Meet Your Partner/Soba Party

The party was a lot of fun. Thank you all for coming and thank you for bringing all the food.  I hope you enjoyed meeting your partner for the first time.  I'm sure you were a bit nervous, but now that you've met, I encourage you to begin regular email/social media correspondence.  Keep your messages short, very simple, and frequent.

If anyone is interested in learning how to prepare soba, let me know.  It is quite the versatile noodle.  You can serve them chilled on a hot day or in a bowl of steaming broth when the weather turns cool and foggy.

 

See you all on Tuesday!

Meet Your Partner Soba Potluck!

I was unable to secure a bigger place for our Meet Your Partner Soba Potluck party, so we will have it at my house.  We will start the Skype call at 7:00pm.

When: Saturday, May 10, 6:00-9:00pm
Where: 901 Alameda Avenue, Monterey
What to Bring:  I will prepare soba noodles for everyone, but please bring one or more of the following:

• Beverage
• Appetizer
• Side dish (such as veggies or salads)
• Dessert

If you have a favorite thing to bring to potlucks, by all means, bring it!  I have paper cups, bowls, plates, napkins, and of course, chopsticks!

Our house is at the corner of Alameda Avenue and Colton Street. As you drive up the Martin hill from Pacific Street toward Colton Middle School, we are one block off Martin on Alameda Avenue.  Look for the koi flags out front.  Call if you get lost: 831-601-1592.

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Salinas Kendo Club Invitation

Following the Kendo demonstration at the festival on Saturday I had a chance to talk with Eddie Hurt, a sensei (teacher) at the Salinas Kendo Club.  He very kindly invited Junior Wings to come see one of their weekly practices at the Monterey YMCA.  By all means let's take him up on his offer!  I will propose some dates at our next meeting.  In the meantime, see what the Salinas Kendo club is all about and view the links/videos about this fascinating martial art!  (Links courtesy of Eddie Hurt/Salinas Kendo Club.)  Think you might like to try it?  Talk to Eddie!

(Image pulled from the web)

• Salinas Kendo Club
• What is Kendo?
• A Brief Synopsis of the History of Kendo, by Alex Bennett
• Kendo Documentary: Part 1
• Kendo Documentary: Part 2

Japanese-American Heritage Days Festival

What a fun festival the weekend turned out to be!  Students, we were once again impressed by how active and engaging you all were to the public.  It seemed you were all constantly busy doing something, be it handling squishy squid and fish, showing kids how to fold origami, handing out festival schedules to wharf visitors, or bearing flags and pulling drums in the parade.  You all did great!  The event organizers were impressed by how hard you all worked and thanked us all for helping make the festival a success!  Some people even thanked us with a little bit of cash: $27!

Enjoy these photos from the event.

Monterey City Mayor Chuck Della Salla

Japan Consulate General from San Francisco, Mr. Watanabe

Former Monterey City Mayor (and BIG supporter of Junior Wings) Dan Albert

Gyotaku Fish Printing

Gyotaku Fish Printing

Origami

Mawai coat and procession from the wharf to the Japanese-American Citizens League Hall

Mawai coat on display

Taiko drumming performance

Distributing festival event schedules

Getting ready for an abalone race

Winner of First Place in abalone race!

April 29 General Meeting

Another fun meeting.  Your self-introductions are looking and sounding good!  Here is a link to the presentation.  You can also find it on our Documents & Links page.  The Pine Cone helmets are looking pretty good, too!

Homework for the next meeting:

• Find five facts each for Monterey and Nanao
• Review 14 expressions from Kids Web Japan Lesson 1
• Preview Kids Web Japan Lesson 2: Meeting New Friends

Our next general meeting is May 13, 6:30-8:00pm at the Monterey Youth Center, but see you all at the Japanese-American Heritage Days Festival at Fisherman's Wharf this Saturday/Sunday, then again on May 10 for a Noodle/Partner Potluck Party on Saturday, May 10 at a location to be determined.