I didn't sleep well last night. I believe it was a combination of a new house, excitement of visiting my friend's family, and the super annoying bug that lives right outside my window. Actually, he probably lives in the park across the street but he is SO loud that it seems like he's pressing his little buggy face against the window screen and screeching his lungs out. How rude. I'm going to close my window Peter Pan-style and tell him to grow up and get lost.
The morning was pretty laid back as otoosan had already left for work at 6am. I skyped my parents before anyone else was up and set up at the kitchen table. As I was giving the skype tour around the house I bumped into okaasan who was beginning to prepare breakfast. Well, that situation turned into me holding my computer waist-high, allowing the camera to face okaasan as she and my parents talked to each other...and guess who had to play interpreter? Me. So there we stood in the kitchen, my hands burning against the bottom of the computer and hands tired from holding the machine for an hour. My mind was fried from trying to interpret things into vocabular that I didn't even know. Okaasan was rewording her sentences into the most simple format for me to understand and speaking very slowly for me, but it was still difficult to understand. She kept on trying to excuse herself but the words kept flowing across the internet connection. By the time we finally hung up I had long since abandoned my post and set the computer on the table. My tummy was begging for breakfast and was richly rewarded.
The rest of the household woke up and we partook of a scruptious meal: An egg, thinly sliced ham, yogurt with blueberries, toast with marionberry jam (conveniently brought by me as a gift from Oregon), milk, miso soup, and rice. It was mmm-mmm good!
We spent the morning chatting and planning out the coming two weeks. Pretty soon it was lunch time and we ate yummy cold soba with lettuce, fresh garden tomatoes, tuna, and mayonaise of course! What a perfect summertime meal.
After all that good food Takae and I wanted to take a walk so we volunteered to take the grocery list on our way out the door. The neighborhood is absolutely beautiful as each little plot of land is manicured to perfection. There isn't any grass, but each plant is carefully looked after whether it is a tree, bush, flower, or edible plant. Passing the park Takae pointed out, "Susie! Look at that!" I took a closer look at the hedge...it had become a mausoleum for cicadas! I quickly learned that cicadas shed their outer...skin/shell/body/thing and leave it behind. It was like a cicada rapture...super creepy. The skins turned brown but were't entirely transparent so it looked like there was still a bug there. Or bugs...because there were many of them.
Our jaunt took us past Takae's old elementary school and we passed several parks with interesting public artwork sculpted in the centers. I noticed a cloud coming up behind us but didn't really care about it since I was happily taking pictures.
As our circle came to a close we stopped off at the local grocery shop. We picked up the items for dinner and stepped outside...into a torrential downpour!
A passing cloud, I was told.
We waited it out for about 10 minutes, but it kept on raining. Across the sidewalk someone had tied up their little dog out of the main walkway as they presumably were inside shopping. That poor dog stood in the rain faithfully eyeing the entrance in anticipation of his owner's return.
The morning was pretty laid back as otoosan had already left for work at 6am. I skyped my parents before anyone else was up and set up at the kitchen table. As I was giving the skype tour around the house I bumped into okaasan who was beginning to prepare breakfast. Well, that situation turned into me holding my computer waist-high, allowing the camera to face okaasan as she and my parents talked to each other...and guess who had to play interpreter? Me. So there we stood in the kitchen, my hands burning against the bottom of the computer and hands tired from holding the machine for an hour. My mind was fried from trying to interpret things into vocabular that I didn't even know. Okaasan was rewording her sentences into the most simple format for me to understand and speaking very slowly for me, but it was still difficult to understand. She kept on trying to excuse herself but the words kept flowing across the internet connection. By the time we finally hung up I had long since abandoned my post and set the computer on the table. My tummy was begging for breakfast and was richly rewarded.
The rest of the household woke up and we partook of a scruptious meal: An egg, thinly sliced ham, yogurt with blueberries, toast with marionberry jam (conveniently brought by me as a gift from Oregon), milk, miso soup, and rice. It was mmm-mmm good!
We spent the morning chatting and planning out the coming two weeks. Pretty soon it was lunch time and we ate yummy cold soba with lettuce, fresh garden tomatoes, tuna, and mayonaise of course! What a perfect summertime meal.
After all that good food Takae and I wanted to take a walk so we volunteered to take the grocery list on our way out the door. The neighborhood is absolutely beautiful as each little plot of land is manicured to perfection. There isn't any grass, but each plant is carefully looked after whether it is a tree, bush, flower, or edible plant. Passing the park Takae pointed out, "Susie! Look at that!" I took a closer look at the hedge...it had become a mausoleum for cicadas! I quickly learned that cicadas shed their outer...skin/shell/body/thing and leave it behind. It was like a cicada rapture...super creepy. The skins turned brown but were't entirely transparent so it looked like there was still a bug there. Or bugs...because there were many of them.
Our jaunt took us past Takae's old elementary school and we passed several parks with interesting public artwork sculpted in the centers. I noticed a cloud coming up behind us but didn't really care about it since I was happily taking pictures.
As our circle came to a close we stopped off at the local grocery shop. We picked up the items for dinner and stepped outside...into a torrential downpour!
A passing cloud, I was told.
We waited it out for about 10 minutes, but it kept on raining. Across the sidewalk someone had tied up their little dog out of the main walkway as they presumably were inside shopping. That poor dog stood in the rain faithfully eyeing the entrance in anticipation of his owner's return.
I wanted to run out there and rescue him, just so that he could be in under shelter for a little while. There was quite a little crowd of people who had walked to the store unprepared and umbrella-less just like us. The general consensus in this situation is to wait it out.
Well...I'm an Oregonian. We walk in the rain all the time. I had brought my cell phone and Takae was about to call her mom to see if we should wait or walk or be picked up. I said, "Let's just walk in the rain." I grabbed a plastic umbrella sheath from the stand by the door and put my camera and cellphone inside, tying it shut. I put that inside my grocery bag and put my glasses in my pocket...lot's of good they're going to do me now!
We spent the next 10 minutes walking home in the torrential but warm summer rain, enjoying the freeing feelings of summer and no school or work. The sun was still visible through the clouds towards the West which painted quite a lovely picture through our rainy veil. If my camera was waterproof I would have taken a picture for you. For now, this is all you get.
Well...I'm an Oregonian. We walk in the rain all the time. I had brought my cell phone and Takae was about to call her mom to see if we should wait or walk or be picked up. I said, "Let's just walk in the rain." I grabbed a plastic umbrella sheath from the stand by the door and put my camera and cellphone inside, tying it shut. I put that inside my grocery bag and put my glasses in my pocket...lot's of good they're going to do me now!
We spent the next 10 minutes walking home in the torrential but warm summer rain, enjoying the freeing feelings of summer and no school or work. The sun was still visible through the clouds towards the West which painted quite a lovely picture through our rainy veil. If my camera was waterproof I would have taken a picture for you. For now, this is all you get.
We appeared on the doorstep like wet rats...victorious wet rats.
After a cleansing shower I helped okaasan to prepare dinner. This turned out to be me learning a lot of cooking vocabulary and not really helping due to my lack of comprehension regarding the subject at hand. Japanese Cooking 101, in Japanese.
We made several small dishes including an unidentified root that doesn't exist in the States and an extremely bitter vegetable native to the Japanese island of Okinawa. My favorite, and coincidentally the most simple to make, was what I'm calling "nasu pizza." "Nasu" is the word for eggplant, and after you slice them into rounds you stir fry them in a pan until they're soft. Add some packaged spaghetti and meat sauce, then put the entire mixture into a flat baking dish. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake in the oven until the cheese is melted. SOOO good.
We hung out after dinner and I practiced a bit on the piano. It's so nice to play something acoustic again.
When otoosan and Yuu-chan came home around 8:30 they brought a special treat: Haagen-Daaz ice cream (of course it's green tea flavor which is fine by me!) Otoosan made a "Family Schedule" and we each wrote our names and potential plans for the next two weeks. We spent the rest of the evening talking about what we wanted to do and checking the details of events. After much internet research we sadly found out that many hanabi (literally "flower-fire" or firework) festivals were cancelled due to the earthquake and tsunami disaster. It seems that the hanabi festival and climbing Mt. Fuji will be our exciting adventures for next year's summer break. This year we're going to Tokyo: Disney Sea, museums, shopping district, Rainbow Bridge, Viewing Mt. Fuji, a baseball game?, and other places scattered in between. I think a haircut and massage might be involved.
Yes, please.
After a cleansing shower I helped okaasan to prepare dinner. This turned out to be me learning a lot of cooking vocabulary and not really helping due to my lack of comprehension regarding the subject at hand. Japanese Cooking 101, in Japanese.
We made several small dishes including an unidentified root that doesn't exist in the States and an extremely bitter vegetable native to the Japanese island of Okinawa. My favorite, and coincidentally the most simple to make, was what I'm calling "nasu pizza." "Nasu" is the word for eggplant, and after you slice them into rounds you stir fry them in a pan until they're soft. Add some packaged spaghetti and meat sauce, then put the entire mixture into a flat baking dish. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake in the oven until the cheese is melted. SOOO good.
We hung out after dinner and I practiced a bit on the piano. It's so nice to play something acoustic again.
When otoosan and Yuu-chan came home around 8:30 they brought a special treat: Haagen-Daaz ice cream (of course it's green tea flavor which is fine by me!) Otoosan made a "Family Schedule" and we each wrote our names and potential plans for the next two weeks. We spent the rest of the evening talking about what we wanted to do and checking the details of events. After much internet research we sadly found out that many hanabi (literally "flower-fire" or firework) festivals were cancelled due to the earthquake and tsunami disaster. It seems that the hanabi festival and climbing Mt. Fuji will be our exciting adventures for next year's summer break. This year we're going to Tokyo: Disney Sea, museums, shopping district, Rainbow Bridge, Viewing Mt. Fuji, a baseball game?, and other places scattered in between. I think a haircut and massage might be involved.
Yes, please.
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