For Peets Sake We Are in Japan!!!: December 2010

Monday, December 13, 2010

Miyajima - floating Tories

It was really beautiful. One of my favorite dates ever!

Maple Leaf cookies at Miyajima

One thing that Miyajima is known for is their maple leaf cookies. They are filled with bean paste, almond paste, or custard. Bean paste was not our favorite.

Luke and I took a cultural tour to Miyajima. We really enjoyed it. The fall colors were beautiful. There are deer wandering around the island. They are not shy and they will pick your pocket if you have paper in it.

Japanese cooking class - Lotus Root

This was a fun class. We learned how to cook lotus root. Iwakuni lotus root is a local speciallty. The lotus root here is speciall because it has 9 holes. It had the texture of an artichoke. It was very tasty. We made a salad, pizza, and lotus steak. The lotus root here has a mascot. His name is Hahsu-chan.

We bought pickled plums at one of the stores out in town.

Pickled Plum tasting with Sean and Alicia. Pickled plums are not a group favorite. Sean and Alicia came to Japan on the same flight as us.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Decorating our Christmas Tree

We decorated our Christmas tree and Dad put the star on top.

Our first driving adventure in Japan

We got our license to drive on the other side of the road and we have a car. We went to a store called Mr. Max (Japanese whole sale store). We bought our little Japan Christmas tree or as the signs in the shops say "Happy Xmas" tree. A lady from church who is Japanese and lives in Iwakuni went with us and showed us around. We went to lunch afterwards. Let me just tell you that it doesnt take long for your legs to fall asleep when sitting at those little tables. It was a great day.

We had a good Thanksgiving and invited Sean and Alicia Sands (a couple that arrived the same time we did) and Josh Blackburn (he works at the clinic were Luke works and goes to church with us). After we ate we decided to go into Japan. We ended up at a karaoke place. The guy at the front desk told us that the price was 400 yen per hour. 400 yen is about 5 dollars. With us four, Sean, and Alicia we thought that was a pretty good deal. We ended up singing for 2 hours. It was a lot of fun and the music was loud so you couldn't hear yourself sing too badly. It was a private room so you did not have people that you don't know watching you sing. We had a great time. When we finished and went down stairs to pay we discovered that it was 400 yen per person per hour. Luckily we had enough yen to pay. The guy behind the desk was very nice and gave us a bag of Boom because of the misunderstanding. Boom is like a cheese puff that is round, about an inch wide and 5 inches long. Also, they are not really cheesy. They were individually wrapped. Some of them even taste like fish.

Also on our walk home we discovered a delicious pancake drink from the vending machine. There are vending machines all over the place here. They also have corn drink but we have not tried that.

Introducing Hm2 Peet

On November 23, 2010 Luke was pinned as Hm2 Peet. He took an advancment exam in September and the results were posted after we arrived to Japan. He advanced in rank. We are so proud of him.

We were walking in downtown Iwakuni and came across this little bakery that had delicious looking goodies. We decided to try a few. The lady proceeded to wrap them up like a present. We took our cute little package and walked a little ways until we came across a park. When we opened the package the little treats looked so good (and pretty). We discovered that the pretty little treats were filled with bean paste. They weren't bad but they weren't like the sweet American treats that we are used to. Luke is not a big fan of bean paste.