Kenrokuen Gardens

Yesterday, my host sister Mayuka took me to see Kenrokuen Gardens, which is one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. And it is conveniently located in my city! And my oh MY it was gorgeous! We walked around for a few hours, and I was just in awe and taking pictures of everything. It is said you have to see Kenrokuen in every season. Spring for the 'sakura' or, cherry blossoms. Winter for the snow. Autumn for the coloured leaves. I am excited to go back, it was abcolutely breathtaking! I have more pictures on my facebook, (a LOT more.. like 50), so go check those out. It was absolutely beautiful there!

Kenrokuen Gardens is very close to Kanzawa Castle, so we went to visit that too! It was incredible as well, nothing like the Castles in North America or Europe!

We got there and there was a festival going on called 'Japan Tent' where there are tents with different food from different countries. I find it funny that there was no Canada because.. well.. Canadian food can not be described ;)

After our visit to the Castle we walked back to the bus station but stopped in a little dessert store on the way. I don't know what it was called, but I got some .. white balls on a stick covered with Matcha.. Apparently it's very good, but I just must not have the taste buds of a Japanese person yet.. I couldn't eat it all..

The bus station I have to go to everyday to get to school and whatnot is right in the downtown of Kanazawa, right in front of the big department store. So Mayuka and I went in yesterday, man it was big! I guess I don't live in a small city, because what small city has a Louis Vuitton all the way to Gucci store in it's downtown? Kanazawa reminds me of Toronto, totally. I forgot some stuff at home, like makeup, so we went to a store called 'Plaza' in the department store, and I was looking at makeup. Holy Crap are things expensive here! I mean, ¥1,200 is A LOT for one tube of mascara, and not even a good brand either! I ended up spending ¥2,100 on an eyelash curler and mascara.. that's $24.00 Canadian, for two things that should have been worth only $10. Maybe it was just my choice of store..

I am still very jetlagged. I fell asleep last night at 6 and got up this morning at 7:30! haha

Today my host mom and Mayuka are taking me to Fukui prefecture to go see the Sea of Japan! I am excited and will update you whenever possibleeee.

Leave me comments also, because then I know if people actually care ;)

アシリアンエ

A little exploration

Today was my second full day in Japan.

I went off to explore my neighborhood by myself this afternoon. I found a huge temple / shrine two houses down. Pretty epic, you don't see that often in Canada.

The houses are so amazing here. I mean they differ between amazigly unique modern architecture to traditional-what-you-would-expect-in-Japan houses. I also went to the convenience store down the street, and the amount of coffee drinks is incredible. I mean they have about 20 different kinds of mocha latte drinks etc etc, it's crazy!

I also did a tour of kanazawa city with my host sister, Mayuka and her boyfriend. Downtown kanazawa reminds me a bit of Toronto, just smaller. There were tons of shops I would like to go to soon.. everything looks so inviting and different! Especially clothing stores ;)

An update on that fruit we bought in the grocery store.. what I thought was an apple turned out to be a peach! But the peaches here are white and red inside, not orange! And the other awkwardly shaped fruit turned out to be a FIG! I've personally never seen a fig where it's not all shriveled and dry in a package.. It was actually very good! It was squishy and sweet and white and red coloured as well.

Tomorrow I will be going to Kenrokuen with Mayuka! That is something I am looking forward to, and will definitely take lots of pictures! It's supposed to be beautiful!

Also, Japanese television? It seems to be just talk shows or sports. They also have a lot of puzzles on the shows, like "which group does this fit in?" I've been watching a lot of Japanese track meets and this one talk show where they have to answer puzzles so that they can get food. I don't know, the concept is pretty strange.. but I enjoy the cheesy-ness of the commercials here!

I'm going to go take a shower in the shower room now.. and hopefully I can actually figure out how it works properly this time!

アシレーアンエ

a little lonely..

Notice anything about these magazines?

No Miley Cyrus! That's right! I was very excited to come to the realization about NO MILEY CYRUS!

Until today, on the radio in my house, a miley song played.. 3 times..

I think that is the worst part about Japan so far, just hearing her song "party in the USA" intoxicate the airwaves here in Japan..

Yesterday night I went to the grocery store with my host mom. That was quite an experience! I took fruit for

granted back in Canada! It's about 1.50$ here for just one apple! Hello malnutrition. The fish aisle was not just an aisle, it was basically an entire store in itself. We walked through it and there was squid and octopus and snails and everything in between! My host mom poked a squid, it wiggled, and she exclaimed "yum, fresh!" hahahah..

A lot of things are similar, but a lot of things are different about the food here. For example, the frosted flakes are the same here (but in Japanese) but they have different TYPES of things, like fruit! My host mom bought a package of awkward pear shaped fruits that they only have in Japanese. I have yet to try one, but I will let you know how they taste when I get to eat it..

An update on the toilets.. I still have no idea how to work them! There are so many buttons and knobs and at the back, it looks like a sink but I'm not sure what to do with it because I'm afraid I would be washing my hands in toilet water or something gross.. There are two different flushing modes, but I don't know the difference so I've just been alternating between the two modes each time, trying to figure out a difference (there is none that I can tell..)

My host mom speaks English, same with my one host sister. They were both exchange students to Ontario, Canada! They have a lot of Canadian stuff in their house which is nice! My other host sister does not speak English, and I speak no Japanese as of yet, so we don't communicate..

I haven't been outside my house yet much. I want to go explore, but I'm afraid of getting lost, because I'm alone. Everyone is out of the house! I also don't really know WHERE in Kanazawa I am, because apparently its split into different sections. I don't think I'm close to any exchange students either.. hopefully I can figure that out soon! I'm a tad lonely..

Anyway, if you guys have any questions about Japan, let me know. I'd love to inform you / discover something new myself !

アシリーアンエ

in JAPAN!

I arrived in Japan yesterday night!

The three flights and two layover were SO long. I was travelling for 36 hours, then plus the time difference!

A group of about 20 exchange students all going to Japan went together on the flight. It was a lot of fun, and a good way to loose track of time!

The first thing I did at Tokyo airport was spot out the crazy ending machines..

And then I checked out the crazy toilets! The buttons? I think they're useless. I mean, besides making he toilet sing when it flushes, it's pretty unnecessarily confusing!

At Tokyo airport, the four of us travelling to Kanazawa stopped at a restaurant for a drink. Did you know they have fake, wax versions of everything you can order in the windows? It's actually a very good concept! The 'creme soda' here is GREEN! I just thought you would think that is pretty weird..

After four hours passed at Tokyo airport, i then travelled on a VERY small plane to Komatsu airport where myself and the other exchange students were getting picked up by our host families! (I fell asleep the whole time.. but not until after I tried a very weird flavoured drink called "royal milk tea")

When we arrived, finally, we were at baggage claims, and we saw our host families and host clubs all behind the glass doors, standing with our names on signs and every member of the family there, ready to snap a picture. It was so exciting and exactly what I imagined!

My family and club were at the airport to pick me up along with my friends Ayumi and Yoshi who came Canada last year! It was nice to see them too!

The drive to my new home was 40 minutes, where we then had donuts (mine was GREEN TEA, and delicious!) and I directly went to sleep after taking a shower in the "shower room". In Japan, they have a room where you sit in the shower and he entire room is a shower. There is also a bathtub that you soak in after you are clean. And showers only happen at night, which is fine by me. The time change tricked by brain into thinking it had only been about 12 hours when it had actually been a good two days. I am still very jetlagged!

I woke up this morning to very loud japanese sirens and a japanese voice saying something over a loud speaker. I have yet to figure out what that was.. but it was pretty different..

I start school next week, but order my uniforms on Thursday and sort my classes. I am very excited for all of that :)

But for now? Naptime. It's Sunday 1:38 in the afternoon here, but 12 midnight at home.

(nemutai, which means "I'm sleepy!")

ねむたい！

アシリーアンエ

ps. the cars drive on the left side of the road! i was shocked to find that out!

1 days, 06 hrs, 48 min, 54 sec

I can not believe it.

I leave SO soon!

I've packed all my stuff, tried to get everything organized.

I hope it will all fall into place!

I have such horrible nerves and butterflies in my stomach about leaving.

It started to hit me yesterday that I am ACTUALLY going.

Life back here just started to be fantastic, I think my destiny has some pretty bad timing!

Saying goodbye to my best friend today was hard. It was the first time I actually cried, recently, about leaving.

The flight route I will be flying takes me from Toronto to Chicago to Narita to Komatsu.

I leave 8am Friday morning, and will arrive 845pm Saturday night.

Long day of travel? You betcha..

日本の一年

The past two days were great. I've gotten to spend time with my two sisters and mom and dad before I go.Yesterday we went out to a restaurant called Spice Avenue, an 'Asian lounge'. But there was basically nothing Japanese to have. They should have just called it a 'chinese restaurant'. because everything was just Chinese anyway..

Enough about the restaurant.

We went back home, and my family gave me a nice little, chocolate, bon voyage cake.

It was delicious!

Today, my sisters gave me beautiful gifts.

My one sister, Alanna, gave me her favourite necklace and earrings, to remind me of her when I get lonely. I think that is the sweetest thing, and I adore the thought!

My other sister, Andrea, bought me three beautiful books. One, a postcard book with 30 postcards of artwork by a Japanese artist. She then also got me a book entitled "One Year In Japan", and it's basically a really neat book explaining the culture of Japan! That will be useful! Then she also got me a "listography" book, which will be neat to complete in Japan. Here is the online version if you wanted to check it out: http://listography.com/

It's great to know that I have people back here who will miss me, but I'm so excited to leave for a year and discover new things.

I leave in four days..

I am not packed yet..

I think I should go do that!

Oh! I forgot!

Today I went to the beach with my fantastic friend from Australia, Andrew Swan! (Swanny for short)

It was honestly 35 degrees outside, so we went swimming and tested out my new waterproof camera.

It was great to see him again (for the last time.. until I go to Australia whenever that may be..), and of course, hanging out with exchange students always makes your day better :)

"back in Australia.."

6 days, 21 hours, 41 minutes.

I can't believe how fast time has gone by!

I leave SO soon!

I got back from camp last Satuday, and have been rushing around trying to do everything to get ready for Japan.

I bought new luggage last night, I bought new clothes the day before, I have to go out and buy all of my "Canadian themed gifts" today, and hopefully a new camera too.

There's more little things on top of that, and it's so stressy!

Wish me luck,

I hope I don't forget anything!