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!

Week 65: Adventure again!

This week was MUCH better!

I'm gonna show you a few snapshots from Sunday quick, because when I was coming back from church, I ended up walking through a local festival!  It was VERY small, and nothing really enticed me to give it more than a passing glance, but there was some cute stuff, like...

a mascot of some sort.

rummage sale

There were also little kids trying on child sized police and firefighter uniforms and posing on vehicles, and this guy giving what is, I think, a home safety lecture.  This particular one is on grease fires in the kitchen.

mini kitchen!

Anyhow, fun!

Monday was off, because I had school on Saturday.  So I went to Mino-o!

There's some argument as to how to spell it, because half of them say "Mino-o" and half way "Minoh".  Very frustrating.  Anyhow!  Mino-o is THE place to see Maple leaves turning colors this time of year!  No, really.  I went last year, and EVERYONE was there.  SO crowded.  Which is why I went on a Monday.  Because no one would be there.  And it was MUCH nicer.

and a lot less people.

leaves!

easy incline

It's a lovely little hike!  And I saw a Monkey!

its up there, trust me.

don't feed it.

And there's a waterfall!

ooOOOoooo

And there's deep fried maple leaves!

Japanese Maple

fried maple leaves

And a bridge!

And it was just very nice.

I was a little sad, I'll admit, because I had invited lots of people to go, but since it WAS a Monday, no one could make it.  Still, I had a good day, and I finished it with pad Thai. :)

Tuesday, the kids took the musical instruments from the gym back to the music room.  And I got to help!  Anything that was light enough got carried and the other stuff was rolled. (Like the xylophones)  This was especially entertaining because the music room is on the fourth floor.  So the kids hauled stuff up 4 flights of stairs.  I got to use the elevator, because xylophone.

The best part was the kettle drums because they're light but bulky.  So it took 3-4 kids to make sure it didn't bump into walls, and I could basically tell their conversation when the teachers told them they couldn't use the elevator....

Wednesday, I had off!  Two days in one week!  I'm getting spoiled.  Not that I'll complain.  Thursday was Thanksgiving, so a friend and I went into Osaka for a turkey sub.

ah well.

Still didn't feel too Thanksgiving-y to me.  Nice to have a sandwich though.

Then I went to a "Vintage Jazz" festival!  Good luck keeping the swing dancers away from THAT.

Glion Museum. It was an old warehouse.

Jazz! (it was cold!)

vintage clothes! Nothing fit and it was all too expensive.

And there was, of course, dancing!

no pictures of me dancing, because that would require a selfie stick...and skill.

best way to stay warm!

I was the only dancer NOT wearing vintage clothes, but in my defense, it's really HARD to find vintage my size!  WHY is that?  I KNOW people my size lived back then, what happened to their clothes?!  They still let me dance, jeans and all.

And in between sets, I got to check out the museum!

vintage cars!

and entire ROW of different incarnations of Rolls Royce

SO GREEN

A bear in his natural habitat.

a Studebaker

They even had a dealer room where they put vintage cars they were SELLING

IT'S SO TINY

it was so much fun!  There was an "event" later on, but I think that was just the performing of Jazz, and I had come for the dancing, (I peeked in, there was NOT enough space for dancing) and so I happily went on my way!

Thursday was fun because that school hadn't done their arts day yet, so I got to see them perform!

they did so well!

Friday was Friday.  Not much to say about that.

Saturday was fun!  It was a ceramics festival!  Now, I had gone last year, but couldn't FIND the blamed thing, BUT this year I was better prepared, AND I remembered the leaves had been just lovely, so I figured if nothing else, I could enjoy the foliage.

leaves!

Tofukuji temple

Tofukuji temple gate

Wait, is that signs of a festival?

food booth. Yep.

Then I found it!

all the ceramics one could want!

This is a lovely temple, so I kept looking around.

And at these festivals that cover a lot of area, they'll often give you a map so you know what to check out.  I got one last year, but it didn't help much...

now I know what I'm looking at though!

So I checked out the little highlighted sections, and got stamps at all of them!

I wanted to buy ALL THE THINGS

When you finish getting all the stamps, you go to a booth! (also marked on the map)

you roll the wheel and a random pellet pops out! 

Depending on the color of the pellet, you get to choose a leveled prize!  I got a "participation pellet" so I could pick from a grab bag of "surprise" options.

what is it?!

it's a chopstick rest. :)

And there was wheel throwing!

I haven't done this in AGES!

And I made a cup!

YAY!

I did not get to keep it, but it was free to try. I'm kinda glad I didn't get to keep it, because it's WET CLAY. I would have had a glob of wet clay to carry around. :P

I did get some loot,

ooOOOoo

this bowls especially cool

But it was lovely, and then I walked back to the station.

love the colors on those kimono.

And then there's the main reason I try not to visit Kyoto on the weekends.

wee.

But yeah! fun week!  I did not get a Thanksgiving dinner, but I really enjoyed myself anyhow.
Of course, Christmas has busted out all over.  I mean, it started after Halloween and is gaining momentum...

Yes, that is a wanted sign on that snowman.

Hope all is well and you don't run into any "wanted" snowmen!