Japanese Food

So I think I am starting to feel the effects of jet lag. On Saturday morning, I woke up at 2am after going to bed at 9 the night before, but I was able to fall back to sleep after having a short conversation with Lori that she doesn't remember. I woke up later at 6am and couldn't fall back to sleep, so I ended up doing Pilates in the classroom downstairs. I was hoping someone would walk in on my when I was doing some crazy position, but then I remember that most people were probably sleeping. Today I woke up at 4:45 am and ended up watching a movie on my computer, but last night I was exhausted by 8 pm.

Yesterday was our first brush with real Japanese food. We were picked up by Minako and Keiko and went to a mall to go grocery shopping and then eat at the food court. At the mall, I noticed the mannequins had cartoon-ish faces; they have huge eyes and wigs on but they still don't really look like people. Again, I'll post a picture of these soon. At the grocery store, Justco, Keiko took us around and pointed out somethings and then let us go free. She gave us a weekly food allowance-money from the initial cost we paid for the trip- which was 3000 yen, or about $30. When she and Minako left us, Lori, Mike and I felt a bit lost. After about ten minutes, I had a bag of frozen squash and some yogurt in my cart. In the end, we got a pretty good variety of foods for breakfast and dinner with the help of the two girls. We also got some delicious samples of beef and tofu with veggies and also milk! I was actually chased down by the woman handing out milk samples and then she thrust a coupon in my hand, smiled, and scurried away. It was wonderful.

At the food court, Mike and I both got Curry Rice (White Rice with a curry sauce, meat, and veggies mixed in it), Noodle soup with seaweed, tempura, and this potato patty that was very good. Everything was delicious but there was so much to eat. Lori got this sort of vegetable pancake with dried tuna (it was kind of flaky), which she didn't like very much.

In Japan, it is totally appropriate and even encouraged to sip your soup loudly and slurp up long noodles without cutting them. The sipping loudly lets the cook know that you are enjoying the food. I think we should bring this habit to the U.S. I had a great time slurping my noodles in public, but I did get quite a bit of broth in my hair. We had the afternoon to come back to the school and rest, which none of us did.

For dinner, we went to the Nishimura's apartment, on the 18th floor of a 22 story building. On sunny days, Minako told us they can see Mt. Fuji, but it was dark and rainy so no Mt. Fuji viewing for us. Dr. Shin and his wife, also named Keiko, are the parents of Minako and Keiko and Dr. Shin started the kindergarten several years ago. Lori told me beforehand that "Dr. Shin" sounded a bit intimidating, but he was exactly the opposite. He asked us tons of questions and made witty jokes the whole evening. His wife Keiko was pretty quiet, but had prepared a delicious dinner for us. The meal was cooked right in front of us over two burners, one with beef and the other with pork. We help add a soy sauce, vegetables (mushrooms and cabbage) and tofu. It was delicious and so easy to make! We bought most of the ingredients at the grocery store so maybe we can try to re-create it.

After dinner, Lori, Mike and I gave small gifts to everyone because its nice to do that when you meet people for the first time. I gave Dr. Shin and his wife two jars of Michigan cherry jam (for those of you who are family, it was from Brownwood :). Keiko and Minako got boxes of Pop-Tarts, which I had heard they loved. I gave bracelets my mom made to mom Keiko, daughter Keiko, and Minako and flashcards of letters to daughter Keiko's daughter, Yuki (or maybe Yugi?) who is SOOOO cute! Sorry if the daughter-mom-Keiko bit was confusing!

As I said I was exhausted at 8 when we came home, but Lori, Mike and I played cards in Mike's room for a while and Mike took ugly pictures of us with his camera.

Today is sunny! There was an earthquake rumble that woke Lori up at 7am, but I was already up and was terrified. It lasted about 30 seconds, but then stopped so we are ok! Today we are going to Dr. Shin's church and to a welcome party potluck afterwards.