Linda Santoro’s Blog

Well, I finally got to see Mount Fuji up a little closer! Unfortunately I only saw it from the bus. On the way there the weather was nice and clear. It started to get cloudy as soon as we got off our bus. The clouds covered the top of the mountain for the rest of the time we were there.I went with six other teacher friends.Jen and SabrinaJennifer and CoryChad and AprilWe did get to walk around at the base of the mountain. The first thing we saw was monkeys running around on some of the homes. The residents were all coming out of their houses to chase them away. We went to one of the five lakes near Mount Fuji. We used paddle boats to go around the lake.That is my boat.  Then we had lunch in a restaurant where you sit on cushions, on a tatami mat, all around an open fire pit. We had to take our shoes off before going to sit on the mat. That is the custom. Once you are on the mat, you order your food and then cook it yourself. We were all hoping that we cooked our food long enough, especially the fish that came out wigging. Yes, there were fish that came out on the skewer sticks alive. We were told to put them on the fire as soon as they stopped moving. Cory was posing with the fishJen was a little nervous about eating the fish at first. After trying it she said that it was her favorite thing. I had a little bite too. It was a very mild fish.We also cooked mushrooms, little round corn cakes, corn on the cob, gellied potatoes, tofu, quail, squid and chicken. It was all fantastic, but I think my favorite thing was the squid.At the end of the day we rode the bus back and then had dinner at a sushi place again. We went to a place that had a moving belt. You look at the pieces of food moving around the belt. You pick up the plates of fish that you want to eat. We had to guess what each item was. Yesterday I tried snails and loved them. This evening we didn’t see any snails. I think I had tuna, octopus, clams and . . . something else that was a white fish. There are usually two pieces of sushi on each plate. The plates are all different colors. You end up with a big stack of plates at the end of the meal. Then a person comes to your spot and counts up the plates. Each plate color means a different price. So, for example, you might eat two blue plates of squid that cost 200 yen each, one red plate of clams that costs 150 yen and two orange plates of octopus that cost 220 yen each. How much would the total of all of your plates be? Can you make up your own sushi story? (by the way, one dollar is about the same as 100 yen)Tomorrow night I might not be able to write to you. We are leaving Tokyo to go to Komaki. Komaki is a big city but we won’t arrive there tomorrow night. We are staying in a different town because it is close to a school that they want us to visit. So we will travel (on the bullet train!) tomorrow (Sunday), stay at a small hotel with no internet Sunday night, and then arrive in Komaki Monday after visiting the school. I should be able to send emails and blogs from Komaki on Monday night.