For those of you who want to hear more food adventures...

On Sunday I got a call inviting me to go out for the day with a professor from USC and a few other people. I got picked up first and we stopped off at someone’s house for tea. This man who I thought was Japanese came up the stairs and I greeted him by saying ‘おはようございます’。 And then I was totally shocked when he said ‘I think I need a jacket’ in perfect English. Amazingly it clicked in my little mind that he was the professor. He and his wife are 3rd generation Japanese Americans. Anyway we went to the Japanese Historical Museum in Narita. It was way exciting, every little area was filled with neat things from Japanese history. One of my favorite things was a set of matchboxes that were all kind of pop-artsy. They had a guide in English but it didn’t talk about everything. It was really easy to tell the parts of the museum that were before Commodore Perry opened the ports and after he opened the ports. After that we went to an old style Japanese restaurant and ate what I thought was really good fish. It turned out I had eaten pretty much an entire eel. So if anyone feels like it give ‘unagi’ shot. Right down the hill from the unagi place was a huge Japanese style castle. I had seen the castle from the car last time I went to Narita. It was amazing. It kind of sat halfway down a valley so that the trees surrounding it made it seem like you were back in time. The inside was a Buddhist temple that had a high ceiling painted in all of these delicate designs. There were many separate Buddhist buildings surrounding the castle as well. Once we left the castle we headed to dinner! We ate tofu kaiseki ryori. Basically, eleven dishes all created from tofu. The first one was really good, it was a tofu soup that had a stone in it to keep it heated. It was all really good actually! I never knew you could do so many things to tofu. Dessert took the cake though, or rather the pudding. It was like a vanilla tofu pudding and it was gah-ood! I was extremely lucky to have been invited along because kaiseki ryori is really a rare treat in Japan. Before I go I have to say how weird it was talking in English! I think I forgot what English English sounded like, as opposed to Japanese English. It was all really fun though and I think I’ll be full for another whole… well a little bit, it’s snack time soon!

Let's be random

Hello again everyone!
Almost the end of the week, I’m still not used to Saturdays with school! I got to be an English teacher today, if you could call me that. A classmate of my host sister's came over and I helped them study English for a big exam coming up. I had the hardest time explaining why you can’t say ‘it cost we 5000 yen this ticket’. That’s what the exact translation would be from Japanese to English but it’s so difficult saying why ‘it cost us 5000 yen for this ticket’ is correct. I finally did it though. Another little struggle was telling them the difference between to and too. And how ‘too’ has two meanings. All just so cunfuzzling, but we made it in the end. That’s one of the hardest parts of being known to speak English because people expect you to explain things easilly. Most of the English language just seems natural and I don’t remember learning it. It would have been easy just to say ‘because it is’ but it’s kind of fun picking apart and questioning your native language.
I also got to, or should I say had to, watch a video in health class. I have to say that health videos in Japanese are really funny! Especially when most of what I could understand were borrowed words like Chlamydia. Oh what fun! I liked watching the menish women playing basketball movie in PE better!
Anyway, next week it’s exams all the way but we get out earlier. Mostly after three periods, woo-hoo! I say this as everyone in the states is about to go on break, wah!

Take me to China town!

Yokohama!
I went yesterday and it was really yummy! We drove out there, it took about an hour from Narashino. I saw Cinderella Castle on the way. We met my host mom’s brother and his wife and uber adorable kids. I attempted to play a Japanese version of The Game of Life, but somehow I ended up with four children! About lunch time we headed down to China Town. It was really amazing. We saw this Chinese temple that was covered in all sorts of ornate mosaic like dragons. The food in Yokohama is SO good. I had chahan for lunch with some corn soup and mobudo, I think that’s what it’s called, it’s a tofu dish. We had an hour to wander around while the little cousins went to English classes. They’re ages 4 and 8 by the way. So we spent the hour walking down a famous fashion street in Yokohama. It was really more like an import goods street. They had Gap, and Godiva chocolate, and a Ty beanie baby store. They also had a grocery store that carried American products, even American pet food. My host family bought some Snoopy Bounty paper towels. Everything was really pricey, I’d say about double what it is in the states. I saw Betty Crocker cake mix again and still no frosting! How can you make a cake without frosting. I had to explain to my host sister what frosting was. We did get a brownie mix though. Anyway, after that we had ice cream. I had vanilla but I got to try ice cream made from bamboo and even ice cream with shark fin shavings on it. They were all yummy (vanilla is still the best). Once we were all good and full we went to CostCo. The Aunt and Uncle are members so it was my family’s first time going in. I swear it smelled like America, whatever that means… Anyway they had snickers and jelly belly’s and American style cakes (with frosting) and oxy clean, all the essentials. Even yummy Club crackers ^_^ We had dinner at the in store food spot. We all got hot dogs. I thought my host father was gonna fall out of his seat when he saw my hotdog with only ketchup! I looked around and all of their hotdogs (I think they were there somewhere) where literally buried under mounds of sauerkraut, onions, relish, and mustard and ketchup. It was quite funny, I promise. I told them there are lots of people who eat hotdogs with only ketchup or few other things, right??!!
Well that’s all today. Chicken and garlic bread from CostCo for lunch today, yum!
BAI!

Yay Judo!

I got to go to Judo club today after school for a couple of hours. There are four girls in the club and a bunch of guys. About half are white belts and the rest are all black belts. I worked out with another second year and a third year who were really awesome! We did a lot of mat work and some throwing. I watched everyone spar against eachother and it was really great. Thery're all preparing for a weekend long tournament. Good luck TGU Judo club! I won't be able to watch it because I'll be in Yokohama vistiting my Japan aunt and uncle. Road trip! It's really only about an hour by car. But we'll get to go to the China town there and eat one of my favorite foods, chahan! Yay! I hear there's good weather in Denver, send me some!

Update

So, today was back to school. Golden Week has passed and I have school tomorrow, a Saturday. The weather was perfect over break but now it has turned on me and my uniform, namely the skirt. Anyway, over break I got to go to Tokyo Bay near Makuhari. It was my first time going to the beach in Japan and it was amazing. Of course I rolled up my pants and got in! Otosan asked if I could see America (we’re about the same latitude) and I said ‘of course’! There were a few people smiling at the foreigner in the water. Come to think of it, I was the only one in the water. Hmm… In danger of being eaten by Godzilla? A little souvenir from that trip was a nice farmer’s tan complete with bands from my watch and bracelet. I also rode my bike to a wet lands near Kasumi. There were a few cranes wadding in the water and some other birds. The translation for seagull in Japanese is ‘seacat’, just thought you should know!
My friend at school who went to Italy is back. She had a really good time and will be bringing in pictures soon. She brought in some Italian magazines that were full of American actors and panty ads.
Oh! Just remembered, we had a barbecue two days ago. It was really good. I had barbecued cabbage, anyone else tried that? And we roasted strange little Japanese marshmallows over the coals. Marshmallows taste good in any country! One last note before leaving, my host family was really surprised when I told them we have haha no hi, mother’s day, in America too. I had always just assumed it was an American holiday. There’s a revelation for all of us.

Just Checking In

I had to go to school today! It was raining this morning and Otosan had the day off so he drove us to the station, thank you!! Can’t stand walking in the rain. But by the time we got to school it was sooo hot, but of course it's cloudy and cold now. Everyone had to take tests today so I spent most of the day in the International Room ‘studying’. I fell asleep for two or three periods without really realizing it. I had little Tokyo Gakkan Urayasu button marks imprinted on my arm from my uniform! I had lunch with my classmates and then went back down to the IR room for two more periods. I read this monthly paper that is in Japanese and English to help the students learn English. They had a thing in there about a mysterious phenomenon in Germany where toads are expanding three times their normal size and exploding sending their entrails 3 meters! Woot! So informative! We went to the gym for half an hour and listened to the most boring teacher talk. I saw a girl get detained for using her cell phone. And some guy got in trouble because of his uniform or something. Well, that's just an exciting day in the life of Hannah! バイ everyone!