Almost a White Christmas

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December 29th 2008

Published: December 29th 2008

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Willie J

Christmas Tree

Our small Christmas tree with gifts under it.

To those of you who are wondering.....Christmas is a little different in Japan! Christmas week began for me with the usual routine of school.....YES I had class the week of Christmas and even on Christmas day. I was a little upset by this but relieved at the same time because most of my professors canceled class anyway because the majority of foreigners probably would not have shown up anyway. I had to goto one class on Christmas Eve but I skipped the Tea Ceremony class on Christmas day...( I figured it was pretty much the only time I could use the excuse of a religious holiday since most Christian holidays are observed in America) Christmas day itself was quite quiet for me as I spent most of it at my dorm calling people and thinking about what to cook for the Christmas party at my dorm.....all that thinking eventually left me no time to cook anything so I ended up just buying some cookies and milk : ) We ate lots of food at the party and exchanged gifts with our secret santas. The party almost went off without a hitch until Yamazaki san (Mr. Yamazaki- the manager of my dormitory)

Delicious Food

Lots of food and sweets....WoW..look at those great store bought cookies to the bottom right that Willie made! : )

set the wrapping paper from his gift down onto one the candles on the table and let it catch on fire! It was a pretty crazy ten seconds because at one point the fire was on the table....then on the floor.....and THEN kicked under Marion's skirt because another girl reacted to quickly!

After that dramatic episode I turned up the Christmas carol music and got everyone to sing along to a couple of Christmas favorites. Soon after about three songs we were all told to turn down the music and help clean up because the party was set to end at 9PM but I wasn't quite ready for it to end because I wanted to celebrate as much as possible since I did not have the opportunity to be surrounded by my family back home in Atlanta. So about 15 minutes after the party at my dorm ended me and my friend Morgan who lives on the floor below me, got on our bikes and headed to Rits House 2 which is another dormitory near mine. The dorm managers at Rits House 2 are much more lenient and allowed the party their to continue until the wee hours of

Is that Sana?

No.....its Sylvia's dad...haha

the night. I mingled with my other friends their for a bit and then I was invited by my friends Tish, Dan, and Jun to head downtown for a birthday party for one of our classmates at school. Now I heard about this party a couple of weeks ago but I truly no intentions of going to a club party on Christmas night.....but....I admit that it was a little different than past Christmas but it seemed like fun.

So we dropped off our bikes at Lapita which is a dorm near campus....and got in a cab headed for downtown. The party was pretty kewl as it was in a small little club and was with only from people from our school for the most part. Lots of dancing, eating and drinking (haha...which I omitted! honestly).....

And then about 3AM in the morning we were tolled that it was SNOWING outside.....and it was! So I snapped a couple of pictures and on the way home (at 4AM!!) the snow was starting to stick and I began to become a little concerned as to how well I would ride my bike in this type of weather since I an from

Yamazaki san

Yamazaki-san about to cause the fire!

Atlanta and we rarely ever see snow! Turns out it wasn't so bad and I got home safely at around 5:30AM. I woke up a couple of hours later to see that it was still snowing a little : ) and a few more hours later on into the day....the sun came out and melted it all : ( A really different kind of Christmas but I am glad that I experienced it.....and it was ALMOST a white Christmas but better luck next year I suppose : )

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