The magic of Fall

Well, the leaves are changing in Japan. The air is crisp, and fall is here. There is something about fall that I love. I have always loved it. I love decorating the house for it, and I love putting on a favorite pair of jeans and a fleece. There is not another season that makes me feel the way fall does. When I walk into our home, I smell the smell of pumpkin pie and fresh apples because there is not a day that goes by that I do not have a candle lit to make it smell good in the house. I asked the boys on the way to school today what their favorite season is. Patrick said Fall, and Matthew said Winter. I am not sure why Matthew said Winter because he has never really been through a real Winter. I think the only snow he would really remember would be at Nana and Papa's house, but even at that, last year we didn't see any while we visited Michigan over the holidays.

Japan's fall reminds me of the midwest. The colors are beautiful. It is amazing to go all the way around the world, yet still have the same seasons as I am use to. It is a small touch of home so far away. What I miss are the pumpkin patches and apple farms. I remember being in Groton, Ct a long time ago in September, October and November. Every mile we drove there was another orchard with maple syrup, fresh apples to pick, and pumpkins galore. I haven't found those here.

This season does not last long enough for me. The day after Halloween, we were in the Daeii (a mall close to the base), and I walked into a store, fully decked out for Christmas, and heard Silent Night playing. I wish this season could last longer, but the fall decorations are down, and now it is red, green, silver, and gold filling the stores. Even the Japanese need to learn to slow down and enjoy the seasons.

I went to Costco yesterday with a friend. A Japanese Costco is quite an experience. They had a lot of similar items that our Costco's have in the states, but they also had some really different looking things. I couldn't convince myself to buy the pizza with shrimp and mayonaise on it. That just did not look appealing to me. Now, I could have spent an hour in the produce department looking at all the neatly packaged fruits and vegetables that looked so fresh and tasty. It amazed me that all the books and cd's were in English. When have you ever gone to a Costco in the states and seen books written in Japanese? And, what kind of food were they selling to eat at the store? They had American pizza, hot dogs, and churros. Exactly the same stuff you would buy in the states. I figured they would have sushi, noodles, etc. It was a fun experience, and I am sure I will go back again soon.

Tomorrow is a big day for Patrick and me. I will be going along on a field trip with his class to a Japanese elementary school. We both have to bring an indoor pair of shoes. They will be serving us Yakisoba (fried noodles and vegetables) for lunch with a mikan (basically a clementine) for dessert. I am excited to go on this, as it is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. We will be spending the entire day at the school, so I am interested to see what we will be seeing and learning. I will write more about this later this week.

Well, that is all for now. I'm off to clean my house.