お正月 (New Years)

So, I was right in expecting that New Years would be a MUCH bigger deal than Christmas.

A few points to cover on New Years:
-お年玉(envelopes of money!)
ー年賀状(New Years Cards)
ーもち(rice cakes)
ーそば(buckwheat noodles)
-おせいち料理(New Years Meal)

But first, this is how my New Years went:

On the 30th, my host family and I made took a road trip down to Osaka to visit my host dad's family. We would have gone the next morning, but there was a chance of snow and that would be a hassle (hah!) Basically, everyone went straight to sleep after getting there that night so nothing happened until the next day. On the 31st...nothing really happened until that night actually. We ate soba for dinner (some tradition...I don't really know why...) except my host mom is allergic to soba...so she had udon! Soba is a kind of noodle that is thin and made from buckwheat and udon is a thicker noodle made from flour I think. ANYWAYS. We watched TV but this year there was no shinny ball for me. We watch some concert on TV until it ended 15 min before 12AM. At 11:45 the TV switched to views from different Temples Across Japan where the monks were ringing this huge bell 108 times- one for each of that bad things inside everyone. In Japan, New Years is all about starting fresh. When it reached 12 there were no fireworks or anything (except at Tokyo Disney Land).
We played this Japanese Card game that is similar to 21 until 3 in the morning. The next day...or rather the 1st of January.. We ate oseichi ryouri which is a three layer lunch box full of symbolic food. I also finished writing Nen gai jyou or New Years Cards. EVERYONE writes these cards (not just the adults). I only wrote a few but I think my parents wrote over 150. We also went to the local shrine for the first visit of the year. After that all of the kids (including me!) got Otoshidama which is new years money. On average, every envelope had about 50$ (5000yen) I got 30000yen in just 2 days!!! I will now be coming back to Japan every new year. We ate a lot of really good food like sukiyaki and nabe with really really good (and expensive) meat. We went back home on the 2nd and I somehow got pink eye and wasn't feeling too good so I went straight to sleep. Today, we went to Omihachiman Jinjya to buy omamori (protection..charms?) and get our fortunes. I got a student (studying) omamoria and my fortune wasn't too great for this year...oh well. Finally, we visited my host mom's family for dinner. They have a REALLY NICE old Japanese style house. It was really spacious and had a small garden and everything. Also, I got to meet mikihiro and nagomi's great grandma who is 93. Japan has REALLY OLD PEOPLE. It seems that she stays in bed all day but still, the fact that they have a great grandma is amazing!

That pretty much wraps up the New Year celebrations. (Not really, that was like saying "A fat guy gives kids presents" for Christmas)

Pictures are: Oseichiryouri, my fortune paper, a market in Kyoto packed with people shopping for the New Years meals, and Omihachiman Jinjya