Holidays: Impromptu

Yesterday was my last Japanese class of 2010. Since we had dinner with the teachers on Thursday Dec 17, 2009, I didn’t expect anything of import on Tuesday. After all, it was only a class before a break and not the end of a session.

The evening started off innocent enough, if odd. The Raffies were not present and the cultural center was unnaturally silent. After greeting the person behind the desk, I inquired if there was a class. To my intense relief he indicated in the positive. I then remarked how “…empty…” the place was, he counter-remarked with “and QUIET”. I burst out laughing and the laughter was swallowed by the overpowering silence. I move to one of the accustomed waiting posts and sat to practice my kanji. I sat close to the classrooms and I could hear lessons, it was a nice murmur amidst the silence. After a while, I was joined by another student who also marveled at the silence and fell to something more interesting.

Moments later, the silence was shattered. The Raffies had arrived.

For the next five minutes, the silence did not return to the cultural center and for all I know the noise remained out there when I entered my classroom. It was a typical class day.

I entered my classroom and awaited the half of the Raffies that is in my class, the other students and the teacher. I got comfortable and was guessing much work wouldn’t get done. I was wrong, but that was beside the point.

The teacher walked in with mini-cupcakes from Crumbs, saying it was a shame that one of the students who constantly brought a cookie to share from the same place was absent. She offered the amazing cupcakes and ran out to get napkins. While she was gone, one of the students pulled cookies out of his bag and offered them to the class. To our astonishment, another student pulled out cans of soda and offered them as well. Our teacher returned and saw the additional food and drink. She wondered if it would be okay to open the soda. I wasn’t gonna wait. I initiated the impromptu party by opening my can.

Kampai! we called when the teacher shut the door.

After a few moments, the lesson started as usual and it was actually productive. I wonder…. should we always start our classes with impromptu parties? It certainly worked for me

Merry Christmas, Minna-san!

Tags: japanese, memories, party

About Me: Apple Cider Vinegar and Fruit

I was talking with a co-worker and I realised that my family changed a lot more than I thought previously whenever I wanted something and they could comply. For example: Apple Cider Vinegar

It wasn’t all cut and dried. I didn’t one day walk up to my mother and say “I want Apple Cider Vinegar”.  No, it all started with Girl Scouts, the source of many changes in my life.

We were doing some kind of badge work that involved ‘Salt, sweet, sour, etc’ My Leader brought in some interesting things, including a common saltine, a jar of home-pickled cauliflower, and a kiwi.  I am certain there were other things, but these are what I remember because I never had anything other than pickles that were ‘pickled’ up until that point and the kiwi was weird, another thing I hadn’t had until then.  I remember the room we were meeting in and I remember my surprise at finding that I liked the cauliflower that way.

I went home and told mom about these new things. That night I grabbed some cauliflower and poured vinegar all over it.  I wanted my brothers to taste this amazing thing. I never got the same flavor, but that didn’t matter. My brothers and I started doing this all the time.  We learned that we LOVED carrots dipped in vinegar.  When my mother realised this trend was NOT going away, she resigned herself to keeping Vinegar in the house. But White Vinegar was not good for people, she found this out and started us on Apple Cider Vinegar. We were skeptical, but she insisted we try it… and that was the beginning of an Apple Cider Vinegar obsession. We liked the other vinegars, but Apple Cider was the best. It didn’t just stay with us kids either. Eventually, my brothers and I started finding other ways to prepare various veggies with vinegar and served them, my father even went so far as to try making various coleslaws with these marinations. Some 15 years after our obsession with this condiment, my mother happened across a book about the health benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar.  She laughed, bought the book and we have it as proof that we really do like what is good for us.

About a week or two after the vinegar thing started, mom finally brought Kiwis home. We served it to my brothers and my father… and once again started a trend. We didn’t become obsessed with kiwi per se… what it started was a trend of “If this weird fruit tastes this good… what about THAT weird fruit…”  We started buying whatever weird fruits we ran across and did a family tasting of it. In various forms, twenty-some years later… this is still a trend in the family. One brother travels, he tastes weird fruits and veggies all the time. When he finds stuff he likes, he sends it our way. And one of the strangest things one can find out about our family… we can’t get enough brussel sprouts. Every Christmas and Thanksgiving, we practically go broke trying to get enough brussel sprouts on the table. This has been a case for decades. As children we fought if we didn’t get the same amount of brussel sprouts.

Well, that is just another weird fact. Until Next time!

Tags: food, girl scouts, memories