Obara *GW Days 3 & 4*!!

Monday, May 5

So today I was going to visit the parents of my friend back home, Kuya! I was really excited. They live in a city called Obara, which is in Aichi ken.

So I ate breakfast with my host family and then headed off to take the train. It was raining, which sucked. I decided I'd walk to the station, so I had to walk through the rain. :( I caught the 10:02 train at Nagoya and was on my way. I realized on the train that the first stop was Kanayama, so I could have saved money and caught the train at Kanayama instead. Crap. Well, I hadn't bought my ticket for the way back yet, so I'd do that for the return.

The train was so empty!! I was shocked! I played Pokemon (I'm addicted again) while we passed the stations I'm familiar with. Then, once we got to the rice paddy fields and the country side, I looked out the window. It was so beautiful!

The ride was exactly 50 minutes. When I got off at Mizunami, I saw a guy at the other side of the station waving at me. I waved back and ran over to the other side. The guy was Kuya's dad. He introduced himself as Shuichi.

The rain had picked up and now it was pouring like crazy!! He and I got in the car and then he took me with him while we went to buy groceries and then a cover for his keyboard. I helped him out because he told me that they were my parents for the next two days and I was their daughter, so I should help out. It was really nice that he included me in the family like that!! My host parents never let me help out ever and it makes me feel awkward!

So I carried the groceries back to the car and the keyboard cover into the house. On the way home, Shuichi told me about how they all lived in India for two months! So cool! 

At their house, I met Kuya's mom, Nagako. She was so sweet!

Both Kuya's parents were really impressed I could speak some Japanese. So we spoke a little in Japanese at first and then it was mostly English with some random Japanese inserts lol. They were both so good at English and all their children have studied abroad! But Shuichi had told me he learned English when he was in China of all places! Because there were a bunch of English speakers staying in the same place as him, so he got to practice speaking all the English he'd studied for six years in middle and high school, and gradually remembered English.

Their house was super cool!! It was made of wood and 200 years old!! They had a little pit full of charcoal where they had a fire going and a pot hanging of above it where they cooked their food. So my clothes and hair soon smelled of woodsmoke. I love that smell!! They showed me to their guest house, which is where I was sleeping. Ahh, so nice!! I felt like I was being super pampered.

First, we had lunch. Nagako had made bread using her bread maker and it was delicious! It was this huge slab of raisin bread. Mmmm. My favorite! And they had blueberry jam for me to put on it. There was also potatoes and salad. It was all so good! And for dessert we had little okashi given to them by friends of theirs. They were cute little sakura themed okashi! What was interesting about them, was they were white anko on the outside and kuri (chestnut) on the inside! And the little flower petal thing was an almond shaving! 

We talked a lot during lunch and learned so much about each other. They were really curious about America, so I told them everything I could!

Also, when I told them about my happyou Friday, they wanted to hear it, so I started reciting it for them. They were really interested in what Japanese people thought of America and gave their answers for each of the questions I asked haha. When I finished the first part about foreigners' image of America, I stopped, but Nagako was like "sore de...?" (And then?), haha so I ended up presenting the entire presentation for them!! I messed up a bit, but all in all they were super impressed I'd memorized all that Japanese!

Before we started eating, Nagako opened the present I had brought them. I'd given them one of my Totoro Hanga prints as well as some chocolate from Texas and cotton seeds from Alabama (where I lived before Texas). They loved it all. It turns out Nagako has been making thread from cotton recently, so she showed me the cotton she was using. The Japanese cotton seeds were a lot smaller than the American ones. It was funny.

After lunch, they told me they were going to take me to the Fuji matsuri!! I'd heard Ken's relatives talking about that when I was in Kamezaki, but I figured it was in Tokyo because it was related to Mt. Fuji. But Shuichi and Nagako told me Fuji is a type of flower! It's purple and long and hangs down. So there are Fuji matsuri in all different parts of Japan. Cool!!

We got back in the car and drove through the rain to the matsuri. First, we stopped in a field so they could show me the koinobori, since today is "Kodomo no Hi," or "Children's Day." There was a long rope of them, much longer than than the ones at Kiyosu jo! I was so amazed they were so big. Shuichi and Nagako told me they're bigger out in the country. I should have taken a picture, but it was raining so they were all wet and hanging down instead of out flying, or "swimming" in the wind like they should be.

Then we continued on to the Fuji matsuri. 

Origami decorations made of flyers for the Fuji matsuri

The origami ball things were hung all along the fence!

Banner for the Fuji matsuri

We walked all along a the marked path that had Fuji flowers all along it. Nagako told me that last year, they'd come too late and all the Fuji had already wilted. So this was the first time they were really seeing the festival.

There were pink ones too!

And white!

Cute mascot. Because everything in Japan has to have a mascot!

 

We passed a small area with some yatai and then continued on down to where there were some white Fuji! But these hadn't started blooming yet. We ran into some people down there who had just gotten there and were starting from this side. They were bummed that the Fuji weren't blooming yet, but Shuichi and Nagako told them that where we had just come from had perfect purple ones!

Because the white Fuji were the end, we turned back around. This time, we climbed up a staircase that led off the main path. At the top was a koi pond! Shuichi and Nagako asked me of people raise koi as pets in America, lol. I told them usually only at Japanese restaurants or Japanese gardens. But I told them about the salt water fish tank my dad had when I was younger.

This path led back to the area with the yatai. It was in front of an elementary school. Inside the gym of the elementary school were a bunch of middle schoolers watching a group of guys playing guitar and singing. The group was pretty good! We stood and watched them for a bit too, before heading back to the car.

Back at home, Nagako wanted to have a tea ceremony since I told them I was in sadou class and really like sadou and matcha, haha. I was so impressed that she had a complete sadou set! So she had me be the one leading and I got to show off my matcha making skills! :D And then I got to show off the fact that I knew everything you're supposed to say as well, haha.

We sat in a tatami room next to the kitchen because it had a real kotatsu!! I finally got to sit under a real kotatsu! It was really cool out with the rain, so this was nice! Underneath the kotatsu was a grill and under that was real charcoal that Shuichi lit!

Then we ate more of the okashi and we each got to have one of the Texas chocolates I brought! They liked them, which I was glad about because most Japanese people think American desserts are too sweet, haha.

Then Nagako brought in a different kind of tea, this one iced tea, and we each got to have one more okashi because they were expiring soon, so Nagako and Shuichi wanted to finish them up. They were so delicious!!

Then Nagako and Shuichi cleared off the table and got out their computers. Nagako had told me earlier about how she teaches English and she had all these sound files with questions and answers in English that she wanted to use for a test, but she wanted to edit out the answers. So she hoped since I was a computer science major, that I'd be able to help. I've had to do that before, so I figured I'd be able to do it.

It took a lot longer than it should have because I realized Movie Maker, the program I'd downloaded to use only worked with a movie along with the sound, so I figured they wouldn't want that and then uninstalled Movie Maker. But Shuichi said that wouldn't be a problem. So I had to reinstall it and that took a while. But I finally was able to make the sound file for them, because to my delight, it turned out there was an option to save just the audio!

Nagako and Shuichi were sooooo happy!!! They thanked me over and over. Apparently Nagako had been stressing over this for the past few days and I'd just lifted a ton of weight from her shoulders! I was happy because it made me feel like I had given them something other than the small present I'd brought, since they were giving me so much plus food and a place to stay!

We took a break to have dinner. We ate at the kotatsu because it had gotten pretty cold now that the sun had set. We had a takoyaki party and made takoyaki using their takoyaki maker! Nagako poured a whole bunch of batter in the first two rounds, so it was difficult for me to make them and I probably didn't look as jouzu as I usually do. The third round was the right amount of batter and we made perfect balls.

They were really good! And they were made with only octopus, not weird fillings like cheese and hot dogs like Miyabi likes. I ate soooo much! We were all seriously stuffed when we were done! We'd been planning on eating more chocolate after dinner, but we all felt like we were going to burst haha!

After dinner, they had me step through the sound file editing again and then they wrote it all down and had me watch them as they did it to make sure they did it right too! They kept apologizing for making me do this, but I didn't mind at all!

Then Kuya got online, so we all Skyped him, which was fun. I was sooo exhausted afterwards. I'd started getting tired around 8 and it was after 11 now. Thankfully Nagako noticed and filled up the bath for me.

I've been spoiled at my host parents house, because they know I like showers. So Nagako showed me to the bath and was all like, "This is a Japanese bath, but I know you know how to use it," and then left before I realized that no, I actually have no idea how to use a Japanese bath!! She'd made a motion with the little wooden bucket thing like filling it with water from the bath and then pouring it over her, so I assumed it worked like the baths at the onsen. So I just did that. The water was really hot! But yeah, I probably did everything all wrong haha.

Then I said goodnight and went to bed. It had gotten really cold, but I'd been stupid and hadn't packed really warm stuff. Oh well, my futon was nice and warm!

Tuesday, May 6

The next morning, the rain had stopped and it was really warm, sunny, and beautiful! I was happy Yuko had taught me how to fold a futon at obaasan's house, because now I knew how and did it perfectly! :)
Anyway, Nagako and Shuichi weren't around in the kitchen or kotatsu room, so I figured they were still sleeping. I decided I'd sit on the front stairs and admire the view for a bit.

And that was when I saw them walking along the rice paddy field (which they'd said it's just a rice field lol. They'd never heard the word "paddy" before lol) in front of their house. They said "good morning" to me and asked if I slept well. Then Shuichi let me cross the stream over this wood plank (I was super scared to cross it since their house sandals were kind of big and hard for me to walk in, but he told me no one's ever fallen before haha) and then he showsd me their rice field. He told me it can grow 300 pounds of rice!! And they use that grain to make all their rice. Sugoi!

Then he showed the various bamboo structures they have around the house and told me they're all made from bamboo he cut from the bamboo forest next to their house. Omg that's so freaking awesome!!

We had breakfast after that, which was regular bread (again made by Nagako). It was also in a giant slab that I cut. We had it with jam and salad and potatoes. They told me about a Japanese paper museum nearby and asked if I knew of Japanese paper. I said I used it all the time in Hanga class and about how I went to the Japanese paper store with Shiichiro. Also, yesterday I'd told them about habachi grills, which my whole life, I always assumed were Japanese, since the name is Japanese and they're always in Japanese restaurants. Well, turns out they aren't!! Neither Nagako nor Shuichibhad ever heard of them! Well it came up in conversation again this morning, so I brought up a movie of one on my phone and showed it to them. It was perfect because it had the huge fire I'd been talking about as well as all the usual spatula tricks and food tossing. They loved it!! They thought it was the bomb dot com, so I told them to come to America and I'd take them to one!

Then friends of theirs called to invite them over for lunch. I heard Shuichi saying that they had a guest over now, but when his friends heard I was American, they asked him to bring me too!

So at 11:30, we hopped in the car to travel to their friends place. Nagako asked if it was alright to give them one of my box of Texas chocolates and I agreed, so she had me give it to them. They ended up being really nice!
Their house had a trickling stream behind it with a waterfall! It was so beautiful. The inside was huge and super modern. They had a balcony on the back that overlooked the stream below.
There was a lady, Shizuko, and her husband and then an older lady. I had to guess the older lady's age, so I said 70. It turned out she was 95!!! And she still moved around fine! She was the patient of Shuichi. She has a bunch of hobbies including calligraphy, hanga, playing the string instrument that I got to play at the International party (I showed her a picture of me playing it and she thought that was awesome!), and painting. Her paintings were hanging all over the walls and they were amazing!! They looked like photographs. She also showed us one of her hanga prints that she'd done in color!

When we first got there, we had a tea ceremony. The guy was the one who made the matcha and then served it to us. He was the host. Shuichi told me that guy wanted to practice English with me, because he's trying to learn English. But he didn't speak much English and whenever I talked to him in English, I couldn't tell if he could understand me or not...
They had these adorable little koi okashi for Kodomo no Hi!! I got first pick, so guess which one I chose? :)

Then while Shuichi went to go work with the older lady (he does physical therapy and acupuncture and stuff), the man (gosh, I can't remember his name!) showed Nagako and me all the pictures he's taken. Most of them were of flowers. I asked him if the flowers were all ones behind the house, and he told me they were! Whoa! Then he showed us a bunch of pictures he took while in France. He's a really great photographer! And he had printed all his photos on big papers so they were all pretty and glossy and stuff! Finally, he showed us pictures he took of sakura around Obara and a special Aki Sakura, that is unique to Obara and blooms in the autumn, as well as a landscape photo of a spot nearby. I showed him my Mt. Fuji from the airplane picture and the rainbow over the shrine. He told me my angle was good in the rainbow picture!

Then Shizuko gave me a flower pin that doubles as a barette. it was so beautiful, I can't believe she gave it to me! So we took a picture together with me wearing it.

In the background are the decorations for Kodomo no Hi, the kid's hat and the koi plushies

Then we took a picture with me, Nagako, and Shizuko and the man printed it out for me and gave it to me. He also gave me the landscape picture he'd shown me before! So nice!!

 

Then we had lunch. It was a huge spread of food that Shizuka had made all herself, by hand! Wow!! There was fish, rice, salad, soup, tea, and more! She also had a ton of hobbies, including cooking. Then another older lady, the 95 year old lady's sister came out to join us. She was 90! We all had a fun lively conversation at lunch. The man talked about how when he was in France, he got confused about the difference in the English word "change," because it has two meanings, lol.

For dessert, we got to have oranges and bananas. Ayuko had told me that it isn't usual for Japanese people to not eat the orange skin, which made me wonder why Yuko had thought I was strange for eating it. But Shuichi and I were the only ones who ate it today!

After lunch, we had to head back. It was sad. These people were so nice!!

Back at home, we drank tea and Shuichi and Nagako told me about how those people are always giving and never asking for anything in return. They're hontou ni yasashi hito. ;)

Then I went to pack up my stuff and Nagako brought me the guest book to sign. So I wrote them a nice message and then signed it. They had so many other messages because they've had so, so many people stay with them before!

Then we took a picture of the three of us outside the house and all got in the car to head to the station because it was already 3:30. When we got there, Nagako ran out and bought me a ticket home even though I insisted that she didn't! She was so, so nice!! But I wish I had bought it before I left! At least I told her Kanayama, so she saved 130 yen.

And then I was off. The train, when I got on it, only had three people on it! But soon it filled up. I was really sad on the way home. Shuichi and Nagako had been so, so much better than my host family! They really made me feel at home. And after only two days, I already felt like I was leaving my parents! I was not excited to return to Ichinomiya, that's for sure! Shuichi and Nagako were surprised when they heard the homestay program at Nanzan isn't a volunteer program, and they said I could have stayed with them for free. Gosh, so kind!

At Ichinomiya, I stopped at Lawson's on the way home because today was the day the Korilakkuma bowl came out! And there were only 20 available in each store. I'd been saving my stickers to get on! But when I got there, they said the bowls were all gone already. Nooooo!! :(

When I got home, everyone was about to eat dinner, so I sat down. We had noodles in this cold soup and salad. And the salad was covered in cheese. Really? I was gone for a day and a half and Yuko already forgot I can't eat cheese?

She didn't even realize until I made a big deal of picking out the things I could eat and then she saw and apologized. I said it was okay. But I accidentally said it in formal, because I'd been speaking in formal to Shuichi and Nagako. But I don't speak in formal with my host family. Oh well.

I told everyone about the fuji matsuri and the koinobori, but only Yuko really seemed interested. Ken seemed to be in a bad mood.

I saw later on Facebook that they'd bought Miyabi a huge cake full of cream and fruit for Kodomo no Hi. Gosh, it looked good! And then Miya told me they saw Rana today. And sure enough, there were pictures on Facebook with them and Rana and Rana's host family. Man, I would have wanted to go hang out with Rana! I can't believe they never told me!!

Then Miya and I played together. We chased each other around the house, flinging rubber bands at each other and Yuko laughed.

First day back!

I just posted three posts in the last 12 hours! Trying to catch up guys, sorry!

So read them all when you get a chance!

Monday, March 24

I totally wasn't ready to go back to school this morning. 

For breakfast we had bagels. Miya's and Yuko's had cheese on them and mine was plain. Bagels don't exist in Japan. These were ones we bought from Costco. I wanted jam on my bagel but I couldn't open the jar. Yuko couldn't either, so she told me to choose something different and she'd have Ken open it later. So I decided to try the Anerican honey.

As I thought, it wasn't as sweet as Japanese honey. And it was thicker. It was funny because Yuko thought the American honey was sweeter and less thick. Weird.

Miya felt too sick to eat breakfast so she just slept in the other room while I ate and Yuko tended to her.

But as I got dressed I heard her leaving and Yuko saying goodbye so I guess she went to school anyway.

I walked out and Miya was standing out there with her fellow classmates. I was shouting "Miya!", trying to get her attention to say goodbye to her, when this girl came up to me and was like "Keito!" I waved to her and said "ohayou!" And then I realized she'd known my name when I don't even know who she is!

Then she said that we always pass each other and made a motion like she was playing a DS. Omg it was Kahokaho! I was like "ah, I forget your name, hold on..." And she was all like "Ah sorry, I don't understand English!"

I sat there, trying to remember her name and she was all like "daijobu!" And then finally I was like "Kaho!" And she was all "sou sou!" (Yes, that's right!)

Haha she was cute! I'm glad I finally met her in person lol.

At the train station, I ran into Esteban so we rode to school together. Then as we were walking to Nanzan, Emma joined us.

Ah the first day back is always so stressful because I want to talk to everyone about all the places they went as well as tell everyone about everything I did! But I managed to tell every person I correspond with from time to time about my trip to the host club! The guys thought it was weird and the hosts looked girly, but the girls thought it was awesome, thought the hosts were hot, and were super jealous of me, haha!

Also, Emma got me omiyage!! I love her! She is seriously the best! Also, she reads my blog from time to time too, so she's currently winning in terms of cool people at Nanzan.

It's from Miyajima where she went over break! She also invited me on a day trip last Saturday to see the snow monkeys in Nagano, but I'd already told Yuko I'd go to the Chugakkou. Ah well, she had fun there, but said she felt pretty rushed and wished she'd done more than just a day.

(The deer at Miyajima tried to eat it lol)

And inside was...

(Rilakkuma socks since she knows how much I love Rilakkuma!!)

(Look at the Miyajima sticker!)

Ah it was so nice!! 

Then we had class, unforch. I asked Mutsukawa sensei when to use "hontou" and when to use "hontou da" because I've heard both and he was all "you never say hontou da!" So I was like oh, ok.

But next period with Kondo sensei, I pointed out something on a worksheet we had and she was like, "eh? Hontou da!" And I pointed at her, turned to my classmates, and shouted "She said 'hontou da!'" Haha. She was surprised when I said Mutsukawa sensei had said you don't say hontou da. Thankfully she explained to me that:

Hontou = really?

Hontou da = you're right!

Ahh, got it now! I love Kondo sensei.

We had our test this morning and I made stupid mistakes that I wouldn't have made had I had more time to study. Rawr.

When Kondo sensei arrived, before second period started, she gave us all omiyage from Kyuushuu! It was so nice! It was Kuma chan cookies!

There were two different pictures and I got the cuter one. :)

(My cookie)

(Mine and Chris's)

They were really delicious!

When class ended, I ran to the cafeteria with the other 300 folks. Aaaaand I got misokatsudon!! Yeeeeessss, I'd missed it so much!

I accidentally spilled my miso soup all over my tray, like a boss. And to make it worse, the Japanese guy at the table next to me totally noticed!

My chopsticks had soup all over them, so I rummaged through my backpack to find a tissue to wipe them off with. I couldn't find one, so I gave up and was turning back around when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up, and the Japanese guy next to me was holding out a pack of tissues!! Omg! 

I thanked him and took one. Ahhh what a nice guy!

Then it was time for calligraphy. It was kind of boring today... And mine sucked. Sensei kept coming over and telling me ways to fix my kanji, so finally when she came over and didn't offer any criticism, I decided I was done.

I don't like how it looks, but this was the best one I wrote.

And then my favorite class! 

The okashi today was so pretty!! So were the decorations! Ooohhh I love spring!

(Pretty flowers!)

(Today's okashi)

(So colorful! I really wished we could have eaten more than one. It was so, so good!)

(I was surprised when the inside was finally something other than anman. It was just as sweet, though!)

We got to make the tea again today! This time I did it perfectly, and didn't need sensei to help me at all.

(My teacup. It was so pretty with sakura!)

(Other side of my teacup)

After class, I headed to Lawson's to buy some bread because I was hungry. And I got a bear sticker! I've been wanting to try the pancake things with cream in the middle so I got them.

Then I went to the computer lab to answer some emails.

When I finished I headed home. The sunset was so pretty!

The pancake things turned out to be really soft, like actual pancakes. And they tasted like pancakes too! That's when I realized, they had syrup inside!!!

Omg they were so so good!!!! Ahhhh!!! I could've eaten a ton of them!

It was so warm tonight! In the 50s! It made for a really nice bike ride home. :)

When I got home, Miya was resting in the room next to the living room. She'd been coughing a lot yesterday, I was worried is catch whatever she had. And now it seems like it's worse, ugh. 

I did my homework in the living room and them Yuko said dinner was ready, so I went into the kitchen. Miya didn't want to eat, so Yuko turned off the living room light and let her sleep.

Yuko talked to me during dinner about my family back home and about how in Japan, company workers all get the same vacation (Golden week), so it's hard to go on family trips because everyone travels then, and then they have no time otherwise. That sucks.

After dinner, since Yuko had turned off the living room light, I brought my homework into the kitchen to do at the kitchen table like I always used to do as a kid.

But Yuko was all like, "oh, are you going to do your homework here?"

I was like "yeah..."

And she said "oh, we don't usually do work here"

So I got banished to my room again... That kind of pissed me off because it felt like she was trying to get rid of me. But I was probably just making too big a deal out of it.

Anyway, she came in and told me I could shower whenever because Ken was going to be late, so I showered then. I was really tired but I had so much homework, so I did it and them went to bed nice and early at 9:30, yay!

Fat Tuesday

Interesting fact: last night at dinner when we were talking about the fact that I was watching Mononoke Hime, Yuko was asking me about other Ghibli movies and if I'd seen them (btw she and Miya haven't seen Spirited Away - whaaattt?? Yuko said it would be difficult for Miya to understand) and she brought up Grave of the Fireflies. I said I'd seen it. Gosh, that was a sad movie. Anyway, firefly in Japanese is hotaru. And she and Miyabi both saw hotaru for the first time ever last year! They come out around Gifu and in June only. And the interesting part is in Japan, you're not allowed to catch them!! It's because they're an endangered species here. I found it hard to believe since there's soooo many in America! But one landed Miya's head and then finger and people around them started glaring at them and whispering that Miya was catching the fireflies lol.

So anyway, today at school I realized something absolutely TERRIBLE!! Heather and I were talking about how today's Fat Tuesday (I completely forgot until then!) so we have to feast since Ash Wednesday is tomorrow and we can't eat much. I was like crap, I'm gonna be so hungry without my in between class snack of chocolate chip melon pan!

And theeeennnn... Heather was all "oh, and remember, we can't eat meat on Friday"

And then it sunk in...

And I realized...

I CAN'T EAT MISOKATSUDON ON FRIDAYS!!!!!!!! 

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Omg what am I going to do????

There is literally nothing good to eat at Nanzan that doesn't have meat in it! 

:(((((((((

Also, I wasn't planning on going to Ash Wednesday mass tomorrow because I didn't want to miss Coffee Hour or get home too late for dinner, but Heather and Cam want me to go with them to this church nearby with an English mass after coffee hour. 

Argh I'm gonna get even more stares and comments from my host family than I already do when I have blonde hair plus a black cross on my forehead lol. Whatever, idgaf.

But seriously, look how busy I am this month!!

(All the dots are events in my life :S )

At lunch I had the lunch special because you know, it's Mardi Gras and all.

(Dayum, look at all that food!)

And I actually finished it pretty quickly for once! Then I went to the lockers to get my knives with Rafa and Esteban and on they way, I was all like "Hey guys, wanna come to the vagina festival this weekend?" 

They cracked up. Rafa said he was busy, but Esteban said he'd go! I'm so excited for it! I found out about it last weekend, so I'm trying to find people to go with.

In Hanga, I kept making Minju and Emma laugh because I was failing so hard. See, first I drew Rilakkuma on the block, but then I carved the part that I'd meant to not carve and put ink on!

So I flipped the block over and redrew him. Because we cover the block with a black paper and trace over that in order to get our drawing to show up on the block, I couldn't remember how much of it I'd drawn, but I was pretty sure I got it all. So I took the paper off... And was like "shit!" I'd forgotten the eyes! Emma thought this was hilarious.

So I put the paper back on and traced the eyes, but I ended up tracing them on the wrong spot! Emma, Minju, and I were dying of laughter at this point. I was laughing so hard I was crying. I finally just drew the eyes straight on the wood.

(The outline of the eyes is the first attempt)

Ugh, Hanga is so hard! So yeah, next week I'll have to finish carving.

I walked to the subway with Emma after school today and we got to talk to each other for a long time which we haven't done in a while! It was fun. :)

Then I rode the rest of the way home. I decided to stop at Seiyu before going home because it was just before 5, so I was home early for once! And yeah, bad idea. I bought sooo much, haha!

Fat Tuesday feast, guys!

(It was kinda expensive... But I got the 6 slices of wheat bread, the pink red bean buns, and the okashi on sale!)

I saw the okashi and I was like omfggg, I want! I've always wanted to try the pink thing with the leaf, but it's ridiculously expensive. But it was on sale today, so here was my chance!

The jam and the mikan weren't on sale but whatevs, I wanted them. I'll probably end up sharing the jam with my host family but oh well. I was thinking of walking into the kitchen and being all like "oh hot damn, this is my jam!" Hahaha.

Naw, that's only funny in English... Or if you're familiar with that song...

Anyway, so Yuko was home when I got home. So I went into my room to break into my okashi!

(It says it's for hinamatsuri, so that's why it was on sale! There was a bunch of mochi there too and thousands of those pink red bean buns that I got 1 thing of)

(The inside)

First I ate the pink thing with the leaf I've been wanting to try basically my entire life. 

(Yuuuussss, it had anko inside!)

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to eat the leaf or not, so I decided to eat it. But after my first bite with the leaf, I decided it tasted too bad and peeled it off.

Then I had the giant green mochi ball.

(It was filled with anko too!)

I was kinda done with sweets at this point, so I ate a mikan. I decided to share the gray ones with pink on top with Yuko and Miya and eat the dango after dinner.

Then Miya got home and she and I sat under my kotatsu and watched the hour and twenty minutes left of Mononoke Hime. Miya seemed bored during a lot of it. I don't blame her. Out of all the Ghibli movies, this one's definitely my least favorite. But she stayed through the entire thing and nodded later when Yuko asked if it was interesting.

Then Yuko, Miya, and I ate dinner. Yuko made a big meal (perfect for Fat Tuesday! Although I told Yuko about Mardis Gras and she'd never heard of it lol). It was her first time making minced chicken with daikon (and it was delicious!), so she took pictures.

Yuko's pix:

I tasted ginger in the daikon and chicken and Yuko said there was ginger in it!

My picture of it:

After dinner, I brought in the sweets I bought to share and then Yuko made us all another small cup of tea. I asked Yuko about the pink leaf sweet (she said it's Sakura mochi) and she said you do eat the leaf, lol! Oh well. The leaf was kinda sour anyway.

Miya and Yuko said "gochisousama" and "arigatou Keito" to me! It made me so happy. :)

Ken got home after we finished eating and then I did my homework. I also ate the dango and it was a little hard, unfortunately. It wasn't as good as the one I had at Atsuko's. :/

Also, I have no idea what it's for, but Google's looking pretty snazzy here today!

(It's something about Hiroshima)

So yeah, Mardi Gras doesn't exist in Japan, so it was definitely an experience seeing absolutely nobody celebrating it. No beads, no boobs, no nothing. But at least I celebrated the "eat everything in sight" part of it haha!