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

Íslenskt blogg!

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

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

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

November the 13th Obama started his trip to Asia in Japan, giving his speech in Tokyo´s Suntory Hall.
Here´s one optimist who believes we might actually start changing the way we communicate, do business and I really do see better times up ahead. About time, as well, after these last few years. It won´t come easy or quickly but in 2-3 years... at least I realize that being pessimistic won´t help anyone. So here´s to hoping and believing in a better future!

Went to some shrines yesterday with exchange students and tutors to see the leaves, as they have ceased to be green in honor of autumn. Such lovely colors, red, green, orange, brown... and during the night when they had lit up the temples and various parts of the rich foliage, it was quite breathtaking. I could only stare, point and give various exclamations of wonder and awe. It rained all throughout the day, from morning ´till around eleven p.m., which only helped to make the day more magical as the colors were more prominent, the night even darker and the sound of the rain hitting the roof, trees and ground was a very delicious cherry on top of a very good day.
Have put pictures on facebook, but in no way did they manage to capture the splendor of the day. Have a look anyway, why don´t you... :)

Today is a day of rest, I think it´s labor day, so I´m taking it easy and have a lot of studying to do for this week and the next.

Be good,
-Hildur

I woke up this morning to the 20th of November. This was a very auspicious beginning to the day so I decided to have a good one. After skipping to class and trying to pay attention through sleep deprived eyelids I made my way slowly to the tutor lunch and watched in horror as my tutor did math in Japanese. As she fought a bitter war with the letters and numbers on her home assignment she told me about the plans the tutors have coming up the next weeks. This Sunday we will gather to watch the magnificent foliage of Kyoto´s temples, lit up and shining red, yellow, orange, green and several other variation of these colors. I think I feel a bit jealous of myself even...
Next weekend as a sign of peace between tutors and exchange students we will gather in the countryside and stay the night, playing sports, perhaps going to an onsen and just generally creating havoc.

Stepping out of the classroom into a three day weekend (yatta!), I went to greet Megumi who came to visit to see my campus but mostly getting help with a letter she wanted to send to Iceland. Me being very fluent in the language I think I was a tremendous help in this process. We spent a few good hours touring the campus and chatting at the school´s cafeteria. Today I found out she knows more about Scandinavia than I do, I don´t know what to think about that so I won´t.

The past few weeks passed with frightening speed. Every day is a new adventure and I, in my senility, am still remembering every so often that I´m now a proud inhabitant of Kyoto, Japan. I don´t think my brain will accept this for a fact until, oh say around the time I go back home. So much to do, so many things to explore, so little time.
School is going well, I´m still not fluent - going to give it a few more weeks - and have yet to put my plan to take over the main island into action, I´ve just been to busy. What is an evil overlord-to-be to do! Much to my personal dismay I haven´t joined .. well, anything yet but I have big plans!



It´s getting colder by the minute in Kyoto, and I swear the days are becoming increasingly shorter. As father Winter squeezes my bones tighter by the day I am reminded that it is soon time to celebrate the birth of Santa. I´ve always wanted to experience the festivities abroad but found out that they do it quite differently here half the planet away from home. In Japan, you see, Christmas is all about celebrating the coming of Colonel Sanders. On the 24th of December the Japanese gather around Kentucky Fried Chicken to comemorate this event, eating french fries and chicken and generally be merry. Should be interesting to see.

Oh, before I forget, I feel like I should mention one of my teachers  at Kyoto Sandai.
I decided to take his class, a new one this semester, which is on Japan´s foreign diplomacy. At first we were psyched to learn that he is a real diplomat as he told us the first class of his work in Russia and years of study in England etc. As the weeks passed we learned that his father was Shigenori Togo, Japan´s foreign minister in the time of world war II, was sentenced as a war criminal for defending the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for 20 years and died shortly after. Originally from Korea, his family was abducted and brought to Japan, where they took the name Togo (formerly had the Korean name of Park). It´s just so surreal to have such an impressive teacher with such a rich family history and direct ties to the inner workings of the government at this time, every class he will say something like "oh, and on this picture you can see former prime minister Nakasone with Margaret Thacther and Reagan, actually I met him just yesterday, so nice to see him again.. "
"And next week the parliament will be calling me in to talk about ...  so you might see me on television soon..." or even ".. and I haven´t even told the parliament this but... "

Best class ever.

Hope everything is well at home, I should leave you now to go to bed as I have to wake up around seven tomorrow. We are going to visit a school somewhere in Kyoto and introduce ourselves, our country and culture and receive introductions from the Japanese students in turn. Should be good fun. Early, but fun.

Bisoux,
-Hildur

Ahh, another beautiful day in sunny cloudy Kyoto. I have found my calling again in morning jogging, there is simply no greater feeling than waking up early to run down to kokusaikaikan (about 30 min) and up the subtle slope all the way back. Few exercises and stretches and I´m ready to take on the day!
Strolled over to the konbini (convenient store) and bought some breakfast before claiming my morning relaxation time which I use to connect with the world.

Last weekend was really nice, I did some shopping with Hanne (from Germany) and then we met up with Megumi (exchange student from Japan who was studying in Iceland last year) for dinner and karaoke! Am missing my special peeps to do FOB and P!at the disco with, you know who you are! Not to mention the classics such as Candy (yes, mandy moore :P) and Britney medleys. Ohh the good times :)

Sunday we went down to Sanjo to eat and met this crazy ojiisan (old man) coming out of the subway. He ambushed our unprepared selves and started asking where we came from and tell tales of the time he lived there. Seriously, I was pretty impressed when he said he´d lived in England and even more so when he started talking about his years in Germany and various other nearby countries but when my turn came to say where I was from I said "I bet you haven´t been to my home country". But when I told him I come from Iceland he immediately shouted "Reykjavík!" and my head nearly fell off!
This insanely well traveled man continued to talk about the English railway, Roman invasion and various other facts about Europe all the way to the restaurant where he said he had to hurry to get to church, as he was catholic. He seemed like the enigmatic white bunny of Alice in Wonderland as he ran off to get on with his life. Never cease to amaze me, the Japanese.


Yesterday I went over to Kansai Gaidai University to see Megumi again and "help" her with her presentation of Iceland, as they had an event at her school to try and encourage the students to study abroad. There were people there from Scandinavia, Morocco, somewhere in Africa, France, Spain, Mexico and more. I got to do a self introduction in Icelandic for the people there and help with some facts and icelandic words but Megumi really did an excellent job! She obviously took a lot from her time in Iceland and completely owned the stage, I just hope we will get some people from her school over to Háskóli Íslands, the program must go on! After the whole thing was over I scored 500 yen deposit in any bookstore in Japan, which is very cool.
Since I´ve been here I feel like I´ve started a completely different life so it´s very strange and extremely nice at the same time to be able to travel around and keep in touch with people from last year, really charges my batteries.

Oh gosh! Not to forget, spring vacation is nigh and what better way to spend in than traveling ´round Asia! We get two months off school sometime in February and every day I think of a new country I want to explore. At the top of my list so far is the trans-Siberian railway - can you imagine? I get a kind of life high just reading about it... starting in Moscow with tours of the city before heading off through Russia, stopping for hikes/rafting/horse riding/home-stay in a soviet style apartment/camping etc. The wonders on the way! Russia, Mongolia, China - complete with the chance to stay the night at a nomadic ger tent with the herdsmen of Bayangobi, ancient Mongolian settlements and epic! buddhist monasteries - just to name a few events. If anyone is interested in joining (not that I am expecting anyone to be free at the time... ) by all means be in touch! I will use the next months to mull it over, hopefully will have a travel plan soon.



That is it for today, walk slowly through the doors of joy and don´t stand on the duck if you can help it.
Will be back soon with another update of life in Japan, if you have any questions/comments/whatever just post it on my facebook and I will answer them here on the blog if they are reasonable enough.

Ta ta,
-Hirudouru