The first one is called Setsubun. It is celebrated on February 3rd by throwing beans into and out of your house. Why, you ask? Throwing the beans outside while yelling "oni ha soto" symbolizes banishing the bad luck from your house. The opposite goes for throwing the beans into your house: all the good luck flows into your house by saying, "Fuku ha uchi!" :) This holiday gets even better because you get to eat giant sushi rolls called, "Ehoumaki." I went to my favorite local yakitori place and made my own ehoumaki! Because it's a yakitori restaurant, instead of filling the roll with raw fish, we filled it with minced meat! lol It was a lot of fun to make and delicious to eat!
Putting in the rice~
The final product! :) Yum!
The next holiday that came up was Valentine's Day! In Japan, people celebrate Valentine's Day with the girls giving boys chocolates. A lot of the girls hand-make their chocolates. So my friend, Abby, and I decided to take part in the fun and make chocolates of our own! :) It was a tasty adventure~!
The chocolate making kit we used
We even decorated the first batch!
Finished product was wrapped in cute bags to give out to friends :)
Finally, my last adventure of the break was strawberry picking with my host family! We travelled by bus to Wakayama Prefecture and visited not only a strawberry picking farm, but an ume-pickled plum- farm as well! It was a long, tiring, but very fun day.
White plum blossoms
Adorable red blossoms
The strawberries were so juicy and yummy!
After seeing the plum blossoms, I'm excited to see what the cherry blossoms will look like! Everything in Japan has been absolutely beautiful, so I'm sure the cherries will be gorgeous as well.
School has started up again for Winter Intensive courses, so I've become quite busy! Classes are interesting and fun, and everyday is an adventure full of amazing people and memories! Super excited for what lies ahead~ :D
