Anyways, I thought I would write a little about the food we eat. A typical breakfast for us is breakfast sandwiches ( toast, eggs, sausage, cabbage, peppers, cucumbers, and onions.) They are pretty delicious. Every once in a while someone will fix french toast, which is delicious. In Japan they only have a couple of types of cold cereal ( mostly cornflakes) but they are expensive so we don't buy them.
For lunch and dinner we usually have fried rice, rice and curry, or udon ( noodles) with a sauce and vegetables. Pretty boring, but surprisingly delicious. Last p-day a member fixed us king crab. It was so good! Some other good things I have had are tonkatsu (fried chicken, sort of) Japanese bread, and most Japanese candy.
And now, some nuances of living in Japan: Genkan: in every house/apartment. You always take off your shoes before entering. Short ceilings/doors: I have to duck through nearly every door because they are about 5'10" and I'm 6')". Also, the ceilings are only about 71/2 ft. tall. Futons: everyone sleeps on them. No real beds. They are quite warm and similar in softness to a stiff bed. But I sleep just fine on them. Sorted trash: we have 2 garbage cans/ burnable and non burnable. Plus glass, milk cartons, and a few other things are separate. Way annoying. Everything is expensive--housing, food, clothes, everything. They don't seem to have sales. It is hard to find high quantities of low quality foods for cheap. Too bad for me. No cheap snack food. Perfectionism: The Japanese people are very particular about how everything looks ( except their apartments.) For example, the bread they use for the Sacrament has the crust cut off and is cut into strips before making it;s way onto the Sacrament table. so preparing the Sacrament takes about 5 seconds because everything is already prepped. Snow: snow is awesome, but riding bikes in the snow is not awesome. What would normally be a 10 minute stroll becomes a 30 minute non stop workout. No fun!
Life here in Japan is good. The weather is cold, usually just under freezing and we have quite a bit of snow. church here is mostly the same as in Utah, except there are a lot fewer members. Missionary work is hard and we get rejected a ton. Everyone here claims to be Buddhist, but few of them actually believe it...most people just say it. Few people believe in God so we spend a lot of time testifying that God exists.
When we go to people's homes, everyone kneels ( seiza is the Japanese way) around a short table. Since we are foreigners they always tell us to sit cross-legged. Well, I am not at all flexible, so I can't get my knees close to the ground when I sit cross legged. it is sort of problematic ( most just awkward) but I will survive.
In response to your Valentine's question, yes they celebrate it here. It is probably a bigger holiday here than in the states. Little kids don't do Valentines, though. It's sort of more serious here. and on March 14 ( a month after Valentine;s Day ) is White Day. On V-day guys give stuff to girls, and on White Day girls give stuff to guys. Pretty weird stuff.
