January has come and gone, and it was quite a month. First
of all, I rang in the New Year in the Western style with some European friends.
It started with dinner and then led to a karaoke/dance party with a countdown
and general noise making at midnight. We stayed up all night and watched the
first sunrise of 2013 (hatsuhinode = 初日の出) from
my dormitory rooftop. Even though I was exhausted by this point, I powered
through and went to Atsuta Shrine for the first shrine visit of the New Year
(hatsumode = 初詣). I got my fortune or
omikuji. I drew “half-fortune”. Some other possibilities were great fortune,
small fortune, great curse, small curse, etc. I think half-fortune is good,
since the Japanese girl that accompanied us told me that I can keep it instead
of folding it and tying it up at the shrine in hopes that my fortune will wait there
instead of following me.
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| The First Sunrise of 2013 |
A week later, a Japanese student group organized a day of traditional New Years activities. We drew the kanji for one of our wishes or goals for the year. I wrote 決、which means decision, in hopes that I will finally decide what direction I want my life and career to go in. We also made some mochi! For me, this was the best part of the day…probably because it involved making food. To make mochi, we pounded rice with a wooden mallet until it made a sticky paste, and then added it to some red-bean soup. It was pretty tough. The rice got really sticky, and the mallet was a little heavy for my puny arms, but it was really fun (and yummy!).
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| Mochitsuki |
There were some other
fun, new, non-new-yearsy experiences, too. I saw The Hobbit in a Japanese
cinema (lucky for me, it was in English with Japanese subtitles), and I went to
a cat café! They were both weird. No one laughed at any jokes in the movie, and
the cat café was cats, but no café (but they were soft and adorable and a
couple of them really liked me, so it’s ok).
I also went to a botanical garden near Nagoya called Nabana-no-Sato. They don't have so many flowers in the wintertime, so they assemble some impressive lights or illuminations. It was cold, but amazing to see.
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| The Hobbit |
I also went to a botanical garden near Nagoya called Nabana-no-Sato. They don't have so many flowers in the wintertime, so they assemble some impressive lights or illuminations. It was cold, but amazing to see.
It’s also the end of
my first semester in Japan. Time really flies. A lot of people are leaving, and
I don’t care for goodbyes (I already get sad thinking about leaving here). I
feel lucky to have met so many interesting people. I’m looking forward to
getting to know the people who are staying and the new people who will arrive
next semester.
At first, I was pretty discouraged about my Japanese abilities. This semester, I think
I really have improved my Japanese after all, but I still have a long way to go
in terms of what I want to achieve. I say it often, but I really need to
practice speaking Japanese, and I need to practice reading on my own more. I’m
determined to make myself study in between semesters. That’s going to be a little
difficult though, because tomorrow I will leave for an awesomely long trip with
my European friends to Osaka, Sapporo, and Tokyo! I’m bringing a Japanese book along
with me, so at least I have some good intentions…
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