Week 66: It's DECEMBER!

Bring out the Holly! Bake those cookies!  Put up that tree! it's DECEMBER!

this is the church's. I have one, but it's not done yet.

What a week I've had.  WHAT a week.  Every day, after school, something would be happening, so I would rush home, make dinner and go off and do the thing.  It's not like it was bad, it was rather fun in fact.  It was, however, a little exhausting.
Let's see, Monday was the Chiropractor, Tuesday was English class, Wednesday a friend declared movie night.  Thursday was more my own fault, but I did some impressive juggling to get dinner and THIS sucker out.

pumpkin pie!

If you're wondering what looks odd about this, it's that the top isn't smooth. That's because...Ok, here's what went wrong.  First of all, I couldn't find shortening at all, so the crust had to be made with butter, which is possible, but it does make things more difficult.  Then, when I threw everything together and in the oven, I realized I had forgotten SALT in the filling!  So I opened up the oven, ruined that beautifully set pie top by salting and stirring it in.  So my pie ended up looking a little funny, but if luck was with me, it would taste fine. Which I wouldn't know until Friday.  I had invited people over for dinner! (so I rushed home after school and made dinner...)

Look! I'm social!

We ate until we couldn't handle any more...and so I ended up with leftovers!

breakfast on Saturday.

So, busy week, but lots of fun!  There was some fun stuff at school too!  Guess what I got to help with!

Sewing class!

These are 5th graders, and they're making aprons!  They do the WHOLE thing, and while the teacher observes and helps them start, they're also expected to get a lot done themselves.

ironing

basting

sewing

They had a book with instructions and pictures on basic sewing machine usage, but of course, that can be tough, so I got to help out with that.  It was really funny because at first the students would get this horrified look on their face "I can't communicate! How is she going to HELP me?!"  But I know my way around machines, so I'd demonstrate and they'd pick it up.  After a little, some of them even called for me!  I threaded SO many bobbins, and I helped a few re-fill their bobbins too!  (and I stopped on poor kid halfway through sewing his hem to the middle of his apron)  It was lots of fun being useful.

Saturday, I went to Arashiyama (Kyoto) with a friend, and we wandered around looking at the leaves!

so brilliant!

could you pick her out in a lineup? ;)

famous bridge.

There were a few food stands, and I saw this

grilled fish

And I had seen it all summer and kept thinking I'd like to try it with a native so they could show me how to eat it.  Perfect timing!

...this is gonna be odd.

It tastes like fish.

Turns out these fish AREN'T gutted.  They get all cooked up, and are frankly a bit bitter.

this didn't stop me from eating it.

In total, I give it a 4/10. Interesting, but would not eat again.

the pigeons loved it though.

so we stopped into a cafe for an actual lunch.

traditional!

tofu you dip in a sauce. Very tasty!

And when we were full, we went out and walked and walked and walked.

leaves

leaves and a rock garden

how picturesque!

leaves in a different kind of rock garden

they swept the moss! it was so SOFT

more leaves!

bamboo path. 

much nicer when it's not hot and humid.

We checked out a couple of temples

cool statue!

shrine/thingy

Buddhist temple

we got to ring the bell!

Oh! and we saw a historical artifact! This is a mini temple/shrine thing that is OLD.

it's from, like 1336

and made from WOOD.  I was impressed.

And because I'm sure you want a picture of me too.

Oh! and you gotta see this thing! So, one of my liaison teachers tries to make sure I get to try Japanese culture (love her for this) and last season she got me a little pumpkin treat, and now that it's December, I got another!

It's a Christmas tree!

She's the best. :)

Hope all is going well for you!