Kentucky Christmas

Every family has their own Christmas traditions.  Mine usually includes a trip to Watertown to celebrate with Grandma and my dad's side of the family.  Jeff's family always hung out with the same group of families for a "white elephant" Christmas exchange.  From what I understand, this is generally in line with what most of the rest of the world does, spending time with family and close friends, contemplating a birth that took place approximately 2010 years ago.  Of course, several friends also celebrated the "chosen people" way with Chinese food and movies.  (The NYTimes and SNL are blowing their cover though!)



Here in Japan, Christmas, as with many "western" traditions, is interpreted very differently.  It's common to find people getting together and eating KFC fried chicken.  No joke.  I have not been able to determine where this practice originated, though I am suspicious of KFC's role.  There are actually commercials advertising fried chicken from KFC, supermarkets, and konbini, commonly referred to as convenience stores in America.

Historically, the new year is a much bigger celebration than the birth of Jesus in this predominantly non-Christian country.  People get together for bonenkai, a traditional end of the year get-together that translates literally as "forget the year party." I'd prefer not to forget this year, thankyouverymuch!

This year, Jeff and I aren't celebrating Christmas.  Fitting I suppose, neither of us being Chrsitian and all.  Rather, we bought peanut butter (a celebration within itself), ate burritos with our good friend Chris, and are now watching Love Actually while enjoying a glass of wine. And Jeff is doing the laundry.  That is the only Christmas miracle I need.

Hope you're all enjoying your time off from work/school and your Christmas/Channuka/Kwanzaa/Festivus celebrations!  What are you all doing this year, anyways?

Mata ne,
Melissa

un-surprise

Jeff and I spend just about every moment of the day together.  Which is awesome.  But it doesn't give him much chance to sneak away and covertly obtain a Channuka present (which is why Channuka is over and we're just getting around to gifts).  So tonight, after a long few days of moving in and getting acclimated to our new home he told me he was going to surprise me.  Which, of course, ruined the surprise.  But the gift more than made up for the lack of suspense.

(Umm.  Yikes.  It's late here and I was wearing a hat all day, ok?  And from the looks of it I haven't seen the sun in five years.)

It is a cute little silver bowl.  It was labeled "drop tray" as in a drop into water, but I think it looks more like a crown.  Befitting the princess that I am. 

Now I have to un-surprise him, though.  Suggestions?  All he ever asks for is more workout clothing.

Mata ne,
Melissa

small move. part two.

First things first.  

The very first thing Jeff did when getting to the new apartment was set up the TV and internet.  He has priorities.

Actually, that TV there came with the place, making the larger, more cumbersome TV that we paid 3000 yen to transport when we got it (for free) a very awkward coffee table in our tiny new place.  It's going on Craigslist ASAP.  

The bed, which came without a mattress, has been dissembled (by me) and is now being stored out of the way in our loft.  The coffee table pictured also came with the apartment and thankfully has collapsible legs and slides very nicely under the couch when not in use. 

We've picked up several storage units (some free, some very cheap) and are perfecting the skill of careful arrangement for maximization of usable space.

The main level is not yet ready for public display, but here is a peak at the loft.

We actually just bought our futon (the kind the just goes on the floor - think of it as a futon mattress you'd find in America) yesterday so we just slept up there for the first time last night.  As you can see, our clothing storage is right up against the bed.  Behind that we have stored our luggage, Jeff's bike case (which he bought right after buying his bike so he could transport it home - in eight months) and the bed frame that came with the apartment.  It doesn't look all that pretty, but it gets everything that we don't need regular access to out of the way.

Sidenote:  What you see there is basically all the clothing storage we have, which means that it contains all of our clothing for the year in Japan.  Can you guess which one is mine and which one is Jeff's.  Yea, it's that easy.  He was definitely the kid who went home from camp with a trunk full of clean clothes and one filthy shirt.  And it's not because he did laundry before he got on the bus. 

I mentioned we were celebrating with a friend the other night - for two reasons. One, our tough move, two, Jeff's friend Ryo just got engaged!  He works right near the Tsukiji Fish market, so we met him out there for some just-off-the-boat fishy goodness.

Maguro = tuna.  Y.U.M.

I even ate a raw giant oyster.  I won't say it was good, but... I ate it. 

And because we were in celebration mode we of course indulged in some really really good sake.  At this restaurant, you pour your own sake and they provide small bowls for under your cup in case (when) you overpour. 

Disclaimer:  I do not recommend mixing large amounts of raw fish and large amounts of sake.  And then riding the train.

As soon as we get the first floor looking presentable, we'll post some pictures.  Until then... Anyone else lived in a smaller apartment? Anyone?

Mata ne,
Melissa