recap on the last month or so

Hello again, I've been really busy but with fun things, not work this time! I'm going to share with you a few of my recent events, as far as I can remember, but I know it's been a while since my last update, so I'm not sure I can remember everything.
I had another lesson on how to wear a kimono, but this time I was wearing a kimono of my own! My friend, Yuka, decided to give me one of hers, which was very kind, and my boss also gave me extra things that I needed for the kimono. I only need a few more things now, strings and zori (the shoes)! Here are some pictures we took after she showed me how to wear the kimono:

 

Also, we had a New Year's Party for my job because the manager left early so we never got to have a party. We ate at a really nice restaurant and had nabe with large shrimp and other things in it. It was delicious, of course! There were a lot of other things we ate, I took a picture of one of them because it looked pretty. I think it was a crab claw. We also took a group picture, but it's pretty dark since my camera doesn't have flash:

 

This was Saturday night after work. The next day, I went to one of my student's concerts (he plays the cello), then went to the tea ceremony class which I signed up for. It occurs twice a month and next time (Jan. 27th), they are having a kind of "party" welcoming the new tea of that year, so we're having lunch and I have to wear a kimono and sit seiza-style for maybe 2-4 hours . . . talk about a leg-numbing experience, but I'm sure it'll be fun. Let's just hope I won't have to sit the entire time, otherwise my legs might have to be amputated . . . Here is the only non-fuzzy picture from the orchestra, it was very beautiful so I will try and attach some video, if it works. My student is the one behind the conductor/podium:

 

 This is when they encouraged crowd participation, it was a lot of fun! It won't let me upload the other video because I guess it's too big . . . but it was a lot of fun and they were very good.

 While I'm at it, here are a few videos from when I was in Kyoto as well.

This is in Ryoan-ji

 

 

This is from Ginkakuji:

 

And this is from Kinkakuji:

 

 

Also, it snowed in Fukuoka!

 

One last thing, kind of a funny story. I was eating in a different park (one away from the homeless guy I encountered the last time) and thought I was safe with my chestnut bread (sweet and amazing, called maron, the name for chestnut in Japanese)  when a beautiful crow landed right behind me. I decided to not let him poop on me so I threw him a small piece. 5 more came down begging, not to my surprise. I attempted to finish the bread in a hurry before they swarmed me. Unfortunately, I didn't eat fast enough and a crow that had sneaked up behind me snatched the half I had left right out of my hand as I was about to take a bite . . . talk about face to face. It really scared me actually. Here are some pictures of the park and the really cool ACROSS building for rich people concerts and stuff. I always get stared at when I walk in there, it's kind of funny. I obviously don't fit in.

 

When I have more free time, I'll upload the closeup shot of the bird I got on my phone. It takes a while to transfer pictures from my phone.

I hope you enjoyed my update, there will be more things to come soon! Feb. 3rd I am going to see Kabuki and I've been studying Japanese more so I've been keeping really busy! I'll try and give another update next week, Sunday I'll be busy trying on my kimono and attending the Japanese tea ceremony, so hopefully next Thursday I can tell you all about it!

Until next time . . . またね! (mata ne: see you later!)