!!!~~Family Time~~!!!

This post is really belated but here it is!!

Last month was really exciting for me because I got to see my family again after six months!

They arrived at the airport on the morning of the 16th of Februari. I was lucky that their flight was delayed because I'd overslept a little and might not have made it on time to pick them up otherwise. In the end I waited over an hour but I was so, so happy when I saw their faces appear at last!

After our tears had dried (mostly just me and my mom) we had a drink at the airport and hopped on the train towards their hostel. It was a nice place close to Umeda eki, which is one of the biggest stations in Osaka, so it wasn't hard to get there.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Umeda. It's quite a busy place but not quite the center of Osaka. There are lots of shops, restaurants and entertainment halls (with karaoke, bowling, arcades, slot machines,...).

We ate some awesome comfortfood: Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) and Yakisoba (焼きそば) and walked around the busy neighbourhood. It was a good, chill first day.

Minamisenri park, right outside my dorm

On Tuesday we went to, what during the trip was called 'my habitat'. We briefly visited my dorm and went to see my university campus and surroundings. We had lunch at one of my favorite places in Kandaimae (関大前 place where my uni is). It's called Cape Cod and it serves really, really, really good curry with naan bread. It also sells the best cake I've ever eaten. Not Japanese food but still very delicious!

Campus

Campus

After lunch we visited the dog café I go to a lot. The guy from the café was really happy to meet my family, which made me really happy. They have puppies now too so that made it even more fun!!

Also, mom explored the glory that it 100 yen shops and Lenny lost his mind over how cool our second hand game shops are.










That evening we returned to the more lively Umeda to have dinner with Kazuki. He took us to an amazing sushi place! Even though I don't like eating fish, I had to admit that everything there was really delicious! Also I was happy that everyone got a long great! ^^

Todaiji

 
The next day was more of a touristy day as we visited Nara, a place known for its deer and its temples. We went to see the Todaiji(東大寺), a temple I've been wanting to see ever since my first year of studing Japanology back in Belgium. The Todaiji holds the worlds largest Buddha statue. It was made in the 8th century, it's 16 metres high and weighs approximately 500 tonnes. A good few people died in the making of the statue and when it was finished, an eye opening ceremony was held for which people all over the Buddhist world came to celebrate. I was so impressed by how massive the statue was. I knew how big it was but I was stil blown away by the proportions when I finally saw it in real life!

On Thursday we went to the Ramen museum, something I'd done already but thought would be fun to do again with the family. We had a lot of fun making our own ramen! (I've eaten mine already haha, it was great) 

Then we went back to my dorm and I secretly cut my bother's hair in the first floor bathroom 

For dinner we returned once again to Umeda. We met up with Kazuki at an all you can eat Chinese buffet. It was so good I ate until I felt physically ill!

Friday is my work day so I had to get up early to go teach at my kindergarten, but after that it was time for me and my brother to have some good old brother/sister time! We basically went to all the places we knew mom and dad wouldn't be very interested in going.

you just put in about 200 yen and twist the handle for a little surprise

 We started by trying out some gacha machines. I love these things! We sometimes have gacha machines in Europe but they're not as abundant or cool as the ones in Japan. In Japan, you find then literally EVERYWHERE! And they have all sorts of fun/silly goodies in them!









We quickly checked out Yodobashikamera (a huge electronic store) for video games and/or figurines for Lenny before heading on over to the pokémon center.

After that we went to an arcade to play some Mario Kart and Taiko no Tatsujin (drumming game) and we took some Purikura (photobooth pictures). (well, more like I forced him to take purikura with me but it's fine he secretly loved it, just look at all that excitement!)

Lastly we went to LOFT which is a huge store full of random goodies and on top of that store is another store called Village Vanguard. Now this is a shop I really, really love, and I knew my brother would love as well. They seriously have the most random things. From CD's, to face masks, to art books, to gumball machines, to figurines, to backpacks, to candy, to my little pony merchandise, to plain weird Japanese things and all of it is cramped into this little space so when you walk into it you're completely overwhelmed in the most wonderful way! We both spend quite some money here...




In the mean time, mom and dad were going on their own little adventure in the Umeda area. We met up at the hotel in the evening.














Saturday was the last day and it was quite a busy one too! We got up early to travel to Kayashima, where my kindergarten job is. As it turned out, my school was having their end of year party, which meant all the children would perform things on stage in front of their parents. As the English teacher, I also prepared a little something with the children so I had to be present, and when I told my boss about my family coming to Japan, he instantly invited them to come see the show as well!

I was so proud to show my family the kids I've been teaching! These children are not only fun to teach, they're also incredibly talented. Aside from my little performance (singing The wheels of the bus in English), they had so many other things to prepare and remember and they did everything so well!! They even did an incredible instrumental performance of Let it go from Frozen. At the end, the oldest children (5 year olds) sang a goodbye song because they were graduating (the school year ends in Februari in Japan) and I cried. haha!

Here's a little video of the performance of the English songs. Aren't they the cutest things in the world??

After the show, me and my family went to the other side of Osaka to go see the Aquarium. Yes, I went to the aquarium again haha! Lenny especially really enjoyed it I think so I'm happy we got to see it!










We had our last meal close to the aquarium and returned to the hostel afterwards for a nice last evening together.



I was not looking forward to saying goodbye to my family again. It really felt weird. I'd spent the whole week with them as if it was just another one of our family vacations so not getting on the plane home with them felt incredibly strange. I cried a whole lot at the airport after we said goodbye (but not that that matters haha. That was legitimately the third time that week I'd gone to the airport to see someone off and cried about it. The people at the airport must know me by now as that weird crybaby foreign girl hahahaha)

But just as when I first got here, I managed to fall into my routine life in Japan surprisingly quickly. And I'm grateful for that because I love my family so much and I'm very close to them, but I wouldn't be able to live my year here if I'd let that get to me every day. I still miss them every day and I can't wai! to be back in the comfort of my own home. But at the same time, I'm having the best year of my life here and I try to live every single day I get here to the fullest!

Last but not least, here's a tiny little video I made of some random moments. I didn't film much at all but I figured I'd do something with the footage anyways ^^

So that is all for now ^^


MUCH LOVE ♥