Hanami Time
It's a little late this year, but spring has come to Chiba. (I can already feel the humidity rising. Yuck.) The sakura finally decided to bloom this week, so on Saturday I went to to the park for hanami. I went with three of my students and the students they teach. So there were three Japanese people, one American, one Korean, one Taiwanese, and one...what's the correct word for a person from Thailand? Thailander? Well, and one whatever the word is. We all brought food to share, and had ourselves a nice little international lunch. Figuring it was a good food for a picnic, I brought pasta salad. It seemed to go over well, although Owada-san said several times "It's not like anything I've ever tasted before," which I'm not sure is a good thing. (It was a little more vinegary than I usually make; I think I overcompensated for the salad dressing, which was a lot sweeter than I wanted it to be.) Im, the girl from Taiwan, really liked it and took a whole bunch home. It's nice when people like my cooking, but I'm always a little sad when I don't get to take any home. (Yes, I'm selfish.) I guess I'll just have to make some more for myself.
After lunch, we went for a walk around the park. We were at Aoba-no-Mori Koen (Forest of Green Leaves Park), which boasts no less than 1500 cherry trees. The view was spectacular, and I had a lot of fun. (Although the part of my hair got burned. ) After parting with the rest of my group, I rode my new bicycle down to Chiba Park to check out the sakura there. (Mom and Dad, this is the park we went to on your second day here last year.) I was pretty tired by the time I got home; being outside just exhausts me.
There was a taiko festival at Narita Temple today, and I thought about going, but then I was too lazy decided to clean my apartment instead. (It really needed it, too.)
The other exciting (what?) thing this weekend: I found a delicious new snack. It's a new kind of Fran (which is like Pocky, basically), only the flavor is blueberry yogurt. (Check out Meiji's ad for it. It says, "The only thing that can surpass Fran is Fran.") It tastes SO good.
I took about eight million pictures of sakura on Saturday, and (lucky for you) sorted through them and uploaded the best ones here. Also, here is a picture of my shiny new bike (isn't it cute?).
After lunch, we went for a walk around the park. We were at Aoba-no-Mori Koen (Forest of Green Leaves Park), which boasts no less than 1500 cherry trees. The view was spectacular, and I had a lot of fun. (Although the part of my hair got burned. ) After parting with the rest of my group, I rode my new bicycle down to Chiba Park to check out the sakura there. (Mom and Dad, this is the park we went to on your second day here last year.) I was pretty tired by the time I got home; being outside just exhausts me.
There was a taiko festival at Narita Temple today, and I thought about going, but then I was too lazy decided to clean my apartment instead. (It really needed it, too.)
The other exciting (what?) thing this weekend: I found a delicious new snack. It's a new kind of Fran (which is like Pocky, basically), only the flavor is blueberry yogurt. (Check out Meiji's ad for it. It says, "The only thing that can surpass Fran is Fran.") It tastes SO good.
I took about eight million pictures of sakura on Saturday, and (lucky for you) sorted through them and uploaded the best ones here. Also, here is a picture of my shiny new bike (isn't it cute?).