Christmas in Japan

This will probably be the only year in our entire lives that we will spend Christmas by ourselves. And since I'm the one who usually instigates Christmas decorating, cooking, and party going in the US, I decided that Brad would be the "King of Christmas" and decide how to celebrate this Christmas in Japan. So here is what we did:

For Christmas Eve dinner we made our specialty: tacos! After which we broke out some sake and opened presents. This year for Christmas we got a lot of candy, and food such as Hamburger Helper. And let me tell you I couldn't be happier to have a couple boxes of Hamburger Helper and soup on my shelf. (I'm having a hard time figuring out how to cook here. There isn't as much of a selection and obviously a lot of things are in a language I cannot read or understand.)

Then we continued our night by curling up on the couch and listening to This American Life's Christmas 2010 Comedy Special. This radio program has become one of our favorite things to listen to here. If you haven't heard it--check it out here!

Brad got a Star War's spatula and cookie cutters from my parents. Hence the excited face... ;-)

My gift from Brad: a piece of pearl jewelry, yay! On the bottom it says, "This coupon is not an indication that permission must be sought from a Mr. Brad Anderson when the recipient desires something. it is meant only as a gesture of love and not meant to imply any inequality in the partnership." too funny! 

The aftermath.

Christmas morning we made breakfast burritos, talked with family, relaxed and then made fettucine alfredo for dinner (from our Christmas present food).

The Japanese tradition for Christmas is a little different. I guess it is pretty typical to go out on a date on Christmas Eve (think Valentine's day in the US) and then on Christmas day the traditional meal is KFC fried chicken and apparently pizza too because that's what we saw a lot of people walking away with from the grocery store. Some people do have Christmas trees and may exchange a present or two, but most people don't celebrate it besides the KFC tradition. (Brilliant marketing there, KFC!)

So that was our Christmas. Low key, relaxing and fun! Now onto New Year's and finding a piece of jewelry for me!

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Yuzu Bath and Other Things

I think about this blog a lot because I'm always thinking of what I would say whenever I experience something that is somewhat notable. However, I have been extremely lazy lately with actually transcribing what has been going on in our lives down to the blog. Obviously because we're working we're not traveling very much and there's only so much karaoke that we can talk about until you say "enough karaoke"! Seriously though, I think that is going to be one of the biggest things that Brad and I will miss when we go home. (And in case you haven't figured it out already, Japanese karaoke is very different than what Americans are used to. You have private rooms here, its not in front of a whole bar...)

Brad and I have been lamenting the fact that the sun comes up so late now (6:44am--during the summer the sun came up at about 5 am) and goes down so early (4:29pm), we've even talked about it with our parents. I thought it was somewhat significant until I looked up the sunrise and sunset information for Denver (7:15am-4:37pm FYI) and realized that we actually have a tiny bit more of daytime here!

It's crazy some of the things that you forget when you've been away for awhile. For example: somehow the phrase "see you" has been ingrained in Japanese peoples heads as a good-bye phrase. But I think it's safe to say that it is a fairly uncommon phrase in the US. It sounded so funny to me when we first moved over here. I kept waiting for people to say see you--later or tomorrow etc. Now the phrase "see you " sounds completely normal to me. I wonder how many things like that will catch me off guard once we move back to Colorado...

Before I get to the yuzu bath thing I think it would be best to fill you in on my health. :) I think I'm allergic to Japan. I'm serious! When we first came here in February I developed a rash only on the back of my hands. I thought it was because I was allergic to a certain kind of soap because it slowly went away when we went home for a few days in March. However, I have stopped using this brand of soap and since we moved back here for the long haul, I have had trouble with dry, itchy patches on my face and hands, which then moved down to my calves, hips and now on to my elbows.

I have been to the doctor more times here (with little to no success and many different combos of medication and lotion) than I have in the last 5 years in the US. And I won't even delve into how awkward and frustrating it is to try and get your point across to the doctor about what is going on when there is an obvious language barrier. Luckily there is no such thing as patient confidentiality/HIPAA here because I can have someone call later to fill me in on the details of the medication I'm supposed to take. Still I hope it goes away when we move back or I'm just excited to talk to a doctor who can actually diagnose me with something and help me cure it rather than lessen the symptoms for a couple days at a time!

 Now to the Yuzu bath thing. The Yuzu is an ugly orange looking fruit but is actually most similar to a lime. I had never seen or heard of it until this past August and never actually saw the fruit until a couple of weeks ago. Apparently it's a Japanese custom to put Yuzu's in your bath on the winter solstice to ward off sickness and rejuvenate your body. Brad was given a couple of yuzu's at his school so he brought it home and we decided to try it. Neither of us had ever taken a bath with a fruit before so we just cracked 'em open and let them float. It was really nice and aromatic until I had an itch on my leg which I then scratched, which then started burning and burning and burning and burning. It was seriously one of the worst pains I had ever felt! I quickly finished taking a shower (in which cold water and washing the area I scratched did nothing). Luckily it just needed some time and was completely gone by the morning but that is the last time I ever take a bath with a citrus fruit!

So either we put too much fruit/juice in the water or Japanese people know not to scratch an itch while in the bath with a Yuzu and forgot to fill me in on that little detail. But that is our experience of trying that Japanese custom by ourselves...

First Homemade Japanese Dinner- Yummy!

Our friend Chris works at a private school teaching English to people of all different ages. We have been lucky enough to get to know some of his former students (he's switched schools since we moved here) and experience many different things with them such as skiing, camping, and multiple dinners. This time his former student Kazue invited us over for some nabe, sukiyaki, and shabu shabu. We always have so much fun with his students and this dinner was amazing!

Kazue, her husband Kenichiro, and their daughter Yui are amazing! They let us sleep on their futons for almost 2 months while we were staying with Chris and are always so welcoming whenever we see them. They are truly becoming our "family" away from home if you will.

The spread: sushi, nabe, sukiyaki, and shabu shabu. (I linked everything to wikipedia which explains it much better than me.) But all of these foods are cooked in kind of a stew on the table. Sukiyaki is traditionally thin meat cooked in the pot and then dipped in raw egg before eating. Yes, we both tried it but at least I prefer it without the raw egg... Shabu shabu is again, thin meat that you take from a plate and then dip in boiling broth while singing "shabu, shabu, shabu" etc. (at least that's what they told us;) ) until the meat is cooked. Then you dip it in some kind of sauce (we tried a mustard sauce) and then eat it. 

Yui downing her sparkling cider...

The whole group. We were watching Ponyo in the background (good movie btw!)

I had no idea that Kazue and Kenichiro were such big hockey fans, but we broke out their hockey game and guess who the teams were? The Avalanche and Red Wings. Go figure.

Chris and Yui playing some hockey.

Yui was teaching Brad Japanese and kanji (Chinese characters), and Brad read her Winnie the Pooh in English. (So cute!) Yui is 7 years old and has already taken English for a couple of years. She is still pretty shy about talking but she can understand a lot of what you say if its simple questions. Ex: "How are you?" "How old are you?" "What food do you like?" etc. This is pretty good I think, especially since my 7th grade students are learning the same thing as she is right now. 

After the meal, Kazue learned that I had never tried natto and preceded to document my first (and only) natto eating experience. Natto is fermented soy beans and smells really bad. Japanese people love to ask if you've ever tried natto because it is very much an acquired taste. Natto smells bad and is very stringy and slippery. It is also a very popular breakfast item.  

The first bite. No, that is not drool--its the rotten beans!!

My reaction.

eww!

So there you have it--a fun evening with good food and fun people! There are some more cute pictures of Yui and everybody playing hockey which I will post on Picasa. 

Merry Christmas!

We hope you are having a very Merry Christmas. I know I've been bad about updating the blog lately but I promise I will get to it soon...because I'm on vacation woohoo!

Anyway, enjoy your Christmas and Happy New Years too!