こんにちわ、ごめんなさい! (Hello and I'm so sorry!)

I've been hearing tales that my blog has been sorely missed in this past weeks and my lack of updates, well fear not! I HAVE COME WITH A BOOK JUST FOR YOU! To get started, let's get back a couple weeks to the weekend of October, 23-26.

Thursday was my last day in class and I only had my language class as my Language & Society class was cancelled in preparation for the school festival! Yes that is right, a SCHOOL FESTIVAL, this is a great time for all the clubs to exhibit all their skilled members and also to attracted high-schoolers who come to the festival to see what the University has to offer. To Thursday afternoon campus got decked out, the stairs leading to the school got turned into murals and they put up signposts made of umbrellas! It was great. And I do not have pictures. ):

I'm not sure if you know, but I-House (my residence hall) was requested to put on a show, so we decided to put on the INTERNATIONAL version of The Lion King. I was Makeup artist for the show and a Backup dancer. Gelsey and I work on our costumes that night and Friday. We had a dress rehearsal on Friday. On Sat we had the day off, so, Gelsey, Hamilton, Andrew, Tim and I went to Nagoya and Sakae for the day. I was able to get the key components for my Halloween Costume. I purchased my wig and my Jacket. That night when we got back to IHouse, me and my friends were going to do a marathon of the Anime Hetalia (Also known as Axis Powers Hetalia) and that night for dinner cook different dishes representing different places.

Now, Hetalia is an anime that is History bases and takes the story of World War I and II and personifies the countries and shows the nation relations through the interactions of the characters, it's hilarious. You'll never GUESS how America is portrayed… (Actually you'll probably laugh) America is a happy go lucky guy who eats NOTHING but hamburgers, and thinks he's the hero for everything - he can also be slightly clueless. I find it appropriate. But Also, That day was supposed to be The World Summit Meeting, so to kind of do like a celebration of continued world peace, acceptance, bonding, etc, we were going to celebrate by watching an anime about different countries. HOWEVER our plans were foiled due to stray Halloween party, so those of us who didn't go had already started cooking when we got the call that we would be postponing the dinner deal.

I had already cooked my corn bread, and I can tell you that I had all the southerners down here flipping their cans over it and everyone else begging to try. I managed to wrangle at least one piece away to save for my friend Ayako who I had promised to let her try some. She loved it. And my RA, Yuka also liked it.

Sunday rolled around and I called for all my actors with makeup to report to me on the second floor and set to painting faces. And Lucky you Amanda and Greg made a montage of them getting the makeup done so I'm going to put up the link for you! http://www.youtube.com/user/NagoyaGA#p/a/u/5/mvgF7YqguB0

After the rehearsal we gathered everything up and headed to school to claim our stage. And Once again, I have video thanks to Amanda and Greg! It's a three part video - hopefully you'll enjoy it. We did all the script in Japanese; we did most of the songs in English, one in French and one in Japanese.Here's the links.

Video 1:http://www.youtube.com/user/NagoyaGA#p/a/u/4/Zy6ZR16qSSs

Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/user/NagoyaGA#p/u/3/VXt-dTiIXJQ

Video 3: http://www.youtube.com/user/NagoyaGA#p/u/2/fQcTIrxbALU

So then was the week followed by yet ANOTHER weekend rolled up, this was Halloween weekend. Friday evening we had our Halloween party, I dressed as Bulma from Dragon Ball Z, then Hamilton was Goku from the same series and Time was Tien from the same series so we were a group. Then Saturday was Home stay. My Host Mother came to pick me up at 10, her name is Ariko-san, and her husband is Sato-san, and their second daughter Yumi-san still lives with them. They took me to Moricoro Park where the 2005 World Convention was held, it's a beautiful park they had a museum full of world artifacts. And they we stopped by the Halloween event, we danced around (or rather I did) and then we went home. Ariko-san cooked a most lovely meal of Sushi and tonkatsu, it was AMAZING and I got to help make the sushi! YAY! Next time Ariko-san said she was going to teach me how to make Gyoza! :3

This past week however I came down with a bit of a cold, and I was taken to the hospital to get checked out to make sure I didn't have the Flu. Just to say, I think all hospitals are the same, they take for freakin' ever to get anything done. But I got better fast enough to go to Hiroshima and Miyajima.

The Trip started out very early as we had to be on the bus by 7am. I of course stayed up until 2 the previous morning, but that probably made it a lot easier for me to sleep on the bus which is good considering I get motion sickness so easily now-a-days.

When we got to Miyajima (which is where the floating Tori gate is located), we off loaded the busses and headed to the Ferry to take us to the island. Now my group had decided to stay longer than the rest of the groups so we all had to cart ALL of our stuff with us and in hindsight I wish I had packed less but hindsight is always 20/20. Now upon getting to the island I found myself confronted by deer. Now you're thinking what? Deer? And I answer yes, the animal. They're all over this island and very sweet and kind and are totally cool with hanging around and getting close to you. My day was made when I saw a Doe and her Calf!! It was the cutest thing ever! I have pictures of the deer, they're awesome.

After the Initial deer shock, we headed to the shrine that has the Floating Tori gate, the tide was slowly going out so the shrine didn't look like it was floating as it probably should have. However it was very peaceful, and with the changing colors the island was decked in beauty.

Now while I was there I also paid to draw my fortune. To draw one's fortune you had to only pay 100 Yen, you picked up the stick cylinder, give it a shake and draw out the stick and read the number, upon reading the number you opened the drawer with the number and took the paper. I got the luckiest draw possible; it basically said that whatever I want, as long as I wished hard enough, should come true. I'm even feeling MUCH better!

Once that was done we wondered out of the temple and to the shops and I purchased a phone charm for my phone. As I travel Japan, I'm hoping to collect a different phone charm from each place. Now I have a Mini Tori gate for my phone. Once we finished shopping we headed up to Deer Park, it was beautiful and very scenic. After we meandered around there we headed to the Pagoda and took a few pictures. Then we left the island and headed to Hiroshima city to get to our hotel. We took the Ferry back to the mainland and then hopped a train. When we got to the hotel it was around 7ish? After dropping off our stuff we went for dinner, I was feeling very adventurous so I had MickyDees.

Saturday morning was another early morning - I had a small breakfast and then headed to the bus, we went to the Hiroshima City Memorial Peace Park - we saw the A-bomb dome and the park, then we went to the museum. I have to say that the memorial park was one of the more moving things I've ever been to. When you see the pictures of Hiroshima after the attack and there was NOTHING and when you look today you see a large prospering city. You really get the sense that the city and it's people have overcome a great deal. I didn't take many pictures inside the museum because I honestly think it's something you should experience for yourself. You start by learning the history of Hiroshima and it's people - and it's so eerie when they present you with a watch that's old and busted up with it's hands stopped at the time of the bomb drop, even eerier is when you started to see pictures of men and woman dead and dying, to read the stories of how women, men and children caught in the blast - badly burned - walked home to their families only to die hours or days later.

Honestly it's horrific - and I think Hiroshima's park and message should be headed. To get rid of Nuclear weapons and no one should have to go through that kid of pain and loss and nor does anyone government have the right to destroy a person's life. All nations' peoples deserve every right to live as the next nation and we should remember that aside from our differences every human is like us, they love, they laugh and they live - they are flesh and blood like you and me. Differences are what torn our world apart those many years ago and are still what tear our world apart now, I think that's why I'm so compelled to travel - I want to help bridge the gap between people, I want to remind myself daily and those around me daily that we are a SINGLE race only divided by people's ignorance. Always, as my dearest parents have told me time and time again, seek the truth and tell the truth - and for all time may we all seek peace over violence.

And that's what I learned.

On a lighter note, tomorrow I'm going to help teach children English by reading the 'Hungary, Hungary Caterpillar.' Hopefully I'll have pictures and maybe even Jim will make his appearance after many absences.

I love you all and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Carolyn