from Seth's trip!

Mata ne,
Mandy