Eftir ein undarlegustu jól lífs míns sit ég í lítilli íbúð Japanskrar stelpu sem finnur sig í Ameríkunni þessa dagana (minnir mig) og undirbý mig til að ráðast inn í enn eitt nýja árið. Í þetta skiptið er það tígrisdýrið sem tekur við af uxanum og ég gæti ekki verið jákvæðari með þessi spennandi skipti. Á meðan uxinn lokaði augunum og barðist áfram í gegnum strauminn er nú komið að tígrísdýrinu, sem er búið að vera að skerpa klærnar á meðan, að ráðast á hindranirnar af fullu afli.
Jól og áramót í Tokyo gætu varla verið draumi líkari. Mig hefur langað að upplifa þetta síðan ég man eftir mér og nú er það loksins orðið að veruleika. Hef nóg að segja um Tokyo og íbúa þessarar yndislegu borgar en hef engan tíma því nú þarf að drífa sig yfir í næstu íbúð (hjá Björk og Svenna) og taka smá forskot á þá heima og hringja inn nýtt ár. Og það ekkert smá ár, 2010! Þvílíkur tími til að vera á lífi :P
Jólin voru himnesk, fengum gnægðir af íslenskum mat, matargesti, öl, og nammi. Pakkarnir verða opnaðir þegar ég kem heim til Kyoto og þá nýti ég tímann til að skrifa um jólin, nýja árið og Tokyo.
Þangað til þá, verið góð heima og ég óska öllum gleðilegrar hátíðar og vona að nýja árið reynist ykkur öllum sem best! Það er bara eitt að gera við mótlætið, skyrpa í lófana og ráðast á það, að hætti tígrisdýrsins.
Baráttukveðjur,
xoxo
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Christmas blog
December 19th. Only five days til Christmas and I can´t wait. Me and Edda will be heading for Tokyo on the eve of Monday and if everything goes according to plan we´ll arrive in the big city again 6:30 Tuesday morning. Nightbus is just so much cheaper that the 3 hour Shinkansen train. Sadly.
I haven´t blogged in a while, last weeks have been crazy. Even when there is nothing in particular planned there is always something that sneaks up behind you and steals your time here in Kyoto, which is indeed a very good thing as I enjoy being busy. Last weeks highlight include a test, two presentations, parties, trips downtown, saving money and paying the bills - which just doesn´t seem to go so well together - homework (mainly consisting of me trying to pound various Kanji into my head) and many many dance practices for the Christmas party.
You see, yesterday we, the exchange students, had a party with our tutors and another group of Japanese people, friends, and I somehow got very exited about the idea of cosplaying (dressing up as a person from an anime/manga...) and doing the intro dance from an anime that I love, called Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (the melancholy of Haruhi Suzumyia) and so it began.
Our many hours of practicing and buying of costumes came to fruition yesterday when we stormed the stage, the character list thus following: I played the role of Yuki, Tina from Canada was Mikuru, and then the rest were Japanese students; Masumi as the main role of Haruhi, Koni as Kyon and Kurachi as Koizumi. Behind us were a few more japanese students who did extra roles as there are no more main characters in the show.
Arriving at the party in my very baby blue and white costume (could they not have picked better costumes for the show??) was quite hazukashii (embarassing) at first but after nearly everyone had posed for a photo with me (seriously, you feel like a celebrity here at times) I felt a bit better and hit the buffet. Before I could take the stage I enjoyed the other acts of the evening, such as a song from Dreamgirls, Japanese anime song medley and a Quiz show. After one last quick practice we stormed out on the stage and took our positions. I ran out, switched places with Tine who took my spot and reminded Haruhi of one tricky step before getting ready to start. Thinking the music would start right away and we could do this thing I was startled when I looked ahead into the crowd and saw absolutely everyone in the room had their cameras pointed at us and were snapping away or taking videos.
I was pleasantly reminded of the leo part of me that loves the spotlight ;P
Music started and we did the dance, all in almost perfect sync and no fails. When we finished we dragged people out of the crowd to do the dance with us and did it again. Everyone did a perfect job and pure euphoria filled the air after we finished the second time :) These past few weeks I realized how much I miss dancing...
Three more acts followed us, the Korean girls did a sizzling hip hop routine, people from last semester performed a hilarious dance in traditional Japanese clothes (yukata), taking the off mid-dance to reveal pink, fluffy Santa aprons - oh and did I mention it was two guys and a girl... :P and finally our heavenly voices could be heard far away, singing war is over. Then we rushed over to collect our Christmas presents (everyone bought one item to put in a collective pot) and I was very pleased with my pink pig with a santa hat that serves as a mobile phone holder. Seriously, this country is filled to the brim with cuteness. ^^
After millions upon millions of photos (I still have white spots in my eyesight) we headed back home and had a very interesting party in the tatami room. Deprived of sleep I am now on my way with Andrea to buy ingredients for the pizza party tonight I demanded we have (I miss proper pizza...) and must do my homework today and tomorrow as there is only one more day of school left before Christmas and new years. I get back to Kyoto on the 3rd of January and school starts on the 7th. In January we have final exams and presentations, essays etc. and then two months break.
That is it for now, must be off soon. Make sure to check out the photos on facebook, there should be some soon from the Christmas party. ;P
P.s. congratz to those back home who have finished their exams, hope you did well! For the others; ganbatte! it will soon be over!
-Hildur
I haven´t blogged in a while, last weeks have been crazy. Even when there is nothing in particular planned there is always something that sneaks up behind you and steals your time here in Kyoto, which is indeed a very good thing as I enjoy being busy. Last weeks highlight include a test, two presentations, parties, trips downtown, saving money and paying the bills - which just doesn´t seem to go so well together - homework (mainly consisting of me trying to pound various Kanji into my head) and many many dance practices for the Christmas party.
You see, yesterday we, the exchange students, had a party with our tutors and another group of Japanese people, friends, and I somehow got very exited about the idea of cosplaying (dressing up as a person from an anime/manga...) and doing the intro dance from an anime that I love, called Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (the melancholy of Haruhi Suzumyia) and so it began.
Our many hours of practicing and buying of costumes came to fruition yesterday when we stormed the stage, the character list thus following: I played the role of Yuki, Tina from Canada was Mikuru, and then the rest were Japanese students; Masumi as the main role of Haruhi, Koni as Kyon and Kurachi as Koizumi. Behind us were a few more japanese students who did extra roles as there are no more main characters in the show.
Arriving at the party in my very baby blue and white costume (could they not have picked better costumes for the show??) was quite hazukashii (embarassing) at first but after nearly everyone had posed for a photo with me (seriously, you feel like a celebrity here at times) I felt a bit better and hit the buffet. Before I could take the stage I enjoyed the other acts of the evening, such as a song from Dreamgirls, Japanese anime song medley and a Quiz show. After one last quick practice we stormed out on the stage and took our positions. I ran out, switched places with Tine who took my spot and reminded Haruhi of one tricky step before getting ready to start. Thinking the music would start right away and we could do this thing I was startled when I looked ahead into the crowd and saw absolutely everyone in the room had their cameras pointed at us and were snapping away or taking videos.
I was pleasantly reminded of the leo part of me that loves the spotlight ;P
Music started and we did the dance, all in almost perfect sync and no fails. When we finished we dragged people out of the crowd to do the dance with us and did it again. Everyone did a perfect job and pure euphoria filled the air after we finished the second time :) These past few weeks I realized how much I miss dancing...
Three more acts followed us, the Korean girls did a sizzling hip hop routine, people from last semester performed a hilarious dance in traditional Japanese clothes (yukata), taking the off mid-dance to reveal pink, fluffy Santa aprons - oh and did I mention it was two guys and a girl... :P and finally our heavenly voices could be heard far away, singing war is over. Then we rushed over to collect our Christmas presents (everyone bought one item to put in a collective pot) and I was very pleased with my pink pig with a santa hat that serves as a mobile phone holder. Seriously, this country is filled to the brim with cuteness. ^^
After millions upon millions of photos (I still have white spots in my eyesight) we headed back home and had a very interesting party in the tatami room. Deprived of sleep I am now on my way with Andrea to buy ingredients for the pizza party tonight I demanded we have (I miss proper pizza...) and must do my homework today and tomorrow as there is only one more day of school left before Christmas and new years. I get back to Kyoto on the 3rd of January and school starts on the 7th. In January we have final exams and presentations, essays etc. and then two months break.
That is it for now, must be off soon. Make sure to check out the photos on facebook, there should be some soon from the Christmas party. ;P
P.s. congratz to those back home who have finished their exams, hope you did well! For the others; ganbatte! it will soon be over!
-Hildur
Friday, December 4, 2009
This weekend we saddled up and went to the wilderness with our tutors. Yes, it´s that time again, where the tutors take the exchange students to ------- (forgot the name of the place), about an hour train ride away from Kyoto. We arrived around noon and started by going to a big park where we played baseball, volleyball, dodge ball and so on. Afterward a few of us went to a nearby onsen, which is a traditional Japanese hot spring bath. Kind of like the swimming pools back home but much warmer and oh yeah, everyone is naked. The water was sooo warm, it just melted away all worries. I could go there every day. ^^ During the evening we went on a ghost walk which was terribly scary :P , after which we had a cultural exchange in groups. Finally we drank, danced, and sang the night away. The next morning was very quiet as we had to get up at eight for breakfast.
Last week was very busy, as per usual, but the thing that stood out was my amazing trip to the movies! On the first and twentieth of every month the price is only a 1000 yen, the rest of the month they sell tickets for the insane price of 1800 yen so on the first of December me and Hanne hurried to the movies. We saw Inglourious Basterds, which was awesome! I love Tarantino´s movies and this one was no exception. :D The soundtrack is amazing as well.
I noticed how at the movies in Japan they don´t sell candy but they have the same kind of popcorn as back home, and also very nice caramel popcorn. They also have ice cream and hot meals (hotdogs etc). Apparently the movie goers in Japan are very different from the ones we have back home, me and Hanne were the only ones who stood ready to go into the movie theater with our big buckets of popcorn and a beverage of choice. Also the movie is not stopped in the middle so people can go buy more candy and popcorn, something that we do back home and it really ruins the movie....
The final interesting part was how appreciative they are of the credit list here. The lights didn´t go on until the list had finished and everyone sat very still in their seats the whole time.
I will definitely go back soon!
That is all for now!
Besos,
Hildur
Last week was very busy, as per usual, but the thing that stood out was my amazing trip to the movies! On the first and twentieth of every month the price is only a 1000 yen, the rest of the month they sell tickets for the insane price of 1800 yen so on the first of December me and Hanne hurried to the movies. We saw Inglourious Basterds, which was awesome! I love Tarantino´s movies and this one was no exception. :D The soundtrack is amazing as well.
I noticed how at the movies in Japan they don´t sell candy but they have the same kind of popcorn as back home, and also very nice caramel popcorn. They also have ice cream and hot meals (hotdogs etc). Apparently the movie goers in Japan are very different from the ones we have back home, me and Hanne were the only ones who stood ready to go into the movie theater with our big buckets of popcorn and a beverage of choice. Also the movie is not stopped in the middle so people can go buy more candy and popcorn, something that we do back home and it really ruins the movie....
The final interesting part was how appreciative they are of the credit list here. The lights didn´t go on until the list had finished and everyone sat very still in their seats the whole time.
I will definitely go back soon!
That is all for now!
Besos,
Hildur
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