Molly

February 1, 2017

I am still having trouble comprehending that this is actually happening. It probably wont feel real until we actually land, but my anticipation and excitement is truly tangible. I can't wait to spend my first day there, especially with some of my friends. I am also really excited to try the food!! I know that we will be heading to Kokusai Joho and staying with our host families at the end of our trip, but I am really looking forward to that.

I have yet to buy gifts for my host family, although I would like to know who I will be staying with so that their gifts can be more personalized, as the students I have hosted have done in the past. Regardless of who I am staying with, I know that they will welcome me into their family as if I were their own child, and I hope to stay in contact with my student host for a long time.

Also, while I will only have my phone with me, I plan on taking a lot of pictures and posting them on here!

February 12, 2017

The plane ride was painfully boring. I watched a couple of movies: one American film, Don't Breathe; two Japanese films, My Father and Mr. Ito and The Projects. Other than that, it was very uneventful.

When everyone got off the plane, it was obvious that we were all absolutely exhausted and hungry and sick of airplane food--so much so that we devoured 7/11 onigiri and soft drinks. After we had eaten our dinners, we made our way to the trains and boarded a smooth-riding densha. Following that ride were two transfers on a different type of train, yet it still put the L to shame. Nobody got lost, and as soon as we arrived at Kaguraganshi, we saw beautiful lights decorating the trees and shrubs, and are all relieved to finally have a chance to lay down.

February 13, 2017

Today was absolutely exhausting. We started off with breakfast at the hostel: I ate rice, preserved (radish?) roots, watercress, croquette, eggs, and sausages. While everyone was stuffed after eating, we still enjoyed some roasted sweet potato on our way to Setagaya to see the plum blossoms. After this ordeal (which included Sensei taking off his shoe and sock in order to take a photo), I asked a woman if I could pet her dog and she thanked me. Her dog was a very good boy. I miss Kaiser.

Next, we took the train to Harajuku. This was a bit nerve-wracking for me, as I know that Harajuku is a major fashion center. However, I was able to refrain from buying everything in sight and settled for a haori from a recycle shop called "Chicago." Amalia and Zinta and I had a light lunch at a cafe, where we ordered tiramisu and chocolate cake to split, and a coke as well, because the policy was that each person must order something. The tiramisu was amazing. Sensei bought a blue wig in Harajuku. We then also went to Tokyo Dome City, and rode the ferris wheel. To Sensei's surprise, the roller coaster at TDC was running, so those with the courage to ride it did exactly that. I was one of those people, of course, and was beyond happy to experience it (the ride, not the instructor woman throwing a stuffed dolphin at the glass screen).

After this, we went back to the hostel for dinner. We feasted on rice, squid tenpura, pork egg rolls, a chicken curry, and orange slices. We then left the hostel once more for the night and took the subway to see the Tokyo Lights. They were really beautiful from afar--a little disorienting up close. Some of us got snacks at a Family Mart in the station, and then we made our way back to the hostel. Today was nice, but very tiring. I am ready for tomorrow.

February 14, 2017

Today was, once again, exhausting. We started off with a trip to the Tokyo National Museum to see and experience the culture throughout Japan's history. We saw samurai armor, scrolls that were meters long telling stories of long ago, and clay tea sets that were centuries old. I always adore seeing art from different eras and influences, but I was definitely shocked when I saw one scroll painting depicting a woman in a nun's habit with a stained glass window in the background.

After the Museum, we made our way to see the Winter Peony Garden, which was beautiful and smelled very nice. Each of the plants had its own hut to prevent snow from falling on them. At the end, we saw a Buddhist temple and paid our respects, and bought books to collect goshuin, or stamps which were different at each temple. My book has two as of right now.

Then, we spent some time near Ueno station, where Keziah, Amalia, Zinta, and I had lunch at a food court (I had a Japanese-interpretation of carbonara), and then went to Ameyayokocho, which is a street famous for its flea-market style vendors and Mister Donut.

After this, we made our way to Asakusa to see Sensou-ji, a Buddhist complex surrounded by souvenir shops and restaurants. I passed by a shop which sold pet toys and wanted to get something for Kaiser, but everything there seemed like it would be destroyed within two minutes of play. I will see if I can get him something in Kyoto.

After dinner at the hostel, which consisted of fried chicken, takoyaki (balls of fried octopus), and more rice, we unhappily made our way to the Sky Tree. I say "unhappily" because everyone was exhausted and ready to fall asleep on the spot at this point, although I don't regret seeing the Sky Tree. It is roughly 1.2x the size of the Sears (not Willis) Tower, including the spire. We took a cramped elevator to the first "top" level, which was 350 m above the ground. The view was incredible, but Sensei insisted we go to the very top, which was another 100 meters. So, at 450 m above Tokyo at night, we wandered the Valentine's day-themed deck and took pictures with Eytan's new friend, Mitsu-chan.

February 15, 2017

After a fairly relaxed day, I am exhausted. However, I am very happy that I was able to experience the Shinkansen! It was a very smooth ride, and reminded me of an airplane.

After three train rides, we arrived in Hirao and made our way to the Shibu Hotel. The hotel is beautiful and very traditional, with tatami mats in each guest room, futons, and tea sets. We even each got our own yukata "robe" to wear down to dinner (which I will talk about later).

Once we had left our luggage in our rooms, we took a bus to the Snow Monkey park. The monkeys were really cute, but their bright red faces and small eyes were a bit off-putting. However, it was fun to see them playing around and huddling together, as well as taking a dip in the hot natural spring. The walk to the park itself was breathtaking, and neither the cold nor the snow could soil that experience.

Then, we came back to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours. During this time, my roommates (Amalia and Zinta) and I helped each other figure out how to wear the yukata, and then we made our way down to the basement to have dinner. Words cannot describe that meal. It was one incredible dish after another, and while I feel bad for not finishing everything, I am glad that I refrained from eating so much because that way, I was able to at least try everything. The best dish was the crispy fish served after the initial "trial," which consisted of candied shrimp, a white cheese wrapped in red meat, rice crackers, fish eggs, and a plum (which was also delicious). The shrimp was a little difficult to eat, but I at least managed a bite. The sashimi was gorgeous, but was not for me. What followed was a deep-fried fish, some pickled vegetables, a make-it-yourself stir fry with incredible steak, soup, rice with miso, rice with seaweed(?) and small fish, tea, and creme brulee with apples for desert. I am so pleasantly stuffed and ready to pass out, but I think I'll take a bath first.

February 16, 2017

Today was by far the best day (so far). I really needed this type of laid-back flow. We had a filling breakfast, although it was nowhere near as large as dinner was last night. Then, after breakfast, Zinta and Amalia and I made our way to the first bath, number 2. It was ridiculously hot, but we decided that sticking our toes in was enough experience to allow us to stamp our commemorative towels. Then, we went to 3. This bath was more tolerable, and even a little cold. Another stamp. Because it was so cold out, we made our way to a cafe which was recommended by Yokota Sensei--a little hole-in-the-wall run by an adorable old couple who enjoyed playing American music from the '30s and '40s. The old man prepared us some pour-over coffee, and gave us some apple slices as well, which were unrealistically delicious. The coffee was amazing as well. We thanked him, and went off to the next bath. We passed by 1, but it was occupied, so we continued down the road to number 9. This was our favorite. It was spacious, rustic, and the water was a perfect temperature. The smell of sulfur was overwhelming at first, but we quickly adjusted. We didn't want to leave that bath, but were determined to complete our towels. So, we made our way to bath number 8. It was too hot, so we stuck our toes in and got the stamps. Then, we had lunch at this cozy udon and soba restaurant. Very tasty, and we were able to watch a man knead and roll out the soba from behind a window. As the afternoon went on, we got kind of tired, and went back to the room. I took a nice hour-long nap, and we watched some Japanese infomercials. Amalia was feeling sick, so after about two hours of down time, Zinta and I went back out to finish the bath run. We were able to do it long before dinner, which was as large as last night's, but nowhere near as overwhelming. After dinner, Amalia and Zinta and I traveled to the temple to apply the final stamps. It was very satisfying.

February 17, 2017

Yet another day of travelling. We rode four trains: the first was a comfy, not reserved train which we rode for about 40 minutes; the second was an express train which lasted about three hours; the third was the Shinkansen, which took about thirty minutes; the last was a subway train which we rode for ten minutes. Overall, the day was fairly simple. I got a good amount of work done on our KJ presentation about the geography of the US. I have been in close contact with both my host student, Tomoka, and my hosted student from last year, Yumi. The latter is very upset that she isn't able to see me, but I hope to do what I can so that I can see her and give her a hug.

Once we settled down in this absolutely beautiful hotel, we were off to go find dinner. We took the subway back to Kyoto station, which was less of a train station and more of a mall. It was like Ogelvie Station on the most potent steroids on the market. Amalia, Anna, Tiara, Zinta, and I decided to have dinner at this ramen place. I ordered a traditional Mongolian ramen(?) with pork. It was delicious, but way too much food. I was told that the portion sizes here would be smaller, but that has yet to be the case at any of our locations.

After dinner, we stopped by Mr. Donut on the floor below Ramen Town (not actually the name of the place, but it fits). I got a special White-Day donut which was more like a donut cut in half with marshmallow inside. It was very good, and my brother would be crying if he saw the sweets one could buy at Mr. Donut. Anyway, after dessert, Amalia and Zinta and I decided to break off from the rest of the group and walk around. We headed to "The Cube," which was a maze of shops which were either way too souvenir-y or way too pricey. The "clearance" and "sale" here hardly qualifies as such.

We didn't find much of anything, but at a small convenience store, I purchased a Hello Kitty key-chain for Lilliah, because she asked me to bring her back some Hello Kitty items. Eventually, everyone met back up in the center of the station and we made our way back to the hotel.

February 18, 2017

I could not be more exhausted. Today, we traveled to Nagoya to take a bus to two really cool, rural cities called Shirakawa-go and Gokayama. They were nestled in the mountains, so it took us about two and a half hours by bus to get there. In Shirakawa-go, the houses were small and very angular, with tall roofs made of thatched straw. The shops inside the town were very cute, and I enjoyed going across the "suspension" bridge which was "suspended" above a beautiful river. I am using quotation marks here because it was NOT suspended, as the steel cable was not taut and the concrete walkway was literally bending as we walked across it. Anyway, after seeing all Shirakawa-go had to offer, Zinta and Amalia and I got some soft serve ice cream in one of the shops--Zinta and I got a vanilla-matcha swirl, and Amalia got vanilla.

Around 3:30, we all boarded the shuttle bus again for a 30 minute ride to Gokayama. This town seemed even more secluded, and almost every building was buried in snow. We got some really tasty red-bean soup with a soft dango at the bottom, and then walked around for a while. Eventually, after going through a concrete tunnel lined with LED lights of pink, green, and orange, we made our way to what seemed to be the ideal photo spot. While it was absolutely beautiful when we saw it, I don't doubt that it would have looked a lot nicer if it were not snowing and the area were less covered in fog.

After taking a few photos, we waited around a stage literally made out of snow to see a 15-minute long traditional Japanese folk dance. Three women, who looked to be from three different generations, danced first, totally in sync. Then, two men who were wearing hats that would be appreciated in Whoville took the stage with these wooden "instruments," which would make a clacking sound if you moved it a certain way. It was really interesting and beautiful.

Once it started to get dark, the entire walkway from the photo-point back to the buses was illuminated with candles which were in tiny niches in the snow. I know that I keep saying this, but it was absolutely positively beautiful. Definitely something that I will never forget.

We got back on the bus around 7, and made our way back to Nagoya. At this point, the exhaustion was tangible. We were all at the point of being so tired that everything was funny; I apologize to those that were not a part of our group who were also on the bus, as we were likely being very loud and obnoxious.

Finally, at around 11:00, we got back to the hotel. We were all too tired to even bathe, and just fell asleep instantly.

February 19, 2017

Shout out to Sensei who says "we don't need sleep." Who wants to go to bed at around midnight and wake up at six? Today was painful. Please send help.

First, we went to the famous Pagoda in Kyoto. The structure from both the outside and the inside was incredible. We met up with a former student of Sensei's, who went on the trip in 2007 and is now an English teacher in Osaka. Then, we took a train to this park full of plum blossoms. It was really pretty, but my blood sugar was a little low, so I was more focused on getting some dango than I was on the flowers. Amalia and Zinta and I walked around until we found the temple, and wanted to get some more stamps for our goshuin book, but the line was unrealistically long, so we took a pass. The group then met up outside the complex, and we bussed our way to an area near this former inn called "Nijo-jinya" so that we could get lunch at 7/11 before seeing the house. The structure overall was really neat, but I was a little too focused on how cold I was within the house. It actually was colder inside than it was outside. After we left the freezing manor, we met a dog named Tama. She was really cute and very well behaved. I miss Kaiser.

After Nijo-jinya, we went to Nijo Castle. It was massive, and the art and decorations inside were very impressive. The floors were made in a way which made them creak and sound like a Nightingale when you step on them, so the corridor was called the "Nightingale Corridor."

Once we left the castle, we trudged to the train station, fearing what endeavor would be next. At this point, we were ready to go back to the hotel and sleep, despite it being around 5:00. Next was the Fushimi Inari-taisha, which anyone would likely recognize if they saw a photo. The orange "arches" went all the way up the mountain, and had we had more time and more energy, I would have wanted to go all the way to the sAnyway, we took the train back to Kyoto station and had dinner there. Amalia, Abby, Tiara, Zinta, and I went to this American place (recommended by Devenere) and savored the greasy food (I got fish and chips). As was the case yesterday, we were so exhausted that every single thing was funny, and a few memorable phrases came out of that meal.