Dec. 28th

Merry Christmas everyone! Braden and I had lots of fun and I want to share it with everyone. The following is mostly a copy of the email I send to my parents about our Christmas activities :). Enjoy! On Christmas Eve in the morning we opened our presents. My parents sent me a whole bunch of American candy, it was AWESOME. I also got some candy from a friend of mine in Ellensburg who sent me a package so in all we had a ton of yummy American candy XD. I also got a package from my clients in Ellensburg. They sent me some cards, drawings, and a couple of home made ornaments, and a big glass cup that they had decorated, they were all very cute :). After opening the presents we picked up our Christmas cake and went shopping, then we rested a bit since we had gone to the temple the day before and we got back kinda late. Then Ed came and together we visited the Shimane Art Museum. One of Braden`s teachers, who is also one of my Japanese teachers, gave us two tickets to the museum that she had bought, but she didn`t have time to go so she gave them to us, which I thought was super nice :). The art exhibit we saw was really cool, there were lots of beautiful ceramics, kimonos, and wooden dolls. It was a special exhibit especially for traditional japanese crafts, but all the art was modern (as in it was all made recently, but they were all in the traditional japanese style, some with a modern twist.) There was one section that had some absolutely beautiful vases and dishes, but there was one dish in the middle that was very simple and black and very modern looking (modern as in modern art that no one understands, hehe), we thought it was kinda funny cause it really seemed to clash with the colorful and elegant ceramics around it, lol. It was a really nice exhibit. After that Ed drove us to Izumo and we met up with one of his coworkers and some friends and went to a restaurant\bar called an `izakaya`. Its basically a restaurant made especially for drinking parties, which the Japanese have a lot, hehe. They serve unlimited refills of a variety of drinks including a selection of non-alcoholic ones. We were told that all bars are required to serve non-alcoholic drinks as well, for the designated drivers. Apparently the blood/alcohol limit for drunk driving in Japan is EXTREMELY strict, so designated drivers can`t drink at all, not even a little bit, cause if they`re caught driving with even the slightest bit of alcohol in their blood they`ll be arrested. Anyway, they also serve food at these places, but they are appetizer-type dishes, and they bring out a different one every ten to fifteen to minutes while everyone is drinking and chatting. Ed is mormon too, so he, Braden, and I drank soda and ginger ale while his other friends drank, and we just talked and had a good time eating food. It was pretty expensive, but Ed (who has a full time job, and who`s also really nice) paid for Braden and I (It cost about 35 dollars per person to go there. Personally I think they ought to give non drinkers a discount, since its only the drinkers who are consuming the expensive stuff! :P). After dinner we went to Karaoke! I don`t know many Japanese songs so I usually just sing the English ones, but its always really fun, there`s a nice sound system in each room and you can adjust the lighting and everything the way you want it, and you can get free drinks (soda and tea, and even hot cocoa!). After karaoke we went back to Ed`s place and ate lots of candy and played video games ;).The next morning I made pancakes :D. And we had peanut butter with them :). One of the elders who was serving in Matsue recently had two big jars of peanut butter, and when he was transferred he left his peanut butter, so the new elder and his companion gave us one of his jars for Christmas. It was imported Skippy peanut butter, woot! They sell peanut cream in Japan, but peanut butter is not very common. I haven`t had peanut cream but I`ve heard its pretty different from peanut butter. Its more of a dessert thing I think. Anywho, after eating breakfast I called home (Which was awesome! Especially since Lacey and all of her family was there, it was awesome to see them :).) After that we did Karaoke again, lol. This time we went with some different friends of Ed`s (He had been invited to two different Karaoke parties and he brought us along both times). After Karaoke we went and had dinner with his friends. We all contributed some food (Braden and I brought cake and I made some Hayashi rice), Kim made macaroni and cheese (with some velveta cheese that her parents had mailed to her) and instant mashed potatoes (also from Americam hehe), Ed made eggrolls and chicken, Robert (who`s from Ireland) brought Irish pudding (He even prepared it in the traditional way. He poured whiskey on top and lit it on fire! He cut a couple pieces out for Ed, Braden, and I first though ;).), and Ed`s Japanese friends brought a tray of Japanese food with shrimp and chicken and veggies, and some crackers and dip. During dinner we watched Charlie Brown and Elf (in English with Japanese subtitles). After dinner we had the Irish pudding and Christmas cake, then we played some card games. After the party Ed took Braden and I to the rental store and we rented some anime and watched it till about three in the morning XD. We watched about a third of the remake of Neon Genesis Evangelion (a really strange show but pretty interesting, and extremely famous here in Japan. I see stuff with Neon Genesis Evangelion on it ALL the time, hehe.) We also watched a little bit of a show called Mae Hime, which is a pretty light hearted action comedy. The next morning Ed drove us home, we went to church (and I managed to stay awake the whole time amazingly enough XD), got lots of Christmas presents from the ward members (including a couple of really nice sweaters, a small ham and some fruit, and even a toaster oven! The toaster oven is from a couple who are moving to Hawaii in a couple weeks to attend BYU-Hawaii, so they gave us their toaster :).). After church we hurried to pack and do laundry, and almost missed our bus to Shiga XD. It was really close! Braden and I forgot to check the local bus schedule to the highway bus station, and we thought we were gonna be late so we called a member and asked her for a ride, and so she and her husband hurried us to the station and we got their RIGHT before our bus pulled up. Whew. We SO owe her and her husband lol. We rode the bus for about four and a half hours and got to Shiga where Hiroko picked us up and drove us to her house. We just kinda relaxed the first day we were here, and today we helped her with the traditional end-of-year cleaning that the Japanese do, then we went to her grandparents house and had a HUGE dinner of Sukiyaki (basically I bunch of meat and veggies boiled in a pot with sugar and soy sauce and a few other things. It`s really good!). Anywho, that was our Christmas! (Plus a couple days after.) Its been busy but super fun! For New Year`s we`re gonna eat lots of traditional Japanese food. I`ll tell you all about it later! Anyway, this post was long, but I hope you enjoyed it XD.