First Snow

Yahoooooooo!!!! Here comes snow! Everything was white with snow when I went out of my residence hall in this morning. As I had expected, it is much earlier here than Tokyo to have snow. I thought so when I looked snow today…..However it is not true. I heard that it is very early even for in Portland, compared with the other years. wow

Also, it is very rare even to have snow here. So everyone here is not used to snow. One of our professors emailed us to let us know about what to do in case of snow, though I couldn't see a little snow today

Snow looks to tend to be greatly exaggerated here, which also means that it is easy for classes to be canceled because of snow!! Everyone seemed to hope that more snow is coming up here.www

Water Fall

How can I pronounce “Maltnomoh Fall”? I don’t remember how many times I asked this question, because it’s too difficult to remember for me. Also, it is a fact it was too beautiful to forget!!

I heard that the fall is the second longest one in the United States. If it were a “Splash Mountain,” it would be scarly!!www

Black Friday

Black Friday!!! They call the next day of Thanks giving day Black Friday, when we can buy anything at low prices. And the more Christmas day is coming up, the more expensive the prices are little by little, I heard so. That’s why today is a kind of a chance to get anything you really want, and then if you miss this chance, you have to pay more money than you pay for it today.

Nao and I was eager to get some clothes for the cold weather today!! So we went shopping at Loid center, which, I heard, used to be the largest shopping mall in the U.S. Now it’s the second or third largest one though. Actually it was too large to look around at all of the shops in it, so we entered only the clothes shops for women. Of course, we also chose shops to enter in terms of cheapness. There were more clothes I liked than I had expected in some shops there….

However, we didn’t buy any clothes there. It doesn’t mean there were not any good clothes. I’m not just a person of great determination, so I was always wondering in shops even in Japan. Actually I stopped in front of a shelf of a cloth for a little time, in which I found a long sleeve T-shirt. It looked useful for winter. But that one was sold in a set of 2 or more, which made me difficult to make up my mind if I should buy it or not. But finally I gave up getting it. There might be a better cloth for me in other shops, I was always thinking so during this shopping. And then, finally, we couldn’t get anything except Japanese comics today.

I bought “NANA” and “KONAN,” both of which are translated Japanese into English. It looked very interesting for me because their looks are totally Japanese, but they are speaking casual English fluently!! I got them for my English. They are supposed to help my daily English. I hope so.

In the evening, we ate Ethiopian food for dinner with Austine and his father. It was so good that we ordered the second plate. Before going the restaurant, I couldn’t imagine what the Ethiopian food is like. Soon after we ordered some foods, various kinds of vegetables and chickens boiled or fried were served on one plate. I had eaten some ethnic foods in Japan before, but the Ethiopian food was a kind of surprising me. We ate them by wrapping with a crust. I’m not sure what the crust are made from. I really enjoyed this foods though. And then we were both full.

However, surprisingly, we still had a good appetite even after eating a lot of Ethiopian foods. We decided to go to an ice cream shop called “COLD STONE,” which is a very famous ice cream shop. I ordered an “Apple-pie ice cream.” It is one of the attractive points here that a clerk mixes ice cream with some fruits before my eyes, which made me think I can eat it even when I was full. It was also tasty! The ice cream was much bigger than Japanese regular one. Finally I finished eating mine though.

The third day of this Thanks giving break was like that. Happy!!

Thanks Giving Party

What a wonderful holiday!! This is the first time for me to join a Thanks giving party. We don’t have a Thanks giving day in Japan, but Thanks giving day is one of the biggest traditional holiday in the U.S. I also heard Christmas day and Thanks giving day are most traditional national holiday here. It’s different from the Japanese point of view, in which New year’s day is very important role, I think. Oh, it is one of cultural diversity, isn’t it??

Most American family has a Thanks giving party inviting a lot of guests to their house. I went to visit my friend’s friend’s friend’s house for the kind of party. You might think that I’m a kind of stranger for the family more or less. But it’s okay, it doesn’t matter in the U.S. Actually hey were totally open to me. Happyly, they dealt with me as a real child of them. At the party, we served Turkey, mashed potatoes, gratin etc on the table by ourselves as we like. They were so tasty.

By the way, they call this day a Thanks giving day here. But who on earth is this thanks for? I’m not sure about it, but I heard a little that they show their appreciation to their ancestor, maybe Indian. Ancestors survived in a very severe environment in the old days so now we can exist here. Our appreciation is for that.

In the house I visited, there were lots of people gathered. Everyone was so kind, and looked happy. Of course, I also enjoyed the party with them together. Also I thought American family might be better than Japanese family. They looked to love each other, and respect each other, and be very friendly each other. I felt so especially when we altogether watched a TV drama in a living.

Even a dog and a very young child are very friendly without being scared at human. I know a lot of dogs and children in Japan who are scared at human, especially those who they have never seen before. However, American dogs and American children are very open and friendly to everyone! The openness and friendliness apply even to animals, as might be expected.

This was the second day of the Thanks giving break. Tomorrow is “Black Friday” Yeah!!

She Came Finally

She arrived at Lewis & Clark college finally!! She was one of classmates in Japan, and now she is studying at Southern Oregon University. We hadn’t met each other for a long time, so I couldn’t wait her arrival before she came here.

But sadly it took more time than usual for her to come here from SOU, because the road seemed to be very crowded. I had heard that everyone goes back to his/her home town on Thanks giving break though. Anyway, we could meet finally here. wonderful!!! She said that it took about 6 hours to come here. WOW!! Thank you so much for coming all the crowded way, Nao-chan!!

She came here by her friend’s car. But at the first time I met him, Austine, when Nao and him got off his car, I didn’t imagine that I could be such a good friend with him only during this short break. He looked very big guy, yes just big...I thought that at that time. But actually, he was so kind, funny, and told me a lot of English words. I hope the words he told me during this break help me greatly in my daily life. The words are mainly bad words though. Also he told me a lot of gestures. Yeah, it should be very useful in my daily life. Maybe…

Anyway, we chatted almost all the night!! Topics to talk didn’t run out at all!! This was the first day of our Thanks giving break!! Awesome

Hair Change

Hey, look my red hair on the picture above It suits me better than I expected.

I just stopped by one of my friends' room, and then I found she is connecting some extension hair with her original hair. It was the first time for me to see how extension hair is connected with original hair. She had had red extension hair from before this day, but her hair was growing up a little so she had to add some new extension hair to her growing hair.

I was just seeing if it looks good or not if I try extension hair, by keeping it on the back of my head by hand, while she added some new extension hair to her head. I might be a kind of obstacle for them…but it’s ok. They are always very funny, and totally open to everyone!! They said to me, “you should have some extension.” Really?? They seemed to like my new hair style with some red extension hair. Thanks.

But I know it’s a too big change for me. I’m sure that everyone, especially Japanese friends, will laugh at me with some red hair if I try it. It might be welcome to Kansaijin though…Kansaijin should supply people around them with a laugh, as you know. But I don’t have the courage to change my looks, even if it’s only a change of the hair, unfortunately

Raining

I miss the sunny day… Though everyday was sunny and comfortable not long ago, these days it is always raining everyday. Yes, the rainy season started just now. Some one says that the rainy season will make us depressed here. Is it true? I worry about that now. But it might be true, because this rainy season lasts until the next spring, I heard so. Comparing Japanese rainy season, it is much longer.

But actually I might like this kind of rain. I don’t mean that I like long rainy season, but I just think that Oregonian rainy season is not so humid, and not so hard rain. Therefore, it is much better than Japanese rainy season, which is very very humid, and sometimes very hard!!! Japanese rainy season is nasty for the person who has unruly hair, like me. On the rainy day, I had to spend more time to set my hair than usual. So I really wanted the Japanese rainy season to go away as soon as possible when Japan was in rainy season.

On the other hand, the rain is not nasty here. Of course, it is a kind of troublesome to bring an umbrella with me always. But that’s it!! I don’t need to do anything special beside it. And moreover, Oregonian doesn't bring an umbrella with them on rainy day. Instead of using an umbrella, they are just wearing a hood connected with their jacket or sweatshirt. This is the Oregonian style in rainy season. They don’t care about anything about rain. Even if they get wet a lot, it’s OK. I seemed to learn here about the useful way of using a hood!! A hood is not just decoration for the cloth. I got it.

So let’s be an Oregonian!! Let’s leave my umbrella in my room, and let’s make use of a food!! I tried it. Now I’m in Oregon. I should follow the way Oregonian do everyday. As result….it’s not bad, but it’s not good. Just get wet, just feel cold, just look miserable. Anyway I couldn’t find any good points of this Oregonian style. I gave it up soon. I’m still Japanese. But if my umbrella is broken, I might do it again because I don’t want to buy new one any more. In that case, I’ll be pleased to be an Oregonian. I’m sure.

By the way, do you know there is a superstition related to an umbrella in the United States? I didn’t know it until one of American friends said it to me. The superstition is that if you keep your umbrella opened in your house, a bad luck comes to you. I was surprised to hear that. Also I think most Japanese people will be surprised at it, because it is very common to dry an umbrella at inside of a house by unfolding the umbrella. I didn’t do that though, because I’m too lazy to do it. But I know a lot of Japanese people who are doing it, while American people don’t. Anyway, this is the one of reason why Oregonian don’t want to use an umbrella even if it’s raining. It is a kind of troublesome to treat much wet umbrellas without drying inside of house. They don’t know where to keep it until it becomes dry.

After I knew about the superstition, I stated to think about the place to keep my wet umbrella. I don’t want to keep it in my room because the floor is carpeted in my room. And then my final decision is to keep it opened in a landing, which is, of course, a public place. I knew it is not good for American people, but I thought it’s better than hallway, where a lot of students walk down. I was the first person to keep an umbrella opened there.

Next time I went there when I climbed the stairs, the scene of there made me so surprised. There was an umbrella left by the second person following my way. Oh, I acquired a kind of a fellow feeling from the site. I couldn’t tell who the next person was though. Besides, when I looked up from the floor to the wall, the scene of it made me more surprised. A paper says “Don’t take them, or their owner will be sad” or something like. There was such a kind of paper on the wall, which, I think, is made by RA. I appreciate such a kindness!! Now, the landing is the place for wet umbrellas. I’m a kind of inventor of it, right Haha But, wait!! Where did the superstition go away to??

Oyako-don

Oyako-don…I have never thought deeply about oyako-don. But it’s a sad story, I realized that when I explained oyako-don to Seira, who is a conversation partner with me. Sometimes I meet her to help her Japanese assignment. And today we went to a Japanese restaurant together by her car.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was much similar to that in Japan. At the moment we entered the restaurant, a clerk said to us “irassyaimase!!” And she guided us to our table. It was completely a Japanese style. Suddenly I missed Japan. Anyway, after sitting the table, we began to select own order. It was a difficult decision for me. Udon? Donburi? Sushi? I haven’t eaten Japanese noodle, udon, for a long time, so I really wanted to eat it….but my final decision was Oyako-don.

Of course, Seira didn’t know oyako-don, so I explained it to her. 親is “parents,” and 子is ”children.” That means chicken and egg, because chicken breeds eggs. So the relationship of chicken and eggs is a kind of parents and children. That’s why we call it oyako-don, which is a bowl of rice topped with chicken and eggs. When she knew about that, she said “it’s a sad story.” Exactly, though I have never thought so deeply….but it was a funny story that finally she ordered oyako-don, a sad story rice!!

Soon after we ordered two oyako-don, the clerk served us miso-soup and salad with Japanese dressing. Good taste. After a while, today’s main dish “oyako-don” came to our table!! The taste was completely same as real Japanese one. But the volume was much more than real Japanese one, though I ate all of it because I thought I’ll not be able to eat such a Japanese taste for a long time. Today I was satisfied with oyako-don, and also I realized the sad story of it.