We had not seen Nozomi or Riari for a couple of weeks at this point, so we decided to invite them over for tea and snacks. Because it is so close to Halloween, we gave it a fall/Halloween theme. Mom made apple cider (a drink that they said they had never had before), Dad bought a cake and snake bread (bread shaped like a snake), and Mom had bought pumpkin pudding from Costco the day before; Reari brought monster candy, pumpkin shaped marshmallows, and ghost cotton candy; Reari’s grandmother sent persimmons; Nozomi made and brought delicious homemade cheesy nut bread. It was a delicious feast!
The pumpkin puddings were packaged in a unique way, but it would be confusing if I tried to explain it in text. Therefore, we made a video for you guys to see.
*if you have trouble viewing the above video, try this link https://teamhadjes.smugmug.com/Japan-2017-Blog/n-c8Sfvn?mobile=true
and in slow motion…
*if you have trouble viewing the above video, try this link https://teamhadjes.smugmug.com/Japan-2017-Blog/n-c8Sfvn?mobile=true
We had a lot of fun! Reari’s candy, turned our tongues blue!
We will miss you Nozomi and Reari!
After the tea meeting, we took the train to Hon-Atsugi, to meet up with Miho and her boys. It was karaoke night!!
We sang songs, ranging from ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ (Les Mis), to ‘Shake It Off’ (Taylor Swift), to ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’. Jin and Rei knew all of the kids songs, and sang them like pros! It was their first time going out for karaoke and I love that we were able to experience that with them 🙂
*if you have trouble viewing the above video, try this link https://teamhadjes.smugmug.com/Japan-2017-Blog/n-c8Sfvn?mobile=true
When they weren’t singing, they kept the beat with tambourines provided by the karaoke facility.
The older Hadjes boys were less enthused about singing (even so they were more than willing to come along). When we sang, ‘Shake It Off’, I sang the lyrics, and Elias “willingly” sang the back up.
H – “I stay out to late!”
E – “Mmmm”
H – “Got nothing in my brain!”
E – “Mmmm”
H – “Least that’s what people say,”
E – “Mmmm
Miho gave us a wonderful goodbye gift, including flash cards of Japanese words. She handmade them herself, so that they were all words that were personal to us, including ‘homeschool’, ‘Bible’, and ‘Space Needle’. Next time we come to Japan, we will be much more fluent (compared to now, which is only slightly better than nothing). Thank you so much Miho, Jin, and Rei! We will miss you! We hope to see you in America soon!
It was a great day, and we sadly only have three more great days left in Japan.
Hannah
Oh, man, bring back some of the pumpkin pudding balloons!
My kids still talk about the karaoke night 🙂 Thanks for the good time!
Even though Eddie didn’t sing any songs that night, he impressed me enough by running up to the fourth floor at almost the same speed as our lift! I really wondered what kind of workout he did in everyday life 🙂