So I don't know exactly how it became over a month since my last post.. but lets move on to what has happened since then! December was quite a busy month filled with the usual classes, friends and visits to church. Ryan and I were baptized with 8 other brothers and sisters on December 16th. We were glad to be able to share that special experience with our family there. This way we will always remember them and the role that they all had in building up our faith. Its comforting to know that any time we do spend apart we are connected by the Spirit and can look forward to the time we will all spend together again instead of thinking of the short time we are apart. We went out to the famed Golden Pavilion temple with our Japanese friend Koki and Bathishig our Mongolian friend. It was truly blinding! We also had the interview for our internship in February. That should be a fun experience as well! We will be aiding the English teachers in the classrooms as well as tutoring the teachers and other staff outside of class.
Break started from the 24th and we have been enjoying the time at the apartment mostly. Christmas was fun we were able to spend the evening at church eating and playing 20questions with our Japanese and Korean friends. Ryan and I spent Christmas Eve together at the apartment eating a delicious feast we prepared and watching movies. The morning after Christmas we had a Video Chat lasagna party with John, Colette, Nikki, Dan, Kara, and Ashton for their Christmas dinner. I made a rice, seaweed, ground pork, and cheese 'lasagna'. A few days later we went to Osaka with Pastor Noh and our best buddy Seung-kyu. We went our for delicious french food, visited the Osaka Yohan Christ Church, and went to the Osakan History Museum and Osaka Castle. We finished the night at a famous Udon restaurant where Ryan and I had a beef-rice bowl (no wheat). Other than that we did not really go out much, mostly due to the fact that we are out of funds until the 7th. I think we needed the time to be at home for a while, or at least I did. I finally was able to get over a cold I have been battling for weeks!
We spent New Years sleeping at home. We decided to celebrate it during the next day when it turned in Chicago. ;-P
Speaking of New Years, this year will bring a lot of changes. Graduation, getting married, moving, and finding a job. Its all starting to seem closer now that the New Year has come. Part of me wants to fast forward to the wedding and skip these next few months. In the mean time, I have a calendar of final project and paper deadlines to look forward to. That okay though, something has to get my butt back in academic gear! As they say in Japan, "がんばります(ganbarimasu - to do one's best)!" So everyone this 2013 がんばりましょう！
