Apr 14, 2013

Obligatory Cherry Blossom Post

A bit behind the times, but oh well.
Cherry blossom season is pretty much over, although Roomie and I just went to a cherry blossom picnic with our boss today since a different type of cherry blossom- yaezakura- are still in bloom.  Didn't do a big hanami picnic like last year, as the weather was pretty gloomy over both weekends that the trees were in bloom.
I did take a (very very long) walk to a park I had never been to before to admire the blossoms.  I was surprised to see nary a soul around, as I thought it would've been the perfect place to picnic despite the chilly weather.
But, if there had been tons of people there I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the scenery so I guess that worked out to my advantage.
And to yours too, as I leave you with these lovely pictures.

Street around where I live
After an hour-long walk from home...




And finally, a popular song about sakura that I love:


Apr 1, 2013

We'll Eat and Eat and Eat and Eat, and Then We'll Eat Some More!

I mentioned before that my student Ei-kun's mum had invited us teachers over for lunch last Wednesday.  I went in to work that morning for a couple hours before heading off to their Obaachan(grandmother)'s house for the day.  Coworker C and Coworker M were the only others that showed up, which was fine.  More food for us!

My little cutie!


Coworker C and Ei-kun's big brother, pulling faces.


Their grandma made aaaaaalll of this food!  Now that I think about it, having more people there to help devour this all probably would've been better.

I refilled my plate at least twice.

Mini apple pie pastries and tea for dessert!
We ate and talked with the boys and their mom and grandma while the food kept coming.  After lunch and dessert, we played Monopoly for a bit before Obaachan brought out some bowls of fruit and rice crackers to snack on.  After snacks their mom showed us the view of their neighbor's cherry blossom tree from the room upstairs, then we went back downstairs to play Uno and other card games.
Then Obaachan busted out her tea ceremony set and whisked us up some matcha, and not long afterward brought out a bunch of little toasted bread pieces so we could try her freshly-made strawberry jam.
And it didn't end there!  We were chatting away with Mum when Obaachan started asking us if we ate soba or udon noodles, then asked if we wanted some right then.  We all patted our stuffed bellies and politely refused, but lo and behold, not even 15 minutes later mid-conversation out she came with a *huge* plate of noodles and tsuyu dipping broth.
We didn't leave empty-handed either- each of us were sent home with a container of leftovers and a bag of dorayaki that they had just bought that day.  And I also a new umbrella, since I bent one of the ribs of mine on the way over.  I could've easily bent it back to normal when I got home, which was my plan, but Obaachan insisted.
Poor Ei-kun had so much fun, and he wanted to accompany us to the station with his mum but was told he couldn't, so we had to leave him with his grandma in tears.  ;_;
It was good to see him and his family outside of that school, and I definitely hope to keep in touch with them.  :)

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