Japanese Cooking Class

Rachel has to do some Community Service hours in Creativity for her school and it is difficult not being able fulfill the hours not knowing the language.  One way we thought would be fun, was cooking classes.  So we signed up with two co-workers and went today from 10:30 to 1:30.  It was located at our local mall called Sun to Moon and the cooking class is sponsored by the gas company.  We had to pay $40 a piece for the instruction and the food we cooked.
There was a chef from a local restaurant that taught us four interesting Japanese dishes.  The first one was rice with crab meat, topped with greens and ginger.  Another was a sweet potato dish that we grated and then made into balls.  The soup over it had duck meat and soy sauce in it.  Very tasty!
We grilled a white fish marinated in a sake mixture that took a week to make- the chef brought it ready made.  The green leaves looked like spinach, but is part of a edible weed mixed with a mustard sauce.
The last was the pastry made from sweet potato and fried with a cream sauce on each side.
There were six people in our group and we made 6 portions of everything.  When everything was cooked, we sat down at a table and ate our lunch.  Of course, it was delicious!  The chef made us clear soup and we had green tea with our meal.

Now Rachel gets to try and think what she wants to make to complete her hours...right now she is thinking of ginger ice cream and rice cooked with chicken and vegetables.  I can't wait to try her dishes!
¥Joanna¥

Maiko Performance

Our school hosted a Maiko performance this week and it was very cool.  I guess there are only about 100 performers left.  They introduced them and then told us they were only 16 and 17 years old!  We were shocked.

Art Lesson

On Thursdays I teach art to second graders and I had a piece of plastic so I decided to pull it tight and blow on the end.  I makes an amazing high pitch whistle and I like the startled look on the kid's faces. Many of them cover their ears but one student covered his ears and said, "Mr. Polikaitis! I don't want to go blind!"

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Spelling Bee

We had our first Spelling Bee at our school, with the 3rd through 5th graders.  There were 6 participants and we went 23 rounds to determine the winner.  A newspaper called The Japan Times sponsors a country wide Spelling Bee on March 10th and our champion will participate. Really excited for our winner and hope he does well!

Christianna's Sweet 16!

On Friday I traveled by myself to Tokyo to celebrate my cousin Christianna's Birthday. It was my first time traveling alone in Japan and on the shinkansen, but it was a great experience. Christianna's sweet 16 was a lot of fun and it was the first time I had been to a birthday party on a boat. This is a picture of Christianna and I. I had a wonderful time at her party and watching her basketball game the next day. It is so great to live near my cousin and to be able to spend time with her.

<3 Rachel

Geocaching and the Cave

On Sunday, Joanna and I went geocaching and decided to go to a town called Fujioka which was about a 20 minute train ride from where we live.  The first geocache was close by but was a little difficult to get to because it was on the other side of the train tracks and we had to wind through neighborhoods to finally get there.  The cache was at a site that was designated as one of ten places to see a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji and it was true.  We found the cache pretty quickly.

This was the view of Mt. Fuji from the cache site.

We then headed off for the second one and it was such a peaceful walk through fields and I felt almost like we were in a movie walking by some woods on a gravel road.  We came to a bridge that was under construction and some man walking a dog told us how to go around so we followed him and he kept asking us where we were going and we didn't really want to explain about us geocaching so he pointed to a sign and asked us if we were going there.  We said no and kept walking and finally got to the cache site but were having trouble finding it.  We then found out that we were at a site of some cave which happened to be the sign that the man with the dog was pointing to.  The cache description said that it would be easier to get the cache if we went through the entrance so Joanna and I paid the admission and decided to go see the cave while we were there and thought it would be neat to see.  It was about 4 PM and the sun was going down but we were surprised to see the large opening and the cave was in the ground so we weren't sure about going down into it but we saw some lights inside so we ventured in.  It was really creepy and cold and dimly lit but we kept going.  We finally realized that there was no one in there and the cave kept going and going and got creepier and creepier.  We finally reached the end and then made our way back out.  It turns out they were closing when we got there and the lady at the entrance let us in anyway so we could see the cave which was really nice but that is why no one else was in the cave.  We found the cache but the real find was the cave and we can't wait to take the kids to see it.

Our adventure walking through the cave.

The end of the cave.

Yay! We finally made it out!

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Alex's New Video

Coming of Age Day

                                                     Even Mickey greets the 20 year olds.

It is a holiday.  Not many holidays in Japan are on a Monday, but this one is.  It is the Coming of Age day for 20 year olds to dress up in traditional kimonos and have parties.  Turning 20 means you are an adult, so you can drink, vote and drive a car.
I guess when Rachel turns 18 next month, it won't mean to the Japanese that she is an adult.  She also has her California driver's license, but can't drive here.  She is taking everything in stride and doesn't seem to mind.

Joanna

Smack in the Butt!

On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day there are many interesting television shows on in Japan.  This one is called Smack in the Butt.  There were five comedians dressed up as stewardesses (I don't know why) and the whole show centered around them trying not to laugh and if they did, some guy with a ski mask came in with a black stick and smacked them on the behind.  They had to go through many situations and many of the people were other comedians trying to make them laugh.  This clip shows them on the bus and you'll get the idea.

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Geocaching at Mt. Kanuki

During the summer I climbed up Mt. Kanuki and it was sooooo hot! I was geocaching and tried to find it but couldn't partly because I couldn't find it and partly because it was so hot that I didn't want to really look. Today we decided to go as a family to hike Mt. Kanuki (and so I could try to find the geocache) and the weather was much better for hiking. We found it! Luckily, we went back on the website and saw the spoiler picture which led us right to it.  Yay!

Three of our cheerleaders as we started up the mountain.

The pagoda which is about half way up the mountain.

The view from the top. This is Suruga Bay.

We found the cache!

There's the pagoda from the top.  Look for it...

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FUN WITH CHRISTIANNA!

 We had a blast singing karaoke with Christianna!

Playing table tennis at the American Club 

Christianna beat me in table tennis and I beat her in fooseball 

BOWLING!!! 

We were not very good but Alex ended up winning!

I had a blast with my cousin!  :) Rachel

Harajuku, Shibuya, and Roppongi

The day after Christmas we hung out at Peter's place and then went to Harajuku which was really crowded but a lot of fun.  Alex was looking for a store that he thought he had been to before but couldn't find it.

The street in Harajuku.

This was the bathroom in the McDonalds. Alex and I were standing there and then a Japanese couple walked up and the four of us waited and we weren't sure which one to use.  I finally chose to go in the one on the left...luckily I chose correctly!

Alex's new girlfriend!

We then headed off to Shibuya and did some shopping.  They have one of the busiest intersections, people wise, and Alex and I decided to walk it while we were waiting. It is quite a surreal experience.

The street!

We then went to dinner and karaoke in Roppongi and had a fantastic time! We had so much fun!!!!!!

The Tokyo Tower!

Roppongi lights.

The cousins!

Peter belting one out!

Having Fun!!!!!!

Thanks Peter, Chiharu, and Christianna for showing us such a good time!!!!

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Off to Joanna's Brother's Place

After having a wonderful time with our friends Mika and Tomo we headed to Joanna's brother Peter's place in another part of Tokyo. When we got there, our niece Christianna met us and took us through the American Club and then down to his place.  He was cooking a turkey and we could smell it as soon as we entered and it smelled amazing. Peter is a fantastic cook and we had the most delicious turkey dinner for Christmas. Some of her brother's friends came over which was very nice and then Christianna's mother stopped by after work and it was sure nice to be with family.

A mixture of old and new.  That is the Tokyo Tower behind.

Self explanatory.

I've talked about toilets before but this mask makes it kinda hard to go.

Ahhh...turkey dinner!

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Fun Stuff!

Saw a few more fun things when we were in Tokyo.

Chestnuts Anyone?

How about some Christmas Cake?

Uhhh...not sure...

Thank you Mika and Tomo for my Santa sweet bread!

Geocaching!

There are only three geocaches in Numazu and one of them is ours.  We placed two more yesterday and hopefully they'll be published soon.  When we were visiting Tokyo, I was able to pick up three more to make my total 478.  I wanted to reach 500 before we left the U.S. but got too busy toward the end.  I got one near Mika and Tomo's house, one outside of Tokyo Disneyland, and one when we were visiting Joanna's brother.  We almost had a First To Find but missed it by a few minutes.  We met the actual guy who found it who was really nice and asked us if we were geocaching.  We said yes and he patted himself on the chest and said he was the First To Find.  Bummer!  It would have been our first one in Japan!

Alex with the cache (yes, yes that he found first) in Tokyo Bay.

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More Disneyland Pictures

The Cirque du Soleil performance was amazing and going to Disneyland was fun except for the millions of people who decided to visit the same day we did.  We kept passing lines of people and then saw one that looked out of place.  Was it a ride?  Was it an attraction? No, there were about 25 people in line to get popcorn! We walked awhile and I saw a sign for the toilet and told the family that I was going to stop there and Rachel started laughing out loud really hard.  What the heck? I looked over and saw about 15-20 men standing in line outside the toilet! There was an attendant outside and then one inside to show me which urinal to go to. As I was leaving there was some poor guy with a little boy telling the attendant outside that his son had to poo and the attendant was telling him that he had to wait in line.  I hope he made it in time.

On our way in.

The Castle

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