Missing Hawaii...

Like we have been saying for the past several months, it's getting cold. This week we are just about at freezing temperature with Wednesday at a high of 39 degrees. We are really missing Hawaii now. Not only because of the cold weather here, but we were also fortunate to be invited to a Hula performance this past Monday by one of the members in a neighboring branch, Sister Tsuji. Although she is Japanese, she loves the Hawaiian culture and actually manages a bunch of schools that teach the Hula to people here in Japan. Watching many of her students let our minds wander back to the memories of tropical weather, music and dance.

They danced inside this restaurant and it was really small. However, they did a really good job and it was fun to just reminisce in the music and mood.

To remind us even more of home, we decided to cook up some burritos/tacos this week. Instead of spending something like $8 on 8 tortillas, we made some easy tortillas from flour, salt, milk, baking powder and oil. They were super easy to make and tasted really good.

They were really awesome! Doesn't it look like it came from the store?

Every now and then I get asked to do American presentations to elementary and junior high schools to teach intercultural understanding. This past week I was invited to an elementary school that seemed like it didn't have too many foreign visitors. When I first got to the school, the teachers informed me that the students were very excited for the lesson. I just thought they were saying that to be nice. However, the 3rd graders I taught were full of energy and were constantly asking questions about America, Hawaii, and myself. One of the kids in my first class was so excited to meet me, that he asked for my signature in class. I told him I would sign something after we finished the lesson. After the lesson, I had every single kid line up for my autograph, some kids more than once! I was completely surprised and quietly thought to myself, "so this is what it must be like to be famous." Even the teachers were surprised by how excited the kids were. Definitely a day to remember... the one day I was famous. Haha.

These were a few of the kids. Once I started taking pictures, everyone wanted to be in them so they didn't really turn out that great.

This is one of the three classes that I taught. Just after I took this picture, I jumped right behind that front row in the middle of those girls and another teacher took our picture.

Although we do miss the weather in Hawaii, among other things, we really do love the different kinds of fun and interesting experiences we are having here in Japan. We love you all and hope that this post finds you in good health!