Thanksgiving in Japan....pumpkins anyone?

Preparation for Thanksgiving was a week-long effort. I slaved in the kitchen all week and it finally paid off! I think I made a total of 5 pumpkin pies (and I even did it without a can of Libby’s pumpkin stuff!!). I used Japanese pumpkins (which tastes the same) and then the basics for a homemade crust. I love finding new recipes to try-out on the internet, so that’s where I found out how to do it all. I made a pie for our adult English class that we teach on Wednesday nights and then I made one pie to take to my English Club girls (there are about 12 of them who meet me once every other week and we practice English!). I made it educational too…I taught them about the history and vocabulary surrounding Thanksgiving, since they don’t celebrate it over here.

Don’t worry, Brandon didn’t miss out on all the eating. We shared a pie on Thanksgiving Day. We had to work, like normal and we usually go swimming on Thursday’s, so we did that. However, afterward, we cooked up some fried rice and then had pie for dessert. We also waited up extra late to call our parents and after that, we both admitted we missed home a little bit (mostly for all the friends/family get togethers that we were missing out on and the food!).

Our real Thanksgiving celebration was a couple days after the actual holiday. Our friend, Amanda, was having a Thanksgiving feast at her house for about 20 people, so that’s where I took pumpkin pie #4. That meal was delicious, by the way and she even had the turkey (the only place to find a whole turkey is CostCo) , mashed potatoes and dressing.

Then, on Sunday, Brandon and I were invited to a church’s Thanksgiving feast. (In other words, we enjoyed TWO Thanksgiving dinners). It’s a Christian church and the pastor does her sermons in Japanese, but a lot of the people knew English. An American ex-military guy started the church with his Japanese wife and we got to meet them. They are the sweetest people. I raved about his wife’s sweet potatoes (Sweet potatoes that we’re used to are very rare and can only be found on a military base that’s a few hours away, so hardly anyone is able to get them. The sweet potatoes here are more dry and closer to the consistency of a baked potato), so she gave me leftovers of that and then some fruit salad. Absolutely Delicious! We have a lot to be thankful for and our Thanksgiving was definitely more than we could have asked for!

-Sarah

November 15, 2008: In Need of Weight Watchers

This weekend we had the good fortune of being able to attend a professional sumo wrestling tournament. We feel very fortunate to have attended one of the most unique elements of Japanese culture. Several of our Japanese friends have never even been to an actual sumo match. Although our seats were in the very back of the arena, we still had a great view. The first few matches went almost unnoticed by the crowd. Then, as the day progressed, bigger names began to square off and the crowd began to grow and pay more attention. By the end of the day there was not an empty seat in the house and everyone was paying close attention. The matches were pretty exciting. The only catch was that the actual fight only lasted anywhere from 5 seconds to maybe just under a minute. The rest of the time was filled with ceremonious throwing of salt, chanting, etc... It was definitely a great experience and is one I'm sure very few people we know will ever be able to lay claim to. And of course, we got some pretty good pictures of the big sweaty fellows in action!

I was kind of worried that this guy was going to steal Sarah from me. I was more worried about him eating her for lunch than making her his girlfriend. I had to show him what's up and he ran off with his tail between his legs. I was just glad I didn't have to hurt him before his match.

-Brandon Carney

November 8: School race

It’s a Saturday and I had to be at work by 8:30a.m. Sound fun? Well, I didn’t really have a choice because all the teachers had to be there. The students were running in a mandatory race; really, it was a test to make sure the students are exercising. The girls had to run 5K and the guys 10K.

There's a popular singer over here and he does this sign with his fingers and he says "Wish!" at the same time. It really doesn't make sense to me, but these girls thought it was pretty funny that I joined in and acted like I knew what I was doing!

I think I had to do a skills test like this in school, but I think ours was only a mile and it was definitely during a normal P.E. class period. These students didn’t complain (at least, not from what I could understand) and it actually got pretty exciting when the first round of students made it to the finish line.

If you're wondering about the tape on his leg....I'm not sure of the purpose. Maybe for extra leg support?


This kid carried that flag the entire race (6.2 miles)..impressive!

There’s this one student, named ‘Oyama,’ and he seems like a big teddy bear. He’s a Judo player and I teach him once a week (he’s in the “athletic” class, mostly Judo players who don’t care about English). I can tell he doesn’t understand a lot of what I say, but I feel like I want to take him under my wing. He just doesn’t seem interested in English, but maybe by the end of the year I can change his mind (then again, maybe not)! Anyways, the reason I brought him up is because he was the very last person to finish the race. He’s a lot bigger than the other kids and from what I understand, he walked the whole thing (with a slight jog every once in awhile). So, when we saw him approaching the finish, I started chanting “OYAMA,OYAMA” and “GOMBADE,GOMBADE!” (Fight! Fight!) and next thing, we’re all doing that and clapping. Yes, this was like a “feel-good” movie that makes you tear up a little bit. I wanted to give him a big hug, but I didn’t want to cross the line (with the whole teacher/student proper conduct). So, a couple high-fives did the trick! See, that’s how it’s going to be at the end of the year when he really starts to grasp the English language…I can’t wait for that moment!!

Oyama crossing the finish line!!

Everything was over by 1pm., and I got to go home a lot earlier than I thought. Brandon and I celebrated by going to McDonald’s! Plus, I get to take Monday off, for working on a Saturday.

November 1, 2008; Full of Hot Air

This weekend we opted for something not so much Japanese, but altogether international. To be specific, it was the Saga International Balloon Festival. Every year balloonists from all around the world come to this flat yet beautiful area of Kyushu to show off their colors and to compete in various balloon races.

As is often the case, we got together with JD and Cara to check out the festivities. It was actually our first little road trip the four have us have taken together. It was a good one to start out with. We got a lot of pretty nice pictures of the balloons in flight.



































When we first arrived, we were all four discussing whether or not a balloon could be steered and if it could choose where to land. I said that it couldn't and was quickly proven wrong as the balloons came in to dip down in front of us.








































































In addition to the many beautiful balloons floating about for us to gaze upon, there was a vast expanse of fair booths all serving up the usual fair foods...





























Maybe I should be more specific when I say "the usual fair foods" and say the usual Japanese fair foods. Neither Sarah nor I would touch any of this stuff with a 10 foot chopstick, but many of the locals were wolfing it down like it was some cheese-on-a-stick or a funnel cake or something. To be fair, there were a few items that looked to be more to our liking...



























Even with all that good looking food (including the food that actually does look good), we all managed to refrain from buying any. Lately, we've all been a little stingy with our money as we are saving for our upcoming trips to Australia (Sarah and I) and New Zealand (Cara and JD). It sure was tempting though...


After leaving the festival, and before grabbing some dinner and heading for home, we made a late night stop by the historic castle in Saga. The castle grounds are open all night, so JD and I decided to scale the walls ninja-style! It was much higher than it looks in the picture....you'll just have to trust me on that.


It was a great little road trip and was yet another memory made in Japan! We are glad that we've already had so many great memories and that many more will be created.

October 31, 2008: Do Japanese people celebrate Halloween?

The answer is....not really! I mean, they acknowledge that it exists, but most kids don't go 'trick or treating' and at school, most teachers don't mention Halloween. However, there was one exception. One of the English teachers wanted me to teach a special Halloween lesson with her and had a blast doing it! We played talked about the history of the Jack O'lantern & we played Halloween Bingo. We even accessorized to make it more fun! I brought some American candy to share (Air Heads, Pixie Sticks & bubble gum) and the kids loved it.
After school, Mrs. Sato organized a trick-or-treating event at our apartment building (Her and her husband live below us and they have two kids. They also lived in Michigan for awhile, so they know English very well). She told a bunch of other parents and we ended up having about 30 kids come to our door.

This is "She" and "You" Sato (Mr & Mrs. Sato's kids...that's how you pronounce their names, but I don't know about the spelling) Pretty easy to remember, huh?! and they are really sweet kids too :)

The flood of 'trick or treaters' only lasted an hour or and I don't know who had more fun.....Brandon or the kids??! haha, it was cute...he got pretty excited when the kids were at the door. It lasted for an hour and then our friends, JD & Cara came over for dinner. Chicken Spaghetti, salad, garlic biscuits and brownies--a true American feast!

Then, a group of us thought it would be fun to head to a local bowling alley...in costume! And yes, we were the only ones dressed up! Some people went all out on their costumes too....(Brandon and I opted for some dollar store favorites....I had a princess crown, wand & necklace and Brandon wore a duck mask. He actually didn't wear it in public..mostly at our apartment, until he realized it was scaring kids!)

Ira is sporting a typical school outfit for a Japanese kid in kindergarten.

Darryl got some stares with his get-up. He was supposed to be an old Japanese lady. This is what one might be wearing out in the field. It was funny because every once in awhile he would show us break dancing moves and he would get a ton of confused looks from Japanese people (like....how can that old lady be doing those kind of moves??!). I'm pretty sure that's what they were thinking, at least!

I think he's supposed to be a ghetto bandit? I don't really know....he just put on the bandanna, after his "duck mask" idea didn't seem to work out.

Cara, JD, Brandon, Me, Ira, Darryl, Amanda, Caitlyn, Deji

Ok, these next pictures may seem random, but when we got our shoes at the bowling alley, they came out of a machine. You had to know your shoe size (in centimeters) and then put your money in the machine and out come your shoes! They like to use machines over here (which means less work for the clerk--at least when it comes to counting money--the machine does all the work!). I wonder if bowling alleys at home would switch to this method?!

Pretty stylish, huh?!

The night was still young once we finished bowling, so we all headed back to our apartment for CARAMEL APPLES! I had wanted to make these for weeks, so this was the perfect opportunity! I found soft caramel candy at the grocery store, so I just melted those with a little bit of milk. We just dipped all the apples in that, sprinkled some chopped nuts and let them dry. They were absolutely delicious! One of our friends even tried doing it with a pear and that was even better (however, it was a Japanese pear, which is bigger, juicier and more flavorful than the pears we're used to). Are ya hungry yet?