Yes Ma'am?

One thing no one prepared me for when I moved to Louisiana, was the differences in etiquette or manners if you'd rather. The first time I met the boy's parents I was told to be on my best behavior. Turns out we had a different definition of what, "best behavior" meant.

In the South when you're asked a question you're not really supposed to say "yes," defiantly not "yeah," and probably not even "no, thank you." It turns out the correct response is actually "Yes, Ma'am" or "No, Sir" or any combination of the like. I didn't realize people said this in real life still! It completely sounds like something from the movies or 100 years ago. Needless to say I did not make a very good first impression.

I have however, tried to improve. I did try it out on my parents when I was home that first year for the holidays. (My dad told me it sounded awkward and like I was trying to hard.) I got most adept at using those responses at work. Particularly when I had to make phone calls to people, or when I worked after school care and had to talk to parents. Honestly, most often now I'll be in a situation where I'll answer yes (or more realistically yeah) to a question, and my immediate thought afterwards will be, "That would have been a perfect time for a yes, sir"

Of course, if I do wind up having children with the Boy, he (and his parents) will expect our children to be well versed in their Ma'ams and Sirs. Maybe be that time I will have been here long enough to recognize when you're supposed to say it. We can hope...

8 Crazy Nights

So tonight is the last night of Hanukkah. I finally made latkahs tonight, and I think they turned out pretty good. At least a WHOLE lot better than last year when I didn't have enough oil. So I figured a quick recap of my favorite, or at least my most amusing presents.

So my parents send me dresses for my American Girl dolls. (Yes, I am 24, but I figure it's a collectors item! And worse case scenario I can pass them along to m daughter.) First was an outfit my mom actually sewed. A Renaissance Faire out! It was so cute. A shirt, bodice, an underskirt, an overskirt, and a belt. Pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Then actually sent by Pleasant Company, or I guess really Mattel now, was Felcity's new pink holiday's dress. Second was a Silver-y outfit for my doll of today. Now, they have stated sending mini stories along with the Doll of Today outfits (or Just Like You dolls, as they call them now). I guess to try to get girls to read more. They don't really tell you what book included is about, but more of, "This is a book about friendship." So imagine my surprise when I turned over my copy of Friends on thin ice to read

Shoshanna and Gemma are two girls from very different worlds. Read how they find out what it really means to be best friends.

How funny is that! Now obviously it is a different spelling of Shoshanah, but it was still pretty surreal to read a story with my name in it. I can't say that happens very often when your name is Shoshanah!

Merry Christmas?

So Thursday was Christmas, clearly. It's funny I was definitely looking forward to it, and was awfully excited about it. But once it was Christmas, it was kind of like, "That's it?" We sent the day at the Boy's parents (that's their tree in the picture). And we opened presents, and ate food, and watched the Boy's niece play with her mini-basketball hoop. It all just felt a little off.

I think part of me doesn't feel like it was Christmas, since I'm not at home. That maybe if I was spending time with my parents, and my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle and cousin and brother then maybe it would feel like Christmas. But that's kind off taking the easy way it. It's definitely much more than that. It's been a long time since I've woken up early on Christmas, all excited because, "It's Christmas!" And I don't really think it's going to happen again. There isn't going to be a time when the holiday really lives up to all the hype. Maybe when I have kids, and I'm able to see Christmas through their eye, but even so... it won't be quite the same. I not really a big fan of this whole growing up thing...

So tonight is Christmas Eve. It so does not feel like Christmas time at all. I think part of it is that for the first time I have a full time job and am not in school this year. We were supposed to go see the Bonfires in Lutcher, but it's been raining all day and it looks like it'll be raining all night. So it doesn't look like that is going to happen. :( I figured I'd at least post a picture of the bonfires from last year.

So Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all!

Hair-raising

So last night we went to go see "8 lbs," the new Will Smith. I actually did like it. The big plot twist the critics didn't like? Well about 20 mins into the movie the Boy says, "This is what's going to happen..." and sure enough the movie played out like clockwork.

So after the movie we get to the car, and the Boy opens my door for me like normal. He waits till I get in and closes the door behind me. I go to reach over to unlock the door for him, and realize I can't move my head. He had shut part of my hair in the door!

He gets to his door expecting it to be unlocked, and I kinda gesture to my head. He pretty much ran around the car to free me.

In hindsight, I could have easily unlocked my door and freed myself, but I think I was so shocked by the whole situation that I never thought of it!

Sunday Afternnoon

So I spent the afternoon at Starbucks, which is quickly becoming my favorite weekend pastime (Gingerbread latte, a pastry - a apple pear harvest bar, and magazines). Being there and reading all of these different magazines, makes me want to be doing all these different hobbies. I want to blog more often. I want to do project 365 and take a photo every day in 2009. I want to start scrapbooking again.

I feel like every time I think, "I want to be do [this]", I always end it with, "when this happens" Like once I move into a new apartment I will have a place to scrapbook. Or once a get engaged and have to start planning a wedding I will have things to blog about. Or once I have children I will have reasons to make a scrapbook. So often I feel like I'm living the in between right now. That I'm in the middle of being a grown-up and a little kid, and I'm not quite sure where I fit in. It's kind of like I'm not really living right now, so I need to wait around till real life starts.

But life is still going on right now. This isn't just me wait for life to start. Real life is already here, and unless I stop making excuses, I'm always going to be waiting for something... Even when I hit what I consider to be, my "real life". So I'm making a vow to myself to try and make the most of what's here, right now.

~Shoshanah

2008 In Review

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Alot of things now that I'm thinking about it. Got a full time job. Went to Japan.
Went to Isreal

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I actually did keep my new years resolution.
And my goal for next year is maybe to work out and lose weight? Nothing official yet, so we'll see

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I don't believe so

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No body close to me

5. What countries did you visit?
Japan and Isreal!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Better control of my finances

7. What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
July 15th is when I started working at my company as a temp. I can't think of any other dates that correspond with anything... except of corse my birthday

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting a Masters in Math... who would have thought

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not neccessarily a failure, but I feel like I should have started looking for a job, way before I did.


10. Did you suffer any illness or injury?
I can't think of anything, so I guess nothing serious

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I'm really not that big of a spender... Samantha maybe? But only becuase that just happened

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Myself, getting a MS

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Sarah Palin

14. Where did most of your money go?
Student loans and food

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to Isreal

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
"I kissed a Girl" by Kate Perry

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier, esp because I don't have to worry about studying
ii. thinner or fatter? def a little fatter, yuck
iii. richer or poorer? Richer becuase I make more money.
Poorer becuase I am acutlly paying off my loans

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Saving money

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Started paying off my loans BEFORE I was required too

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With the Boy's family

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I already was... wow that sounds chilched

22. How many one-night stands?
0

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Jon and Kate Plau 8, Brothers and Sisters

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't believe so

25. What was the best book you read?
"The Host" I did read the Twilight books this year but I liked this on better.


26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Ummm Kate Perry? I'm not much of a music person

27. What did you want and get?
A full time job

28. What did you want and not get?
More money?

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
The only one that stands out of all of them is, "Miss Pettegrew Lives for a Day"

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 24. My parents came to visit me, and we went to Commander's Palace for dinner.


31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I'll get back to you on this one.


32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
out of...

33. What kept you sane?
The Boy maybe

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Brad Pitt? I like the whole dad thing I guess

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
I guess the election kinda encompasses them all

36. Who did you miss?
All my friends not in Louisiana

37. Who was the best new person you met?
I like everyone I work with

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
How about, I would much rather stay kis forever.
Does that count?

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Childhood was for fantasies, nursey rhymes, and toys"

Hurricane Gustav

I officially have power and internet back so I figure this deserves an update. Especially since most people I talk to seem to have no idea that a hurricane even hit Baton Rouge.

So let's see... the hurricane officailly hit on Monday September 1, which was labor day, so luckily most people were off from work. Of corse there were a few pre-hurricane problems, like going to the bank on Sunday and not having the touch screen working, or having the movie theater closed on Sunday night. Anyways we slept in on Monday and woke up at around noon, just after the power had gone out. We hung out at the house and pretty much read.

That night we went over to the Boy's sister's mother and father-in-law's house. The drive there was pretty freaky. Of corse power was out everywhere, so it was pretty much pitch black, and they were HUGE trees just lying down in the middle of the street. But they at least had a genterator so some lights were on as was a fan. When we first got there the UCLA game was on, however the cable went out a bit after.

Tuesday work had been canceled so we spent most of the day reading and playing Uno. At around 4-ish we drove to the Boy's parents house since the area around them was starting to get power back. Also at this point curfews were in place, there was a 6pm curfew in Livingston Parish which is where the Boys's parents live and a 8pm curfew in EBR parish were we live.

There was some power and lights that were working on the drive over. After about 3 tries we actually found a working atm and were able to get cash out. And there were some gas stations open, all of which had about 3 hour lines.

Unfortunatly, there was no power at the actually house. They did have a generator, but that was mainly running the refridgerators. We spent that night playing scarble and life (the way old skool origonal version)

Wednesday I actually had to go back to work, which wasn't that bad since they were running off a generator, so there was air conditioning and I could charge my cell phone, plus they brought us lunch.

Wednesday night, thankfully the Boy's parents got power. Mindy, and Jazz and the Sadie, came over then to enjoy the air conditioning. I wanna say we did hot dogs and hamburgers for diner that night. We all played gin rummy that night and of corse got to watch tv. Since the guys had to watch tv and it was the only football game on we watched Motre Dei vs Carson at Vets Stadium.

Thurday work again, still the same. We were running off a generator, they bought us food, most stop lights were still off in the city, ridiculous lines for gas. That night Matt and Lacey and their son also spent the night at Boy's parents' house to partake in the air conditioning. We did fish for diner and all played clue.

Friday I had work again, this was technically our first day being pretty much fully operational and they brought us lunch again. I got gas as I left work, bc I happened to drive by a station w/o a line. Although at this poin most gas stations that hadd opened had normal pre-hurricane lines. Friday night we did spighetti and played life (the new simpson's version).

No work on Saturday for me, so I pretty much hung out and read most of the day. The LSU football game had been rescheduled, but fortunatly for most people there were football games on tv.

Power came back to the house last night so we ventured back this morning. The city is slowly making its way back and getting power again, although it looks like Hurricane Ike might also be coming next Saturday, so let's hope things aren't nearly as bad a week from now. (as it is EBR parish schools aren't even starting school till Monday Sept 15)

I didn't really take pictures because the Boy said that would be too tourit-y, but really my camera didn't have much of a charge. Here's a quick one of the Boy doing homework by candle light on Wednesday


Well its guess that's it for now yo!
~Shoshanah

P.S. yeah, it doesn't really look like I'll be writing about the rest of my Isral trip, but there are always the pictures to look at on my flickr sight yo

Israel - June 16

June 16
We started off the day by waking up at 4am to climb Masada for sunrise. We had a short drive to get to the base of Masada. Once we were there the sky was starting to look all pretty and we were really afraid we were going to miss sunrise. We walked about via the Roman ramp, which is pretty much the easy way to do it. We did it pretty quickly since we were so afraid we were going to miss the actual sunrise. I wanna say it was about 20 mins or so. But honestly it was almost perfect timing. We got to one of the towers just as the sun was rising.

After the sun had officially risen Gidi gave us a tour of the ruins. Masada was originally built by King Herod. He was pretty much the king of the Jews appointed by the Romans. Masada was pretty much built as a vacation home. As Gidi said he probably went there once every 3 years, but they had to be ready at any time. The majority of what we spent our time looking at was the roman baths and the store rooms.

The second period at Masada was after the destruction of the 2nd temple. There was a sect of Jews that escaped from Jerusalem and captured Masada from the few guards there. There were several structural changes we saw from this period such as the baths being turned into a mikvah and a synagogue. Of course the Romans didn’t really want a Jewish city, so they went to capture it. The built a ramp to get up to the city, (ie the path we took up) and overtook it. Masada is famous because once the soldiers finally captured it and made it inside, all the Jews had killed themselves and were dead. They figured it would be better to end their lives free than be killed or raped or enslaved. Of course no one knows how true the story is. There was a Roman historian that wrote down what happened as well as names. However, once Israel got possession of the Negev desert after the 6 days war, they were able to do evacuations. Interestingly enough they uncovered stones that had the same names from the story dating from the correct time period.

When it was time to head down we took the easy. Most group take what is called the snake path. A switch back path that goes back and forth ALL the way down the mountain. He however took a cable car down the mountain, mainly to save more time so we could do more doing the day. We stopped at another youth hostel for breakfast then went on our way.

The second thing we did that day was a hike. I want to say it was at En Gedi. I think that’s what it was called I don’t remember exactly. The hike was fun because it ended at a waterfall. Gidi had us wear our bathing suits under our clothes so we were all able to go swimming. Very refreshing. And since it was so hot by the time we starting walking we were pretty much dry.

After the hike we drove to the Dead Sea. Since it’s such a big body of water there’s obviously a bunch of places you can get to it. Something that I hadn’t really thought about before. We wound up going to the spa, literally called something like the Dead Sea Spa. They did have an actual spa there with sulfur baths along with a private part of the beach roped off. When they originally built the building it pretty much was built right on the shore. However since the Dead Sea is disappearing, since Israel is using most of the water which used to originally get deposited in it, they now have a tram driving people back and forth to the Dead Sea. While you can walk, it is a bit of a hike.

The Dead Sea is totally what you expect it to be. Literally you just kinda lift your legs up and you’re floating. The water is so salty though its dangerous to get in your eyes or mouth. They tell you not to go under; also they have an eye wash of fresh water floating in the sea. Everyone said that being in the Dead Sea was really painful. Like it would burn your legs and any cuts you might have. I think because I was really expecting the worst, I didn’t really notice anything.

Since we didn’t have a lot of time we stopped floating so we could have time to coat ourselves with mud. In the hurry to get back on the tram off course, I left my sunglasses on my car. O well, they were pretty cheap in the first place. We got to the mud and coated it pretty much everywhere. Arms, legs, face, the whole nine yards. After a few pictures, we rinsed it off first with a salt water rise. Then our faces and everything else with plain water.

We went inside the spa for lunch then. Gidi bought us tickets which included a main course, the salad bar, bread, dessert, and juice. The food wasn’t amazing, like most the food we didn’t have to pay for. But like I said it was free.

After eating quickly we were back on the bus. We stopped at an Ahavah outlet on the way to Jerusalem. Just outside the city we picked up our solders. We had 4 guys and 3 girls. Since the people on our trip we kinda older, they gave us officers most of whom were around 22-ish. When we got to the hotel they had this woman from New Zealand come and do ice breakers. Of course we were all exhausted, and kinda smelled from the mud. But it was an interesting experience. We had diner and then went out in Jerusalem.

We spent the first part of the night on Ben Yehuda Street. Of course the highlight was walking past Shoshanah’s bar. I wouldn’t have noticed it, but Moshiko, one of our Israelis, pointed it out to me. When I had told him my name at diner he was kinda stunned that an American had such an Israeli name.

After walking around a bit we all met up to go to a bar. Pretty much the only people at the bar were other birthright groups. It was a fun place though. There were two floors. The top floor had a dance floor and an outside bar, and the bottom floor was like a lounge. At first the dance floor was empty, but me, Sara, and Micki went out on the dance floor, and eventually it was full. One from instance from that night was when we were dancing the guy came up behind Sara and started dancing with he. She kinda moved her way to the other side of the circle away from him. Micki was like, “How old are you?” When he said he was 19, she told him Sara was 24. He responed, “I don’t care,” to which Micki responded, “Well she does.” He was actually pretty made about the experience, but overall it was pretty amusing.

Israel!

I didn’t really mean to turn this into a travel blog, but I just never update. And crazy as it is I took two pretty huge vacations this year. SOOO I got back from Israel this past Tuesday, so I will at least attempt to write something up before I forget anything.
June 12
I left. I flew JetBlue from New Orleans to JFK airport in NYC. My flight got in about an hour and a half-ish before Sara’s did. I bought a magazine and waited for her flight to come in. Surprisingly we had the exact same baggage claim. Anyways as we were trying to figure out how to get to the El Al terminal, we realized a bunch of kids on Sara’s flight from Boston were also doing Birthday. So we took the tram with them over to our meeting spot. It was about 5pm now, but we weren’t actually supposed to meet up with our group till 7:30. So as we’re about to walk off to get something to eat, two more girls join the group. We realized that there were two birthright groups on our flight. The ones we’d been hanging out with before were with a different Boston area group. The two new girls (Alyssa and Rachel) were on our Young Professional / Grad Student trip.

So we went to dinner met up with our whole group at 7:30, then attempted to get through El Al security. Now there’s a reason why El Al is considered to be the safest airline. They took each person one by one and grilled them. Like for me they asked if I spoke Hebrew, what my Hebrew name was, where I learned Hebrew, where my parents went to temple, the name of my rabbi. I know they asked one girl to sing the four questions. But we all made it through security, had enough time to buy snacks, and an ice breaker. At the gate along with two girls Micki and Elana, and a guy Seth we played a game to see if we could guess what color gummi bear we were eating.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful. I was passed out most of it. I remember afterwards someone mentioning diner on the plane, which I don’t recall at all, so I must have slept through it. I do remember breakfast though, which included granola that was pretty good.


June 13
We arrived on Friday at about 5-ish. After going through customs and everything, we pretty much raced through the airport since Shabbat was about to start. The airport was literally deserted, since it was Shabbat. We got our luggage and got on the bus. There we met Gidi, our tour guide, Maxim, our bus driver, Ahikam or Cohen, our bodyguard and medic, and Benji, who was kinda our Israel Experience coordinator.

We got to the hotel, checked in had diner. After diner we did what you could call a mini Shabbat. We had these packets, with a bunch of stuff in them, but all we really tried was L’cha Dodi. Then we talked about a few rules and regulations and what we were expecting to get out of the trip.

We went out to the bar across the street that night. It was on the beach, and it really just gave everyone a good chance to get to know eachother.


June 14
Since this was Saturday and Shabbat. So most of the day was spent laying out on the beach. There was a small incident when 3 people got stung by a jellyfish, but other than that it was fairly uneventful. We did have one quick discussion where we talked about what we were looking forward to and what made a person Jewish. Somewhat surprisingly I was probably in the top 8 or so of the more Jewish ones on the trips. For example there were some guys that had been raised more Christian, but felt they were Jewish culturally.

After dinner at the hotel, we did a brief Havdallah outside. Then we all went out in Tel Aviv. We went to a bar called Mike’s place, which pretty much came off as an American sports bar. They were playing a Euro Cup soccer game, which honestly was on at most bars throughout the trip.

At the end of the night a bunch of us walked over to a different bar across the street. Half of this bar was set up on the beach. The beach part had hookahs on it, with pillows surrounding them on the sand. They had these red lights up, and music playing. We all felt we should have spent the entire night there inside of at Mike’s Place.


June 15
This was our first full day. We left pretty early, probably around 7-ish. That was the standard time for the trip. We drove about 2 hour-ish to get down to the Negev desert. We went on a small hike so we could experience what it would be like walking along in the desert. It wasn’t really that long and there was a group of high school age orthodox Jewish girls doing the hike at the same time. They spent their whole time singing loud slightly obnoxious songs, while Gidi wanted us to experience the quiet of the desert. The two goals didn’t quite match up. There was a small waterfall at the end of the hike, what you could technically call an oasis.

Afterwards we went to David Ben-Gurion’s house. He was Israel first Prime Minister, and several years in his term he retired to live on a kibbutz in the desert. After he died he donated his house as a museum, and that was what we went to. It was a pretty small house, esp considering he had been the prime minister. One of the neatest things there was his library which had a wide variety of books, some which you might expect such as The History of the Jewish People, and others you might not such as math science, and psychology books.

Afterwards we went to ride camels. They had us pair up with a partner, and they tried to spilt us up so the camels had a somewhat even weight distribution. The camels were tired together and they pretty much led us on a walk. It was very picturesque, but extremely uncomfortable. And if it was bad for me, you can only imagine how it felt for the boys in the group. It’s def something I’m glad I can say I did, but it wasn’t quite enjoyable per se.

At the same place at the camels were the Bedouin tents. We had what they call a Bedouin hospitality. They first gave us hot tea. It was really sweet and really good. The point of the tea is to get you to sweat, so that your body cools down. Then they made us coffee. They used a grinder that has become somewhat of a musical instrument for them. The coffee was pretty good, although they didn’t use anytime of strainer so there were bits of coffee grinds in it. At the end they gave us each a piece of baklava, and then gave of a chance to play the coffee grinder.

At the end they opened up the floor for questions. Sara asked if they actually lived at the village. The guy who had been talking to us said that no he was Jewish, and that he didn’t live there. The guy who made the coffee for us, and didn’t say anything was however actually Bedouin. As we were walking away Sara told Cohen how she was a little disappointed that it was a real Bedouin and a real Bedouin village. Cohen told us the problem was Bedouins don’t speak English only Arabic, and that therein was the problem. So in some ways it was more of a tourist attraction, but still informative nonetheless. We left after that and didn’t spend the night at the tent, which is an experience some group get to do. Roy, who was one of our Marichim, said when he went last year they got to. While he said it was fun, he wound up having to climb Masada on about 3 hours of sleep, which was not so fun.

We then went to our lodging for the night, which was at a youth hostel. It was a very nice youth hostel there. They had small buildings all over the property. While we only had 3 in a room, they rooms could have easily fit 5, since it had 2 beds, a bunk bed, and a trundle.

I’m going to end this entry for now. Yes I still have the majority of the trip to write about. But if I don’t upload something now, I might not get anything up. So next time, Masada, En Gedi, dead sea, and Jerusalem.

Family Vacay to Japan

So I guess the best way to update about my trip to Japan is just to edit my e-mails, so it will prob seem a little jumpy, but here goes:

March 16:
We just got back from being up in the mountains where we got to see Mt. Fuji. I`ver eaten a ridiculous amount if crazy stuff, like fish that have eyes and stuff. We`ll be in Toyko pretty much the rest of the time we`re here. I:m trying to get my parents to go to Tokyo Disney, so we`ll see if that happens.

Would you have eaten the cold semi-cooked poached egg at breakfast today? (Out of the 4 of us only Josh ate it.)

our plane was reallllly late. We litterally had to sprint all the way across the airport to make our connection. (We landed at gate 42 and left from gate 7) Plus we had to exit security and go back through, and of corse as we're almost at the gate they annouced over the intercom that boarding was closing. But we made it. Our lugage did not. And the next Northwest flight to Japan wasn't till the following day.And then they had to ship it to us. But we got it yesterday.

Then over the weekend we were at this Japenese bed and breakfast type place called a ryokan. It was like one of those traditional Japenese places where they lay out mats on the ground for you to sleep on. We did like a pottery class there. And they like served us 12 coarse meals in our room each night. With some really weird food. Octopus, baby eel, and alot of stuff I don`t know the name for. I did better at eating everything the 2nd night, I think it was because I was less tired. O! And there was all a hot spring there, and we booked a private one together.

March 17:
So I`m back. We had the breakfast buffet, which was all types of stuff. A bunch of pasties, fresh fruit, salad, miso soup, pancakes... I had hot chocolate and they gave me my own little like kettle? I don`t know the word I`m looking for, like POT duh. My own little pot of hot chocolate.

Did I tell you my suitcase broke? It was when we were getting off the subway yesterday on the way to our new hotel. I had my rolling suitcase, and pulled on the handle to roll it off, and the handle came with me, but not so much the rest of the suitcase. Luckily my dad was right behind me to pick everything up.

After we check into our new hotel today, we planning on stopping at this 3 story art store. We went there last night, but got there 5 mins before it closed, and we didn`t make it past the 1st floor (they had like Japenese type scrapbooking stickers there) Last night we also
went to this other multi-level store. From the outside it looked some some touristy junk, but once you went inside there was so much there. The 1st floor was like costumes and underwear and t-shirt. The basement (which we never actually went to) was like food and household goods. I don@t remember what was on the third floor, but the 4th was all electronics, and then
the fifth floor was all designer bags. Like coach purses and louis vuitton, and prada, and gucci. Kinda ridiculous, but unfortunatly it was all pretty much full price.

Lets see... what else. Sunday when we were up in the mountains we took one of the gondola cabel type things and got to see Mt Fuji. Normally when you go up there its to cloudy to see it but the weather was perfect for us. Then at the top there was a volcanic typr hot springs.
Me and Josh walked to the top of it, and they sold like hard-boiled eggs that had been cooked in the hot srpings water. The outisde of the eggs were like black from the sulfur, but on the inside it tasted like a regular hard boiled egg.

I still need to pack up all my stuff. Check out time at this hotel is 11 (its 9:45 right now) But were not supposed to check into our other hotel untill 2 I think. Me and my mom our just taking a taxi with all the bags to the other hotel. My dad`s actually a some type of
bussiness type meeting right now. My brother went along to translate. This trip would have been so much harder with out him he to translate for us. We had lunch with his host mom yesterday, and she spoke no English, and we spoke no Japenese so it was interesting. Did I tell you we made pottery too when we were up in Hakone (ie the mountains)?

Also the town we were in had a Little Prince musuem. You know the french book? We had no idea why it was here and Japan and it was just so random because they had so many artifacts. The authors childhood bed. The first book he wrote as a child. His passport. A bunch of
family pictures. So weird, and then there was a french type garden which was a replica of the garden at St. Auxpery's childhood home. Cute but so random.

March 18
We went to a park in hopes to see cherry blossoms today. They're just on the verge of blooming but not quite. There were a few buds on some trees that had started opening, but nothing too crazy. But with the amount of trees there were you can see how pretty it would be.

March 19
There was one tiny cherry tree that had blooms open. But most of them you could just see the buds ready to put. My parents told Josh he needs to come back in like a week because theyll def be in bloom by then.

We're going to Toyko Disney tomorow! AT least we're planning to. Although not like the main park, but Disney sea. I was looking at a map and they have like a mermaid cove there. I'm really excited. They were origonally going to build Disney sea in Long Beach, but plans fell through and they figured itd make more money in Japan. From the looks of the map they have like a Queen Mary replica there too.

So yes, thats Friday. And then Saturday we flight home. We leave Sat morning fly for 18 hours and then arrive Sat afternoon. Then Sunday I fly back to the other LA and I will be able to see you then. I've already read all four of the magazines I brought with me to read. I do have two books though, but Ill prob buy a new magazine to read on Sunday. Plus on the flight
to Japan we had our own little tv where we could play games and like watch a billion different types of movies. I was "The Aristocats" and "The rescuers" Two Disney movies of corse.

March 20
Lesson learned today: When climbing a mountain walking on dirt roads and stone steps in the rain Uggs are not the correct shoe to wear. Also a Vera Bradley bag is not the correct bag to have esp when it keep slipping off your sholder due to the big peacoat. We hiked up to
a 1300 year old temple today. It was really pretty but it took like forever to get there. First we took the metro like 15 mins. Then we changed to like a metro train going out of the city, and were on that for an hour. Then we could have taken another train, but instead took
a bus. And the bus dropped us off at the start of the walking trail. Which was like a 2km walk uphill. In the rain. Not that fun. But the temple was pretty and all in all it was a fun place.

That was pretty much all we did today since we spent so much time traveling. We got back to the hotel, and wound up going to this restaurant. Which had like this chicken soup kinda thing, and then they put soba noodles in at the end. We also got like some chicken wings.

O! The other reason we went to the temple is because the city its near is famous for its eel. (Yuck) But Josh really wanted to try some. So we went to this restaurant to get some. Me and my mom didn't really feel like eel so we got tofu instead. It was like 2 cubic inches worth
of tofu total. Well for each of us. They gave us rice too but I wasn't really hungry so it was fine.

March 21
Well I have no more e-mails, but I can write what went down our last day. We did go to Disney Sea this day. We got there at like 9 and stayed till 5-ish. So about 6 hours, and we managed to go on 5 rides. About 1 every hour which isn't bad. We did: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Journey to the Center of the Earth, Stormrider, Sinbad's Storybook Adventure, and Indiana Jones and the curse of the Crystal Skull.

The Saturday night we went to Roppongi Hills to get a skyline view of the city. We had chinese food for dinner. Afterwards when we went to the bathroom I noticed something interesting about the toliets. See almost every one we used had some type of spray on a remote. Most also had buttons for seatwarming and de-orderizing. But this was the first one with a music button! You pressed it and it just made the sound of flushing, but I'm sure there's ones out there programed with other things, so of corse no one actullay hears you as your going.

And well that is my trip to Japan. Jumbled I know, but I hope it was at least somewhat comprehendable.

~Shoshanah

I'm thinking about making dinner tonight. I'm kinda feeling making chicken breats filled with feta and olives, which I'm sure I will love, and the Boy will choke down.

Valentine's day was this past week. Which, while not neccessarily surprising, was still fun. I went and bought a new dress, even now I'm not completely sure how I feel about it. I really like the cut and shape and fabric of the dress, but not neccessarily sure how I feel about the pattern. Don't worry I will post pictures, so you can let me know what you think. I bought the Boy the next two books in the series he's reading, and a Barnes and Nobles' membership. We've both been putting off buying it, but the amount of money we spend at B&N makes it SO worth it. (I already have a Borders reward care, which was free, but there are no Borders in Baton Rouge) The Boy bought me a Vera Bradly purse which I've been wanting for the longest time. Yes, I did get two Coach purses formy birthday (One from the Boy, one from my parents) but neither of them are good everyday purses. I esp wanted a purse I could take with me to the Y every week.

We were origonally going to go to Mike Anderson's for dinner, but they didn't take reservations, and the wait was around an hour and a half. So we went to the new Kona Grill, which was really good, and had an interesting selection of food. I got a Maui Onion soup and Pad Thai and the Boy got Pork Tenderloin with White Cheddar Mashed Potatos. I was origonally going to get Passion Fruit Creme Brulee, but the Boy really wanted to split the Ultimate Brownee. So we decided that we'd come back, probably when I have a new job to celebrate, and I'd get creme brulee then. The brownee, with ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, was good, but similar to what you can get anywhere.

After dinner we saw Definately, Maybe with Abigail Breslin and Ryan Renolds. It had an interesting idea, but was pretty much a failure at executing it. It had cute moments, but was must really long. We saw Jumper last night, which again had its moments, but just wasn't amazing.

So before I end, a few pictures. The first is me and the Boy before heading out, and the second is my new Vera Bradley purse


all for now,
~Shoshanah