Monday, December 28-Thursday, December 31, 2009 [Combo 5]-

My stay at the Baba family’s household was a great whirlwind of sightseeing, laughter, late nights, and early mornings. Spending four days in their Utsunomiya home, getting to see Luke Bradt (a fellow Minnesota exchange student living in Osaka), spending time with Ayano and her family, meeting Ayano’s ridiculously cute and tiny grandmother, eating the best fresh sushi I’ve ever had, and seeing other Rotex students on Sunday night were all highlights to say the least. Seeing as I am running behind on my blogging I figured I would simply put these days all together. Pictures will put it best, so I included a batch below. The photo to the right is of Luke, Hitomi (Ayano's sister), Myself, Ayano, her grandma (awww...), Max, and her Mom in front of their house before I left Monday morning.

The last day of 2009 was spent by returning to Nakagawa town in order to spend the biggest holiday of the year with my host parents. We made long buckwheat soba noodles from scratch during the afternoon, as they are a symbol of longevity. It was fun to roll out the dough and cut them into thin strips. Soba is one of my new favorite Japanese foods so it’s a good thing that my third host family owns a soba restaurant!!

During the evening we stayed at home, watching the famous New Year’s television programs. There is a gigantic concert on NHK; think Oscar-like stage decorations with performances by all of Japan’s biggest artists! I found out that none of the seats in the monster theater in Tokyo are for sale, instead it is a lottery drawing where viewers submit letters to the TV station months beforehand in hopes of having their names drawn. After that everything is free, meaning that the fans go all out in signs, cheers, and enthusiasm. It must be a fantastic atmosphere to be a part of. The singing ended just before midnight so that at the stroke of twelve there could be live shots from temples all over Japan, where the large temple-bells were rung 108 times, once for each time of Buddhist sins. And I thought the seven of Christianity were tough, although ours happen to be DEADLY! Definitely a “のんびり” [Nonbiri] start to 2010. Nonbiri is a word I recently learned that carries the same connotations as “Relaxed and Chill.” I hope I have many days of excitement throughout the year, but certainly a fair share of “Nonbiri” ones too! So with that, “明けましておめでとう御座います！今年もよろしくお願い致します！” [Let there be congratulations that the sun rises again! Please continue your goodness to me in this year also!] Two of the more common Japanese ways to simply say, “Happy New Year!” Hope it’s a good one for each and every one of you!

On the morning of the 30th, Ayano's Mom, sister, sister's boyfriend, Luke, and I drove the hour long trek to Nakaminato, Ibaraki where some of the freshest seafood of the region can be found...only problem is that so did everyone else in Japan! The roads were packed =\ It's a good thing the food was delicious. This picture is Ayano's sister, Hitomi, pointing down the long row of cars coming into Nakaminato City.

Luke, Hitomi's boyfriend, and Hitomi in front of the second-floor sushi restaurant we ate at. It's right next to the ocean, above a gigantic fish market. Definitely a new experience!

Luke and Ayano's mom in the "kaitenzushi" restaurant. That's the type where the sushi come by on small plates and you simply grab which ones you'd like

Between Luke, Ayano's mom, and I we did darn well. This was our finished stack! haha, it was absolutely scrumptious. Very, very, very fresh. I kept a list of the plates I ate:

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Kujira - Whale!!

(it was my first time and the dark red meat- it's a mammal after all- was very oily and fatty. The flavor was great but I felt bad eating whale, seeing as they're dying out. Yet the whales that they serve now in Japan are already ones that have died, meaning this one wasn't hunted, so I felt okay. The way Luke and I justified it was that this would be a disservice to the whale NOT to eat it, we were making sure it didn't die in vain!)

Hamachi - Young Japanese Amberjack

Unagi - Freshwater Eel cooked in a marinade

Katsuo - Bonito Tuna

Hotate - Scallops

Unagi...again

Houbou - Gunard

(if anyone can tell me what a Gunard is, that'd be great!)

Amai Ebi - Sweet Raw Shrimp

Hotate...again

Maguro - Tuna

Buri - Adult Amberjack

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The fish market below the restaurant was an awesome experience. Very loud, lots of people, sights and (of course) smells!

Luke being Luke next to a huge, whole, $60 Octopus in shrink-wrap

Sun-dried, Marinaded fish

The crowd buying fish for their New Year's feasts

Max and Chisaki at the Rotex year-end gathering Sunday night

My host mom rolling out soba dough in our living room

Working on them noodles

I chopped these soba noodles myself. Each one now folds out into a long, straight noodle that is supposed to represent a full, healthy life

Please tell me that other people think of Vicki Dilley when they see this picture!