Nihongo-a-Go-Go :: Mandy's Journal

Mochi!

Hello, all!

I hope that everyone had a happy Christmas. I am finally on winter break, ah....feels good to just sleep in. New Year's is coming and, in Japan, that means everything shuts down. Including grocery stores, shopping stores...and ATM's. Convenience stores are still open, from what I've been told, but Aimee and I decided to go stock up at the grocery store.

The store was absolutely insane today! Everyone else was shopping for New Year's as well. Traditionally, there is no cooking done for the first three days of the new year, so Japanese families prepare food in the days before. This food, called osechi, is put in beautiful multi-tiered boxes, which are called jubako, and is eaten for January 1, 2, and 3. The foods chosen and the methods used for preparing them are all symbolic, such as herring roe which is included as a wish for many children in the new year (as apparently herring ovaries contain thousands of eggs). Many people no longer prepare the osechi from scratch; they can purchase the pieces ready-made at the grocery stores...heck, even at some convenience stores.

Aimee and I did not stock up on many traditional foods...as a matter of fact, some we seriously avoided. We bought...(you can skip this if you don't care about our grocery list)...

tomato sauce
sliced meat
yaki soba noodles
scallops
sugar
tissues (not for consumption)
ice cream
bean sprouts
chocolate
bread
cheese
instant yaki soba
nachos (woot!)
mochi
those little pastry things with smooth sweet bean paste in them

I shall explain about the last four items.

The instant yaki soba is great. You basically just add boiling water to the container, let it steep for three minutes, drain the water, add the sauce and dried veggies, and there you go! That was the first part of dinner. The second part of dinner was the packaged nachos. Chips (an odd salsa-bbq flavor) and spicy salsa. Hotter than I would have eaten at home, but delightful. Yum! Now the last two.

Aimee likes the little bean paste things, so those are all her. I just can't get into them. They're shaped like maple leaves, and traditional yummies. You can just see one in the pic, and you can see the package on the right. Mochi are pressed rice goo cakes that you can bake or fry or boil. The recipe I want to try is baking the mochi, then rolling it in soy sauce, and eating it with a slice of cheese. Sounds yummy! If you're interested in mochi, here's a website with more recipes. Happy New Year!

Christmas!

Well, first off, Merry Christmas, everyone! Lots of health and wealth and love and blessings and happiness and sugar on you! :) My day was a...forgettable mass of teaching, much like any other Saturday, honestly. It really annoyed me to see how many students signed in for extra lessons. It's like...people, even if you don't celebrate Christmas, you should respect that the teachers here do. We don't want to be here, and today, we don't like you. *sigh* Ah well...

This morning, before we went to work, Aimee and I opened our dolls. They are free! Thomas is even more glorious now. He's adorable!

When we got home, Aimee and I exchanged our stockings, woot! Aimee got me delightful things, including American candy, British hot cocoa, boots for Thomas, a star necklace, and an Aichi World Expo Monchichi. Here are some pics!

Kenshin Pretty Cure Us

The Kenshin figure is probably...oh, three inches tall. It's one of a new series of gashapon that I think are really cool! The faces don't have the best paint jobs, but the sculpts are great. Of the two girl figures, the one on the right (wearing white) is mine. I got the other one for Aimee. They're the main characters from the anime "Pretty Cure," and we maintain that they look like us. :) The Monchichi is pretty self-explanatory. Her hair is in the same two little tufts that the Expo characters have on the tops of their heads. Super cute!

Thomas was thrilled with his boots. Here he is:

And, last but not least, if you're interested, this is what my stocking looks like:

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! All my love and Grinchiness! *big hugs* Oh...and here's the Christmas movie that I am. :)

Your Christmas is Most Like: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Christmas was not a big deal for you growing up... And you're still trying to figure out what it all means.

Christmas Eve

Well, well...it looks to be...a non-white Christmas! *insane cheering* Hehe, for the first time in my life, there is no snow for Christmas for me, and I'm crazy happy. Everyone said "Oh, you'll miss it." I laugh at you, anonymous warners, I laugh. Ha! I miss it not at all, and give a giant WOOT. Heheheh...

Ahem. Anyway.

Yesterday and today were my days off. Yesterday was to be last minute shopping for Aimee. The stores were insanely packed, I couldn't believe it! Then Aimee remembered that Thursday was a holiday. The Emperor's Birthday, to be precise. Everyone was shopping, of course. I did get...my new Pinky!

Isn't she adorable? I love her! She has no name yet, though...any suggestions?

I also got the coolest gashapon out of one of the machines. They were all good choices; it was all Jack from NMBC. I got the very best one. Observe!

I am so in love with it! The little sleeping Zero, the stack of books, and the open books on the bed, are all separate. It cost 300 yen, which is more than I usually spend, but it's an amazing figure. In love may not be the correct term. "Adore" may be better.

Today Aimee and I lazed a bit, which was nice. You know, the whole showering, taking pics of dolls in natural light, all that. Around 4:30 we headed out into the world, heading to Sakae to go to the Orchid Gardens. It's all done up with lights for Christmas, and was very beautiful. I took so many pictures, so Aimee was kind enough to make a little directory for me.

Orchid Garden Christmas

It was very beautiful, though because of the jazz concert, we couldn't use flash or really get around some parts. Outside there were more lights and a pond. They had Christmas trees floating in the pond. It was so dorky! But a fun way to spend Christmas Eve. We went to Wendy's for dinner, and then homity home home. :) Where I'm sitting now, talking to my family. Love you guys!

Christmas approacheth...

Hello all!

Well, two work days down, three to go. Today went pretty quickly, though I had one student tell me I should go to the Vatican and teach English and another tell me I had wonderful Urkainian eyes. Students are fascinated by my name and nationalities.

After work, Aimee and I headed down to Volks to present Mayumi, the lovely girl who helps us out all the time, with the adorable cookies that Aimee made and a little card from the both of us. Mayumi totally flipped out; I couldn't figure out if she would cry or pass out. She kept thanking us and saying how much she loved them. She gave Aimee a little SD sized Gameboy Advance. It's super cute. I'm sure Link will love playing with it.

I took some pictures on the walk back to the station. It was drizzling a little, and the pics got a little blurry through use of no flash.

The lights are pretty, if a little overdone. The Christmas tree in front of Parco must cause seizures; Aimee commented that it's like it's decorated with frantic papparazzi.

I've been getting ready for New Year's too. I tried to make quasi-traditional decorations, called 'shimekazari.' I purchased the pieces at Tokyu Hands. I know they're not totally traditional, but neither were the ones on display. So I don't feel so bad. We're keeping one, and the rest are going to Karen, Diane, and Aimee's parents. So their Christmas pressies are late, but I handmade them. :)

We also purchased a little chicken bell that sits on a little tatami mat and loves us. His name is Tatami Chicken, and a more apt name you'd be hard pressed to find.

All ready for the year of the Cock! (Actually, I'm crazy ready for vacation!)

Disturbingly accurate...

Update and piccies

Well...we never got out to the Orchid Gardens or to get cell phones today, blah. It was a day full of cleaning and showering and laundry...and then traditional stuff.

Aimee went Western traditional, making lots and lots of anise Christmas cookies. The cut out type shaped like bells and trees and angels. It was nice to smell them cooking in the toaster oven. Tomorrow night when we get home from work she's going to frost and decorate them. We still don't know the different between star anise and normal anise, but it seems normal to me. *chomps on cookie dough*

I went traditional the other way. :) I wrote out tons of New Year's cards, and have more to write out tomorrow night. I'll mail them out this week. They're really cute cards, I think. :) I had to keep one of each for myself. I also made some wreaths and other New Year's decorations. Very fun! I'm worried that they're totally wrong, but they look very similar to the ones at Tokyo Hands that were on display, and I've done research about them. I hope they're okay!

We also had a traditional dinner...traditional in the sense of an all-American breakfast. We had lots of leftover eggs from Aimee's baking, so I made omelettes with cheese and onions. We also had toast and bacon. Very fun! Now we're eating French pudding, hehehe.

Oh! And today we blew out a fuse! I was just getting ready to get into the shower and plugged in the heater. The heater and the dryer were just too much and half the apartment lost power. I totally freaked out...especially since I wasn't wearing pants. :) But Aimee figured out the breaker box over the door, flipped the switch, and all was well.

And I know a bunch of people don't like Thomas already, but here are some more pictures. Maybe they'll help? Enjoy!

Here he is next to Aimee's Link doll. You can see the difference in size! And also the difference in their skin colors. Aimee's doll is a pure skin normal skin tone. Thomas is a pure skin snow.

*insane cheering*

Well, today was the day. Yay! We got up and headed out, stopping at Tokyu Hands for some supplies and then at Wendy's in Sakae for lunch (I swear I'm addicted). And then...on to Volks!

I was practically skipping by the time we got down to the store. It's so crazy to just walk in to pick up your FCS doll. When we walked in Aimee identified Thomas' box by reading my name in katakana on the box, the box with the doll carrier on it. *super squee*

Before asking for him, we did our other shopping. I picked up some clothes for Aimee's doll (I'm not spoiling anything; she knows) and the Super Dollfie Bible. Yeah, buddy! Then the girl who was working, not Mayumi, unfortunately, but she was very nice...anyway, I presented my letter, and she got Thomas down. She opened the box, putting on gloves to sit him up. He's...beautiful! So pale and glowy. He's a F-09 head, with FCS only grey eyes, long legs...absolutely lovely. And he has a birth certificate and he came with a cleaning sponge and a wig brush and wig conditioner...I'm so in love!

It was hard to carry the huuuuuuuge bag back through Sakae, but I managed. :) At home, I had to open the box, put him into some clothes, and put his Thomas red curly wig on him. Unfortunately, then it was back into the box for him until Christmas. *sad sad* Anyway, I only have one pic of him, and it isn't very good, but it will have to do for now. :) So...enjoy!

I cooked!

Well, this weekend, the last before getting Thomas (*bounce bounce bounce*), was a good one, rather relaxing, really. Which is a good thing. I really needed a bit of sleeping in and just sitting and not doing anything.

On Thursday, I lounged in bed until about noon. Aimee had gotten up early and finished redoing my Akira (doll that used to be Thomas). He's gorgeous now! I picked out a burgundy wig and green eyes for him, since I rather adore that look for dolls. The eyes are a deeper green than I had intended, but they're very intense. So, without further ado, may I present Lis.

He's a forest fox mystic, who's pretty calm though fond of making up stories that you have to take with a grain of salt. Aimee did all his aesthetizing (getting rid of his seams) and his painting. I'm in love with those markings. He looks so different from the way Thomas used to look. As shown here. :)

I'm still deciding on his costume. I want it to be a mixture of Ukrainian, Native American, and fantasy. Go figure. :) I might actually use some embroidery on the shirt. His name, Lis, means 'fox' in Ukrainian. I'll keep you updated. :)

Today we headed to Sakae. Aimee needed to do some deputy shopping at Volks (I bought nothing!), and went to the international food store, and the big bookstore. I bought some yummy things to put in Aimee's stocking at the food store, as well as some Royal jello and SWISS MISS HOT COCOA! They had peanut butter and Snyder's pretzel bits and Campbell's soup! All at grossly high prices, but delightful to see nonetheless. We discovered anise, so the Christmas cookies might be more exciting that we thought. Though...is there any difference between star anise and anise anise?

I was a bit disappointed in the book store, though they had some of the most beautiful greeting cards I've ever seen. I will say no more, since people might see some, ahem. :)

One of the students has sort of taken me under her wing, bringing in pictures of her little dog to show me, bringing me jelly candy, and actually BUYING me the ingredients to make yaki soba, which she's convinced even I can make. Well...I decided tonight was the night. We needed to get some meat, which Aimee got from the deli at JR Takashimaya. Which is, yes, a department store, but as with many department stores in Japan, the basement or basements are all for food. Anyway, be amazingly impressed. Aimee asked for 100 grams of meat in Japanese!

Anyway, here's how it worked. First I cooked up the meat. It's very tender meat (on sale today) and they even threw in...a free piece of fat. Don't ask me why.

Then I took the meat out of the pan and cooked up some cabbage, onion, carrots, and sproutie things. When this had sauteed a bit with some oil, I added the noodles, which come prepackaged. Add a little bit of water and put the cooked meat back in. And then you're supposed to steam it, but I discovered that we don't have anything big enough to fit over the top of the pan.

After the water was gone, I added the yaki soba sauce and mixed it together. At this point you can add hot ginger, but as neither Aimee nor I are really big on it, we opted out. Here is the finished result.

It tasted pretty good, a little soggy. I think I added a little too much water. But all in all...go me!

I also got supplies for a little project, but I can't show you that until I get it finished. Tune in next time! Miss you all!

Trees and trees and trees

Well, this weekend was all about Christmas for us. We decided that since it is now December, we can in good conscience have Christmasy decor about. :) The main thing we really wanted was a Christmas tree. Aimee knew of a 1500 yen one in Ozone, so we were going to get some ornaments and garland then head to Ozone to get it. However, at Tokyu Hands we were taken by the newest Christmas fad in Japan.

Fiber optic trees! Woot and a half! It was a guilty pleasure to pay the extra money for a 60 cm tree that changes color when plugged in. This one was the cheapest, and it already has a star on top and little stars all over it, all fiber optic. We also picked up some silver star garland, little disco ball ornaments, and little frosted blue stars ornaments that we can't figure out if they're glass or not. The other ornaments are all keychains and cell phone dangles of popular things in Japan-Gloomy Bear, Full Metal Alchemist, the Aichi-ken World Expo characters, Cinnamoroll and Little Twin Stars, Nightmare Before Christmas...and Panda Z. Pretty groovy, all in all. We trimmed the tree while eating convenience store yaki soba and watching the 250 yen copy of Disney's Aladdin that we now own. :) Not a bad day, all in all. Here are some pics. I took a video of the tree, but it's a little fuzzy and sideways. If you want to see it, just message me and I'll send it to you. :)

Tree Side 1

Tree Side 2

Lit up Tree

In other winter news, it's typhooning again, and I totally forgot my umbrella. I'd thought that the rain season was over. Fool that I am! Also, you should see what Japan does to its real trees. When the leaves started to fall, city workers came and just chopped the branches off the trees. They all look so...truncated. It's rather sad to me.

Tomorrow is work in Sakae, blah. But it's getting closer and closer to Christmas and vacation, yay! It's a thought that keeps me going. :)