Did anyone see the snow fall in the city last weekend?! Coming from California, where it's hot and dry, living in an area where snow falls right outside my apartment is super exciting for me! With temperatures in Nagano City reaching freezing levels every night, I can’t help looking at the mountains every morning before leaving for work. So far, it’s looking like a great season for snow sports and other winter activities. The mountains are starting to turn white which means skiing and snowboarding is just around the corner!

I was referred to a website called snowjapan by Alex to keep track of which mountains have the newest snow! Checking this website is now part of my daily routine. Even mountains in other prefectures in case you are feeling adventurous. With so many ski resorts and not enough weekends, you must choose wisely.



I’m keeping a close eye on Ikenotaira since I bought a season pass there. It was only 20,000 yen! Sweet! Did you know season passes in California average around 65,000 yen?
A few resorts here in Nagano are already open like Hakuba! Just look at all the snow they have already!


It’s not even December yet and the snow looks great! I can’t wait to see what December brings. Either way, I will be watching the mountains closely. See you at the ski resorts soon!

Stay warm!



Ryan
  

If you happen to see me around the holidays, you’ll probably see me wearing a small pickle as a necklace! It may seem odd to you, and it’s even odd to some people in America, but it’s part of my family’s Christmas traditions. Every year, my parents hide a pickle ornament on the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, whichever child finds the pickle ornament first gets an extra present! This tradition isn’t very popular, but sometimes you’ll hear about it from some strange family like mine!



Nobody is sure where this tradition comes from, and there are many possible explanations as to why some families decorate their tree with a pickle. The story that I grew up with was that this was a tradition in Germany, and my mother lived in Germany for a bit, so I always suspected that she got this idea from the Germans. But, as it turns out, this isn’t true at all! The Germans don’t hide pickles in their trees! In the 1880s, there was a Christmas ornament shop that specialized in handmade ornaments from Germany, and it’s also rumored that this very clever salesman told the lie that this was a German tradition to sell more of his less popular ornaments…



Either way, the tradition of the Christmas Pickle lives on in my family and my brother and I will always look forward to hunting for the small pickle on Christmas morning!



Emilee  

Aloha!

皆さんこんにちは！

いきなり皆さんに質問です。

ハワイ語でメリークリスマスは何というでしょうか？



答えはMele Kalikimaka (メレ・カリキマカ）です。

もともとハワイ語にメリークリスマスという言葉はなく、単にメリークリスマスをハワイ語に置き換えた物です。

ハワイ語では r が ｌ に、そして ｓ が ｋ に置き換わるのです。

もちろん歌もあるんですよ



もしクリスマスシーズンにハワイに行くことがあれば是非使ってみましょう。



Daiki  

This week I found some feta cheese at the specialty food store in Midori. I was so happy because I had been craving for Greek food. It was feta and black olives.



I usually have feta in salad. A Greek salad is made with cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, feta and olives and is dressed with olive oil.



I love Greek food. I used to cook it at home in Brisbane. I would make lamb or chicken marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, garlic and salt. I would eat that with pita bread, haloumi plus tzatziki and hummus dips. Yum! Haloumi is fried cheese, tzatziki is made with yoghurt and cucumber, and hummus is made with chick peas. I hope to find some haloumi here.



Sometimes I also have feta mashed with avocado on toast for breakfast. This is called Avocado and Feta Smash.



Jann  

皆さんこんばんは。

あっと言う間に11月も半ばに差し掛かっていますね…。

本当に1日1日が過ぎるのが早いものです…。

先月末にあったハロウィンパーティーからもう2週間も過ぎてしまうのかと気づいた時はびっくりしました！笑


さて、クリスマスパーティーのお知らせがすでにでていますが、今回はハロウィンパーティーの1番のお気に入りの写真をご披露したいと思います！笑



このお方が登場した時の子供たちの盛り上がりったら本当に素晴らしかったです。





思わず私も息子と娘を並べて写真を撮らせていただきました。笑

ちなみに、うちの子供たちは平野のらさんのことを「しもしも」と呼んでいます。
もしもしと言う意味なのは知らないようです。。。




今年は例年にない、雨の日のハロウィンパーティーでしたが、皆さんと一緒に楽しい時間が過ごせて本当に嬉しかったです。


クリスマスパーティーも是非、ご参加お待ちしております！


Mika  

We are a few weeks into the NBA season, and there is already talk of should some teams be panicking about how their playing. The team at the top of that list is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Already 9 games into the season and they are at 4 wins and 5 losses. Many expect this to be the team leading the eastern conference at the end of the year, but as of right now they sit somewhere in the middle. It will be up to Lebron James to take this team to the goals expected. We will see how the season continues for this team. As for my Warriors, they started the season a little slow and lost a few games, but recently they have found their groove again and are playing championship level basketball.



Alex