sashiburi!! (long time no see)

Wow.

Sorry!
It:s been far too long since I've written so I just wanted to drop a line telling you all that I'm alive a well!

Today is the Grand Cross full moon meaning that 4 planets will allign with the full moon. The december full moon is always the biggest and longest because of the position of the earth in its orbit but today's full moon is especially big since it is the closest the moon has been in 8 years (and therefore wont be this big again until 2016). Since I was born in June (Cancer) I have always been effected by the moon and its phases so I am really pumped about this full moon. Its a chance for me to recharge my batteries since lately I've been feeling exhausted, and meloncholy. Anyway...its a little off topic but I thought I'd fill you in on curren astrological news :)

Way too much has happened since the last time I updated to possibly try to write down here so I'll give you the highlighted events!

Hanno
My host mom was out of town for the weekend so I decided instead of staying in my house alone all weekend that it would be fun to visit one of my Hippo friends house. She is actually a hippo Fellow (leader) in her free time but her occupation is a childrens book illustrator. She prints etchings and then hand colors them with watercolor. I was really anxious to see her studio and her home but also looking forward to spending time with her. She's a really sweet woman and it always brightens my day when I get to see her. Her house is in Hanno which is a mountain side city that is just out side Tokyo, but it sure doesn:t look like it. Farm stands, old shops, and trees make it seem like a scene from New England. The house was shockingly cold but they had 2 karosine heaters with boiling water resting on top to heat the living room. (also the cats' favorite place) I enjoyed talking with Saki and her family about all kinds of things and had a really great time at their house. I stayed there 2 nights. One of the days I was with Saki we went to a hippo meeting and afterwards we went with a couple moms and their children to a near by shrine. The shrine is famous for its beautiful Maple trees and when we were there the colors were in their peak state. It was a sunny, slightly chilly autumn afternoon spent playing with leaves and playing tag with a bunch of kids in a shrine park. It was a wonderful experience. But the highlight of the day was when I spotted a tangerine tree at the top of the hill. We all enjoyed picking and eating the delicious fruit. Although they were a bit sour, the situation itself was sweet.

I made friends imediately with a little 3 year old boy who wouldn't let me leave his side. We sang songs, jumped around like frogs and picked as many different colored and sized leaves as we could. at the end of the day as we made our way back he looked up at me with big eyes and said "Kinoko...tomarareru?!" I looked at him with a blank look indicating i hadn:t understood what he was asking of me and he said again more slowly "to-ma-ra-re-ru??" And although i had no idea what he was asking i decided to just reply "tabun" (maybe). This response seemed to please him as he whirled around and shouted out to his mother (who was about 30 feet behind us) "Okaaasaaaan! Kinoko wa 「tomarareru wa tabun｣ te yuuuuuuu!!!" (Mom! Kinoko chan said maybe! (tomarareru)) He did a little dance and tugged on my arm before setting off sprinting..he was oviously very excited. So i let him run ahead with his sister and i turned around to ask his mom what exactly i had said maybe to. Tomareru means like to stay over or in my case, homestay. I was touched but honestly iwas far too tired to stay the night. However, the next day saki and I visited their house and played cards with them. The whole weekend was extremely heart warming and wonderful.

Next highlight
Kyoto/ Osaka

It was the second time going to Kyoto so I was excited to go back. When I arrived on the shinkansen (bullet train) platform I was greeted by a Hippo Fellow (Nick name: Leafy) who took me sight seeing. She asked me where I would like to go and I didn't hesitate for a second when I replied "Fushimi Inari" It's my favorite place in Japan and was really hoping I could go. So we made our way to Japans biggest shinto shrine. Last time I went was in the summer so when I arrived this time in late november it looked completely different. All the trees had changed color to match the towering orange Tori Gates. After climing a portion of the Tori covered mountain path, we made our way to a more modert shrine of electricity and transportation, Kyoto station. The architecture is amazing. We took a walk on the sky walk and had a great view of kyoto city.

I met with my host family soon after and we made our way back to their house. My host family was my host dad, mom, and two sisters (and one brother who has already moved out) One of the sisters is hoping to go to the United States next year for our year long program so i ended up interviewing her the next day (she was one luck girl, huh?) I enjoyed my time at their house talking and sharing travel experiences and interests. My host sister and I watched Pirates of the Caribean and Nightmare Before Christmas together on the Tokyo Disney channel (in English!!yay!) which was really fun. We both made comments on Jonny Depp of course ;)

THe next day in Osaka I had a few english interviews but mostly I enjoyed using my Osaka accent with the other hippo staff. That night i headed back to Tokyo pretty late.

Next Highlight
NAGOYA!
......
But i am actually kind of busy today so i:ll leave the best highlight for next time since it requires a lot of writing.

But i will tell you another little anicdote from today!
As I was leaving work and was on the train headed for home, I decided to stop in Harajuku. After all...a full moon on a friday night i thought Harajuku would be an interesting place to see. But as I was walking down the famous street bustling with anxious shoppers and shop keepers I remembered the last time i was in harajuku. I had stopped at a "hippie" style shop (like Mexicali Blues) and I had a coversation with the girl behind the counter. SHe was really nice to me then and was very impressed by my dreads. she had a few baby dreads that she was working on which made me really happy since not alot of peopel have dreads in japan. Today I decided I'd pop in and see if she was there and I also wanted to ask her about something she had mentioned before (some concert on friday nights in Yoyogi park)

I walked up the stairs to find the same girl smiling and happily saying "irashaimase!" (welcome [to the store]) I broused the racks for a while before finally aproaching her at the counter. She said in english "Have you been here before?" "yes I have" "I remember you!" "i remember you too!" "really? oh yeah! just a minute!" and she ran behind the counter and grabbed something. when she came back around she said "this is for you!" and she presented me with a pinkish orange glass dread bead. "it:s my birthday so I want to do something good for someone" as she said this she pulled out a dread and put it on me. I chuckled out of amazement and said "tanjyobi omedeto!" (happy birthday) and "thank yo usoooo much!" It was such a wondeful suprise. Plus, the bead looked familiar to me since a few weeks I found a glass shop in shibuya and bought a dread bead similar to it but blue. when i showed it to her we compared it and it is definitely from the same artist. we were both delighted by the coincidence. I am glad to have two beads in my hair that represent the color of dawn and dusk and i have them situated on my head in the same way (on either sides of my head) I stood there talking with her for probably 25 minutes. SHe can speak english well because she spent two years in canada so we mixed japanese and english to carry out a wonderful coversation. I explained to her that today was a special full moon and i was looking forward to celebrating by going to yoyogi park to see the concert she had mentioned. She solomnly replied "well the police are really strict now so there is no more party in Yoyogi park but there are other events you could go to" and she started researching for me.but all the places were far from my house and charged. But I did mannage to get the names of a few cafes that she reccomended and I showed her some of my prints (i happened to have them on me because tomorrow i will go to an elementary school to give a talk) All in all it was an amazing experience and I look forward to visiting my new found friend soon.

thats all for today!

love
Jess