While my original plan was to solely use this journal as a travelogue during my time in Japan, I have decided to revive it once more and use it as a way to post my art online. I'm hoping to have my own website sometime over the next few months (once things are more stable), but I think LJ should work well as a temporary solution. Let's see if this journal will help me to keep a steady pace with making art, I'm planning to update it as I make new pieces and will probably post some old ones as well.

I can't believe I only have one more week left! I'm feeling much better than I was last time I posted, everything has settled down a bit more. I'm also happy to say that things with Takahiro are better now, we've talked more about the situation and I know I'm really going to miss him when I get back. Now I have to deal with the fact that I'm leaving... being in the United States will be so weird, though there are certainly people and things that I miss and can't wait to get back to!

I have exams next week, and, except for tomorrow's translation final, I think I should be fine. There are so many things that have been happening, though I really don't know where to start. I guess I'll have to save these for whenever they come up in actual conversations instead of writing them down here. However, I will say that today my host family took me to a park about half an hour from here to see a replica of Satsuki and Mei's house from "My Neighbor Totoro"! It was so much fun, they let you go in the house and actually explore the house by  doing stuff like opening doors and cupboards and trying out the kitchen pump. The house was identical to how it was in the movie, all it needed were the little dustballs and the tiny white Totoro running about. They didn't allow people to take pictures inside the house, but outside was fine:


In front of the house


Close up picture


Satsuki and Mei's father's study


They had objects scattered everywhere so it looks as if the place were being lived in.


The kitchen area (behind this is the room with the bath tub)


The famous bus stop


Well, I better keep studying for my exam, good luck to everyone who is also dealing with finals right now! 

I've tried to write this journal entry a couple of times now but haven't quite been able to, so here goes:

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I am going to go insane! I keep on waking up during the middle of the night, something which I would always do a kid but have barely done these past couple of years. I am so absolutely exhausted all the time, I really haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in days. Exams are coming up, which are never fun. Also, who knew I could become so homesick during Christmas! I thought it was  one of those things that only happened in really sappy movies, but the illuminations and decorations around the city are really making me sad and nostalgic. I know I'll be sad to leave Japan, but at the moment I really can't wait to be back home! Then there are boy problems, to top off my frustration. I guess you could say I'm going out with Takahiro now. However, I realized that I really don't want to be in a relationship at the moment, especially one which doesn't have much of a future and he thinks about more seriously than I do... Loneliness is really starting to settle in in a way that I didn't expect and I feel as frustrated as I did last semester, even though the reasons  may be different.

I was able to pick up Memoirs of a Geisha from the little library in the international student's locker room so I've basically been blocking out things by immersing myself into the book. Not a good solution, I know, but it helps. I need to go out on walks more... Yesterday I walked around the art and science museum's park with Takahiro and that was wonderful. But I need to go by myself to just think about things. At least I can be thankful for my family and friends here and overseas who've kept me going. Thank you, I don't know what I would do without all of you...

Today's been a bit of an off-kilter day. Not only did it just become freakishly cold, catching me unawares with just a regular sweater on, but the afternoon had a couple of surprises in store. First of all, I was almost late to writing class because of a flight attendant figurine. Last week, Alex (my friend and fellow classmate) and I found that some of the green tea bottles had small flight attendant figurines attached to them. So as we were getting a snack at the before class today we saw them again and he decided to get a friend for "flight attendant Susan" (as he decided to name the one he got last week). They have about 10 of these figurines, all depicting different flight attendants over the years and he wanted the 2005 one. We looked through all the bottles, which took more time than we had thought, but didn't end up finding her. After class I went with him and his girlfriend, Yuriko, to Maruzen (a bookstore in Sakae). This is the second time second time been there this week. I'm frustrated because I'm out of books to read and reading Manga is just not the same. The problem is that the books in English are very expensive here, I refuse to pay twelve dollars for a paperback. If I become desperate enough, however...

I was supposed to meet some friends in Osu at 3 but got a call that they would be late so I decided to walk around for a little bit, eventually ending up Oasis 21. There's a pretty park by the building with the water which they call "the space ship", where I sat down to write a bit. At precisely 3 pm I was confused to hear chimes and what I can only describe as space movie sounds all around me and realized that this was their way to mimic the time telling of church bells. It was really bizarre, but at least I was able to record it. Afterwards I decided to go to the top of Oasis 21 to sketch, and even though I was pretty happy with the result I have decided that I need to learn how to effectively draw water. I semi tortured myself in the cold to finish that sketch, but I consoled myself by watching the sun set as I ate some dango while I was up there =) Once Gary finally called my nose was red and my fingers were almost numb, but I met up with them and walked over to my hanga sensei's drawing exhibition. After looking at the pictures we were surprised but happy when the gallery lady served us tea (I love green tea!). On our way back to the station they showed me the infamous McDonalds where they hang out to drink and so I now know, as . Even though they went to go eat out I decided to go back home, and just as I was leaving I heard Gary say "Jia matta Matallana", to which everyone (including myself) laughed. Jia matta means "see you later" and it's just amusing to see the wordplay with my last name. Once I got back home I realized that I had forgotten my keys and my host mom was at the dentist with my host brothers, so I ended up walking to the nearby bookstore to wait for her to come back home. I knew this would end up happening someday, my trip here wouldn't be complete without me forgetting my keys at least once (I also left my train pass at home once, which I was sure would be bound to happen as well). My host mom picked me up at the store once the appointment was over, and, on the bright side, she bought sushi and made tempura for dinner =) Also, I got a heater for my room today, hooray for warmth!

Tomorrow I'm going to the Boston Art Museum in Kanayama with Takahiro. He's one of the very  few male Japanese friends that I have and he likes to practice Spanish with me and he helps me out with Japanese. Since he knows that I like art  he invited me to go with him to the Perry exhibition that he's been interested in going to see.

As a final note- I saw a dancing Santa Claus outside a store today (they've had Christmas decorations up since November 1st) with this amusing name tag:





And here are the lobsters!:

Hooray for seeing old friends in new places! I'm so happy I was able to meet up with Isa last Saturday! It was fun getting semi-lost in Kyoto and talking about all of our overseas adventures. Now I feel re-vitalized and I know I can make it through the next five weeks! Good luck with the next couple of days Isa, I know you can make it as well!

Despite having water inside my ears from the bath I just took and dropping my Kanji flashcards while on the train this morning (which followed in my sprawling on to the floor as well), things are looking up! That is if I don't drown in social engagements by sunday... I have something going on for almost every day this week, including three separate visits to the art museum with three different people (x_x) Other than that, I have a shamisen concert on friday with IES, plans to watch a movie thursday night, I might be going to all night karaoke on saturday, and to a Flamenco show on sunday. Despite how great all of these sound I feel like it's too much to pack into 5 days!

On another note, I feel like some people are becoming a bit too fond of me, which, as weird as it sounds, worries me a bit... I feel like I'll end up letting them down somehow (starting with the fact that I'm leaving so soon) and it's getting to the point where I find they're being a bit possessive of me, which is something I have problems with.

But, to change the topic, I'll finish with an anecdote: last week (wednesday, I believe) I was doing homework in my room when my youngest host brother, the one who never talks to me, came running in, yelled something excitedly, and ran away laughing. I was very confused so I followed him to the living room where I found a box on the floor. And inside the box were probably the last things in the world that I could have imagined. Lobsters! 8 of them! and 7 of them were still alive! They came in the mail (?) as a present from one of my host father's friends to the family. My host brothers were placing them in the floor to get a better look at them, which would result in the lobsters flopping around and everyone freaking out. Then they brought Nana in to see how she would react. She started to poke her nose curiously in the beginning but ended up hiding behind a chair. However, the best part is when they took the dead lobster away and my host dad ended up coming back with a plate of sashimi in his hand 10 minutes later. He offered it to us, and despite my initial shock, I ended up taking a piece, which ended up being delicious. I think most of the lobsters are dead by now (they decided not to boil them alive), but good news is that 5 of the 6 goldfish that my friends and I won at the Inuyama Matsuri about a month ago are still alive! Success!!!

I'm sorry that I've been so neglectful with this thing, it's just that I've been busy as hell lately and I haven't even been able to stop to breathe during the weekends because of all the traveling.

But, hey, I get to go to Kyoto again tomorrow to meet up with Mariana! There are a lot of things I didn't get to see in Kyoto last weekend and the trees look absolutely beautiful at the moment, so hooray! The only annoying thing is that I have to leave the house tomorrow before 6 am in order to catch my train(-_-;) But it will totally be worth it.

Last weekend we were able to to go the Kiyomizudera and Arashiyama. Kiyomizudera is an enormous Buddhist temple on the side of a hill in Eastern Kyoto. The temple is pretty well known has some pretty interesting sights, such as "suicide ledge", the "love stones", the heavy lifting things, and Otowa no taki. The suicide ledge is a balcony from where people have been reputed to throw themselves because of unrequited love. Apparently, there's been an 80% survival rate, and if you do end up alive then your wish for love will come true. Going along with this theme, the love stones are two medium sized rocks placed about 18 meters apart and if you're able to walk from one to the other with your eyes closed then you'll find love. If you don't then things will go bad for you in that department, and if people help you then that means you'll need other people to help you find love. It was really funny to see many of us trying to do this with a crowd of people looking and cheering us on. I'm happy to say that everyone was able to make it, including myself (^-^) What I mean to say by "the heavy lifting things" is that there are a couple of really heavy objects that they have and you're welcome to try to lift them up. For women there are some metal shoes and for men it's a gigantic metal staff. The shoes were a bit heavy but possible to lift, but the staff was too much for most of the guys. I don't remember what they were supposed to mean, though... And finally, last but not least, is the Otowa no taki, a waterfall/fountain composed of three streams of water that fall off the side of the roof of the small building where you get the water from. It's supposed to have healing properties, but it's mostly because it supposedly grants wishes. Most people think that the three streams signify wisdom, health, and love, but in the front of the fountain it said that this is just made up and you can make whatever wish you want when you drink from the water.

That night we were able to see a Geiko and Maiko (Geisha and her apprentice) performance at our ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel). While we ate dinner they danced as a shamisen player played music, then we took pictures with them, and then we were able to speak to them and ask them questions. It was really surprising to find out that the Maiko was only 15 years old and that the training lasts for so long! We weren't allowed to know the Geiko's age (though I'd say she looked around 20 something) and it was interesting to see the different kimonos that they were wearing. The Geiko wore a very plain but beautiful kimono while the Maiko's was very colorful, had a gigantic obi (what you tie around the waist), and her hair was full of ornaments. She presents a much "cuter" and childish image than the Geiko. Sadly, my side of the room wasn't able to talk to the Geiko, but it was interesting to hear my friend's description of her as being "the embodiment of a doe". Aside from the Maiko, we were able to speak to the shamisen player as well. She was much more carefree than the Maiko and was very baffled by a group of us being vegetarian.

On Sunday we went to Arashiyama, a small town by a river and some mountains. Theres a gigantic bamboo grove that we walked through and they were having a festival by the river when we went there. There were eople in boats who were dressed in lavish costumes and played music. This was an especially eerie sound to hear as we were hiking up the side of the mountain (in the end there was a spectacular view of the valley and river with all the different colored trees!) We were also able to ride on a Rikisha, which is always a fun thing. It was funny when our guide/driver told us that he'd rather speak to us in English rather than Japanese to us because it felt really weird for him otherwise.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention that we went to Karaoke with our program leader, Satoshi san. By the end of the night we were all standing up and dancing as we sang Japanese songs that I had never heard of in my life but are now stuck in my head. I never knew I would become so fond of a Neon Genesis Evangelion song (one of those that everyone apparently knows except for me)and people love to sing at Karaoke.

As for pictures... I'm sad to say my camera broke, but at least I have my amazing phone! I'm really happy now that I ended up buying the one with the good camera rather than the one with the TV, since I was able to take pictures of my trip to Osaka and Kyoto with it. The bad thing, however, is that it takes forever to load pictures onto the computer, which is why I haven't been able to post any of them yet. But, never fear, it shall be done! (though when that will be, I can't really say...)

I'm going to Kyoto with IES tomorrow and I really hope the leaves have changed color by now. I shouldn't be up this late since I have to leave early tomorrow, but this is another one of those nights when I'm not letting myself go to sleep. I have A Whole New World stuck in my head from the Aladdin play practice, and I still don't know what the expression, "every moment red letter means"... Sorry this isn't much of an update, more of a way to kill time and try to make myself sleepy. Hope everyone's doing well, I miss you all.

Today I meant to go out with some people to celebrate the outcome of the election after class, but instead ended up going to Osu with a friend in search of a pizza parlor. I am very happy that Obama won, but at that moment I didn't feel like going to a bar. I never thought I'd miss pizza as much as I do... but I digress. To our disappointment the Italian restaurant she knew about was closed , as were most of the shops in the area. Strangely enough, most places said that Wednesdays were days of rest and they were closed for most (if not all) of the day. Who knew? Anyways, we ended up eating fish hot dogs (don't ask...I was amused by these and decided to get one) and hash brown things outside a small food stand and got into a very interesting conversation about life in general that lasted for about two hours.

On another note: last week Nanzan gave us a five day break, which was just what I needed at the moment. I ended up going with two friends from IES, Kaitlyn and Nell, to Osaka, Himeji, Kobe, and Nara. We got back Monday night with aching feet and eyes that could barely remain open, but the trip was completely worth it. I've been meaning to write about it and put up pictures, but I've been too busy catching up with homework and my cellphone is being difficult with uploading pictures onto my computer. Just some short snippets of the trip: we rode on one of the highest ferris wheels in the world (which announced the weather by colors), saw a replica of the Danish statue of the little mermaid in Osaka bay at sunset, walked amongst the illuminations of whale sharks and manta rays in front of the aquarium, ate tacoyaki and okonomiyaki (not to mention Turkish ice cream)in vibrant Dotonbori, rode bikes to Himeji castle, saw Japanese girls dressed in clothes from the Netherlands at the "Holland House" in Kobe, took pictures of a life-sized (and functioning) pink pirate ship that blew bubbles and played Disney songs, went inside the largest wooden building in the world where we saw kids and a few brave adults crawling through a hole in a beam which is as big as one of the bronze Buddha's nostrils and means that they can reach the path to enlightenment, and managed to avoid being chased by deer.

If I thought spanglish was effed-up, I dont want to begin to describe what I just spoke in...

On my way to the student center I met up with a Japanese friend whose major is French who was sitting next to her friend whose major is Spanish. I decided to hang out with them for a while and we just had one of the most interesting/confusing conversations that I have had in my life. We spoke in Japanese in the beginning, but began to insert both Spanish and French phrases into our conversation, and when we didnt understand each other then we would use English. This continued to the point where I couldnt think straight in one language and would begin to form sentences with words in different languages without realizing it. I felt very stupid as I had to wait about 5 seconds to think before I spoke so that my sentences would actually make sense. At least I know I can still speak and understand French decently... that is if Im only planning to have a conversation in French and in no other language.

Now my brains about to explode so Im just going to sit down and finish a drawing that Im planning to make a print of.

This Friday was one of the dorm's Halloween parties. I didn't end class until 5:30 so after that I met up with my friend Akiko so we could both get ready in one of the school bathrooms for the party. I wore (most of) the dress that I bought for Suzy in Harajuku (minus the apron) and Akiko wore a queen of hearts costume that she had gotten from a friend while she was in the U.S. It was a little weird walking down the street dressed up like this, but we got to the dorm without any incidents and met up with all of our friends there. The dorm was crazy crowded, I was a nice surprise to see that almost all of my Japanese and International friends where there. They had a room in the back, which usually serves as the dorm's common room, which was completely dark and had all the drinks and music. I mostly avoided that area because it was way too crowded and hot for my liking, though I was happy that I finally got the chance to dance again! To my amusement, many people came up to me, some who were my friends others who I had never seen in my life, and just said "Kawaii!!!". It made me feel a bit self-conscious but I definitely took it as a compliment. Some memorable costumes: Donkey Kong, a Japanese Elvis Presley, the Japanese Flag, Jack Sparrow (my Colombian friend), and Elmo. I'm sad to say that my camera broke last week and my phone's batteries were dying so I wasn't able to take many pictures.  Later on I will post up one of my friend's pics (with her permission),  so you can see (except for you Suzy, unless you want to spoil your Christmas present).

Yesterday we went to the Inuyama Matsuri, or festival. They had gigantic wooden floats displayed in front of the Otera and castle, which the festival mostly centered around. To give you an example of how amazing these floats were, a single wheel weighs about 3 tons and can cost about a million yen. At first the men rolled them into the town square (we sadly missed this part, but were at least able to see them taking them back, but that's later). Then they had two (shinto?) priests do a blessing and the main people of the town gave a welcoming address. After this the puppet shows began on the float's third story. There was flute and drum playing in the background as you saw the puppets moving around, each one with it's special function, and transforming into different things. I was very impressed by them, but we only stayed to watch about 5 of these, since the entire performance was about 3 hours long and we were hungry. I was with my friends Nell, Celeste, and Kendahl. For the matsuri Celeste decided to wear a yukata she had bought and Nell wore her host mother's kimono (she had wanted to wear her own yukata, but her host mom didn't let her since she said yukatas were only for the summer and made her wear the kimono instead). Nell's outfit included some shoes that were too stiff and small for her feet, which were basically torture throughout the day, but she was able to stick it out. The food stands were very interesting, amongst them were gigantic bags of cotton candy, "tornado potatoes", roasted squid, "american dogs", roasted squid, and crepes with Japanese pudding on the inside.

As we walked around, many people came up to Celeste and Nell and asked them if they were Japanese (one is Mexican the other Chinese) and many guys wanted to take pictures with them. There was this one old man specifically who we ran into about 4 times, tried to keep talking to Nell, and invited us to drink coffee with him. We were kind of creeped out so we walked in the opposite direction that he was headed and tried to avoid him. Some people came up to ask them directly if they could take a picture, others just stood in the distance and tried to take pictures without beeing seen (though unsuccessfully). Later on, though, it was our turn to ask some girls if we could take a picture of them. As we walked through the Otera we saw a group of about 4 teenage girls who in Japan would be called "gyaru". We were a bit intimidated to go up to them, but Kendahl ended up being the brave one as she complimented them on their looks and asked if we could take a picture of them. They were all excited and started to fix their hair and clothes as they posed for a picture. Then we heard some shouting behind us and saw these three guys running up the steps so that they could be in the picture as well. Once we thanked them and were about to leave we heard one of the guys yell "wait, wait, wait!" We turned around and he came right up to us and took out a bottle of lotion. "This is Japanese hand cream," he said, and put some in his hands. Everyone was silent, one of those wtf just happened? moments, and he quickly said sorry. As we turned around to leave, again we heard him yell, "wait, wait, wait!" and turned around once more. This time he fished out a mint from his pocket and said "this is japanese (whatever the word for a mint in japanese is)" and put it in his mouth. Then he took it out and gave it to his friend, who took it out of his mouth and put it in his other friends mouth, who took it out and offered it to Celeste. She refused and they all started to laugh, but again said sorry and we were finally able to walk away. These guys were some of the ones who had helped to push the gigantic floats into town ,and we weren't all that surprised by their behavior given that most of them were completely drunk.

Once the afternoon started to settle in, the people had started to decorate the floats with paper lanterns. We watched them put them up for a little while, but since we still had about an hour until the lighting ceremony, we walked amongst more of the stalls. I wanted to buy something for my host family and was delighted when I found a gold fish catching booth. I didn't want to buy them candy, since that's all I get them whenever I go on trips, and I know that my host brothers love little animals (I also asked my host mom beforehand and she said it would be ok if I go them). What you basically do is you have a tank full of gold fish, they give you a small paper net with which you have to try to catch as many fish as possible, and you get to take them home. Celeste and Nell wanted to try it as well, and I'm proud to say that, out the the three, I was the only one who was able to catch a fish =) The lady was nice enough to give each of us two, though, in the end, they gave them to me to take home to my host brothers (they ended up loving the fish and now have them in a tank in the living room). Each of us with our bag of goldfish in hand, we walked back to the main square and watched them light the lanterns. The floats looked absolutely beautiful once they were all lit up! The men who pulled the floats carried children with lights attached to their backs on their shoulders and placed them on the first floor of the floats. Then, one by one, they began to haul the massive floats out. It was especially interested to see them turning the floats around, since the lanterns swayed like crazy and some actually fell and caught on fire (though there were people with fire hydrants and extra candles & lanterns to the rescue). Despite the cold and some weird encounters, it was a very satisfactory experience.

As a side note, I just finished the 6th Dark Tower book today and am moving on to Small Gods. It's a bit creepy how one book transitioned to another: The Time Traveler's Wife and Song of Susannah largely dealt with having a baby and then Song of Susannah is connected to Small Gods by the turtle that holds the world in it's back. Just some coincidences that I was very amused with.

Here's some pictures of the matsuri:


The Matsuri Floats.


One of the float's puppets.


The not quite sober guys who are in charge of moving the floats.


From left to right: Kendahl, Celeste, and Nell.


Amongst the interesting food was the multi colored chocolate banana stand.


The gyaru girls and "wait, wait, wait!" guys.


Putting up the lanterns.


My goldfish =)


The lit up floats.


Detail.