Japanese Partay!

I decided to make an entire evening of Japanese culture and cuisine for my entire family! It was.....interesting;)

This is me making unegidi....that's seaweed in my hand

Frying up the yakisoba....note: my shirt;)

sitting on the floor to eat of course!

Tate Zachary: the newest member of the Bertsch Fam....we're up to 22 now...whew

a chopstick competition: who can move the most cheerios in 30 seconds?

My japanese friends would be proud of me for the meal I made:) 

More chopstick competition

Go Dad!

Origami that my friend Lisa made with paper from Japan...the note says: Welcome

A great time was had by all! Most of them like the main dish at least:) Please continue to pray for Japan!

Last Post from Japan

Alas, once again I must say good-bye to people and places I have come to love :( What great things I learned/saw/ate in Japan!

Shioda Church

Last view of Tokyo

Last Traditional Japanese meal

Last "mamma" shrimp with shrimp "babies" (eggs) included.......yes i ate it.....but didnt necessarily like it!

Last Dessert (pounded rice balls with sweet beans)

Mickey San (I taught her English class 3x)

Hidaka San (with whom I also taught English.....if they come to class, they are encouraged to come to church twice a month)

The Suziwikawa family - pray much for the them

My "good-bye" party :(

Hannah made me this chocolate bar thingy

Goodbye Japan! I wont forget you, and I especially wont forget all the wonderful people who dwell inside your borders!

Mountain Bikin' Mt. Kagenobu

Carrie and Akihiro took me to an AWESOME restaunt. The dishes were more like an art rather than food. There was spicy tomatoes (kimuchi), seasame tofu, fried oysters, and many other tasty things....including an extremely thin fish fried twice that was crispy like a potato chip! I ate the tail and everything!

So, we decided to go mountain biking! Nevermind the 1/2 hours bike ride just to get to the base of the mountain. I about died getting there because the last half was practically all uphill on a bike. But, once we started hiking I was ok......as long as I could keep traction on the slush! I pushed my bike up the entire mountain, but it was well worth it because coming down was SO FUN!

Here is a view from the top

Coming down was....scary and dangerous....which of course made it way more fun! By the end, my hands were cramping because I had to do the back brakes the entire way down and the front brake every so often. You have to be careful not to do the front brake by itself, or your bike will flip forward. Riding through slush was also difficult to control....and if you turned too much, the bike would slide completely over: hence, this picture!

We got very very dirty....YAY!

The evidence of a true mountain biking experience: a dirty bike

Then little Tomokun and Carrie came for supper.....he is so romantic:) Giving me kisses....he even tilts his head to the side and comes in real slow;)

Cutest picture EVER

This was the last night to hang out with just us girls :(.....I got a wasabi hamburger...whew my nostrils were burning, but it was tasty as usual!