Oden Party

Two weeks ago my host family and I went to one of their friends houses for an oden party. Oden is a Japanese dish that the Japanese like to eat to warm up in the winter. Inside oden is usually konnyaku, boiled eggs, radish, tofu, mochi, and fish cakes mixed in with a soy broth. It is really hot broth so it warms you up quickly. People like to eat oden with hot mustard. A big pot sat over a hot plate with all the ingredients boiling and we could take out whatever we wanted to eat. They also had pizza delivered for me but I really like oden so I didn't eat much of the pizza. The apartment was downtown. People in Japan call those apartments "mansions." The view was so beautiful because of all the lights in Nagasaki.

Kimono Show

Second group of contestants.

Turning around so the judges can judge the tie in the back.

Tying the back and putting it all together.

Getting there kimono ready to put on.

Most of the contestants. My camera couldn't fit everyone in.

The kimono show I went to was more of a contest. From what I could tell it was based on who put on the kimono that fastest and who had tied it the best in the back. The show started out very boring with long speeches and then we stayed for two rounds of the competition. There were so many people competing I will put a picture up of all of the people who were competing. I don't have much to say about it because we only stayed for a little while so instead I will put pictures up to show everyone.

Shimabara

At the Rotary meeting doing my speech.

The view from the top of Shimabara Castle.

Shimabara Castle

On Halloween I spent the day heading up to Shimabara where the Rotary district was having a huge meeting. The drive was very long it took two hours. However it was very pretty most of the time because we drove right by the sea and then in the mountains we drove under these trees that made a green tunnel. I drove up with my first host father and the other exchange student who was going to go to St.Paul next year. When we first arrived we quickly checked in and then left to eat lunch and do some sight seeing. They thought that we would be bored just sitting through speeches at the meeting. First we went out to lunch. We ate Shimabara's famous dish called Guzoni. It had stewed vegetables, mochi, and chicken in it. I didn't really like it but the mochi was good! After lunch we went to see the Shimabara Castle. Inside the castle it was like a museum with old stuff displayed that people use to use. There was a rule of no pictures allowed so I wasn't able to take a picture of the old dishes, money, and samurai wear. The top of the castle though had an amazing view which I was able to take a picture of. Next we headed over to the volcanoe museum where we learned about the eruption of Mt.Fugen in 1990. We went to the virtual theater where we experienced tremors and hot blasts. After the museum we went back to the district Rotary meeting and waited a long time and then finally I got to do my speech! I was so nervous. I have to say though I missed Halloween and was a little homesick.

Nagasaki International Festival

One of the performers at the park by the bay.

Learning the song on the koto.

On October 25th I went to the Nagasaki International Festival it was small but I enjoyed it. I went with my two friends who are also exchange students. One is from Canada and one is from Mexico. However only the girl from Canada is a Rotary exchange student. Outside and inside there was a small flee market selling things such as clothing and dishes. There was also many food stands. I had some Indian chai tea. It was delicious. I also tried some more borscht but this time it wasn't very good so I threw it out. There was a St.Paul and Nagasaki sister city booth and much to my surprise there was a poster with a few pictures of me on it! I found it amusing. One lady came up to me and my friend and said "please come play the koto." So we followed her over to the Japanese instrument. It was so hard because it has so many strings and a couple of nice ladies taught us how to play a famous Japanese song on the koto. We were at the festival to watch a Mexican dance so while we were waiting for the dance we went to the nearby park which is my favorite spot in Nagaski because it is right by the water and there are palm trees. It is beautiful. At the park there was another event going on and there were performers doing amazing stunts and there was also a couple of clowns that we watched. When we returned to the Nagasaki International Festival we watched some Kendo, Japanese traditional dance, a group playing kotos, and the Mexican dance. I really enjoyed the Mexican dance and it was to one of my favorite songs that I learned at Spanish camp!

Cosmos

This field of flowers is only like this in the fall. This picture was taken a while ago.