Betsy

February 26/27

I'm finding it difficult to collect all my thoughts and feelings into something coherent. These past however many days have been some of the best of my life, and I just cannot believe that it's all almost over. I feel like I've been mostly listing experiences on this blog to let my family know what I'm up to-- the printed itinerary can only take you so far-- but I know I need to collect my emotions before I forget all of this. I need to remember all the sugoi moments that made my jaw drop in awe, all the words I learned and wrote in my journal, all the temples I couldn't take pictures in

february 25

What a day! I've said how tired I am an abundance of times on this blog, but I don't think I've ever meant it as much. Maybe because it's the towards the end of my trip and the past days have exhausted me, but Hiroe and I both almost fell asleep while eating our yakiimo (a baked sweet potato, the same thing I got to try in Tokyo almost two weeks ago) after dinner. We left at 7:30 this morning for a drive to Nagaoka station, an hour away, through the snow with my host father; we returned home after a very fun day at 9:30, immediately eating dinner and telling her parents all about our day in Niigata city. For time's sake, here's a brief list to summarize our adventures:

Kanashizawa was getting a bit of a blizzard when we woke up this morning, which apparently is very very rare (I taught Hiroe the word "rare" today, since it came up a lot). My host father was very generous to spare us the cold train ride and drive us all the way to Nagaoka through what turned out to be a winter wonderland. I didn't take any pictures (I was mesmerized and uncaffeinated), but it looked like a painting or a black and white photograph. I've never appreciated winter more.
Hiroe and her friends who brought their host students along today treated us to a very famous, fancy bullet train ride to Niigata city. The train doubles as an art museum, and each car has a different theme. There was even a car full of toy trains for children. I'll upload my pictures soon :)
Jumpei, the student who seemed to have organized the whole day, somehow got us all a round-trip bus to the "amusement park" for free. It was really nice of him to figure everything out: there were ten ETHS students there, and all of our KJ hosts plus some of their friends.
The amusement park we spent most of our day in was really, really cool. Before lunch, we spent a couple of hours on a recreation floor. It had karaoke boxes (sound-proof rooms), various sports (automatic tennis and basketball, for example, as well as a badminton/volleyball court), a huge roller rink, a ton of arcade games, and several pool tables.
We ordered our lunch and then went to a different floor of the building for a bowling match, where our lunch was brought to us. Again, Michael, you're so much better than I am. The number of gutter balls I got was somewhat embarrassing, but it was nevertheless a very fun time. Everyone cheered and high-fived for strikes and spares, and my takoyaki (octopus) was really good. Afterwards, someone found a bowling pin costume and DJ, Victor, and Taylor all tried it on. I'll have to upload my video of Victor in it-- it's hilarious.
We visited a Japanese-style group photobooth in the amusement park. All the girls there took pictures together and I got one to keep! It was a lot of fun-- those machines are very famous in Japan and I'm so glad I got to try.
We bussed back to Niigata station to go shopping around the city. We went to clothes stores like ZARA and H&M, which are a little different than in America. A man wearing a funny hat was selling dessert cakes that look like fish (I don't remember the word for them) in a store, and after we took a picture with him he gave us all cakes for free. He was really cool. Then we went to a department store full of everything imaginable and I goggled over some stationary, eventually buying some (more) pens and a notebook. Hiroe took that time to get us matching Japanese-style hand towels, which she surprised me with on the train ride home. I'll treasure it :)
We took a shinkansen back to Nagaoka. By that time, we were all really tired.
Hiroe and I had a forty-five minute layover before our train to Kashiwazaki, so she took me around Nagaoka. We went to city hall, which has some very pretty lights up, and then to a newer photo booth to take pictures of just the two of us. This booth made our eyes big in the picture, kind of like manga, and we got to add doodles to them. I'm keeping my pictures very safe to have for a long time. We almost missed our train because of them, but it was so worth it.
Hiroe bought me a surprise maple melonpan (sweet bread), and we ate it on the train home and talked. She says my Japanese improves greatly each day-- I think so, too.
Her mother had dinner waiting for us when we finally got home. Her dad, who loves fishing, made sashimi in front of us from a fish he'd caught after the snow ended this morning. It was really, really cool to see, and delicious (as always).

It's starting to sink in that I'll have to leave the Honma family the day after tomorrow. I've almost cried just thinking about it a few times. I love Hiroe and my host parents so, so much. When I (hopefully) come to Japan again in college, I will definitely visit their restaurant again. I'll never, ever forget this experience. It's honestly the trip of a lifetime, something I've only dreamed about since freshman year, and now there's only two days remaining. I've got to make them count!!

February 24

I'm quite tired right now-- Hiroe and I didn't realize what time it was-- so this may be brief for now. But I loved today. Here's why:

I got to wake up an hour later because we didn't need to get to school early for a tour this morning. We were almost late to class, but it worked out. We even stopped at a konbini for breakfast before the train ride.
One of the cooks in Hiroe's parents' restaurant made me a special bento today, complete with two homemade onigiri and two thin bento boxes of food. It was delicious, and we got to eat at a long table with her friends.
Hiroe got the best score she's ever gotten on one of her Japanese tests. She was really happy about it, giggling like crazy.
In gym class, we played a game in which everyone (all ETHS students and all KJ first years) split into four equal groups, and each group of ~twenty people had to jump rope at the same time. My group's tries didn't work out too well, but we got a candy prize for having the best teamwork.
We did our presentations today. It was really scary, but every group did really well and was easily understood. My group went last and taught a dance to everyone there. I gave the introductory and end pieces of the presentation, and I think the whole endeavor went very well. Yokota Sensei told me that I was well understood, which made me very happy.
Some third year students led an origami workshop for small groups. In my group, Zinta, Eytan, Paul, and I already knew how to make paper cranes, so we were taught how to make a noise machine out of newspaper. It was more amusing to me than it should have been, but fun nonetheless.
Hiroe's friends are really, really sweet. Like six of them got my LINE account information throughout the day and took a lot of pictures with me. They say I'm cute and kind, and Hiroe says that I'm very popular among them. I've been texting each of them all evening and am having a really great time doing it.
The final class of the day, ending homeroom, was a small goodbye party for us. My homeroom was Zinta, Evan, Amalia, Paul, Eytan, and Keziah. They had us each come up and address the students, something we were not prepared to do but ended up doing well. In Japanese, I told them that "though the school is cold, my heart is warm," which I was pretty proud of. Then we each got a personalized card signed by the friends we'd made at KJ saying goodbye. Hiroe was crying even though I don't leave until Monday. It makes me really sad to think that I've only got a few days left in this beautiful place, but the gesture was very touching.
Hiroe and I got to eat dinner in her parents' restaurant. I had spicy ramen, and we shared gyoza and Japanese-fried chicken-- it was all delicious. For dessert, like last night, we ate fruit (strawberries again) after my bath and talked. I love having conversation with her. It ends up being a mix of the languages and is very interesting. Her dad even joined in today :)
Hiroe and I looked through my trip pictures with her parents. They'd never seen goshuin before, but my host mother told me we would go get another on Sunday because she knows a temple near their house. I'm beyond excited, as this is unique to my trip all the way out here in Kashiwazaki.
I gave the cooks in the restaurant some Fannie May, and it made them really happy.
On that note, Hiroe remembered that Evan said his favorite food was cheesecake at school yesterday. So, when we bough breakfast at the konbini, she bought a miniature cheesecake for him to eat as a surprise. She was so happy when I gave it to him-- it reminds me of me giving out you are beautiful stickers.
I journaled a lot on the train :)
Tomorrow, Hiroe and I and several others are taking a "special" train to Niigata city for shopping, bowling, and even an amusement park. I'm really excited, and so is she!
Finally, Hiroe surprised me on the way home from school. My host student from April, Yukino, and her friends are out on a ski trip this week, so we didn't get to see them. But, Hiroe communicated with Yukino (they're friends from the dorms), so she and Waka (her friend who I met several times) came back a bit early to say hello to me. It was a two-minute interaction because my bus was waiting on me, but well worth it. Yukino was wearing her Chicago Disney Store sweater that my parents bought her, and all three of us started to cry when we saw each other. We hugged and kept saying how happy we were. Even my friends listening from the bus said they got choked up. I missed her so, so much-- this again affirms my belief that Hiroe is one of the kindest human beings on the planet. I love my host family so so much and honestly, I don't really want to leave Japan. It's only been two days, but I feel like I've known them for so much longer. I'll always remember the Honma family :)

February 23

Sorry I didn't post this earlier! It's definitely been a tiring day, having woken up at 4:40 am and gone to a full day of school, but I go to bed now knowing that I couldn't have been matched up with a better host family.

I'm suddenly very grateful to Sensei for making us wake up early each day-- it made my 5:25 am train a lot easier to handle. I didn't even get any caffeine until after my first forty-five minute train, and I was able to stay awake through the whole ride and even do a bit of homework when I wasn't mesmerized by the surrounding snowcapped mountains. Hiroe, however, fell asleep. She usually stays in a dormitory, but decided to live at home for the week so that she could have a host student. Our commute is therefore the longest that I know of for any ETHS student on this particular trip (although, I could definitely be wrong): just over two hours. I didn't even see any of my classmates until our second train, and even then it was only a handful.

Arisa, Victor's host, is a good friend of Hiroe's. The four of us sat together on the second train this morning and had a good time talking to one another in both English and Japanese. Arisa was very friendly and cool. Like Hiroe's parents are each half Chinese, Arisa's father is Russian, so they each speak a third language (though not fluently). The two of them even helped Victor and I with our Japanese homework, which is reading an old folktale (a "mukashi banashi") called Momotarou (loosely translating to "Peach Boy," which Hiroe found hilarious). We all talked about our different hobbies, and Victor's and my favorite kanji. We drew a few of them on the foggy window; Arisa was surprised to see that I could write a few myself, which made me feel better about my Japanese skills.

We transferred to a bus with most other Evanston students and their hosts to take us the remainder of the journey to school. KJ has a very different feel from ETHS. Here's a quick list:

Each student has a special pair of shoes for indoors. It used to be that everyone wear slippers as if in a house, but since the school isn't centrally heated, the administration recently ruled shoes to be a better fit (no awful pun intended).
Snow banks taller than me surround the outside of the school, and you can see beautiful mountains and fields from the classroom windows. I don't know how anybody can bear to pay attention.
Japanese high school is three years long, not four. For example, Hiroe is exactly one year my junior, but is in the first grade of high school. Their school year is ending very soon, too.
Students have a central homeroom where they keep their belongings. Every day before class, each homeroom gives a shyo testo (a "small test," like a quiz), and the students return at the end of the day to see their scores, get their homework, and listen to announcements from a teacher. Hiroe's also doubles as a changing room for girls on their way to gym class; they each wear blue and red tracksuits.
The cafeteria is a separate building from the rest of the school. If you don't get cafeteria food, you'll eat in the student space or your homeroom. I got cafeteria food for lunch and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and the tea that came with it.

The school dedicated a meeting room to be our space for the next two days.

~~I have more written in a notebook, but I can't type it right now. Check back tomorrow!~~

February 22

After our final buffet breakfast and run around Kanazawa Station for lunch and maccha doughnuts, we embarked on our final two trains before our homestays. I spent our two-hour shinkansen trying to forget why I was so nervous, and then our forty-minute express train (a double decker!!) writing down some key phrases to remember. I, along with a few others, thought there would be a third train for whatever reason, so I became doubley (is that a word?) nervous when Sensei gave us his goodbye speech. We all were running around with nerves, hugging each other and yelling and (mostly me) almost falling down. But then we walked downstairs and were greeted with a huge crowd of students at the other end of the train gate, each holding a handmade sign with one of our names on it. Hiroe found me right away, and as soon as she did, I became significantly less afraid of the week to come.

Hiroe and I are very, very alike-- almost scarily. First of all, we have the same birthday: May 11 (although she's a year younger than me). We both love to listen to music and watch Miyazaki movies. She loves animals, and she wants to go into film production and move to the States when she's older-- we even have a shared love for Harry Potter. I can not believe my luck!

Hiroe lives a two hour train ride from her school, farther away than any other host student this year. That really worried me when she told me over text the other day, but then I found out that she lives literally blocks away from the Japan Sea, the country's Western border. The view is absolutely stunning over here, and (mostly) worth having to wake up before five tomorrow morning 😁 .

Hiroe lives with her mother and father. Her older brother lives in Tokyo and has an ADORABLE baby boy, who I watched a ton of videos of. Her parents own a Chinese restaurant (they are each half Chinese), and even offered me a paid position when they learned I have a job at home. They live above the restaurant and even gave me my own room!

The three of them took me to a traditional Japanese restaurant, complete with tatami and zabuton, for dinner. They taught me the word for "welcome party" and ordered a ton of food for the table. I embarrassed myself by almost dropping a piece of sushi (not maki) on the floor, but they helped me out. Even saying arigatou is enough for them to praise my Japanese over and over. The food was delicious, and Hiroe and I even got cheesecake for dessert.

After showing them my photo book, talking all about my life in broken Japanese, and giving them gifts, we all sat around the heated floor table eating apples and watching TV. I love them all very much already, and cannot wait for the next four days with them. My host mother even has a book of English phrases that I'm helping her practice!

Long story short I cannot be happier at the moment-- I have to go to bed now in anticipation of my 4:45 alarm, but I'll be uploading pictures tomorrow (hopefully). Over and out from Kashiwazaki!

February 21

(our last day together 😥)

We spent the day in Kanazawa, savoring our final adventures together from the overcrowded public transportation to spontaneous 360 photos with Sensei's fancy camera. Our hotel, which has turned out to be quite fancy, served a buffet with mostly Japanese-style foods. After dealing with unusually huge breakfast portions, we realized after getting our own meals that our previous ryokan meals really weren't that far off from what we're used to.

Our first destination, after almost crushing each other on the bus, was the Kenrokuen garden and Seisonkaku villa, a very historic building from the eighteen hundreds. It was snowing, so while we almost froze, the scenery was magical. Hopefully I'll be able to upload my pictures at some point in the next couple days.

The villa was, to my surprise, filled with dolls and dollhouse tools like tiny tea ceremony sets and very intricately painted seashells. The furniture reminded me of my mom's old dollhouse a little bit, and I was fascinated by it all. There was even a gorgeous garden that we could see by sitting seiza in front of the doors, facing the cold cold wind for a beautiful view.

Freezing, we found an udon restaurant for lunch. I've now tried the trinity of Japanese noodles-- soba, ramen, and udon-- and they didn't disappoint. I ordered curry udon and ate the entire bowl in under ten minutes, grateful for the warmth and the wonderful taste. After getting a coffee from the vending machine, we were all refueled and ready for more walks in the snow.

Sensei then led us to the 21st Century Art Museum. This place was beautiful, full of photography and some sculpture. Hazel, especially, and I took our time walking around and enjoying every picture, reading the English descriptions accompanying each of them. One room even involved 3D glasses, and another was full of space pictures (which we took a selfie in). There was even art in the girls' bathroom; four of us went in at once to see it, which prompted some confusion in those around us. I love art museums, and this one made me really excited to revisit Chicago's once I return home.

Our final trek was to the Higashi-Chiya Geisha district, one of three in Kanazawa. These districts are full of nicely-dressed people and fancy stores full of china bowls. Kanazawa is famous for its gold, so everything included it, from the ice cream to the lip gloss. After a scoop of blueberry sorbet, we were ready to explore. Molly had a gold milkshake that tasted exactly like a flan, which was crazy. If the gold weren't so expensive, I definitely would've tried my own.

Our dinner was at Kanazawa station-- we chose a soba restaurant with small matcha doughnuts for dessert. Sensei made sure we had enough gifts for our host families, and once we left the gift shops, we made our way back to the hotel. We've all been doing homework and stressing over homestays for the past few hours. This group has gotten so close over the past week and change, and I, for one, am sad to leave it. As much as I'm excited to meet Hiroe tomorrow, I'll miss my friends! I'm not too worried, though-- I know I'm going to love Hiroe and her family.

February 20

A quick travel day to Kanazawa (the train was only two hours) after a very full breakfast and quick packing session. This morning I discovered how delicious a sunny side up egg is over rice-- and realized how much I'm going to miss such big, rice-filled breakfasts, despite dreaming about American breakfast food. Before dinner tonight, I hadn't used chopsticks since Tuesday, and the fork felt almost foreign.

Sensei's control over the weather sadly came to an end today when we exited the train station only to be greeted by an absolute downpour of cold rain. Many inside-out umbrellas later, we made it to our hotel. After leaving our luggage in the hallway, we set out (in the rain) for the Kanazawa Loop bus stop. I sat next to a really, really kind older woman on the bus, and we had a pretty long conversation in Japanese about my trip. Sensei could hear us from across the bus and told me I did a good job-- though my sentences weren't A plus, I was proud that I could hold down chit-chat. I didn't ask her name, but I'm very grateful to that woman all the same.

Our first stop was a really cool old house called Ninja-Dera. Despite the name, it was never used for ninjas-- it was a temple with several booby-traps and secret rooms so that those who used it could sneak around like ninjas. Back in the era in which it was built, houses were only allowed to be three stories; this one was concealed so it looked like two, was actually four, but had seven distinct "levels" of the interior. From trap doors to hidden doorways, and even lowered ceilings to prevent sword fights, this building was a huge architectural feat for its time, and blew my mind. The presentation was fully-Japanese and spoken very fast, but we had English guidebooks to help (they talked so fast, even Sensei needed them). It was a great way to stay dry.

From there, we bussed over to Omicho market, a very famous market for the area. We were given an hour to explore the complex. It was mostly fish, which affected the smell and made us hungrier and hungrier. Fruit being a small delicacy in Japan, I discovered that my craving for a green apple would have cost me a whopping 500 yen (to put that in perspective, a day's lunch is usually around there). We also found white strawberries, which I still don't understand, and tomatoes, which Evan thought were giant beans.

We bussed back to the hotel-- not a ryokan anymore, but more of an American "business" hotel. We ate dinner in the cafe, which didn't offer any Japanese food-- I had pasta, and (like I said before) had trouble with the fork. I'm now blogging in the hotel's "library," with about half of our group also doing homework in here. We're barely saying anything to one another, but already I've seen four people walk in and turn right around at the sight of ten Americans on computers and playing chess. It's definitely a very different vibe back in more of a real-world setting. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day to adventure together before we go off to our host families. Ah!!

February 19

Today was the much-anticipated Kyoto day. Besides the few hours I spent thinking about my broken-acting laptop, it was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. Here's a list, because you know by now that I love them.

Trains taken: 6
Buses taken: 3
Buses I fell asleep on: 2 (both sitting and standing, which was truly a harrowing experience).
New goshuin in my temple book: 2
- (SIDE NOTE! Goshuin is a special signature-type piece of calligraphy sold at temples and shrines. Each has their own unique signature and is a good, inexpensive souvenir. Many of us bought the books earlier this week after marveling over Yokota Sensei's, which is full).
Pictures taken: 130 (it's low because several places didn't allow photography)
- Secret ~*illegal*~ pictures taken: 3
Cups of (free) plum tea: 2
- Verdict: it's gross
Konbini lunch: vegetable gyoza!
Lunch setting: a small playground Sensei found on GoogleMaps
Plum blossom trees at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine: ~2000
Japanese-only tour: ~45 minutes, no shoes
- Feet: very cold
- How this makes me feel about the summer-like weather in Evanston right now: saltier than plum tea
Story that floors at Nijo Castle sound like nightingales: True (!!!!)
Dogs pet: 1 lovely lil shiba
Kyoto station dinner: curry pizza with matcha ice cream
Surprise visit to Fushimi Inari Jinja: thoroughly enjoyed
Yen spent to replace a misplaced train ticket: 210 (I bought it from a Japanese machine, though, so at least I had fun doing it)
- Time it took me to find my missing train ticket after buying a new one: 2 hours
- Yen I won in a bet that I would find my ticket: 50
Hours spent over worrying that my laptop would die: too many
How I feel about leaving Kyoto: sad
How I feel about the upcoming homestay: very nervous, very excited

UPDATE! My laptop is currently up and running and I've loaded all my photos onto a flash drive from a konbini so I have enough storage to load more. All is well in Japan :)

February 18

Quick list for today:

Minutes I woke up before breakfast: 17
Onigiri eaten throughout the day: 3
Trains: 4 (2 shinkansen)
Shinkansen ride: ~30 minutes
Bus ride: 4 hours
Mountain tunnels driven though (round trip): 100+
Nap on the bus: ~30 minutes
Levels of flow beaten: 121
Pictures taken: 132
Gifts bought: many
Thatched roofs at Shirakawago: 59
Temple admission: 300 yen (just under $3)
Mountains seen: enough to make me tear up
Dogs seen: 5
Lights at Gokayama: too many to count
Sweet red bean soup: free and oishi
Times I almost fell down: several
Times I actually fell down: none :)

February 17

Today was our travel day to Kyoto: four trains, including a three-hour trip that arrived eight minutes late, making us miss our connecting train after running across Nagoya station. It all worked out in the end, though, and we made it to Sensei's favorite city in the whole world despite the rainy weather. We've all been calling Sensei the "Sun Man" during this trip, because good weather follows him: soon after we arrived, the rain stopped and it even became warm enough for us to take off our jackets.

Our last breakfast at the Shibu Onsen ryokan was bittersweet. It was delicious, as usual, and we took a group photo at the end. Before eating there, I'd never liked a miso soup. But both mornings, the soup we had (served in a pot over fire) was absolutely amazing. And the fish, of course, was outstanding.

After breakfast we had just over an hour to pack on up. A few of us from our group from yesterday took the opportunity to say goodbye to the obasan at the gelato store, and grab a final treat before heading to the train station. She was very kind and happy to see us. As we left the hotel, as well, the woman who ran it gifted each of us with candies that looked like the monkey mascot of the town. We all definitely left that wonderful place very happy and excited for our next adventure.

After a forty minute train, we had a half hour in Nagano station to get some lunch for the express train. I went to a conbini with some others, and got some green tea Pockey to try with my lunch. Alfredo got "loveky," and Evan got "thanky," which we all thought was hilarious. Also, we discovered that some toilets in Japan, including the one on the train, are squatting toilets, which is a high-tech name for a nice-looking hole in the ground. It was quite surprising, to say the least.

After taking all the trains, we finally arrived in Kyoto, a destination that many of us have been looking forward to the most. This is Sensei's favorite city in the world, and the subject of many of the seniors' final projects from last year. After checking into our beautiful ryokan, which Sensei booked very last-minute after the temple lodging situation and Yokota Sensei says is the nicest place an ETHS Japanese trip has ever stayed in, we were off to the gigantic Kyoto station for dinner. While it's a train station, this place is a feat of architecture. It's very beautiful and interesting, and has eleven floors of stores and restaurants above the trains themselves. The tenth floor is entirely for ramen restaurants (no, not the packaged Maruchan you see in Jewel), so that's where my group of five headed out. We had traditional ramen, mine with chicken, nori, egg, and several vegetables, and went to Mr. Doughnut for a small dessert. Afterwards, we walked around on the light-up stairwell, and around the rooftop gardens to see Kyoto Tower from afar. Sensei gave us over two hours to explore, and we were grateful for it. We had a ton of fun, especially when Hazel accidentally ordered a hot dog instead of hot cocoa :)

I still cannot believe that this is happening. I've been dreaming of Kyoto for years, and now we're walking around in it, breathing in history in our centuries-old ryokan. I never want this trip to end, and while we still have over a week left here, I cannot believe so much time has passed already. This group of people is so great, and our two wonderful Senseis are leading us very strongly. I'm so thankful to be a part of something so unique to ETHS-- even if (and when!!) I come to Japan again, I'll never have an experience quite like this.

February 16

Today was our relaxation day, which all of us stressed teenagers definitely needed as homework continues to loom over our heads. We started off with another amazing meal at hour ryokan after sleeping in an extra hour than normal. Our breakfast was several courses long and included the best miso I've ever had, salmon, sweet egg (all Japanese eggs have sugar in them), and a variety of other toppings to go with our gohan (rice). It was so good, I forgot to take pictures!!

We spent the entire day in our yukata, which was provided by the ryokan. A yukata is basically a robe, and comes with a sort of overcoat for the cold. Surprisingly enough, though it was our coldest day in Japan thus far, I was very comfortable outside all day.

We're staying in a traditional town of onsen, or hot spring baths. There are nine baths in Shibu Onsen Town (not including the two at our ryokan), and at each, there are stamps to stamp your commemorative flag, which Sensei bought for each of us. KJ, Hazel, and I went to all nine (Taylor went to four), with Evan, Alfredo, and Daniel going into the corresponding male baths so we could yell to them from over the barrier. After relaxing at getting all nine stamps, we had to climb all the way up a long, long stone staircase to get the culminating stamp for the experience. We wore geta, wooden sandals, around all day, making the stairs difficult (especially for me, the group's resident clutz). The onsens are a wonderful experience, a must-do for a trip to Japan. The concept of a public bath freaked us all out at first, but by the second one we were totally in love with the concept.

We took a break midday to get lunch in the town. Zinta's group recommended a soba and udon restaurant to us when we passed them, so that's where we went. Our group of eight (Eytan joined us) was split into two tables of four, some using chairs and some attempting some seiza (sitting on your knees). Katie, Taylor, and I each got tsukimi soba, which means soba noodles with egg. I forgot to take a picture until after I'd broken the yolk, but nevertheless took one later. It was absolutely delicious and we polished off our bowls. Sensei and Yokota sensei even joined us halfway through and came with us to get homemade gelato at a neighboring store. We all sat around an old table, eating in individual containers that the obansan (old woman) in charge heated for us to make the dessert easier to eat. The flavors were green tea (which Taylor got and I tried), caramel Oreo (my choice), sesame seed (Sensei's, which we all tasted), mixed berry, chocolate, and cream cheese (which Evan and Alfredo split and I tasted-- it was scarily authentic to cream cheese). Our containers each had the onsen's mascot, a snow monkey (for the park we went to yesterday), on top-- a few of us bought a stuffed animal version at the end of our snack. Several of us also ended up buying apple kit kats from her, because this is the only area in the world where you can get them. I've yet to try mine, but I'm very excited.

After the nine baths, we returned to our ryokan for some pre-dinner homework. Katie and I also tried our hands at washing some clothes in the sink and trying to find hooks on the walls on which to hang our clothesline.

Dinner, which I did take pictures of, was (again) outstanding. These sorts of meals are presented plate by plate, with apple juice to start, and the last courses being rice and dessert. I'm a pesketarian, so all of the beef most others got was substituted for more fish for me. The fish here is amazing, especially the salmon. I ate it all up and could not have been happier. We even got to try shibu shibu, which is a traditional Japanese cooking technique I've only heard about. You boil water (right at the table), and add vegetables like onions, mushrooms, and broccoli to it. Then, once it's really going, you dip your meat (or, in our case, fish) into the water for a few seconds, watching it cook in a few seconds before your eyes. It was such a cool and unexpected experience!!

a small bento box of vegetables to start off our meal.

Although I'm a little sad we're going to say goodbye to this ryokan and Nagano, I'm very very grateful for this experience. It's only day four, and we've already done so much and bonded as a group. I cannot be more thankful for this experience and cannot wait to see what Kyoto has in store tomorrow :)

February 15

Stats for the mostly-travel day:

Trains taken: 4
First shinkansen (bullet train) ride: ~80 minutes
First bento box: 850 yen, 4 compartments
Mt. Fuji sightings to date: 2 (!!!)
Snowboarders at Nagano train station: enough to cause a bigger spectacle than 22 confused American high schoolers
Number of Japanese macaques at Jigokudani monkey park: ~200
Number of times we almost fell off the mountain: too many
Number of times I got really really excited about the monkeys: again, too many
Walk to the monkey park: 3.2 km round-trip, not including the stairs to the park itself

Traditional bathes visited: 1
Courses to our dinner: 12
Pairs of slippers worn: 5 (including toilet slippers)

I'll update this later, but I'm incredibly tired. Sorry!

february 14

Significant things that happened today:

Three of us found out we got into college.
I didn't use any forks.
We went to Japan's equivalent of the Smithsonian, where we looked at art, scrolls, and armor from centuries past.
We saw beautiful flowers in Ueno park.

We wrote messages and poetry on the park's board and got free bookmarks.
Many of us bought our first temple books and got between one and three stamps between Ueno park's shrine and Sensou-ji.
Eytan counted around a hundred vending machines that we passed by.
A few of us bought bread in the shape of cute animals after lunch.
I spent two whole dollars on one of those stupid claw games even though I'm almost an adult.
A woman at Sensou-ji said we were cute when we were taking pictures.

I taught someone how to use my camera in Japanese, and Hazel struck up a conversation about Tokyo a few minutes later :)
We drew for luck-- I got regular fortune, but Katie Jane got better fortune, Paul got best, and Taylor had to tie hers off because it was bad. Evan got "little fortune," and we're still not really sure whether or not that's good or bad.
We finally got to try the subject of one of our favorite songs, kibi dango.
We saw the beautiful Sensou-ji.

Breakfast and dinner were very oishi, as usual.
We went to the sky tree to see the city's lights in the dark.
People fell asleep on the train.

Sensei's friend gave us all valentines.
I dropped a lot of things.
I took three hundred and eleven pictures (which won't upload 😢 ), plus at least forty on my phone when I needed more light.
Sensei broke out his LenseBaby.
I continued to avoid escalators when I could, which meant a lot of stairs.
We took around fifteen thousand steps, though not as much as yesterday.

february 13

Today was absolutely insane. We woke up bright and early for a 6:00 am breakfast in our hostel: cabbage, rice, scrambled eggs, some kind of purple bean mixture, and croquettes. Our hostel has a drink machine (similar to the one at Wilmette Rec Center), so I had a mocha with it all, as well. And I used chopsticks! Four different people had to coach me through it (shoutout to Daniel, Eytan, Evan, and Taylor), but I started to get the hang of it at dinner. Hopefully I'll be able to abandon forks by tomorrow's dinner.

In Japan, you have to clean your plate before you turn it in-- it's offensive if you leave leftovers. So we've been swapping food with each other if we take too much. It's good to wean myself off of American portions. Sensei challenged us to try natto, fermented soy beans, this morning, and I had to give mine to others to try once I decided I didn't like them (it's okay, he says most people don't).

We took several trains straight from breakfast to make it to our first stop, Setagaya Plum Blossom Festival. This was basically just a giant park full of plum blossom trees, or ume. On the way, sensei bought each group of us (girls are in groups of five, and boys in groups of four) roasted sweet potatoes from a local market we walked by. We were astounded to find that there were no added ingredients to this warm and delicious treat :)

The plum tree park was absolutely stunning. The trees were everywhere you looked, and it was such a beautiful clear day we could even see Mt. Fuji in the distance, which apparently is very unusual. While there, a TV program was filming. A few of the boys were interviewed and we all got free plum trees. We also saw several groups of toddlers walking around-- each group had little matching hats, and a few played in on the park's playground. There was even a dog area, which made us all miss our pets back home. The beautiful park was a great way to start the day, and our photo challenges.

Sensei taking a picture with his toe.

We headed back to the train station to take three more trains to Harajuku, a downtown area of Tokyo. We were originally granted two hours of free time, but Sensei gave us an extra hour after those first couple were quickly spent. A group of us (KJ, Hazel, Taylor, Evan, Alfredo, and Paul) went to Kiddyland, a six-story department store full of cute Japanese characters, first. After shopping around, we walked around the Meiji shrine area for a bit. KJ'd been there before, and warned us about the long walk, so we only went about halfway. Nevertheless, it was beautiful.

From there, we went on the hunt for lunch. Finally, after a lot of wandering, we stopped at one of the many crepe stands in the area-- there must've been one on every corner. A few of us went to 7-11 for onigiri because we were worried it would take too long, but after hearing rave reviews quickly ordered ourselves some on the way to our meeting place. I got a mixed berry crepe, which was super sweet and delicious :)

With our extra hour, we went to the five-story hundred yen store (but not before we helped Sensei buy a very fashion-forward wig). A hundred yen is just under one USD, so it was similar to something like a Dollar Tree, except huge and with quality products. Needless to say, I spent a lot of money today. But I got gifts, so it's fine :)

After Harajuku, we took a short train ride to Tokyo Dome City. While we waited for the senseis to buy our train passes, a bunch of us went to one of the Japan's thousands of vending machines (they're on every corner!) to get drinks. They serve both cold and hot drinks; I got a coffee milk tea, which was delicious.

That shopping mall held the absolute biggest surprise of the day. Sensei knew that there was a Ferris Wheel for us to ride, allowing us to get a spectacular view of Tokyo. What he didn't anticipate was the mall's rollarcoaster, with a drop that rivals Raging Bull's, would be open on this slightly chilly February day (for some context, he came with his daughter in June and it wasn't open because it "wasn't summer yet"). All of us rode the Ferris Wheel (Taylor, KJ, Evan, and I listened to the "Trolls" soundtrack while taking in the scenes), and most of us chose to ride the Thunder Dolphin. Molly and I sat in the second row right behind KJ and Sensei and had the time of our lives. It was a great surprise!

We trained back to the hostel for dinner: I'm not sure what all of it was called, but there was gyoza, a chicken and vegetable curry-type dish, potato salad, fried squid, and, of course, rice. An hour later we were back on the train to a special light-up in a mall. The light-up reminded me of ZooLights in that the lights changed to the beat of the music. This show had three parts, and even included bubbles and fake snow. It was gorgeous, despite the cold night and having fallen asleep on the train ride there. We made a quick stop for vending machine lattes and vitamin drinks (health!) before riding home. It's been an insanely long day, and I'm definitely ready for bed. On to tomorrow!

February 12

I'M IN JAPAN! I cannot believe we're finally here. We're all a little disoriented because of the fifteen hour time change and general feeling of jet lag, as most of us didn't sleep on the plane and have been awake for over twenty-fours at this point (I, at one point, thought that "eighty-ten" was a number). Here is our two-day trek in stats:

Movies I Watched on the Airplane: 5 ("Ghostbusters" [2016 version], "Florence Foster Jenkins", "Juno", "Deadpool", "Whiplash")

First food I ate in Japan: a red onigiri (a rice ball) from the 7-11 conbini

Number of airplane meals: 2, plus 2 snacks passed out

Trains taken: 3

Hours on the airplane: ~13

Paper cranes folded: 8

People who'd never been on a plane before: 1 (Go Tiara!!)

"Sugoi"s ("wow"s) spoken: numerous

Vending machines seen in-country: at least 50

Number of times the eerily-quiet and organized train stations confused us: too many to count

Staircases and escalators taken: probably like 12, feels like 12,000

First Japanese bathing experience: ✅

We're all very worn out and slap-happy, but beyond excited for tomorrow and these two weeks ahead of us. We've only caught a glimpse of Tokyo thus far and are already in love. On to the next adventure, this time with less luggage and better rest.

February 1

It still hasn't quite sunk in that I'm going to Japan in ten days. I've dreamed of this trip since I signed up for this class in eighth grade and I can't believe it's finally come. I remember first meeting my friend's older brother's exchange student, としき, when I was in fifth grade and wondering what it would be like to learn a new language so different from my own. Now, after almost four years into my study of Japanese, I am so happy I decided to follow this path. Hearing stories from friends and friends' siblings who've been on these trips, I know I'll have an amazing experience for two weeks across the world. And, after spending almost three weeks in Ecuador over the summer, I'm glad to know at least a little of the language to talk to locals. Just the thought of that makes me nervous-- in my interview for the trip, I accidentally said I was from Wisconsin, and that was just at school-- but I can't wait to see how my Japanese skills will grow in the coming weeks. After years of hearing about this beautiful country, I'm less than two weeks away from seeing it for myself.

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