Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Yum!!!

Minori's family surprised me with a birthday dinner. Minori's mom is an amazing cook, and her dad is a wiz on the grill. It was mouthwatering.

Sorry the photos are in reverse!  They sang happy birthday and everything, it was very sweet.

Minori knows I like pizza. Her mom made some eggplant pizza, and two other veggie pizzas. You may think it crazy to eat pizza when surrounded by sushi and such. You underestimate the cooking skill of okaasan. Yummmm

Delicious salad.

Minori's Pop seared some tantalizingly good beef. This dish was amazing. You took a slice of beef, Apple, daikon, and wasabi in one bite. Tyler would have loved it. 


I forgot to take a photo of the clam stew. She gave me a huge bowl. I thought I couldn't finish, but it was so good I ate it all before trying anything else! Soooooooo good.

It was so cute of them to do that for me :) :) :). !!!!!!!!!!!!


I'd go to bed, but there's a duchshund on my futon. Tomorrow will be a crazy day. Carpe diem!!!



Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Doomsday Eve - & - Christmas, you will RUIN me

This post is more like 4 mini posts squeezed together. Not huge on pictures sadly.

*Doomsday Eve

So it began. The dawn of the eve of Doomsday. Doomsday being the C.I.P. Christmas Program.  Would I have accepted this job if I'd known I'd need to be a playwright, design costumes, and make sets? It doesn't matter, because I signed up, and poof there you have it.

Rehearsal day at the event hall was today. We had one shot to run through the program. I had a few obstacles. One of my students has been in the hospital for a while (poor kid), one kid arrived once we'd finished, and another was absent. 3….students absent….from a play where everyone is a main character. Not to mention the attack of the communists. I've been asked to perform if they don't show up. 'Twil be the finest performance of my career, I'm sure.  My biggest fears deal with my student's lines being drowned out by the nervous wails of one of the penguins, and the random sabotage a student wreaks when he gets shy.

But in the end, even though expectations can be crazy, Que Sara Sara!!!!!!!!! It will be a hoot, I'm sure. I'm proud of my penguins, by jingo. They're freaking amazing, and they've learned a 10 minute play and 3 dances. They'll do great. They've got their eyes on some aMaZiNg SpEcTaCuLaR star necklaces I've made as a reward for a good performance. I hope I can take some photos!!!

UPDATE * Doomsday

The play went great. The shy boy and the nervous girl performed better than they ever had previously. Huzzah!  No complaints from any parents, and lots of happy people. Glad that's finished. Now, on to next week's winter school, all about music. I'll be teaching the bears and penguins. Bring it.


As for Christmas, I may have overdone it this year. I already love finding awesome presents for people, but combine that with the thoughtfulness of the Japanese, and you've got a woman compelled to get everyone a present. I couldn't HELP IT. I'm terrified of getting a crappy present for someone.

UPDATE * the following Monday

When I got to work, we were informed that one of the little 5 year old whale student's mother died right after the play, from a stroke. It was a really hard day for everyone. I distracted myself with the kids. When everyone had finished work that night, we set out at 10pm to go pay our respects. You do so by coming dressed very formally in black, and donating certain sums. We arrived, and it was incredibly gorgeous. I'd never seen so many flowers everywhere. The family appeared when they heard that we'd arrived, they'd been there all day. The little 5 year old girl was there, and her composure was one of keeping herself distracted, but wanting to always be with her aunt. She wasn't crying (which wasn't a surprise, with the culture), but when one of the teachers went up to hug and mention her mother, she was doing her best to keep her stone face on. That got me going. And then we walked into the main room. Honestly as soon as we walked in, all I could think about was Grandma Johnson. She's the first funeral I remember going to, and seeing a dead body (I can't think of any gentler way to say it).  How do I phrase it….that experience rubbed me the wrong way. I've been to 2 funerals since Grandma Johnson's, and I've not been comfortable approaching the coffin. I did have to walk up to an altar and go through some religious stuff to honor the family's religion. Rosary (or something reaaaallllly similar),  some powder, and praying. But again, I backed off and sat in a chair when the rest of the teachers went up to the coffin. I couldn't help but think of some really sad thoughts dealing with the child's loss, and it got me thinking about Grandma more, and then my mom more. Anyway, I did what I could to keep the tears off. The flowers in that room were arranged so beautifully. Some of the teachers came and sat close by while Ms. Mihoko and her sister spoke with the grandmother. They returned to us and said that the little whale student was the one who discovered her Mom. More tears. As we were driving back to the school parking lot, the Japanese teachers were talking about the deceased mother in Japanese, about how terrible it was that she was gone. At one point I heard them talk about how she was only 32, which shocked me completely. That got me thinking about my sister Hill, and imagining her funeral, and it got ridiculous. I walked home from the parking lot, because I didn't want people to see me distraught.  It was a really emotional night. 

I've witnessed so many strange illnesses and medical issues have happened to others while I've been out here. It's been a big eye opener to afflictions I considered typical.


UPDATE: * the following Wednesday

Today I was given a gift of an apple that cost around $20-30 dollars. It was from a Mother who was, I'm guessing, grateful that her daughter was having a good time at school. There's a long and hilarious story as to why a Mom would be so nice as to buy an apple with that kind of price tag for a teacher (my jaw dropped when I found out apples could be that expensive). It's too long to type, but I may have typed something about it back between July-August. Maybe under a title with the word "poo" in it. It was a memorably epic day. 

Random tidbit: They sell little waffle squares in the treat section. They are equivalent to cookies or donuts. No frosting or toppings, but still very delicious.


I'm a fan of pom pom hats….I couldn't make up my mind on whether this was too much pom or not.

Breaktime during the Christmas Play. So happy Minori's Mom came!  

Le stage.

Le seats.

Le parking lot. I liked the little garden in the middle.

After the play, we went out and I tried black sesame ice cream. Yum!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

宝塚 ^_^

I know I'm the only one that likes Takarazuka in my social circles, but this is MY blog, so if anything, I am blogging this for me.  Prepare yourself for excited Alyssa.

I've wanted to see a Takarazuka show for years, no exaggeration there. The idea of getting to play male roles sounded so fun to me, which is what got me hooked on Takarazuka in the first place. When I moved to Japan, there was all this amazing stuff to do, so I got picky with what show(s) I wanted to see. A show actually came to Nagoya, but I didn't see it because it was a plot they've done over and over, and I wasn't a huge fan of any of the performers. Takarazuka has a thing for redoing shows that are really popular. Like Rose of Versailles (Anime), Elizabeth (Austrian version), Romeo & Juliet (French version), Me and My Girl (England), and a ton of others.  Honestly I'd love to see any of those except Rose of Versailles. But since traveling down to Takarazuka City or up to Tokyo costs a bunch, like I said, I got picky. Then I found out the Cosmos and Star Top Stars are retiring. Which sucks because after they retire I don't know if I'll be as Gung-Ho about Takarazuka. These two top stars are AMAZING actresses, while at the moment, the other 3 top stars are struggling newbies.

Anywho I had a 3 day weekend coming up, and I decided to ask Ms Mihoko if she wanted to go see Takarazuka with me sometime that weekend. I figured if I couldn't see Takarazuka that weekend, I'd go to Kyoto again, but luckily it all worked out. She was amazingly kind enough to look up the availability and buy the tickets and everything. While I'm a train fanatic now, Ms Mihoko's not a fan of public transportation, so we drove down. I didn't mind in the least, it was 3 hours of gorgeous fall foliage, and a drive through Kyoto anyhow!

I knew the train route to Takarazuka, so I was keeping my eye out for passing certain cities. Kyoto and Osaka were the main ones. I didn't realize that the car route could get to Takarazuka City faster by skipping Osaka. There I was, in the middle of saying something about foliage, "The leaves are definitely brighter and-OH MY GOSH WAIT I KNOW THAT BUILDING! AAAHHH!!!"


The city is actually really pretty, but I was very distracted. I was ecstatic that I was able to not only see one of my favorite top stars perform in their last show, but it the theater company was also celebrating it's 100 year anniversary. And in a land where people are quite conservative and don't do crazy things out of the blue (except take cosplay pictures everywhere), I threw my cares to the wind did some jumping for joy. 

….and then I composed myself for a nice photo. 

When I'd decided I would go see the play in November, all that mattered was that it fit my schedule, and it was a top star that I liked. So after I got that settled, I went and read through the plot of the show. You know. Because it's in Japanese. And I'm not a fluent speaker just yet. I'm glad I did, because it was a - Holy crap we just had a 5 second earthquake. That scared me half to death. Just shaky rattling, no damage. *ahem* anyway. The plot turned out to be a political drama with a couple of random songs thrown in. Gustav III of Sweden and his struggle to bring his country into an era of peace. And since it's Japan, they added some random bit about a mythic sword hidden in the castle that belonged to the real king. That part seemed random. 
 

It was a really serious play, which surprised me because they usually do comedies, traditional dance, or musicals.

After the political play ended, there was an intermission. BTW here is the theater in Takarazuka City. It's huuuuge.  I remember feeling this wowed when I first saw Phantom from some really great orchestra seats.


After the intermission, the 2nd half of the performance was what they call a review, which is like a themed variety show. This show's theme was on birds, and a rising phoenix, referring to the retiring top star's transition out of Takarazuka. 
It was quite "Takarazuka", they went all out. The sets were amazing, the costumes had so much detail on them, it was all huge!!!


They had this musical skit in the middle where the top star was trying to steal this golden phoenix statue, and she'd run offstage and change into 4 different characters, trying to find a way to get past the cop guarding the statue. She only had like 10 seconds for each change, it was hilarious.



Like I said…bird themed review. They really went all out.  Seeing it live was amazing.  However there were times where it felt like watching a performance of Pricilla Queen of the Desert ha ha ha! But like most things in Japan, Takarazuka has pretty strict rules, and maintaining a clean image. Once the girls graduate from the company's school, they have to give their lives to constantly performing 4-6 shows a year until they retire. Some of them stay with the company for 4-5 years, while a lot more stay for 10-15 years. 

This is one of the best parts. They do this amazing synchronized dance on this staircase, on incredibly thin stairs. 


Anyways, it was amazing to finally see a live show. The atmosphere of a live show was WOW, and I left feeling so happy. I got to check another amazing thing off of my bucket list. Life feels freaking amazing when you don't let fear have a say in your choices :-)

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Doctors and other little occurrences

I caught something from my students last week.  Due to the Mom's getting worried, and Takarazuka this weekend, I went to the doctor.  I've already had an interesting visit with an eye doctor, and here was another interesting moment. I am lucky enough to have a "Ear, Eye, Throat" doctor a few houses down from my apartment, so during my break yesterday, I went in. No English, so it was one of those fun gesture games. Have you ever tried to fill out a medical questionnaire based off of someone else's gestures? ha ha anyway, It was a building with 3 rooms. Waiting room, Doctor's room, and nebulizer room. (or at least that's what Minori and Jaciel said it's called.)

I waited till I was at the front of the sue, and went in. I sat in what felt like a dentist's chair, and the doctor started prying my nostrils wide and putting hoses up to spray all this stuff up there. I kept trying to say that I had THROAT problems, and my nose was fine, but hey….I survived. What interesting instruments they had. After a few more gesture games, the doctor gestured for me to go into the nebulizer room, where I sat and breathed in some sort of medical fumes for 3 minutes.

(Twas a glorified humidifier)

I paid 10 bucks, and walked across the street to the pharmacy, and talked moderate English with the pharmacist (phew.) Got it all figured out, and I'm feeling amazing already.

I'm taking the stuff on the right. As for the stuff on the left, they're heavy pain killers.  The doctor thought I was in pain or something. I don't think I'll need them, but hey, there they are.

They also gave me this little medical journal, with my prescription and details of my visit, so if I need to make another appointment, they can just look at my history. I'm liking that idea.


Ok so the biggest reason I went to the doctor was so I could still go to Takarazuka this weekend. I would die if I got kicked out due to coughing, hence why I swallowed my fear and went to the doctor.  

Because todaaaaaay I'm going to see TAKARAZUKA!!!!!!! I don't think I could have ever predicted that I'd end up liking something as far-out as this, but what Disneyland is to Rob, Transformers is to Jack, and Beatles is to Dad, Takarazuka is to me. I'm usually not a fan of big displays of cheerful happy musical stuff, but this is my one big exception. 



Ok so I haven't blogged for a few weeks, but I've taken a few random photos. So here are some random moments that have happened over the last few weeks.

I stayed at Minori's house one of those weekends. Since it's colder now, the winter foods are starting to appear. One of the big winter dishes is nabe or "hot pot". Freaking delicious, as always. Tofu, mushroom, lettuce, bamboo, salmon ….rats I can't remember the rest. But you pretty much have it on a little mini stove on the table and keep it simmering all through dinner. It was delicious, Minori's Mom is amazing.

This is Minori's nephew, Kiroshiro. He's freaking adorable, and isn't afraid of me anymore! YAY!


This was on Halloween at school.  One of the student's Bento lunches.

Here's the school lunch version.

So at C.I.P. I give lots of piggy back rides, and other such fun rough housing. But I usually make the kids say stuff in English, or do something first. Some of the 5 year olds discovered that if they drew me pictures during their free play time, I'd give them more "super-jumps" and such. So it got to be a habit of receiving a bunch of pictures after lunch everyday. This one is freaking insane!!!!!! That's all one picture. Ms. Julpha said that 4 of the girls had been working on it all week. As soon as I walked into their room, the girls ran to where they'd put the picture, and then all walked to me with at least one hand holding the picture.  That sucker's as long as me ha ha ha!! The kids have also got the idea that if they are touching the picture when it is given to me, that means they get a super-jump. So everyone tends to try to help deliver pictures ha ha ha. It's all kind of crazy.

On Halloween morning, Ms. Jaciel dressed up as Sadako, aka Ring girl, and burst out of nowhere to scare the pre-schoolers as they were arriving. While the kids screamed and clung to their Moms, the Moms screamed and then clapped. They thought it was awesome. This alone made me laugh my head off.  At one point, Ms. Jaciel was standing still in a hallway, waiting to scare Minori. I didn't know she was there at the time, and ended up being the one getting scared instead. Lots of screaming, running and all that.


 Here's my favorite moment from the Korea Trip. This was around Midnight, in the middle of a market-place maze. I tried pig's foot and some blood sausage. The pig's foot was bland and chewy, and the blood sausage wasn't too bad. That night was so much FUUUUN.

I've been buying lots of mushrooms for my own nabe hot pot dinners. It's almost like pasta ha ha ha.

I went to the book store the other day, and it's always been interesting to see the books about poop. Unko.  I read that one, which is all about how poop gets used to help things grow…etc. I've even seen little gold poop stickers or paperweights. …..Interesting.

I'm building up a treat package for Mike, and I've been looking for some delicious stuff, and a few crazy things. I found some Ramen Chips, those should be interesting.  This one I thought I should try before I send to him. I was pretty hesitant, but it was in the treat section and seemed so bizarre. Well….was a definite EWWW.  Imagine an extremely thin slice of bread, that is heavily breaded and soaked in oil. One bite was enough. I'm not sending this to Mike ha ha ha.

I really wish I could send the treats in the bakery, because THOSE are the best. Dango, Warabi Mochi, Pancakes…..so yummy. Here's a type of Mochi I hadn't tried yet.

It had a strawberry in the middle. That made it soooo good!!!





Thats it for now. YAY FOR TAKARAZUKA!!!!



Sunday, October 19, 2014

Atsuta Shrine

After Sports Day, I was worn out and moody, so I decided I needed another distractive break.  I got on the subway, and I just sat and looked at people for a good half hour. At one point, a woman with some form of turrets sat down, and I heard some of the loudest screaming I've ever heard. It was hard to keep myself from squeezing my eyes shut.

Eventually I got to a point where I decided I should go see something. I typed "Things to do in Nagoya".  The first thing is the castle, but I did that last weekend, so I did the 2nd thing that popped up lol.

Atsuta Shrine.

The green colors are going to leave any day now, so I was doing lots of appreciating.

I swear I am always posting pictures of these types of trees ha ha ha!

It was great to get into such a beautiful forest setting!

I might be wrong, but I saw signs up that dealt with a certain 3/5/7 celebration. I don't know much about it, but it deals with kids when they turn those 3 ages. I can't tell you how many cute little kids I saw walking around today!!! I took as many pictures as I could without becoming invasive.

I should just make a separate blog for trees. Those wisteria trees, the bamboo, and these guys always stop me in my tracks. 


These are often placed next the written down prayers at the shrines.
 



I have no idea what's behind those doors...

…but I was very interested in way they built those walls.

Ok I should have included a human in this photo for size comparison. If that had been standing vertically, the hilt would have gone from my feet to my waist. See that teeny little sword on the lower right? That's a full sized sword. There wasn't a lot written in English at the shrine, but something led me to believe that this was the sword of the prince that is buried at the shrine. There's a painting of him holding it while riding into battle. It's definitely the length of two of me, at least!!

I think maybe lanterns representing some generous patrons to the shrine?

On one of the lanterns. This guy is everywhere. When a kid does something bad, parents will often warn them that an ogre will come yell at them if they don't behave. 

This. Tree. Is. Huge. And Gorgeous. People were praying to it. 

Another branch of the Atsuta shrine, a section that is nearly restored.

While rebuilding, they built around the trees. *tear.

Another example of them building around the trees.

I love these rounded roofs.

This could make a comfortable, small hut. They don't seem to clear out the dead trees, they let things get taken care of as nature would.

Another massive tree. Wow.

This type of fern has always reminded me of Germany. 

I did lots of wandering. No regrets.
 I found this door that's built into a little hill. OoOoOo


 The boys were dressed up toooo!!! CUTE