Welcome to week 6!  This week was action-packed: a midterm exam, a visit to a local elementary school, meeting my host father for the first time…and the rest I will share in this post! There is also a video this week of historic/traditional Japanese houses, so be sure to check it out…

First off, I had a blast after my midterm on Friday by meeting a lot of Kanazawa University students! Many of the KU students were already familiar (from the language tables and other KU events), but I also got the chance to make new friends through playing soccer and volleyball.  The next day, I went back to KU to eat Nagashi Somen…it’s just like eating normal noodles, but they’re traveling down a bamboo slide, and you have to catch them with your hashi (chopsticks).  It requires teamwork because if the person up front is really hungry, they won’t let the noodles get to the poor person at the bottom 🙁

I hope to spend more time getting to know the KU students, especially because they are とても優しい ! (very nice/kind people)

In fact, I invited about 10 PII students and Tokumon-San from KU to watch Jurassic World with me (Japan’s opening day was Friday), and it really got me thinking about how cool it would be to bring back the dinosaurs.

I was taken to a different era in history when I met my host father (who works on Okinawa), and learned about Okinawa’s native culture, his 三線 (sanshin, Okinawa’s version of the more famous, guitar-like Shamisen), and the Yonaguni Monument (of which I had heard of from a documentary—a fascinating mystery!).

After Karaoke and a bunch of tasty meals, from Okonomiyaki to Japanese-Italian food, I was lucky to be able to hand-make soba noodles!  But before I get to that process, here are some pics from Karaoke…

Now to the soba noodle making! I wasn’t that happy to wake up so early, but after a beautiful drive to a place called Yuwaku Onsen, I felt a bit rejuvenated from the historic feel.

First, buckwheat flour and wheat flour are mixed (not kneaded, yet) with some water, by hand.

Next, after more water and mixing, the dough is kneaded into various shapes and forms.

After thoroughly kneading, the dough is patted with a roller, so that it is stretched to at least 30cm in diameter.

Now, the dough is finally rolled into a pizza-like sheet to create an even layer.  After this, the dough is lightly folded (using starch to prevent sticking), to prepare for cutting.

The folded dough layers are then cut, which finalizes the shape of the soba.  The dough was cleverly folded so that with a single slice, a clean, uniform noodle can be achieved.

After cutting, the noodles are gathered, and placed into a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes and 10 seconds.  Immediately after, the noodles are washed under cold water.

After soba broth and garnishings (diced onions, wasabi, daikon, etc.) are added, the fresh and tasty noodles are ready to enjoy! いただきます！

With full bellies, my host family and I took a walk around the Yuwaku Onsen area, and there happened to be traditional Japanese houses.  Both the temperature and humidity were high, but I managed to make a video of the experience.  I am fascinated by the traditional architecture, and as you watch the video, be sure to notice the tatami mats, style of roofing, and layout/design/partitioning of the rooms!

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO!!!