The first time I heard of the word “nebuta,” it was while watching a TV program featuring the famous floats that the “Nebuta Festival” of Aomori is known for. Although I lived in the Tohoku region for more than three years, not once did I have the opportunity to visit Aomori (I got as far as Akita, though).
Fortunately, right here in Tsukuba we can still enjoy a smaller version of the “nebuta.”
If there’s one thing that I absolutely LOVE about festivals, it will be the ubiquitous yatai, or food stalls. Yatai are set up temporarily for Japanese festivals, selling foods for spectators, such as yakisoba, kakigori, takoyaki, and okonomiyaki. You can also buy barbecue and other grilled food, french fries, frankfurters, and fried chicken (chikin karaage). Mmm…love that grease!
How does a typical yatai at a Japanese festival look like? Well, let me show you! Here are some images taken at the recently held Matsuri Tsukuba. 🙂
Takoyaki
My sister told me that in the Philippines, “Takoyaki” is known as “Samurai balls.” Yummy. lol
Those of you who had tried to access our site, including this blog and MyGuide yesterday were probably surprised to find out that the site was not available. In fact, all that one got was a page showing a rather terrifying “Internal error” message which didn’t really tell us anything except send us into PANIC MODE.
OMG, did our server crash? Is our site irretrievable? Do we have any backups?
Of course, the fact that you are now reading this tells you otherwise.
Not every blogger blogs for money.
Sure, we’re running some passive ads in this site, but our only goal is to help defray the cost of webhosting. It remains, at best, an experiment. We want to find out if we can derive some amount from ads so that we can have the site “self-maintaining.” If we can achieve that, then we’re happy. If not, well, it’s not like we can’t pay for it ourselves, you know? We’ve been paying for our own webhosting for several years now – way before Google AdSense came into the picture. And with the rate we’re going, we’re likely to pay for most of it in the years to come.
But as for blogging as a means on which our livelihood depends? Not in this lifetime. Perhaps not ever.
I was browsing through our old photos, when I chanced upon a couple of photos taken almost exactly around this time, five years ago: August 16, 2002. I couldn’t help but feel so nostalgic.
What were the circumstances then?
Me and Aya, when we were both five years younger. 🙂
I was tagged by Shai to list eight random facts about myself. Sounds like fun. Let’s see:
1. I have worn glasses since Grade Six. I knew that something funny was going on with my vision as early as Grade Four, because I couldn’t read anymore what was written on the blackboard, even when I moved myself to the front rows. By the time my parents brought me to the optometrist, my eyes were so highly myopic that my starting “grade” was 400! Yup, for both eyes. When I started wearing glasses, my naughty classmates began teasing me labo (this means “blurry” in Filipino, but it can also mean something incomprehensible). Oh, kids can be so cruel. 🙁
This is a very easy experiment for kids, to teach them about the different pigments that make up the colors in pens. For this experiment, you will need the following:
Continue reading Pen Colors (A Homemade Chromatography Experiment)
Due to the O-bon festival/summer holidays, Aya’s piano class won’t meet for two consecutive weeks. But in order to make sure that the kids still get to practice their lessons even during the holidays, they were given sheets of paper where they will color objects corresponding to each day they practiced. If they have practiced for more than 4 times in a week – they will get nice stickers from the sensei.
If you think about it, there’s absolutely nothing exciting about getting stickers on a piece of paper. But you know how kids are – they want to impress not only their sensei but also their classmates. So I guarantee you that Aya will definitely make sure that she gets all her stickers at the end of the holidays. 🙂
The point of practicing, of course, is not to accumulate stickers but to enable the children to hone their skillls. As the old adage goes, practice makes perfect.
Children have an amazing ability to learn things fast. I myself am amazed at how fast Aya is learning how to play the piano. I’m beginning to feel that the pace of their class at the music school is becoming a tad too slow for her. For instance, they would still be playing by one hand at a time whereas Aya could already play the same piece using both hands.
Still, it still takes time to master a particular piece. Perfection is not achieved overnight.
Here is a video of Aya playing “Risu no komori uta,” or A Squirrel’s Lullaby. I’m pretty sure that this song is familir to some of you, but I don’t know if that is the same title in English. I just translated it directly from the Japanese title.
She does a lot of wriggling, no? Maybe instead of becoming a pianist someday, she’d end up as a dancer! Haha, what a thought.
Whenever I am with Aya in Filipino gatherings, most of them would often inquire: “How old is she?” And after being told about her age, they would make the dreaded expected follow-up question: “So kelan nyo susundan? Wala pa ba kasunod? (So when’s the next one? None yet?)”
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| Aya and her gummy grin at 11 weeks |
Others are not so discreet and would unabashedly tell it to my face: “Sundan nyo na! (This would be literally translated, “Follow it up!” But perhaps “Make another one!” would be the more appropriate translation.)
Easier said than done, folks. We never said that we don’t want more.
In those situations, I usually just whip up my standard response: “Yeah.” “Uhm….?” “We’re trying.” “We’ll wait and see.”
You see, there’s a bit of a story before our daughter was successfully conceived.
I wrote all about it in my pregnancy blog. But I guess, everyone else became too preoccupied with the fact that there was a new baby, than to be concerned with the so-called “problems” prior to conception.
“The ovaries are not working anymore.” That was what the doctor said. “It would be very difficult for you to have children.” Those were his words during our consultation session. I had already been given a second round of hormonal injections a few weeks before, and the findings still indicated that the ovaries were simply not responding at all.
As Baggy and I stepped outside the clinic, I couldn’t help but cry. I wanted children, although I didn’t want them so soon. I was only concerned about my overall reproductive health. I wanted children later, and wanted to make sure that I could still have them when the appropriate time comes.
But the thought that we could very well end up not having any children made me feel sad and dejected. Wouldn’t that be the greatest paradox of all – just about the time you feel you are ready to have children, that’s the time you find out that you can’t?
I was about to start on prescribed medication – to induce ovulation – when wonder of all wonders, I got pregnant.
Tell me, how was that possible? Just about the time the lazy ovaries finally decided to crank up, the window of opportunity for fertilization presented itself. Some may call it a miracle.
Being pregnant all of a sudden threw my plans out of whack. But sometimes, having something you don’t want is infinitely better than wanting something you can’t have.
Would Aya become an “ATE (elder sister)” someday? My doctor still says it’s impossible, given the lazy ovaries’ preference for sporadic hibernation. But I know, for one, that he has been wrong before. Aya is a living testament to that.
For another, I know that there’s always hope. 😉
Personally, I wouldn’t mind having only one child. For me, Aya is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I really couldn’t ask for more. Wouldn’t YOU want to have a child as adorable as this one?
Oh yes. I can be fun and trivial too. 🙂 My way of relaxing on a Friday night, after a lonnggggg and exhausting, demanding week at work.
I found this cool site through my wicked sister Lai, who’s now back to blogging after a long hiatus. Welcome back, Evil K.
So, you want to find out who my celebrity look-alikes are?
| http://www.myheritage.com |
According to the results above, I bear 70% resemblance to LARRY KING. Not bad. I have long fantasized being a broadcaster, lol. Hey look, we wear the same spectacles! And man, look at those foreheads! I really should ease up on that shampoo I’m using. 😀
Thanks to my hairstyler at my favorite J-Cool beauty salon, I could *almost* pass off for a redhead like JULIANNE MOORE.
‘Nuff said. 😉