Japan Update!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait between posts! I have been very busy here! Two weekends ago we took a class trip to Todaji in Nara. Todaji is the largest wooden building in the world, and very famous throughout Japan! I'll let this sign explain to you a little more about it!


Me in front of Todaiji. It is huge!

Large Buddha statue inside of Todaji. Also huge.

Nara is also very famous for something else... its deer! These little guys are everywhere, and they are hungry! Tourists can buy snacks to feed them, but at the risk of being mobbed! My coat and scarf both got munched on, and people lost tickets, maps, bags, etc to the deer! They were very cute and fun to pet though.

Classmate Ethan being mobbed by hungry deer!


This past weekend I was supposed to do a weekend homestay with a family in Shiga. Unfortunately, the family's daughter came down the the flu, and it had to be canceled at the last minute. I ended up helping out with a "Cooking in English" program at the local high school instead. They brought volunteers from the Michigan Center to practice speaking English with the high school students who are studying it. Of course what better way is there to spend time with each other than while making cookies? It was a lot of fun (and the cookies were delicious)! I was very impressed with the high school students' English abilities.


Finally, today's adventure! Tried out a new restaurant with some friends. It is an Indian restaurant about 15 minutes away from our school. It was delicious! I got vegetable curry and nan, and I was so full afterwords! Definitely going there again.
When we got back from the restaurant we had a party to welcome the new students. JCMU is hosting some Japanese students who are taking a short English course here for the next few weeks. It was fun meeting and talking to the Japanese university students. One of the students I met is actually going to America and visiting Grand Rapids next month! I'm glad I am getting the chance to meet and talk to more Japanese people!

To wrap this up, I leave you with a photo I snapped of Hikone Castle yesterday!

No more snow!

The past two weeks it has been very snowy here! It was so bad that our politics class had to be canceled twice since it is about a 20 minute bike ride away. They do not plow the sidewalks here, so riding your bike is nearly impossible in the snow, as it was well over a foot in some places. Of course this did not stop some of the more daring (or maybe not so smart...) students (such as myself) from braving the snow to go shopping over the weekend. It just involved a lot of riding your bike in the roads which had been plowed, or walking it through the snowier spots.

They use bulldozers to clear the snow.

Fixing downed power lines


The snow finally started to clear up this week, and I was able to go to politics class yesterday! I am also finally able to go running again! The back roads which run along the edge of the lake are perfect for jogging as there is little traffic and the view is amazing! I took a few pictures during my jog!





Tomorrow we are having a class trip to Nara! It should be a lot of fun! Look forward to details and pictures in my next post!