Saturday, October 11, 2014

Finalé

Day: 20

Entry: 4
     
Finale,

Its 10:42 New Zealand time. Its dark on the plane, because everyone has the window shade closed. My friend Niki is sleeping, but I don't feel tired, actually, I'm quite awake. The Japan trip has been one of the best experiences in my life. I would have never known how different life in another country feels like, and I will likely never know again. It was an experience that you had to be there to understand, the politeness, the order, the beauty. Time with our host family made us become the closest of friends. It turned from host family to a part of the family. People that I will never forget. The things that we did, and how nice they were to me, it Was like I was being treated like a king, or a queen haha. I miss them dearly and when I go home, the first thing I'll do, is unpack, because unlike packing, I'll do this first, right miss Nell? Then I'll send my host family an email and talk to them, see how they have been, and maybe Skype them, maybe. After the farewell of shinagawa, things only got better. We went on a shinkansen, or bullet train for all you non - Japanese speaking chaps. We sped through Japan and before I knew it, I could see on the map, from Tokyo to Hiroshima, how far we had actually gone. It was amazing! Going to the school in Japan was such an awesome experience, it is so much more organized and the buildings are so much. Me and my host family went camping and the bbq we had was the best things i've had in my life. All Japanese food is so much better than New Zealand's. In Hiroshima was probably my favorite activity on the trip. We went to the Hiroshima peace park, and went into the museum and saw things that really made the realism sink in. The remains of buildings, school uniforms and even skin and deformed Nails really showed what the effects of an atomic bomb were, and how they are filled with cruelty. Ohh, the hostess is giving me a drink, thanks! Anyways, I sat in the park for a while after the others left, for around two hours just taking in the quiet and the understanding. My friend Mark felt the same way, as we we sat in scilence for a long time. The trip to Osaka was really smooth, I think it was a shinkansen again. At Osaka we went to rinku town and the institute for Japanese language, more simply known as the kansai center to us. Osaka was nice and we did some really cool activities like taiko drumming, yukata wearing and also packing... Oh wait I meant and shopping... Oh you get the idea. We went on the big ferris wheel and it was pretty cool. Also one of my most favorite parts was the floating garden, which is a building that looks Awesome and it has a really good view. It was just after a typhoon so the skies were clear and nice. I took some awesome pics there. We also did some cool stuff like udon making and wind chime making, and parfait making, really cool stuff to do. The tallest building known as the sky tree in sky tree town was amazing, even though i was dying slowly in the inside (im scared of heights).  The trip in general was awesome, and maybe one day I'll go back to Japan. Waking up at four to five in the morning is a bad idea though. Sometimes, on the trip, if I was missing my dad, I would listen to right here, right now, followed by Rockafeller skank by fatboy slim, while if I was missing my mum or little bro, or Scott, I would listen to hey brother by Avicii. I really am going to miss Japan, the sound of the crows in the morning, the smell of an awesome breakfast, the taste of the best bread ever, the feel of the futon, the light streaming into my room and spraying itself on the floor. All of these were awesome experiences and the best time of my life, but I have gone on enough now, and because they are serving breakfast on the plane, good bye guys. This is Rahul, signing off for the last time.

Don't you think I would forget this part!

DFTBA! (Dont Forget To Be Awesome!)

Extra: We are descending into a wet and stormy Auckland, yay what a great start for our first day back haha, lots of turbulence, right Niki? Niki: not so bad (does hand gesture like, so-so) Rahul: sweg lol

Love you guys bye! <3

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Flight

Day: 19

Entry: 3

Flight,
It's around 5:45 right now in Hong Kong and my friend Hatsumark is sitting with me in Starbucks coffee. Cause I'm broke, I'm not getting anything, but Hatsumark just doesn't want a drink... On the flight to Hong kong, I fell asleep until my trusty friend, Arian, woke me up for some brekkie. I had pork on rice while Arian had chicken on rice, great selection choices , I know. In the last few days I have been having a great time! We went to this shrine that had the best water in the world, which I nicknamed heaven water, it was oishii-desu yo! Also we went to the floating shrine, and I picked of some awesome pics! We went to Hiroshima, and my favourite thing there was the peace park, Mark would agree too. While the others were off to Starbucks, again, even though you can get Starbucks anywhere, me and Mark stayed at the peace park for two hours extra. Agghh... The peace and quiet! After that we were playing a game, but that's none of your business. The farewell at the station had brought many to tears, but not me. *cough, cough* tough guy *cough, cough*. But later on at the Japanese kansai institute for Japanese language, I had received a letter from my host mom, who is 40 (better? :D) and while I was reading it, I broke into tears. That was some heartfelt stuff you know? While I was sitting there crying I saw the gifts they gave me, which where wooden key chains with my name on it (fu-kun, Rahul, and Chandra) and also some food! Yum! We also went to the floating gardens, which is a building that has a beautiful view and it looks awesome, apparently it was part of the top 20 buildings it the world! Wow. I sat in silence, and it was awesome! I had such an awesome time. Mr burden asked me if I wanted to write the article for the Japan trip part of the year book, that's pretty exciting. I'll probably do it. oh yeah, The shinkansen were so cool too! We zipped through the darkness and zoomed across the countryside. Just too cool. I have around 1 hour until I go back to new Zealand now, I'm nervous, but excited to see my dad again (by the way, love you dad!) I will really miss my homestay family and Japan, I have really grown to love it, sadface :( . I think I'll visit again one day, when I earn my own money, haha. Then I can see my homestay family once again! Maybe they will be a lot older, and won't remember me, but that's okay!  I just looked up and I have written a lot it seven minutes, Jees! Anyways, love you guys, I gotta go, you know, a plane to catch and all, but I hope I'll be able to go back to Japan soon, seriously, it has so much good food! I'll see you all soon! :) . Thanks for reading, this is Rahul, signing off!

DFTBA! (Don't Forget To Be Awesome!)
 Me being awesome
 View from the kansai centre
 View from floating garden
 Floating garden
 View from floating garden
 Pika-shirt charging a thunder bolt
 Temple
Floating shrine

Japanese Taiko Drum Session Video







Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Monday 6 October

Arriving at the station only to find our train had been delayed. 
Alan carving out his seal during the first of the day's activities. 
Rahul's heels in action pressing the udon mixture during the second of the day's activities. 
Melissa demonstrating the knife skills she has acquired in Hospitality. 
Some more of the team in action rolling out their udon dough. 
One of the many tako-yaki restaurants purchases were made from during the day. 






Tuesday 7 October

Michael successfully walking between the Love Stones at Kiyomizu Temple with his eyes closed. 
Parfait making activity - Kyoto. Mark & Steven preparing the flavoured cream
Melidsa and James decorating their parfaits and the finished product - oishi!
Derek 'standing out' at Umeda Sky Building, Osaka & the view from the top





Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Day 15: Making udon in Osaka


Day 15: Osaka Nanba

Today we went to Nanba and had a lot of fun there . Some of us had okonomiyaki for lunch , it was delicious . After lunch we headed off to a udon restraunt to make ourselves some udon as well as getting to eat some, we had two options of either plain udon or curry udon . I had plain udon and it was so good . The shop owner was also such a cool guy , the logo of the shop look just like him . After the udon making session we got the chance to wander about . We did a bit of shopping as well as getting photos taken at this photobooth however some of us got lost on our way back to the meeting point when it was time to go back . But in the end we all made it though some of us were pretty late .  At the end of the day we all had a great time and I'm sure that most of us are pretty tierd from today's trip . Only a few more days until we're back in NZ :( don't wanna leave japan as well as studying for the exams after coming back to NZ ;(

Monday, October 6, 2014

Sunday 5 October

This morning we headed off early to visit the A-bomb Dome 
Hiroshima Peace Park and museum. 
It was really fitting to see a 'peace' crane perched on the A-bomb Dome. 
We are now in Rinku Town, Osaka. Some of us have rooms on the 16th & 17th floors with amazing views. 





Sunday, October 5, 2014

Video action from last few days

Rahul talks about making wind chimes





Decorating wind chimes


Making Japanese style waffles
 - momijimanjuu


Sayonara Party



Saturday 4 October

Heading south on the Shinkansen
A special welcome at the Miyajima Crafts Centre
Making momiji manju waffles
The finish product - wrapped to go
Otorii (Grand Gate) as the sun set and we left the island. 



today we had an extremely early morning waking at around 6 and meeting at the Shinagawa station at 7:20 and sadly had to say good bye to our awesome host family's and all our amazing new friends :'( but we all hope to see them again someday :) after we said our goodbyes we rode a Shinkansen at 7:50 (bullet train) to Hiroshima then went to miyajima-guchi the and to miyajima island by ferry at miyajima we made momiji manju and toured the island by ourselves :P at 6pm we left the island by the ferry and headed to our hostel (by tram) which we are staying in at the moment which is awesome !!!!!!!!!  I miss my host family :'(
but we are all having the time of our lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    

sorry got to go sleep ti
me bye!!!!

October 1st

Today Janice and I went to Shibuya for the day. We went to a fancy stationery shop first then to a delicious shop for lunch. We ate udon and tempura and it was sooo good. We then went to 109 and after looking around for a while we decided to go to H & M and Forever 22. After that we looked around then went our seperate waves. We then got some food for dinner and on the way we met a shopowner i had met on the first day. We took some photos then walked home. After a tiring day sleep was very welcome!

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Today is the last day with our host families. My host family told me that we could go anywhere i wanted to and after hearing how i had a great time at the tokyo dome amusement park they recommended another park to go to. We then went to toshimaen amusement park. I really enjoyed this amusement park as it was very fun riding all the rides with my hostfamily especially the pirate ship which was massive and when it was at the top you could see an amazing view. We then went to ikebukuro where we went to some shops. I bought some cds and then we went to have some lunch. It was then about time to get ready for the party before i went i gave some gifts to my hostfamily as a way of saying thanks for letting me stay at their house for two weeks. At the party there were many laughs and even more photos. Everyone had a great time at they party and i know everyone will miss their hostfamily. After the party my hostfamily and i drove around town and went to a few places before coming home.


Friday, October 3, 2014

Day 8: a belated post

How embarrassing - I completely forgot to post this blog on the day!
Tuesday was the day of our 3rd and final school visit. Shinagawa Joshi Gakuin is a girls school of ~1200 students. This school brings their Year 3 students (all 200 of them) to Auckland every year. They almost need a whole plane for themselves. 
While we were at the school we joined in a PE lesson, participated in a tea ceremony, chatted to some of the girls over lunch, sang 'Let it Go' in Japanese (this has become the theme song for the trip) and helped students write questions in their English class. 
Once again we were really spoiled and more names have been added to our list of 'new friends made'.