So, just got back from Tokyo this morning. I managed to sleep for maybe 2 hours on the night bus as it made its way back from Shinjuku station to Kyoto station. As I walked from the train station back to the dorm around 7 am the sky turned from pitch black to a beautiful blue. The dorm was quiet, as was to be expected, and as soon as I lay down on my sorely missed bed I drifted off to sleep.

It was good to be back in Tokyo. I had found myself starting to miss the big city and I was fortunate enough to get a bed at Svanni and Stefán´s apartment. The sliding doors, kotatsu table, tatami mats and other quirks of a Japanese apartment reminded me of how much I wanted one of my own. Even though it gets bone-chillingly cold during winter...

Christmas and New Years was great, Björk and Svanni cooked the very Icelandic Christmas food to perfection, lamb, potatoes, gravy and green peas. We had an extra guest, a Danish guy from Stefán´s class. The more the merrier! And Sakai sensei (one of my teachers back home) brought the best carrot cake I have ever had! After living at the dorm where the nearest supermarket is ... well not so near at all, I very much enjoyed the generous amount of food offered at their apartment and the rest of the city. I don´t think I´ve eaten this much in months! I bought a recipe book with traditional Japanese cooking so I can hopefully start cooking more next semester.

After a few days I started thinking the dogs in Tokyo had developed some sort of sickness in the paws or were just the laziest in the world. Everywhere I looked I saw people pushing along strollers, carrying their young ones... puppies that is. The first time I saw one I thought the baby was having a fit but what I saw was a small dog, repeatedly scratching the top of the stroller.... probably dying to get out and doing some walking of his own. Keeps the streets clean, I guess.

New Years in Japan is really quiet. No fireworks, no party hats or even loud music coming from the neighborhood houses, nothing. Just a few people roaming the streets, coming home from a small gathering or a shrine, where they released hundreds of balloons in the sky at 12 o´clock. We wished whatever people we saw on the street a happy new year and took the last train home.
Before indulging in strawberries (mmm) and some bubbly wine we watched the new years special on tv, a popular dance competition (its 60th anniversary) and a 6 hour long special Japanese game show.

It´s very strange being back in Kyoto but there is so much to do now for the last month of school, I have so many books to read, a vacation to plan and exploring to do that I´ll have a hard time getting bored. It´s good to be back. :)

Hope everyone back home enjoyed the holidays, got some great stuff for Christmas and are excited about the new years. It´s 2010 after all, it´s gonna be great! :D