Holy Sushi!

Last Sunday, transfer calls came.  If you've been on a mission, you know what a big deal that is.  The elders live in anticipation of what will happen.  We've had four elders here with us.  Transfer calls revealed that Elder Hamilton and Elder Deleon would be leaving us and no one was coming to replace them.  I'm realizing that this is going to be a hard part of the mission as we get attached to these young men.

So, the four of us went the next day out to lunch for a farewell hurrah.  We went to a sushi place called Kappazushi's.  It was such a fun, cultural experience:  You sit in booths.  A little track runs through the restaurant past each booth.  On the track are little plates with different kinds of sushi on them, as well as other foods and condiments.  You can take whatever looks good on the track.  You can also order from an electronic notebook at each table.  You can order specific sushis or soups or other things.  Those orders come on what is called the shinkansen- the fast train above.  It brings your order right to your table.  Each plate costs 108 yen - about a dollar each.  At the end of your meal, you call the waitress to your table using the tablet and she totals your consumption by counting the plates and gives you a bill.  Does that not sound fun?  

Following are some pictures from that lunch:

Octopus sushi

This was my favorite: raw salmon with grated dikon and kyupi on rice

Elder Hansen ordering on the tablet

That's the track with sushi going by

All four elders- what great guys!

The fast train that brings your order right to your table. 

The stranger it sounded, the more the elders wanted to try it.  This one is cow diaphragm sushi

This had crab and crab guts or something like that.

The udon soup was delicious

The elders got in competition mode.  Elder Hamilton won with eighteen plates.

Elder Hansen didn't do so bad, either.

Elder Deleon- the greenie- eating octopus meatballs

Raw sardine sushi

It was a delightful culinary adventure with some fun guys.  We're glad they include us in their shenanigans! 

I Go to Flahiff!

Thursday, I set out on my walk.  Ken was already home from his.  I usually only walk for about a half hour.  I told him I would be back in a few minutes.  I determined to walk to the church and back- that should take about ½ hour.  I made it fine to the church, but then I made a bad mistake.  I remembered Ken saying that if you went down that road, it was a shortcut home.  I was cold so I thought a shortcut sounded like a great idea.  So I set off merrily down the road.  The road was much longer than I remembered, but I just kept walking and walking.  I could see a highway way out in the distance, and I felt sure that was the highway near our home.  I finally got to the highway, but didn’t recognize anything.  I went left, thinking I would come to the drug store near our home.  No drugstore.  So I went right and walked and walked.  No drug store.  I realized I was lost.  Ken had told me if I ever get lost, to ask someone where McDonald’s is because it is near our home and I can find my way from there.  So I stopped a grandma and asked her, “McDonalds?”  She rattled off some Japanese and smiled.  I smiled back, bowed, and thanked her in Japanese.  Great advice, dear.  That didn’t work.  I was getting kind of scared.  No, I was getting really scared.  I had memorized the two buildings I came between to get on the highway, so I thought, I’ll just have to go back and walk the long way back to the church.  By now, I was so cold.  I only had leggings on my legs and they were freezing.  I had an umbrella with me, and Tsuruoka’s weather changes in an instant from rain to sun to sleet to snow to clouds.  And oh how the wind does blow!   The umbrella protected me when needed.   I was praying hard.  Then I remembered a funny story my dad (who was a doctor) used to tell.  One day, one of his older patients pulled out of his breast pocket a hand-scribbled note that he said he always kept there.  He opened it and my dad read, “I go to Flahiff.”  There were two funeral homes in Caldwell: Dakin and Flahiff.  My dad just laughed and laughed about that.  I guess the man thought if he dropped dead on the street, it would be good to have a note telling people which mortuary to take him to.  It made me smile as I realized I didn’t even have my missionary name tag on.  No one would know where to take me when I dropped dead.  I could picture Japanese people standing over my dead, cold body trying to decide what to do with the lost American.  But I did correctly remember the barber shop (though they are on every corner, it seems) and the pink flower building and went back between them down that long road.  I was relieved as I would see familiar things as I walked, and, indeed, I did get to the church.  From there, it’s about a 20 minute walk home.  I was nearly frozen, but at least I knew where I was.  I envisioned Ken pacing the floor, or out looking for me.  I was sure he would have a hot bath and hot herbal tea ready for me when I got home.  The thought kept me trudging along.  When I approached our apartment, Ken was indeed outside.  “Oh, he’s worried sick,” I thought.  So I called out weakly to him, “Ken.”  He glanced up, then motioned me over to look at a crow he had been feeding.  WHAT?  Your wife is about to expire and you’re thinking about a crow????  He had hardly even missed me.  I couldn’t believe it.  So I made my own hot bath, and he humbly repented.  Later, he showed me on the map what I had done.  There are two roads that go from the church.  I had taken the wrong one that led me away from our apartment (it’s probably needless to say, but I was not blessed with a sense of direction.  I just have to memorize my way.  Sometimes it doesn’t work so well!)  It wasn’t our highway at all, but another one.  From now on: I wear two pair of pants and I always take my name tag, and I don’t take shortcuts. 

O-Shogatsu! or Happy New Year!

Our lonely apartment  (we're bottom left)  We're the only ones here on New Year's week.

Across the street is a couple about our age.  Their son's car was there most of the week.

New's Year's is the biggest holiday of the year in Japan.  They know about Christmas, and I think celebrate it somewhat, but everyone celebrates O-Shogatsu.  It is a family time.  Children make a pilgrimage from wherever they are to spend O-Shagatsu with their parents, if possible.  We live in a four-plex.  All three of the other residents are young adults.  We were the only ones here all week.  Our across the street neighbors- about our age had their son there most of the week. 

We traditionally make aebelskivers on New Year's, but this year we didn't have the special pan, so made French toast instead. 

We spent a lot of the day trying to figure out how to make filling for the cream puffs we were making to take to a New Year's Party that evening.  I purchased a custard pudding mix, but couldn't read the kanji/hiragana/katakana instructions.  Ken worked tirelessly trying to read them.  With his reading and my cooking knowledge we made something that worked.  I'm not sure if it was right, but it worked!  Shopping and cooking in Japan is a challenge.  I made frosting for the cream puffs, only to find I had made it with corn starch instead of powdered sugar!  That went in the garbage and I tried again.

Cooking the custard in our tiny kitchen

Traditionally, Japanese people go to a shrine to pray on New Year's.  We went to witness it at Tsuruoka Park.  There were throngs of people.

The walk to the shrine was lined with booths selling food, charms, prayers, gifts, etc.  It was much like a fair.

Candied Bananas

We didn't think it appropriate to take pictures of the shrine itself, but wanted to capture the throngs.

They tie their prayer on lines

People reading their prayers/fortunes

Tsuruoka Park is gorgeous. We took a nice walk around the mote that surrounds what used to be a castle.

Black Kites

The Partially Frozen Mote

I am amazed at what is still alive and growing when covered with snow.

We then visited a gorgeous wildlife refuge

There is a good man in our branch who also loves birds and directed us to this beautiful park.

This picture of the lake from the top of the dam

The cream puffs/ eclairs turned out great after all that!

The four elders here also came to the party.  This is a typical Japanese table- low and everyone sits on the floor on cushions around it.

Our hosts for New Year's- the Nomura's.  She is the Relief Society president in the branch.

The food was plentiful and delicious- traditional New Year's foods.

There were other guests as well.

Delicious Sashimi- Raw Fish.  There was also cooked chicken with onions. 

Sister Nomura demonstrates how to make your own sushi:  Take a piece of nori (dried seaweed) and put on some rice, then add whatever raw fish or cooked chicken and veggies and other delightful things you want and roll.  Every bit of food was consumed.

It was such a fun evening and cultural experience! 

We are loving our time in Japan.  Everything is different and backwards from what we're used to, but we are so happy to be here in this little branch.  We love the people and are keeping busy visiting and serving.  I will post more about the wonderful people and the new world we're living in.   Happy New Year!

My New Favorite Quote

This woman, Marjorie Pay Hinckley is one of my heroes.  In the MTC, they read this wonderful quote from her and it's become one of my favorites:

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”
― Marjorie Pay Hinckley

See You When You're Sixty!

As Shonna and Blake left us on Sunday afternoon the day before we left on our mission, I was saying goodbye to five-year-old Caleb.  We gave each other a big hug.  I said, "I love you so much, Caleb.  I'll see you when you're seven."  His reply, "I love you, too, Grandma.  I'll see you when you're sixty!"  That is one smart kid!