Winter in Misawa, Japan

We are no strangers to winter, being from Utah, but I did not really miss the snow while we were in Las Vegas for two years.  The kids were excited though.  The first snow fall was in November and luckily,our snow pants had arrived from Amazon a week before. On the gear went and out to the snow.

Sledding with friends in Misawa

We are not skiiers or snowboarders, a fact that shocked the Misawa community because that is all everyone does here. We have really specific goals for our travel and our money and skiing is not in the equation. I do see why it is important to find things to do here in the winter because it is cold, windy, and dark. With Misawa ITT and Outdoor Rec, we had plenty to pick from even though we don't ski (gasp!)  We took a tour to the Hakkoda Snow Monsters with ITT.  We took the ski lift to the top of the mountain where the tree tops were covered in snow, hence the term snow monster.  It was a world of ice up there.

We love the traditional Japanese restaurants that ITT takes us after our adventures

I was able to participate in a Winter Cultural Event, the Chinese New Year.  I am a part of the Misawa Officer Spouses Club and we partner with a group called O'Misawa Wives of Japanese ladies.  We take turns hosting each other for events.  They invited us to a hotel in Misawa and we had lots of food, drink, and entertainment together to ring in the new year.  I got to participate in a regional song played with a spoon and a shovel.  This song is performed all over Aomori Prefecture.

With friends Melissa and Nina

We decided to try our luck with snowshoeing with a guided Outdoor Recreation Tour.  We went at the end of March when most of the snow in Misawa had already melted. In town, people are thinking of the coming spring and Cherry Blossom Festivals. It is still full winter in the Hakkoda Mountain Range.

Bub and Pants did not enjoy the way up the mountain but they had a great time walking through the cushion of powder on the way down.  I think we did winter pretty well!!! 

Cultural Night Tradition- South Korea

South Korea

Date: 3/19/17- I am now current, up to present day!

Guests: Jason Crile

Food: Korean style curry rice https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/curry-rice, Spinach side dish https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sigumchi-namul, kimchi, Mochi balls, and Fish pancakes with red bean filling

Music: Korean Pop Music 

Flag and Geography:https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/south-korea-coloring-page/

Weather or Landscape: Korean country side google image search

Animals: google image search

Language: https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-korean

Architecture: Temples, DMZ, Folk Village

Folk tale/fairy tale: http://dinolingo.com/blog/2011/08/13/popular-korean-folktales-short-stories-for-kids-in-korea-with-video/#.WM6ham997IU Heungboo and Nolbu 흥부와 놀부 

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- Australia 2/12/17

Australia

Date: 2/12/17

Food: Steamed Lime and Pepper chicken with glazed asparagus, fairy bread. We learned about Vegimite but did not have some to taste.

Music: Didgeridoo and Men At Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s

Flag and Geography:https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/australia-coloring-page/

Weather or Landscape: Images of the bush, the rain forests, the desert

Animals: We watched a documentary on Netflix about the wilds of Australia

Language: Australian phrases http://mentalfloss.com/article/61847/25-awesome-australian-slang-terms

Architecture: Sydney Opera House

Famous People: Chris Hemsworth, Nicole Kidman

Traditional clothing: Aboriginals 

Cultural Night Tradition- Greenland 1/14/17

Greenland

Date: 1/14/17- I let the kids just point at the map as we choose new countries.  Some of them have been really difficult and I am not able to find all of our catagories.  We do the best we can!

Food: Traditional Christmas stew Suaasat,  cheesecake with blueberries

Flag and Geography:http://www.crayola.com.au/free-coloring-pages/print/greenland-coloring-page/~/media/Crayola/Coloring%20Page/coloring_pages/1341.gif?mh=762&mw=645

Weather or Landscape: We learned how the ice covered land was misnamed to attract people to live there

Animals: Arctic animals, google search

Language: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/greenlandic.htm

Architecture: Fishing villages

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- Canada 11/19/16

Canada

Date: 11/19/16

Guests: Elder Fowler and Elder Myers

Food: Poutines, Canadian Bacon Burgers, apples and cheese, and Maple Pie

Music: French classical music 

Flag and Geography: http://www.crayola.ca/free-coloring-pages/print/canada-flag-coloring-page/

Language: We discussed phrases used in Canada and voice inflection different from the U.S.

Weather and Landscape google search, Niagra Falls

Architecture: Victoria, Nova Scotia, Halifax, google search

Famous People: Martin Short, Celine Dion, William Shatner

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- Switzerland 10/9/16

Switzerland

Date: 10/9/16

Food: Swiss steak, cheese fondue, Toblerone chocolate bars

Music: Yodeling

Flag and Geography: https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/switzerland-coloring-page/

Language: German, French, Italian, Romansh

Landscape: Swiss Alps google search

Architecture: Swiss villages google search

Folk tale/fairy tale: Watched Heidi on Netflix

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- Madagascar 9/24/16

Madagascar

Date: 9/24/16

Food: Pork noodle dish, coconut bread, mango bread pudding, tomato vegetable dish

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A20HtiLBBs&list=RDQMq5e0mjyQgb4

Flag and Geography:http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/madagascar-coloring-page/

Weather or Landscape: Rainforests

Animals: Documentary on Netflix, Wild Madagascar

Language: Malagasy and French http://ilanguages.org/malagasy.php

Traditional clothing: 

Cultural Night Tradition- India 4/17/16

India

Date: 4/17/16

Guests: Christie and Lilly Bloom

Food: Red lentil soup, naan, cucumber and mint salad, roasted grapes and carrots, Halwa dessert

Music: Bollywood

Flag and Geography:https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/india-coloring-page/

Language:https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-hindi

Architecture: Taj mahal, Napal

Landscape: Mt. Everest

Activity: Kid yoga

Traditional clothing: 

Cultural Night Tradition- Japan 2/27/16

Japan

Date: 2/27/16 We held this night as we were getting excited to move to Japan.  Now it is Japan night every night!

Food: Gyoza, sticky rice, Asian salad mix, ice cream mochi

Music: Traditional Japanese folk music

Flag and Geography:https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/japan-coloring-page/

Language: https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-japanese

Architecture: Snow festival in Sapporo, temples and shrines, Misawa Air Base

Folk tale/fairy tale: The legend of the Beckoning Cat

Traditional clothing: 

Cultural Night Tradition- Germany 1/24/16

Germany

Date: 1/24/16

Guests: Sally, Matt, and Melodie Hamm

Food: German pancakes, bratwurst, black forest cupcakes

Music: German Polka music (there may have been some dancing involved as well)

Flag and Geography:http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/germany-coloring-page/

Weather or Landscape: Google search for German country side

Language:https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-german

Architecture: Castles, Berlin wall, villages, google search

Folk tale/fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- Mexico 11/1/15

Mexico

Date: 11/1/15- Dia de los muertos.  I might have started this whole tradition just so I could have an excuse to celebrate this holiday.  I love the costumes, and sugar skulls, and the tradition of celebrating the dead with a party

Guests: Gayle Kartchner aka Moot and Grandma Gayle

Food: Fajitas, Mexican rice, salad, corn, Mexican nectars 

Music: Mariachi music

Flag and Geography: https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/mexico-coloring-page/

Language:https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-spanish

Architecture: Google search

Folk tale/fairy tale: Books about Dia de los muertos traditions

Art:

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- Egypt 8/23/15

Egypt

Date: 8/23/15

Guests: Grant, Christie, and Lilly Bloom

Food: Pitas and hummus, Nile River lentil soup, Egyptian beans and carrots, couscous with sun dried tomatoes and olives

Music: Egyptian folk music

Flag and Geography:http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/egypt-coloring-page/

Language:https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-arabic-morrocan

Architecture: The pyramids, Cairo

Folk tale/fairy tale: The Egyptian Cinderella, Bear taught us about Egyptian gods and mythology

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- Italy 7/12/15

Italy

Dates: 7/12/15

Food: Lasagna, garlic bread, veges, Tiramisu

Music: Puccini

Flag and Geography:https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/italy-coloring-page/

Language:https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-italian

Architecture: Venice, Rome, the Vatican

Traditional clothing: 

Cultural Night Tradition- Brazil 6/28/15

Brazil

Date: 6/28/15

Guests: Christie and Lilly Bloom

Food: Grilled meat kabobs and pineapple spears, lots of fruit, avocado shakes

Music: Zumba music from Brazil

Flag and Geography: https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/brazil-coloring-page/

Weather or Landscape: Images of the rain forest on google search

Animals: Animals in the rain forest on google search

Language:https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-portuguese

Architecture: Images of Rio google search

Folk tale/fairy tale: We watched Rio on Netflix

Famous People: Brazilian football players

Traditional clothing: Images from Carnival

Cultural Night Tradition- China 5/17/15

China

Date: 5/17/15
Food: Panda Express take out (ha ha, best night ever!  No prep, minimal clean up)

Music: Traditional Chinese folk music

Flag and Geography: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/china-coloring-page/

Language:https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-chinese

Architecture: The Great Wall and other Chinese architecture (google search)

Folk tale/fairy tale: watched Mulan 2 on Netflix

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- France 4/24/15

France

Date: 4/24/15

Guests: Christie and Lilly Bloom

Food: Crepes, croissants, French pastries

Music: Berlioz, Ravel, Saint-Saens, Debussy 

Flag and Geography: https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/france-coloring-page/

Google search for landscape

Architecture: Eiffel Tower, Arc de triomphe, Versaille 

Language: Common phrases taught to us by Christie Bloom

Folk tale/fairy tale: Sleeping Beauty

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- Ireland 3/7/15

Ireland

Date: 3/7/15
Guests: Christie and Lilly Bloom, and Nancy Hunter

Food: Corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, green salad, rolls

Music: Celtic music

Flag and Geography: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e2/a0/71/e2a0710d3014f7237eab038b1ac7deab.jpg

Weather or Landscape: Irish country side, Dublin

Architecture: The tradition of the Blarney Stone

Folk tale/fairy tale: 10 Popular myths from Ireland http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-irish-myths-and-legends.php

Traditional clothing:

Cultural Night Tradition- England 2/22/15

In 2015 I started doing cultural nights for our children. I decided that they were big enough to start eating different foods and learning about different cultures around the world.  We came up with a plan for what we would experience during our evenings: food, music, color the flag, geography, weather, animals, language, architecture, traditional clothing, folk tale/fairy tale, famous people.  I am going to start adding the art from the country as we proceed from now on.  We always joke that we do the best we can with the food. I am not a gourmet and I may not have access to the different spices or seasonings. So, we just make a loose interpretation of the food and cultural aspects based on internet research.  We had a friend over for our most recent cultural night and he was asking us about food that we had chosen for a country that he lived in. I could not remember but I do list things in my journal. I thought it would be a good idea to catalog our home journeys here so that I could post links and pictures in case anyone ever wanted to remember our experience.  So, forgive me for a bit while I take a walk down memory lane.

England

Date: 2/22/15
Food: Fish and Chips, herbal tea, bread pudding
Music: The Beatles
Flag and Geography: https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/england-coloring-page/
Weather or Landscape: The English country side, the moors
Language: Popular phrases like "lou", "bobbies", etc.
Architecture: Big Ben, the London Tower, Buckingham palace
Traditional clothing:

Folk tale/fairy tale: "The Three Sillies"
Famous People: The royal family