Who's the biggest turkey??? Please VOTE

	Who was the biggest turkey at this year's Thanksgiving feast???
Select up to 2 of the following: The baby Maichan The turkey Matt
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How to cook a turkey and stuffing

For the last three years I have helped cook the turkey and this year I found a great recipe online. The turkey and the stuffing were both delicious and I have found that it's not nearly as difficult as it may seem. It does take a lot of time however. Here is the link to the turkey recipe:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000037moms_roast_turkey.php
and the stuffing recipe
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000036moms_turkey_stuffing.php

So, though I may have led you all to believe the delicious flavor palussa you experienced was my own concoction, It wasn't. However, it still took eight hours to make and I got sick again because of it. Stupid turkey...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving may be the "turkey" among holidays here in Japan but we've done a pretty good job of "stuffing" it into our schedules. Since most people cannot afford to go home for Thanksgiving (Canucks and Yanks), we are forced to celebrate one of our most endeared holidays in Japan. However, it has proven to be quite fun in the past two years and this year was no different.

We do not only invite Canadians and Americans though. Plenty of Japanese and Limeys have turned up as well and, being a potluck, the food has lacked interestingness. However, we have still managed to retain the staples; turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie and a few others.

With forty people, the location can be very important so with the help of fellow Japanese, we have been able to use a mountainside cabin for two years now. It has an indoor bath, a lake, a park, and bears.

Here's a video from us Nyuzen folk at the 3rd annual Thanksgiving celebration in our town. It was enjoyed.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=566908626765349016&pr=goog-sl Happy

Here are some photos of the day in retrospect.

Thank you to Sumiyoshisan for reserving the house for us two years in a row. Thank you Josh for organizing the event. Thank you Matt for not bringing crackers. No thank you to everyone who took all the pie home and didn't leave any for me. Just for that, I won't be cooking the turkey next year;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Chuo Alps

In one of my previous posts, I (emphatically) described my backpacking journey through the mountains in Nagano. The same mountain range is clearly visible from my town, the bases climbing straight up, constrasting strongly with the very flat plane of fields from which they emerge. As the season progresses, a white blanket has begun to fall over these peaks, slowly flowing down, in time meeting the ocean. For us Toyama gaikokujin (foreigners), it is impossible to imagine snow in our area during the uncomfortable humidity of the summer, where a small errand such as going to the store could require a shower and a change of clothes. Each season carries a distinct presence in Toyama though, and winter brings with it new pleasantries such as snowboarding, burrying little kids in snow, and two sphered snowmen.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful tree, snow (and bear) covered mountains from the last week. Enjoy

The guy who couldn't play an instrument...but knew how to splice video!

Unbelievable video splicing made into a song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo&eurl=

More Halloween Pics

Pneumonia

I've been sick for the last month, directly after hiking Hakuba with my friend Tim. It began with losing my voice but progressed into chronic coughing, so much that I often couldn't sleep. I went to the doctor three times, each time with a different person who either sacrificed their free time or work time to help me. Others brought me food, medicine or tea. Thank you to all who helped me recover!

The second time I was at the doctor, they took a chest xray and found a white shadow, indicating I might have pneumonia. They then sent me to have a CT-scan (cat scan) and were able to identify it for sure. It was frightening to think that without medicine I might not get better. Thankfully, they said it was not a serious case and if I rested and took the medication, I would recover quickly.

Last year I was sick again and went to the doctor to have a check-up. He did a test on me known as the Bi-digital O-ring test. It's too weird to describe in detail so I'll direct you to an informative website, http://www.bpmlegal.com/wfinger.html. They told me I had pneumonia then too but I am pretty sure I didn't after having gone through this.

Two sick days and three weeks, many meds, and two boxes of tissues later, I stopped coughing and regained my ability to smell. I realized how badly I needed to take out the trash in my apartment...

Halloween in Japan!

Many of us lost interest in the American holiday Halloween long ago (Or were never interested at all, as the case may be) but Halloween has proven to be quite different for some of the students here in Nyuzen. We have taught them the meaning of "trick or treat," shown them how to carve a pumpkin, and even given them candy corn. Some of them said the candy was too sweet but they're wrong.

The festivities began in September when our town held a giant pumpkin festival (どで南瓜 大会) where we had seed spitting contests, pumpkin carving, and a pumpkin dance. In past festivals the opening ceremony included speeches from officials such as the town mayor. In other words, thte festival is taken (somewhat) seriously.

In one of my elementary schools (小学生), the first grade students (一年生） made pumpkin masks and practiced trick or treating to win candy. I also made a box with things inside that felt like eyeballs, brains, and toe nails. They weren't real but the kids were often too scared to smell or taste what they had touched so the illusion prevailed.

I came into the fifth grade class today and found the students dressed in elaborate costumes. One student had constructed a witch's hat, another had borrowed her elder sister's junior high uniform and one boy went so far as to grease his hair, wear a cape, a white shirt and fangs for Dracula. The one student who forgot a costume colored a big red spot on paper, laid down on the ground and told us he was road kill. Such creativity!

Many Japanese have never seen a real Jack-O-Lantern so I carved a pumpkin for our three-year school festival at my junior high. It's ちょっと difficult to find small saws around here so it took me about three hours to complete. I also carved a pumpkin for one of my elementary schools which was much more plain but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

In my eighth grade elective English class I taught the kids how to trick or treat and they had to draw a costume for themselves. At the end I had them make teams and then turn one of their teammates into a mummy using toilet paper. The students really enjoyed dressing their classmates in tissue and even found creative ways to incorporate the brown tube.

Yup, I'd say Halloween hasn't been laid in the coffin yet. It's still alive and well among batty kids here in Japan, even if it is just a skeleton form. gwa haha