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Mars, Lanterns, and Spirits

My second day in Taiwan was a tour of the northern coast. I am so glad I decided to do it!

The first stop was Yehliu Geopark. Because of its unique rock formations it’s been described as the closest place on earth to mars! The famous Queen’s head rock was incredible! It didn’t feel like a real place.

Next we went to Shifen, home of taiwan’s lantern festival. Even when whe festival isn’t happening you can still make a wish on a lantern. You can pick one color for one wish, or four colors for four wishes! I chose the latter.

We then ate this really interesting spicy fried chicken that was stuffed with rice. It was really good and JUST the fuel I needed to get through the next activity. Shifen is also home to a gorgeous waterfall! You can take a picture with it at the top, or you can take a slightly less common trail to get an amazing view! Can you guess which I did?

After the waterfall we had lunch in a smallish city. There was a small market with lots of food stalls. I was adventurous and decided on pork blood soup, a soup with cubes of coagulated pigs blood. The texture was interesting but the taste was nice! I also had a pepper bun, one of taiwan’s famous foods. Later on in the day I tried iced taro which is a local specialty.

After that We went to Jiufen. This is where the film Spirited Away is said to take place. Even though this was at the top of my list, it wasn’t my favorite stop on the tour. It was lovely, but very very touristy. Still, the views were gorgeous and it was really cool to see the tea house that is rumored to be the inspiration for spirited away!

The last stop was another waterfall. It is called the golden waterfall because of the color of the soil which is caused by copper deposits. The area used to be famous for copper mining!

And that concluded the tour. It was an amazing day. And our guide Martin was so great and helpful!!

3 days in Taipei!

I’ve been quite busy lately. I’m taking the Jlpt N3 exam. (Mid level proficiency test). But in my study frenzy I realized I need to update about somewhere amazing that I went...

TAIWAN!

If you’ve read this blog from the beginning, you’ll know that my layover on my way to Japan was in Taipei airport. I was really curious about it, but tickets during golden week were sooo expensive. I was there for three days and it is one of my favorite places in the world. Taipei reminded me of home but everything was different enough where it felt like an adventure. The first night I went to Ximending, the night market most commonly frequented by young people. I ended up there every night for tea and a fun night vibe.

I took an amazing tour the second day I was there of places along the northern coast. I’ll do a separate post about that.

The day after that I climbed mount elephant: a mountain with one of the best views in Taipei! There were a LOT of mosquitos but it was worth it!

Then I went to Taipei 101. I went to the top and the elevator was SO fast and cool! It’s one of the fastest in the world!! Then the view from te top was STUNNING!

Then I went to the basement floor for a restaurant famous for their soup dumplings! I waited about 40 minutes. By the time I was seated the wait time was almost 2 hours. I guess I got there in time! They were totally worth the wait. Soup dumplings are not only INCREDIBLY delicious but they’re fun to eat!

Most Americans actually eat them wrong. So here’s how you do it. Dip the dumpling in the sauce (vinegar and soy). Place it in a soup spoon. Poke a little hole. Press it so the soup comes out of the hole. Drink the soup first, then eat the dumpling!! It was probably my favorite food that I ate there.

After that I went in search of souvenirs! Taipei has a weekend market under a highway. The first few blocks are a flower market then it becomes a jade market! Taiwanese jade is some of the best in the world and you can find a nice deal! I bought a piece from a man who showed me a picture of himself carving the jewelry. I ended up going back the next day to pick up a few more things!

I then went to laoshung temple. Taiwanese temples are Taoist so they are very colorful!! Later that night I tried Taiwan’s National dish, beef noodle soup!!

On the last day I went to the 228 peace memorial park. It commemorates the lives lost in the February 22nd massacre by the Chinese. After that I went to to one of the most famous places in Taipei, The memorial square. It’s home to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall, the national recital hall, and a large park. While I was there there was a clearly anti-China protest.

So do I recommend going to taiwan? ABSOLUTELY! I would have loved to have more time there to see more parts of the country, but I’m very happy with this trip. Next time I’m in Taiwan, I’ll be on my way back to America!

Feeling Classy

As the new semester is about to begin, It's the perfect time to give you an overview of what last semester's coursework entailed. I was in Level 1, which was an incredibly accelerated beginner class.

We used the textbooks Minna no Nihongo. There are two textbooks. Most programs finish the 2 textbooks over the course of a year (one per semester) but we did both. We did a new chapter almost every day. Every time we finished a chapter we had a vocabulary quiz. Then every few chapters we had a big grammar test. We also had kanji quizzes 1-2 times a week.

We also had a conversation class where we learned how to converse in a bunch of different situations (hospital, store, asking for favors, etc.) For our midterm we had to role-play two of these situations with a Japanese student. Luckily I didn't get the suuuper difficult prompts (phew). The final was fun and really hard. We had to write and perform a drama. There were two groups. My group did Mean Girls! I ended up as a Sub-leader, writer, video, and lead character!

My final class was "Special topics in Japanese Culture." The first half of the semester was about contemporary Japanese culture. We learned about Manga, J-pop, Slang, etc. We also had a Kimono demonstration! (I was the model!!) Then we had traditional culture. We learned about shinto and buddhism which are the two main religions here.

So in Japan, every class you take has a separate final. Because every period of my morning Japanese class is technically a different class, each one had its own final exam. So first period we had grammar/kanji tests for different sections of the book. Then the second period class tested our different Japanese skills. Essay writing (2 essays), Conversation, Speech (a powerpoint with the same topic as one of our essays), Reading comprehension, and listening. The conversation and the speech were recorded for this semester's placement.

In the end I got all A's in my language courses and a B in culture. Because of my grades, the recordings, and my placement test score I ended up in...

LEVEL FOUR!!!

I'm super excited! I am going to take an extra grammar test specifically for the mid-level proficiency test, an anime class, and a flower arranging class!! The flower arranging class was advanced registration, meaning I had to enter a lottery to get in. Its the hardest class to get into because it's so popular... but I was selected!! I'm super excited for next semester!

#doshisha #nichibun #exchange student #classes

I’m a pretty girl, momma!

I’m currently in Seoul with my parents! Home of the face mask!! You can get reeeeally nice beauty products for not a lot of money! Today my mom and I went shopping in hongdae for beauty products. Everyone says to go to myeongdong, but myeongdong is targeted at tourists. Hongdae is full of college students, street performers, and street food! This was our beauty haul!

So we hit up several stores. First we went to Etude house where we got the most. I immediately found everything I was hoping to find here. We got

-The KitKat eye pallete (limited edition, only in Korea)

-22 face masks (10 cherry blossom, 10 strawberry, 2 hylouranic acid)

-A popsicle shaped lip tint (watermelon color)

-Undereye shimmer stick

-Nail mask

-Pimple popper

So Etude house had a discount for people using a foreign card. 10% off. And the masks were buy one get one. And they threw in the two hylouranic acid masks for free! They did two separate transactions for us so we could get both deals! We got all of that for about 40 dollars.

I forget the name of our next store. But it was very big. We didn’t get much. We had already gotten most of what we were looking for!

The eyeliner is actually a famous Japanese brand and the character on the foot mask is Japanese as well. But the eyeliner was actually slightly cheaper than Japan. The brand was also being advertised by singers from my favorite bands! All the more reason to go for it!

We got a bunch of samples. Most of which were from a store called nature republic. They had a lot of natural beauty products. We actually went into two stores. The first store gave my mom and I both samples but we did NOT want to buy anything because the sales lady followed us around the store so closely that it made us uncomfortable. But the second store gave us one (empty) sample. But they were so much friendlier so we ended up buying a face cleansing balm. We got another sample in a street promo event. We also got cotton candy!

I also got some masks to cover my face when I’m sick and a pair of rilakkuma socks! I’d say we had a pretty good haul! Now I don’t have to be ugly anymore!

Takoyaki time!🐙

I took a really fun cooking class the other day! I found it on Airbnb! It was with a wonderful woman named Naomi and her family! Her husband and daughter, and granddaughter were there. They were all so kind to me! I felt like I was cooking with friends who I’ve known forever!

Naomi first taught me the difference between takoyaki and dashi from Kyoto vs. Osaka. Then she taught me all of the ingredients. We mixed batter then the filling mix. The filling mix had cabbage, tempura bits, pickled red ginger, and scallions!

Then we went to the takoyaki machine! You put a bit of batter, a piece of octopus, a bit of filling mix, some optional shiso leaf, then slightly overfill it with batter! When you add the octopus you can also add cheese!

Then I learned how to form the balls. It was hard at first, but after 2 or 3 I got the hang of it! And it was soooo fun!!

Then we dressed them with takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes, and seaweed powder!

We made two batches. One with the filling mix, and one with cheese! Both were soooo delicious!!!

We all had so much fun! Naomi invited me back to cook with her!! I’m so excited to learn more about Japanese cooking!!

Dashing through the snow

Hokkaido day 3

The last day in Hokkaido was short. First we went to sapporo tv tower! It has a really nice view of the city, even if it was a bit obstructed by the snow!

Before we left we got to do some souvenir shopping in the shops around the festival. Hokkaido has a large Russian population. It’s suuuper close to Russia and a lot of signs even have Russian translations! So I was happy to get an authentic Russian doll. I also got a gudetama that speaks in a Hokkaido dialect!!

Finally, we got the chance to see the snowboarding show!! They were sooo talented and it was fun to watch!

We had one more bowl of butter corn ramen then headed to the airport! The trip felt so short, but time flies when you’re having fun!!

Walking in a winter wonderland!

Hokkaido day 2

Yesterday was a very fun filled day! First we went to the final park of the snow festival! This park had interactive snow activities. We went tubing, posed in some snow cutouts, and I became a bowl of noodles!! I thought we’d be there for a really long time, but because we got there so early and didn’t have to wait in lines, we breezed through!

After the park, we went to the Sapporo Beer Museum! It was interesting! Sapporo was the first Japanese beer! It changed names a few times, but Sapporo is Japan’s original beer! The original biermeister was trained in Germany, which is why Japanese beer is enjoyed by foreigners. It was originally supposed to be manufactured in Tokyo, but because Hokkaido has a lot more naturally occurring ice, it was the most practical place to start a brewery. Their current symbol is a white star, but it used to be a red star. They were everywhere! It gave me very strong soviet vibes.

At the end of the museum, you can try some of the beers. We got a tasting sampler to share as well as Ribbon Napolin, a soft drink that you can only find in Hokkaido. The Ribbon Napolin tasted sweet and a bit citrusy. It also had a bit of a cherry taste. If you’ve ever tried aperol spritz, it looks and tastes quite similar. The beers we tried were the fan favorite (Black Babel), the original recipe (Kaitakushi), and the standard “classic” Sapporo beer. Classic was my least favorite of the three. The black label is smooth and a bit sweet. The kaitakushi was strong and bitter. You could definitely taste the hops. But the classic is a middle ground. Personally, I don’t like beer that isn’t quite sweet or bitter. And of course I acquired all of these opinions about beer in the 6 months since I turned 21... luckily Ryusei liked the classic!

After that we had lunch! We wanted to eat sheep meat which is very traditional in hokkaido. We ended up getting Korean food. We got bibimbap with Hokkaido sheep in it! It’s always fun and delicious to eat fusion food!

After that we went to Mt. Moiwa. There is an amazing view from the summit... which we did not get to see because it was snowy and cloudy. We did get a wonderful view from the cable car. We went halfway up and saw an insane sunset. The sky was totally orange!

For dinner we had sushi. Within a country that is famous for seafood, Hokkaido is one of the best places to get it. So of course we had to eat sushi!! We ate sooooo much! I accidentally ate wasabi and I didn’t cry. I was really proud of myself.

It was a long, fun, and snowy day! ☃️

The Snow in the Moonlight

Hokkaido at night

Last night we went to see the illuminated snow sculptures and eat festival food!! Some of the sculptures had colored lights, and some had light animations! My favorite was this one.

Heres a few other highlights!

The food I ate was soooo good. First I got a giant scallop. They cooked it in its shell then they covered it in a delicious sauce! Then I got this crab. It looked gross. It smelled gross. But it tasted AMAZING!! It was potato and crab meat grilled inside the crab shell. Then they put a greenish greyish sauce on top. I don’t know what that sauce was, but that crab was delicious!!!

Do you wanna build a snowman??

Hokkaido Day 1

Today was day one of my Hokkaido winter adventure!! Ryusei and I woke up early to fly from kansai to Sapporo for the winter festival!!

As soon as we got outside, we noticed the slippery sidewalks. I was able to get traction spikes to slip over my boots... at a 7/11!!

After checking into our hotel we had some of Hokkaido’s famous ramen. We both got butter corn ramen and it was one of the best bowls of ramen I’ve had in my life. Maybe it was the miso broth. Maybe it was the corn. Maybe it was the stick of butter. Who’s to say!

Then we headed to the festival. There are three parts of the snow festival. There’s a park with snow sculptures, a street with ice sculptures, and a park with fun winter activities. Today we saw the sculptures! The ice sculptures were beautiful. A lot were sponsored and one contained actual fish!

But the snow sculptures were INSANE!!! Even though I had seen pictures online, I couldn’t believe how big they were!!!There are twelve blocks of odori Park. Blocks 1-3 seemed to be mostly activities from sponsors. Blocks 4-8 were filled with huge sculptures with lots of food stands!

Blocks 9-12 were a bit less than expected. These were done mostly by amateur snow sculptors. Some of the smaller sculptures were adorable! And there were a few other big sculptures sprinkled in! But some of the small ones had melted a bit making for a very sad Mickey Mouse.

We took a rest in the late afternoon and went back for dinner. I’ll make a separate post about night at the festival. But for now it’s time for me to say good night. I have a full day tomorrow!!!

How to buy a full kimono without going broke!

Yes... for everything together it isn’t suuuper cheap. But it is possible to buy a full kimono without spending all of your money!

So for the kimono and obi, I went to a flea market. It’s important when finding a used kimono to look for stains. Check the

-Neck

-Armpits

-Butt

Those are the places most likely to have stains. So either get lucky and find one without stains like mine, or look for a darker color. For everything else I went to second hand kimono stores. You have to kinda shop around. Don’t get everything at the same place because prices reeeeally vary. I’ll post how much each thing that I bought cost (¥) and another price that I saw and could have ended up paying.

Tabi-socks —> I actually got these free at a school event

Geta-shoes —> 1300 (4000)

There are a few types of shoes that can be used for kimonos, but these are better suited for the outdoors, and since I’ll be walking to a shrine, they seemed like the best option.

Kimono —> 1000 (6000)

String/koshihimo (x2)—> 300 (1500)

So first of all, I apologize for the wrinkles. It’s hanging until New Years, but I needed to practice dressing myself and I didn’t notice until it was all on!

So kimonos are naturally supposed to be too long. Pull it up, wrap left over right, then use the first koshihimo to pull it up and keep it in place! Then you billow out the top so it hangs. Then tie it down. You have to make sure these two are tied TIGHT! Before you tie it, you need to take a sharp breath out, pull it a little more, then tie it in place.

Secure belt/Datejime —> 700 (2500)

Tummy flattener/Obi-ita —> 2500 (3000)

The pink belt is the Datejime. It holds the two koshihimo in place. It keeps them from slipping or coming untied. Then on top of that you put the obi-ita. The obi ita is meant to make your belly look flat. That sounds like a corset right? Nope. It’s really more so you can’t see the bumps from the koshihimo. It also keeps the obi from folding and becoming misshapen. This wasn’t as much of a deal as other parts of my kimono. I could’ve gotten cheaper ones, but I wanted one with straps so I could put it on before the obi instead of after. And there’s less of a chance of it falling out.

Decorative belt/Obi —> 1000 (3000)

The obi is the big decorative belt that wraps around the outside of the kimono. It doesn’t really do anything to hold the kimono closed, but you can design the back to look nice. There are several kinds of knots. One of the easiest and most popular knots is the bow.

Cord/Obijime —> 500 (1500)

I need to figure out how to tie this nicer haha. But the Obijime has practical uses in certain obi knots. But you can also just use it decoratively.

Purse —> 450 (2000)

Hair pieces —> 2500 (6000)

The designs on the purse are the “wave” kimono pattern which is all over my kimono! The hairpiece is actually three pieces. There is a comb and a hairpin. Then I actually attached the gold tassel to the pin. The comb and pin are a traditional coming of age gift for girls when they turn 20. I’m very happy that I was able to get them as a matching pair!!

So I paid 10,250 yen (92 usd).

And I could have paid 29,500 yen (267 usd). And these prices were all at other second hand stores!

So I think I got a pretty good deal for a really pretty kimono!! And I’m excited to wear it on New Years!!!

Meri Kurisumasu!!

I had a wonderful Christmas with my boyfriend! In Japan Christmas is a holiday for couples! Then New Years is the family holiday. We actually celebrated together on the 24th, 26th, and 27th!

I had school on Christmas Eve. Ho ho here’s two quizzes!! Then after school I met up with Ryusei to help him find gifts for his family and eat Christmas dinner! Because my family back home is Italian American we always eat seven types of fish on Christmas Eve. Being in Japan, it was very easy to make that happen! We had sushi!! I had sooo many kinds of fish. The most notable was whale. It wasn’t my absolute favorite but now I can say I’ve eaten whale!! We also had hamburger sushi. I joked that it was an accurate representation of our relationship! A bit American and a bit Japanese. But all good!

Then I spent the 25th talking to family and friends. It was a nice relaxing day. I also had the traditional Japanese Christmas delicacy... Kentucky Fried chicken. I paired it with McDonald’s fries and 7/11 cake (which is also very popular).

Then the 26th was a day that ryu and I had been looking forward to for a while... USJ!!!! We got up super early so we could get there when they opened!! We ran to Harry Potter world so we didn’t have to wait in a really long line. We rode a lot of amazing rides, we ate some awesome turkey legs, and we saw some shows! Our favorite ride was the flying dinosaur. I think it’s the best rollercoaster I’ve ever ridden!! We spent all day there! Our legs hurt sooo much by the end of the day. But it was worth it!!

It’s very easy to get homesick when you’re abroad for the holidays, but it helps to have a fun time with people you care about!!

Merry Christmas!!

As I mentioned in my post about Kiyomizu-dera, this is Otowa no Taki!

Kiyomizu-dera!

Kiyomizu-dera is a famous temple in Kyoto. Apparently is is older than the city itself!! I had a wonderful time looking at the fall foliage and experiencing the temple itself!

The main famous part of the temple was under construction, so I’ll have to go back and see it when it’s not covered!

A really cool part of the temple was the shrine that’s dedicated to the god of love! Which was great because I happened to be there with my boyfriend! The god himself has a hammer and a bunny messenger. There were wish blocks where people could write their love wishes and leave them for the gods to grant. Also there were two rocks that if you could walk from one to another with your eyes closed, your live wish would come true!!

Then there was Otowa no Taki, a waterfall of pure water (Kiyomizu) with three streams to drink from. Drinking from all three is considered selfish because each one has a meaning. I believe the ones that I picked were good health and long life? They weren’t marked. You had to know what it was already. I’ll post this as a separate video because I can only post one at a time!

Kiyomizu-dera was a fun sight to see, especially in the fall!

Kiyomizu-dera!

Kiyomizu-dera is a famous temple in Kyoto. Apparently is is older than the city itself!! I had a wonderful time looking at the fall foliage and experiencing the temple itself!

The main famous part of the temple was under construction, so I’ll have to go back and see it when it’s not covered!

Kiyomizu-dera was a fun sight to see, especially in the fall!

The doctor is in!

So it’s been a little bit since I’ve gotten sick/ hurt. So of course the universe had to throw me a curveball. Out of nowhere my foot/ankle started to KILL me. I was limping around and i had to take te elevator at school because it hurt too much to go up and down stairs. Luckily I have a wonderful boyfriend who was willing to bring me to the correct clinic and translate for me!

So in Japan, you don’t go to the ER or urgent care when something happens. Usually you go to a clinic that corresponds with what’s happening. So there was a clinic for bone/muscle/joint issues a block away from my dorm. We went there right when it opened so we didn’t have to wait a long time. I had an initial consultation, 2 x-rays, a diagnosis, and a prescription. All of this happened in the span of 30-45 minutes.

Luckily, nothing is broken!! Just a little Inflammation!

The visit to the clinic (including 2 x-rays) only cost me about $20! That’s because Everyone living in Japan for 3 months or more has to register for the Japanese national health insurance!! My medicine wasn’t covered... but that was only 3 dollars so who cares!

I have to say, seeing a doctor here was much less stressful than in the United States.

So movie theatres in Japan are pretty sweet! In more ways than one... THE SELL CARAMEL CORN! The popcorn in my picture is half movie theatre butter and half caramel corn! おいしかった! The popcorn was only 500¥ (~$5)!!! For a large popcorn with two flavors!!

The ticket was around the same as America. The student price is 1500¥ (~$15). It’s reserved seating and the seats are SO comfy! And on the sides there are couple seats that have no arm rest between them!

There are Japanese films as well as American ones! The American ones often have the choice between subtitles and dubbing. When there isn’t a choice it’s English with japanese subs. I think the subtitle font matches the feel of the movie? The subtitles for Christopher Robin looked like Japanese Comic Sans!

American movie theatre need to take notes!!

My boyfriend took me yesterday to see some of the many temples/shrines in Kyoto! First we went to Kinkaku-ji, which means the Golden Temple! (Pics 1-3) Not only does the outside look gold, but the top two floors of the temple’s interior are apparently covered in gold leaf!! There were also several ways to recieve luck and blessings. One way was to toss a coin into a little metal bowl. If you make it in you get good luck! (Pic 4). I made it on the third try!! You can also get a standard fortune... Which I did! (Pic 5) It said that I’ll have good luck!

After the golden temple we stopped for ice cream and we got this really cool ice cream that comes in a pouch! (Pic 6) You have to knead the package to melt/soften the ice cream!

Then we wandered around the area and visited several shrines. The last one is a shrine that’s famous for students. You go Kitano Tenmangu and pray to pass your entrance exams. (Pics 7 and 8) I have to go back before my next placement test!

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