O-mochi tsuki
Today is my last day at Daichu for the term. Tomorrow is a holiday, and Wednesday I'm taking off to the airport to pick up Sheldon.
Friday night was the staff's year-end party. I got there early and was excited to hear one of the teachers was going to dress up as Santa Claus. My glee was short-lived, however, when he unboxed the suit and lamented that he had gained too much weight in the time since he had last worn it and couldn't fit into it. But there was only a moment's pause before they all turned to me and suddenly I was dressed up as Santa!
Everybody loved it, and I had fun greeting people through my beard until it was time to eat. Dinner was pretty Japanese (sea cucumber, etc) and it was nice and relaxed. There was a game to determine the present-selection order for Secret Santa. I got a pretty sweet bag that is awesome for travelling.
Saturday I had to get up early to bake cookies. I went to the Higashikagawa International Association's Christmas party and got to pound mochi (which never gets old). It lasted about 2 hours and then I booked it home to pack up the cookies and my pjs to go out to Matt J's. We had our friend Christmas party there and I got to have kimchi nabe again, which was fab. We exchanged presents and ate a lot of food, and finally crashed some time after 1. Sunday was pretty lazy, and even though Matt had to leave around noonish the rest of us didn't head out until almost 4. We drove into Tak and had dinner at Marino's and then Lily drove me home.
Last night I baked up the rest of the cookie dough I had for Daichu's teachers and brought them in today. They were little star-shaped sugar cookies, with pieces of candy cane melted into the tops.
Tonight my calligraphy class is having it's year-end party too, and I want to make cookies for them as well. I found a neat how-to for these 3D Christmas tree cookies that I'd love to attempt...but I'm feeling kinda lazy. We'll see.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that the Sunday Night Movie last night was Die Hard: With A Vengeance - and I've finally figured out how to switch the audio tracks on my TV, so I was able to listen to it in English :D :D
Friday night was the staff's year-end party. I got there early and was excited to hear one of the teachers was going to dress up as Santa Claus. My glee was short-lived, however, when he unboxed the suit and lamented that he had gained too much weight in the time since he had last worn it and couldn't fit into it. But there was only a moment's pause before they all turned to me and suddenly I was dressed up as Santa!
Everybody loved it, and I had fun greeting people through my beard until it was time to eat. Dinner was pretty Japanese (sea cucumber, etc) and it was nice and relaxed. There was a game to determine the present-selection order for Secret Santa. I got a pretty sweet bag that is awesome for travelling.
Saturday I had to get up early to bake cookies. I went to the Higashikagawa International Association's Christmas party and got to pound mochi (which never gets old). It lasted about 2 hours and then I booked it home to pack up the cookies and my pjs to go out to Matt J's. We had our friend Christmas party there and I got to have kimchi nabe again, which was fab. We exchanged presents and ate a lot of food, and finally crashed some time after 1. Sunday was pretty lazy, and even though Matt had to leave around noonish the rest of us didn't head out until almost 4. We drove into Tak and had dinner at Marino's and then Lily drove me home.
Last night I baked up the rest of the cookie dough I had for Daichu's teachers and brought them in today. They were little star-shaped sugar cookies, with pieces of candy cane melted into the tops.
Tonight my calligraphy class is having it's year-end party too, and I want to make cookies for them as well. I found a neat how-to for these 3D Christmas tree cookies that I'd love to attempt...but I'm feeling kinda lazy. We'll see.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that the Sunday Night Movie last night was Die Hard: With A Vengeance - and I've finally figured out how to switch the audio tracks on my TV, so I was able to listen to it in English :D :D