Nishiki Market: Tasting a Bit of Kyoto's Culture

Happy Monday everyone!! I hope you're all enjoying your winter vacations with your loved ones :) And it's almost the end of 2013! I seriously don't know where the year went--time seems to have gone by so quickly.

My friend and I went out into Kyoto again, but this time, we decided to visit Nishiki Market which first started out as a fish market in 1615. Today, the market has more than a hundred vendors and shops that sell things from fresh miso to dried fish and handmade hashi. It was bustling with people- both locals and tourists and it was so much fun to try sample after sample as well as buy a few goodies to snack on throughout the day :) Not gonna lie, I had to eat something while I looked through the pictures because I got super~ hungry. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed looking through some of the food that was sold at the market ^^ Thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful winter vacation! Don't forget to stay warm :) Are you doing anything in preparation for New Year's? :D

Merry Christmas!!

Happy Wednesday everyone and Merry Christmas from Japan!!

This is my first time spending Christmas away from my family and while it can be pretty hard and lonely, I think it makes so many smaller things that we might take for granted, matter that much more. Emails make me absolutely giddy, letters make my entire day and skype sessions leave me happy for days. 

Last Christmas, I saw gift ideas on Pinterest and made candy sleighs for my friends. This year, I wanted to make the sleighs again, but for my teachers :) It took awhile to make and required multiple trips to school to bring them all, but it was well worth it when I was able to see their expressions when they saw the sleighs sitting on their desks :)

Thank goodness my town has a Costco nearby! 

Several hours later :D 

 I think the green granola bar added a nice touch of festivity to the candy cane :)

My little space to decorate at school! :) I had so much fun making Christmas decorations ^^

I hope you are all keeping yourselves warm and filled with yummy food! Don't forget to leave cookies and milk for Santa (he works hard to give presents to all the children in the world on time ^^) and soak in the excitement and anticipation for tomorrow. Enjoy the company of your loved ones and may your living rooms be littered with piles of Christmas wrappings and ribbons :) Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!! 

'Tis the Season to Give: Kobe JET Charity Bake Sale Event

Happy Tuesday everyone! Can you believe Christmas is already next week?? It's coming so fast! I hope you all are almost finished with your Christmas shopping and whatnot :) I know I'll be broke after Christmas, but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that I spent the money on my family and friends ^^

Christmas is always a season for giving so a couple weekends ago, a bunch of Kobe JETs and some high school and college students came together for a charity bake sale! Most of the goodies that we sold were handmade and a few were bought from the store. However, all the money that we made was donated to a children's orphanage and after two days, we ended up donating over $1,000! Shout out to Sandy for planning and organizing the whole thing :) It was a wonderful feeling to give to those who are not as lucky as others and it was an incredibly humbling experience as well.

Deck the pillars :)

One of the many goodies that we sold! 

Also made Sausage Sizzles! Australia's version of the American hot dog :) So yummy!

The mastermind behind the entire event :)

Gotta advertise! 

Befriended some genki kids who kept coming back ^^

Gotta give it to these lovely singers- they sang Christmas carols for the entire day! 

Thank you so much for reading :) I hope you all have a wonderful week and finish wrapping presents and decorating your houses! Does anyone have any suggestions for Christmas songs? :) 

Lights of Hope: Kobe Luminarie

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend :) December is already here so that means Christmas is around the corner! I don't know about you guys, but I'm in full swing with Christmas decorations and music ^^

My friend and I went to see the Kobe Luminarie this past weekend and it was gorgeous! This annual event draws in thousands of people and was first started in 1995 after the Hanshin earthquake as a way to give people hope. Ever since then, it's been a very popular event and we were very lucky to see it! Japan may not have as many Christmas lights as America does, but the patterns and designs definitely blew me away :) Please click on the pictures for better quality!

Getting geared up and ready for the hordes of people 

There was seriously no end to the amount of people that I could see in back...

..and in front! 

Daimaru looks more like a grand hotel than a store! 

Trees lit the way for everyone before the start of the Luminarie :)

So beautiful~ it was definitely awe-inspiring :)

The lights (and crowd) seemed to go on forever

Once we exited the gates, we were greeted by this magnificent lit up gondola :) 

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all have a wonderful week and good luck with Christmas shopping :)