Christmas Time!

12.25

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Today is THE DAY we have all been waitin' for!

Obviously, yesterday was Christmas Eve. I only went to Sanga to work on the farm till 12 because Ema and I were planning to go shopping in the afternoon after she got back from her English class in the morning.
I've been going most everyday since last Monday to work on the farm. Two days I went a little later in the morning so that I could skype Mom and Dad and on the 23rd I didn't go because Kazuma, my other cousin, was coming back from college.

It was really wonderful to see everyone's faces on skype! I even got to see the christmas trees at each house:)
It had been a while since we'd skyped, so I think everyone was happy to have the opportunity!

Afterwards I went to the farm. Most last week I spent clipping leaves either so that the sunlight could better reach the tomatoes or so that a disease that had attacked some leaves, would not spread further. Also there was cucumber harvesting and sorting happening and a tiny bit of cleaning the barn. I also got to help Obaachan in the kitchen before lunch a little bit. Both days I helped by peeling Yama-imo, which looks kind of like...hmm...a more dirty, larger chunk of ginger. When you peel it, it is white and also slimy so it was difficult to hold onto. Then I had to grate it, however it doesn't really grate but turns into a frothy slimy white mass in the bowl. If you know what Nato is, it is kind of like Nato in the slimy foods scale, but more thick...very hard to explain because we don't eat that kind of food in America - too freaky! Obaachan remembered that I love zenzai, sweet bean soup with dumplings, and so she made it one day. She said, please taste the flavor for me so i was expecting like a spoonful but she went ahead and filled the bowl up with soup and beans and two dumplings! I said I will wait for everyone and put most of it back and tasted the broth - aaaaaah! LOVE. She made a lot of food, tamago yaki (fried egg but made in a special way so it slowly rolled up), grilled sweet potatoes, potato stew, sausage, grilled eggplant, fried rice, curry, pickles (she makes her own umeboshi!)...you get the idea. So much food! And she urges me to eat everything through the whole meal, "tabete, tabete!".  You can imagine how full I must get after eating all that good food!
But it's fun to be around them.

Obaachan tells me short little stories of how my grandmother (her sister) often came to this house and help make mochi every year, or collect vegetables when there was a lot here. Ojichan, my uncle, told me how they used to recieve the tomatoes and cucumbers and that his mom would then make mayo, cucumber and tomato sandwiches.
Obachan, my aunt, tells me how my grandmother really love grilled sweet potatoes and how she was a nurse and stories like that. Slowly slowly I'm able to piece together this abstract and very puzzly image of my grandmother.
I remember her only faintly, I think in memories mostly triggered from seeing photos. Like when she came to the US and we went and collected crab apples and little sticks and leaves... but I was happy when I heard she liked grilled sweet potatoes, because I do too. And I was happy when I heard she used to make mayo, cucumber and tomato sandwiches for her children, because my mom does too!
And so I can't help thinking when I got to my great Aunt's house, here is where she once was! And this Great Aunt of mine grew up with my Grandmother, who is my mother's mother, and was the world to my mother as my mother is to me. It's a big cycle. Always has been and always will be.

I've come to really enjoy the small farm work. I know I don't do the really tough stuff but I'm going to say that I'm not exactly doing "fun" work. I guess in some way I like the repetative work. Especially the trimming leaves to give the tomatoes more sunlight - that was the greatest! Because I had to think about where to cut so that I could cut the least amount and get the most sunlight and also it made me happy because I knew that the tomatoes would be grateful and turn beautiful and delicious because of it. I sound a little crazy...
Plus the radio is on in the green house usually so I can sit there and be lost in my thoughts while kind of half listening to the radio that I can understand a little more each day. Makes my heart say, YEAH!

Friday Kazu came home! He grew up  a lot, I was so surprised! His hair was longer and his clothes more fashionable and he seemed more open and happy than I remembered. I guess college has been good for him! He loves cars and is going to start work as a mechanic in the spring after his graduation. He has always loved cars, probably due to the fact that our grandfather and his father also loves cars. He brought me a little trinket from Takayama where his college is. It is a monkey baby and it is pink, which basically means "good luck in love". Which I need! haha...don't we all:) Other colors mean different things.
He turned 20 this year so early in January there is a big celebration for everyone who turned 20 in the area. It is a big deal to turn 20 here, rather than 18. Next April he will be 21! Goodness...time flies.

Kazu took Ema and I to the train station yesterday so we could catch the train to Ogawa, another town, where there is a big shopping center. So we spent the afternoon shopping! Great fun, as always! Too many cute things in Japan. However, I often think it is too cute for me, so yesterday after buying the essentials (socks and undies and a tank top) I bought a baggy, chill-ax red sweater at Uniqlo. I have a red sweater at home kind of like this but with a hood and zipper of th front, but it is getting old...so, now I have this one!
After clothes shopping Ema and I bought doughnuts and Mister Donut's for the family. And then before heading back to the train station, we had fun doing Pirikura! The photo booth type of thing. In Japan they are WAY better, though. You can do all kinds of things, of course you pose, but afterwards you can draw on the photos and design them the way you want them to be. However, one thing I didn't realize before is that it automatically makes your eyes HUGE and doll like. So basically, you can't look ugly...because it makes you look like a perfect doll! I think that's kind of crazy...but, hey, I could see how I'd look if I really tried to look nice and cared about makeup and skin...haha.
Then we walked back to the station and took the train home to Uto where Obachan picked us up and then...TOOK US TO GET PIZZA! YEAH! I love pizza:) We got takeout but the three of us each ordered a medium for ourselves (which is a little bit bigger than a small in the US). I got tomato and veggie pizza and ATE THE WHOLE THING.
It was really good and I thought, this is my Christmas Eve dinner where usually I stuff myself with good food at Nana's and Grandpas! So I didn't feel too guilty eating the whole thing...haha. Afterwards we ate the doughnuts as well:) I ate one that was strawberry and one that was I think soy bean based, but it was delicious!
Gena sent me a present and I got it yesterday. I opened part of it last night and part of it this morning as my own personal mini Christmas celebration. This morning while I was checking my email and doing computer stuff, I kept thinking of how everyone was at Nana's and Grandpa's for the Christmas Eve dinner, probably eating and as the morning wore on, I imagined them eating dessert and opening presents and laughing and playing with the beautiful ribbons and bows that always are at Nana's. And now it is 4:30 AM in Ohio, 6:30 PM on the day of Christmas in Japan. In four hours at Mom's everyone will begin Christmas day with a giant breakfast probably with eggs and all kinds of breads and fruits after opening the stockings hanging on the half wall... Neko and Taka will probably be afraid of all the wrapping paper, but maybe they will be playing with the ribbons and bows on the floor! Who knows! And then probably around 12, Elijah will go to Dad's to join Dad and Qun and there will be more delicious food and more gifts. The Evergleam Christmas tree spinning and the mini steam engine going in circles, fritos and dip and some movie watching perhaps? Maybe this year they will change it up and I've got it all wrong! I can't wait to see photos:)
I just hope everyone has a great time:)

OH I nearly forgot! We had a "white Christmas" here in Uto! There was snow for about 10 minutes this morning, but only a little tiny bit and not nearly enough to stick. But it was pretty and it made me really happy, it is rare but I got to see it! In the afternoon I went to the farm, the wind was so strong that I thought about turning back and staying in the warm house. But soon I'd gotten half way and I hadn't given up yet so I decided to just go for it, but the riding was slow and cold and I thought, a but annoyed, that I should just walk the bike, but I kept riding and after what seemed like a long time, I arrived at the house.
For a 3 o'clock snack Chizuko-san brought me mochi with sweet bean paste inside as well as a strawberry! The strawberry was wrapped in the bean paste which was wrapped in the soft mochi - so yummy. She gave me the rest of the pack to take home to the family. When it was 4 I went back to the house and Obaachan was there and she made me take home puffed rice treats and homemade pickles that she'd just made. They are so generous! Always giving me stuff to take back to the Uto house. Chizuko-san said that Obaachan finds her happiness in giving, so that's what she does:) I appreciate it!

Tonight we are eating Tomato and Cheese Nabe! Which is basically a vat of broth with tons of vegetables and meat inside that you pick out of. I'm excited and also really hungry right now so it sounds amazing! Ema is helping her friend with a christmas party so she wont be here for dinner. Kazu is now studying and working on this huge packet of questions he was given to complete over break. Oh....school....

Well, that was very long...

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
Please enjoy the rest of this year:)