You might be surprised how I’ve been blogging “a lot” recently. Well a lot… a bit more than usual. Trying to catch up since I’ve only been blogging once a month. And I even skipped the whole summer vacation. faaail.　（´д｀）

SO. Went to Kyoto recently [...]]]>

A creature called 'Hyoutoku' from the manga Gegege no Kitaro.

You might be surprised how I’ve been blogging “a lot” recently. Well a lot… a bit more than usual. Trying to catch up since I’ve only been blogging once a month. And I even skipped the whole summer vacation. faaail.　（´д｀）

SO. Went to Kyoto recently but the weekend after that I went to Sakaiminato in  Tottori prefecture with a friend and her parents and stayed over at her grandparents’ house.
We only stayed for one night and one day but it was really fun （^〇^）

So on saturday 6 november after school my friend, her parents and me drove to Tottori by car for about 5 hours. Stopped once to eat lunch at a service area. I love service area’s because they usually sell a lot of souvenirs (goods, food, snacks) and you can usually try out the food they sell, which is called ‘shushoku’ in Japan. So me and my friend tried stuff like manju, senbei, mochi and more manju and more mochi and… and…so much more　（－▽ー） Aah I feel like eating manju right now. Like OMG the manju we get to eat during tea ceremony class at school is SO EFFING GOOD!! I love tea ceremony where we make maccha (green tea), eat manju and drink the maccha. Damn I love Japan　（≧∀≦）

Oh right where was I.
We arrived in Sakaiminato at around 7 pm I think, since we left at around 2 pm. Friends’ grandparents’ house was very nice and typical Japanese with only tatami floors. There was even a tea room where we got to eat manju and drink some maccha, made by the grandmother. When drinking maccha you first always eat some sweets that will leave their sweetness in your mouth so the maccha won’t be that bitter. Even in Japan a lot of people (especially the younger ones) don’t like maccha because of it’s bitterness. But I LOVE it. Definitely going to bring some home :)
For a real tea ceremony there are a lot of rules though when making but also drinking the tea. For example you have to turn the teacup 90 degrees to the left in order to not drink on the shoumen, which is the prettiest part of the teacup. And when you’re done you turn it back (90 degrees) and wipe the spot where you drank from with you fingers and wipe your finger on a piece of paper/tissue that should be in your pocket/kimono. A lot of words like ‘kekkoudegozaimasu’ (The tea has been well made, delicious etc) should be said too and when you drink the last bits you have to make a sipping sound. I’ve been learning a lot of it during tea ceremony class which is quite a lot of fun. Especially making the tea where you have to mix the tea with a chasen (looks like a brush) really fast ;D

Our room

Right. So we ate dinner, took a bath, prepared our futons (Japanese style mattress) and then we changed our clothes again and went outside to a rental shop ’cause we wanted to watch a VIDEO. Yes video. The tv in our room only had a video player so we were stupid enough to look for videotapes in a rentalshop with only cd, dvd and blue-ray. So yea ofcourse there weren’t any videotapes. But at least we tried :) It was about 10 pm by that time btw and pretty cold. Also visited a very cheap clothingstore (kind of like the Dutch HEMA, only the clothes there were really cute and had a lot of variation) and a very cheap supermarket.
Sakaiminato is a port town so it was very quiet (and cold) when we hang outside.
Eventually when we came back home we found some videotape with a recording of some drama on it.

The next day we headed into town (although it was just 5 minutes away by car) and visited the Shigeru Mizuki road. Shigeru Mizuki was born in Sakaiminato and is a manga writer who is very famous for Gegege no Kitaro which is a story about spirits and monsters. I love how the main character doesn’t have one of his eyes because that’s his dad who was born out of his son’s eye.

Found this in a souvenir shop. The eye, called Medamaoyaji is Kitaro's father.

Loved the atmosphere with a lot of souvenir shops and maaaany tourists. Checked out a lot of stores and bought some souvenirs. The streets were filled with yokai (Japanese spirits/monsters) statues that were created by Shigeru Mizuki. Although they are meant to be for children, a lot of those yokai are pretty scary, even for me. Like some monster with his bones sticking out through the skin of his back, long haired old lady, woman in kimono without a face except for her mouth, some skeleton with long arms…. Not really the typical “sweet” and “happy” comic characters for kids ( it is a kids manga/anime though).

One of the scary creatures called 'Doro Tabo'.

Even the toilet signs are Kitaro

The town was full with these Medamaoyaji lanterns. I want one!!

With Kitaro, friend and friend's cousin who tagged a long (^-^)

Some event was going on in the afternoon that we came across by chance. Even some characters of Gegege no Kitaro were at the event (dressed up people). It was about this game where you had to work in a pair to pile up a lot of geta’s (traditional Japanese wooden sandals).

Me and my friend in our awesome Kitaro vest

The pair who piled up the most geta’s won and got free Gegege no Kitaro-shaped manju. So me and my friend participated, made up a strategy and won!! :D So that was really cool. The manju were gooood （^▽^）

After the event we went home, ate vending machine fries, onigiri and more on the way (^-^)

Friend and me together with the writer and his creations

You can see the rest of the photos here （＾▽＾）

The other day me and Olivia had another day off so we watched a lot of YouTube videos. It reminded me of a lot of music I used to listen like Greenday, System of a Down, The Cure, Nirvana and even HIM. OMG such a long [...]]]>

Sitting under one these while drinking maccha @ Ginkakuji

The other day me and Olivia had another day off so we watched a lot of YouTube videos. It reminded me of a lot of music I used to listen like Greenday, System of a Down, The Cure, Nirvana and even HIM. OMG such a long time ago since I listened to those bands and I still think they are/were good. Like recently I’ve become a fan of HIM again and I wonder why I actually stopped listening to them while they’re pretty good. Ville was sooo hot but changed a lot unfortunately :(

Oh right, I was going to post about my 2 day trip to Kyoto　from the 29th until the 31st of October :D
It was just soooo amazingly awesome!!! Wish I could live there :(

Well we didn’t start at Kyoto actually. On Friday October 29 we went to Takamatsu in Kagawa Prefecture which is about 1-2 hours by car from here. I’ve actually been to Kagawa-ken before, one time, when I visited Konpirasan. And I just realized I actually never blogged about it because I was too effing lazy, yay. But while I’ll prepare that blogpost about Konpirasan you can check out the photos in my gallery (finally uploaded them) :)

I’m going off-topic again. One of the reasons why I’m always too lazy to make a new blog post is because it takes ages for me to finish my story.

So, Takamatsu. Hostdad wanted to go to this AppBank (a Japanese Apple application review site) event there and brought the family along. ‘t Was interesting to see what kind of people came. Like really cute girls, salary men, otaku (nerds,maniacs) and really fashionable people who seem like the type to use Apple for designing and stuff.
Of course everyone took out their iPhone or iPad or both. It was located in a restaurant and it was actually kind of a meeting with a some talks and jankenpon (stone,, paper, scissors).
Stayed at a nearby hotel that night. Because there weren’t 4-person rooms or anything in that direction I had my own hotel room, all alone by myself. Which was actually pretty nice and interesting and I felt really independent and grown up you know ;P Oh and I watched Harry Potter on the tv that night. Seen that one (the first one) too many times.

And the next day we headed to KYOTO!! YES. Was about a 4 hour drive from Kagawa-ken.
When we arrived we ate a tofu restaurant which was really yummy yummy. Would love to eat that again. Also the sister of my hostmom lives in Osaka so she and her 2 sons also came by to ate lunch with us (even though Osaka is still an hour away from Kyoto). Had a nice lunch and then went to a place where you can dress up as a geisha, or actually I did! Hostparents told me about it but I thought they weren’t serious about it, so I was reaaally excited!! Always wanted to dress up as one :D
Make-dress-up took about 1 hour. It was really funny when the girl who did my make-up put on the white paint on my face, neck and back with this brush that makes funny (and interesting) sounds because the brush was really wet and cold. When I looked up in the mirror I couldn’t help laughing at my white face XD

With my hostmom's sister, her 2 kids and my little hostbrother.

Also put on a wig, which was maybe a heavy as my head or something, then the kimono (heavy too, lot of layers) and hair decoration. When everything was done I took pictures (like professional ones) and even more pictures with my hostfamily who came later to pick me up and that’s it.
I actually posted the photos on my FB ;)
And then they took my kimono and wig off but I had to clean the make-up by myself which was horrible work D: And my skin got all dry and stuff. I guess putting up strong make-up and then working your ass off to get it off does mess up your skin.  Nonetheless, I  absolutely enjoyed it :D Also realized how hard it must be only to wear these clothes and make-up for real maiko-san and geisha.

And after that hostmom and me dashed to Kiyomizudera temple which was kind of nearby. We hadn’t much time so we had to hurry there. Just the fact that I was walking in Kyoto’s very busy and steep streets (with A LOT of foreigners) made me really excited. Everything was so… Kyoto-ish :D

So we arrived at Kiyomizudera. Even only the main gate was huge and amazing. The temple itself was just EXACTLY as in the pictures. It was so cool that I could see such a famous place like Kiyomizudera. To me it was like the Eiffel Tower in France, the Pyramids of Gizeh or the Great Wall of China.

At the famous Kiyomizudera temple!!

Of course I also took my own picture of that famous spot. I just HAD to.
There was also a kind of waterfall called Otawa no Taki where a lot of people stood in line to drink some water of it because it is said that it’s good for your health, studies and a long life.

Otawa no Taki

A few hours later we took a night bus tour to several temples and old houses. It was really beautiful to see the temples and their gardens lightened up at night. Especially one temple (of which I unfortunately forgot the name) that had a huge pond. At first when I looked at it I thought it was hole in the ground with trees coming out of it because it was so dark. But when I looked closer I realized it was actually the trees surrounding the pond that were reflected upside-down on the water. It was sooooooo beautiful.

Trees reflected on the water

Other places we visited also had sand gardens and lightened up bamboo forests. The atmosphere at night was so different and felt even more serene and calm than normal.
The tour was short but saw a lot of amazing sceneries :D

Lightened up bamboo forest

After that we went to our hotel where I had my own room again which was really fancy. I watched Die Hard 4 that night.

The next day we visited the Ginkakuji and Kinkakuji (The Silver and Golden Pavillion, although the first one isn’t silver at all) and their gardens which were sooooo beautiful. Drank maccha (green tea) at Ginkakuji, so nice. I love maccha.

Ginkakuji (Silver Pavillion) and it's sand garden

Kinkakuji was really bright as in the pictures and it was crowded as hell. I also rang a bell and offered my prayers, received a free postcard (I had to pay for ringing though).

At Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) with hostmom and hostbrother.

And that was kind of the end of my Kyoto adventure. Ate Kyoto ramen and then headed home, 5 hour car drive.
Also went to Tottori with a friend and her family a week ago and saw a lot of Gegege no Kitaro :D
But I’ll write about that in another post ;)

And now I’m FINALLY going to sleep.
お休み☆

Haven’t uploaded photos in my photogallery since June or something, so I finally got on my lazy ass and sorted some out to upload. Although I’ve only progressed with 1 day of photos so far (^_^);;

So I’ll show you a bit around the neighboorhood where I live in :) Oh and I acidentally [...]]]>

Ohashidori Shopping Arcade

Haven’t uploaded photos in my photogallery since June or something, so I finally got on my lazy ass and sorted some out to upload. Although I’ve only progressed with 1 day of photos so far (^_^);;

So I’ll show you a bit around the neighboorhood where I live in :)
Oh and I acidentally set the photo settings on 4:3 which explains the crap resolution (>.<)

In front of my appartment building

In the neighbourhood. The sign board on the right is from a cram school.

The NHK building, just a block away

Tenjinbashidoori. I always pass this route on my way to school and home.

Alleyway in Tenjinbashidoori. A few Izakaya (traditional Japanese drinking place) are located here.

Main road

Kochi is one of the few cities in Japan with trams :)

Ohashidoori Shopping Arcade. Photo was taken during the Tanabata season (a Japanese holiday, you should google it) which explains the flag/banner in the top of the photo.

Side street of Ohashidoori

Notice the whale picture on the ground (at least if you can see it). Kochi is famous for selling and cosuming whale. I ate it too :) Although it wasn't that good imo...

The entrance to Hiromeichiba, a big indoor market (one of the only ones in Japan)

The side of Hiromeichiba

Tosa Joshi High School (all girls), the school that I'm attending this year :) It's actually the smallest high school in Kochi!

Not a lot of people as you can see (no one at all actually :o). Welcome to the countryside of Japan!

Palm trees!

Actually Kochi is the manga city in Japan. A lot of older famous manga writers were born in Kochi (like Takashi Yanase from Anpanman) and there is also the National Manga Championship every year in Kochi where one has to draw one page that fits the theme that's been given (usual society/news related themes). This is one of the many winners (1999) viewable in the manga route.

Manga exhibition street

Obiyamachi shopping arcade. Right in between home and school so I often pass here to eat, game, hang, do 100 yen shopping or just strolling :)

Kagami river right around the corner. Nice spot for sitting and relaxing (at least during the spring & summer).

@ Kagami river.

Cat.

You can see the rest here :)

It’s October. Almost November. I don’t like this. Every [...]]]> OMG I want a Mac. I’m now using one to write this blog post and it’s amazingly nice for blogging and stuff. For anything actually.
I’m still working on another blog post which is still on draft, so meanwhile I’ll start writing another one (so busy I am).

It’s October. Almost November. I don’t like this. Every time I hear about the current date I can’t just help but FREAK OUT in my mind and get all down and depressed. I have like 2,5 months left in Japan, and it actually sounds like I have some decease and will die very soon. And it actually feels like I will.
Of course I miss everyone back in NL and the (junk) food, but I can’t imagine how much I’m going to miss my host family, friends, school, game centers, karaoke, healthy and nice food, hot looking guys and just this whole town.
There’s also of course the fact that I can always come back to Japan and Kochi and visit everyone again, but I won’t be able to spend my time with the people here like I’m doing now.
I think it’s just that I don’t like it when things change. Just like the fact that I’m scared to cut my hair off (or maybe not?).

I never really thought of going back (of course I do know I HAVE to go back someday), but now it’s getting closer and closer and I start to realize the reality which is really scary.

Woooow… so lame what I just wrote.

It’s gotten colder in Kochi btw. Like a few days ago it was still like 20C and now it’s about 10C all of sudden!!
I get really cold easily and am not really good with it, but I still LOVE IT!!! Well it’s more the atmosphere that I like. People starting to wear nice warm clothes, mufflers and gloves, cold air, grey sky, white breath, hot chocolate at home…it all feels like winter is coming (ー▽ー）〜

I do hope there will be LOTS OF SNOW when I get back in NL. It’ll make my return less depressing :D

Oh and the test week just ended, yay. I only had 3 tests though (Japanese, English Grammar and English Reading). Because me and Olivia only had to take a few tests we had a day off on monday (26/10) and did a lot of random stuff like 100 yen shop, Moss Burger and actually planned to go to GO DIE SON (or Godaisan, a famous mountain in Kochi), but because of the rain we ended up doing karaoke which was lots of fun :D

Aand I heard there’s a typhoon coming this way during the weekend, but I’ll be going to Kagawa-ken with my hostfamily because hostdad wants to attend this Apple event there. Although I actually also want to see what that typhoon is like :O

And now I’m going to work on that other blog post now.

Yours,

I.

In front of the Cinderella Castle (^.^)

Feels like there’s so much to do, especially since I have only 3 months left here in Japan, but always ignore my to do stuff and end up checking sites, watch a movie or sleeping :P

Like if I don’t sleep early enough I end up sleeping [...]]]>

In front of the Cinderella Castle (^.^)

Feels like there’s so much to do, especially since I have only 3 months left here in Japan, but always ignore my to do stuff and end up checking sites, watch a movie or sleeping :P

Like if I don’t sleep early enough I end up sleeping through all classes (which I’ve done once XD). I must admit that I never slept in class before, back in NL. Only like close my eyes or lay down my head and stuff but not that I really slept. But here in Japan I sleep at least once almost every day. Of course I try not to. But that at least proves how much I’ve been adapting to the Japanese lifestyle XD

Rented the movies Kumo no Mukou Yakusoku no Basho (feel like watching it again), Sherlock Holmes, Public Enemies and Ninja Assassin. The last one was very epic. I was surprised by the fact that they didn’t say it was a comedy :O Yea so… no, the movie sucked (as expected). Americans need to realize already that they should stop making Asian related movies… unless your name is Quentin Tarantino.
Sherlock Holmes was fun, no really :) Good combination of mystery, action and comedy! The movie reminded me a little of The Brothers Grimm (Heath Ledger….haa..wt). Haven’t seen Public Enemies yet, will soon though. Aah, I feel like watching a lot of movies right now. Movie moooood!!!

Oh right… back to my Japanese life.

Went to Hokkaido and Tokyo Disneyland on a school trip for 5 days, which was a blast!! So glad I was able to go eventually, for which I’m really really really grateful to my host family. They’re the best!

So, short summary.

Tuesday, 5-10

Departure from Kochi airport to Tokyo Haneda airport. Had to wait at Haneda airport for our next flight to Sapporo Chitose airport. Once arrived in Sapporo (which was nice and cool) we went to the “bear farm” by bus and gondola. The bears were cute!! They even waved at us. But that’s probably because they wanted food.

Stayed at a ryokan that night, traditional Japanese hotel with tatami rooms, Japanese style dinner and usually also an onsen (hot spring bath). The place we went to is quite famous in Hokkaido, especially the onsen. It was really relaxing and the place was beautiful. Played UNO (was surprised they also have it in Japan) and did a yoghurt facemask, just chillin’ and stuff.

Wednesday 6-10

Woke up, breakfast, bus at 8.10 am. First went to the Salmon museum. Salmon is pretty famous in Hokkaido, along with a lot of other stuff like milk products (milk, cheese, yoghurt etc), tomatoes, pumpkins and eggplants. After the salmon museum we went to the Northern Horse Park with cows. . . No of course there were horses, doh. Ate lunch there, went to see the co… horses and after that we went to a recreated village that used to be there in Hokkaido with old-American styled buildings/houses.

And at last we went shopping in Otaru city with old-European  styled houses and buildings. The whole time if felt as if we were in a foreign country. Damn bought a lot of souvenirs in Otaru (for friends and family in Kochi and for my own family back in Holland).

Spend the night at a fancy hotel in Sapporo city and our room had an AWESOME view over the city and the tv tower. Other people visited our room and we also visited other rooms (even though it wasn’t allowed). Dinner was fancy as well. Somehow we slept pretty early that night.

Thursday 7-10

Woke up, breakfast, bus at 8.10 am. The schedule says that the bus leaves at 8.10 which means you need to be there at least 5 minutes before. Japanese people are very punctual and even one second too late would be failure. You might know that Japanese trains have a delay of a few minutes, or even a few seconds per year! (most of the delay is probably caused by the suicides of stupid people)
But I was surprised that the teacher even yelled at us for getting on the bus at 8.00 am and that we had to get on earlier, even though we were earlier.

Anyways, that day we first went to the Lavender farm with no lavender because the season already ended, unfortunately. Although there were a few lavenders to see. Besides lavender there were also a lot of other flowers which was really beautiful to see. Also ate Lavender taste ice cream which was good.

After that we went to the famous Asahiyama Zoo! We didn’t had much time so couldn’t see a lot animals BUT I saw a KAPIBARA for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!! And they’re soooooooooooooooo cute!! (>//v//<) Should’ve just bring one home with me, on the bus and airplane. But that would’ve been too much of a hassle. So instead I bought a kapibara plushie (^____^) OMG I love kapibara or in English it’s Capibara (?).

Then we had another souvenir shopping spree and had lamb meat as dinner which was nice, only too much. Since it’s not usual (at least here in Kochi) to eat sheep or lamb it was the first time for almost everyone, and not everyone liked it. Reminds me I haven’t eaten dönner kebab for a very long time. Should do when I get back :) (oh and patatje speciaaaal!!)

That night we stayed at the same hotel as the night before. Had to pack my suitcase with souvenirs because we were sending it all back home, except for some stuff for another night. But when I put the photos of my SD on my computer (not allowed tho, still brought it) and send my computer home too in the suitcase (because the teachers will notice if I take it out of my carry-on luggage at the airport) I forgot to take out the SD card and send it too. OMG soooo effing stupid. Not such a big deal though, since I still had 2 other cards, but the card I sent out was like 8 gb and a good one.

Anyways, chilled that night, sneaked out to other’s rooms, just hanging and stuff.

Friday, 8-10

Breakfast, bus and then airplane from Sapporo, Chitose to Tokyo, Haneda. And from Haneda airport to Chiba: DISUNIRANDOO!!!!! (Disneyland)
There was only one problem. I’ll explain it from the beginning.

So this school trip was divided into groups and I was in a group with 2 others friends and 3 others I don’t really know. That day the other 3 slept in and came for like 10 minutes too late at breakfast. Seemed the teacher was really angry about it, which he was, because we (our whole group) weren’t allowed anymore to go into the Disneyland park… yaaaaay. It was very shocking, especially for my 2 friends who were like crying. It was f*cked and I was a bit upset about it but I understand the reason for why (even though me and my 2 friends have nothing to do with coming too late at breakfast and such)  the whole group had to stay outside. I mean, that’s how society works. When one person in a company can’t move on, the whole company can’t and then you’re f*cked so deal with it I guess.
BUT…. of course the teachers aren’t THAT mean to screw up our once in a life time high school trip to Disneyland and so they let us in after like 40 minutes or something.

So we got in and dashed to pick up some fast passes and then to our other friends who were already waiting in line for Splash Mountain. OMG I was sooo nervous. Like all of sudden I was standing in line with my friends without even meaning to go in too. And then we got in the car and had a great ride!!! Got a bit wet though. So I’m officially over my rollercoasterphobia, yaaaaaaay~~~ :D

After that we stood in line for the Haunted Mansion for like 90 minutes, so meanwhile took too many photos. And the Haunted Mansion wasn’t even that interesting. Only that it was The Nightmare Before Christmas themed, because of the Halloween season (Haunted mansion looked more x-mas themed than Halloween themed though XD). Oh yea right, so the whole park was Halloween themed and they also had Halloween parades. It was really cool :)

After the Haunted Mansion we grabbed a bite while dashing to our next attraction because we had to be on time with our fast past. It was already about 7 pm and dark by that time btw. Met our other friends there from whom we separated a while ago and then went into Big Thunder Mountain, which was AWESOME!!!! And then we dashed to Space Mountain because there was a waiting time of ONLY 50 minutes (which is pretty fast)!! Space mountain was cool, but didn’t felt good at all afterwards. Felt like puking… The lights were cool and stuff, but the all of sudden movements and spasms were a bit too much for me XD But it was a cool ride :)

And then we had like 30 minutes left to do some shopping and got on the bus to the Tokyo Bay Hotel where we stayed the night. Very fancy hotel, also had Disney shops (where I continued my shopping) and I was sooo friggin tired so I chilled with my feet in the refrigerator (chilling must be chilly). Nah jk. Refrigerator happened to be open and I was sitting in front of it. Did feel good though O: (photos on my Facebook)

And the next day we saw a bit of Tokyo from our bus to Tokyo Station where we took the SHINKANSEN (bullet train) to Shin Kobe!! And yes it was fast!! (took us 2 hours tho) Passed places like Kyoto and Osaka. When we stopped at the station in Kyoto I was thinking how I always wanted to go to Kyoto and that I was there at that moment. Only couldn’t see other places besides the platform, which was kind of sad.
So we went on a school trip with the whole 2^nd grade of senior high school with like 300 (?) people. And when we arrived at Shin Kobe we had 1 minute (until the train was going to leave again) to get out of that train. So we were instructed to run as fast as possible out of that train, although it did went a little slowly. And we all just barely made it out XD
And from Shin Kobe we took the bus to Kochi, which took like 4-5 hours. And it was raining that day, luckily for us no rain during Disneyland ^^

And that was my school trip which was a BLAST!!

THE END.

(omg so tired from typing. Going to sleep now, bye)

Just got back from AEON with 3 other friends (one of them a new exchange student from America). AEON is a big shopping mall that’s settled in whole Japan. Had a lot of fun of course :D We ate ramen for lunch, went to the bookstore, played [...]]]>

Flyer of the haunted house that couldn't visit (>_<)

Just got back from AEON with 3 other friends (one of them a new exchange student from America). AEON is a big shopping mall that’s settled in whole Japan. Had a lot of fun of course :D
We ate ramen for lunch, went to the bookstore, played a lot of games at the game center, Tower Records (media store, omg they were selling older albums of Plastic Tree which is hard to find but I eventually didn’t buy them because CD’s here in Japan are pretty expensive ><) and at last we ate SHABU SHABU and SUKIYAKI!!!! :DDDD It was really good as always ^^ (and for the Dutch people; shabu shabu isn’t sushi, like that all you can eat restaurant, but Japanese hot pot where you put meat in and vegetables and then dip it in sauce and then eat it ;)).

Yesterday was the school festival, also called cultural festival. So much fun!!! :D Had to paint a picture for the art club to show on the school festival. I nearly finished it the day before so it still could be shown in the art club gallery :) This year’s theme for the art club was ‘Circus’ so I drew a picture of a tent ;P And I actually forgot to take a picture of it so I’ll upload it some other time.
For the cooking club we baked cookies, a few days before the festival. Like I don’t know how many cookies but we sold them for about $2000!  So me and my friends of the cooking club had to sell cookies for about 30 minutes in the morning. Also had to stay at the art club for 30 minutes to watch the place. After that we were all free so we could check out other places :D Went to check out the chorus club performance (really good!), Go club (the Japanese board game), manga club, ate yakisoba and crêpe (SO GOOD!) and also checked out the Folk Song Club or in Japanese ‘Keion bu’ (K-On!), omg it has been a while since I heard live music so I was really glad to hear them. The keion bu btw consists of several different bands. I think about 10 bands. They were so awesome and talented (>//v//<). Last song was “Don’t Say Lazy” btw ;D
I only forgot to recharge (both!) of my camera batteries so they didn’t last long unfortunately so I was really pissed at myself the whole day (>_<) Although it happened a few times before that my camera got out of batteries during times I really want to take pictures… Sucks.

Also wanted to go to the haunted house sooooo badly but the waiting line was endless (=_=);; So didn’t want to waste time so watched the “Shodo girls” (Calligraphy girls) performance of the shodo club. It was so cool. Also saw it before on the tv where they performed for the national girls shodo competition. It’s weird so say this about some calligraphy show but it really moved me because every meaning of the words they wrote were expressed really beautifully. That also I couldn’t film because of my dead camera batteries.

Oh and I also cosplayed as a maid, of which I do have a photo but won’t upload MWUAHAHA >:D
And that was a summarized version of the school festival. Although it really soon was over in a blink of the eye!!  But I think I shouldn’t have watched the live performance of the keion bu until the end because it really took about an hour for all the bands to perform. But they were really good so that’s okay.
My first and last school festival this year was a blast!! :D

The day after tomorrow is the sports festival  and in a week I’ll be going on a school trip to Hokkaido and TOKYO DISNEYLAND!!! (which isn’t in Tokyo btw but Chiba)

But for now I’m going to take a shower, do my Japanese studies and go to sleep (^^)

Yours from Kochi, Japan

OMG…it’s been veeeeery long while since I blogged. And I was even determined to post at least once a week before I went to Japan..well NOT lol…

Just a very quick update for the ones who’re not following me on Twitter or Facebook. I still eat a lot, study a lot, take care [...]]]>

Yosakoi 2010

OMG…it’s been veeeeery long while since I blogged. And I was even determined to post at least once a week before I went to Japan..well NOT lol…

Just a very quick update for the ones who’re not following me on Twitter or Facebook.
I still eat a lot, study a lot, take care of myself and most important; have the greatest time of my life!! In fact, I don’t miss Holland AT ALL!! (no offense ;])

Especially during the summer holidays I had so much fun just hanging with friends, club activities at school (art club), daytrips with my hostfam, summer festivals and Yosakoi ofcourse :D I even received a medal at Yosakoi! Altho probably almost everyone received one or 7, I was really happy to receive one :D

In total I’ve been to about 7 summer festivals which are soooo much FUN! I never liked summer, in fact I hate it. But being here in Japan even summer is enjoyable ^^
I uploaded 2 videos on Youtube of the Obon matsuri (Lantern festival) where they dance the Obon dance (Bon-odori) ;D Will soon upload some more videos to YouTube and photos to my photogallery.

I also bought the application form+guide for the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) yesterday. Decided to do N5 because I think the vocabulary of N4 will still be too much for me.

Test date is on the 5th of December!! Or in Holland; SINTERKLAAS!! :DD
So while everyone in NL is celebrating and waiting for the big man to put something nice in their shoe (which must sound sooo weird to people who don’t know Sinterklaas XD), I’ll be in a pinch during the test XD
It’s weird that I can’t celebrate the holidays with friends & family back in NL this year =S

Oh right, I also went to the new Ghibli movie called 「借りぐらしのアリエッティ」 or in English “The Borrower Arrietty”. A short story but still a pretty movie just like any other Ghibli movie ^^

I recently discovered how extremely tanned I got!! （゜Д゜）
@ fellow Dutchers: Hah be jealous!! （｀∀´）
I absolutely don’t like it tho, but o what the heck, why not. Since I’m here for only 1 year I think I should do anything that isn’t me at all.
I’m actually also considering to cut my omfg long and precious hair… yes or no?

Can’t believe I’m already halfway on my exchange here.
Time flies in a blink of an eye when having fun (ToT)

Aah I’m so tired. Going to sleep now.
I’ll post again but I won’t promise that it’s going to be soon XD

お休み～～☆

It’s HOT!! I think it’s about 32°C outside today. Fortunately my room has an AC (－V－)

I don’t like summer at all. In fact I hate it. But summer here is great! Festivals, firework, watermelon, Yosakoi, the green rice fields and the blue sky with fluffy white clouds (I forgot if we have fluffy white [...]]]>

スイカ！

It’s HOT!! I think it’s about 32°C outside today. Fortunately my room has an AC (－V－)

I don’t like summer at all. In fact I hate it. But summer here is great! Festivals, firework, watermelon, Yosakoi, the green rice fields and the blue sky with fluffy white clouds (I forgot if we have fluffy white clouds in Holland…), the rivers and the sound of the insects! A lot of Japanese people can’t stand the sound of the cicadas because they’re really noisy, but I love it!

You can also hear the sound of the crows very often here (not only in summer), and it really sounds like they’re saying “ahou” all the time XD

So it’s now summer holidays. I actually have club activities every day, but took the day off today because I just got back from camping in Umajimura yesterday and also had Yosakoi practice in the evening (outside with a lot of mosquitos =\).

Camping was really fun! Umajimura is located in the mountains in the eastern part of Kochi prefecture and about a 2 hour car drive from Kochi-shi. Throughout the country Umajimura is famous for their Yuzu Gokkun! Yuzu gokkun is a drink made of yuzu, a Japanese fruit a little bit similar to lemon but smaller. In summer, and especially for Kochi people, it’s a must! And I agree because it’s sooo nice, refreshing and cheap! I love it how the texts on the Yuzu Gokkun bottle is in Tosa-ben which is really countryside.

So we went together with the family of my hostmom and the family of my hostmom’s sister in law, in total with 6 kids from 3 to 10 years old. We met at the supermarket where we did some food shopping. It’s funny how everyone reacts the same when they hear I’m an exchange student and how they don’t believe it at all. Hm.. maybe I should talk Japanese with a Dutch accent to they’ll believe it.

We went straight to the river (Umajigawa) when we arrived in Umajimura, set up the sunscreens/parasols. We swam a bit in the river and just chilling. It was sooo nice and relaxing. The river was COLD but nice because it was so hot that day. Although there was a heavy rainfall in the afternoon and became cold all of sudden. But fortunately it was only short. Mountain weather is always unpredictable and sudden rainfalls are very common.

It was so nice to just float on the river and look up at the blue sky with fluffy white clouds and being surrounded by mountains and the sounds of cicadas.

In the evening we went to our lodge which had a view over the river. Had a BBQ which was delicious of course. There was also this very delicious (and expensive!!) beef, the part with a lot of fat! Aaah it was the most delicious beef ever!!! (=v=) After the BBQ we did some fireworks. But only the small ones, like a stick that blasts out a lot of fire and sparks for a 1 minute.

And then it was onsen time! As always very relaxing. I always wondered btw why they even have the buckets while there’s a shower. There’s also a bucket here at home. The answer is, Japanese people love their old customs. Some people only use the bucket, some both shower and bucket or only shower. The older generation (that didn’t have a shower) grew up with it so they still like to keep their old customs. At home, it’s common to use the bucket to use the leftover water in the bath to rinse your body. And after that you take a shower of course, because the bath water isn’t that clean :P But it’s a good thing, because you won’t waste the bath water. Japanese people hate wasting stuff.

I love it how Japan is a very high tech and modern country, but at the same time still keep their old traditions and customs dear.

After the onsen I shared the Dutch snacks I brought with everyone. Oh right, I received these snacks from home in a box, but the Japanese customs opened it, and they just opened one of the chips bags that was in it!! They closed it with a tape that says that this product was opened by the Japanese customs office blabla… I bet they’ve been snacking from it! ><

I slept together with two of the kids in one room on a futon. All the kids were so cute and fun!! I already knew 3 of them. And like the two girls of 7-8 years old got a liking to me, even though I couldn’t properly talk to them. And the 9 years old boy, my hostmom’s nephew, would just talk and talk to me even though I didn’t understand most of the things he said and only answered with　あーそうか、すごい！and such.

I woke up the next morning by the sound from the town’s announcement speakers that was playing Greensleeves. It was like 6 o’clock or something and I hear Greensleeves,  so random. In Japan, all the small towns and villages have their announcement speakers for announcing time or important news.

Had breakfast, packed up everything and then rode a train. Well, not a real train. It was like an amusement park attraction for kids and like really slow. It only made 2 rounds for about 10 minutes, but it was in the mountains and you could see water streaming downhill to the river.

Also rode the “Incline” which was like a cable car but not on a cable but a railway going straight upward to the top of the mountain. This incline though doesn’t work on electricity but gravity. To get the car to the summit, a tank at the summit of the mountain, connected to the car, will be filled with water so it’ll become heavy and slowly moves down and at the same time pulls the car up. And to get the car back down, the tank with water will be emptied and the car’s tank will be filled with water. It’s a very impressive and smart way because it doesn’t use electricity at all. Very eco. Or echo, which was written on the car :P The view at the summit was AMAZING!!!

We also went to the river again, and did suikawari (watermelon smashing). If you don’t know it, suikawari is a MUST activity in the summer (at least I think should do it) and is kind of like piñata, person gets blindfolded and needs to hit the watermelon with a stick. Unfortunately I didn’t hit the watermelon at all xD

In the afternoon we went to the Yuzu Gokkun factory, which is the only factory in the whole country! The Yuzu Gokkun factory is open and free to everyone and you can see how they make the stuff there. Unfortunately that day the visitors road through the factory was under construction so we couldn’t see it. But we got free Yuzu Gokkun! Visitors will always get one free bottle. Yummm… Their toilet btw was really awesome. When you wash your hands there are 4 steps you need to follow: 1 Use soap. 2 Rinse. 3 Dry. 4 Disinfect. Every step had a sticker with a number on it. BUT if you forget to complete step 4, Disinfect, the door won’t open! Oh and it was all automatic, no buttons or something. Water sensor, soap sensor, disinfect sensor, dry sensor.

Bought some souvenirs and that’s about it.

A lot of other stuff happened lately. Went to THE udon prefecture, visited the biggest Konpira-san in Japan, had a YFU cycling trip with the other Shikoku exchange students, went to Wanukesama matsuri, have been exploring Kochi a lot, had the 2-day class match at school and so much more. But I’ll tell that in another post because I’m going out for a stroll right now ^^

Oh and to everyone who’s sending me letters and e-mails, thanks a lot!! :D They always make me happy (not that I’m never happy or something…). It won’t be immediatly but I’ll reply them!! ;)

I think this is like my 6th post since I got here in Japan ^^;;  Yes, I’m lazy. I also think my general speaking ability has decreased because I usually talk in a mix of English-Japanese but still on child level. So my vocabulary has also decreased which is really [...]]]>

Samurai Blue!!

I think this is like my 6th post since I got here in Japan ^^;;  Yes, I’m lazy. I also think my general speaking ability has decreased because I usually talk in a mix of English-Japanese but still on child level. So my vocabulary has also decreased which is really bad. It often happens that I’m looking for a certain word (in Dutch, English or Japanese) but just can’t find it.

I haven’t talked Dutch at aaaaall… and I don’t want to because it’ll probably sound horrible. Like when Japanese people ask me to talk Dutch and I hear those weird words coming out of my mouth it’s just so awkward and ugly =\ Although I still think in Dutch plus English and Japanese. Aah, it’ll be fun when I get back and have to talk in Dutch again and mix everything up X

So lately life has been normal. From the start I already felt really home here. I love Kochi!! Even though summer is going to be nasty hot here while I’m a winter person, everything else is great!!! The people, the streets, the customs, the food, the festivals, the city and of course the dialect (Kochi-ben). Actually, Kochi-ben or also called Tosa-ben, sounds really cute! For verbs example, you usually say “taberu” for “(I’m) eating)”. But in Tosa-ben you say “tabechuu”. Notice the “chuu”. Isn’t it cute?! >v<

Although Tosa-ben sounds cute, it’s very well known throughout Japan as a rude, slightly impropriate and very countryside dialect.

Anyways, it’s 23.08 pm, which is late. Might be early for some of you guys, but I like to sleep around 10 to be all fresh and clear the next morning (although lately I’ve been nerding (computer & study) too much until 23.00-0.00). Also I don’t like to bother the other people here with the sound of my typing as everyone is asleep already.

It’s currently End mid-term exam week. With other words, everyone is stressing, cramming, no club activities and school ends between 11.00 and 12.00. I only have to take the English Reading and English Grammar (those are 2 different subjects fyi) and a Japanese test which basically is a test about vocab, some grammar and kanji. Altho my Japanese teacher probably still hasn’t realized she’s teaching me waaay too beginner-level and easy lessons, even though I showed her how far I am with my studies and already know everything she’s teaching me. Oh well, I’ll just go with the flow and do whatever she’s teaching me, although it honestly feels like a waste of time. Hm, I shouldn’t talk bad about other people here on my blog. Ah, I’m so mean ><

I noticed btw how Japanese people don’t like to talk bad about other people, while we Dutch people do it all the time. “Ehw, that person stinks!”, “She’s fat!”, “He’s annoying!!”… like the people I hang out with almost don’t complain in general at all. And there’s also no bullying or anything at my school (mainly because my school is very strict) or arrogant show-offs. Oh and Japanese people almost don’t swear or curse at all, while Dutch people do it all the time (kanker, tering, kut, shit, fuck…etc). Japan is so peaceful and everyone is so nice and friendly and polite. If just Dutch people could take Japanese people as an example…

Japanese culture is one of the most difficult cultures there is to understand. In Dutch culture you’re free to say anything you want and act however you want to. It’s like a “I don’t give a shit and do whatever I want to” culture.  But here you have to think about so many things in your actions and speech. For example, Japanese people are very social people. You don’t hurt other’s feelings. And if you have to you will hurt your own feelings in order to please someone else. Japanese people are very humble. When you receive a compliment like “You’re so talented!!” you should say “Not at all!!” instead of “Thanks!”. When you say “Thanks” you actually mean that you accept the compliment and thus agree with the fact that you’re very talented and will look like someone with too much ego. Also I still don’t know when to say thanks or not at all. Like in my culture and opinion you should thank someone for complementing you because it’s very kind of them to say something nice about you. But here it can be a bad thing for your image, and image and reputation is also an important thing in Japanese culture.

Private space is also something you need to be careful of. Japanese people don’t mind other people’s  business and some things I would ask a normal friend back in Holland, would be considered rude here. Even if it’s your friend.

Then of course there is the bowing. You should know the differences between a formal, normal and simple bow. lol, because my school is very strict and stuff, we actually have a class called “Etiquette” in which we had a bowing test last lesson. It’s sooo ridiculous strict, everyone was laughing XD
Like you have to keep your fingers neatly together, and keep your arms on your sides. Straight back, feet together. And when you bow, you have to put your hand on your thighs and the top of your forefinger should reach just above your knee. But seriously, no one at my school or like in the whole country will follow these bowing rules. Only important thing when bowing is how deep you should bow.

Oh I also figured out why Japanese people are short in height and have skinny legs and stuff compared to us Dutch people. First Japanese people always sleep late, even when they were kids. Like normal sleeping hour for children here is about 9 pm to 10 pm, while I as a child, had to sleep after Sesame Street, which was about 7 to 8 pm. And when they get in elementary school and after that junior high school they’re cramming until very late and thus don’t get much sleep.

The fact that Japanese people are slim is because of the difference in food and drinks. But I hope you already knew that. Like Dutch people eat a lot of bread and drink a lot of milk. Here it’s rice instead of bread and tea instead of milk. Also the word “diet” is very common among the women and girls here. Even if they’re already slim, they want to diet more. And it still surprises me that I haven’t heard anything about anorexia cases while it’s almost as if Japanese culture encourages women to diet.  It’s like their lifestyle. If I would be a Japanese girl, I’d be obese XD I just bought this fashion magazine yesterday that had a diet ad in it with the ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos. Before the girl looked good already and weights 47.3 kg. And then after is just so skinny, almost anorexia, and weights 38.7.

And while I’m in this uber-healthy country with low calorie food, only drinking tea and not so much bread, I actually gained weight! =\

When I started writing this post it was yesterday at night. But currently it’s already 12.31 PM and got home more than an hour ago. It’s pouring today and the sky is very gloomy. So I’ll be staying home this afternoon and try to finish this post in one day!

I’ve been practicing for the Yosakoi dance since last week. I have practice every monday, wednesday, friday and sunday from 19.00 to 21.00. And it’s so difficult. Only have one month to remember the whole dance.
Oh right, Yosakoi is the very famous dance from Kochi, held in begin August. It’s famous throughout the whole country and even awards will be awarded. When participating in the Yosakoi dance you join a team. Usually a team belongs to a shop, school, organization or university club. The fact that a team belongs so a shop for example, doesn’t mean that only the shop people can join the team. Everyone can join. So I joined the team called Media Cross (don’t ask about the meaning, because I don’t know too :P). It’s a team that belongs to I think a hair salon. I decided this team because their outfit is cute ^^ (everyone wears the same outfit) Also their song is a very nice arrangement. All teams have their own outfit and song arrangement.

Our dance instructor, and probably team leader, is a hair stylist and when he said he’s 45 I was in shock. With his style and dancing skills he looks like at least 35!

Our performance is on the 10^th and 11^th of August. All Yosakoi performances will be held in the Obiyamachi shopping arcade. It’s a long street with shops on both sides. Every team dances the Yosakoi from the start of Obiyamachi until the end while the song is being played in loop all the time.

Also another typical thing for Yosakoi are the “naruko”. Those are like the Spanish… I forgot the name, those clicky things. Only naruko are more like mini table-tennis rackets (?) with clicking things on it :P

lol sorry for being vague. Not really in the mood to tell everything all perfectly and stuff.

And I think I’m going to eat lunch now since it’s already 13.20.

For now I’ll just post this so you guys can have something to read again :)