Wednesday, January 13, 2010

New Year's in Tokyo, Japan

I'll be heading down to a class on Google Tools tomorrow and Friday. As part of the class we'll be using GoogleEarth and have been asked to bring 5 photos (digital) relating to our personal histories. This is one that I'm taking.

This is me. Age 18. In Tokyo, Japan. I spent my first college Christmas break in Japan, visiting the family that hosted me in the summer of 1988. New Year's in Japan is a BIG DEAL! To celebrate, they dressed me up in this silk kimono and we toured some of the popular shopping areas in Tokyo. I received many stares, got lots of attention, and loved the experience! (Note: My big American feet wouldn't fit into traditional Japanese wooden sandals. I wore the split toe socks with flip flops. Oh well.)

My mother was an exchange student for a summer during high school. I think that's what made me want to have a similar experience. She went to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and I went to Tokyo, Japan. I soaked up all that I could and had a fabulous host family who took me to many great locales. I'm still in touch with my Japanese family. We exchange e-mails throughout the year and presents at Christmas time.

As of this writing I don't forsee that any of my children will be foreign exchange students, but they have expressed a desire to use their passports before they expire in 2012. (Kids' passports are only good for 5 years -- but cost only $10 less than adult passports.)

Well, that's it for today. And if you were wondering, YES, I loved Japanese food. (Gained almost twenty pounds in the 2 months I was there in 1988.)

5 comments:

Linda said...

Christie,
It's great to have a fresh post from you! Keep it up.

Suko said...

How exciting that you went to Japan! Cute photo! Have a good class--I'm sure you will learn a lot.

Science Teacher Mommy said...

Gorgeous!

Cox Clan said...

Good to see you blogging again. Thanks for sharing such a fun memory. Hope to see you friday night.

Angie said...

Love the picture Christie. And the whole kids passport thing really bugs me. Especially since we got ours for our kids 3 years ago and apparenty they had JUST changed postponed the regulations meaning we didn't need them anymore (for the cruise we were taking them on. ) and the Post Office didn't even tell us! I have a problem with paying the government for things we don't need! :) But they have them!