Japan Week 17

(11/26) Thursday- Happy Thanksgiving!
Although our actual Thanksgiving feast is not till Saturday, we had a non-traditional feast of our own. For dinner we had Macaroni and Cheese, and we each had our own box!! It was quite a nice little treat after being so good about rationing our mac and cheese since we have been here. My wonderful friend Amanda also recently mailed us a care package and we had some delightful mashed potatoes from her today!

Eric finally got his hair cut by Toshiya today! It looks so good! He learned that in Japan when they ask if you want a shave as well, they shave your entire face... forehead included! It's always an interesting experience for us!

(11/27) Friday- No "Black Friday" shopping here! I spent the whole day today preparing for our feast tomorrow! I made two huge salads and 2 loaves of cornbread (although one failed me miserably) and I figured out to make an entirely vegetarian gravy! Genny is Vegetarian, and Eric keeps kosher so meat gravy just wont do. We'll see how it turns out!

(11/28) Saturday- It's finally here!! Thanksgiving, full of familiar comforting foods. Genny went shopping at the AF base and bought a turkey, stove top stuffing, and French's fried onions and green beans, Pillsbury rolls and SO much more. We had quite the feast! Genevieve, Eric and I were the only Americas, the other 13 people were all Japanese that Genny has met through various adventures during her time in Japan. We were so thankful to be a part of the celebration tonight. Thanksgiving is about being with family, and when the family is too far away... chosen family is just as good. Love you Genevieve!
This is Eric's new friend. Genny tutors him once a week in English. His mother is Chinese and his Father is Japanese, they are teaching him 3 languages at once. He is very very smart, and super cute!! They played Janken (paper, rock, scisors) for quite some time.

After we finished cleaning up and got home and put the left overs away... We put up our Christmas tree!!! I always love putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving so I can look at it every day and enjoy it right until Christmas! Even though it's not the tree at my parents house with the special ornaments from each year's experiences... it's still our first Christmas tree together, and it is very special to me!
We have had a very hard time finding Hanukkah decorations here so Eric's parents mailed us some Hanukkah crafts. When the time gets a little closer (per Eric's request) we will have them up, and then I can share photos with you.

Today was a very special day for another reason... we finally got our tickets to Thailand booked! Not just us either, Kellie and my parents!! My parents have to fly through Tokyo... too bad we're not on the same flight! We are all on the same flight from Bangkok to Phuket though, it's going to be sooo much fun I can hardly wait!! 42 days until I see my whole family!

(11/29) Sunday- After a very long day yesterday we slept in... a lot. The town lunch bell woke us up :) I guess we needed some sleep. We had a very nice lazy day and watched 2 movies. I love Thanksgiving weekend, it was a big bummer that Eric had to work Thurs and Fri, but the weekend was still wonderful!

(11/30) Monday- Eric has been battling a migraine for 4 days now :( but we found a cure!! The onsen! Today after work we went to the onsen near our house and apparently sitting in the cold tub does the trick! I'm so thankful that he is finally feeling better :)

(12/1) Tuesday- DECEMBER ALREADY ?!?!?!?
How did this happen?? The first 11 months of the year have already come and gone! While I would normally not be very anxious for the last month to fly by at all... this year I have mixed feelings. It's been an awesome year, with a few bumps, but I can't wait to see my family in Thailand in January!! So if December flies by, I wont be too disappointed. We are hoping that Eric's parents will be able to make it out in the Spring, but everything is still pretty tentative. I have been reflecting on the past year a lot in the past couple of days and realizing that has really been a monumental year... college graduation, getting married, and moving to Japan just to name a few. I think that I have had about all of the excitement I can take for one year.
















Eric and I went out to dinner to the fabulous Udon shop and then onto the onsen (I told you we are addicted) with Genevieve tonight. We are really really thankful to have her around. She really is a wonderful friend to us, and we truly hope to keep in close contact with her after our time together in Japan is up.

(12/2) Wednesday- Since it is the first Weds. of the month, that means it's Ekaiwa night (English Club). Tonight we did not meet up at the normal restaurant as two of our members we kind enough to invite us to their home to host dinner. At our last class we were discussing Japanese dishes and I had mentioned that before coming to Japan Vegetable Tempura was definitely my favorite, but that I don't eat it much here. Miyo said that she and her husband Shu also love tempura and they would like to teach me how to make it. So tonight we had a tempura feast at Miyo's house. Yuki (the wonderful man who drives us to so many great things) picked us up and took us to the dinner party, he also lent us a new round of DVD's which we are quite excited to watch. Miyo and Shu prepared an enormous amount of amazing food! We had many types of Japanese pickles (radish, and cabbage), a tofu-seafood-mushroom soup, a sesame chicken salad, and tempura. The way we ate the tempura was similar to fondu. We each had a plate of raw fish and vegetables and a cup of tempura batter and there was a communal pot of very hot oil. We took our color coded skewers and fried up whatever delicious selection we choose and ate each piece nice and fresh. I tried 3 new types of seafood tonight (Eric was really proud)! I had scallops (YUM), and a cylindrical fish that I'm not sure what it was, I though calamari but they said it was not that, and Octopus! <- Yep, I did it! It wasn't bad either. The first piece of it that I ate I overcooked quite a bit so it wasn't chewy at all, in fact it tasted much like crispy bacon :) I would gladly consume the scallops again, and the mystery fish, I was not a huge fan of. We also had lotus root, 2 types of mushrooms, and broccoli. We also enjoyed a fantastic cup of Sake along with all of the food. By the end of the meal we were completely stuffed, and out came dessert! I brought Banana Bread to introduce one of my favorite foods from home to the group, and Miyo made an amazing angel food cake with fresh whipped cream and home-made pear jam. It was mouth watering delicious! (She sent the left-overs home with us too!) After we slowly consumed every delicious bite of our dessert we played games :) It was just like a family dinner! We played 3 rounds of Old Maid (which Eric had never played before) and then they taught us a game that they bought in Tanzania, it's called Bao and it is common among communities of Eastern Africa and was developed in the early 1600's. It is similar to Mancala and very interesting. Now I want to go to Zanzibar and buy one for myself :) Miyo and Shu are potters, and they are preparing for an exhibition this weekend so their house was full of very interesting pieces of art. In Japan pottery is most often made to be functional, rather than a piece to enjoy on a shelf. They had dozens on clay stools that Miyo had made and every dish we used at dinner (which was a lot considering that there were only 5 of us) was hand made by them or one of their friends who works in their studio. We were particularly fond of the tea mugs. The handles were so cleaver!! For those of you who don't know, Eric is an avid tea drinker, and his Mom is very talented with crafts, especially pottery. Last year for Hanukkah she made him a set of 4 very intricate clay mugs and Eric really enjoyed having them to drink his tea from. We loved the mugs so much, that we took pictures :) Eric with his favorite mug! My favorite mug with it's maker, Shu!



Although this a terrible picture of me not feeling well, it captures the excitement!


*We also took a group photo before dinner, but not on my camera, once they send it to me I will post that as well.