Pictures from Euroholiday/Tokyo/Okinawa

Munchen Christmas Markets

Surfers in the middle of the English Garden!

Munich friends

Christmas morning

On the Autobahn, ja- 180 mph!

Sarah and I at Neuchwanstein Castle

Dachau Concentration Camp

Salzburg

That famous gazebo..

"I have confidence" lane!

Budapest with Sarah, Anezka and Valentina

Tamas, our actor/tourguide/Hungarian friend

Happy New Year!

In Tokyo!

Shinjuku Illuminations

Meiji Jingu

The fam and the host fam

II

In Okinawa: Fam and Kinjos

At the Okinawa Peace Park

Shisa that guard all Okinawan homes

Taco rice AND Okinawa soba 

Dinner with Okisho bosses

Sunny skies for America-bound mom and Maren

A very Nigerian Christmas

Nigerian Christmas. A tale for the ages.

Christmas Eve and all was quiet. Sarah and I had spent the day meandering through the last of the Munich Christmas markets and then the famous English Gardens with a friend we met in the hostel named Chris. It had just gotten dark when we returned to the hostel, had ourselves a bowl full of Christmas Eve chili and were debating if we had enough energy to muster another trek outside to find an English Christmas Eve service. After a bit of searching we discovered there was indeed a Mass at a church just ten minutes away from where we were staying. We decided to go, thinking we would come back in time to watch the showing of "Love Actually" in the hostel lounge before heading to bed.
We made it to the church without trouble and headed to the basement where the mass was being held. It was a simple room with maybe seventy chairs set out, most of which were full. The three of us took a seat in the second row and waited for the service to start. We had no idea what was waiting for us.
The first thing that struck us was the, ehem, enthusiasm with which the congregation sang. There was no piano or recording to guide us, so one brave woman in the congregation took the bull by the horns and lead us in a number of traditional Christmas hymns. Sarah, Chris and I were honestly taken aback at her unique interpretation of the melody, pitch and words of the carols and, I shamefully admit, had to repress a few intense urges to laugh out loud. Things only continued to get weirder when during the middle of the first reading, one of the ushers came up to me and told me I would be giving the second reading in front of the congregation. I was so surprised, but I figured they must have been in some sort of jam so up I went and read. It was honestly amazing I didn't burst out laughing (my sister would understand the pressures of keeping composure in church..) The priest, an American from Ohio as we would later learn, rambled on for a while about the historical Jesus and the role historical facts played or didn't play in the modern interpretation of the Christmas story. One more time, the same usher came up and asked Sarah, Chris and myself to bring the gifts forward before communion. So, basically we were Catholic superstars.

Finally, after about six more Christmas carols disguised in the form of funeral dirges we were invited to "go in peace to love and serve the Lord"..and join everyone for a Christmas party in an event room upstairs! The three of us never would have made the trip up those stairs if not for Sarah's sudden urge to hold one of the many little children running around the church in a sudden burst of maternal affection. She quickly gained a child and lost his parents, so we wandered upstairs to where the party was being held to find the little tyke's folks. Immediately upon setting foot in the crowded but welcoming room we were given plates and silver and ordered to sit down. The smells were amazing- most of the members of the congregation seemed to come from Nigeria and had prepared a Nigerian feast for Christmas Eve dinner. We met a few other stray foreigners, three from Australia and one from America who was studying in Italy. We all quickly became friends and loaded our plates up with the foods that were tantalizing our senses so (Nigerian food is awesome by the way. I wish I knew the names of the dishes, but they were flavorful, spicy, hot, and savory. Yumm).

Things were going great- good company and food- when suddenly the beers come out en masse. I thought to myself, Well, we are in Germany after all, but I was still unprepared for the party that was unfolding around me. At church. A Catholic church. On Christmas Eve. Next enters Father, this time without his vestments, four or five tattoos proudly displayed on his arms as well as a piercing in his ear. He started talking with us, sharing his own incredibly liberal beliefs about the Catholic Church and truly solidifying himself in my mind as the stuff Fitzgerald novels must be made of. It was really fun to speak with him, but I must say that when added to all the other strange peculiarities of this Christmas celebration, things were seeming more bizarre by the minute.

A few other things happened that made this night truly unforgettable (in the best way possible), but this post is getting too long as is. I feel happy that in both of my years in Japan (even though I guess I wasn't IN Japan for this night) I have been fortunate enough to stumble upon unexpected holiday parties and meet unique and interesting people (for tales of another great night, please look at the entry dated Dec 21st, 2010). Curiouser and curiouser. But, at least I could say that I had a very merry Nigerian Christmas!

Sarah, Chris and the baby that started it all.

Delicious Nigerian dinner!

New friends- I promise we are at church..

Rebel priest. 

Old Year New Year

New year, new post! In Japan there are special words for the many "firsts" of the incoming year- Hatsushinode (first sunrise), Hatsumoude (first trip to the temple), waraizome (first laugh), hatsuyume (first dream), and hatsudayori (first letter), to name a few. I'm coining a new term: Hatsu-blogpost-node!
And so much has happened since the end of last year. After I last wrote, I embarked on a fabulous trip to the wilds of Bavaria and the "wild east"- Germany, Austria and Hungary with my great friend from St. Olaf, Sarah. We were able to meet so many wonderful people, including free-bike Marius in Munich and many of the Waseda Euro crew in Budapest. A few highlights:

Munich: Christmarkets, delicious sausage, Neuchwanstein Castle, Dachau concentration camp, meeting Marius and his friends, driving on the Autobahn (180 km/h!), getting a personal tour to the back rooms of an aquarium, eating delicious sandwiches everyday all the time, and meeting interesting people at our hostel. Of course, Nigerian Christmas was the icing on the cake. Top five craziest things that has ever happened to me. I promise I'll devote a blog post to it soon.
Salzburg: The mountains, the beautiful beautiful scenery, Sound of Music Singalong bus tour (!!!!), delicious greek food and complimentary beverages, (surprisingly) cheap shopping, sunshine and dry weather.
Budapest: Seeing my friends Valentina, Anezka and Adam, meeting Tamas, Vali's friend/professional actor/impromptu tour guide, seeing a professional musical production of "Mary Poppins", incredibly intricate and unique architecture, cheap food and shopping, staying in a really weird and crazy hostel but making friends anyway.

I must say, after nearly two weeks of non-stop sightseeing with only the shortest of pauses to stop and sleep, I was exhausted. Luckily, for my final flight from Doha to Tokyo (fourth flight in less than 20 hours), I got bumped up to pre-business class. Life. Changed. Forever. I slept for nearly six hours which has never happened  before and will never happen again. In the 8+ transatlantic/pacific flights I have taken, most 12 hours or longer, I have NEVER slept for more than 2 hours in total. Blessed, blessed pre-business class with reclining seats, thick blankets and bigger bathrooms.

The greatest treat was meeting my mom and sister at Narita airport. We spent four wonderful days in Tokyo seeing the sights, eating, sleeping and staying warm. The highlight of Tokyo for me was seeing my host family, the Yasudas, and also being able to meet their new host student, a girl from the Netherlands named Kubra. I hope to be able to go back in the spring and spend time with them.

After the final leg from Tokyo to Naha I realized how taxing life in the big city can be. What a relief to come back to Naha where the air is soft and warm, my apartment was clean and cheery, and the stress washes away every time you see the ocean. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as nice as I had hoped. Other than a small patch of blue sky willed into existence by my mother on her final day in Naha, the blue sky stayed away until the morning mom and Maren had to hop on the airplane. Typical. We were able to meet my Okinawan host family and enjoy a beautiful lunch together at a Japanese restaurant as well as meet some of the Okisho big-wigs. Perhaps the funniest part of the trip was mom and Maren's propensity to attract strange, confused or overly enthusiastic taxi drivers. But they can fill you in on those stories! :)

Now of course I am back at school, working and catching up with friends I haven't seen in a month. As is true after any fantastic vacation, settling back into the molds of everyday life takes a bit of time. With the new year come also some sobering thoughts on what the plan for next year will be. I've been battling with myself for months now on whether or not to stay in Okinawa. One thing I've learned since graduating from St. Olaf is that as exciting as it is to have your entire life ahead of you, it's also stressful. But, eh, as a friend told me today, I'm probably overthinking it. Hm.