Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Ha!

K first things first One of my students has a prominent government official for his pop.

As I was approaching my door after work, I saw some adds sticking through the mail slot. I could see a large image of a man's face. I had a quick wonder about how cool it would be if I got an add  about Hayato's dad. I swear that's what I was thinking! Because I know it's going to sound like a lie when I say that the add turned out to be an dad promoting Hayato's dad after all ha ha ha

Fireworks



There were lots of food stalls. I tried a super long cucumber and some Hiroshima-yaki. Lots of cabbage in there.


Then we went through the crowds to find a spot for fireworks. There were people who'd brought their dining room tables and full fledged meals out there, what a fantastic idea!


We found a spot to stand, but after ten minutes, a family on one of the tarps came over and said,"Americanjin?" And then we got invited to sit on their tarp! They had arrived at six am to reserve their spot, so we were really lucky to get to sit! I hadn't realized how many gifts I've gotten here just because I'm American. Anyway!



Jaw-dropping awesomeness. At first they were doing these small ones one by one, which made me think it wa going to be lame, but then Minori told me that the first part of the show was a memorial to those who died in the river that year. After that...boom!

By halftime I was telling Minori to never visit America during the fourth of July because fireworks in America suck compared to what I was watching just then. Best fireworks I've ever seen!


I was planning on uploading some videos but apparently I any from my iPod. So...here is a bad photo of something I was calling "the mushroom" all night. It's a raised botanical garden. It was on the far side of the lake. I'd never seen one before so I kept pointing it out. At first I'd thought it was a UFO lol


Fireworks had four stages. The memorial stage, three Stages of fireworks, and some fireworks sent up by sponsors. After the show we made our way home through the crowd. Yukatas everywhere!

Because I was already stuffed with Hiroshima-yaki, I passed on the giant squid. But there's another festival tonight, so I'll try it then!!




Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Toyota City

Did I mention how much I LOVE Japan?   

A LOT of firsts, yet again. I stayed at Minori's for the weekend. I love it there! I woke up at five thirty with the sun out brighter than ever. When I went downstairs  I found that we were going to have a traditional Japanese breakfast. I also learned where you place each dish, how to hold your food, and how to wrap your rice in seaweed with only chopsticks. Impressive stuff. For breakfast we had chopped cucumber topped with a special seaweed shaving, some egg rolls , miso soup, rice, and dried fish. I remember one of my fishes had it's charred eye popping out of its socket, and it later got mixed in with my rice. A funny moment. They were crunchy  yet tasty. Mom and Pop, imagine jumbo sized almond fish and that's what I had.


After breakfast, Minori and I went to the mall to look for some flowers for my hair. The amount of new stuff I'd not seen before was overwhelming. I accidentally knocked over a shelf of flowers, and broke my sunglasses in all the distraction. After we found a our hair decor, we browsed for an hour. I was searching for presents for two blondes I happen to know, but it was all so much, I arrayed getting stressed out and mad so I gave up. Next weekend. Ooo I got to try a special grape smoothie, yum. After browsing we drove home and cooked some ham rice. Now I know how to cook it Japanese style. Then we got ready for our yukatas and meeting John at the station. Minori being the sweet person that she is, had bought me a cute fan.







Saturday, July 26, 2014

The calm before the magnificent storm

I got my Yukata and Obi on Monday!!! My underclothes, ties, and bag will be here before Saturday, all I need to find are some shoes for my big American feet lol!! I will have many pictures come Sunday.

But for now I have some little tidbits that came my way this week.


Went looking for sneakers on Saturday. The shopping mall buildings are connected by bridges which is fun. Plus the higher you go, the cheaper the stores get. I loooove searching for clothes here. So many things I've never seen!

When I went exploring in nearby Hara, I found multiple buildings with escapes like this. So cool!

Found some gorgeous flowers on my way to school one day. Took a different route. They grew taller than me, and we're free standing. They weren't leaning on that wall at all.

Considering sending these to Tasha. Mixed veggie chips with banana as well. Loved them.

I'm honestly trying to stay away from the sweet stuff, but warabi mochi is a seasonal summer treat, and I'd been wanting to try the green tea flavor. Delish!


My typical lunch. I make breakfast and lunch simultaneously every morning. I just  learned how to make basic egg rolls, so I'm excited about that, and I an on experimenting with more egg recipes soon!

Minori got back from a trip to Korea on Monday, and she brought back some Korean seaweed for everyone. I love seaweed, but I was confused as to why they came in 8x11 sheets. I took a bite and I was in heaven. Korean seaweed is soooo good. I ate them plain as if they were giant chips. I saved some for Liz though, she'll be visiting soon Bwa ha ha. Isn't it pretty though?

We have to write a Christmas play for our students. It's hard as hell because none of them can be the main character, no villains, and equal lines for everyone. But hey I came up with a story and just finished my costume ideas I have to send out to the parents. Do you know how hard it is to think of costumes and a story when you have 7 girls who want to be princesses? I whittled it down to a Santa, Rudolph, 2 princesses, 2 snow princesses…….

...2 fairies, a queen, and a king. My main hurdle is going to be memorization. This project is insane.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Oh Yuto-kun

Since it's summer school right now, I'm not I charge of caring for after school day care kids. One kid who is always there is cutie-face 2 year old Yuto. He is adorable, and is always belting out Let it Go, or It's a Small World. In Japanese of course. He doesn't know too much English yet because hey, he's two. But he talks up a storm in Japanese. I can actually understand most of it! Anywho, a few days ago I was in the bear room on my break, studying. Yuto was with Mr John in the neighboring penguin room. Yuto was talking a bunch to Mr John and Mr John was talking back. Neither knew what the other was saying, but they didn't seem to mind. At some point I heard Yuto say, "mou ii kai..." A few times. 

I'd happened to see a takarazuka show where they said that a bunch during a scene, and it was always followed by a "mada da yo". I didn't quite know what it meant.

I know we aren't supposed to speak Japanese while at school, but I sometimes sneak in a random sentence or two. 

I quietly started saying "mada da yo" everytime he said "mou ii kai." I had no idea what it meant, I figured I'd just try saying it and see what happened. I tried to say it soft enough that Mr. John didnt hear me.  After two times I think Yuto heard me, because he got quiet and giggled a bit. He kept saying mou ii Kai as he ran into my room and gave me a big hug. Me John hadn't heard me, so he seemed a bit confused ha ha!

I looked the meanings up.
Mou ii Kai - ready yet?
Mada da yo - not yet!
Mou ii yo - ready!

Japanese hide and seek! Such a cute Yuto moment!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Typhoons and Mary poppins

There was supposed to be a typhoon today. I've been in a hurricane, and I was stoked to experience a typhoon. Sadly it turns out that nagoya is situated in an area that misses out on weather extremes and other disasters. But it got quite rainy here, and I had the urge to walk after work today. I ended up finding the perfect most scenic jogging route right next to my apartment. Through some gorgeous paddy terraces no less. I took photos but they're on my camera. Sometime in the future. 

So I've loved the view from my front door ever since I moved in, so I decided I would paint it. I'm not finished yet, because I'm painting it only on rainy days, and I only have forty minutes or so to work on it on those days. But it's coming along. Today when I was walking through the rice paddies, I tecognized houses, and trees even. I had never walked in this area before. I realized it was because I has been looking at those areas from my window for my painting! I instantly felt like I was having a merry poppins moment where I'd leapt into a painting. It gave me better understanding  of each of the green shade changes I had been toiling through. In that area of the painting. Hopefully my discovery will help my painting.

Moooo

 I don't eat beef if I can help it. But this day was a day for beef it seemed. We went out to eat at a yakiniku restaurant. Yaki=burn, niku=meat. 

Ready for another handful of firsts? They're a-comin.

Our table. They were filled with coals, and had a little wire cover for placing the food on.

All I could think was "reeeed. Where are the veggies?" And then I started reading. Can YOU see what I saw?

Left: cow tongue.     Right: muscle

Just in case you wanted a close up of those tongues Bwa ha ha

Time to start. We had a ton of different meats. We started with these. When one was cooked we'd hurry and dip it in one of the many sauces we had, and devour. What we soon realized was if we kept filling the empty areas on the grill, we had to eat fast so the food wouldn't burn haha! Talk about fresh.

Cow intestine anyone? T'was good.

It's not pictured but we did finally get to cook up some veggies, which were delicious. The cow tongue was good. The only moment it was weird was during the first piece. I was chewing it, and I couldn't stop thinking about how I was chewing a tongue, on my tongue. I had to shove those thoughts out of my head if I wanted to eat. Once I ate without thinking about it, it tasted great!


This is Minori. The weirdest thing that night was not tongue. It was definitely hormone. They sold cow hormone. I had two pieces, and man that was a strange 
texture. Very chewy.

This is at the end after we are pretty much everything. Although you can see a few red hormone right in the middle. Oh I forgot about the bibimpa!   It's a Korean rice dish I got to try. Good! The name was fun.


Went to baskin robins after. 


I've had green tea a ton by now so I looked for another strange flavor. Fooouuunnnd it! The top one is just coffee, but the bottom is sweet red bean. Beans mixed in and all. I am a fan of sweet bean treats, do this tasted great!! That's Julpha btw. 


Peaches, Figs, Porridge, and Curry

BI hadn't planned on doing much tonight since I work Saturdays, but things just happened.

And when it rains, it pours.

Yesterday I found a perfect jogging route through some rice paddies. And since Minori and I jog on Fridays, that's where I suggested we jog. Right when we got to the center do the pAddy area, Minori found a sign indicating peaches for sale. We decided to take that route, and wound up at a beautiful farm.




Right next to the peaches was a fig orchard which was really cool! 


Eventually I'll go back when there is more produce.
When we jogged back into the city, we passed some girls in marching shirts. Minori told me that they were factory workers on their way home. The more she described their living circumstances, the more I thought about a documentary I'd seen called china blue, a documentary about blue jeans factory workers. Go watch it. It was quite the eye opener to realize how close I lived to such a different way of life!

On the way home, Minori invited me over again, which I gladly accepted. We had some yummy rice porridge, some radishes, Japanese curry , potato salad, cucumbers, and salmon. I've asked Minori to check and see if her mom would be interested in giving me cooking lessons. She is amazing!

After dinner, Minori's mom showed me how she makes her nendo art, and Minori showed me her new Yukata. Minori looks gorgeous in it! At that point they invited me to try on some yukatas. I got to try on a pale blue one that her mother used to wear, a bright green one they bought in an Indian based Yukata shop, Minori's new one, and a beautiful pink kimono. We were just having fun and playing around at that point! 



By now it was pretty late, so we were going to turn in. Before we did though, Minori wanted to make sure I had a lunch ready for tomorrow, despite my protests. She showed me some speedy bento secrets, and taught me how to make an egg roll! It's a Japanese egg roll so I'll have to post a picture at some point. Anyways went to bed after that. Tetsu followed me up and settled down with me for the night :)


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Bentos

Here is a typical lunch day at school. I don't have my normal bento (yes I have one) because today, it's a long story why, Minori made me a bento.

Around half the class gets school lunch, which a food van drops off every day. That's the blue container. This student always gets a school lunch and home lunch. The school lunch usually comes with rice, veggies like seaweed, pumpkin, potato, carrot, spinach, corn, onion....it's different everyday. They sometimes get a roll instead of rice, and on those days I never have to worry about slow eaters lol. They also get a little bit of meat, and a bite's worth of jello or fruit at the end. This student's home lunch has some rice, apple, Camembert, and some pancake. He is a normal weight, he just has a big appetite. And he wats at a normal pace, but because he has two lunches, he and I are racing everyday to finish. 

About half the students use chopsticks daily. 3year olds, let me remind you. The other half either don't have them packed, or their bites are too small, so they have to use their forks. Man I wish I could talk about the kids individually, they are cute and hilarious. This girl has mellon, rice, baby tomato, egg, onion, and spinach. 

If I let the kids eat at their own pace, only three or so would finish on time. So since we have a schedule I have two tactics I use to speed them up. One is I have them seated so that the kids who get distracted, take minuscule bites, or chew super slowly, sit by me so I can say things like "chew chew chew! Finish chewing in fiiiive foooouuuur, threeeee, twooooo, oooonnnneeee and take a drink!! Big bite! You can do it! Way to go _____, ok oi!"
This student has kiwi, mandarin oranges, rice, egg, broc, tomato, fish and meatball.

My other method to speed them up is by rewarding the first three finishers a big smiley drawn on their hand. This results in most lunchtimes being filled with shouts like "(they say their name) numbah one!" "No, _____ number one!" "Ms Alyssa looka paleese!(shovels a Wayyyy too big of a bite into their mouth)" "Ms Alyssa, finish!"  
This one is my special Minori bento! Edamame, amazing potato salad, egg, sausage, rice, string cheese so good it makes American string cheese taste fake, and not pictured are more Sumomo plums. It was delicious.


It was jaw dropping to see the see variety of healthy foods the kids eat. Not only that but their manners are impeccable. Of they drop some food, they'll say may I get a tissue, and go throw it away. They will eat whatever their mom packed, whether they like it or not. I've had glares while I watched kids munching food I knew they weren't fans of. They frown, but they eat it without me having to ask.
This one has grapes ( which most people here peel as they eat.), rice, egg, broc, sausage, pickled plum, meatball, daikon

YAy I got one with a jelly shot! Jello is huge here, and it's called jelly. It's the dark circle under the orange. The kids love them, and adults have different versions they buy for themselves. They get given as gifts all the time. 
This one has some rice balls, meatballs, jelly, tomato, and an orange.



Anyways isn't it cool how healthy it all is? Trust me there is plenty of junk food one can buy, as my family is about to find out in a few days, but here at school everyone has a healthy lunch.

Catch up

My computer is still malfunctionisto so I'll try this from my iPod. There are some moments I know I'll forget if I don't post them soon.

This is the river I bike along side as I go to the hundred yen shop. It goes a looong way like this. The grass grows taller than me!


That field yonder is where Minori and I jog. I like jogging somewhere less watched by traffic.

Minori's mom made me some Sumomo plum jam! It was sooo good. It had all of its natural flavor, no sugar added. So yummy. I didn't have much bread, so when I ran out I had a Garrett/Melancholia moment and was licking it off my finger.

I have to give out awards at the end of the month. Not knowing how elaborate they were supposed to be, I went overboard the first month. So now I have to live up to that standard since the parents are expecting it now lol. April penguins, May strawberries, June tigers, July bees. September will be a flower of some sort, so I'll start working on that one soon.

Five year old fumiya spent after care building a slide in my room.

I wish I had pictures of my kid's towels they bring for pool time. When they're all dried off, and they waddle back into class to change, there's a pikachu, a mermaid, many Disney capes, an Australian octonauts hoodie, and even a few snap on dress towels. So cute!! If I could share images of the kids, I'd be taking photos all the time, but I can't, so I rarely take photos.