new year and buckwheat noodeles

Whenever I think about new year, Soba comes first. It is my favorite food.

In Japan it is customary to eat buckwheat noodles towards the end of the old year's final day usually round 23:00 at home. the noodles are called "Toshikoshi-Soba", literally means "Seeing the old year out-buckwheat noodles". This cumtom implies that people pray for their happiness for a long time like long noodles. It is ominous that eating nooldes does not finish during new year's eve. So, the noodle must be finished eating on new year's eve. This cumstom varies from region to region, but eating noodles is in common.

However, I have not eaten the noodles for the last few years...

Winter holiday 2007-2008

The most freezing trip I have ever taken was when I went to Romania and Turkey in this winter break. Romania and Istanbul were fascinating places for me and I had really wanted to go there for the last few years. My journey to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, was absolutely exhausting. When I arrived at Moscow airport, my connection flight to Bucharest had already departed. I was astonished when an airport officer told me that I might not go to my destination in the next few days. Threre were several Romanians who were goning to Bucharest like me. They were really furious with the officer. As I was completely disappointed, I did not get angry. As a result, the officer arranged for a flight to Bucharest via Sofia on the next day. The next evening, I manged to arrive in Bucharest. It was -6 dgrees celsius. As I had got off a wrong bus stop, I wandered through lonely gloomy Bucharest as a creep for 2 hours, terrfied of huge stray dogs. I was truly miserable.

I spent Christmas day in Brasov, which is preserved a fantastic mediveal old town, and went to Bran Catsle, known as "Dracula's Castle". However I could not enter the catsle because it was a bank holiday in Romania. I felt relly let down. In Brasov I met a German girl who was shouting "Scheiße(shit)!" repeatedly. She told me that the word is one of the most important words in German. I laughed at her and said "hilarious!".

I left after 5 freezing days and took a train to Thessaloniki, Greece. It took almost 24 hours. On the train I shared a compartment with a romanian guy and we got talking. Thanks to the boiling compartment, we did not sleep well, while the open air was freezing. As the train was reaching Thessaloniki, snow had disappeared. We swapped addresses and went our separate ways. I stayed Thessaloniki just 1 day, but I could enjoy warm sun shine of the Mediterranean Sea. My freezing trip was over in the city.

Istanbul was my final destination. I arrived in the city by train in huge expectation. I got off the train from Greece with deep emotion because it was the terminal station of the Orient Express. On the other hand, all around the city was crowded. It was absolutely disappointing. For example, when I went to a palace, it took 2 and a half hours to enter. Other palces, mosques and museums were same as the example. I spent new years day in the city. On new year's eve, I had a very international dinner and count down. As I stayed in a dormitory, I went for dinner with my room mates. One German, two Russian and me, we expected a new year event, but it was not held. We thought Turkish people do not celebrate a new year. We had to see the old year out at an Irish bar instead of huge square. Finally, As we talked about all around the world, my 2008 started very internationally and it was amazing. After I separated them on the next day, I heard shocking news that some new year events had been planned in Istanbul, but they were cancelled because of terrorism. I felt really let down when I heard it. We could have enjoyed more.

Fortunately the sun went never down during the whole journey. However it was absolutely freezing, especially in Romania. I'd like to go there again in spring.

Mein Traum

Wenn ich einen Riesen kennen lernen könnte, würde ich mit ihm eine
Weltreise machen, als ob wir auf der ganzen Erde nur spazieren gehen
würden. Ich würde immer auf seinen Schultern stehen. Dort könnte
ich schöne Landschaften sehen. Er könnte schneller als Züge laufen.
Ich freue mich darauf, in Peru die Nasca-Linien zu sehen. Ich habe
kein Lust, aus dem Flugzeug sie zu sehen, weil es laut ist und ein
Flugzeug in der Luft nicht stillstehen kann. Es wäre sehr bequem, auf
seinen Schultern die Landschaft zu sehen.