Tuesday was pretty uneventful. We went to school, didn't make bentos, bugged the busy store dudes (Mika-sensei made us do it!!) and then went to culture class. It was tea ceremony so we got to dress up in really pretty yukata. I don't have any pics cause we used Shelly's camera. So maybe I'll send some later.
Tea ceremony is very intricate and detailed, you have to do everything perfectly. I think that a lot of it was symbolic, but I don't know what of. Tea ceremony is the most kata-ized part of Japan (that I have witnessed). We also got to try our hand at making the o-cha. The sensei had to help me cause I'm apparently a bad o-cha maker. Shelly had inherent skills, of course.
Then we tried our hand at making yakitori (again). This batch wasn't very good because we didn't use enough sauce (but we didn't know that until we got to school today cause it was our bento).
Today, Mai-san gave us some herbal chammomile tea which is really yummy! It smells like sweets and when you add a teaspoon of sugar, it tastes like them too! Mai-san is really nice to us, I guess she has a Mormon friend. She even chased down the missionaries for us so that she could get the address of one of the churches.
We had okonomiyaki class for culture. Okonomiyaki is called japanese pizza, but it is nothing like pizza at all. It's more like an omelet. The key parts of okonomiyaki are the cabbage (you use tons), the egg (we used only 2) and some flour (approx. 1/2 cup). You can put anything you want into it after that. Our okonomiyaki had onion, bacon and beef in it. Then you top it off with a special sauce (oyster--I think--sauce mixed with ketchup--just like takoyaki sauce) then you put some mayo on it (the japanese love mayo) and lastly, we added bonito flakes (which are kinda gross and move around after you put them on your okonomiyaki). It was pretty good, but it's not one of my favorites. Shelly and I will be making it again on Friday with the ward.
After that we went yukata shopping because we are convinced that we need some before Dontaku (a festival in May). Shelly found a store that sells used yukata that we can definitely afford. Now it's just whether or not we can still find it.
The church was holding an english class for anyone who wants to come. The missionaries are in charge of teaching, but they had us help explain "I might as well." Which makes perfect sense to me, but when I try to explain it, I can't. A lot of the japanese people could catch the meaning. Then we introduced ourselves once again and helped a lady translate her class schedule. Later, we played "Do you love your neighbor?" which was pretty fun (but since we were helping the lady, we were late and I didn't want to join half-way through).
Afterward, I was forced by Elder Orths (from Australia) to say the prayer. Lots of people thanked me. We made friends with this ojiisan (grandpa) who said that his name was "Andy." He is really funny and asked Shelly and I out to the next english class (after we let him know that we would be there). Apparently he really likes Country Music.
Then we rode the subway home. I bought a flan thing on the way (I'll send a pic later) and Shelly bought a grape jelly one. I thought they were both good, but Shelly hated hers.
But that's it for the past two days. We really haven't done anything beyond what we always do.
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