Christmas and New Years

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a good holiday season. I had a great time. I must admit it was strange not celebrating Christmas and New Years with my family, but I had a good time seeing how things are done in Japan. It´s also strange to think that a whole year has passed, and look back at how much things have changed in a year. It also means that I´m almost half way through my exchange, which is crazy. I have so much to look forward too this year, and I´m going to try to fit in as many new experiences as I can! Anyway, here´s what I´ve been up to lately:

On the 22nd of December, while my host dad was out playing golf with rotary, host mom and I did some sightseeing around this town called Toba. We went to Mikimoto island, which is famous for its cultured pearls. We got to see a demonstration of pearl divers doing their thing, and exhibition of pearls, and see how pearls are made. It was really educational, and made me want to buy a pearl necklace or something. Needless to say, I didn´t have enough money for that.

A boat with female pearl divers inside it.

The divers in action. They were´t wearing a wetsuit or anything to keep warm, I can´t imagine how much they must have been freezing.

I´m not sure what I´m doing here

Afterwards we went to the Toba Aquarium

We saw this walrus show. My host mom had the hardest time trying to explain what a walrus was to me haha

On the 23rd I went bowling with some of my second year friends. I was able to get a strike twice!

This is the kind of picture you get when someone realises you were taking a picture of them eating a popsicle without them knowing.

The most intense game of table hockey ever. Lots of small, colourful pucks came down out of nowhere!

Fun with guns

The booth wasn't meant to fit six people I guess

We had conveyor belt sushi for lunch. This was taken using my selfie stick, the other costumers  looked at us funny.

On the 24th I had school, which was weird. It was a pretty normal day, except that my family bought a cake with a santa on it. Christmas in Japan is pretty much just a commercial holiday, so each family kinda does what ever they want to celebrate it. KFC and expensive dates are some popular Christmas traditions in Japan, I´ve heard. 

Family <3

On the 25th my host families threw a Christmas party. It was really cosy. They let me bring a friend.

The food was good, and my counsellor who happens to be a pastry chef was responsible for the cakes. They were pretty darn delicious.

Haruka and I got this fancy knife to cut the cake with

My host families all chipped in and bought me a present of my choosing. I went to the store and picked the purse out myself, but I had to wait until Christmas so I could open it in front of everyone. I wasn´t surprised, but I sure was happy.

Add caption

The bag is from a Japanese brand called Samantha Thavasa.

The family minus my host and nephews who had to go to bed. All my host families are from the same Rotary club, and know each other well from before. It really feels like one big family, instead of many small ones. I´m so lucky to have met all these wonderful people.

I gave my host parents their Christmas presents when we got home from the party. Host dad got socks with the Norwegian flag on them among other things. He put them on right away.

I woke early on the 26th, to catch a train for the exchange student Christmas party.  There´s something so relaxing about waiting for the train here.

On our way to go ice skating.

We met this cute Japanese/American girl. We had a nice chat

The rink was really crowded and my skills were rusty, but it was really fun to skate again. I used to be really serious about skating when I was little, so the smell and all the kids in leotards brought back many memories.

I don´t know why we were acting tough haha

We headed to Gifu and had some Chinese for dinner.

Fashion

We did karaoke too. I mostly danced back up. After karaoke we went to the onsen. One of the baths was on the roof, and the view was awesome. Sitting naked in the water with a bunch of other girls looking at the stars is an activity I definitely recommend. After bathing we hung out in the rooms before going to bed wayyy too late.

We took a group photo with one of the rotarians. It was a fun trip.

Brennan, Emma, and I ended up using longer time than we should have getting back home. That´s what happens when you don´t want to splurge for the faster/more expensive trains.

After returning to Takayama I had a day of doing absolutely nothing before the other relatives came to celebrate New Years. My two host sisters that live in Tokyo brought their families, and everyone did absolutely nothing together. The house was filled to the brim, and it was so much fun.

Host niece and nephew

The family <3

On New Years eve we watched Kouhaku Uta Gassen, which is this end-of-the-year music show. Host nephew kept dancing a long.

This was after dinner sometime. After the music show finished it was almost twelve, so we got ready to the shrine and do the first worship of the year 

There were a lot of people that had the same plan

Shrine maidens selling good luck charms and such

Host brother in-law and I with a lantern

The next morning we woke up early for the purification ritual, as we do the first morning of every month. We also ate New Years breakfast. I would include pictures, but I didn´t get them, plus I had a pretty bad cold, and looked and felt like shit. Everybody went to bed after breakfast, and woke up disoriented around one-ish. My oldest host sister and her family headed back to Tokyo. We took this selfie, and she sent me this edited version a little later haha.

On the 2nd of January my host family got me dressed up in a kimono just because. Me and my host dad.

My host sister and her husband.

They decided to take me to a photographer, because getting dressed up in a kimono takes a lot of effort, so I might as well get some good pictures of it. There were some other people in kimonos, and I was told that´s a tradition for when you turn twenty here. The pictures turned out really well, but it´ll take some time before I get them. I´ll make sure to show you sometime.

On the 3rd host family and I headed to Tokyo. We went by car, and there were a lot of other people heading home at the time, so the car ride took longer than expected. This picture is taken out the window of my hotel room.

Tokyo skyline from hotel lobby.

We had dinner at the hotel´s Chinese restaurant. There was a cool dragon hanging from the roof.

I had some hot and soup among other things. It was so hot I thought I was a bout to breathe fire.

We headed out for karaoke, and on the way there was lots of pretty lights.

Me and my niece, Hina.

We got some cool lights for free at the karaoke place.

We also got a fancy boa and a fan.

Popstar.

Night time view from hotel room. 

The next day the family took me to Harajuku and Shibuya to go shopping. This is the famous Takeshita Dori street in Harajuku.

Harajuku is famous for its crepes, so of course I had to try one. It did not dissapoint.

She wasn´t dissapointed either. 

We found a Line store. Line is a popular instant message service in Japan, and it has lots of stickers/stamps/emoji that have become really popular. This bear is one of those characters.

After lunch we headed to Shibuya so I could experience the crossing and this famous department store called 109. Everyone told me it would be crowded, but I was not prepared for this Every floor was filled to the brim with people pushing and shoving. There was also a pretty big sale going on, and there were girls shouting their heads off about the various deals. It was sensory overload. We got out of there within fifteen minutes. I´m glad I know what the deal is now, but it was more or less a nightmare. We found some calmer department stores after.

We went out for dinner, and I ended up ordering the Jumbo Deluxe Parfait. It  was five times bigger than expected, luckily I got some help eating it (a lot of help). It was also my (real) mom´s Birthday, so I ate more than I should to celebrate that.

So that was my Christmas/New Years! I had a lot of fun, and got to spend a lot of quality time with my host family. I´m changing in not too many days, so I´m glad I got to have so many great memories with them. My host sisters told me to give them a call whenever I´m in Tokyo, and my host dad keeps telling me to get married fast and invite them to the wedding. I really feel at home with this family, but changing is a part of the deal.

I´ve also had an amazing 2014, and I´m going to make sure 2015 is just as great!

Here are some of my goals for this year:

Continue to grow as a person

Become as proficient as possible in Japanese

Be better saying "thank you"

Take more pictures

Keep in touch with friends and family

Be a little less lazy

Be more kind and thoughtful