MASSIE renunion and USJ!!

For those of you who don't know, there's a program at my uni, Mt A, called the MASSIE program, which brings Japanese students from KGU in Kansai over for 4 months to study english. They get paired up with Mt A students for roommates and conversation partners. During my last summer at Mt A, my roommate Jenna and I each had a MASSIE student, Akemi and Shoko, respectively. I also had one in the fall, Eri. I've kept in touch with all 3, and visited Eri and Akemi in the fall, and this past Saturday there was a reunion in Osaka for all the MASSIE students who were still around. Of my 3, only Akemi could make it, but it was great to see everyone else again and meet new people to reminisce with about Sackville:)

After the reunion, I went back to Akemi's house to stay the night. Her mom had bought a new English translation book in anticipation of my visit, so she was prepared with new hostess phrases. She's such a sweet person, I was really happy to see her again. It was great to see her dad and grandma again too. :) Saturday was Hina Matsuri Day, which is a holiday for girls. As children, parents buy their daughters these extravagant doll sets and set them up every year before March 3 on a set of stairs (usually with a red carpet). These sets start at about $1000, so not exactly Barbie. The sets MUST be taken down by the end of March 3, or the daughter will have a late marriage, which of course, no one in Japan wants (if you aren't married by the time you're 25, you're called "Christmas cake" : no one eats Christmas cake (a Japanese tradition) after Christmas Day b/c it gets stale).

On Sunday, Akemi and I went to Universal Studios Japan (USJ) in Osaka. For some reaon, even though it was a weekend, the park wasn't as crowded as I expected and the longest wait we had was only about an hour. We went on the Spiderman ride (AMAZING!!), Jurassic Park (FANTASTIC!!), Back to the Future (retro 3D??!!!), E.T. (my childhood fave) and Terminator 2 (almost fell asleep). And we shopped of course. It was alot of fun, and such a beautiful day!! I was walking around in a T-shirt (in MARCH!!) and STILL warm! Even when we got soaked on Jurassic Park, it felt like summer b/c we dried off so quickly. I feel like winter didn't even happen this year, right from fall to spring.