Natalie

One of my friends left from Indianapolis yesterday.
She is from Martinique. It is the Island in the eastern Caribbean Sea and it is an overseas department of France. She took the internship program at the company my husband works with. We met each other 5 month ago. Her first language is of course French, but she can speak English fluently because she taught English in Martinique. She had worked weekdays, so we sometimes spent the weekend talking and drinking.
Actually she is a young beautiful girl, especially the color of her eyes is attractive. I did not know any people from the Caribbean Islands when I was in Japan, so I learned many things about the Caribbean from her. I learned the word 'Creole' when I was a junior high school student, but it was just a word and I had forgotten the meaning of it. She explained me what 'Creole' is and showed me some Creole cuisine recipes. They often use fish, bananas and coconuts and lime. She also said there are many kinds of tasty rum in Martinique. hm mm... I have to try them! I did not understand French words of the recipes, so she will send me one of her favorite recipes by email.

She went back to France where her mother lives. I think she had good experiences and learned a lot here. I wish her happiness and believe we will meet some day. I miss you so much, Natalie!

Trip to Santa Fe Vol.2

I felt much during this trip to Santa Fe, especially about the Native American.
I visited some "pueblos", the Native American reservations, and some feelings did not leave from my head.
I did not know much about the Native American culture and history, so I read some articles about them after I came back home. I learned each tribe had had many tragic stories in different ways after the settlers arrived. They had many battles to keep their lives from outsiders, but they lost their families, lands and ways of life.

It was interesting for us to see and know their traditional cultures and practices when I visited their pueblos. On the other hand, I felt it was like a museum. I mean they were not lively. The pueblos are actual villages they live in now, so they are always watched by the tourists curiously. They get the admission fee and sell their handwork to tourists everyday. Is that their natural life? It is OK they are happy under the present situations, but anyway I hope they live naturally outside of tourists' sight. I am just worried that they rely on their incomes from tourists and the government and keep the museum life I imagine. People tend to choose the easy way.

I know in this world everything keeps changing. We keep improving, destroying or repeating over history. The changes are very natural.

My point is I believe they have their unique power given by the unbelievable huge nature of America over centuries. I feel the power from their paints and arts. I just do not want them to lose this precious sense.
This trip was meaningful for me.

Trip to Santa Fe

Hiro and I went to Santa Fe and the suburbs during the Memorial Day weekend.
On Friday night we took the 8 p.m. flight to Albuquerque, and rented a car there. We stayed at a hotel near the airport at night. Next morning we enjoyed seeing many hot air balloons in the sky. They were very colorful and pretty against the clear blue sky. I had never known Albuqurque is famous for the balloons.

We visited many places and the weather was pretty good during this trip. On the way driving to destinations, we enjoyed the spectacular landscape. It was indescribable, and I felt the power of mother earth.

Next time I am going to write about my feelings for Native American reservations.

golf

I went to play golf with my husband last Sunday. It was the first time for me to play the 18-hole course. It was a nice day and the green grass was beautiful.

There is a 9- hole course behind our apartment, so we sometimes practice at the driving range and play the 9-hole course. He began to play golf here and I began to go with him. He looks absorbed in golf, but I can not understand the fun yet.

When we go to the half-course, he always says "Don't be depressed when your hit is not good, OK?" I always answer "Yes, OK!" But I always go mad during playing. I hate myself doing like that but I can't stop it. Every time I think it is going to be better next time, but so far it is not.

Anyway last Sunday I tried to play 18-hole course. He asked the same question as usual and I answered yes. His condition was very good, but mine was getting lower from the 7th hole. Though I was depressed as usual, I could change my mood from the 10th hole and could enjoy playing. My score was awful, you can imagine, but I enjoyed very much.

It looked easy to play golf before, but now I understood how difficult to cup in with a few hits and to keep concentration during the whole holes. I hope I can understand the fun someday.

Ole!

I went to The Children's Museum to see the performances of my flamenco class on April 29. I did not perform this time, because I could not do some of the dances. I should practice more!

At the museum there was the event of "El Dia de los Ninos". It means "The day of Children". It was crowded with many families and I could hear Spanish everywhere. There was no admission fee for the event, and we could see many Latin performances there. My flamenca members had performed 3 stages. I saw the last one, and they were great! I felt everyone enjoyed seeing it.

Music and dances are very interesting. Every culture has their own music and dances, and people live with the rhythm which has run through the culture for a long time. They have changed little by little but the roots still remain.

I was happy to feel their pride of the culture, and I was impressed with their energetic spirits.

Surprise!

My husband, Hiro, gave a surprise birthday party for me last Saturday. I was totally surprised because I did not think he was that type of a guy, and I knew he was going to be busy for the next week. I felt very happy with his sweet plan and very thankful to our friends who came together with us.

I am going to show you his lovely plan here.

He had invited some friends and told them about the party. A week before the day, he told me he had made a promise to go to play golf with his friends on Saturday and have dinner together. Actually he did not play golf. He asked Koji for his help and prepared for the party. Yuri called me before the day and she took me out for shopping while they prepared it. Hiro and Koji prepared everything at our apartment and some friends came together. When Yuri and I came back home, 6 people were waiting for us and said "Happy Birthday!" to me. I could not understand what happened at first, and his plan succeeded!

Fabrice made lasagna for the party. It was very nice! Hiro cooked homemade chili by himself. He searched the recipe on a website and managed to cook it. Yuri had baked and brought a sponge cake, and Hiro decorated it before it was served. Hi did good job! He also cleaned up perfectly after all of our friends left.

It might be one of the happiest days in my life.

Thank you for Koji, Yuri, Fabrice, Natalie, Chiao, Megumi, Dan and of course my sweetheart Hiro!

roll the cake...

and finish! (Koji & Hiro)

Baby Shower

We had Erica's baby shower last Saturday. Men were welcomed at the party, so I went there with my husband. Erica is the teacher of my flamenco class. Her second boy is coming at the beginning of May. It might be "Cinco de Mayo". He has already had the name "Diego" chosen for him. Her first boy began to call him that and they have decided to name him Diego. What a sweet story!

The shower was very nice. Some of her students prepared and decorated everything. I was amazed at their artistic sense. We spent time talking, eating and dancing with many people.

I am always surprised that Erica still teaches us every Tuesday night. Erica and Diego dance together, so he will be a good dancer. I like her dancing and character very much. She is cute and her dancing is attractive. When I practice flamenco dancing in my room, I sometimes look at myself in a mirror to check my movement. I always imagine her dancing, but it is difficult to get it.

We all are looking forward to seeing Diego soon!

Cinnamon

I had visited Aki's house for a week to take care of her rabbit for about two hours a day with Manami and Minori. Aki and her husband had to be away from home but her husband came back today.

The rabbit's name is "Cinnamon" and he is a very good boy. He knows enough to pee in the right place. He does not like to be held but he followed me as if to say "play with me". How cute he is!

I was surprised at the action the first time. I think that was because of my former experience. I had had a rabbit, his name was "Happy", in Japan and he was not so friendly. He was always self-conscious and went his own way. I wonder if his character was caused by our way of bringing him up. But he was very much loved by my family and I sometimes remember and miss him.

Anyway I think Cinnamon and I have become good friends!



I am Cinnamon!

Feeling of Istanbul

I went to a Turkish restaurant, the "Istanbul Cafe", with my friends for lunch. The restaurant opened recently in the complex at 86th and Ditch.
I tried the 'adana kebab' which was skewered herbed ground lamb and beef grilled. It was spicy and delicious. We ordered different dishes, so we could try a bite each of them. The 'stuffed cabbage rolls' was my favorite.

Do you know Turkish food is one of the big three cuisines of the world? Others are Chinese and French (or Italian). I am sorry Japanese is not one of them. I love Japanese food because it has a variety of dishes throughout the four seasons. People would hesitate to taste strange foods for themselves, so I hope Japanese food will become more popular in the world. Sometimes I feel happy because I can eat everything. (I am not sure about strange foods for me like snakes or insects...) Of course I enjoy American food now.

Now spring has come and it is the time to eat and drink out!

Chicago

I went to Chicago with my husband last weekend.
We stayed there for the Saturday night.

It had been so cold and windy that we gave up walking around downtown.
If it had been warm and sunny, we could have enjoyed window shopping and the view of the beautiful buildings.
It was the third time we visited Chicago. We enjoyed The Art Institute of Chicago and the view from the upper floor of the John Hancock Center last time. Chicago has many beautiful buildings and I like the view.

This time we went to IKEA, a swedish store, and we got some dishes, laundry stuff and swedish foods. IKEA's cinnamon rolls are my favorite sweets. They cost only one dollar each, but the taste is very good!
We also went to Mitsuwa. It is the biggest Japanese grocery store in the Midwest. we enjoyed shopping and ate Sushi and Ramen noodles at the food court.

On the way driving back to Indianapolis, we found a good place for taking a rest. It was Fair Oaks Farms and we could taste the delicious icecream. I tried the chocolate and the strawberry flavors. I recomend you to try the chocolate one. It was very rich... (actually I love icecrem and I always choose strawberry. But this time the chocolate one was better!)
If you have a chance to visit, try them! You can find it about half way between Indianaporis and Chicago along I-65 (Exit 220).

snow snow

Last week we had a Winter Storm here.
I had never experienced such heavy snow in my life.
I admired the snowscape from the window, it was amazing!

In Tokyo, there are some snow days in winter time, but the quality and quantity of the snow is totally different from here. It is more humid in Tokyo. Here it is powdery and I like it.
But my English teacher, Frank, told me they have the humid snow here, too. Such a snow ruins our power, because some of them are on or above the ground and they can not stand the weight of the humid snow. It sounds terrible..

My husband suffered from the snow this time.
On St. Valentine's Day he had to go to N.Y. for a business trip.
He checked his flight on the website. The schedule had not changed at that time, so he arrived at the airport at 6:00 a.m.
As you might guess, he had to stay there for 12 hours before he could catch the flight to Philadelphia and he arrived in N.Y. the next morning.

I tried to make aprons and pouches while I could not go out because of the snow.
Here they are. I want to give them to special friends!

SUPER COLTS!!!

Finally they made it! We are the Champions!
Congratulations for Colts players, coaches and all Colts fans!

I watched the game at Chuck's house with his family and neighbors.
(about Chuck, his company is in partnership with my husband's one. He sometimes invites us to his house. I am very thankful for his family's hospitality..)
It was raining heavily in Miami, so we always felt uneasy during the game.
It was sorry we could not see Manning's amazing long passes because of the rain, but we could feel players' excitement and patience.
I know it is only a little I know about football, but I was moved very much.

Oh, you might feel strange we Japanese are exited for the Colts.
My husband loves all kinds of sports especially ball games, so he has known the Colts on TV since he was a student.
For me, actually I did not know much about football until I came here.
At my first winter, I was surprised people here were so exited about the Colts, so I started to watch and try to understand the game.
Now I hope I am one of the Colts fans!

Viva Indianapolis, Colts Banzai!!!

Happy Birthday!

Last Saturday, I went to Beverly's birthday party with my husband.
I met Beverly at the International Festival at Indiana State Fair Grounds.
We are involved in volunteer work at the Japanese booth.
She had stayed in Japan for her job, so she can speak and read Japanese. Her husband had stayed in Japan, too. I am happy they like Japan!

Because Super Bowl was on the following day, we could see 'COLTS' and 'Blue' signs everywhere on the way to their house. We were so exited about it!

The party was named "Dessert Party". I like the idea. It sounds cute!
I was surprised that her husband had made all of the delicious desserts and tapas plates.
The party was lovely and warm. We enjoyed talking with their friends.

Love Beverly and Happy Birtheday!

Here we go!

How are you, friends?
I am so exited to start this diary.

Actually this is a part of my English lesson.
I am Japanese and have lived here in Indiana, U.S.A. since Oct. 2005.

I am going to write what I think or feel here.
Dear friends, if you find any mistakes in my diary, let me know!
You could be a good teacher for me.

Please feel free to leave messages, thanks!