45...time travel in Bra(s)il

Can you believe that it's almost October? i always use cheesy cliche phrases in my posts but aiaiai, TIME FLIES. Halloween will come, then thanksgiving (though my family and i don't really celebrate that - it's hard to find a full on turkey in Japan), followed by Christmas and bam, it'll be New Years before we know it. Honestly speaking, i actually look forward to the new year, it's become my favourite time of the year - for the past few years, my family and i have travelled to different locations on December 31st so
a) we don't have to worry about the whole new years culture of cooking for hours on end to prepare for January 1st (quick Japanese lesson: we call it gantan)
and b) we can spend the first day of the year relaxing in a nice hot bath.
But there are so many things to get through before all that, so before i get ahead of myself, i'll just enjoy the now and the fall along with the good food (hope you all do too).

Before i forget to do this, here are some more snapshots from my summer - these are from my trip to Brazil (i prefer writing 'Brasil' since that's how they spell it over there *respect*) If anyone reading/seeing this has photos up from their summer, i'd love to see them so please leave your links in the comment section below!

Taken in New York during transit - such b-e-a-utiful weather,

i wished we had more time there!

i just HAD to eat stuff at the airport but aiaiai,

bad idea, they gave us so much on the plane though it was already 12pm at night...D:

On our way to the bookstore - Since i was in Brasil during the World Cup 

(didn't get to see the games live but just being in the country was enough to feel the

excitement buzzing all across the country)

there were many places decorated like this. I've always loved how patriotic this country is.

Outside Livaria Cultura (one of the best bookstores i've ever stepped foot in - picture below!)

this display was up to celebrate the previous five wins for Brasil.

(i wish i could tell you who the five golden players are! - does anyone know?)

i would definitely live here if i could :)

(This is the Livaria Cultura in Av. Paulista, Sao Paulo)

Rua Pamplona at night

There is so much graffiti covering the buildings in Brasil but this was one in support

of Corinthians (Mini Football info: They won the 2012 Fifa World Cup against Chelsea)

THE SKIES.

Though it rained a bit during our stay, the sky was usually so beautiful.

This (Portuguese)
&
This
&
This

I'm pretty sure that that's Luiz Felipe Scolari...

Shopping Paulista, one of the biggest shopping malls near Av. Paulista.

A church near Paraiso, Sao Paulo

i wish i knew what this plant is, i find it quite cute. 

Paraiso, Sao Paulo, the first place i lived in 12 years ago in Brasil.

...and some more graffiti for you to enjoy!

There are more photos to come (along with more photos of food - i'd have to say that out of all the places i've been to, i still believe that Brasil has the best food), but here's some for now. There are so many more places i would have gone to in Brasil but it was so nice walking down streets i spent some of my childhood afternoons on; i may have grown but going to Brasil was like seeing an old family friend who doesn't age. It was nice being back to one of the places i call home!

Have a nice week :)

34...back to my usual routine

In a way, it all happened so fast - classes came to an end, christmas came by, the last few days of 2013 whizzed by, and then all of a sudden it's already the 7th of the new year, and i'm back to reading textbooks and deciphering poems. I've been meaning to get a post up of photos from my super short trip to Hokkaido up but i've been a couch potato most of the time i've been home - my sloth side likes to creep out and make the most of whatever free time i have. But i've finally gotten around to sorting out the photos, and i'll have to say that i probably had the best meal for new years eve last year.
Ever since my grandmother passed away, my mother has refused to stay home for new years, so for the last few years we've been travelling around Japan for the toshikoshi/年越し/to see the old year out, and my mother thought it would be nice to go to Hokkaido to spend it with my 98 year old great grandma this year. In a way it's nice since the whole family gets together, but since no one in my family bothers to stay up for the countdown, it also seems like any other trip. I guess the only difference would be the food - although we usually don't eat osechi/おせち (Japanese festive food to celebrate the new years - you can read all about it and what each 'dish' symbolises here) we usually get to try the local speciality of wherever we are, which is a nice change.
今年もよろしくお願いします~!

Welcome to Jyozankei~~~! 

 We were really lucky to be able to see this since it wasn't snowing horribly that night↑

Oh my Japan>< i have to end with this, 

i'd say this is worth being on engrish.com!

27...days by the sea

First week of December already whizzing by, and christmas songs have been playing on and off in my head - it's funny, you think you know them by heart by now after hearing them year after year, but i actually can't sing most of them since i don't know the lyrics! I was going through my photos for my 'looking back on 2013 through photos' series, and came across these which i took in Chiba/千葉、房総半島, and thought it might be nice to get these up before my sister comes home and tries to stop me (She's the model here). Therefore, without further adieu:

Part 2 - By the sea

Hope it'll be a good weekend for all~! i will be going to pull out my molars...

25...looking back

Since it's almost the end of the year i thought it'd be nice to 'look back' on 2013...with photos.

Part 1 - Places & Things (場所 & 物)

1. Bird gatherings (Yokohama)

i thought this was so darn adorable, how they all came to this spot - it looked like they were having an international conference on the telephone lines.

 When i passed by the same place a different day, they were still deep in conversation.

2. Tokyo as a miniature scale model (Tokyo, Skytree)

3. Out and about (Yokohama, Tokyo)

↓ Asakusa

↓ At the beach in Enoshima

↓ At a park in Yokohama,

was experimenting and took a picture through the view-finder of another camera.

4. Finding dainty little buildings (Sapporo)

5. Enjoying the view (Kyoto)

Going into the bamboo forest at Arashiyama (嵐山の竹林)

↓ If you go to Kyoto during the summer,

the tanabata displays are definitely worth suffering mosquito bites for.

6. Into the wild (Chiba)

"thnks fr th mmrs"

♡