Yes, the new Morat/Clerk family member is a wonderfully red sofa! It's love-seat size, which is just right. We even threw in matching pillows and curtains! What a difference it can make on our evenings, our Sunday afternoons....
Here it is in the widest view we could get with the camera. Along with putting up the inner doors between the two tatami rooms, and the green walls, it's looking pretty cool in our place. We even discovered, with the help of our Japanese friends, that the table has an electric heater underneath its top! We just need an electrical cord ... who knows what that will take.
And so, life is moving along just fine. Our first Japanese autumn is just beautiful. The air is crisp, and there's this perfect combination of warm sun and cool breeze, EVERYday! --- I never want it to end! What's so great is that the season is quite long this year. The leaves haven't really begun to change around here, but they should be anytime now.
As for me, school is getting more interesting. I had quite a lull there for awhile, but I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable, and so am also able to approach the teachers easier, and am starting to try and gauge what sorts of activities might work, and what sorts might not. I haven't started going to any club activities after school with the kids... mostly out of selfishness for wanting all my after-work time to myself! One of these days, though... one of these days. I'll show up at a Kendo class, or Judo class, or even tennis or volleyball, and try and go once or twice a week. But until then, I have a lovely couch to come home to!
Will and I went out to dinner with two of my teachers last weekend and had a nice time - they showed us around a small town nearby, with some antique shops that had all kinds of things we'd never see in the States. Old dolls, kimonos, tea sets, books... and lots of stuff that I have no idea what they were. Then we all went out to a Shabu-shabu restaurant, and what a treat!
Shabu-shabu is this:
A large pot in the middle of the table, over an internal gas burner, filled with a light dashi-stock (a few pieces of seaweed and maybe some bonito flake stock).
A large plate of fresh cabbage, carrots, greens, rice patties (can't remember their name), and tofu.
Also, a large plate of extremely thin slices of raw pork.
We each make a little sauce in our dishes -- soy sauce and vinegar, or a sesame-based sauce, with sliced green onions and a spicy red paste. Then, the shabu-shabu begins. With our chopsticks, we dip a piece of raw pork into the now-boiling water, and after a few seconds it turns white. Then we dip it in our sauce, and then into our mouths, and there you have it! A delicious, mouth-watering meal! We also dip the veggies, or sometimes just put a bunch of them into the water at once. Soooooooo good. My mouth is watering just writing about it!
And, this weekend, we had our friends over -- a woman from my Eikaiwa and her husband -- and we had a blast. Plenty of beer and shochu, with big salads with blue cheese (I found it!) and avocado, then a veggie stir fry I made... and lots of laughs and a great time. :) Oh. Shochu is a (around here, anyway), sweet-potato based light liquor. Similar to taste with whiskey, but much easier to drink. Too easy sometimes. Drunk hot or cold, we had ours in a small teapot over a fondue stove in the living room, thanks to our guests!
Oh yeah, and I got a haircut -- found a nice guy in Fukuoka who speaks lots of English, and was fun to go to.... on a particularly decent hair day just shortly after, I handed Will the camera just for you blog-readers!
Love to you all!!
-Serenity
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