where in the world is christy

a geisha sighting....

check out my other pictures......here is one to tease you....

I finally saw a geisha...

so yesterday we did not have a long travel day only about 3 hours on the bus so we had a travel stop in Kyoto...i was looking forward to seeing a geisha because I had heard that this is where they all are...I was really hoping to see one!!! well i did and it was great!! They are so prim and proper it is amazing....and their kimonos are amazing. i still am not sure how they walk in 4 inch wooden sandals all day....i guess some things are still a mystery.

while seeing the geisha we also saw and amazing temple....kiyomizu temple. very pretty!!! check out the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/cdickhans/Kyoto100806

i also met my new host family here....really nice and they speak a little english so i am excited....my roomie this week is anais from belgium....should be a fun week...

off to bed....

online photo album

so i know it has been forever since i have posted....but i found a new way to post pictures....thru google's picasa....so for time sake and not using the internet to long at my host families for right now i have posted a bunch of pictures online at .... http://picasaweb.google.com/cdickhans

so go check them out because i have some pretty good ones....

i will try to update the blog as soon as i can.....

i miss everyone and i hope everyone is doing well.....

here are the kids from yesterday

coming to you live from Ueda...Nagano Japan

pictures from tonight...

made it to japan

i made it to japan!!!! it is great here. my host family is wonderful and everyone is so nice. of course i am one of the tallest people. i will try and write more later right now i am at an internet cafe and my host dad is waiting for me.

are we there yet???

so i have had a few gaps with my blog but i am trying....LOL. anyways it is 2am and i am sitting on my bedroom floor thinking about all the things i need to do before i go to japan. i can not believe we are leaving in 24hrs!!!! oh my gosh. i am so excited yet very nervous. i guess it is all hitting me know that i am really going to japan for 6 weeks.

i have to admit...i think we have the longest travel day in history. here goes let's see if i can remember it all:

saturday 7pm host drop off at carrol college in waukesha wi.
sunday 2am depart from waukesha and head to chicago
sunday 430am arrive to o'hare international airport
sunday 7am depart chicago and head to dallas
sunday 12pm depart dallas for osaka japan
monday 12pm arrive in osaka
monday 2 pm ride in a bus for 2 hours
stay the night in osaka
tuesday 530am wake up to take an 11 hour bus rude
tuesday 430pm arrive in nagasaki
tuesday 6pm host pick up with a family that will probably not speak any english.

am i crazy or will this be a story i tell my grandkids about one day???

ok i better get to bed since i have a million and 1 things to do tomorrow.

please email me or call me if you read this before i leave. i would love to hear from everyone.

email: cdickhans@hotmai.com cell: 336.473.0199 skype name: cdickhans

minnesota state fair

on our free day my host mom kathleen and my host sister sarah took mariana and i to the minnesota state fair. we had a lot of fun eating as many things on a stick as we could. as you can see we took a tons of photos once again.....i love finding the rice kristy bars...we just had to try one of those. :) i think the strangest thing i saw all day was the 90lb square of butter that they then carve into the heads of the diary princesses...and what would you do with 90lbs. of butter once the fair is over???because yes you do get to keep your head.

dinner at cliff and jen's house in minneapolis

minneapolis was a great week because my real mom came to visit!!! I also got to visit with my godparents and their daughter and her boyfriend. my mom, ann, and i all went out to dinner on tuesday night and enjoy some girl talk. then on thursday night jen and cliff invited us over for dinner. what a blast!!! i loved all the wine!!! the food was amazing also....my first ever turkey burger. that is my kind of dinner party. jen and cliff you guys would have been awesome host parents. i will have to remember that for when i come to minneapolis again.

i told cliff that i would put him on my webpage...so here you go. sorry it has taken me so long to do it.....i have been a slacker lately.