Breakfast

We weren't able to buy any cinnamon yesterday, so we didn't have cinnamon rolls today as I had been planning.  Instead, my host mother made suimono, takikomi gohan, and salmon.  The suimono was the best soup I've had in Japan so far and I was surprised at how much I liked the salmon.  I didn't think I would like it at all, but I tried it and it was good enough that I was able to eat my whole serving.  The takikomi gohan was also very good.  I am definitely making lunch for my host family today.  I'm looking forward to it!

A Barbeque on the Roof

Taiga and me on the rooftop

Employees at city hall, people who organized the Midland-Handa exchange, the students from America, and all the host families gathered on top of the Yamaha music building for a barbeque tonight.  I really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun.  There were many different types of meat and vegetables to grill, and I tried one of everything we cooked.  The mother in my third host family made sushi (crab, egg, lettuce, and tuna) for everyone  I tried it and thought it was really good.  It was nice to see the Shirakawa family again as well as to get to know the Takeuchi family a little bit more.  I really enjoyed talking to everyone tonight.

roasting marshmallows after dinner

I can cook marshmallows to a perfect golden brown.

the view from the rooftop after sunset

Scout, Nick, and I all made speeches to our host families and they also said a few sentences about us to everyone.  After all the speeches we played "Crush the Watermelon" which was a game in which we hit a watermelon like a piñata.  Nick cracked it, I hit the ground next to it, and Scout hit where Nick had but not hard enough to break it open.  After it had been smashed open the pieces were cut up and we all ate the fruit.  It was a good game (and it tasted good too).

Scout teaching some of the men a pom routine

Nick getting ready to smash the watermelon

Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium

While Sara was at school, my host dad, Taiga, Nene, and I went to the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.  It was really nice and all the different sea life was interesting.  We went to a dolphin show and that was really cool.  We sat in the "splash zone", so I didn't take any good pictures since my camera would have gotten wet.  After watching the dolphin show, we went through all the displays, giving extra time to the turtles and penguins.  After seeing all the sea life, we walked out and past a boat belonging to the Japanese Navy.  Overall, this was a nice outing.

the dolphin show area (before the actual show)

a tunnel with an aquarium tank on the top and sides

a giant crab that stands as tall as a toddler

a turtle

the penguin tank

the aquarium petting zoo
I held a starfish and it was cool.

the Japanese Navy boat

I was planning on making lunch today, but when we left the aquarium it was already noon.  Everyone was hungry, so we stopped at Komeda's Coffee, a café in Nagoya.  I had shirono-rowaru, a dish this shop is famous for.  It was different than pastries I am used to, but it was really good.  For dessert I had strawberry mont blanc, a pink seasonal cake.  That was good as well.

the outside of Komeda's Coffee

shino-rowaru

strawberry mont blanc

Games with Taiga and Nene

After Sara left for school this morning, I played some games I brought from America with Taiga and Nene.  The first game we played was Snakes and Ladders.  There is actually a Japanese game called sugoroku which I've been told is quite similar.  I hope I get to learn some Japanese games while I am here.  After two games of Snakes and Ladders, I got out my whole bag of games and toys I brought with me.  We played Connect Four, Perfection, and watched some American cartoons.  I also showed them how to use Silly Putty to lift pictures off newspaper comics.  They seemed to enjoy most of it (mainly Taiga though).

Taia about to throw a wooden airplane (with a punch ball off to the right)

Nene with a punch ball

Taiga playing with the punch ball and watching cartoons

Blueberry Pancakes

I made blueberry pancakes for the Saito family this morning.  I also brought maple syrup and dried cherries which I gave to them today.  Everyone said the pancakes were delicious.  For lunch I will be making grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese.  Tomorrow morning: homemade cinnamon rolls.

Hida-Takayama

a street in Hida-Takayama

I went to Hida-Takayama with my host family today.  On the way there we stopped at a small shop where Sara and I each painted a fuurin, a glass wind chime.   I wrote the kanji for Hida-Takayama, the date, and my name.  For pictures I painted a red sarubobo, a house from Shirakawa-go, and our approximate location in Japan.  I wrote “with the Saito family” in Japanese on the piece of blue paper hanging from the bottom of the fuurin. 

my fuurin

Hida-Takayama is a very old Japanese town and it was so cool to be able to see it.  The houses and shops are in the old style which was very interesting.  We also got to ride in a jinriki-sha, a cart pulled by a human driver.  It was really fun.  At one of the shops I bought an umbrella that has the kanji for Hida-Takayama (飛騨高山) on the top.  I like it a lot.  After the two-hour car ride home, we played Uno and then had curry rice for dinner.  I am looking forward to baking and cooking meals for my host family tomorrow!

my host dad, Taiga, and me in the jinriki-sha

our jinriki-sha driver/tour guide

playing Uno at home

curry rice and potato salad

Breakfast at the Takayama Green Hotel

I don't know why this is sideways...

Breakfast today was buffet style and of good quality, so I tried pretty much everything.  I was surprised that I actually liked the shrimp.  The rice porridge was good as well.  The sign for the waffle said it was an "American waffle", but I couldn't figure out why.  The drink is acerola juice.  I'm learning about many different fruits and vegetables I've never even heard of before.  Most of the food was very good.  The only tings I didn't like were a hot spring egg (partially boiled egg) and the omelette.  I've noticed that a lot of Japanese foods have eggs which are either raw or not fully cooked.  It makes me think that getting salmonella from raw eggs is probably not as big of a problem as many people in America make it seem.