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