New Years @ Fukui!

This new years was spent at Nana's hometown (Fukui　福井） which is about 3hrs North-East of Nagoya. Although I say it is 3 hours, because of heavy snow etc. it took me about 6 hrs to get there >

Anyway when I got to Fukui, I met her dad, and we drove another 30mins or so to get to their house.
When I got there, I met the family and they gave me dinner - sushi and yakitori (in actual fact, it was the first time I've had sushi since coming here because of the $) lol! Soo good-★! Also had beer and snacks whilst in the kotatsu in front of the TV..... just kept eating > <

And that was where we did the countdown- which was an EXILE countdown -_-; (A Japanese band, where there are 2 singers and a ridiculous number of dancers) But good nevertheless :)


 The next day everyone woke past midday, and we had お節料理(new years food) for breakfast (brunch), and there was lots of Mochi in the soup- which I couldn't finish :S But it was so tasty :D Also I receive an　お年玉 too! !  :O thankyou thankyou thankyou  ^  ^

 Then we drove to the temple for 初詣 which is what the Japanese people do on New Years. It was freezing > < And when we were there, I wasn't exactly sure what was going on... There was a monk and he was in front of a fire, hitting a bell with a little stick. lol There was also a guy drumming on the Taiko and guys chanting into a mic I assume, because the sound was coming out from a speaker above us. I think they were blessing some wooden planks with names of families who donated to the temple by waving them over the fire - but yeah, really not too sure what was going on. . .  When we left that place, Nana and I did an おみくじ and I got a 大吉 (very lucky fortune) :D Let's hope it's true !

We also went to see the sea, because Fukui is on the western shore of Japan. + The place we went to apparently is a famous cliff where people commit suicide o.O! (1 person/month average). It was freezing even more so there, the wind was fierce, and there was a bit of rain. Pretty brutal waves too... Nana used to work in a shop over there, so she said hi to her former boss, and borrowed some umbrellas temporarily- because we didn't have enough :P

Kouki (nana's bro) stayed at home 'cause he was tired and he went to the temple the night before. So afterwards we went to pick him up from home, and then we headed to their grandparent's place for dinner. There we had a feast, drank a lot, and talked for a good while-! I'm so sure I put on a few kilos during that short stay >< Gotta work it off when we get back to school. lol

Yupz- and then headed back home the next morning :( Was such a short stay~

But, it was super fun, and I am so glad that I was invited :D
Well that was my Japanese family experience for this exchange I guess :P Thank you so much Nana! (and the Takayama family) ^^　

本当に

本当に

本当にお世話になりました！！ありがとう！

アケオメ