December is here!

December is here! It is hard to believe I have been in Japan for two months now. Sometimes it feels like more, sometimes it feels like less, but it almost never feels like two months. I have been doing so much I feel as though time is flying by. My Japanese has improved and I am starting to formulate a more consistent study schedule. I am going to focus on learning more kanji, because in the time that I have been here, I have found it to be very important in everyday life, as well as a good tool for learning vocabulary.

This past weekend and part of the week, Thursday through Saturday, my friend Charlie from the Kobe exchange with Evergreen visited Miyazaki. Kaori and I showed him a round to some of the nice sight seeing areas close by. On Thusday, we visited the Udo jingu just south of Miyazaki city. It is the large shrine that was built on the side of a cliff inside a cave. The weather was rainy and windy, but the view of the waves was spectacular. The powerful waves crashing against the rocky shore seemed to fill the place with power. We also tried to throw little rocks into a small pool of water on a rock in a little out cove. If you make it, you will get good luck for the year or an upcoming event or something a long those lines. It is really hard, but Kaori made it in on the first try! Yay Kaori! For those of us that don't make it, we can buy our luck with little charms that are filled with the clay balls that made it into the pool of water . After the Jingu we stopped at a road stations, a supper rest stop basically, and grabbed some ice cream and a few omiyage, souvenirs. The rest of the weekend was full of more sight seeing and yummy foods. We went to the Haniwa peace tower, the shopping district downtown, and the Miyazaki prefecture natural history and cultural museum. The Haniwa peace tower is pretty awesome. It does this cool little buzzy sound when you stand in a particular spot and clap your hands.

The shopping district downtown is full of cute stores and yummy foods. I was successful in fighting the urges to buy many a cute thing~ For lunch downtown we went to a cute little cafe that sells chicken nanban, a famous Miyazaki dish. It was very deliciouses~ I think that cafe was probably one of the most fancy places I have ever eaten but it was still very affordable~ After lunch we did some more souvenir shopping for Charlie at the Miyazaki train station. Bellow the platforms they have a large area shopping area for little souvenir gifts and such. Lastly we took Charlie to the Miyazaki prefecture history museum. It is a very awesome place that has information about Miyazaki's natural history, including plant and animal species for many different ecosystems, geological history, and endangered species. The second floor has the cultural history of Miyazaki dating back to the first peoples. It is a very detailed museum and it is free! They also have traveling exhibits, but those cost money. After the museum we showed Charlie off at the ferry terminal.

It is nice to have someone visit and show them around the place. Thank you Kaori for driving us everywhere and hanging out with us! :) I feel like I have learned my way around Miyazaki city pretty well. From Miyazaki station there are a lot of nice places with in walking distance or a short bus ride away. As I start to feel more comfortable in town I feel like I can do more exploring to learn about the areas near by. I will keep exploring through out my time here in Miyazaki!