Again with the Late Posting!

Gomen nasai, minasan!

I keep promising myself I'll update on time, once a week at least, and then I go to kendou or on some trip and I get really tired and I don't. I'm sorry!

So to catch you all up since I last posted...
Starting with this weekend and working backwards...

Yesterday, my friend Zoe and I went to the Ashiya Aki Matsuri (Fall Festival). It was amazing! They had this big danjiri - a Japanese parade with these huge portable shrines (mikoshi) being wheeled and whirled down the street. On top and on the sides and all around the mikoshi are dancers in traditional dress with all kinds of lanterns and other decorations, inside the mikoshi are drum players. Everyone chants to the drums and it is REALLY cool. I took lots of videos. One of the guys on the mikoshi even waved at me! It was awesome.
After the danjiri, we shopped around the festival and met up with my host mom who bought us delicious takoyaki (grilled octopus balls - not as weird as it sounds, don't worry :) ), and adzuki mochi (red bean rice ball dessert-y things :) ). We got to play all the kid games and lots of the stall people gave us extra prizes because we were foreigners, an unexpected perk.
Also, on the way home from church last night, my host mom brought me to where the night danjiri was going on. It was even cooler with all the chochin (lanterns) lit up. It is definitely a sight to be seen.

Saturday, I woke up early to go to kendou and what a practice it was. An old sensei separated us from the main group and worked with us on the basic stroke - men - a hit to the head. Then he taught us "Sayuu Men Utsu" - multiple hits to the left and right sides of the head. He taught us the movement that goes with Sayuu Men Utsu, which is one of the basic kendou practices that the experienced kendouka work out with. Then, unprecedentedly, he brought us into the gym during practice. (Usually, during practice, we work with one of the experienced kendouka out in the hall while the main group works out inside the dojo. The dojo practice is VERY loud. Everyone is "kiai!"ing and stomping and the swords and hitting each other and people are running all over. It's kind of scary :)) So, the sensei brought us into the gym and put on his armor and let us practice on him, another first (usually we practice on dummies called ningyo). We practiced Sayuu Men Utsu and a few other strikes. It's very different hitting a person than a dummy. But the sensei was smiling and clearly enjoying himself the entire time. I think he was really happy that foreigners were trying kendou. After that, we practiced with the dummies again and tired ourselves out sprinting up and down the hall jousting with them.
After kendou, we went to a Ryuugakusei (Foreign Students) Aki Matsuri. We all gathered on a really pretty riverbank and ate snacks and talked and played soccer, etc. It was really fun.

Friday, I went to karaoke for the first time!!!! I LOVED it. We sang Queen and Journey and the Backstreet Boys and a bunch of crazy Japanese songs. It was a blast :). I can't wait to go again.


Last weekend...
I studied most of the day Sunday while talking on Skype to friends and family at home (If you don't have Skype, you should get it!)

Saturday, I went to kendou and out to lunch with my friends. Saturday night I walked about two and a half miles to get to the church that has Saturday night Masses. It was very nice weather though, so I didn't mind. :)

Also, last weekend, the host sister that is teaching preschool in Korea came home for a very short visit. She really liked my bracelet! Also, she brought a bunch of cute gifts for me from Korea - an adorable, bejeweled mirror, a keychain with a bunny dressed in pretty Korean clothes, and a princess tiara headband. She is really pretty, too! I can't wait to talk to her more when she comes home for good in March.

The weekend before last...
The ryuugakusei spent the entire weekend on top of a mountain (Koyasan) at a Buddhist temple! It was an educational experience, to say the least! We got a guided tour of this gigantic Buddhist cemetery called Oku-no-in. It was very peaceful - mostly because of the GIGANTIC and gorgeous cedar trees that grew everywhere throughout the graveyard. That night, we told ghost stories in the dark, a tribute to our cemetery wanderings. Spooky!
We also saw LOTS of Buddhist temples, most gorgeously painted and decorated, and went to a Buddhist meditation ceremony (at 6 in the morning, augh) at the temple we stayed at. The temple we stayed at, like all Buddhist temples, was vegetarian, so we had no meat - lots of tofu and veggies, though. :)
The trip there and back was absolutely gorgeous. The view of the trees, the lakes, and the mountains from the train was breath-taking.

AND before that...
We took a trip to Nara this week with my Art History class. It was spectacular to see all actual art in person as I've seen so many pictures of the various pieces in so many textbooks. We went to the oldest wooden building in the world, among many other places. Inside the oldest wooden building in the world - also known as Todaiji - is the biggest statue of Buddha. It is gigantic! The entire building is mind-blowingly big. There's a deer park around it as well, so we got to feed the deer, which was really fun. I was feeding the nice does my deer biscuits when I got headbutted in the butt by a big, mean buck. I ran away while throwing my deer biscuits behind me, hoping to distract him. It was really funny. I even bought a deer hat complete with antlers - by far the highlight of my trip ;D!


Besides all my trips, I've been going to kendou religiously and studying a lot when I'm not hanging out with my friends or my host family.

All in all, it's been a very busy, and very fun, month!

I hope you all are doing wonderfully and I miss you SO much!

Love and Hugs,
Christy