Christmas Suki Desu!

Watashi wa honto ni Christmas suki desu. My Oka-san decorates the whole house like crazy! Even our stair rails are wrapped up in garland. Last Christmas I was on a cruise with my Oto-san's family. It was fun at times, but mostly it was miserable. I will probably never do a cruise again.... anyways, I am super excited to be at home this Christmas! It is also my last Christmas as a single lady. Pretty crazy when I think about it to much.
I recently got back from Northern Utah where my fiance lives. In Salt Lake City down at temple square the lights are amazing! There was even a kokeshi doll Nativity scene!

I think that it would be so amazing to be able to visit Japan in the winter. I am not sure how they do Christmas there or how big of a thing it is. But in several drama's and anime's they always have a tree so I am guessing that at the very least it is a growing tradition especially with the growth of Christianity.

This is the Christmas Tree in the Joseph Smith building in SLC, Utah. It really is an amazing tree. Right behind it on the second floor is where I performed last Christmas season with the Orem Institute Choir. It really was an amazing experience.

 This Christmas tree is decorated in Japanese paper ornaments! I was so cute! I loved all the little Kimono girls and paper balls. I was so happy to see this tree at my new favorite restaurant East. I actually ate there two nights in a row haha. Was funny but a little embarassing for me. Still it was fun to speak even more Japanese. My oka-san told me today that she loves to hear me speak Japanese, but I have to translate everything that I say. Haha.

                                            MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Sushi Time!

If there is one thing that I am greatful to the Japanese for it would be Sushi. When made correctly, it is the most perfect food! It is so perfectly balanced in its many flavors. Oh man, my mouth is watering! I would have to say that my favorite rolls are the Catipiller Roll, Dragon Roll, Nantucket Roll, and all the pieces that I had in Japan. In all reality there is only so much that I can say about how much I love this Oishii treat.

This one had Tempura Lobster in it and row on top. I forgot the name of it but it was pretty good indeed.

This day was pretty dang fun. Was a girls day for sure. Tomoko, Daria, and I went to the onsen and ate sushi at this cute restaurant. It was pretty cool, because it was my first time at a conveyor belt sushi place. The other thing that was way different was that each of the plates was a certain price and the way they charge you is that when you are done you stack up your plates, and they scan the stack with a little laser gun. Each of the plates has a chip in it that is read, and tada! you know what you have to pay! Also about everyother seat had a spout next to it where you could make your own Ocha (tea)...I didn't like it much at all.

Ocha station and water spouts.

It was fun to see such different sushi rolls, and even more fun to eat them. Was also a trip to watch Daria when she tried some of the way weird Rolls.

These were are chefs. The one, whose face you can't see, was sooooo cute!!! I was to nervous to talk to him though, even when it was just to order food. Yes, you can order rolls if there is nothing you see that you want. I can not wait to relive these experinces!

Depression and Hope

I don't know why I have yet to learn that when you feel the spirit telling you to do something quick you had better do it quick. I had the feeling that I should take out my memory card from my pocket and I didn't. I consequently lost it.... it held all of my pictures from Japan.... Luckily I have a lot of pictures up on Facebook, but honestly I cried. I am trying not to panic, but there is nothing for it now. I am hoping that I saved them on my computer back home because I had to reformat my laptop where they currently had been stored....... I ask that whoever reads this prays for me haha.

I guess that I will have to go back and make even more memories eh? Haha. I hope that I will be able to make it out there again soon. I need a good does of Japan.

New Goals

I have been super busy this week with Engagement pictures and visiting with my main man, but talking about weddings also means that there is a lot of talk about life, and where we want to go together. A few things came up for me. I am a person that doesn't want to live an ordinary life in some aspects. Any time that I hear the words unrealistic it lights a nice little flame under my bum! I also had an instance where I struggled with actually pursuing my dreams, because I allowed the voice of other adults to sway me. No more I say!

Recent events that happened in Japan shook me so hard that I cried for almost a whole day. Seeing the destruction that swept through Sendai moved me and honestly scared me. Also scared me that I couldn't get a hold of my host mom for a few days. I know that we all go through days where we reflect on our mortal time on Earth. How beautiful life is. How blessed we all are, to love, to live, to experience pain, to grow, and to pass on our experiences with the next generation. Good and bad. Life is always worth living and giving. When you watch videos of volunteer trips and people giving to one another you get to witness the gratitude in another person's eyes...well I want to experience that first hand. I want to go and work hard. I want to help create smiles and moments worth living for others. I want to share what I have. So my new dream is to volunteer across seas.

Any time that there is a disaster it takes years to recover, but once the media is done show casing it people forget and go on with their lives. It's natural, but I wouldn't want people to forget me. There are still People all over that need help. Please take the time to find ways even local where you can find ways to help others that have less than you. Thanks ya'll.

Potty Break

I think an appropriate topic for today will be toilets. Yes folks I said it, toilets. Here in the U.S. most of us have toilets that are much alike, but every once in a while you get an odd duck. Nothing that I have seen here though compares to the toilets in Japan though. Some of them really were so cool but others,well you would have to have some leg strength to get up from.

Admittedly it took me a second to get into this bathroom. It was a sliding door and I was retarded and thought it wasn't haha. I loved the signs for men's and lady's bathrooms they were really pretty lol. This was just at a sushi place. So you didn't see like this everywhere.







I don't know why I didn't take pictures of all the toilets I saw and that may sound weird but there were so many different ones. Also the stalls were way different. For example in the bathrooms of the airports the stalls were actually large enough for you to be able to bring your bags into them...unlike most of the ones in the state that I have been in. Also a lot of the stalls are widely set apart here, as in you can basically see right through them...awkward. In Japan though the stalls are really tightly put together and have gaurd strips so that there are no cracks when you close the door.

This whole Restroom was covered in Gold leaf. Only thing not covered in it was the actual toilet. I felt like Indiana Jones.

This my friends is the infamous squatting toilet. This picture shows our first encounter with one, but there were many yet to follow. I actually ended up really liking them because you don't touch anything. You don't have to worry about who's butt you are sitting after. My host mom didn't like them because you do have to have some leg strength to get up from it, but for me that wasn't a big deal. The only thing that I didn't like about it was when I was feeling sick and had to throw up, and the only place to do it was in a squatting toilet, and that was in a Baskin Robins.

This is from thejapanguy.com

 There were also many western toilets. When you flush it the top part, with the sink, comes on as well. I'm guessing that it is only so you can rinse your hands, because there is always another sink with soap outside of where the actual toilet is. It took me a while to get brave enough to use the squirty thing that they have attached to it called a bidget. You can also adjust the temperature and the pressure of the water. My host mom had to warn me not to jump up when I finally got the nerve to use it...I almost did anyways.
The last toilet that I had actually wanted to see while staying there I finally found a day or two before I flew home. In public places they were having problems with people flushing the toilet to many times, so that no one would hear their potty business, so there were buttons installed to were you can hit different ones to make different sounds. Especially the flushing sound. Clever clever.

DDR

I was finally able to go to my dance class on Wednesday. Something had always come up to where I was unable to go... like having water behind my ear and feeling vertigo everytime I moved. I forgot how much I loved to dance! The dance I do most often is called Zouk, or Zouk Lambada. It originated in Brazil and somehow found its way to Knoxville, TN. Sadly it is only really found on the East coast of the U.S. As I was trying to think of a topic for this entry I thought about my love for dance and the night that it finally hit me that I really really was in Japan.

I was lucky enough to be over there during their huge dance festival. It's a day just full of dancing! Awesome costumes, silly moves, heart pounding music! Even older ladies dressed up as rock and roll Elvis girls dancing to different rock and roll classics. The day started out great. As soon as we were out of school we hit the streets and were immediately swamped by groups of people that later performed at that night's parade. That was so fun to see them during the day!
Next we happened upon a stage performance of different dancers, most bad...one good haha. Actually the first two were so painful to watch! The last girl was way good and kept winking at Alex teehee he was to shy to say hi though. See if you can tell who is awesome and who is not.

 These girls were right on the border of horrible and could do better...way better. My favorite part was that they were dancing to really risque American songs but all the little old Obaasans were just nodding along and smiling and their were little kids dancing around too. I was pretty mortified.

Now these girls were my favorite...mainly cuz Alex, Sarah, Victor and I were all waiting to see which one of us would bust out laughing first. Was even a part of the song when the lyrics said, " I just don't understand" and Alex and I at the same said," No I just don't understand" lol. BTW both of them had G strings showin.Classy.

Obviously this girl was amazing! I mean I was super jealous. Mainly of her pants...but still it was awesome to watch her. If I were the other girls I would have just been embarrassed.

Well anyways, the day went on and we all went our separate ways so that we could eat. One awesome thing about being in japan was that I didn't have a cell phone to bother with. One horrible thing was that I didn't have a cell phone to bother with, cuz we never found each other after we split. The festival was on the main street that runs through the city. It was set up sort of like the Macy's Day parade, where they stop and perform, move on, and stop again. Being there for that really made me feel like I was really in Japan, because when you fly over there the airplane windows are up, so you just feel like you are suddenly there. It also didn't help that the scenery is just like East Tennessee when it comes to trees being everywhere. Seeing all the of the people dressed up though...there are no words to really describe that feeling that I had. It was overwhelming.

Onna no Chikara

Hana Kimi- Just to try to push her idol back up to former heights she dresses as a boy and enrolls in an all boys school.

So quick update on my drama life...I am totally hooked on Hana Kimi! It is so cute and hilarious! I don't know why but I always seem to have a huge thing for girls dressing up as guys to try to accomplish something. Maybe it's the suspense of them getting caught, or maybe it's just them getting the guts to do it. I think I would be to pretty to try to pass for a boy. mwahahaha! One of my favorite Manga is called Girl got game. It is also about a girl disguising herself as a boy so that she can play for their team. It also tickles me to death when the guy they end up liking finds out that they are girls haha. I also love the  The Song of the Lioness Quartets by author Tamora Pierce. Now that cross dressing chick is my hero for sure! We also can not forget Mulan or Amanda in She's the Man. (classic! ) I really look up to these characters, who really strive to show that they are as good as any man or that they care enough for loved ones to hide who they are just to try and save them, or better them. I think at times we only think of Chikara, or power, in terms of masculinity, but over and over we see the chikara that women hold. Powers of love and perseverance. I know I have seen indescribable power over and over again, from single mom's, or women that have to take care of injured husbands and their families. That chikara is truly divine. I hope that the women around me never forget the special powers that we do hold. And though we may not enjoy the physical strength that men have, we do have Chikara.

My idol. Not only does she beat up the boys...but she looks good doin it!

Never give up on your dreams...even if you smell like a dude for a while.

Found new strengths and found a new sense of what I could expect from myself and from others. I found out that I don't have to be scared of greatness because it was inside of me all along.