ATSUI
Atsui, is my new favorite word here in Japan. I chant it when I walk down the streets of Kashima. It means hot.
Oh lord. Never have I ever been in an environment as physically demanding as Kashima. It's hot. I'm not talking that whimpy warm we have in Minnesota where it generally reaches between late 80's to low 90's with a nice breeze and limited humidity. I'm talking full blow, sweating, dying, dehydrating, and demanding heat. It's a warm wet heat too. So you swim through the air. Makes for pretty fog in the morning though! (I have a view to kill for from my window, the one alongside my bed).
And I thought Florida was hot! Doesn't have an inch on the midday sun I walked under with my host sister and her friends to go to lunch and karaoke with today.
By the way, I'm personally not comfortable with singing in front of near strangers, but this was awesome.
We had lunch together at a restaurant where they separate you into stalls for your group. There's a single table with seating for four, and the table is low to the ground but there is a space to put your legs into while you sit. There's a grill in the center of the table, the heat and intensity can be controlled on the side.
We were given a plate of raw meat and vegetables, cold tea water (delicious), salad, soup, some kind of cucumber dish a lot like potatoes salad, and a plate to hold your spices and sauces. It was awesome.
It turns out I'm pretty good at this Japanese cooking thing. I may not know what I am doing at first, but I usually watch the others and catch the drift of what I should be doing. THANK YOU OBSERVATION LEARNING SKILLS!
I made takiyoki last night with Anri and her friends while we watched Japanese scary movies with her friends and cousins. I have to say, American horror movies are much scarier than their Japanese counter parts, but I was still scared right out of my socks. (Her little cousins, who I have become a playmate of pretty easily. I think gifts, candy, and humoring them helped. They hid behind me, on me, and in my lap. It was pretty funny!) But besides the point, I was able to make those little octopus filled balls pretty easily. It was a lot of fun!
I helped grill the meat and vegetables, god was it good food..... awesome.... just awesome. I forgot how much I have missed the taste of Japan. There really is no words for how delicious it is. I can't put it into the human language, but it just tastes right. It's a good clean taste that I appreciate and have craved for the past three year. ( I love my family's cooking, don't get me wrong, but ohhhhh what I would have done for a green tea ice cream filled pastry....).
After an awesome lunch, many translated and fumbled talks in broken English and choppy Japanese, we got up, entered the hellish heat outside, and made our way down the street to the Karaoke House.
It was so much fun. I was dying by the time we got there, but I made up for it by buying me some Lemon C.C (Japanese sprite mixed with orange juice) and a green tea ice cream filled pastry (holiness swathed in a cheap wrapper that I would do just about anything for, I freakin love the stuff!). I thought I may have been suffering from a heart stroke, but I didn't show any of the major signs. Eh, oh well. I'm alive aren't I?
I sang a few English songs, thank god for the translate button on the console! I was nervous, but Anri's friend encouraged (forced), cheered (really did), and clapped (on beat mind you) as I stumbled out on the first few lines of the first song I chose. Doesn't help they made me go first, but I have to say it was so much fun!
After that, we went back to Anri's house. Died a little on the walk home. Had a snack (usual snack... some sort of dried cracker that tasted like sea and fish). Talked a bit (I didn't do much talking, mainly listend). I took a bath (I fricken love Japanese Ofuro) because I was a nasty mess of stink and sweat. Anri, Okasan, and myself all went to the Rotary meeting.
The heat had gone by then, thank god.
The meeting will be explained in another post, too much to place in this one, and too off topic!
But after the meeting, we went onto the street. The heat.... was BACK. Oh lord, you think that since the sun is down, it would be nice and chilly outside. No. NO. NOOOO. It's around 90 degrees out. I died. I'm not used to this wet heat that makes it feel like an ungodly 107 degrees out! My room... became an oven.
I think my chocolates may have melted... I have yet to check because I'm saving my American snacks for a bad day, not a day when I just have the muchies.
But seriously. It. Is. Hot.
I hide out in rooms where the AC runs. That is the upstairs living room, the downstairs living room, the flower shop on the ground floor (my house has three levels above ground), and my room. Everything else is just space between the mad dash to the next chilled room.
I walked into my bedroom tonight, and started cooking.... sweat instantly beaded even with me just having got out of a chilled bath.
It's hot. ATSUI!
So, until I acclimated to this strange climate, I will be taking two baths a day, washing my face every few hours, and splaying myself on chilled floors.
See You Soon
Mata chikaiuchini
また近いうちに
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