Week 13 in Japan: Raw Horse, Mochitsuki, Girls High School, Church

       Hello, sorry I'm a little late with this post but with it being the Christmas time of year (I'm actually writing this on Chrismtas morning) you are probably too busy to read it now anyways. Anytime is alright :). Now after reading the title I'm sure your excited about this blog. Who wouldn't be, I think there is something for everybody.
      First off on Tuesday I went to the same restraunt I went to last week called Oden with some of the same friends and some new ones. My two Korean friends know the owner some how (maybe just frequent there) and it seems we get things for a discount but I'm not sure. Anyways we ate a variety of things including raw ocotopus, whale, and horse. I was surprised when they said it was horse and I had to confirm a few times, partially because the word horse I don't use often and thought I must be mistaken with its meaning. I didn't hesitate to eat it and it turns out raw horse is delicious. I told a vegetarian girl from Israel and some others about it the next day in class and joked that next I need to eat a dog and cat next.
      Friday my class got done an hour early because there was an event called Mochitsuki going on in the cafeteria on campus and international students in particular were encouraged to go. Mochitsuki is a traditional Japanese event where you make a food called Mochi. Mochi is basically rice that is pounded into a paste. It takes on a different taste than regular rice and it's more of a treat than just rice. People who came got to help with making the mochi which included smashing rice with a big wooden hammer. I got to eat mochi with bean paste in it, some mochi with some seasonings, and then some mochi that was put in soup. It was a fun event that was completely free too.
      On Saturday I went to a Girls High School here in Akita for my Japanese Culture class. At the school there were 6 girls who were part of a traditional Japanese dance and singing club and they performed for our class. After they were finished we were able to try the instruments and some people learned a dance too. Then they had a time where we all sat and we could ask them questions and they also asked us some questions so it was fun to hear things from Japanese students.
      Sunday I went to church for the first time here in Japan. There was a candlelight Christmas service that somebody invited me to go to so I did. The church is about a 10 or 15 minute train ride away but still in Akita City. The church was actually much bigger than I had expected and I would guess there were about 300 people at the service. Since it was a Christmas service there were a lot of various performances mainly all being singing, dancing, or playing an instrument. One thing I liked was that they had people of all ages perform so from around 4 years old to senior citizens everybody in the church seems like they have a chance to do a performance if they want to. The service was as expected all in Japanese so most of it I did not understand. It was hard to understand because the type of Japanese the pastor was using more polite and I haven't studied that too much yet. Also because he was talking about Bible stuff which can be hard to understand even in English.
      Like you guys I got busy during this Christmas season so I'm posting this blog late, maybe I'll be on track next week. Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures!

 Here is a picture from the Oden restraunt. In the picture is a friend of mine Linda from Cambodia adding the finishing touches on some of the food. She has a super happy and kind personality.

 After the mochi is nice and pasty you can eat it. But usually you add something to it so the taste isn't quite so bland. 

 A friend sent me this picture of the Mochi creating event that they saw in newspaper because I'm in the background. This picture is the stage of smashing it with a wooden hammer.

 I took a picture with a few of the girls who performed at the High School. The girls in blue were dancing and did a little singing. The girl in pink mainly just sang I think.

 Here's a picture during one of the songs. The singing is a lot of times really high picthed and really pretty. The guitar is called a Shamisen and is a traditional Japanese instruement. In the last decade or so the Shamisen has been used in contemporary music too. If you want to hear the Shamisen in action I recommend the Yoshida Brothers. Really cool music.

 There was a Hawaiin style dance that was performed too. The final queen of Hawaii was a Christian and I think they were dancing to a song she wrote before she died. Lots of the songs sang were in English because there were a lot of Christmas songs sang. Also there was the Disney song "When You Wish Upon a Star" played by a group playing the bells. I don't think it is really a Christmas song but I enjoyed it.