Ryosuke's Undokai and Quiche Lorraine!

Kyou no Nihongo no Kotoba (今日の日本語の言葉): hayaguchikotoba (早口言葉) - tongue twister
This word is brought to you by dinner, at which I got much closer to both Yoshiko-san and Masahiro-san due to our discussion of tongue twisters, in both English and Japanese.

First of all, the picture above is something for which I'd like to thank my beloved godfather Moe for. As you can see, it's got the perfect amount of plug space, and I utilize it all! It's one of the most handy things I own at the moment, and so versatile an adapter is hard to find over here (I've tried to find one for Julien that works just as well, but to no avail). So thank you very much for having found this for me!

Now, on to today. It was a pretty relaxed day, and for that I am glad. I don't think I could have handled another full day, or even another day that involved the train. I just wanted to stay home, walk around a little, and rest. That's exactly what I got today, which was great!

First of all, for breakfast, I had yakisoba, kara age, and an onigiri (without the nori (seaweed)). It was wonderful and delicious, and oh, if I could have this every day without getting extremely fat and unhealthy, I totally would. I will never get tired of rice. I could never imagine a day in which that would happen. SO good.

Afterward, the family and I went out to Ryosuke's undokai, which is a sports festival that basically every school up to college/university has once a year. There's races, cone dodging, dancing, etc., all celebrating the spirit of sports. And what was I doing? I was sitting, watching this whole thing. No surprise that that's what I would be doing during a sports festival, ne? Hehe.

There was quite a bit of marching as well. They march very well, these students. Even the first graders. They have synchronized footing and everything. It's truly quite a sight. Though what broke the spell a bit for me was that the main marching song was... the Mickey Mouse Club theme song! I don't know why they use this song so much, but I've heard it about once a day since I've been here, for many different purposes, such as a celebratory song, a marching song, elevator music. Why are Japanese people so attracted to this piece? In case you guys don't know what it is, here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ZOcIc_pKk
I guess at least they didn't play it with lyrics, so there was only the melody. At least.

Yep, they're doing push-ups!

I went home before everyone else because it was so hot! And since all I was doing was just sitting there, there wasn't much to distract me from the sunlight hitting my skin. I knew that I would burn if I stayed out there long enough (and in most sunlight, I don't feel that way; this one was somehow special). So I left early and went home to chill, read, and (this wasn't part of the initial plan) take a nap. 

When the rest of the family got back (without Ryosuke, who was having lunch with his classmates before more of then undokai happened in the afternoon), we had lunch. This is the first time I've ever had raw eggs with rice. I've had raw eggs with porridge before as a Thai dish, but never with rice. Nevertheless, it was pretty good, especially when eaten with umeboshi (pickled plum). I gotta say though, raw egg probably isn't for everyone. It's got a pretty specific taste, and though I don't like eggs much anymore, this wasn't bad. I just probably can't have it more than once a month or something, otherwise I'd get sick of the taste. 

After lunch, the family went back to the undokai and I stayed home to write my previous blog post about my night at the Honmonji temple. Again, sorry for being late with it, but I was just so tired last night that there was no way that post was happening. I barely even remembered to turn off my lights when I went to bed. So now you have the treat of two posts in one day! Hooray!

After the family came back, with Ryosuke this time, I went shopping with Yoshiko-san. I decided that I would make dinner, since Yoshiko-san was probably tired from all of the undokai festivities (not to mention the hot sun; how do Asian women protect themselves from tanning so well? They were wearing thick sweaters for God's sake. What is the price of beauty? Fainting?). 

More cool ice cream flavors

Look at those cute jam containers that look totally like ice cream!

After shopping, I went home and started on dinner immediately. Quiche is quite easy to cook, now that I know how, though it takes a while to prepare (like rolling out the dough, then refrigerating it, then baking it, then preparing the filling ingredients, then putting it all together, etc.). In my quiche, there was bacon, gruyere cheese, gouda cheese, zucchini, red & yellow bell peppers, and caramelized onions. Very yummy! I think it came out pretty well, and the family really seemed to like it. Yokkata!

In addition, we also had spaghetti salad for dinner. For desert, I had put the remaining pie crust pieces in the oven, then covered it with cinnamon sugar when it was done. This was more for the kids than anything else.

After dinner was especially nice though. This was the first time I've ever actively interacted with Masahiro-san aside from the odd question here and there. He was trying really hard to teach me to hear the difference between "kuki" (stem), "kukki" (cookie), and "kuuki" (air). And then that got us into talking about tongue twisters and alike sounding words. I tried to explain the meaning of that woodchuck tongue twister, eventually saying something like "how many pieces of tree can a beaver chop down with its teeth..." It was difficult. And then Yoshiko-san and Masahiro-san taught me a few Japanese ones, which I couldn't pronounce, and I daresay I don't quite remember. D:

Then afterward, we sat down together to watch the videos Masahiro-san recorded of today's undokai. It ended up in a ticking battle between Ayuka-chan and Ryosuke-kun on top of poor Yoshiko-san, who was trying her best to brush Ayuka's teeth.

Tomorrow I think will mostly be a studying and Skyping day. I want to learn tons of kanji tomorrow, and am very much looking forward to Skyping both dad and Aaron (though I'd love to Skype anyone else if they were around!).

Much love,
Maggie