Happy New Year!

Seeing as the clock has turned 00:00 here in Japan, it's officially time to say "Happy New Year"!

I can't believe it's '09 already! It's gone by so fast - and at the same time this has been the longest year. In a way it seems like Norway, my Norwegian school and my preparations for Japan...in a sense even my family and friends were all in another life, or somewhere really far away. And in many ways it is. Yet I keep them all as close as I can in my heart. I'm wearing my saami necklace I received as a present from my dad today, and the bracelet my boyfriend gave me. Just to be kind of symbolic. I usually always spend New Year's Eve with my family.

This year I'm spending it with my Japanese family instead. We're going to a shrine, which will be fun! And I'm having a good time with them too. <3

2008 has been a really exciting year for me. So much has happened! '08 will always be the year when...

- Si Chàng came to visit us in Norway (I can't believe that was that really in '08?!)
- I started my second year at school with all my friends <3 (and last with them)
- I had my second (and final) year of Japanese evening classes!
- The year I turned 18, but did not officially come of age (Japan, I love you!)
- The year I first came to Japan
- The year I went on my high school exchange to Japan (and met my wonderful Japanese family)!

So what will the new year bring? I'm not sure, but I'm sure it'll be exciting and wonderful too! "Just around the river bend..."

This year, I'll...

- work hard on my Japanese!
- do my best at kyudo!
- try not to put on too much weight while in Japan -_-;;
- buy and work with a kanji book (want to learn more!)
- in general "ganbarimasu~!"
- Enjoy myself as much as I can! :D

Again: Happy New Year!



Location:
Mood:
Listening to:
Eating:
Drinking:

Christmas (in Norway, anyway...) :P

I was supposed to post this the 24th, but as you all know blogger decided to hate me that particular day. So here it is, posted from my computer instead:

メリークリスマス!
Merry Christmas!
God jul!

I'm santa!☆(≧▽≦)ゞ

Today is the 24th, meaning they're celebrating Christmas back home in Norway. Here in Japan they celebrate on the 25th, so today was my last day of school.

We're having an early Christmas celebration at the grandparent's house tonight. Eating onigiri, chicken and pizza by the looks of it. (・ω・)/

Tomorrow 冬休み, the winter holidays, start. I'm free for two weeks! Minus homework...guh. I think I'll shop for some more clothes, having heard that February is the coldest month in Kagoshima. My god, I'll freeze to death practicing kyudo outdoors... (→o←)

Anyway - to all my family and friends (since any cards you'll get are bound to be late, ahem...): Merry Christmas! ☆ And a happy new year!

I was going to post, but...

Lately blogger has been refusing to accept the blog posts I try to send in with my phone, so I'm sorry there's been so few updates. Why, blogger, why~! T_T

There's a Christmas post waiting to be uploaded too... ;_; Now it'll be late, but please bear with me. m(_ _)m

In the mean time:

To all my family and friends (to whom any letters and cards are bound to be late... :P):

Meri kurisumasu!
Merry Christmas!
God jul!

Akemashite omedetou!
And a happy new year!
...og godt nyttår!

Yesss!

I've done it! I've fired my first arrow with feathers!☆

Oosaki-sensei stood beside me the whole time, watching and helping me with everything from how to walk up to where I fire from to how to pick up my second arrow (while wearing the glove. Not as easy as you may think). They told me that usually girls have trouble getting the arrow all over to the side the target's on. Well...I got it over all right!

WHOOOSH!
"Where did it go?"
"I can't see it..."

Haha! XD I was far from the target, but Oosaki-sensei patted me on the back and said it was well done. And I fired my first proper arrow! So I've been happy the entire evening. ♪〜ヾ(*⌒∇⌒)ツ☆

Actually, I used Yumiba-senseis arrows since my red ones were at school. The feathers on these arrows are quite worn, so that makes them go a bit here and there too. Still - I won't say my technique is perfect either! ：P Tomorrow's training again! 。o@(^-^)@o。

The picture is of my teammates training. OK, so Kuramura is fixing his bow and Hamada is... ehm...well. Not. In this picture. Which is why I took it. XD He sat up in seiza when he heard a teacher coming, hehe!(^ε^)

Oh - I'm seriously attached to my bow now...

THIS...IS...SPARTAAA!

Whew, I'm tired! In an effort to totally exhaust myself while on exchange, I've decided to take one day every week where I practice the dances we'll be performing sometime in February. (Or not, depending on if we pass the dancing test or not.) Anyway, I went there today, taking a day off from kyudo. It was actually pretty fun.☆ Even though it's really fast and I'm not good at dancing. But I'm starting to remember. I can even do some of it! Including the whole aerobic with some more practice.☆ It's not impossible! And you get closer to the people in class working with them. They're really patient as long as you do your best. I think I like working together like this.

So, my schedule until February will look like this:

Monday: kyudo
Tuesday: dance practice
Wednesday: kyudo (dojo)
Thursday: kyudo
Friday: swimming

...I must be trying to kill myself. ：P Still, this is temporary. Once it's done I'll train kyudo at school on Tuesdays again!♪

Watershow

There's a watershow set to music in front of the mall every hour or so. And guess what music they used! ♪

I still love Jack. XD

Edit: ...And after posting this I realized that the video I took didn't make it and so it makes no sense... -_-; Anyway, it was a video of the water spraying up in tune with the music - the theme from my beloved movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl"!

It's H!P !

OMG, OMG, OMG! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏー☆

I just found an idol shop! And there were Morning Musume,Mini Moni, W, Otsuka Ai and Hamasaki Ayumi pictures and goods galore! I bought lots of pictures of Mini Moni and W, things you'll have a hard time finding now that the groups have disbanded. My inner H!P fangirl is squealing with joy.

Nevermind that I cane up to the counter twice with large piles of folders pointing out different pictures I wanted. The guy there had to write down like a gazillion different numbers, haha! 。o@(^-^)@o。

I'm here!

...I'm in Fukuoka!☆ They have the Lion King musical playing in the city theater! ...And Christmas decorations.

Grub, Nick!

I'm eating my first Japanese hot dog! It's wrapped in a Chinese bao zi! (steamed bun.) Wo ai bao zi〜 I was really happy when I found a sign I could read the sign in Chinese. It said xiao long bao zi... (*゜∇゜)ノ

...food? Who, me? ：P

Sleepy Departure

Right now we're in the car on our way to sowewhere...☆ Can you guess where? I think I mentioned it before…?

I woke up at 5AM today, so that we could leave by 6. But otoosan's clock stopped at 5, so he thought we had more time.(^。^)‐☆

In the end we left by half past 6 instead... so I got to rest some more〜♪

Now I shall proceed to catch a few z's. Later!
(￣_￣)zzZ

You've been WHERE?!

Madoka and I just went to by some bread for tomorrow. I had fun trying to read all the French and Japanese labels. The lady behind the counter was impressed that I could speak Japanese and asked where I was from. "Norway." "Really? I've been to Norway!" "You have?!" "Yes, to Oslo." "I live in Oslo!!" "I have a friend in Norway, you see." ...WOW! I'm totally flabbergasted everytime I meet someone who's been to Norway or knows something about my country.↑ We're not exactly well-known around here. (^∇^) The most common question I get is if we speak English (understandable)and when I tell them no, we speak Norwegian, their reply is often something like "oh, is there a language like that!". Yeah.(^ε^)

So this was really cool!☆

道場

The place where we bow before every training. I'm not sure what it all is, but it looks nice. :P

These things have fallen victims to my featherless arrows.

Where the cool guys fire theirs. (With feathers!)

This is the dojo where we train, or at least parts of it. (^ε^) I love this place! It's just beside a temple, and it's all in traditional Japanese style.☆ Wood! I think it's beautiful.

The first arrow!

I'm in front of my computer, which allows me to type faster and tell you more about the amazing news:

~ I've officially fired my first arrow!! ~

It was a special practice arrow, like I said. And my target was not a mato target, but a makiwara. Now let me tell you - up until now kyudo's been pretty hard while doing nothing else but practicing to draw the bow. Now add an arrow....

The technique - it's so much to think about! And it's so much fun! I actually really like things that are technically challenging. As long as it feels like I'll be able to do it eventually. ;P

Oosaki-sensei (the actual kyudo teacher) took us to the dojo, and taught me how to hold the arrow, shoot and...well, everything. Holding the arrow - it's a lot harder than I'd thought. (Although I try not to say or think "pfft, that's easy!" because you never really know until you've tried. And as a rule it's always much harder than it looks!) You kind of just support it with your hand. Still, if you use too much strength, the arrow falls! So it's kind of the opposite of what your instincts tell you to do, right? "Hold on tight, don't drop it!" *cling* "...darn.." Haha! And to top it off, the bow is pretty heavy to draw for me still. Even though my wrist now bends as it's supposed to, it's hard to hold their position once you've fully drawn the bow. But I'll practice, practice, practice! Yaay~! v(*^^*)

Oosaki-sensei was really great and helped me, telling showing me (either physically by repositioning my various limbs or by mimicking the movements) what to do. The first time I let go of the string and fired the arrow, I was delighted by the power it released. I've felt it while practicing to draw the bow, but actually releasing it was really cool! I just stood there with my eyes popping going "Whoa! Whoa! Hee... hehehehehehee!" Oosaki-sensei smiled and laughed a bit at me when I did that. ^^ Oh, and my sensei looks freakin' elegant! Just the way he mimics how to pull the bow... I feel like I can see where the power goes and you can tell he knows what he's doing. And he's really supportive and seems like a really nice person too. It's a shame my swimming lessons on Friday collide with my second day in the dojo.

Once I released the string wrong so that, even from that short distance, my arrow went sideways and into the wall - missing the entire makiwara! XD I laughed while Oosaki-sensei went over and swiftly pulled it out. Well, actually I hit the protecting plate behind the target. There was a suspiciously round mark suggesting someone once hit the wall... :P

There's just a lot to think about. Even how to walk up to the place from where you aim have specific rules! And I haven't even started putting on my clothes yet... although I will next time! So I'll feel either really cool or really wannabee, haha!

Location:
Mood: Very sleepy...
Listening to:
Eating: doughnuts!
Drinking:

弓道

Today's pictures are from where we practice kyudo at school, and of some of the guys in my club...eh, practicing!(^∇^)/

Yesterday I fired my first arrow! It was on a practice target, and I stood really close by so as to practice my technique. So my arrow was one without feathers. (Aiming comes later.★) This also means it's not shiny and red. Yet. There are a million rules to learn first. How to walk up to where you stand, for example. I've only practiced a bit of that. It's really challenging! Which makes it fun!☆ I'll write more about it if I can get to my computer tonight.↑↑

Pretty night light

I'm waiting for Madoka to come and pick me up bythe school. She's driving me home now when it's getting dark so quickly.It's pretty cold standing outside waiting, but the starry night sky is really beautiful!☆

Can you tell there's a white and slightly rainbow coloured ring around the moon? Clouds! 。o@(^-^)@o。

Rain...

It was raining today, so this guy was protecting me from it!☆ I love frogs! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

Luckily the rain stopped before my kyudo training.♪ If not there wouldn't have been one, see... But today it was fairly warm out too, so training (even though it was outside) was all fun!☆

鶴

I've learnt how to fold cranes!☆ Yesterday was a very productive day at school...(^ε^)

We're making them for the soccer team. They'll be competing in the all-Japan championship, so we're folding a thousand cranes, writing messages inside them and hanging them in long rows. It brings luck.☆ v(^_^)v

Sweet Dreams...

I'm gonna go to bed now.♪But I think I'll try to read some first. This one has furigana too!☆ ...and I think my chevalier recognizes it too...(^∇^o)(o^∇^)

Christmas Crazyness

We drive by this shop sometimes. Today we went inside. And let me tell you - it's just as crazy there! Basically they've taken every single American decorational item they could find, smacked it on their shop and crammed it inside. There were some easter signs there that reminded me of those I saw outside a lot of houses while in Michigan. It made me miss the place. I guess I do feel American too, huh? (*^^*)

Evidence of Christmas Crazyness: "TAKE THAT!"

Autumn Colours

The autumn colours in Kagoshima are beautiful!☆ Ant eater thinks so too. This picture is of him looking out the classroom window at the red leaves of the tree outside. I think he likes it, no?

I'm in front of my PC again!

I've noticed I've already passed the number of posts I wrote all of last month. Hehe! I blame it on my re-discovered cellphone. Luckily connecting to the internet through your phone here isn't as expensive as it would be in Norway. It'll still be interesting when I get the bill. :P

The posts I post from my cellphone will be shorter, but they allow me to update wherever I am and tell you what's going on at the moment. Also, it means I spend a little less time in front of my computer in Japan. I won't stop writing from my computer, though, since I need to edit the ones I make from my cellphone (change the font and add tags) and because once in a while I'll probably show up with my enormously long posts again. ;)

Tomorrow I start my swimming course, which will last for 3 months. Wheee~! As I think I've said before, it's every Friday. That means that I can't train kyudo that day, but it's OK. I'll still train kyudo four days a week - that should be enough for imrovement, no? =)

Location: Japan
Mood: Content
Listening to: sounds from the TV

Otaku goes shopping

First of all: Happy birthday, Nuff! 誕生日おめでとうございます！☆

I went with Sayaka to an anime shop today.♪ I found some gifts for friends and a some things for me (duh).(;＾◇＾;) They had tons of stuff! And music, too. I bought Wakeshima Kanon's "still doll", her first single and the ending for the first season of the Vampire Knight anime. And the official Vampire Knight fan book!☆

Nuff, did you know Wakeshima wrote her own lyrics and plays the cello? (*゜0゜) AND her music's produced by Mana! like her better by the minute.

Oh, and I bought some really cute paper at a sanrio shop! 可愛い！☆ Look forward to new letters! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

Pocket Sized Friend☆

I found a small friend while I was out with okaasan and Madoka shopping.

I saw him peeking out over the edge of his little basket, his small, black eyes shining with curiousity and his nose sniffing out into the air. He stood out and was so cute that I had to buy him. He's an ant eater! (Not an aunt eater, for those of you who've read Roald Dahl...) His nose is as big as mine and he's got a bushy tail! Also, he's very shy. He doesn't like formality, because it makes him uncomfortable. Especially if the people are wearing ties.

I haven't decided a name for him yet. Any suggestions?☆

クリスマスが来た！

The Japanese celebrate Christmas too, to a ceirtain extent. Well, at least they put up the decorations. And the trees. Oh, the trees! I'm suspecting it's all just an excuse to put up more キラキラ kirakira.

This one's from outside Amu Plaza in Kagoshima. It's...pink. And yes, that's a crown on top:

行って来まーす！

Today I'm going with my host family to 鹿児島 (Kagoshima) to do some shopping.☆ We're going by car today, so I'm listening to music.♪ヽ(∩・∩)ヽ♪

We washed our car in a car washing machine, and I sat in the backseat laughing all through it.

We found some weird chairs that you can sit in!☆

Oh, today I almost forgot my blazer! So I had to run for the school bus.(;＾◇＾;) Hehe...

カレー☆

幸せだな〜♪ヾ(*⌒∇⌒)ツ

Happyness is coming home from a day of tests at school and finding a big plate of curry for lunch. That's all yours!☆ Yum! After eating this my power level will be up enough that I can continue trying to read some of the Japanese manga I've bought.↑↑ Maybe even the ones without furigana. Not that I understand everything anyway, but...(;＾◇＾;)

いただきま〜す!★

Raigomaru

This is my pet chicken. ♪ He can be found tied to a pole by where I train kyudo, poor thing. He's been given to the school because he (ok...she) doesn't lay eggs anymore.The caretaker says Raigomaru will eventually be eaten. In the mean time I loosen his leash, feed him his favourite food and pet him.☆

"The chicken loooves me!"

This was my first attempt at blogging from my cellphone... did it work?
(〃⌒-⌒〃)