Alysse Abroad

I already posted about onigiri (the rice balls with the seaweed wrapped around them) but now I wanted to show you my own version.  Onigiri are about 100 yen here, give or take.  Sometimes you can find them for as low as 50 in a sale, but sometimes they go up to almost 200 yen.  So, I figured I would just make my own. A bag of sushi rice costs 500 yen, and makes about 15 cups of rice (one batch of my onigiri uses 2 cups of rice and makes about 6 onigiri).  Four cans of tuna cost 400 yen (I use 2 for a batch) and a pack of 50 pieces of seaweed costs 500 yen (one piece per onigiri; a one time buy).  Also, mayonnaise is a one time buy. So, once I've bought my mayonnaise and seaweed, each onigiri comes out to be less than 50 yen each, and they're fresh and fun to make!! Please note: I have no idea how to actually make onigiri.  I just figured this way would work. 2 cups of rice cooked in rice cooker with 2.5 cups of water and salted.  Two cans of tun...

Being away from friends and family has gotten me down a bit lately.  It's been a month, and the homesickness started to kick in.  Also, I think I understand what they mean by culture shock now.  I admit, I was starting to regret my decision just a little bit.  All I could think about was how long it would be until I could have a hug from my mom and my dad and my boyfriend, and my mind started to become physically tired from all the Japanese.  It's exhausting to feel like you don't understand a single thing in your life; when you don't understand what anyone is saying, when you don't know anything about where you are, when you don't know anything about the people around you, and when nobody who truly loves you is by your side, and won't be for another 11 months.  But then I remembered: I may not understand anything around me, but I understand myself.  It sounds so moral-y, but I honestly think it's important to remember.  I need to remember it, and...

Yesterday I went on a trip to the Ghibli Museum, otherwise known as the Hayao Miyazaki Museum.  Hayao Miyazaki is the creator of many Japanese films, popular around the world, including My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, and so many more.  He is such a talented and amazing film maker that he has an entire museum dedicated to his movies and shorts.  All of the cultural programs we have here for the summer course program are done with a lottery, as the staff available can never handle many more than 30 students.  So far, I have been lucky enough to get into every event I have applied to, but I think this one was the most lucky I've been.  As many people know, I want to become a film maker, and even though I have not even started down the right path toward learning all that I need to learn, I hope to someday create something even a fraction as amazing as Miyazaki has been creating throughout my entir...

The dorm helpers and management hosted a curry party for us last night.  Apparently they spent 5 hours cooking all of this for us.  It was amazing!  There is curry (3 types), rice, tempura (countless vegetables and a fish cake kind), dumplings, and a pasta type dish. Horray for free food!

This will be the first post in a series which I will title "Okashi."  "Okashi" means "snacks" in Japanese.  They have so many different snacks and drinks here that I love and find very interesting that I thought I would share them with you.  Every so often, when I have gathered enough new products, I will do another post about them.  I have a whole bunch of snacks to share with you this time, and even more coming up.  A very good friend of mine sent me a box of foods, including many snacks and meals.  I haven't eaten them, yet, but once I do I will post about them.  So, let's get munching! These are potato chips.  As most Americans would, I thought they were sour cream and onion (which is what green on the chip bag usually means), but when I got home I realized that the bag clearly says "seaweed salt flavor," and so I experienced my first seaweed flavored potato chips.  They are quite delicious.  I'm glad my plans to revert back ...

We spent the last two days after classes learning to make a traditional Japanese shoe.  They are made by hand to be about a centimeter too small for your feet, and are generally worn with kimono.  We made ours using only rope, some foam-like tubing, fabric, our own hands, and a sort of wooden needle just for pulling fabric through in loops. Materials. The beginning. Weaving strips of fabric into the rope, nice and tight for a firm foundation. About to attach the straps, using the foam tubing. More weaving. The straps have been woven in! All I have to do is attach the strap where your toes go around. They're pretty much done! The bottom of the finished zori, before trimming. I can wear my shoes! Finished! Next to Lynn's.