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.

Halfway through my First Semester

Although studying at Akita International University (AIU) is fun, I am sad to know that despite meeting all of these great people I may not see them for while. This semester I got to go to a "Ninja Park" for my birthday, got lost in Japan, and I got the opportunity to live by myself without relying on my parents too much.

Recently I have been feeling culture shock because I miss certain things from Hawaii like food, family, dog, and friends, but I think I am slowly getting adjusted to life in Japan. As of right now, I still think I do not want to live in Hawaii because I want to experience some place different, but I am not sure if Japan is where I want to live yet.

According to my friend from Hawaii that has lived in Japan for five years due to the JET Program, it is difficult for foreigners to apply for citizenship in Japan because the Japanese people do a thorough search before approving foreigners as Japanese citizens. Some people that apply for citizenship in Japan find the process humiliating.

In addition, there is a lot of food and cultural traditions that can only be found in Hawaii, so I know may miss that. Therefore my current plan is to learn as much as I can about Hawaii so that regardless of where I live, I can still enjoy the things I like about Hawaii. I want to be able to make delicious Hawaii food like poke (raw fish cubes), lomi salmon, malasadas, and meat-jun.

Back with a new haircut

These past few weeks have been pretty busy. I have had a few exams, one presentation, got a haircut, signed up for Amazon Japan, and got to finally make some spam musubi's. Recently the leaves have started changing color and pretty soon it will start snowing at the beginning of next month. I am definitely looking forward to seeing snow however, I have not completely adjusted to the cold yet. Due to the cold wind, I have to wear two jackets outside, and I have started staying at the library more because my room is so cold.

Although I like living on my own in Japan, it does have some disadvantages. Some of the disadvantages are lack of money, unable to get a part-time job, making plans for the winter, cleaning myself, and my poor cooking skills. Despite the fact that Japanese food is very delicious, everything in Japan is so expensive so I need to budget my money carefully. Currently I spend a lot of money on food, utilities, cellphone, and rent.

My roommate and me go grocery shopping every weekend because certain food ingredients such as eggs, bread, and vegetables run out very quickly during the week. In addition in order to save money we both rarely eat breakfast in the morning, but eat at our apartment at night normally. Compared to him, I usually eat lunch at the cafeteria so I think I spend more money on food. Meals at the cafeteria cost around 200 to 400 yen. Occasionally we can get free food or money from school events, but they fill up pretty fast. About a week ago I was able to get free sweet potatoes from a school event so my roommate used them to make sweet potato french fries.

The girls are getting to pull sweet potatoes with the kids

Spreading some Aloha to the AIU Festival

After many weeks of preparing for the Akita International University (AIU) Festival, the AIU Festival is finally over. The festival lasted for two days and because of the festival, the students had a five day weekend.   I was apart of the Hawaii booth so I was busy preparing for the Festival on Friday and Saturday with seven other international students and spent Sunday and Monday managing the booth from 9am to 4:30pm. The Hawaii booth consisted of five people from Hawaii and three other students that were not from Hawaii but were interested in helping us manage our booth.

My friend with oil paints on his hands after preparing for the festival

For our booth we had hula lessons, an ukulele performance, origami workshop, an Okinawan dance performance, shamisen performance, Kikaida marathon, a video about Japanese Americans, Hawaiian trivia, sign painting, a lei making workshop, and a list of pidgin words with Japanese translations. Originally we wanted to sell spam musubi and poke (raw tuna fish cubes with seaweed), but decided against that because the food committee had a lot of regulations, and we realized that the cost to make the food would be too expensive.

Biking Adventures around Akita

Here are pictures from my biking adventures around Akita. Overall despite getting lost, I am happy that I bought a bicycle. With my bicycle I am able to explore the beauty of Akita and get a lot of exercise before it starts snowing. So far I got pictures of rice fields, a shrine, a wild deer, and a water fountain nearby the university. In addition, on Thursday, I had the opportunity to ride my bicycle late at night. Compared to Hawaii, Akita does not have many lamp posts in the rural areas so it gets really dark outside. Thankfully my bicycle comes with a flashlight, and the drivers are very friendly here so I do not have to worry about getting hit.

A house I saw while biking around Akita

Akita's famous rice fields are almost ready to harvest