How was your Christmas day?
After waking up, Owen checked what Santa had left him in his stocking, then we caught the train into Nagoya to attend church. Nowadays I don`t often go to church, but I make a special effort to go for Christmas. Even if you`re not Christian, I recommend going to church at Christmas - I`m sure you`ll find it interesting & enjoyable. Go on - next year - challenge!
When we got home we unwrapped all the presents under the Christmas tree, including parcels from my family in Australia, then ate Christmas cake, which curiously is an important part of Christmas day in Japan, but not in Western countries!
I had a busy but enjoyable Christmas day this year, and I hope you did too.
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Like most people, I`ve been pretty busy for the last couple of weeks, so I`m sorry for the lack [fusoku] of posts.
I managed to find time to make some more Christmas tree ornaments though.
They are just painted pieces of wood, with a bent nail [mageta kugi] in the top.
On Saturday, Gifu Teragoya held its Christmas party. Our special guest was the talented and amusing Ozawa-san, who performed a variety of magic tricks for us all. Thanks and good job!
I also performed a couple of magic tricks - first I made some alcohol disappear, then I introduced myself to a student who told me that, actually, we had already met. I had completely forgotten - magic! Sorry...
Finally, after cleaning up, I disappeared to Bier Hall.
Thanks everybody who attended. I hope you had fun.
Do you have a Christmas tree? Have you set it up yet?
I made this snowman ornament from wood, wire, screws & beads. If I have time I`d like to make some more.
Actually, our tree doesn`t really need any more ornaments, but they`re fun to make.
I recently had lunch at Kirio Shopping Centre food court. I was interested by the English instructions on the paper around my dish. Three verb styles were used:
1. Mix well to cook!
2. Mixing it evenly.
3. To mix it well `till lean meat is cooked.
Which style is correct for instructions in English: 1. Mix? 2. Mixing? 3. To mix? Do you know?
UPDATE: The answer is 1. Mix...
If you don`t know, a `pot luck` party is one where everyone brings some food. The variety & quality of dishes at Saturday night`s party was excellent - pasta, salad, sushi, nabe (a pot of soup/broth/stew), cupcakes, pancakes and more. A very satisfying winter feast. Well done everyone!
Of course there were drinks too - soda/soft drink, juice, beer, & wine, including a familiar-looking bottle of beaujolais nouveau which managed to survive last week`s Gifu wine party.
Our regular Ichinomiya musician, Kiyotaka, was performing in Nagoya, so he couldn`t attend. Fortunately we had a charming replacement in Yoshiko, who brought her electric piano & played various popular Christmas tunes for us. We even had a sing-along for `Santa Claus is Coming to Town` - good fun.
Indeed, Santa Claus IS coming to town - have you finished (started?) your Christmas shopping yet?
Did you go to the airshow on Sunday? It looked like everyone in Gifu was there! It was more crowded than last year.
I arrived about midday, so we were too late for the formation flying display, but we were in time for a helicopter show, which Owen really liked. He was a bit scared by the loud jets though, especially the F-15 Eagle and F4 Phantom. But by then I was ready to leave anyway - I didn`t want to get caught in the closing time crush like last year.
What`s your favourite JSDF jet fighter? I think I like the F-4 best, even though (because?) it`s old. Japan is one of only a few countries in the world still flying them.
When I was a kid I used to read American comics like Spiderman, Batman & Superman. Sometimes in those comics there were ads for a kind of snack called `Twinkies`. However they weren`t (& still aren`t) sold in Australia, so I was really curious about them. What were they? Were they tasty? They looked tasty!
Similarly, when Snoopy drank something called `Root Beer`, I was really curious about it. What was it? Was it tasty? If Snoopy drinks it, it must taste great!
Finally, after so many years, I got to try these two things in Hawaii. Twinkies are just small sponge cakes with cream inside, & actually we have `root beer` in Australia, but it`s called `sarsaparilla` - in the end I had tried it but didn`t know it.
Visiting Hawaii was very educational.
Not too far from Waikiki Beach is a place called Hanauma Bay. It`s an excellent place to go snorkelling - you can see all kinds of colourful tropical fish, and coral too. I had a great time taking photos of them with my underwater camera.
The beach is very scenic, isn`t it? So it has appeared in various TV shows and movies, such as `Blue Hawaii` in 1961, featuring Elvis Presley. I`ll look for it next time I`m at the DVD rental store!
Our hotel, The Imperial, was in a convenient position - a five minute walk to the beach, & five minutes the other way to shops & restaurants. We didn`t have a great view of the beach, but we had a bit of a view, & I was able to take these photos. It was interesting to see everything change colours as time passed. Also, we were in a great position to see the fireworks [hanabi] display (for APEC). Lucky!
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エメラルド 
yukio 
内倉憲一 
田仲なお美 
TERAGOYA おとな 
birdy 
mokomoko 
bokushi 
KUMA 
PSPINC JP