Happy Holidays! Hi Everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Japan! Christmas isn't as big of a holiday in Japan as it is in the U.S., but I did have a nice Christmas dinner (Japanese style) with my host family on Christmas eve and we had several Christmas themed Hippo activities and a potluck party with some of the neighbors. I made eggnog for the occasion (my first attempt but it turned out pretty well!). My host mom even borrowed and put up a little LED light-up Christmas tree. My host family also bought me a little box set of Japanese hiragana stamps as a Christmas gift which was really sweet of them, and it is helping me to learn hiragana characters. :) While Christmas isn't as celebrated as it is in the U.S., New Year's is a very important holiday here. Today is the last day of work at the office before the new year vacation so, as is the Japanese tradition, this morning everyone helped clean the entire office. This type of cleaning  even has a name -

Festivals and Holidays I've finally uploaded and organized a lot of the pictures I've taken from the last few months, so here is a summary of a few of the festivals and celebrations I've experienced here so far: OMIKOSHI FESTIVAL The omikoshi is a portable shrine that's supported by large wooden planks and carried the shoulders of those participating in the procession during the festival.  In September one of the Hippo fellows, Aryusha, was helping organize a festival in a city near where I live, and invited me to join. It was really fun and I met a lot of people from different parts of Japan as well as quite a few other foreigners who were visiting or living here. We all dressed up in happi coats (pictured above) and took turns carrying the omikoshi when the procession started. Even though the omikoshi is really heavy and the procession lasts a long time, it's full of energy and everyone bounces up and down and sways back and forth in unison

Learning 日本語 Every day I'm learning a little more Japanese. Not in a class but from everything around me. Rather than sitting in a classroom, I sit at the dinner table with my host family or at my desk at work. My best teachers aren't licensed professionals but 12 year old kids. My homework is trying to figure out what a sign says when I'm trying to get somewhere or understand what my coworkers are talking about during lunch. And my tests are when I have to order at a restaurant or ask someone how to find the right train in the subway station. This way of learning is never boring! It's always an adventure, though it's not always easy. Sometimes it can be really frustrating not being able to follow a conversation or understand what someone is trying to ask me or express something I want to say in Japanese.  But I have to remind myself that I started learning Japanese when I arrived here, only three months ago, so that makes me a three-month old in term