Huge Fun at Mini-Volleyball

Today (technically yesterday...I'm writing this the next morning) was awesome! Early in the morning I headed off to a new culture class: Japanese candy making.

Japanese candy was very fun to make, and the base is almost always a red bean paste.  First we would watch the professionals do a step, then we would copy them and struggle to do what they made look easy.

But it worked out fine! Our candy was pretty darn tasty and I brought all the extras back home for my family.

Here's what the professionals candy ended up looking like.  That mushroom is actually candy!

Next we went to the Russian Festival.  The russian festival consisted of a big play, russian food, lots of sodas, and a gift area.  The play was absolutely packed full of people so we couldn't get in.  Instead mamasan and I bought lunch and ate it together.  I also bought a Squid-Ink soda, which didn't taste too different from big red.  Russian food on the whole was pretty good, even though mamasan didn't like the specialty russian drink she got- it was fermented black bread made into a tea.  Had a really interesting flavor- sort of tasted like the chicha they make in Peru.

When we were leaving, two other HIF kids ran into us and Mamasanoffered them a lift.  We all ended up going to one of mamasan's favorite relaxation places: a small chinese tea shop.  It was really cool, with a ginormous menu full of different exotic teas.  We stayed and talked for a long time, and I learned new vocab that ranged from "ninja star" to "a manly man who eats meat."

Finally after a fast dinner: MiniVolley time! So fun! It's played on a small court with a badmitton net, and you aren't allowed to jump.  The ball is a big inflatable rubbery one, but aside from all these differences the rules of Volleyball apply.  Super duper awesome.

Alright time to get going! Today I'm going to another festival, this one for Shinon's Highschool!

High: MiniVolley.  Also everyone there was so nice! There was a guy and a girl there about my age, and the boy really liked pokemon and soccer so we bonded fast.

Low: I had a stress dream last night that involved having two huge papers due tomorrow that I hadn't started.  I think I had it because tomorrow I have a big test and all sorts of stuff due....but that's not going to stop me from having a blast at today's festival!

Hero: Mamasan! Not only is she completely badass when she's all decked out in her Volleyball gear, but also when I woke up this morning I realized she had sewn up my Davenport shirt that had a small rip in it!