Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Winter Vacation Plans (fuyu yasumi no yotei)

I finished my final English lessons of the year today. Tomorrow is a national holiday because of the emperor's birthday and Thursday, the 24th, will be a day for closing ceremonies at the school. On Christmas Day I am taking the shinkansen (bullet train) up to Tokyo to stay with some relatives in Yokohama. And this weekend, on the 27th, my girlfriend Elizabeth flies into Narita for a 10 day trip in Tokyo with yours truly!

Though I am more than excited to spend this time in Tokyo for the winter holidays, I have to say that this year's holiday season has left me more homesick and nostalgic than last year's did. For me there's nothing in the world like being with the rest of the Meuse family or my friends around these days - chowing down on awesome cookies, opening a pack of Gary West beef jerky in my stocking, Christmas day with the fam, celebrating New Year's with buddies...

Nevertheless there will be some nice highlights around here for sure. Roughly, the plan is this: spend Christmas Day on a train during the day and with Koki and Kazue at night; stay with them for 2 nights in Yokohama; go to Narita and pick up Elizabeth; stay in Asakusa for 2 nights; meet up with Koki and Kazue and go to Hakone (a famous day-trip spot with onsen, hot spring, and some other natural sites) for a day and a half; spend New Year's in Yokohama; spend another 3 days of sightseeing with Koki and Kazue around Tokyo; and spend the last 3 days with Elizabeth, probably checking out some museums and having an adventure at Disney Sea, while staying in Ueno.

Anyway Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone this year! (meri kurisumasu de yoi otoshi o!)

1 comment:

amrowell said...

Merry Christmas...wish you were here! Your folks, Matt & Danny will be joining us for Christmas dinner. If you were here, Dianne would make you blueberry muffins and snickerdoodles.