Sophisticated Fun: Spring is Here..Sort of...

I love eating dinner at 11pm, don't you? It's one thing if I've been drinking and decide I need a second dinner (or a first dinner, depending on what time I started drinking..). But, sadly, I've been at work. They should really allow teachers to drink on the job. I feel like I'd be so much more productive, energetic, and most importantly, entertaining. Although, my students are already amused by my whiteness and my stupidity, which comes from being white. They probably just assume I'm drunk anyway.

This past weekend I got together with the wonderful family that I celebrated New Years with to celebrate another holiday, Hinamatsuri (雛祭り)--Girl's Day or Doll Festival. This holiday is for praying for your daughter's growth and happiness. If you have a daughter, you set out dolls arranged in tiers. On the top tier are the emperor and the empress, dressed in their finest. Beneath them are other dolls whose order and titles I cannot remember. Click this if you're interested in all that. It's not really a celebration, but more of a tradition rather. You set up the dolls, eat some symbolic food, and pray that your daughter gets married off someday. My parent's pray for this everyday. They don't need a holiday.

The family invited Shawna and I over to look at their daughters' dolls. They first took us to a doll collector's house where we saw the most beautiful collection of these Hinamatsuri dolls. Some of the dolls were over 400 years old, from the Edo Period. Unfortunately when we arrived back at the family's house, the youngest daughter had wrecked the display and some of the dolls were missing. I wanted to take a picture of their display once it was put back together, but the stand wound up falling apart and it was a disaster. For dinner we ate chirashizushi (ちらし寿司) which is just sushi ingredients prepared lazily, mixed all into one bowl. We also ate some strange combination of tofu, clams, mushrooms, and other slimy, chewy, unidentifiable things. I don't remember what it was called, but it was good! It's traditional to eat hamaguri soup (はまぐりスープ), which is clam soup. Note: clams are very difficult to pull off with chopsticks. And in the spirit of spring time we ate sakura mochi (桜餅), which is pink colored mochi, filled with bean paste and wrapped in a cherry leaf. The leaf has been soaked in some salt water, so it's a sweet and salty flavor. Quite delicious. After dinner, we played games and talked. I taught the kids how to play Pass the Pigs, but since it involved math, they seemed less than interested and taught us a game involving a bunch of coins instead. You flick one coin and hope it bumps another coin, but not more than one, and you collect the ones you bump. Something like that. We played with grandpa too. It was a lovely time. Thanks Yamamoto Family!

Shawna with our delicious dinner.

Rina--she decorated her own picture and wrote her name on the right.

Shawna playing with Yuna. Hope my dad doesn't get jealous.

One of the dirtiest kids ever. But she's so cute.

Awhile back, Japan celebrated yet another random-ass holiday I had never heard of--Setsubun (節分) to celebrate the end of winter and beginning of spring. I love America for the fact that we get days off for "important" people, but Japan has some cool holidays. Like this one. Setsubun, celebrated on February 3rd, is a time to drive out all the bad spirits (the Oni--鬼) by throwing dried soy beans (daizu--大豆) at the oni. You're also supposed to eat a giant futomaki sushi roll (太巻き) without talking. I was so bummed that I was at work that day. My manager left me a note that said if I stayed late enough that something might happen...

This is what happened:

Attack of the Oni

The oni started chucking candy and other snacks at us. It was like an automatic pinata, but instead of hitting it with a bat, you throw beans at it! When all the snacks were collected, we sat around in the lobby and ate them, quietly. According to tradition, you must eat as many beans as your age number, +1. I have since forgotten the significance of doing so, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that it brings you good luck of some sort. I didn't get to eat my futomaki, but I did get to throw beans at my coworkers. Well, until next time!! またね！

I didn't get the memo that said we had to catch the snacks in our own bags, so I started grabbing the stuff that fell on the floor. Oops. I thought it was the smart thing to do...