Hey y’all!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year again! Even though I’ve lived here for almost four years, I never went out and bought a Christmas tree. Honestly, I never wanted to store it for the majority of the year so that’s why I never bought one. So this year I decided to improvise and purchase this tree on a sheet! I think is looks faaaaaaaaaaabulous and ICONIC. What do y’all think?

Hello everyone! It’s starting to get colder so I hope you are staying warm. I’m really excited about winter! Even though I don’t like feeling super cold, I love to be cozy during the winter season. Big blankets and sweaters, warm drinks, and maybe SNOW! I noticed that some of the mountains around Ogaki had some snow on them this weekend. Coming from a place that doesn’t have much snow, I love seeing this!

Hope you’re getting ready for winter too! See you in class!

多くの中学校や高校で定期テストの時期なのではないでしょうか。

そしてテストと同じ時期ですが今年度最後の英検の申し込みも始まっています。

機会があれば、どんどん英検も受けてみてはどうでしょうか。

Autumn has many autumnal flavors we are all obliged to indulge in. Pumpkin. Pumpkin spice. Gingerbread (which is just pumpkin spice but more ginger). (Also, the association between pumpkin and pumpkin spice is so strong that people think they’re the same thing.)

Okay, maybe there aren’t very many flavors after all.

But I do enjoy that one flavor that we have! And since I can’t import my usual canned pumpkin due to supply chain issues, I’ll have to make due with pumpkin spice with extra ginger–also known as gingerbread.

This is why I made gingerbread men this month. 1) They’re nostalgic. Not because my family habitually makes gingerbread men–absolutely not! We are a lazy drop cookie family. Gingerbread men are a cutout cookie and much more fussy as a result. But before I moved to Japan, I’d discovered a pumpkin gingerbread cookie recipe that I adored and still adore. I can’t do the pumpkin version thanks to the aforementioned supply chain issues, but I can do the gingerbread half of that equation! Thus fulfilling my nostalgic itch. 2) They’re pumpkin spice but with extra ginger. I’m American. I am addicted to this spice. Enough said. 3) They’re delicious. Can’t go wrong with pumpkin spice on that front. And 4) they’re gingerbread men, which means I can bite their heads off. This is the only appropriate way to eat a gingerbread man, after all.

This poor gingerbread man was named Jeremy. He was delicious.