Bottles of Mana

I had a pretty crazy week this week! Mostly due to the fact that we had two days off in the middle of the week for a national holiday. So as a result, my sleeping schedule was a little weird but I went out to a lot of places with my friends and host family! 

In the U.S no one wants to hear about anymore snow. Apparently there are inches and inches of it and it just keeps falling no matter what those Americans do. In Japan, it's been quite unusually frequent as well! 13 years and Tokyo has not had so much snow fall! Some people are saying they might as well be in Hokkaido, (which is an exaggeration because Hokkaido is basically Alaska.) The kids here are enjoying the snow thoroughly, which makes my old heart happy. Go, kids. Be free.

Last weekend was the snow storm, but Sunday was sunny with 45 degree weather!! (very weird for me but normal for Tokyo I guess.) The snow quickly turned into puddles that soaked through my shoes ( ` w `)b My host sisters Tomomi and Minori wanted to take me to the local mall to go window shopping together! Tomomi is the 14 year old girl to the left, and Minori is the 10 year old to the right. I love them very much <3 They fight a lot between each other which amuses me most of the time, but the three of us read together, play card games, laugh, and drink tea together! Their hobbies are mostly reading, but Tomomi is really into cooking and baking! I hope to bake something with her while I'm here (*´∀`*)

Tomomi thought I didn't take her photo BUT I DID. She always wears her fashionable heels and little pink pea coat <3 

This is LaLaPort in Kamoi! It's a pretty big mall, and everyone here was getting ready for valentines day!! I managed to get to eat some chocolate samples and ohhoho the chocolate here is out of this world. American needs cheaper chocolate that tastes just as delicious as Godiva.

I wasn't allowed to take photos in the stores :T But believe me when I tell you that I enjoy shopping in Japan's malls much more that I do in American ones. America has all the same brands and what not so there's really no surprise when you go to a mall anywhere. Japan however has a lot of different small business brands of clothes and accessories, so you can always find new deals, and new styles in every store that you go to! Of course, there's always the well known brands here like Hollister (which is apparently a big thing here????) Uniqlo, Forever 21 and H&M.

I manged to get myself a new skirt and a bigger hair clip with a coral colored bow! (Which I wore to school this week haha) 

After a couple of hours of shopping, the three of us got some lunch and dessert! (Or really they got desert and I got lunch because....I didn't get to have lunch earlier... 8). ) 

I laughed because the Italian restaurant was playing Spanish music???? I love Japan.

The desert presentation ugh (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

I love the Italian food here I don't know why. A lot of Japanese restaurants (or other restaurants run by Japanese people) serve their meals with not a lot of oil most of the time. Which is perfect for me because I always get stomach aches in the U.S. if i eat creamy spaghetti or certain soups ((´д｀)) The only thing I miss from the U.S. food wise is pizza. THAT'S IT.

Later that day I got a hair cut!! I told the lady to cut off the dead ends, but I must have had a lot of dead ends because my hair ended up getting cut a little shorter (ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ Which was probably for the better because now my hair feels healthier than ever hahah. 

I don't have any photos from Monday night for God knows what reason, but after class my friends and I went out to drink and have dinner! We got to meet my friend Chris's friends that he usually hangs out with, and we all had a really great time! We ordered good food at a restaurant which I of course ate a lot of 8^). After we ate we decided to go to the local bar around the corner and have a few drinks. I thoroughly enjoy the way the bars here serve their LIT's. IN NICE GLASSES WITH A BALANCE OF ICED TEA AND ALCOHOL. The bars I go to at home usually give us this small ass cup filled to the top with ice so really all I can taste is a watery LIT with not as much alcohol. But here. ohhhoho, I get the whole deal, for the same price!!! I love the drinking experience here much more than I do America's. Either that or I have just been doing the whole drinking scene wrong ever since I've turned 21. To say the least, I missed my train so I ended up sleeping over my friend (who's also doing a home stay)'s house!

This is what we woke up to in the morning.......LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL. Sarah's host mom doesn't have any children, so she devotes a lot of her time in taking care of the house and learning to cook delicious meals. (Not that I don't love my family but damn did Sarah luck out with this mom.) Her name is Chie! Chie apparently watched this American movie on T.V where they were serving french toast. She asked Sarah if she liked french toast and Sarah said yeah but didn't think anything of it. THEN THIS. She came over and sprinkled a light amount of powder sugar to make it perfect. I have never tasted a french toast this good since I was little. I was so grateful for having missed my train that night before.

Later that day my friends and I went with Sarah's host mom to a Bonsai festival. It wasn't really a festival so much as it was a showcasing of million dollar bonsai trees. These trees were really beautiful to look at.....for like 20 minutes. Then the three of us got pretty bored while Sarah's host mom was enthusiastically trying to teach us the world of bonsai's. The entire place was packed with grandpas. I wish I could have taken pictures, but because they were so expensive and precious the guards didn't let me 8|  So I have the images of bonsai's locked away in a special part of my brain.

Chie took us to a really nice Chinese restaurant after the festival! I wasn't sure how it was going to taste because the Chinese food that I'm used to is wrapped up in a take out box with some shitty chopsticks and a fortune cookie.

I WAS WRONG TO DOUBT THIS WAS LIKE HEAVEN IN YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Delicious, spicy heaven in your mouth. I don't even know what this dish is called to be perfectly honest, all I know is that it's a noodle dish with a spicy cashew broth with bits of minced pork on top. The cashews brought the dish a flavor that I thought only could ever fit this dish. I was so amazed by the flavor and the quality presentation ugh. I should be a food critique.  

The Jasmine tea here was so, so smooth. This was real Chinese Jasmine tea, not the kind that just comes in a little baggie that you make on your own. It felt almost creamy in a sense, but that's really how smooth and delicate this tea was. I want to look up how I can obtain this type of tea. I want to own a tea shop when I'm older (y w y) SECRET DREAMS!!!!!

LOOK AT THIS PUDDING THERE'S A FUCKIN FLOWER PETAL AND MINT LEAF?!?!?!?!? This was a plum seed pudding, which tastes amazingly similar to almond pudding! I loved eating at this restaurant, I hope to eat at more delicious places like this again soon! 

This week I was able to take advantage of the school's printers and A3 paper to print out some of my own stuff! I like seeing the drawings I dreamed to make into posters come to life (*´・ｖ・)

I also got to go to Sekaido, which is one of the biggest art supply stores in Shinjiku!!! I want to go back there to buy some coloring markers and maybe some more printing paper for later computer imaging projects in class! The sketchbook is a really neat design I think so I got it :) I left all my artsupplies at home so having some art stuff like this in my hands made me really happy ^u^. The tea stuff is from the day I went to the mall!!! :D 

My friend Eimi took us to this PIZZA RAMEN PLACEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! It's not actually pizza ramen, BUT IT MIGHT AS WELL BE!! It's made with tomato based broth, chicken, and CHEESEEEEE. I told Eimi on Friday night I was craving pizza, but I was also craving ramen and she just said "perfect. I know just the place." I love Japan. Look at this. Who thinks of this shit. GENIUS. I can't wait to go back because I still constantly dream of pizza.

That was my week! This weekend I stayed at home because we were blown away by another snow storm and I refused to go outside 8) I loafed around and napped, and played games with Ed and THIS:

SOCIAL LIFE!!!! It's exactly like Sims social on facebook but the anime/Japanese version???? Whatever, I'm obsessed and so are my friends. Look at me, I'm even sleeping in my games. My house has changed quite a bit from this picture though. I am now level 6 and no one is going to stop me continue this legend. 

See you next week! 

Love,

Mana<3

I usually am awake to say good morning to friends on the other side of the world :) Deanna says the cloud is actually me. 

I'm listening to Ed's mix while I write this, (((you can download it here!! http://www13.zippyshare.com/v/57082005/file.html  with this cover you can use as well :) ))

This last week I finally got my energy back from taking a few days off from traveling via Tokyo's trains. I slept a lot and was able to save up some money so that I could have fun this week! This seems to be my new pattern- taking days off before continuing the adventure.

To say they least, I feel as though I have finally adjusted to being here. After a month of figuring out my purpose here and realizing various things about my life prior to Japan, I can happily say that I now feel the most like my self  that I have felt in (what feels like) a very long time. It's a very liberating feeling to be honest. I suppose being on your own like this can do that to you. I'm very grateful! 

On to week 5! 

I have a friend who lives here actually, her name is Eriko! We met when I was a freshman in college, and she is going to graduate from Tamagawa University in April! Eriko is a part of a Taiko Japanese Drumming group and Dance group! Together Eriko and her group goes to the U.S once a year to perform for when the cherry blossoms bloom! That's when I got the chance to meet her and we've kept in touch ever since

（*´▽｀*） I am happy my language skills improved enough were we can actually hang out and have fun conversations (even if my Japanese is broken) (^^;)

Eri took me to Sakuragicho! Its a place a few stops away from my host-family's house in Yokohama. When it's warmer people go for the ferris wheel and small amusement park for kids. Sakuragicho also has lots of good food and some small shops! 

we got to eat shabushabu!!! It was my first time trying it and holy shit it was absolutely delicious!!!!!!!!!

The place was all you can eat so you could put in noodles or any kind of vegetable you wanted (｡◝‿◜｡)

we ate like 4 boxes of meat ((I wanted 6)))

                         

 The water boils SUPER HOT so the meat cooks really fast! She laughed when I looked surprised that the meat cooked so quickly.

ICE CREAM. The ice cream here was really sweet and delicious! Also Eri taught me that people put cornflakes in their ice cream ?!?!?!?!?! GENIUS. I thoroughly enjoyed this and I will continue to do this when I have the chance in the states ohohoho~

These are the kind of shops I was talking about :) Very cute and full of things you don't normally find at the mall or normal shops! We were just window shopping for the sake of my wallet though. I happily held all the things I wish I could have bought, but alas, my wallet needed a break from the trigger happy tourist ((me))

When it got dark, the whole place was lit up with really pretty illuminations!!! Due to the fact that it was so cold, Eri and I appreciated for a few seconds and then ran to starbucks. I will make sure to come back on a warmer day ( ` w ` )/ 

They drew a bear for my chai latte cries so cute (●｀･(ｴ)･´●)

SPEAKING OF BEARS. As a "welcome to Japan" gift, Eri gave bought me this Rilakkuma mug at a store we passed that was full of Rilakkuma ( ; 0 ; ) <3 !!!! We both love Rilakkuma. I drink my tea with this everyday now! My host family each has their own cups so I use the ones that they have put away, but I enjoy having my own mug like this <3 I had a lot of fun with Eri that day!!! I can't wait till her and the rest of her group finishes job searching (which is a serious thing here) next month! 

On Friday my friends and I went out to our favorite: Kaiten Sushi!!! I love coming to these places, mostly because it's cheap and I really am amazed by how cheap but delicious the sushi is here.

Then of course, we all went out for drinks! The table next to us was drunk and insisted on taking a picture of us we appreciated their happy drunk vibes. 

We ended the night with karaoke!!! This was my first time going to a karaoke place so it was quite interesting. They had new songs as well as really old ones. It's too bad I can't read Japanese that fast or even remember lyrics for American songs :^) That night was our first all-nighter drinking in the city! It was a lot easier than we thought it would be, but at the same time I will not do this ever again. I will pay for a fricken taxi if it means I can sleep under my futon you can't stop me.

The next day (after I woke up from sleeping a lot) EVERYTHING WAS COVERED IN SNOW. This was Tokyo's first big ass snow storm~!! They don't really get this much snow from what everyone has told me. Of course, coming from the east coast this is pretty normal in the states :T None the less, the snow here was very pretty :) I say "was" because it really doesn't last long at all here. The next day it was 50 degrees or so and all the snow that had piled up was disappearing at rapid speed. SO MUCH FOR SNOW DAYS.

I have photos from what has been going on this week, but I'll save that for a separate post (ﾉ´▽｀)ﾉ♪

I am happy that I have finally settled and have made some new friends at school to hang out with my friends from Bryn Mawr ヽ(^o^) I can't wait for it to finally get warmer over here in march. I'm tired of this cold BRING ON THE SUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Mana<3