sum up of '09 & 初 (first) events of 2010

wow, I can't believe it's a new year. How did 4 months fly by so quickly? I've been getting a lot of flashbacks to Philly lately, and like what things were like exactly 1 year ago... so weird (O_o) But I think that has been due to a combination of the holiday season, me being abroad, and not being able to do the things I normally do during this time of year. 


I never considered myself to be a "holiday" person but after these past couple of weeks... I don't know, maybe I am? I missed being able to bake cookies on a whim just because I feel like it, the nostalgia of like "traditional" Christmas decorations with holly leaves and that golden glow from tinted glass light bulbs and such. Like Japan does decorations and illuminations like NO OTHER - but it's all made to look pretty and it doesn't embrace the "Christmas spirit" like I'm used to being exposed to. I guess it was all just really different this year, but that was also a good thing because I got to experience it all with new friends and make new memories~ <3

So this is my grandparents' house in Naruto, Tokushima. It's located on the small island of Shikoku in like the Northeast-ish section of Tokushima - you have to pass through it to get to Kobe & Osaka if you're going to go through Tokushima. But yea, it was nice to get a way to the countryside for a couple of days; it brought back a lot of memories =) And we had yakiniku (the cook-it-yourself Korean BBQ thing) the 1st night I got there. SOOOOOO MUCHHH FOOOODDDDD~

And this is a picture of a bowl of ramen from my dad's friend's ramen shop in Naruto. OMG - SO GOOD and SO cheap because it's in 田舎 (countryside) land. Like ramen is such a simple concept - noodles + soup + vegetables + meat; yet it is such a fine balance between all of these that it just makes me smile when I find a place that has taken the time to find that balance with their own unique flavor and flair =)
I also visited my uncle (my dad's best friend) in Kobe - well he actually works in the city of Arima, which is famous for its hot spring but close enough. We had a really awesome lunch (even though it took like the WORLD to be served... 2 and a 1/2 hours...) that consisted of 7 courses. I would post pictures, but formatting is giving me issues and the lighting in the place wasn't that great anyways. But basically, it was traditional Japanese cuisine inside of a converted Japanese-inn <3 

This is Kozi-senpai <3 (senpai refers to someone who has more experience than you do, so because he's been at Jochi/SISEC longer than I have, he's my 'senpai') and he retired as the president of SISEC at our formal meeting =( We signed a tiger-onesie-costume as a present <3 I didn't even know anything was going to happen at the meeting until Hiro (our new president) started talking and said that he was our new president. 

And here is a picture of Hiro in between the former vice-president Yuu (right) and Hitomi =) And guess what the best part is!??!? Hiro and I have the SAME BIRTHDAYYYYY!!! <3 <3 <3 
SISEC also like went under major changes because they were debating about how to change the club administration at the meeting... SISEC REVOLUTION


So SISEC participated in this Peace Festival in Yoyogi Park, and I would post a picture of it but I couldn't get there until the later afternoon. They lit a bunch of tea-light candles on the ground to symbolize peace and had some peoples perform on stage. But then on Christmas Eve, we had a picnic in the same park for my friends Yukari and Jenny's birthdays =) 

And this a picture from later that night for our Christmas Eve dinner~ <3 My friend Nick found this super cool Chinese restaurant that had like private rooms that looked like caves. My friend Tama couldn't be there with us for dinner so we drew a picture of her - so she was technically there <3

So anyone heard of Ninja Warrior aka Sasuke? Well they have like a mini-version of the course at this place called Muscle Park in Odaiba. My friends and I went to it and we got to do various activities and try to win prizes. This picture is of the Cliff Hanger challenge, which is the one where you have to travel across the red bar (which is 3 cm, so like 1.5 in) with your FINGERTIPS. Like dude, and you have to swing, throw, and catch yourself between those gaps... all of the guys who tried it said they felt like they were going to break their fingertips...

Okay... so I'm always being asked about the weird/crazy food in Japan... well here's one example. This was a special burger at Muscle Park... the Tobibako Burger. A tobibako is a series of stacked crates that stack up to like a parallelogram shape, and it's popular in schools in Japan for kids to jump over them during gym class. (so like the equivalent of a vault? ish?) But yea... so they just have like 3 different types of sandwiches stacked on top of one another in this box as their specialty burger.. ughhh... omg, eww....

This is a picture from Odaiba a little after we left Muscle Park. It's Rainbow Bridge + Tokyo Tower + a random rainbow party boat =) 

 
 New Years Eve~ \(^o^)/ We had a 鍋 (nabe = hot pot) party at my friend Shodo's place. We had 2 types: 1) Kimchi nabe and 2) sesame, soy nabe. Both were super yummyyyyyyy and it was so nice to eat something warming on a cold winter night <3 And of course we had dessert =) We got a caramel and strawberry rollcake that had purin (Japanese flan) in the middle - yummerrrzzz

And a couple of my friends and I went to 川崎大師 (Kawasaki Daishi temple) to do 初詣 (Hatsu-moude) this morning for a traditional Japanese start to the new year. It's when you go and pay our respects to your ancestors and pray for good fortune for the upcoming year =) It was crowded like NONE other with people of ALL ages; they had guys with megaphones partitioning the crowd into groups to get into the lobby of the temple. 


We also bought fortunes for ¥100 where you shake this small barrel that has a bunch of sticks with numbers on them, and you get a fortune according to which number you shake out.... I got number 25 - seems promising right? Nope - 凶 (kyo - misfortune, bad luck) My friend Shodo said it was rare so I at first I was like "oh, cool it's not like bad" ...Thankfully it isn't the worst thing you can get, but it's just rare to get something almost as bad as 'worst'... THANKS SHODO - false hope.... haha jk, but seriously.... 


But yea, so that is basically the run-down of how I spent the last weeks of 2009 and how I started off 2010 =) I hope everyone had/continues to have a super-awesome holiday season and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! wow... 2010... 


良いお年を迎え下さい。今年もどうぞ宜しくお願いしま〜す <3