Happy 2016! It’s been a while since I last updated on my life in Nagoya. After my semester ended I spent about a week and a half in Hong Kong. It was nice seeing all the festive cheer in HK during the holiday season. It definitely felt more like Christmas there than it did in Nagoya. The only downside was that Christmas Day landed on the 15th of the Lunar Calendar, which meant my grandma ate vegetarian the entire day. Needless to say there wasn’t any turkey, much less chicken for my Christmas dinner. Lol.

After coming back to Japan I was able to spend the New Year’s holiday with my host family. New Year’s is a way bigger deal in Japan than back home. I think it’s equivalent to Chinese New Year’s where everyone makes a trip back to their hometown to celebrate with their families.

On New Year’s Eve my host family has a tradition of eating toshikoshi soba for lunch. Dinner that night was quite extravagant as they opened their osechi boxes and paired it with my favourite shabu shabu. Then we spent most of the night in front of the TV watching Kohaku Uta Gassen, followed by my favourite Johnny’s Countdown. It was a great way to ring in the new year. =P

On New Year’s Day we started off breakfast with a dish called ozoni. Then Yuka, Ecchan and I walked towards Narumi Jinja where we joined the lineup of people there for hatsumode, which is the first shrine visit for the New Year. I was pretty lucky I got a 小吉 as my fortune for my first omikuji of the year!

After eating more mochi for lunch and helping with some of the preparations for the big family gathering that night, Eriko-san arrived in the afternoon and dressed me up in one of her kimonos. I was really impressed that she managed to do it so quickly and also by herself!

Later that evening was our big New Year’s feast. I think I lost count of the amount of people who came over for dinner. There were two long tables set up to fit everyone. It was nonstop eating from the moment everyone arrived. The best part of the evening was probably the bingo game where we all ended up winning prizes. =D

I spent the second day of the New Year’s holiday in Kariya visiting my host mom’s father. Aside from devouring all the beautifully presented boxes of osechi, I also received otoshidama from the elders. I’m so grateful that I was included in all these festivities. Everyone treated me as part of the family. =)

My last bit of New Year’s update is that I finally moved out on my own! While I had the most amazing experience staying with a host family for the first three months, I figured it was time I got a taste of real independence. Overall it took me about three days to get settled in. Having stayed in a Japanese home definitely helped with the transition. Now that I’ve comfortably relocated, my next big step is to finally find a job. Wish me luck!