halfie life + bit of chinese

 

--hanging out with my dad at his school while he teaches japanese classes all day.

--going to an asian store but not realizing it was the day before chinese new year. the place was PACKED.

--picking up my japanese passport! the lady at the consulate had to verify it was me because "i looked nothing like my picture"

--my dad coming home the other night with pizza and sushi for dinner. nothing like a little 'merica and nippon.

--thanks to our chinese exchange student, eating a feast for chinese new year! i'm always up for celebrating another holiday with food ;)

--digging through my mom's desk and finding 25 passports. you would think we've been traveling our entire lives. ha.

--also finding in my mom's desk my little japanese coin purse that i stashed away before leaving for college, and then finding 10,000 yen in it (the equivalent to about a $100)! thanks for making my day coin purse!

--going to costco and buying a giant box of tampax because most stores in japan don't sell them.

--this new habit i have of putting hot sauce of errryyyythang. pizza, chicken nuggets, broccoli, rice...you get the idea.

i like my halfie life. 

^^the family + alex. 

Nippon::Part Four::Bits & Pieces



here are a few more pictures of our trip to japan. just one more japan post until i'm done, promise!

 

^^a castle we visited. not an original but a pretty darn close replica.

^^the most beautiful day at the ocean!

^^we like to eat. a lot.

^^another shrine.



^^food. more glorious food.

^^a giant mall that i only had 45 min to explore.

^^of all the stores from america to have, this one?

^^the fam bam. my dad's face kills me haha.

 

^^my cousin's three year old girl. i wanted to put her in my suitcase and take her home with me! 

^^visiting family graves.  

 

 

^^the house my grandfather grew up in.



Nippon::Part Two::Miyajima

apparently my goal of going on an eight mile bike ride today was too ambitious since i never changed out of my sweats or showered. woops.

anyways, while we were in japan, we took a day trip to miyajima, the shinto shrine. you wouldn't think going to a shrine would be exciting, but it was so much fun! after the ferry reached the island, we had to walk a ways to reach the red torii (gate). it turned out that the pathway was lined with little shops and food stands. i bought the cutest ceramic owls that are now perched on my window sill :) it makes me a little sad that they're going to sit in storage for a long time but oh well. we also saw the world's largest rice scooper, crazy number of deer that live on the island, and ate sweet potato ice cream.

Nippon :: Part One :: Picking Hassaku



this year we flew separately because of different schedules, money, etc. so i arrived second and for the first time, arrived in the morning. with the change in time zones, it was bizarre traveling for 23 hours (never again do i want a four segment trip!!) and then having another full day. i wasn't as tired as i thought i'd be so helping pick the hassaku was no problem.

in a way, this is what makes me feel most connected to my dad. he helped in the garden and fields after school when he was a kid and during the summers in college. his childhood was obviously a lot different than mine and much harder, but this gives me an idea of what part of his growing up was like. plus it makes me happy that we made the job go faster for my grandparents :)

 

^^pretty much a natural, amiright? (i like the farm stuff only when it's once in a while)

 ^^twinners. uncle yoshiki is older by 20 minutes though ;)

 

 ^^my mama looking good.

 

 ^^we pick them in december but they aren't ripe until april sooo...i've never eaten them. they ripen in the shed.

 

 ^^my 85 year old Ojiisan who still climbs trees. other than my dad, he's the hardest worker i know.

 

 ^^we actually really enjoy this. they did a lot of it before we got there but we were happy to pick the rest for them.