I'm dead tired and should be sleeping, but I thought I'd update before I forget all about Thanksgiving and throw myself into frantically cramming for my Finals. Please excuse me if my English isn't at its best right now, but I can barely keep my eyes open.

Thanksgiving holidays didn't really end up being anything all that special. I suppose I just had big expectations because I didn't know what it was all about. So what happened, you ask? We just ate a lot. I spent the holidays with my roommate and her family like I already mentioned earlier. I ended up spending most of my time in the guest room that I was staying in, reading one of my textbooks and doing random stuff on my laptop. I was occasionally visited by my roommate's 2-year-old niece who apparently decided that I was her new favorite person and thus she wanted to play with me (just because I gave in and played with her a bit on my first day there she started expecting me to do it all the time... I found out I really don't have much patience for kids).

Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous. The family's mom later told me that they were impressed how I dared to try tasting everything. There were like ten different dishes and we spent the next three days stuffing ourselves so full of leftovers that I still feel bloated. But now that Thanksgiving's over I'm back to eating microwave pizzas, bread and apples. Yum. Anyway, we had all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes (I can't remember most of their names) including turkey, mashed potatoes, some sort of salad that actually had marshmallows, yams and pie. I was told that Thanksgiving is all about pie, especially pumpkin pie.



My roommate's mom actually made a few more pies after this. Tasty, but extremely sweet. For breakfast I ate bacon and crepes (with whipped cream and strawberry jam). Right now I feel very grateful that I get to live in the dorms instead of in a host family because my weight would definitely have skyrocketed if I'd been left at the mercy of a caring American mom.

On the day after Thanksgiving I accompanied my roommate and her family to go Christmas tree hunting. First time I've ever been on a Christmas tree farm. It was fun, I guess, except it was raining, cold and muddy. But it was a new experience so I shouldn't complain. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant afterward.

Anyway, that was my first ever Thanksgiving in a nutshell. Now I'm back to loads of homework which basically means I just have to read a ton of books. Some of my textbooks are honestly pretty weird, but what can you expect from ancient Chinese philosophers...

One of my textbooks actually contains some sort of ancient Chinese porn (an extract from an ancient sexual handbook from a chapter that discusses a married couple's first night together): "The groom takes out his Crimson Bird and loosens the bride's red trousers, his white stalk rises and she strokes it and delights it...". It continues a bit further, but you get my drift. Hilarious.

Another book is supposed to contain the main ideas of Zen Buddhism, but it's a bit hard to figure out exactly what those are when the text repeats stuff like this:

"Another monk asked, 'What is the basic meaning of Buddhism?'
Again the Master held his fly whisk straight up.
The monk gave a shout.
The Master also gave a shout.
The monk was about to say something, whereupon the Master hit him."
- The Zen Teachings of master Lin-Chi

Gotta love these people. The book I'm currently reading (also assigned reading) is a novel about a Portuguese Catholic priest who goes on a missionary to Japan in the 1600s when there's a huge persecution towards Christians going on. It somehow reminds me a lot of the Lord of the Rings because the priest is on a mission across hostile lands (and like Frodo he keeps having moments of doubt and plain insanity) and he even has a tag along who is like a weird combination of Bible's Judas and LotR's Gollum.

Amazingly enough I do think I'm learning something from all this. Just don't ask me to tell you exactly what that something is.

I'm ending this post with a youtube video that I stumbled upon yesterday, which contains an absolutely amazing version of "Walking in the air" sung by 9-year-old Declan Galbraith. I also listened to some of his other songs on youtube and I definitely have to buy one of his CDs if I find one. I love his child voice but unfortunately he's currently 16 and going through a voice change which is causing him to sing in a very nasal voice. I hope he gets over it and finds his voice again properly... Please excuse my fangirling. Listen especially to the parts that start at 1:35 and 2:58. I just keep having cold shivers running down my spine when I listen to those parts. (Be careful not to turn the volume too high or you'll blow away your eardrums!)


((Anyone else have problems with their icons randomly disappearing or being replaced? I just noticed that my Saiunkoku Monogatari icon had been replaced by an icon of a dancing gay couple... O_o))

What a day.

Today I went to the US Embassy in Helsinki for my visa interview. I'd been dreading it for months because I've heard some horror stories about people being turned away at the gate because they've filled out the forms wrong or because they've forgotten to bring along something important. Even though I triple checked that I had everything I thought I would need, I was still nervous as hell when I got to Helsinki. It didn't help much that the Embassy looked like some sort of small castle out of a fairytale (only a moat was missing...), or that the security was so tight that it made me feel like I was part of some detective movie. The interview itself was over in five minutes and left me feeling like worrying about it beforehand had been a complete waste of time. I mean, I knew I had all the necessary forms and there were no problems with my background. Sometimes it really sucks to be a habitual worrywart. Well, I suppose I got my visa (if the interviewer wishing me a nice trip is any indication...) so all's good.

Somehow it feels like I've finally managed to pass over some sort of an obstacle that has been standing between me and my exchange year (I made the whole visa thing into a much bigger deal than it really was). Now I can finally start counting down days until the day of my departure (62!).

Even though I usually visit Helsinki only once a year or so, I didn't stick around for long after the interview because I don't have any extra money to spend and I have work tomorrow. That didn't stop me from spending 140 euros on manga though ;). Then again, it had been my intention all along, to buy a lot of manga during my trip to Helsinki. It's the only time that I'm going to allow myself to buy manga this summer. I shouldn't be spending all my money on manga before my exchange because I should be able to get manga much cheaper over there ;). I finally bought volumes 1-3 of Legal Drug (how can I claim to be a true CLAMP fan without reading Legal Drug?) and got my hands on Saiyuki Reload vol. 8 which has finally been released by Tokyopop after they made as wait for over a year! Oh, the happiness ^_^.

I also bought the first Twelve Kingdoms novel that I'd been lusting after for months. Of course, I've already watched the anime version (and even made icons of it) so I already know the story by heart, but getting to read the original book is always nice. I managed to read through the first 65 pages during my train ride home, and it looks great so far. I feel like I'm seeing a completely new side of Keiki and even Yoko's (slightly annoying) initial emo state has more depth. I'm glad they've kept most of the original special terms (they even included some kanji!) in the English translation, but it really irked me that they had translated En-Ou as Ever-King and Kei-Ou as Glory-King. What the heck is that all about? They sound odd (well okay, I'm used to the fansubs I have of the anime where they're translated as King En and Queen Kei). But that's just a small minus. Now I'm really looking forward to the third book in the series, which continues Yoko's tale. I'm also interested in other works by Fuyumi Ono, and I'm praying that someone will translate the Ghost Hunt series someday.