While living in America, I never ate oysters.  This is mostly because no one in my family liked them much.  I always loved seafood of all types, though.  Shrimp was my favorite.

After moving to Japan, I was served kaki fry, or fried oysters.  These were delicious.  I have enjoyed eating kaki fry every winter, when they are in season.  This year, I was invited to go to Mie ken, which is known for oyster bars.  You can sit at a table with a grill and eat all the oysters you want for 1 hour.  What a treat!  

So we drove to Mie to eat oysters.  It was about a 3 hour drive.  When we got close to the oyster bar, the roads became mountainous, with lots of dangerous, winding roads.  We finally arrived, and were seated quickly because we had reservations.

The workers had to show us how to grill and eat the oysters.  I didn’t know how long they needed to be cooked, I didn’t want to under or over cook them.  I ate tons of oysters and got very fat.  I’m happy to have the experience of eating oysters in Mie ken.  i would recommend it to everyone.

みなさんこんにちは。

ハローズでは毎年春休みに、高校生を対象に

「Spring Break in America」というアメリカ研修のプログラムがあり、

今年は18人の高校生が参加してくれます。

事前に出発前研修を行っていて、

自己紹介や日本文化の紹介の仕方を練習しています。

At the start of each new year, in lieu of a resolution, I experiment with making small, specific changes to my lifestyle. If the changes become habit, I usually stick with them. If they’re bothersome, I give them up. I suppose this seems a little wishy-washy when compared with the firm resolutions of others, but I personally find putting less pressure on myself usually means I can view these sudden lifestyle changes as fun challenges and thus get better results. For example, one year, I tried going vegan, basically expecting to give it up after a month or two. But five years later, I was still at it!

This year my experiment is avoiding elevators and escalators. By taking the stairs each day, I’m hoping I can gain at least a tiny bit more strength and endurance. So far, it’s been working well (although when I visited some friends who lived in a 14th floor apartment they refused to let me take the stairs… and one was a doctor, so I figured I couldn’t argue!). Since I have a fourth-floor apartment, and two of my classes during the week are five stories up, it’s made for a small but palpable increase in my exercise. I hope I can keep it up! 

It can sometimes prove rewarding to rethink our habits or tendencies. I hope those of you reading can experiment with changing something small in your life, too. To be honest, there is one other lifestyle change I’m trying to make, but I won’t write about it here. If you’re interested in what it is, please ask me and maybe I’ll tell you! 

Ryan

現在、サッカーアジア杯が開催されていますね。

個人的にはサッカーが好きなのですごく結果が気になるところです。

日本も今のところ順調に勝ち進み、ベスト8まで進んでいます。

来週の金曜日には決勝戦が行われるので、

そこまでなんとか順調に勝ち進んでほしいですね。

Hey y’all!

   Next week, Emily, Michael and I head to Hanoi, Vietnam for our end of January vacation. Over the course of that week, there are a million different things we would like to do such as eat pho and banh mis’, but I’m most excited for the historical aspect of our visit. A lot of Southeast Asian culture took place in Vietnam and getting to see all that in person will be absolutely amazing. For example, seeing how French architecture and Asian architecture come together as one. Hanoi also lays claim to be the birthplace of pho which is a staple Vietnamese and South Asian dish. We also plan to go to Le Van Huu eatery to eat and see where former US President Barack Obama and world renowned chef Anthony Bourdain once shared a meal together.

   I think regardless of what we do in the end, the trip will be absolutely fantastic. It will be a great time in a new place, with awesome food and with great friends. What more could you ask for?

    Have a great break y’all and see you in class!

Sam