Making ramen has a lot of fun. In America, they do not have cooking classes in schools!

So it has nice to see children having fun and learning to make food.

I was surprised at all of the utensils used to make ramen. There were some I have never seen before.

The instructors made the directions easy to understand even if you are unable to understand Japanese very well.

I did not know we were also making gyoza, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Making ramen was a lot like making bread. I felt nostalgic when making the ramen because it reminds me of making bread with my roommate. There was also one time we tried to make noodles, but the ramen noodles were much better. It was nice to make ramen with friends. I felt that we grew closer as a group. I learned many various things about Ray while we cooked, like he was happily married. After we finished making our ramen and gyoza, I took a picture to put on facebook. Overall I think that going to a cooking class with classmates was a wonderful experience and will become an irreplaceable memory. I　recommend this class for future classes.

Many of the class members got up really early (2:30am!!) and took the only train to meet Hirose sensei for the beginning of the Yamkasa Matsuri festivities.

Though people were a bit bleary eyed, it was well worth the effort.

The Yamkasa Matsuri is one of the most famous festivals in Japan and to watch all those men and boys run and carry these crazily elaborate floats down the street with such energy and commitment was a sight to behold.

Hirose sensei got us to walk to almost Hakata Station to a place where she knew we would see more of the festival.

It was a turnaround and the floats paraded passed us and then did a circle and passed us again.

It is never easy to catch a festival in Japan and I am totally grateful for another fantastic cultural trip.

Today is Lorna’s birthday. She started the short term program at 29^th of June.

Teachers and classmates secretly bought the cake, juice and cracker to give Lorna a small birthday party.

Lora was so surprised when she came to the classroom.

Even though they only met in one month, even though they came from different country, but study、activity、Karaoke and shopping together make them became good friends quickly.

They are enjoying the study in NILS! They are enjoying the life in Fukuoka!

“I spent a very memorable birthday abroad, thanks my classmates! Thanks my teachers!  Thanks NILS! ”— by Lora

This week we went to Yusentei, an old Japanese house that was used by a big samurai family.

We found out that Japanese gardens are designed to be beautiful through all the seasons. I really liked that, because in England we don’t see autumn or winter as a time to ‘enjoy’ gardens, just because the weather isn’t as nice. I love nature, so it was great to find out that a traditional garden could be enjoyed all year round.

Because it’s summer, everything was very green. Unfortunately there were some mosquitos too though, so we had to use special spray to protect ourselves! Despite the flies, I loved walking around the pond, which had so many Koi! We were allowed to feed them and pet them, and quite a few were happy to nibble on my hands. It felt very strange, but it was so fun.

Afterwards, we went inside and were served tea in a beautiful room overlooking the water and garden. The tea was lovely, and they gave us some really cute little sweets with it. I had a bit of trouble remembering the correct phrases to say before and after drinking the tea, and my legs ached a bit from sitting the correct way, but it was still really fun.

After having tea, we looked around the other rooms in the house a bit, and found out that they hold weddings there. I decided to buy some postcards to send my family before we left too, as it was such a lovely experience and all the staffs were very friendly.

The first trip I went on with the school was a trip to a Yusentei Koen for a tea ceremony.

Apparently, the Kuroda family—one of the strongest samurai families in Japan—own the house and use it as their summer house. I’ve always wanted to go to a traditional Japanese mansion, and I’m so happy I got to go there.

It was so peaceful and beautiful and there were gorgeous green trees everywhere.

Also, there is a pond with colorful koi fish swimming around. Our class was given a packet with little round greenish brown things inside for us to feed to the koi. Some of the koi fish ate directly out of people’s hands! It was super cool to see. Naturally, I wanted to try it myself but the fish wouldn’t swim near me…

That’s okay though, because before the tea ceremony started, I fed a pigeon out of my hand. I had my hand held out with food in it, and I didn’t think the pigeons would actually land in my hand and peck food out of it. I thought they were shy. I guess I was wrong. It was so much fun though! After that, the pigeons kept hopping after us on the trail hoping for more food, but we had none.

The tea ceremony itself was very refreshing and relaxing.

Sipping tea while overlooking the koi pond was such an amazing experience and I’m very happy I got a chance to visit the Yusentei Koen during my trip to Japan.

Yesterday’s activity making ramen and gyoza was so much fun.

I have eaten ramen and gyoza many times and I have previously only cooked the instant ramen and frozen gyoza. This was the first time making ramen and gyoza from scratch. After this experience, I want to buy a pasta maker. Explanation for cooking the ramen and gyoza was in Japanese and I could understand most of it, so it was a really good listening practice.

Yesterday, there were some middle school students on a field trip at the cooking school and I was able to speak to some of the students and teacher in Japanese. I was glad to get to practice speaking with people outside of my NILS classmates and teachers at the cooking school.

Overall, this was a very memorable experience.

Yesterday, our field trip was to a cooking class. The name of the cooking school was Child’s Kitchen and it definitely was true to the name. Everything was extremely low to the ground. So halfway through cooking, my back started aching badly. I still had a lot of fun though. I enjoyed learned how to cook in Japanese. There was a Japanese elementary school class learning at the same time. They were the most well-behaved gradeschoolers I’ve ever seen.

In America if you’re going somewhere and you see a bunch of gradeschoolers, your whole trip is ruined. I would actually go as far as to say I don’t mind them being there. I only wish that my classmates didn’t only speak in Japanese when it was required. I’m like the only one who wants to speak in only Japanese. Other than barely speaking any Japanese the whole trip, I had a lot of fun. And, of course, the food we made was delicious.

We took another enjoyable and edifying excursion into Hakata culture.

Hirose sensei helped us understand the historical and cultural basis for the upcoming Yamakasa Matsuri (Festival) through her introduction at school and then at the museum and the shrine.

The exhibits at the museum were terrific and the video showed us what to expect on July 15th when the Matsuri concludes with a big bang at 4:58am!!

To see the shrine to which all the floats circle was also an added treated.

Great day!!

This week’s trip was to Furusatokan and the Kushida-Jinja. The museum showcases life and culture of Hakata, mainly of the Meiji and Taisho eras. It was interesting to see how life in hakata used to be. We then watched a fifteen minute video on an upcoming festival that was also going to be one of our field trips. After the museum we went next door where they had multiple looms for making Obi. The climax of the trip was supposed to be us attempting to use the loom. For me, it felt completely lack-luster. The lady taught us how to use the machine, and we each got to use the loom for about 1 minute each. I found it more interesting to watch a professional work on her own complicated loom, than use the simple loom myself.

After browsing the gift shop, we went across the street to Kushida-Jinja. By this point, I’ve been to four shrines in the Fukuoka region; so if the shrine doesn’t have anything to separate it from other shrines. We were at the shrine for probably 10 minutes, and then we left. Overall, the trip was fun.

Tanabata is the Star Festival held on July 7. It is based on the legend in which two stars in love, Altair and Vega, who are split apart on opposite sides of the Milky Way, are allowed to meet once a year on this night by the Emperor of the universe.

Sasa kazari 

In old days, people prayed to become clever with their hands on this day. This custom remains today. People write down their wishes on strips of poetry paper in five different colors and hang them on branches of bamboo trees.

We introduce this culture to the short program students and teach them how to write their wishes in Japanese.