Scandy Scandoval

Out of all the nicknames I have ever had, Scandy Scandoval has never been one of them. One of my friends from New Zealand has a hard time pronouncing Sandoval, it came out Scandoval. So as we all were decorating my mini-tree in my living room and listening to a random Christmas CD (that I found in my apato, left by my predecessor), I decided it would be a cool idea to spill wine on my tatami mat (which is impossible to get out). Maybe that's where the Scandoval came from since this isn't the only 'scandalous' idea I've had in the past week or so. On Saturday, I decided shattering a glass would be a cool idea. On Friday, I decided to break my chair by standing on it. On Thursday, (on a dark rainy night on a twisted confusing Japanese street) I decided to stop at a red light just after the intersection instead of before the intersection and then realized the cars on the other side were lined up with me exactly the opposite way. Last week, I was at a 'party' with my teachers and opened a sliding rice-paper door and walked into the wrong party. Last weekend, I went to this random festival where these men dressed in nothing but sumo underwear, ran with a horse up and down a riverbed, and people were carrying baby chicks around. I don't think I'm the only one with crazy ideas over here on the other side of the world. I don't know where all these crazy ideas are coming from, but Scandy Scandavol ended up turning into Scandy Canes and Scandy Clause.

Turky and eel make me ill!

This weekend was Thanksgiving heaven. On Friday night, the people from the town office came to kate's apt and we threw a full-out Thanksgiving dinner for them, which was no easy feat. I was hoping that all of our cooking wouldn't go to waste, but they LOVED it!! We made stuffing, yams, corn, mashed potatoes, ordered a turkey and cranberry sauce online and cooked it all. I cooked a turkey in my Japanese microwave which apparently converts to an oven. It took all of the power out of my apato, so I turned off everything, including the lights and let the turkey cook over a span of about 3 hours. I would come in to my apato every 20 min or so and check it by flashlight. I can't believe I cooked a turkey by flashlight, AND it turned out awesome and not burned. That was number one goal: to not burn the turkey. I stayed in Kate's apato while the turkey cooked, instead of sitting in my apato in the dark for three hours without heat. We told the story of Thanksgiving, and went around the table and said what we were thankful for, and...it was def a bonding night for the 9 of us. I brought out the pumpkin cake thing (pancake mix, walnuts and pumpkins) I baked in my rice cooker (I tried to make caramel and ended up burning the pan). Anyhow, they brought tons of liquor and Japanese snacks, like eel and weird green bean stuff and fried seafood, to the party, that they wanted us to try. I just couldnt touch it until after I had eaten dessert and held on to the taste of Thansgiving feast just a little longer :) Turkey and eel just don't get along in my mouth. They want us to throw another party in December and kept asking about it, we told them Thanksgiving is only ONCE a year and that's what makes it special ;)

My Bed under the Table

So on Tuesday, after 3-day weekend of being sick, and not being able to read the medicine bottles, I came to the conclusion that I probably shouldn't just ride out the sickness. I am tired of asking people to translate things though. I am so used to being independent and just doing things on my own. I feel like a very old person must feel, ALWAYS having to ask people to help and relying on them. I don't like it at all...how tough it must be for them. I can't even imagine what they do when people say no to them. Anyhow, my co-worker came to my apt and showed me how the air conditioner converts to a heater. She showed me how to use a small heater my apartment has ( I wasn't sure how to use it, most of these heaters need oil or something bad happens). She also showed me how to use the KOTATSU TABLE! HOORAY! This freaky table has a top that comes off, then you put a blanket under the top and put the top back on. Then you turn it on and it heats under the table and you sit with your legs under the table and enjoy the heat. I am scared to touch the grate; I am afraid it will burn my legs. When it makes a sound, I have to look under there to see what it's doing. There's a red light under there and a gas sound ... needless to say I check it out every 10 minutes or so. I have never heard of a Japanese person getting charred legs, but I am not going to be the first.

Thanksgiving!

What if it was my first and last Thanksgiving EVER? Kate and I are throwing a Thanksgiving party for about 13 of the people who have helped us as our way of saying thank you. This dinner will, most likely, be the only Thanksgiving dinner they’ll ever have. I am so excited for Thanksgiving I can’t stand it! I couldn’t go to sleep all night last night thinking: what else could we do for this important Thanksgiving? These people have helped me:
1) Open a bank account
2) Helped me when my power went out
3) Showed me what food/cleaners/etc to buy and bought them for me
4) Threw a huge party for me
5) Came to my apt when I was sick
6) Translate whenever I need help
7) and all of the millions of things that they’ve done for me.
I am so nervous and I hope they like the food. There is so much to say, but I can’t write too much now. I AM SO EXCITED my stomach has been turning for 2 days now!!

"Thanksgiving" by Japanese Adults

I'm thankful for beer, it give me warm feeling.
I'm thankful for grasses, I can see a small thing. (remember replace r for l)
I'm thankful for my family, they give me a happy life.
I'm thankful for rain, I don't have to watering a flowerbed.
I am thankful for flower, it keep me good.
I'm thankful for water, it keeps me moisture.
I'm thankful for my son, because he is a good boy.

I am thankful for my Japanese adults; they keep me going.

5 New and Unexpected Developments

5. On a recent bike ride, I found a YMCA near my house which has Fura (Hula) dancing and a 24-hour grocery store!!!! Imagine life where all stores close at 8, and you'll realize the extent of my happiness.
4. I went to a random potluck party which turned out to be a fruit-and-vegetable drawing party. I learned how to watercolor a fruit I've never seen before.
3. I turned on my school computer and someone changed the background to a picture of Voldemort (Harry Potter's nemesis) that points at me and says "You will lose everything." So it's either a joke or maybe a warning that I need to turn off my computer screen... I don't know who did it, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was my fun-loving and forever-at-school English teacher.
2. The kid that has been the bane of my existence at Junior High (he usually finger-shoots me or flips me off or tries to shock me with his MTV English) officially asked me to marry him and runs after me now. I really don't know which side of him I prefer.
1. When walking off the midnight train, an eager-to-learn-English Japanese girl had me cornered in the bathroom, talking for half an hour, and we exchanged numbers. Now, I can say that out of all the random places I meet new friends, in the train station bathroom at midnight is the last place I expected it.

Cassandra Popsicle

It's so cold over here! Here in Japan, they believe that heating children is an unnecessary expense, so at school I am pretty much in a freezer all day long. You know I am always cold at 72 degrees, and even at the bank I would wear my coat inside til we opened. I wore three layers at school on Monday... not enough. I wore my coat and three layers and tights on Tuesday - STILL not enough. I was shivering at my desk, literally. I am going to have to go for the big guns now and conceal hand warmers under my clothes. I'm not kidding, I bought them today. I can't believe it's come to this. THAT'S CRAZY! One teacher said that she wears a type of thin bodysuit, surfer-style, all day. I might look into that. If anyone knows where I can buy such a bodysuit, please tell me and I will maybe give you 1,000 Yen (calculate that lol, I'm a big spender)!! At home I've resorted to boiling water constantly, so that it heats my apartment, and turning on all lights and as many electrical appliances as possible (without the power going off). I cook every night for as long a period of time as possible. I also save dirty dishes as I try to do dishes every 1.5 hours that I'm here to keep me warm. I have heard that I can heat rice in a pillow....

Hotto Kaki

Mythbuster: Urban Legend Confirmed
So it turns out you *CAN* bake a cake in a rice cooker. Yesterday I didn't want to study Japanese, so I threw the hotto kaki mix, an egg, oil and water in the rice cooker to see what would happen and IT BAKED a cake. I added milk to it after it was baked to see if it would taste better and then I added syrup. It was the best MilkSyrupPancake Cake ever!! Ha, and you thought I couldn't cook!

OBAMA Christmas!

Is it Christmas?
My ears ring of peace on earth and goodwill to all men from all corners of the globe. "On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes." (French leader)
What happened to the days in Spain when I was afraid to admit that I was American, trying to avoid the question like every other American student?
Peace and hope... Goodwill to Men
That's all I hear in Japan and echoed in the international TV, radio, and from everyone, foreigners and Japanese here. Japan is showing Obama over and over, cut with American heroes MLK, JFK, Roosevelt. The TV is chanting "Hope", "Change" and "Yes we can", on shots the world over. All I have seen everyday on TV is Obama, political and economic news from all over the US and the world. I see everything you see and more from ALL OVER the US; so does the rest of the world perhaps... I see the political controversies and political commercials. It's crazy!
Joyful all Ye Nations Rise... Join the Triumph
The fact of the matter is that the world embraced Obama as one of their own:
-Kenyans danced in the streets and declared a public holiday when Obama won
-Indonesian children were kissing cut-outs of Obama
-Spain- made a ENORMOUS 2.5 acre portrait of Obama out of gravel and sand
-Obama, Japan- made Obama Burgers and Obama noodles and had an "Obama celebration party"
-Locals the world over celebrated with American citizens when Obama won.

Why do they care?
Because what we do affects their daily lives.

Do you realize the power we have?
Do you realize the responsibility we have?
Do you realize yet that we are Rome?

4 cartons in 2 weeks

Do I love how milk makes my coffee caramel?
Do I love how milk makes my oatmeal cream?
Do I love how milk makes my bread pudding?
Do I love how milk makes my cereal mushy?
Do I love how milk makes my miso thick?
Do I love how milk makes my chili bland?
Do I love how milk makes my chai spicy?
Do I love how milk makes my french toast complete?
Do I love how milk makes Japan my America?

Didn't you know...

Have you ever seen the Nightmare Before Christmas? I just saw it the other day and it totally reminds me of....ME - especially when Jack is singing that song, "What's this?" (If you don't know, go to youtube.com and look up "jack what's this"). The air is crisp and clean and smells of a camp fire all around and the mountains look like a giant Cosco muffin tore in half; the trees are the walnuts and brown sugar spilling over the side of the muffin. It doesn't look anything like Colorado mountains. I am scared to go into the bamboo forests, I've heard they are filled with monkeys and spiders. They don't look very inviting; they look like a big jumble of firewood that is waiting to be burned. Anyhow, my bike ride feeling can't really be described...but I think it's best captured in the Nightmare Before Christmas song OR by riding a bike downhill really fast.
I have been going in different directions to try to discover everything around my area. There aren't any street names here, so I have to remember what stores or landmarks are around me (which is perfect because, as you know, I never looked at street names in the States anyway, I always looked for stores or landmarks) I usually get lost for awhile and then eventually find my way back. So far I have discovered: a closer train station than my town office told me, an easier route to the city, another mall, the source of a peculiar burning smell. I don't really know what's going on with the rice fields, but now they're bare, and for some reason set on fire. I pass uniform-clad students as I go, and old people with little dogs; who all stare at me as I whiz by. I love the Japanese student uniforms, they're so interesting. The girls are kind of like a mix of a sailor/golfer/Britney Spears catholic schoolgirl. The boys look like chefs at Benihana, but with black outfits.
"What's this? What's this?" I sing in my head as I ride my Dorothy-style bike around the city, scaring people.