Hello everybody,

I'm finally back from my winter vacation. Well, actually I came back on January 7th, but didn't have time for anything else plus I was tired after almost 8 hours of sitting in different Shinkansen and all just to get back home ^^; .... so I just unpacked my stuff and fell into my bed. The next day I had to go to work again, but let's not talk about work right now ^^;

Hm, where to start? My first winter vacation in Japan was nice, short, but definitely not as good as my summer vacation. I doubt that any vacation can ever top my summer vaction in Kyuushuu anyway XD .....
What's more is that I was sick the whole time, but thanks to my flu drugs I managed to go on somehow. My voice is still not really back (which sucks if you're a teacher, but whatever ...).

So my vacation was from 28th of December to 7th of January. Well officially from 1st to 7th, so I had to take some extra days off which I now "owe" my boss (exactly the same for all my other coworkers btw.).
I left on Sunday early in the morning to go by Shinkansen to Tokyo which takes about 5 hours. As you guys know I spent New Year's Eve and the days before and after that with Yumi and her family. I had a lot of fun. I also got to meet her boyfriend which she will marry in March (I really hope I can go to her wedding ceremony, but I still have no idea what's going on with my visa *sigh*), I FINALLY got to know her older brother + wife and we went to a Japanese farm where we made mochi together. It was really interesting. Some other random facts about Tokyo: I bought half of Akihabara and then moved on to Shibuya, Harajuku and Ikebukuro XD
I was in front of the Tokyo Dome for the first time of my life while NEWS (!!!) was having a concert in there and you could hear a liiiiittle bit from the outside which was ... like hell XDDDDD ARGH!! Let me in please!!
I met with ame_no_uta there and we had a lot of fun together.
I jumped into the new year with the Johnnys Countdown live (only on tv though).
Of all this stuff I don't have any photos anymore because (and that's probably the crappiest part of my vacation) my new camera (or rather the memory card) decided to delete them ALL!!! ;____; .....
The worst part about it all is that I managed to take GORGEOUS GREAT FABULOUS photos of Fuji-san out of the Shinkansen. You could see him completely and he was sooo beautiful I can't describe it.
Even all the Japanese people in the Shinkansen grabbed their cameras and took photos because it's really rare to see him THAT clearly.
All gone ;_______________________; *headdesk*

Second half of my vacation I spent in Aizu-Wakamatsu (Fukushima) and Sendai (Miyagi) together with bf_nightingale.
It was cold, it was fucking cold and at least in Aizu there was a LOT of snow .... almost as much as in my hometown in Germany. One might think I'm used to the cold and everything, but in my homecountry I stay at home or use my car. This time we were wandering around the whole day. I think that's the main reason why I'm still sick, but I don't regret it at all.
We weren't able to see THAT much, but .... yeah I guess that's because it was winter and things were closing even earlier than in summer. (x___X)
At least I only lost the photos of the first day in Aizu (pretty cool photos of the castle ;__; ...), I was able to save all the photos I took after that, so I guess my second memory card is safe ^^; .....

I don't have much time at my hands right now, so I'll only show you some photos.
I still haven't posted all the photos of my summer vacation anyway (^^') ... I need to finish those at first ^^;



A really nice botanical garden with a tea house (we took part in a short tea ceremony, too).



My first photos of Japan where things are covered with snow. Winter is definitely not the most beautiful season in Japan, but it was still kind of nice (just too cold).



Kaki anyone? We were wondering why they let the fruit still hang there when it's already over-ripe o__O; ....



Japanese graveyards covered with snow = beautiful ^^;



At least we had luck with the weather. It only snowed the first day, other than that we had sunshine or it was cloudy, but at least no snow or rain ^^;



One of the various photos I took inside of mansions and stuff.



As my camera has deleted all of the photos we took of the castle in Aizu-Wakamatsu, we had to rush there again on our 2nd day. As you can see we only managed to take photos at night.
As I wasn't alone this time, I might be able to get some photos back from the people I was with at that time: Yumi, ame_no_uta, bf_nightingale ... but the Fuji-san photos are really gone for good ;o; ....



God, I love those vibrant colors a lot. I learned that this kind of style is typical for the Momoyama era (thanks to bf_nightingale) - yes I really should read the pamphlets carefully and research once I'm home, but I simply don't have the time to do so ;___; ... makes me wanna study Japanese culture / religion / history even more *sigh*



We also went to Matsushima for a day trip wich is only a few minutes away from Sendai (by train). It's said to have one of the 3 most beautiful views in Japan and I guess it's true although I think it might have been more breathtaking in spring or autumn.
Nevertheless it was horribly beautiful and cruel, because we stopped approximately every 3 seconds to take photos XD



It was really beautiful there, but we were kind of shocked when we learned that EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING closed at (or even before) 5pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYTHING!!!! x____X ....



It was also interesting to visit all the different temples and shrines because there were still some people having their "hatsumode" (= first temple visit of the year) and we also saw that the people working at the temple/shrine were throwing away old stuff to make space for new things ^^; .... well, makes sense.



The view up from Sendai castle (which is non-existent anymore ;__; ...), but the view was GREAT ... although it was freaking cold up there.



As you can see there was not soooo much snow in Sendai and luckily it was warmer than in Aizu. Sometimes there was no snow at all ^^;



This pagoda was part of a Japanese garden we found by chance and WOAH it was sooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful!!! Maybe the most beautiful we've seen so far (*__*) (I'm talking about the garden, not the pagoda XD)



Of course I also took quite a few photos out of the Shinkansen again ^^; ....


A lot of food photos (but the best ones = New Year's meal) were deleted *sigh* x____X
I'll post them some other time.



Now a few photos of the stuff I bought this time *cough* *cough*




I couldn't resist those Kaomoji cups, I couldn't!!!
I don't own ANY CDs ... now I own 3. Who's at fault? Book Off and their evil "special offer thingie". Buy 3 and get one for free. I paid 500Yen for 3 CDs!!!! ^^; ...... That's nothing.



I also bought "some" doujinshi ^^; ... mostly Katekyo Hitman *ahem*



... but also Bleach ^^; ....



... Dragonball (and I finally FINALLY managed to get my hands on some rare VeggiexGoku doujinshis ^^) ....



... also Naruto, FMA, Yu Yu Hakusho, Prince of Tennis and Death Note :)



Did I mention that evil "special offter thingie" at Book Off? .... ^^;;; ..... ARGH!!! Evil! I tell ya! Evil!!



Uhm ... I mentioned Akihabara, right? (no comment) .. XDDDD
And can somebody please kill me? I just can't resist Pinkys although I already have so many that I don't know where to put them anymore (^^') .............. ...... ARGH! *headdesk*



Oh and Artbook love (*___*) I already looked through all of them and decided to keep them all (*___*) Some Jonnys photos again *rolleyes* and also a Bleach poster + a Hetalia map although I don't even know that series yet (^^*')



This time I also bought quite a few (expensive) souvenirs ^^; ............................



And ... that's it for now!
I'm back, but still busy like hell.
I'll try to answer comments later. I also need to update my sales entry asap.

I don't feel like going to work for various reasons *sigh*
I hope it'll get better (x_X)


Way to late, but:

Happy New Year!





Bye~bu (^-^)/~