~Dancing under red leaves~
秋 - Autumn
Another week has passed and slowely but surely it gets friggin cold. Usually I'd have no problem with that, since the temperature in Germany gets much lower, but we have central heating systems in Germany, whereas here we have only air conditioners being put on heating mode ... Which means: shivering and visible breath in the hallways, but sweating and headache in our rooms. No wonder everyone's down with flu...
Nevertheless, I love autumn in Japan. The weather is marvellous: Clean, fresh air, gleaming sunlight and beautiful read leaves. I even like the rainy days, it feels like all the humidity and heat of the summer is finally being washed away.
Due to the lower humidtiy in autumn, you have many clear days, on which you can see Mt. Fuji clearly from the top of the main building. I felt like thunderstruck when I realised how close it is. Isn't it the love? Looks even more pretty now that its top is snow covered.
I took this shot on the same day as the Mt. Fuji shot, the red leaves are even redder by now, but the weather isn't as good anymore ... I'd love to see the red maple woods in the mountains, I hope I will get a chance to see them before winter starts ...
This is what it looks like now that we have a lot of rainy days. Creepy. I love it.
２００６年１１月１２日 - お餅＆焼き芋パーティー - Mochi & Yakiimo Party
On that sunday we had a special mochi (rice cakes) and yakiimo (baked sweet potatoes) party at the boys' dorm.
For some reason it was held at 10 a.m. and due to Candy's and Basti's birthday party we had the night before, it became a quiet little sunday morning XD
First of all, the glutinous rice is pounded into paste, as you can see on this picture. This ceremony is called mochitsuki (餅つき) and seems to be really strenght-sapping.
Mochi ready to be served. After the rice was pounded, the paste is molded into shape and then rolled in different toppings. On this picture you can see Mochi with sesame topping, but my personal favorite is azukimochi (小豆餅) - rice cakes in azuki beans (sweet, reddish beans). BUT be carefull: Mochi are really chewy and somewhat tricky to eat. In fact, people have died choking on mochi o.O
Yakiimo are traditional autumn food and easy to do: basically it's just baked or roasted sweet potatoes. You just wrap them in aluminium foil and put them into the oven. Or, as in this case when you need bigger portions, you set some leaves and branches on fire and put the pre-cooked potatoes in there.
As stated before, it was just quiet and peacuful. A fine little party. The weather was wonderful: The sun was so bright it hurt in my eyes and the air was fresh and clean. I took this picture out of the kitchen window. The glass wind chimes you can see on the right are called fuurin (風鈴). They kind of have a summer image because they're usually put on during that season. Well, nevermind.
２００６年１１月２３日 - ミカン狩り - Tangerine Harvest
Last Thursday we went to a tangerine harvest in Hakone Itabashi (箱根板橋). I have been looking forward to this for weeks, because fruits are quite expensive here and I really felt like I needed more vitamins XD Actually, all Russian and German students were supposed to participate, but in the end only three Russian girls, Marie and Katija (from Finland) and and Candy and me showed up... The harvest was quite fun, though. We got to meet a lot of interesting people and the scenerey was as beautiful as could be (despite the miserable weather). I'll definitely come back when the weather gets better again (which is hopefully before all the leaves have fallen from the trees because I'd love to take some autumn leaves shots over there).
In the first orchard -which belonged to a quite healthy 90-year-old man who's intreested in overseas culutre and thus keeps inviting foreign people to help with his harvest- there wasn't much for us to do, because due to this years hot summer, the crop was pretty poor. We just had a picknick, did the harvest and then succeeded to the top of a hill, where there was this beautiful little fairytale-like wood and a small park. When we were on our way back, somebody of the Japanese who participated in the first harvest invited us to another one in a bigger orchard, so we went there an luckily could do some proper harvesting X3
The picknick we had before the first harvest. Some of the Japanese housewifes prepared some delicious food.
Sorry for the blurryness, but the weather that day was really crappy so I couldn't take any proper photos. Nevertheless, I think you get an idea about what it looked like. Just image green hills covered with orchards as far as the eye can see.
Another random shot... I love this forest, it was somewhat creepy though because of the dark sky and the sound of hundreds of crows flying close by *.* The cosplayer in me was pleading for a photoshoot XD Doesn't it look as if the seven dwarfs would just come around the corner?
２００６年１１月２４日 - 愛紅 - Aibeni
Aibeni is an international volunteer club at Tokai University. Last friday, they put on a little party to support the understanding among nations XD Seriously, that evening was soo much fun! It started a little bit stiff, with drinks and food and small talk, but then the Japanese club members came up with some games... It was hilarious! I sure laughed a lot.
This picture was taken at the very end of the party. I'm easy to spot, as always... XD
Absurdities in daily life Japan
This week featuring Japan's strange way of getting rid of its cockroaches: ゴキブリほいほい (gokiburi hoihoi).
After the first sighting of cockroaches in our room, Candy and I decided to buy this handy device. Even insecticides look cute in Japan. It kills me. Don't be fooled by its looks: This way of killing insects may be of no harm to humans, but is actually really cruel to the roaches when you think about it: Inside of this little cardboard house is a special powder that lures the roaches. They'll enter it and stick on the adhesive film inside it. And then they'll just starve ... Luckily, we didn't have any cock roaches since two month ago, I definitely wouldn't like to touch this thingie filled with dead insects...
Another week has passed and slowely but surely it gets friggin cold. Usually I'd have no problem with that, since the temperature in Germany gets much lower, but we have central heating systems in Germany, whereas here we have only air conditioners being put on heating mode ... Which means: shivering and visible breath in the hallways, but sweating and headache in our rooms. No wonder everyone's down with flu...
Nevertheless, I love autumn in Japan. The weather is marvellous: Clean, fresh air, gleaming sunlight and beautiful read leaves. I even like the rainy days, it feels like all the humidity and heat of the summer is finally being washed away.
Due to the lower humidtiy in autumn, you have many clear days, on which you can see Mt. Fuji clearly from the top of the main building. I felt like thunderstruck when I realised how close it is. Isn't it the love? Looks even more pretty now that its top is snow covered.
I took this shot on the same day as the Mt. Fuji shot, the red leaves are even redder by now, but the weather isn't as good anymore ... I'd love to see the red maple woods in the mountains, I hope I will get a chance to see them before winter starts ...
This is what it looks like now that we have a lot of rainy days. Creepy. I love it.
２００６年１１月１２日 - お餅＆焼き芋パーティー - Mochi & Yakiimo Party
On that sunday we had a special mochi (rice cakes) and yakiimo (baked sweet potatoes) party at the boys' dorm.
For some reason it was held at 10 a.m. and due to Candy's and Basti's birthday party we had the night before, it became a quiet little sunday morning XD
First of all, the glutinous rice is pounded into paste, as you can see on this picture. This ceremony is called mochitsuki (餅つき) and seems to be really strenght-sapping.
Mochi ready to be served. After the rice was pounded, the paste is molded into shape and then rolled in different toppings. On this picture you can see Mochi with sesame topping, but my personal favorite is azukimochi (小豆餅) - rice cakes in azuki beans (sweet, reddish beans). BUT be carefull: Mochi are really chewy and somewhat tricky to eat. In fact, people have died choking on mochi o.O
Yakiimo are traditional autumn food and easy to do: basically it's just baked or roasted sweet potatoes. You just wrap them in aluminium foil and put them into the oven. Or, as in this case when you need bigger portions, you set some leaves and branches on fire and put the pre-cooked potatoes in there.
As stated before, it was just quiet and peacuful. A fine little party. The weather was wonderful: The sun was so bright it hurt in my eyes and the air was fresh and clean. I took this picture out of the kitchen window. The glass wind chimes you can see on the right are called fuurin (風鈴). They kind of have a summer image because they're usually put on during that season. Well, nevermind.
２００６年１１月２３日 - ミカン狩り - Tangerine Harvest
Last Thursday we went to a tangerine harvest in Hakone Itabashi (箱根板橋). I have been looking forward to this for weeks, because fruits are quite expensive here and I really felt like I needed more vitamins XD Actually, all Russian and German students were supposed to participate, but in the end only three Russian girls, Marie and Katija (from Finland) and and Candy and me showed up... The harvest was quite fun, though. We got to meet a lot of interesting people and the scenerey was as beautiful as could be (despite the miserable weather). I'll definitely come back when the weather gets better again (which is hopefully before all the leaves have fallen from the trees because I'd love to take some autumn leaves shots over there).
In the first orchard -which belonged to a quite healthy 90-year-old man who's intreested in overseas culutre and thus keeps inviting foreign people to help with his harvest- there wasn't much for us to do, because due to this years hot summer, the crop was pretty poor. We just had a picknick, did the harvest and then succeeded to the top of a hill, where there was this beautiful little fairytale-like wood and a small park. When we were on our way back, somebody of the Japanese who participated in the first harvest invited us to another one in a bigger orchard, so we went there an luckily could do some proper harvesting X3
The picknick we had before the first harvest. Some of the Japanese housewifes prepared some delicious food.
Sorry for the blurryness, but the weather that day was really crappy so I couldn't take any proper photos. Nevertheless, I think you get an idea about what it looked like. Just image green hills covered with orchards as far as the eye can see.
Another random shot... I love this forest, it was somewhat creepy though because of the dark sky and the sound of hundreds of crows flying close by *.* The cosplayer in me was pleading for a photoshoot XD Doesn't it look as if the seven dwarfs would just come around the corner?
２００６年１１月２４日 - 愛紅 - Aibeni
Aibeni is an international volunteer club at Tokai University. Last friday, they put on a little party to support the understanding among nations XD Seriously, that evening was soo much fun! It started a little bit stiff, with drinks and food and small talk, but then the Japanese club members came up with some games... It was hilarious! I sure laughed a lot.
This picture was taken at the very end of the party. I'm easy to spot, as always... XD
Absurdities in daily life Japan
This week featuring Japan's strange way of getting rid of its cockroaches: ゴキブリほいほい (gokiburi hoihoi).
After the first sighting of cockroaches in our room, Candy and I decided to buy this handy device. Even insecticides look cute in Japan. It kills me. Don't be fooled by its looks: This way of killing insects may be of no harm to humans, but is actually really cruel to the roaches when you think about it: Inside of this little cardboard house is a special powder that lures the roaches. They'll enter it and stick on the adhesive film inside it. And then they'll just starve ... Luckily, we didn't have any cock roaches since two month ago, I definitely wouldn't like to touch this thingie filled with dead insects...