Recently I am reading more books. After I finished “Winnie the Pooh”, I started “The Whistling Season”. It is a book by Ivan Doig, printed in 2007. My mother sent the book to Japan and recommended I read it.
Ivan Doig has a PhD in History from the University of Washington (my university). He lives in the Seattle area. My mother loves his books.
This book takes place in Montana in 1909. A widower and his three boys decide to hire a maid from Minnesota. I hope the book is good.
This week I read a book called “Winnie the Pooh”. It is about a toy bear named Edward. His owner is a little boy named Christopher Robin. Christopher calls his bear Pooh or Winnie the Pooh.
Pooh bear is not very smart and has many silly adventures. Usually his adventures include honey. His friend Piglet is always afraid and very careful. His friend Owl is not very smart, but he knows many difficult words. His friend Rabbit has many family and relations. His friend Eeyore is usually sad, but sometimes he is very happy.
In this book he meets two new friends Kanga and Roo. Kanga is a mother kangaroo and Roo is a baby kangaroo.
During my winter holiday, I planned to write many blog entries, but I didn’t write any. Instead, I was busy learning about Japanese culture and tradition.
One tradition that kept me very busy was oosouji, which means doing a complete housecleaning. Lots of vacuuming, washing, scrubbing, repairing, sorting, and discarding. It was very tiring, but my home is much nicer now.
What a great way to start the New Year.
At school today we made mochi. It is made by pounding rice with a wooden mallet. Gradually the rice becomes a glutinous mass. The texture is gummy, like marshmallows or taffy.
We put toppings on the mochi to add flavors. It was very tasty.
Have you ever made mochi?
Tonight I have a year-end party in Hisai. It is a party with my photo society. We are eating at a very nice restaurant. I look forward to lots of tasty Japanese food.
We are supposed to forget everything bad that happened during the year. I like to remember the good things, so I like this tradition.
I hope everyone has many good things to remember this year.
Today I was waiting for a train at Obata station. An old man came to the station with his grandson. I have seen them at the station before. They watch the trains until an Urban Liner goes by.
Today I decided to talk to them. When the grandfather talked about me he called me ojisan. I was a little disappointed that he was calling me an old man. I hoped he would call me oniisan. I guess I’m not young anymore.
I live in Ise and I work in Tsu. Everyday I ride the train to work. Sometimes I have activities in Tsu in the evening. On those days, I can’t return to Ise until very late at night.
After work and before my evening activities, I need to do something. Sometimes I wish I could take a nap, but I don’t want to sleep outside.
Today I drove to Tsu by car. After work, I will take a short nap in the car. It will be much warmer than sleeping outside. Have you ever slept in your car?
Today I went shopping for “closet drawers” at a store called Mujirushi. I really want to get a nice, old Japanese chest of drawers, but they are very expensive. Also, they are rare.
The “closet drawers” are made of plastic, but they are very durable. I hope I can use them for a long time. I think it will be easy to organize my clothes now.
I bought a lot of other items at Mujirushi. Every time I go there, I buy a lot of things.
After work I met a friend and we talked about many topics. One topic we discussed a lot was business. We both find business interesting so we talked a long time.
On my way back to the train, I stopped for dinner. I ate at one of the first restaurants I found in Japan. For five years I have eaten there occasionally. Recently, I have been too busy to stop there. It was nice to see old friends again.
I had fish, pickles, and traditional Japanese food called ‘oden’. All the food was good. Many funny conversations occurred. Now it is time for bed.
Tonight I was invited to eat some very tasty food for dinner. Unfortunately, I will go back to Ise for rehabilition after work. I will have to eat dinner in Ise. I am a little sad.
This morning I rode my bicycle from the station to school in the rain. My hands were very cold and wet. Tonight I will look for my gloves. Now that it is Winter, I need to wear my gloves while riding.
君の為に 