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One of the things I love about Christmas is Christmas music! It gives me such a wonderful, happy feeling to hear some of my favourite songs, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman! Do you have a favourite Christmas song? I bet you do!  

Hello readers!

Thank you for coming back this week and reading my next post. This week I am discussing Friends.

In the picture is my best friend in the entire world, Carrie. She is a fun, energetic, and loving person. Carrie lives in the United States and whenever I go back I try to visit her, but I can't always do that. When Carrie and I met, we hit it off immediately and became fast friends. Not long after that we became close and then best friends. She is my light in the darkness when Sam isn't around. Though we live thousands of miles and kilometers apart, we are still able to communicate through letters, email, story writing, and video chat. Next to my husband she is the closest person to me. Friends are extremely important in your life and I feel that they, in time, become the most important anchor that you can have. I know that we all have friends and people we know are close to us, but can we live without those people? I can't. Carrie is an anchor for me. She brings me back to reality and I am truly grateful to have her in my life. Sam is my other anchor, the one closest to me. These people hold me down and hold me together. I can't live without them. Do you have friends who hold you down? Do you have friends you feel you can't live without? These people will be your core in the future as you move forward in life. Keep them close, no matter how far away they may be.

Thank you for reading!

Leigh  

Do you like to have Christmas Parties?

One of my favorite things about Winter is having Christmas Parties. When I was in American I had a Christmas Party at my house every year. In the picture above is the tree I decorated for my party. It was so much fun. Sometimes I would also make stockings with my friends names on them.

What do you do at your Christmas party? Let me know!

Thank you for reading,

Kristen  

Oh man, oh man! Star Wars has come out today all around the world and I couldn't be more excited! I've been a big Star Wars fan my whole life and I think I've already made a blog post about Star Wars at least once. But now it's here and I'm so excited. I really think the villain in this movie looks really cool, his name is Kylo Ren. The movie even has most of its original cast and I can't wait to see all the classic actors back in this movie.

What do you think? Are you as excited as I am?

- James Barbosa  

I love jokes! Like, a lot! Recently I bought a copy of a joke book, and have been learning a few of my favorite by heart. Jokes, however, can be very hard to understand when they're not told in your native language. Especially my favorite kind of joke--puns!
Puns use words that sound a like or have double meanings to make people laugh. They can be spontaneous, or they can be used in regular jokes. One of my best friends back home was great at making puns. Here are some puns, with explanations on why I find them funny. (Even though they're really bad jokes.)

What happened to the frog's car when it broke down?
It had to be toad away. (Toad is a relative to the frog, and towed, which sounds the same, is what we do to car's when they break down.)

Did you hear about the broom that was late for school?
It over-swept! (Swept is the past tense verb of sweep, which is what brooms do. Slept is the past tense verb of sleep. To over sleep means you have woken up late. They don't sound exactly alike, but they're close.)

I also like riddles, which are like mind puzzles, or tricks. Try this one out!

A cowboy rides into town on Sunday. He stays three days. He rides out on Friday. How is this possible?

If you think you know the answer, tell me, and I'll let you know if you're right!  

This month, a show from my childhood started a campaign to come back. After 1 month of news, promises, rewards, celebrities, and even a telethon, they did it!

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a fun show where a guy and 2 robots are in space. They are forced to watch bad movies but they comment on it and make lots of jokes. You can see episodes of it on youtube still, and I still watch MST3K in my spare time. The show has brought my friends and I so much joy, and helped me make new friends online. They riffed (made fun of) many kinds of movies, including Gozilla!

The campaign relied on fans of the show to donate money. I donated too! And we went over the 2million dollars mark early! It was so exciting! We learned about who the new stars of the show would be, and we were promised rewards like T-shirts, mugs, keychains, posters, and autographs. I donated on behalf of my friend, for his birthday, and promised him the rewards. This campaign style called Kickstarter, uses the money of the fans to make the TV show, so the fans are updated where the money is going. There is no cable or TV executives around to make changes so the creator can do whatever he wants. He's promised to listen to what we want!

We made enough money to make 14 episodes of MST3K next year, and I'm thrilled!  

I really enjoy strolling around hardware stores. One of my favorites is Nishimura Joy. It's so big and has lots of unique stuff, stuff that Daiki doesn't have. I've purchased a lot of stuff from there and made it into various things such as tables, shelves, and a dragon. Well, as I was wandering throughout the store I found this big chair. Now I want to build one just like it. But how many should I build... Hmm.

  

This past weekend a bunch of my friends had an end-of-the-year party, which they invited me to. We ended up going to Reoma World, staying the night in the hotel. It was my first time going. It was quite interesting.
We spent most of the day at the amusement park, walking around and trying out rides and such. I personally am not fond of amusement parks (mainly because I am too chicken to go on most of the rides, haha). But since I was with everyone, I was able to try a few of the attractions. I went on the mini roller coaster (I think meant for kids) and screamed my head off because I could barely handle it, ha ha ha. I also went through a haunted house. You can only go in groups of four, and I ended up with three girls in our group. I tried to be scared, but I was laughing too much from how scared the rest were going through.
At night. the entire park was lit up. It was that time of year, and it was quite nice to look at. I got separated from everyone else, so I ended up enjoying it all by myself. There was also a (very) short fireworks display. It was pretty, but it ended before I could find a comfortable spot to watch from.
The rest of the night was spent with everyone playing games in our rooms, such as Waruhige and Twister. It made for an interesting night, to say the least.

I was really glad I could take part in it. I know I have another end-of-the-year party to go to next week. I hope it turns out to be just as fun!  

I'm dreaming of a white christmas.... But I won't see one. Weather wise, this year has been very odd. The summer was rather tame and the winter is mildly warm. Although I really do want to play in the snow this winter the chances of that are very low. The cause? El Nino. El Nino is a giant weather phenomenon that plays with the worlds weather patterns every few years. For some places it causes epic snowfall and freezing temperatures but for other places it just causes it to be a bit warmer than normal. Hopefully next year I can see the snow!

  

Do you know what a Corgi is? It's a type of small dog that has short legs. They always seem so happy to me and I can't help but love these dogs. I'm a fan of bigger dogs but Corgis are an exception. They aren't my absolute favorite dog but they come really close! What's your favorite dog?

- James Barbosa  

Today I want to tell you about a Christmas tradition that is unique to my home province!
People from Newfoundland have strong Irish roots, so we practice the tradition of mummering. Mummering is when you dress up in silly disguises made up from everyday clothing and items and then go door to door visiting your family and friends. Usually you dance, sing songs, and eat good food. Mummering is funny because people have to guess your identity, if they can't they have to give you a drink (if you're an adult of course).
It's very cute when little kids do it, but it can be a bit eerie looking when adults dress up. Mummers costumes are made up of whatever you have around the house, such as pillowcases and blankets. The sillier you look the better!
The tradition of mummering has been less popular recently, but it got a boost when this funny song came out in 1987 and made everyone nostalgic for our unique Christmas tradition.




I have very fond memories of mummering at my grandmothers house at Christmas time, I'll miss hearing this song on the radio this year!

  

Hello, all!

Everyone in Japan knows about Santa Claus and his reindeer. People know what a Christmas tree is, and that it's traditional to give presents on Christmas Day. But these ideas really just come from America. In other places where Christmas is celebrated, the traditions are very different!

For example, in Eastern and Northern Europe, children believe that all animals can talk for one or two minutes at midnight on Christmas Day. My sister and I had a storybook about this legend. Every Christmas Eve we decided to wake up at midnight to see if our pets (we had gerbils, parakeets, guinea pigs, a very stupid rat, and a very smart mouse) would talk to us. But every Christmas Eve we were too tired to get out of bed! Maybe if you have a pet dog, you can check and see if this legend is true?

Most countries have their own versions of Santa Claus. In many countries, Santa has an "evil" helper who punishes bad children! The most famous are Zwarte Piet (Holland) and Krampus (Austria). Zwarte Piet usually just hurts children who are bad, but Krampus is particularly nasty. Krampus eats bad children, or takes them away to Hell!

I warned you! Krampus is really scary!

When I was a child, I often celebrated Sinterklaas with some Dutch friends of ours. In the Netherlands, presents are not given on Christmas! Instead, people give presents on December 5th, a special holiday called "Sinterklaas" (which is the Dutch name for Santa Claus). on Sinterklaas, children leave out shoes instead of stockings. Good children get candy in their shoes, but bad children get sticks! Sinterklaas presents come with poems instead of Christmas cards. The poems usually make fun of the person getting the present! (For example, if someone gets a present of deodorant, the poem might read, "Roses are red,/Violets are blue;/When you get home from school,/We all yell, 'P.U.!'")

And of course, every family has their own Christmas traditions. My family always watches David Lynch's Eraserhead on Christmas Day, which is a pretty weird tradition. I have a friend in Minnesota whose family always makes sushi on Christmas Day!

What's your favorite Christmas tradition?

—Matthew  

The closer it gets to Christmas, the more I realize just how much I miss my family back home! Especially when I am on Facebook and read about all of their Christmas plans which always includes a large Christmas dinner! In my family this means roasting a turkey, mashing an insane amount of potatoes, gravy, three or four different vegetables, salad, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, gravy sauce, and sparkling apple juice! That still doesn't include the dessert! What do you like to eat for Christmas dinner?
  

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be at the very top of the world? How would it feel? What emotions would it invoke? I once had a dream to do the greatest things I could in this life, but along the way I let that dream slip through my fingers. Time has taken a toll on my mind and my body, but I have come to the conclusion that I can still do some of the things that I have always dreamed of doing. Some of those dreams include traveling to almost every country in the world, completing the book I was writing, and so much more.

I want to challenge you to look to the future and envision all of the things that you dreamed about doing when you were younger. No matter how big or small the dream is, you can complete it. I have had many people in my life tell me things like “it’s impossible!” or “you’re crazy for even thinking about that!”, and it was those things that allowed my biggest dreams to slip past me. Anything and everything is possible if you simply believe that you can do it. If you aren’t confident yet, start small and work your way up. If you fail, try, try, and try again. Pick up a dream, for dreams are the first step to becoming.

Thank you very much for reading!

Leigh
  

I am a big fan of food. I can pretty much always eat, and I can pretty much eat anything. Honestly, I can't think of any food I don't particularly like. So far I've really loved all of the Japanese food I've eaten here in Kagawa. Udon is fantastic, and by far my favorite. I've also eaten cow heart, which is a little strange to Americans, but tasted fantastic. Funny thing is, I was a Vegetarian when I was in the United States. I had been for about two years. But I didn't want to miss the chance to eat any and everything I could in Japan, so I decided to eat meat again. This last weekend I tried Natto for the first time. It was pretty good. Not as good as Udon, but still good.   

Have you ever tried to make your own Christmas tree?

My last year in America I decided to make my own Christmas tree. What do you think? I used paper and glue. I also found small ornaments to decorate it. It was a lot of fun to make. I also liked it because it was easy to clean up and didn't use a lot of space.

Would you try making your own Christmas tree? Let me know!

Thank you for reading,

Kristen  

I have many friends. Most of my friends are human, but I also have many non-human friends. Dogs, cats, chickens, even a squirrel and a donkey. I'm always happy to help my friends with whatever I can. This picture is of my octopus friend. He couldn't see very well and needed some help. I took him to the octopus optometrist and we found out he needed glasses. Octopuses don't have money, so I was happy to pay for them. Doesn't he just look great?

  

It's no secret that I love karaoke, but did you know that I have a history with Japanese music? It's true!

Last Sunday, we had a really good time at Karaoke. We sang Christmas songs, rock songs, and Japanese songs. I did the theme from Gundam Wing, and it was SO much fun to try! I remembered most of the words from when I was a High School student. I used to learn Japanese and Korean songs as a hobby, even though there wasn't anywhere to show off my skills. We don't really have asian-style karaoke in Michigan.

Both my sister and I HAVE performed Japanese songs though. We sang seperate times in our school Talent Show. My friend and I performed Meaning of Peace by BoA and Koda Kumi. My sister sang Hamazaki Ayumi's Hanabi. On Choir free days, they let us sing in class whatever we liked, and I would show off Korean and Japanese songs. I know that people think I was weird, but I found a few that were interested.

When I was in High School, I formed an Asian Culture club, and would show my classmates music videos from Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. There wasn't very much on the internet yet, so I got my mvs from a special channel on my TV. I learned about Japanese artists from watching Hey Hey Hey Music Champ and watching lots of anime. I still sing these old songs when I go to karaoke.

Learning Japanese and Korean songs might have been a weird hobby, but now it's doing me well! Now I can read hirogana and katakana too. I don't carry a notebook of lyrics in romaji.

Let's SING!   

This past Sunday I went on a little trip with my friend to Kochi. Technically, this was my second time in Kochi; the first time I made a trip with Eric around when I first arrived to pick up a GEM car that was there. I don't remember why it was there, and thinking about it now I find it silly that one of the cars was so far away (and in a prefecture in which we don't have any schools).

Anyway, this time in Kochi, I was able to actually visit some places. Our first stop was Kochi castle. It was pretty cool, particularly being able to climb to the top. The view was spectacular, so long as I looked out in the distance and not straight down (I am not that great with heights). There was also a cool model of the castle inside, along with people living their lives as they did back in the day. The people were a bit too big (it was almost like everyone was a mini giant), but I think it's because if they actually scaled them, they would be too small to see (or possibly it is more time-consuming to put details on smaller models).

Afterwards, we traveled across the street from the castle to the 'nichiyouichi', or Sunday market. There were a lot of stalls along the road, selling all kinds of things. I saw may vendors selling tools for farming, especially things like scythes and knives. So many knives. You would not find such things from street vendors in New York; in fact, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to sell even a pocket knife on the street. Of course, the situations are different. In New York, there is no need to sell equipment for farming in a city with little or no land to work on. Kochi, on the other hand, probably has many places nearby where people work on their own plot of land. Sigh, it sounds nice.

When we were finished at the market, we headed over to Chikurinji, which was absolutely gorgeous, due to the leaves changing colors. There were many vivid colors, such as pale yellows, glowing oranges, and deep reds, plus green from leaves that hadn't changed yet, which provided a nice contrast. My friend said that, in his opinion, Chikurinji was probably one of the top most beautiful temples in Shikoku. Though I have only visited a few, I think I have to agree. I really wish that it wasn't so far away; I would probably visit it more often.


  

Many Americans start the New Year with a New Years Resolution, or something they want to do or change about themselves for the next year. I have started early and I have chosen to make myself try new things! One of my students brought pickled shallots for me to try and they were really good! Now a few of my other students have made me want to try natto! I've never eaten it but I've seen it! Miyuki, my boss, gave the teachers a special persimmons to try and I am so excited to try it! What will you change about yourself or what do you want to do in the New Year?