Thanksgiving and a Taste of Malasada

Last Thursday night, I celebrated Thanksgiving with most of the American students, a few Japanese students, and a few of the other international students. For most of the Japanese students and a few of the international students that went, it was their first Thanksgiving.

It was nice celebrating Thanksgiving because although Akita International University (AIU) is an "international school," Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays that is not celebrated by most of the students at AIU. Usually Christmas and Halloween are celebrated at AIU.

The Thanksgiving party that I went to was a private party, and it was required that anyone who went to the party pay at least 600 yen entrance fee or bring food. For the Thanksgiving party, I had made yakisoba with my friend from the University of Hawaii, my Japanese friend, and another international student from Thailand. Both my Japanese friend and the student from Thailand were unable to go to the party.

As for the yakisoba, originally I wanted to use spam for meat, but because one of the American students complained about how much she dislikes spam, we used teriayaki meat instead. It seems like not everyone can understand Hawaii's love for spam.

The food we ate at the Thanksgiving party was very delicious. I was able to eat food that I have not eaten for a while since coming to Japan such as cake, potato salad, and macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately, the timing was very inconvenient, because their was a Dancing Contest at the same time in the same building on the same floor.

Aloha Akita Snow

Snow has finally arrived at Akita. I have seen snow a few times time before in Japan, but this is the first time that I will be experiencing what it is like to live in the snow. Right now the ground has become really wet because all of the snow on the ground, and it has become really cold. Recently, I have started sleeping with my long underwear and a long sleeve shirt because it is really cold in my room.

Snow outside my dormitory

Possibly One Week Left Before it Starts Snowing at Akita

In Hawaii, the weather rarely changes. The weather is always warm, it rains occasionally, and during the Winter, the sun goes down earlier. In Akita, Japan, the weather changes constantly. It was really hot when I arrived at Japan during August. In the beginning of September, it got really cold and started to rain more often that I needed to wear warmer clothing. It is already November now, and according to my friend it will start snowing at Akita soon. I heard the snow can get up to at least three feet or higher.

I am looking forward to the snow because I have never seen snow fall during the Winter, but I am also not looking forward to the snow. I am looking forward to doing things like learning how to snow board or ski, and eating snow cones. However, I am not looking forward to the coldness or the fact that my heater bill will be really expensive during the Winter. I know that I intend to stay at the library most of the day when  it starts snowing to reduce the cost of my heater bill.

The leaves are starting to change at AIU

Anyways, I hope to accomplish as much things as possible before it starts snowing because it is supposed to stop snowing around May I heard. In addition, as for this past week, despite staying at a farm last weekend at Nishiki, I had somehow lost my bicycle lock key, my windproof umbrella, and hanko (stamp I use to sign things that has my initials inscribed in it). I am not sure how or when I lost these things, but I guess regardless of how careful you are, sometimes things get lost. According to my AIU Student Advisor, I need to bring my bicycle to Aeon Mall by car to get a new lock and show the locksmith proof that I own this bicycle.