The first week of Winter Break

Hello family and friends!
Merry Christmas! I had a very busy week :)
On the 22nd I went to Eigo Rakugo with my host parents. Rakugo is a Japanese style comedy where one person acts out and does the voice of many characters in a story or a joke. They kneel on a pillow and are allowed only two props: a fan and a small towel. The Rakugo we went to, as I said, was Eigo Rakugo which means English Rakugo. So it was very funny and enjoyable. The theater was quite small but beautiful. I laughed so hard. Ooki chan and Oniisan both liked it as well, especially Ooki chan. She and I laughed and laughed about it, even after. I would like to see it again some day if I can.
On the 23rd I went to ShinsaiBashi, a famous street in Osaka, with Norihiro, Hiroki, and Akane. Since it was the current Emperors birthday the roads were packed! It took forever to reach Osaka. Akane's English is very good so she translated for me the whole night, which made hanging out with Hiroki even more fun. But since she was there to translate Norihiro didn't hardly speak any English the whole night. Either way it was a lot of fun and I didn't get home until 4 AM so the next day I was exhausted.
On the 24th I was invited to go see a Japanese Traditional play known as Noh. Noh is about 600 years old and, since it's traditional, it hasn't changed in all those years. The actors sing and it's almost like Japanese Opera, instead of speaking. The music is REALLY cool! They use only 4 instruments: 3 different types of drums and a wooden flute. They also sing and the back up singers seem to do almost a chant while others make the strangest noises like whoops and calls. It was really interesting to watch.
On the 25th I did as all other Japanese people do on Christmas: at cake and went on a date :) Oh yeah, that's right! Ooki chan bought Christmas cake so before my date the three of us ate together. The cake in Japan is seriously so pretty, you feast with your eyes before your mouth. For my date I went to Fushimi Inari shrine, or in English, the 1,000 Tori Gate Shrine. It was so beautiful! It was one of the places I've always wanted to see in Japan so I was really happy that my date agreed to take me, despite it being VERY cold! Since it was Christmas and cold the shrine was not very busy so it ended up being a really romantic date. We walked around almost the whole shrine though, which took over 3 hours so we were exhausted by the time we finished. It was a lot of fun. We ended the night by watching a scary movie in my room.
On the 26th, today, I woke up and Skyped with the family at Mom and Dad's house. I was able to talk to Mom, Dad, the little kids, Tanith and her boys, Tamirrah and Kendall, Trent, and KC and uncle Tom, and Grandma and Grandpa Williams. It was really nice to talk to everyone. I also received the package Mom and Dad sent me for Christmas, thank you so much! Yuka sent me a Christmas card as well which was a WONDERFUL surprise. Thank you so much Yuka! After I Skyped with everyone I went to lunch with Ooki chan and 4 of her students and friends. They bought us lunch which was so nice. I ate a ton and we laughed and talked a lot. They are always so happy to practice English with me so they are so kind to me and get very excited to see me. I feel very special around them :)
After lunch, right now in fact, I had to pay my phone bill so as I was walking it started snowing! Aww! The day AFTER Christmas, really Japan?! But it's ok :) So I got to see a little snow in Japan. And now, I'm just relaxing as it's Fuyuyasumi (winter break). Ahhh :)
Not sure what my plans are during winter break, other then studying a lot, but it will be very nice I'm sure. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I miss you all very much and love you. Talk to you again soon!