Start of a new semester!

So school officially started again! I can't believe how fast my vacation went by! It really flew by but it was totally awesome. I had one of the best times of my life!!! So you can tell why I was a bit depressed to have to start school again! haha But going back to Hirakata is not a bad thing either! =)

So for orientation week, our school has a weird rule that even if you are doing home stay, you have to stay in the seminar houses (dorms) for the orientation week. So I was assigned to seminar house 3 for orientation and that was the apartment style one which is more expensive than the other ones so I guess I was lucky! =D I had an American room mate for the week who was really nice but our lifestyles didn't really mesh well...If you know me, I'm a night owl and I sleep in past noon usually but she went to bed at 10pm everyday and woke up at 7am =S...so it was somewhat difficult but I managed to survive! =D

After one week in the dorms, I officially met my home stay family and moved into their house. I am really lucky because their house is not too far from the school and is still walking distance and has the train station beside it too which is really convenient. Others had to commute by train everyday for over an hour! >_< My home stay is really good so far besides the fact that it was February and Japanese houses apparently don't have central heating in any of them! I was so shocked! It was sooo cold in the houses and the only heater you have is a small portable one. =( But I suppose that's what experiencing how a real Japanese family lives is all about! Thankfully it's starting to get warmer around here! Here's what my home stay room looks like.

Another awesome thing about living with a host family is that they introduce all sorts of Japanese cultural things to you in person, rather than just telling you about it. For example, they let me help them set up the dolls for Hina Matsuri, the doll festival for girls in the family. If you set it up every year, it's supposed to give your daughter luck and prosperity.

Staying with my home stay family has been a really good experience so far. They cook really good for every night and I get to try so many new things. They even took me to Okayama for an oyster bbq a couple of weeks ago. =)

I don't know what this is...=S

Taiyaki filling!!! This is just a HUGE slab of red bean paste!

China/Macau/Hong Kong

Sigh this blog is long overdue but I've been way to lazy to update. My break officially ended and even though a month has passed already, I still feel like I'm on vacation mode. =S

Anyways, back to the last part of my trip, I spent that time mostly in China and a day in both Macau and Hong Kong. I flew from Hakodate to Hong Kong and my flight landed at around 11pm so I had no choice but to spend the night sleeping at the airport so I could catch a bus to Guangzhou the next day. Needless to say, it wasn't the most comfortable but was surprised at how many people also spent the night on the benches...It took me a while to find a space to sleep. The next morning, I caught a bus to Guangzhou where my sister Terry picked me up and took me to her place. Her house was really nice and big for one person. I wouldn't mind living there! I was super excited about spending Chinese New Years in China! But it turned out to be somewhat of a let down...I thought there would be huge festivals and festivities but everything was closed and everyone stayed home so the streets were really quiet. >_< But we did go to the flower festival for Chinese New Years.

And also the Lantern Festival which was SO nice!

After several days in Guangzhou, we headed down to Zhu Hai to spend a night before going to Macau the next day! I LOVED Macau! It was really strange though how there was Portuguese everywhere but everyone spoke Cantonese. =) And the Chinese New Years decorations was set right in front of the famous area in Macau known for having European style buildings so the look was quite interesting.

We also found a ton of Engrish signs for sale! haha These were some of my favourite ones!

We also had the famous pork chop bun that we had to wait almost 20 minutes for...and in the end it was only ok...

And we went to the famous Ruins of St. Paul's, which was a cathedral but only the front wall of it still stands...

All the people at the ruins.

Of course, when in Macau we had to go to the Casinos! I played several games of slots and it was somewhat uninteresting. But later, we ended up going to this Venetian style mall where there was a river in the middle and a guy in a gondola that would serenade you if you took a ride on it!

I was really sad to leave Macau before getting to try the famous Portuguese egg tarts. =( But we headed off to Hong Kong that night.

Got to meet up with Vivan the next day in Hong Kong and I was excited to eat Pineapple butter bun in Hong Kong again! But I must say I was somewhat disappointed..it was not as good as it used to be the last time I went to Hong Kong.

We spent most of the day walking around Lady Street and I even tried fried intestines for the first time ever, and it was actually quite tasty! I couldn't believe I was only able to spend one night in Hong Kong! I was sooo disappointed! But I bought a new camera finally so no more fuzzy pictures!!!...hopefully =S But that was the end of my vacation as I had to fly back to Osaka that night.  =( Anyways, this has got to be the funnest vacation I've ever been on! I can't wait to go all over asia again the next time I get a chance! =D