Washi Covered Tea Box

Today I decided to try something different from tours and cooking classes and try a washi covered tea box class. Basically you are taking this special Japanese paper and covering a wooden tea box. Imagine a cross between wallpapering and gift wrapping, both of which I am not good at, and you have a washi covered tea box.

There are many different sizes of tea boxes. Our class did the smallest one, which will fit 10 CD cases. You work from the top down, which means you start with the lid, then the lip of the box, the body and then the bottom. More advanced box coverer's can use different papers, cords and other embellishments.

The lid was the hardest. I am horrible at geometry, so imagine my frustration trying to measure, wrap and cover. However, surprisingly, I managed to do a decent job. (sorry the pictures aren't the best quality. I used my iphone, as I had forgotten my camera)

The next part is measuring and cutting the paper for the "lip" of the box. First you have to get the paper just right around the whole lip.

Then you have to tuck under and cut and wrap the corners just right.


Throughout the whole project, you have to keep taking wet clothes and press out all the air bubbles and wipe off all the excess rice glue.


As you can see, there is alot of measuring involved in this project.

Finally, I have my main piece cut out and ready to wrap the box.

Now all that is left is to finish the bottom.
After 3 hours, the bottom is glued on and my box is finally complete. (It is sitting upside down in this picture)

Here is our class's finished products. The two ladies in the front were our teachers –– Debbie and Debbie.

My goal is to make each of the kids a large box to take back to the United States to use as a "keepsake" chest of sorts from our time here. I may need to practice a few more times before I graduate to that project though.

Lebanese Cooking Class

One of the really cool things that CHIC offers here is cooking classes. Each semester there are always several classes to take, from Japanese to Chinese to Thai to Indian. Usually there are a few other cooking classes being offered that have to take just to see what they are all about, like Lebanese, Persian and Dominican.

Today I went to a Lebanese cooking class. The food was fantastic and the recipes were ones that I actually could make at home. Our teacher was this cute little lady from Lebanon, who has lived with her family in Japan for 20 years.
We learned how to make several Lebanese dishes.

Fattouch - Lebanese Salad made with lettuce, tomato, peppers, radishes, purple onion, mint leaves, parsley, cress and pita bread croutons. The dressing lemony balsamic. Very easy and delicious.


We then made homemade hummus and baba ghanoush. I have never had homemade hummus but it was very simple and so delicious. Baba ghanoush is a creamed eggplant dish. Surprisingly, I really liked it.

The main dish was Riz Be Djaj. This is a chicken rice dish, with ground beef added. I was surprised that the main spice in this dish was cinnamon. On top was slivered almonds and pine nuts. It wasn't as easy to make as the rest of the dishes, but I think I may be able to do it on my own.

We also learned how to make a cucumber yogurt sauce, similar to what you would get with a gyro. I already have plans to make this sauce over the weekend.

For dessert we had a Lebanese Semolina Cake. I would describe it as a sweet cornbread, with walnuts. Different, yet good.
Here was our lunch.

Next week I have signed up for a Chinese cooking class. I can't wait.

Holy Big Sandwich

Serving sizes in Japan tend to be way smaller that what we are used to in the United States. If you order pasta it is usually what us American's would consider a "side dish". If you order a sandwich, you are lucky if it has two small slivers of meat, usually of the ham nature.

Today I met up with some people for lunch at Mother Moon Cafe down in Sannomiya. It is this cute little cafe that serves pastas, pizzas, salads, soups and sandwiches and has a broken English menu of sorts. Gaijins really like this place. Imagine our surprise when we were handed a brand new menu that had different items than what we have seen before. Change isn't easily welcomed when we find a system that works for us non-Japanese speakers/readers.

I have never seen a roast beef sandwich offered here so I decided to throw caution to the wind and see what this sandwich was all about. Needless to say I was excited beyond words when I received a tiny bowl of soup, fried potatoes (Japanese version of french fries), and two halves that looked like this:

I know most of you are looking at this and thinking "Umm, okay. What is the big deal?" But you see, not only is this REAL roast beef, but it is layers upon layers of HUGE pieces of meat on ciabatta bread. The sandwich was literally so big my mouth couldn't bite the whole thing.

I couldn't eat both pieces, and there was no way I was letting this little gem go. See, doggie bags aren't exactly known here. So what was a girl to do? Wrap it in paper, stick it in her purse, and haul it around town of course. It arrived home a little smashed, and my purse has a faint smell of dead cow, but you would have done the same thing.

I guess sometimes change is good.

The Results are In

Official start stamp - 5:20 am
Finishing time - 6:24 pm
Total time - 13 hours 4 minutes
Came in 404/2000

I am pretty darn proud of myself. This had to have been one of the hardest things I have ever done. Not only was it physically grueling, but mentally as well. I have to admit there was one point when I wanted to put down my walking poles and say forget it. This just isn't worth it. But in the end, I made it.

The morning started at 3:45 am when I and another person that lives near me to a cab to Suma, the starting point . We got there around 4:15 am and met up with 28 other gaijins and 1970 of our closest Japanese friends. You could just feel the energy in the air. And maybe a bit of fear too. People were laughing and chatting and you could tell just how excited everyone was.
The official start time was 5:00 am but it took us until 5:20 am to make it to the starting point and get our card stamped.
And off we went!
The first leg of the hike was full of stairs. However stairs in the mountains are not like traditional steps. There were lots of broken rocks, concrete, wood, and just dirt ones.
There were many beautiful views along the way, like watching the sun come up over the mountains.

Shortly after the sun came up this was the next part of the hike.
After that, a walk through a neighborhood then more stairs, including one stretch of 900 meters (.56 miles) straight up!
And another spectacular view.

We finally reached the first checkpoint at 9:59 am. We stopped for about 10 minutes to drink some water and eat some trail mix and then we were off to the second leg. This is the part that was the absolute worst. At this point I stopped taking pictures and went for survival. It was straight up and very hard. At one point I stuck my ipod on, sucked on my inhaler and had to keep telling myself "You can do this, you can do this".

At 1:04 pm we reached checkpoint #2! By this time all the gaijins had broken off into groups. There was one group that was way ahead of us. Then there was my group of 7 people. Then there was a few other groups behind us. Throughout the whole day, Mary Gail and I stuck close together. And I have to say she made the day fun (if you could call the day fun) with all her laughing and joking.
We stopped at this checkpoint for about 30 minutes and then was off again. The 3rd part of the hike was mostly walking along the top of the mountain between Mt Maya and Mt Rokko. There was alot of road during this part and it was the easiest stretch by far.

We reached the third checkpoint at 3:49 pm. If you are going to quit, this is the last place to do so. We stopped for about 5 minutes and then was off to the end.

It very quickly got dark and it was a bit freaky navigating through the woods and rocks in the pitch black with only a headlamp. Most of the time Mary Gail, Jake (one of the HS math teachers) and I were the only three in one spot so we were going in very blind and praying not to get hurt.

When we came out of the woods we walked downhill for about 20 minutes on a road and this is when I called Matt and asked him how much farther. He told me we were almost to the end. I think Mary Gail, Jake and I had the biggest smiles ever at this point. We quickly made it to the finish line at 6:24 pm.

The other guys in our little group finished about 15 minutes before us. But we made it!

My legs are aching, I have blisters on my feet and I am afraid to see how I feel tomorrow, but I can't stop smiling. Wow. I hiked 56k (34 miles) in 13 hours. Dang.

More pictures can be found here.

Doomsday is Near

In less than 48 hours I will be on my hike. For those who are new to my blog, you can read about my serious lack of judgment moment here.

Sunday morning I will be hoping in a cab around 3:30 am to head to Suma, the starting point of the 56k (over 32 miles) hike. The group of us 32 gaijins will be meeting at 4:30am and the hike officially starts at 5 am. We have until 10:30 pm to finish.

I have to admit I have been doing a raindance around my house much of the past week. Unfortunately the raingods must be out on holiday as it is supposed to be partly sunny and 71 on Sunday, with no chance of rain.

Tomorrow I am going to head to the store and attempt to find some funky muscle spray that was recommended and stuff to make trail mix. Matt says there will be vending machines and small stores along the way to get some stuff, so I really just need a bottle of water and a few small energy boosting snacks in my backpack. I am also going to load my ipod up with some new tunes and maybe a few podcasts. And yes I am planning on taking my point and shoot camera. This will be one "adventure" that I must document, as it will never happen again.

I have to admit I am really feeling unprepared for this. But how do you prepare for a 56k hike? I don't think this will be about strength or how athletic you are, but rather how much endurance you have. Let's just hope I have about 17 hours worth.

Halloween Japan Style

Halloween is not a big holiday in Japan. Over the past few years it has increased in popularity, but it is more decorations and sweets than costumes and treats. So instead, some of the expat families organized parties and trick or treating for their own areas.

We were exhausted, just taking the red eye home from our fall break in Bali. (Don't worry. I will be blogging about that soon!) But we managed to figure out costumes for the kids and went to two little parties.



The first was in a neighborhood a few streets over. There was about 20 kids in total and most of the adults came in costume. (Okay all but Matt and I came in costume) The kids and I only stayed about an hour because we have trick or treat in our neighborhood to do as well. But the kids had fun playing games and doing a craft in the time we were there.


The other was in our area and we hosted a small Japanese orphanage to come trick or treat with us. It was so cute watching them all get excited about their costumes and the candy. Most of them can't speak English, but they loved saying trick or treat. It warmed my heart seeing these kids so happy. As you can tell, there were very few of us expats in this bunch.

And in the end, even Emily and our neighbor, Maggie, joined in the fun. Meet Pepper and Salt! (Give them a break. They had about 20 minutes to come up with something)


Happy belated Halloween all!

Happy Japanniversary!

One year ago Matt left our happy American comfort zone and embarked on the beginning of a great adventure. Hard to believe Matt has been in Japan for a year now.

I can picture the morning clearly. We had to leave at a bright and early 4:15 am to take Matt to the airport.
He was to be in Japan for 3 months and then the kids and I would join him at the end of January. We made it through saying goodbye with only a few tears and then went to the Waffle House as a little treat to ourselves. I remember looking at the kids thinking, holy $#*%. What was I going to do with them alone for 3 months? But hey we made it!

Matt was very good about appearing as a guest blogger during those 3 months. It was nice being able to get an idea of what I was in for.

Of course I think deep down some of it was trying to freak me out a bit.
And while he was off enjoying his new adventure I was back home plunging the sink and toilet, trying to get ready to move 12,000 miles away, and doing all this exciting stuff.








One year... Happy Japanniversary Matt!

"Cruising Around" Harborland

Today I went on a boat cruise around Harborland with 97 other ladies (okay 96 plus Mary Gail's FIL) and then to lunch at a Brazilian Steakhouse. It was decent weather (although I would have preferred more sun) and good company.

It was pretty exciting to ride on this boat. It is the boat reserved for important figure heads when they come to visit Kobe and is not open to the public. To think, I may have been in the exact same seat that Mikhail Gorbachev sat in.


People from both CHIC and KWC were given the chance to "cruise around" the harbor for an hour.

During the cruise a guide was pointing out all the landmarks and important historical places around the harbor. I chose to take pictures off the deck though and have no clue what she was saying.



The inside of the boat was pretty neat. There was a long table surrounded with swivel chairs (for those important people meetings I guess) and then leather chairs sporadically throughout the boat.


After the cruise we went to a Brazilian restaurant where people walk around and feed you meat off of skewers until you explode. I opted for an all-beef lunch.

There was also a "buffet" with some other foods and the chance to make yourself a salad (something rare in Japan).


The food overall was pretty good, although I think some of us are more interested in the ¥1575 ($16.00) all you can drink for 90 minutes plan for the next time. Who needs all-you-can-eat when you can drink for the same price, right?

I Think I'm Turning Japanese

Last Friday I attended a Kimono and Tea Ceremony class at CHIC. I never knew how much goes into putting a kimono on!





And to entice people to come visit me, if you come to Japan I promise I will get you in a kimono too. It really is a must experience.

"Driving" Me Crazy

Probably one of the most stressful parts of moving Japan is getting your drivers license. Ask anyone here. Shopping, managing the trains, even getting around not knowing a bit of Japanese all pales in comparison to getting your license.

Getting your license is a long process. First you will spend about 3 hours at the DMV doing paperwork and taking a written test. If you pass, you will then come back about 3- 4 weeks later to take the driving test. If you pass you the driving test, you will get your license that day. If you fail, it's back in another 3-4 weeks to retake the driving test.

For the driving test you will be assigned one of two courses at random. You will use a car supplied by the DMV. The instructor will give you instructions only in Japanese and they will score you as you drive. It really doesn't matter how good of a driver you are. Rather how well you play their "game".

Almost 85 percent of people will fail on their first attempt. The test consists of lots of "rules", such as bikes checks, signal turns, using your mirrors, and hugging the left side of the road. I guess Japan's version of road safety products.You have to do an S-curve and a L-curve, both of which can almost result in an automatic failure. You have to really over emphasize looking both ways and behind you. You have to wear certain shoes and have "recommended" clothing.

All that is a pain, and even more so it takes almost SEVEN hours to complete. You start out by having to register 2 hours before you really do anything. You have the chance to eat in the cafeteria and to watch videos, all in Japanese of course. After that you have the chance to walk your course for almost an hour. And no matter how hot or cold it is outside, you must walk it because the instructors are taking notice of who walks and how many times. Then it is time to drive. You are broken into groups and take turns doing the driving test. This take another 1 - 1.5 hours. This is the stressful part.

Today Matt went first in our group and I was to go next. I had the option to ride along in the back, and I opted to go just so I could see how the test was done. Other than a few jerks at the brakes Matt passed with flying colors. The first to pass on a day, let alone the first to pass on their first try is very rare. When the instructor told our translator that Matt passed I figured I was screwed. I knew passing the first time was rare and two people of the same family passing was really rare -- especially with us gaijins.

I really was worried as I started driving as I forgot to adjust the back of my seat and I looked like I was cruising down the road listening to Snoop Doggy's "Gin & Juice". I could not see the front end of my car and I was sweating bullets during the S and L curves. To my utter surprise, I passed as well. I. Passed. The. First. Time. I didn't even do that in the States (okay to my defense I passed the road test, just not the parking portion)

In the end, our group of 16 had only 3 people, including us, pass. The other person with us passed on his 3rd try. We continued to sit and wait to receive our license. They liked to tease us by making us pay then having us sit. Proofing our names on some card then sitting some more. Taking our pictures and then sitting even more. Finally at 4:20 we received our license.


Our translator assured us that we will never have to take this test again. Even if we were to come back to live in Japan 15 years from now. Thank goodness because I don't think I like to play these reindeer games anymore.

Interesting Tidbits

There are several interesting tidbits we have discovered in the eight months since coming to Japan.

1. Japan is a very cash based society. In the states I never carried cash. And if I went to the bank machine I took out, maybe $80. Here it is uncommon to take out less than $500 from the ATM and you really never use a credit card, unless you are at a department store. And even then, the credit card is really used like a debit card.
2. Paying bills at 7-11 or Lawson's is the norm. You can even pay for your Amazon order at a convenient store!
3. Women tend to wear less clothing in the winter than the warmer months.
   
4. You are not supposed to eat or drink while walking. In fact if you order a beverage to-go they will put it in a sealed paper bag or wrap it up in a box.
   
5. You will go to the grocery store almost every day.
6. If you are a woman and use a credit card at a department store they will ask you if you want the payment to post one time or split up over several months. Apparently this is so the Japanese husband's really have no idea how much their wives are spending.
   
7. Not many people can speak English here, unless you count "What is your name", "Where are you from" and "How long have you been in Japan." Needless to say we will all be champion charades players when we return to the States.
   
8. Tipping never happens. In fact to many it is an insult to tip.
   
9. You can buy anything in a vending machine –– drinks, alcohol, french fries, corn soup, and even Japanese curry.
   
10. We will never become fluent in Japanese while on this assignment. And reading? Forget it.
    
11. You can pay for a ¥60 Popsicle (about 65¢) with a ¥10,000 bill (about $109) and no one will even bat an eye.
    
12. Open containers are not an issue here.
    
13. If you see an accident, even a minor bump into a lamp post, there will be no less than eight policemen with tape measures on-site for several hours. What else is there to do in a country with no crime?
    
14. Traveling within Japan is expensive.
15. If you book a double hotel room you are actually booking a hotel room with a bed big enough for two people. A single room will be a bed big enough for one person. A twin room actually means two beds big enough for one person in each bed. And the rooms are tiny. Needless to say a family of five has a hard time staying in a hotel here.
    
16. The Japanese eat rice for every meal. And they like food that looks at you while you try and eat it.
    
17. The Japanese are very polite and most times go out of their way to help you, even with the language barrier –– until they get behind the wheel of a car.
    
18. To get your driver's license it doesn't matter how good of a driver you are, rather how well you can play their "game".
    
19. Everything in Japan is a process. And many times their process makes no sense to the rest of us.
    
20. Do not move to Japan unless you like crowds.
21. Anything goes as far as fashion. In fact this will have to be its own entry one day. Words cannot even describe some of the things we have seen here.

I actually could list many more, but I will save them for another day. Living in Japan is quite different from living in the States. I would love to talk to expats that come to live in the US for a while and see what things they find to be interesting or different. I bet we would be surprised at what they would put on their list.

CFBA: Leaving Yesterday

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Leaving Yesterday
Bethany House (October 1, 2009)
by
Kathryn Cushman


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I graduated from Samford University with a degree in pharmacy, but I’ve known all my life that I wanted to write a novel “some day”. For me, “some day” came about five years ago, when I started writing and never looked back.

My third attempt became my first published novel.

A Promise to Remember was a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers Book-of-the-Year in the Women’s Fiction category, and Waiting for Daybreak was a finalist in Women’s Fiction for the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award. Leaving Yesterday just arrived on scene and I’m very excited about it!

On the homefront, I’ve been married to the wonderful and handsome Lee for over twenty years now, and our two daughters are currently braving the worlds of elementary and high school. We’ve lived in Santa Barbara for the last seventeen years. When I’m not writing or reading or braving seventy degree holidays, you’ll find me watching the younger daughter play softball, or the older daughter building amazing high school theater sets



ABOUT THE BOOK

Alisa Stewart feels like she's lost two sons: her youngest to a terrible tragedy and her eldest, Kurt, to a life ruined by addiction. But now Kurt has checked himself into rehab and found a healing faith that seems real. It's like he's been raised from the dead.

But then a detective arrives at Alisa's door asking questions about a murder--the death of a drug dealer before Kurt entered rehab. Alisa fears losing her son again, and when she finds evidence linking him to the killing, she destroys it. Her boy is different now. He's changed and deserves a second chance.

But when another man is charged with the crime, Alisa finds herself facing an impossible choice: be silent and keep her son or give up everything for the truth.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Leaving Yesterday, go HERE

Suki Yaki Cooking

Tuesday I look a Suki Yaki cooking class. Suki Yaki in Japan is sort of like America's "fondue". According to our teacher, Suki Yaki is a meal that everyone loves to eat, but is reserved for "family gatherings" and "special events" because while it is very easy to make, it can also be costly.

Suki Yaki consists of beef and vegetables cooked in a nabe pot with a special dashi based sauce. This special nabe pot is used right at the table so people eat as they go and can help cook if they wish.

First you have to make a dashi base using dried kelp, water and dried bonito flakes. Or you can cheat and buy dashi powder and just mix with water (this would be my choice). This is then mixed with soy sauce, miran and brown sugar to create the "sauce" for the dish.

Meanwhile you cut raw veggies typically consisting of negi (a large scallion), Chinese cabbage, shungiku (Garland chrysanthemum leaves), shiitake and enokitake mushrooms, and konnyaku.

The teacher explained the veggies would be cut all pretty an arranged in a beautiful display on plates. Obviously we concentrated more on cooking than the presence.

Now it is time to start cooking.

First the beef is cooked in a bit of the sauce in the nabe pan. The interesting part is that the meat for Suki Yaki is more expensive because you need thin, yet somewhat fatty, beef. In the states you pay more for leaner cuts of meat but in Japan you pay extra for the fatty stuff. Anyways, a portion of the meat is cooked and people eat until they have had enough.


Next more of the sauce is poured into the pan, along with the remainder of the beef, vegetables, and some cut up seared firm tofu. You mix until cooked, serve with some rice and there you go! Suki Yaki cooking.

I have to admit it was delicious and to be honest one of my favorite parts was the tofu and I don't even like tofu! So now my goal is to get a nabe pot to use at home. I think this is one meal the kids would love making.

It's How Much?

We have officially had our first medical experience in Japan. I had to take Christopher to the doctor because he had a horrible cough that was just getting worse and he seemed to be sucking on an inhaler about every hour.

Here is a synopsis of our dr visit
Left the house at 4:05.
Arrived at dr office: 4:20
Saw dr: 4:27
Paid bill and left with 4 medicines (not a prescription but medicine in hand): 4:50
Arrived home: 5:10

Diagnosis: Bronchitis

Total cost: ¥5,000 ($55.86)

Yes you saw that right. All this:

For a mere $55.86. (and we don't even have any Japanese cheap health insurance) And it only took an hour... amazing.

CFBA: Things Worth Remembering

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Things Worth Remembering
Bethany House (October 1, 2009)
by
Jackina Stark


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jackina (pronounced with a long “i” to rhyme with China) Stark recently retired from teaching English at Ozark Christian College to spend more time writing and traveling.

Jackina says: "Although I loved my subjects and my students, I retired to do more writing and speaking, to spend more time with my family, and to travel with family and friends (including trips to encourage two missions in Cambodia). I have also spoken nationally and internationally at many retreats and seminars and enjoy running into many readers and former students. I have written frequently for both Christian Standard and Lookout, periodicals of Standard Publishing. Years ago I wrote two non-fiction books, published by College Press, but currently out of print. These days, I’m exploring fiction. My first novel, Tender Grace, was released by Bethany House January 30, 2009, and Things Worth Remembering, is the second. I’m working on new projects, including a third novel, as time permits. Whether speaking or writing, I love the opportunity to tell about Him whom Jesus called “Holy Father” and “the only true God.”

She has been married to her husband, Tony, for forty-two years. They live in Carl Junction, Missouri, and have two daughters and six grandchildren.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Kendy Laswell and her daughter, Maisey, used to do everything together--until one fateful summer when Maisey witnessed something she shouldn't have, and their relationship fractured. Now, Maisey is back home to get married and Kendy realizes this is her last chance to reconnect with her daughter. Will Kendy and Maisey be able to reclaim the bond they once shared?

Maisey asked for a bride doll the Christmas she was five, mesmerized by her aunt's wedding the fall before. Since then I've been dreaming of the day, or days, we would shop for her wedding dress. A mother helping her daughter find just the right creation for that momentous walk down the aisle strikes me as one of life's happiest endeavors. The night she called to tell us she'd bought her "dream of a gown," I sat beside Luke on the couch, a striking contrast to Maisey's exuberance.
My dejection seemed a tad inappropriate. "Being hurt because I wasn't included is silly, isn't it?" I asked.

"Not so silly," he said.

Will I ever quit longing for the Maisey who was once mine?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Things Worth Remembering , go HERE