Kyoto!

Hello everyone!

 My dad and I just moved into our new apartment in Kyoto. Sooo exiting! There’s a tatami (long mats woven out of soft reeds) room, a regular carpeted room, a small living space with a kitchenette, and an over-sized bathroom with a separate room for the toilet and for the shower/bath. It’s probably the same size as everything else put together. All we’ve really been doing this week is scrambling to get the house in shape, unpacking and shopping and trying to get into a routine and stuff like that. We visited my school the other day and met my teacher. There’s only eight kids in my class- can you believe it?! Tomorrow’s my first day. Wish me luck!

I had a ballet lesson yesterday after more than a month break. Today I can barely walk. Enjoy your last week of summer! Hope you all have a great school year!

-Georgie B)

Free day

Hi everyone!

Today was amazing. First of all we slept late (it was a free day for everyone). Big plus. After packing and relaxing, we took the subway to Kiosumi-shirakawa, where we were meeting my dad’s old friend for lunch. We decided to go see an exhibition. Luckily for us, the “Future Beauty” show included Japanese fashions from the last thirty years. I’ll have some amazing pictures for you guys soon. Later we got lost trying to find Muji, a giant minimalist department store. They have everything. The best part is the travel accessories. There are millions of bottles and containers. You basically go in and want to buy everything. Dangerously good. It’s like an upscale Ikea. My dad and I met one of his sculptor friends for dinner. We ate at a small fish-specialty restaurant down the street from our hotel. For starters there was a great mixed greens salad with little boiled fish on top. So yummy! So yummy! I had delicious deep-fried mackerel and also tried some of my dad’s raw fish with miso.

Tomorrow we finally get to Kyoto! So exited! My school starts in a little over a week. I hope I make lots of friends! Good luck with a new school year.

-Georgie :D

All the days in between

Hi!!!

Just felt my first earthquake. Pretty cool. I was checking my email when my dad pointed it out. The TV shook back and forth and the water on the desk showed little tremors. At least it wasn’t giant. This was the first of many, my dad says. I’ll make sure to keep a count!

Okay, I’ll try to sum up the last few days quickly. Friday we visited the Skytree tower, an amazing steel structure that rises a whopping 634 meters above the ground. An amazing place.

Later we met up with the students and headed to Iidabashi. There we went to the Koishikawa Korakuen stroll garden. Even with the dreadful heat we managed to make our way through the beautiful walk, taking tons of pictures and sweating off at least thirty pounds.

Dinner was at the JapanBall Hall of Fame, a small noodle shop hidden in the streets of Central Tokyo. The game that followed was noisy and filled with people. They have many intricate cheers that include banging together hollow plastic bats. I, of course, bought some and joined in. In the end, the Yomiuri Giants won 4-0 over the Hiroshima Carp.

Saturday we got up early and went to the train station. It was about an hour or so before we got to Kinugawa Onsen. A bus took us to Tobu World Square, a theme park dedicated to creating 1/6 size of world monuments. Very exiting (there will be pictures soon).

From Tobu we went to Toshogu shrine, a beautiful site built in the 17^th century. There was amazing woodwork and beautiful paintings, much of it recently restored. We visited the temples and bought a fortune told by the gods. My luck will go up like blooming flowers, if love comes I should not be affected by others, I should travel soon… and many other bits of advice. Again, pictures soon.

The next morning the students had a lecture on Japanese folklore monsters early in the morning. I, however, spent my morning hanging out in the hotel room. Lucky me.

At one o’clock we were due in Harajuku, a famous shopping and youth culture district (if you’ve ever seen Japanese people dressed in crazy outfits, this is where they’re from). We traveled down the crowded streets and shopped in some fabulous stores, including one in which I found a great back-to-school outfit (Franny, you would approve).

Monday we learned about the challenges of the Edo period and how the rulers coped with such problems, many of them similar to the ones we experience today. In the afternoon we went down to the site of the first railroads in Tokyo, and Azby, our wonderful guide, enlightened us about the growing of the black market happened in cavities underneath the tracks and in the surrounding alleys. Today they are filled with bars, noodle shops, and everything else you can think of.

Yesterday we went to the Edo museum, a really cool place filled with artifacts from centuries ago. There were also models and life-size recreations of buildings from the 19^th century.

After lunch we went to Akihabara, a bustling streetmarket town. There were stalls filled with everything imaginable, including some squid jerky (YUM! no joke!). We ended by having a delicious bite of burger in Shbuya (the menu included a “Fruit Burger” with half a mango).

If you would like to hear a more detailed description, just send me a message. My Picasa link is

https://picasaweb.google.com/108891184997090285735/August172012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIvSyvPw5J-UDQ

I hope it works!

-Georgie @:)

Problemo...

Hello everyone.

There seems to be a problem with the last post of my blog. There was a computer glitch that caused me to lose and un-publish my post. I tried to recover it but it seems to be gone to cyberspace. Sorry for the inconvenience.

-Georgie ;(

P.S. the link to my Picasa is

https://picasaweb.google.com/108891184997090285735/August172012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIvSyvPw5J-UDQ

this is where my pictures are stored. Hopefully this one won't crash!

Finally Here!

Hello from halfway round the world!
SO... Today was our first day in Japan, and let me tell you--it was pretty uneventful. I understand that may be a letdown to some, but it doesn't mean I have nothing to post. Let's start from the beginning, shall we? Yesterday my dad, my mom, and me got up at six o'clock to prepare for the day ahead. I got up and put on my outfit that had been sitting there two nights in a row, waiting for the day I would get on a plane and say goodbye to the U.S. After getting washed and brushed I gathered some stuff we had forgotten to pack before and headed downstairs. I then made about twenty more trips up and down the stairs- until finally it was time to go. I woke Gemma up for one last hug, then headed out the door with my bright green Nike bag slung loosely over my shoulder.
After about an hour's drive to Syracuse, my parents and I lugged out our suitcases and went into the Airport. We checked our bags and headed upstairs for breakfast at Au Bon Pain. Going through customs was a peice of cake, and before we knew it we were at the gate, waiting in line to board the "Express" jet that would take us to Chicago. We packed ourselves onto the plane and took off.
After a couple hours we were already there. The two hour wait went by as fast as lightning. We had just finished lunch by the time we had to board the plane that would take us all the way to Tokyo Narita. The ride would be twelve hours and thirty-seven minutes. We were literally chasing the sun- so for twelve hours it did not get dark. Hence the reason I didn't sleep.
Finally we arrived. It took us an half an hour to get through customs, getting our luggage and sorting out immigration stuff. Afterwards we had to wait for the Colgate students to arrive, the last of which came at about eight fifteen. We then boarded a train to get to Shibuya, where we would take the Ginza subway line to Aoyama Ichome, and walk from there to the hotel. Everyone practically passed out once we got to Asia Center, including my dad and me.


The next day we woke up around 10:30ish. We had missed the breakfast buffet, so we got dressed and headed for Shibuya, a nearby city. My dad and me wandered around a little and found a great Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. I got some delicious pork over rice and he slurped down a big bowl of noodles. After lunch we got back on the metro to meet the students back at the hotel. We freshened up and got changed for the International House of Japan, which was about a miles walk from Asia Center in 90 degree weather with 80 percent humidity. Very hot.
At I. House we went to the cafe to cool off and then had a lecture with a performance on the Shakuhachi and other exotic instruments. Their sound was beautiful and really cool. We then set out for dinner at an amazing restaurant where you cook your own meal on a hot iron sheet.


So that's all for today, besides a few things I would like to mention along with my post. In the next couple days you might see some changes in the blogs appearance. If you have any questions please let me know. Second of all, sorry there are no pictures. I will upload them soon.


Please feel free to ask me any questions of send me a message! I would love to hear about what's going on with you! See you in January!


-Georgie ;)

Various Bits of Information

Hello again everyone. It's been a while. First of all, this is no longer my "Japan" blog. Of course I will still be blogging about Japan a ton (mainly because I will be living there the next couple of months, like you didn't know that) but I also want this blog to be about what interests me and all of you. That said, if you would like to become and author and be able to post, let me know and I will put you on the list. Secondly, please tell all of your friends! It would be awesome if this became a viral thing! Make sure you follow because I will be posting a lot more! Only four more days until I leave!