Eighteenth Week #21 - New year, new me?

January 19th, 2019

This entry will cover my experiences: January 1st - January 6th 2019 (6 days instead of 7 btw)

 

Not much happened, I didn't have any plans for going out with friends. Frankly I was already satisfied with going out the first week of the winter vacation (23th Dec. - 6th Jan.). So only thing I will mention is what I did on January 1st, which might be interesting for you.

 

Tuesday (January 1st, 2019):

  • My hostfamily and I stayed up after midnight (apparently many Japanese also just go to bed. We heard bells from surrounding shrines. We hate Koshitoshi-Soba (New Year Soba noodles - they're long so it's kind of a sign that the year or like your whole life will be long as well, if you eat them at the beginning of the new year.
  • My hostfather and I went out to visit the nearest temple. Many Japanese (that don't go to bed) do that and ring a bell to "greet" the new year and so on. It was cold, but there were some guys handing out warm drinks. I also rang the bell (it's quite big and a little loud): you pull a big piece of wood back, let go and the wood hits the bell.
  • After some hours of sleep we went out again the same day with the host mother as well to visit a shrine and pray for a happy and healthy new year, if I recall the ritual correctly...
    Just noticed I don't, but it consisted of throwing money into the thing infront of the main building, clapping, bowing and ringing a rope with small bells attached to it.

Other days:

  • Can't recall: I guess I studied a little, cleaned my room, ate and stuff.
  • I went to see the "Nisekoi" (famous anime) life-action movie with two classmates. It was fun and for the first time I saw a movie in the cinema in Japanese (the 3 times before ("Winnie the Pooh", "Fantastic Beasts 2", "Bohemian Rhapsody") it was in English). I didn't see the anime, which was probably good because I guess some things would have been a little boring to watch again. They had some dramatic anime elements and generally Japanese movies tend to be more dramatic and exaggerating (especially when it comes to facial expressions) in my opinion. But you should be open to it. Because it sure has it upsides. It was fresh and funny and had a good ending. I hear the anime is more or less just open ended, but the movie seems to have realized what cinema visitors want to see. I also got most of the Japanese (the story is set mostly in school so I had the advantage of knowing everyday-school Japanese expressions and so on). I liked it very much. And I'd like to watch movies like that again. For example there is a new Detective Conan movie being released soon (or already?), but I feel like that movie's Japanese is going to be so much more difficult. We'll see.

New Year - New me?

 

Every little thing we do changes us. The cells in our body change without us noticing. So of course I'll be a "new" version of myself in 2019 but I've set some goals to be more productive and more like a version of me I can be more proud of and happy with.

 

Here are some of the things I will try to adapt/improve: (Just writing here so I can read it in one year's time)

 

  • develop and stick to a healthy sleep cycle
  • waste less time online watching stupid videos etc.
  • eat healthy
  • think about other people first
  • buy only things that I need or that give me a reasonable amount of happiness in the long run
  • doing things for other people because they're lazy (it's still the other way around right now)
  • doubting that I can improve
  • read and write more!
  • be grateful
  • support my friends, family and strangers
  • my ideal: Study, read, exercise, talk, eat healthy and help others every day

Kommentare: 1
  • #1

    Big yoshi (Samstag, 16 Februar 2019 20:41)

    Hey, remember not to be too hard on yourself.
    You already have all the reasons to be proud of yourself.
    Write them down.
    And I recommend doing a dopamine fast, where you try not look at any screens or read books or listen to music or do anything else that stimulates your brain. All youre allowed to do is write and think. (For example write a list of things you need to do in order to make your life a little better) Or meditate. Both of those are great and helped me a lot happier.
    I am curious about how the japanese handle politics. How do they educate you abiut that stuff and like what does the political lansacape look like?