Christmas Kotatsu

Here is a picture of my living room, slightly decorated for Christmas. This is where I spend a lot of time working on music, studying, e-mailing, and blogging (like right now!). The computer and mini Christmas tree are sitting on a kotatsu--I can't remember if I've explained what a kotatsu is before. Basically, it's a blanket covered table with a heater under it-very nice for staying warm. (Check the link for more information.)

My visa was about to expire in January, so I went to the immigration office recently to file papers for an extension. Two days ago, I got my final paperwork to renew my visa through January of 2010, so I'm glad that went smoothly. (It would have been very inconvenient to have to leave the country to renew from America in the middle of the school year!)

Almost Christmas-maybe snow?

Today our school had "UICS Family Christmas" party. It was a potluck dinner with games and some music. It was great to get together with everyone and enjoy some delicious food (including chicken and stuffing-yum!) Before the party, the high school students performed a short operetta-they're been practicing for quite a while, and did a great job!

The weather report says there's a chance of snow early tomorrow morning. Last time snow was forecast nothing happened, so I won't expect anything, but it would be fun to see some snow before Christmas.

Starbucks Gig 3

I just got back from our "live" at Starbucks. (Japanese uses "raibu" as a noun to mean "live concert".) Thank you to everyone that prayed for people to be open to receive the invitation to come to next week's Christmas concert; overall, everything went very well. People from the church came to support us, so the room was full both times we played (and I think more than full the first time we played).

Since I was playing, of course I couldn't take any pictures, so I don't have any to post right now; hopefully I'll get some later. Since I seem to be thinking about fast food a lot, just for fun, here's a picture of Wendy's latest promotional burger: the Creamy Aspara Bacon Burger! (sounds good - maybe I'll try it this week).

MERRY XMOS!

No, I'm not spelling that wrong; I saw this poster for a seasonal item at one of my favorite Japanese fast-food restaurants, MOS Burger. I thought it was a clever play on words. The poster reads "otona-mo kodomo-mo shiawase ni naru (*a kanji character I don't know*)" The first part I understood "both children and adults become happy", but I couldn't figure out the second part. Eriya just told me that the kanji means "taste", so it means something like "this taste will make both adults and children happy". At the bottom of the poster it reads, "mosu chikin pakku"--"MOS chicken pack". I'm assuming that this marketing campaign is trying to compete with KFC, which becomes extra popular around Christmas (that's a long story that I've talked about with some family members before). Basically, KFC in Japan takes advantage of the fact that Colonel Sanders looks vaguely like Santa Claus and dresses up all the statues outside their restaurants in Santa costumes-kind of fun, actually!

Venus Emerging From A Gyoza AKA Utsunomiya's Gyoza Statue

In October, the (semi-)famous gyoza statue was being moved to a new location on the other side of the train station when it was dropped and broken. The story made the national news here, and I sent information to some family members that had seen it when they visited. I thought the situation was a little bit funny, because I've heard that some people really don't like the statue that much. Well, my family members that visited actually were sad to hear the news, so here is the update: the statue has been completely repaired, and is safely standing at its (her) new location on the west side of the station, closer to the main entrance.

Christmas Is Coming

Last week, the preschool students helped to decorate the church's Christmas tree. I haven't posted many pictures of the inside of the church, so people that have never visited haven't seen much of it--this is in the entrance, right by the front door.
Good job, kids!

Japanese Test in Oyama

Today I took the basic level of the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). I had been studying fairly regularly for a while, but the last couple of weeks I have been so busy preparing for music events that I wasn't as ready as I wanted to be. I'm really not sure how well I did because my reading is still so slow. I was confident in some of my answers, so-so in some, and just guessed on more than I was hoping to. The results aren't mailed until mid-February, so I have to wait a while until I know how I did.

The test was given in the city of Oyama. It's on the way to Tokyo, so I've traveled through Oyama many times, but today was the first time I actually stopped there. Today was a beautiful, clear day, so after the test was finished I took a walk around the city. I like visiting historical sites when I can, so I was interested to see that Oyama, like many cities here, has a park on the site of the ruins of a castle. After walking through the park, I noticed a street that led to the entrance of a temple. Even though most of the leaves have already fallen from the trees, I still thought the street was beautiful.

Starbucks gigs

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that friends and I were scheduled to play at some coffee tasting events at Starbucks in a couple of the local malls. Last weekend, we played twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday. Overall, it went very well. Lots of people from church came to support us. The pictures are all from our shows on Saturday. Our drummer, Hisato, had to work that day, so he wasn't there--sorry, Hisato, I don't have any pictures from our Sunday show yet!


The pictures are of Shinya playing guitar and singing, Eriya playing bass, me playing keyboard, and Kaori and Kazuyo doing guest vocals. (Family and friends that received the worship CD from me for Christmas last year, all the people in the pictures are members of the worship team that played on that CD.)


Someone mentioned to me that I look like a mannequin in the picture of just me--I laughed because it kind of does look like that. It's probably a combination of the lighting and me staring and concentrating on the music while avoiding looking at the audience so I wouldn't get any more nervous than I already was...

Giant Cats and No Snow

These pictures have nothing to do with anything else, I just think they're funny. Well, actually they're a little bit sad (I can't imagine that these cats are able to chase mice or do many other typical cat things). Hmm.... well..... they're funny too.

When I first saw them, I thought somebody Photoshopped the pictures, but I checked from different sources and they're real.

Well, I can't say I'm very surprised, but it didn't snow today. It did stay cold all day though, so I think winter is on its way.

Soft Drink Vikings and 65 degrees to snow in one day?

I went skating again this afternoon in beautiful, mid-60 degree weather (that's 18 degrees for the metric readers). I was comfortable wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt. I was very surprised to see the weather report this evening list a possibility of snow tomorrow! Apparently, there's a cold front moving this way, and even though it says there's no chance of snow staying on the ground, if it snows tomorrow it will be very strange after a day that felt more like spring than a month away from winter.

Along with the usual mix of reactions as I was skating I had one new experience. An older gentleman saw me as he was walking on the bike path. He smiled and asked me if it's fun (in Japanese-I was pretty happy that I understood at least that much). I said yes. He asked if it's difficult, and I said that it's a little difficult. After that, his vocabulary was a little too hard for me, but then he told me "ganbaru!" which means "you can do it / keep at it / go for it" depending on the situation.

The picture? Well . . . all-you-can-drink beverage bars are common in "family style" restaurants here. The word frequently used in Japan for buffet is "viking", possibly borrowed into Japanese in a similar way that "smorgasbord" was borrrowed into English. Put the two concepts together, and you have a "soft drink viking"! (No, it has nothing to do with ancient Swedish tribes drinking CocaCola on their raiding trips.) It still makes me smile when I see that sign in the restaurant.

Ginkgo and Gokiburi Update

I found out that ginkgo trees are common in California. (Thanks for the info, Elaine!) They may also be common in Oregon, and I just didn't know what they were before I came to Japan so I didn't notice them. It's kind of interesting that Wikipedia mentions that wild ginkgo trees in their natural environment are rare, and may be limited to one small forest in China--strange.

Well, I kind of forgot about Mr. Buri, the cockroach. But, when I looked in his little plastic prison on Sunday, he was still alive. I mentioned him to my conversation class students in my Sunday morning class (yesterday) and one of the students said that gokiburi hate soap. I was surprised, and to be honest, incredulous (To my students who read this: that's a good word for advanced vocabulary. The dictionary says, "incredulous: unwilling to admit or accept what is offered as true; skeptical".) But since it was so big that I didn't want to smash it, and I didn't have any bug spray, I decided to try some soap. I opened the top of the container a little, and squeezed some dish soap into the box. As soon as it touched Mr. Buri, he started running around the container like crazy and thrashing around. I quickly closed the lid. When I checked a while later, he was dead. I just did a search on the Internet, and several sites list soap as being a good, natural cockroach "poison". Also, if you smash a cockroach, sometimes that spreads its very small eggs, which can still hatch, so one site recommended against that. So, there you have it! (By the way, I threw the box with the late Mr. Buri in the trash; I was certainly not going to use it anymore. If you come to visit my house, you don't have to worry about that...) I think that will be the end of gokiburi discussions for a long time (I hope!)

Koyo

Koyo means "autumn leaves" or "leaves changing color". Today I saw some beautiful ginkgo trees in a park not far from Utsunomiya Eki (train station). I know ginkgo trees are grown in America, but I don't remember ever seeing any there. They are very common here, and obviously are amazing to see in the autumn. When I saw some trees last autumn, I noticed a strange smell when I was near the trees, and was then told that, unfortunately, the fruit that they produce doesn't smell good. That's an understatement. Some people say it smells like rotten butter, and other people say it smells like, . . . well . . . poop. I think the second description is more accurate. But the leaves are so beautiful, I'm willing to hold my nose while I'm enjoying the view.

Pirate Day?

I'm getting a lot of use out of the silly pirate hat I bought at the hyaku yen shop (dollar store)! In some of my classes we've been playing a game called "Treasure Island". The students use maps to hide a treasure and traps, and then try to find their partner's treasure by asking questions. It's good speaking practice, and pretty fun.

The weather has been great-about 70 degrees today with a beautiful, clear blue sky. I went roller skating on the bike path again today. It is getting pretty cold at night now, though.

AAAAAH!!!!!!!

GOKIBURI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If it isn't already very obvious, gokiburi means cockroach.

I was getting ready to make dinner, walked into the kitchen and Mr. Buri was slowly walking across the counter. After jumping about a foot backwards, I regathered my wits, remembered that Mr. Buri would start running VERY fast as soon as he figured out I was not his friend, and grabbed the nearest thing I saw that I could slap on top to capture him. Obviously, from the picture, that was a Ziploc container (that I will no longer be using for food storage).

Oregon doesn't have many cockroaches, so I haven't had much experience with them since I lived for a summer in San Diego. I'm really not happy that I had this experience, but I can't say I'm really surprised. It's the first time that I've actually seen one in this house, but I've heard many stories (and seen a couple of Mr. Buri's brothers or sisters outside by the garbage area). Including legs sticking out (bleah!) he's about the size of my thumb; I've heard they can be much bigger.

Mr. Buri is now trapped in his little plastic prison until I decide what to do with him . . .

Gigs

I have already told some people about this, but it looks like I may be gigging fairly regularly. Shinya met the manager of the local Starbucks, and he invited him to bring "his band" and play in the store ("the band" = Shinya, Eriya, Hisato and me, and maybe some guest vocalists too). Before we even played, the manager was making plans for a coffee tasting event at a couple of the local malls, and realized that he wanted to have music at those events too, so invited us to do that too. So, on November 29th and 30th we're playing at those events and then probably playing at Starbucks in December. At a meeting that the manager was at, he mentioned these plans, and a couple of the managers of other Starbucks are interested in having us in their stores, so we may be kind of busy with music!

On a related note, I tried the new dark cherry mocha from Starbucks tonight; it's good!


You probably already noticed, but I added a clock to my blog so you can see what time it is here; use it just for curiosity or in case you're planning to call me from America, please notice the time here and don't call me at 4:00 AM.

Pepsi . . . YOGURT?!

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything about unusual food items. I think I've found the perfect thing: White Pepsi featuring yogurt flavor!

It basically tasted like . . . well . . . mild Pepsi with a dairy flavor. That may not sound good, but it wasn't actually bad, considering I don't even like Pepsi.


It's a nice day, so I'll go roller skate and drink a White Pepsi (well, maybe not the Pepsi part...)

Lunch-yum!

My salmon sashimi lunch turned out so good, I thought I'd take a picture. I splurged and bought the next grade up from the normal sashimi I usually get at the grocery store, and it was really good!

"Good Times..."

"...and roller skates, roller skates..."

(For those that don't know, that's a line from a disco song by Chic)

I had been thinking about buying roller blades, but had mixed feelings about them before, even after using them quite a bit. When checking prices and information on the internet, I discovered "quadline skates". After checking some more, I decided to try them, and received mine in the mail a few weeks ago (thanks, Jane!). Since they are designed to be used with your own shoes, most of the reviews I read said the key to a comfortable ride was comfortable sneakers. After some experimenting, I decided to buy some hi-top Vans. So, I'm having my 70s flashback (skates) and 80s flashback (Vans) all at the same time. I've used them a few times, and have fun getting exercise and getting surprised looks as I skate by on the bike path. Roller blades aren't real common in Japan, from what I can see, and skates even less so. I've seen more than a couple of people trying not to look like they're looking at me as I go by. The last time I was skating, I passed a group of elementary students walking home from school. I heard one of them exclaim, "Sugoi, ne!" ("Great/cool, huh?!")

Halloween

Well, I just noticed it's been over a month since my last blog entry-I've THOUGHT about blogging a couple of times a week, but just don't seem to get around to it.

LOTS of music preparation is going on right now: 1) we are preparing for "Joyful Christmas" 2008-similar to what I participated in last year. The church rents out one of Utsunomiya's largest concert halls for a Christmas program. 2) This Sunday, our school is having a culture festival with a short drama, music and artistic presentations. 3) And a local Starbucks is interested in having us (Shinya, Eriya, Hisato and me) play in their store, so we're also practicing for an audition for that.

Yesterday I went on a tour with some members of the church up to the mountains to Chuzenji Lake to see fall leaves (for those of you that know or remember, near the town of Nikko). Most of the trees were past their peak colors, but there was still some very beautiful scenery. I'm including a couple of pictures.

In spite of the title of this entry, not very surprisingly, Halloween isn't a big deal here. It's mostly seen as an opportunity to put up some decorations in stores, and sell some themed treats. As I noticed last year, some of the decorations include small trees with Halloween theming. Kind of a Christmas/Halloween hybrid-very unusual by American standards.

I takes longer here than in Oregon for autumn to settle in; the nights are just now getting much colder, but the change was quite sudden and noticeable. I picked my last green pepper a couple of days ago, so my garden is completely empty now. I thought about growing some herbs, but since I can't seem to get more than one blog entry per month done, maybe I'll skip the herbs . . .

YUM!

You've heard my complaint about not being able to find much Mexican food in Japan--there's no Taco Bell here (I know, that's not real Mexican food, but you know what I mean...). But the fast food restaurants that ARE in Japan do have some good things that they DON'T have in the States. I think I've mentioned that McD's has a teriyaki burger and a shrimp burger that are both pretty good (and people that have visited me have said they like the "Shaka-shaka fries"). Wendy's, though, definitely has McD's beat in the creativity department. On the menu, they have a special feature hamburger that changes seasonally. A few weeks ago I tried their curry burger (Japanese-style curry sauce on a cheeseburger with grilled onions) which was VERY tasty. Tonight I tried the newest special: the eggplant and spicy meat sauce cheeseburger! That might sound pretty strange, but it was REALLY good!