An unexpected pleasure

Russell and I had a bunch of errands today, including updating our phones/ re-upping our contracts and buying me contact lenses, among other things. By the end of the day, we were pretty beat. I was craving pub food, or at least a good hamburger. At first we thought about going to Hobgoblin - a British chain pub (we actually lived across the street from a Hobgoblin when we lived in Reading, UK, also. Turns out it IS the same chain!)

With the royal wedding still on the radar, though, we thought Hobgoblin might still be a bit busy. Instead, Russell decided to use his new, much faster phone to search out a new burger joint to try. We found one a bit of a hike up the hill from our place. We had passed this place once before back when we were running, but we hadn't ventured that far away from home any other time. The place was called Shin's Burger and it certainly had the correct trappings. Route 66 memorabilia, red and white checked table cloths on picnic tables, an add outside announcing a guacamole burger. This was looking good.

And the menu? Guacamole burger, bacon burger, avocado chicken burger... all very nice. To drink? Dad's root beer, cream soda, Dr. Pepper... oh. And Rogue Brewery's Dead Guy Ale. Seriously. It was 700 yen (almost $8) but how could we pass that kind of opportunity?!

Russell ordered the Dead Guy and the restaurant proudly presented it to us explaining that it was from Oregon. We happily informed him that we, too, were from Oregon.

We was very apologetic about the price. We assured him that just having it available, and walking distance from our house made it invaluable.

Hearts warmed, we headed home to watch a historical drama about the Meiji restoration.

Golden Week begins

I'm sure I've posted about this before, but every year there are four national holidays that happen all around the same time. Generally, businesses just give their employees the whole week off, making "golden week" one of the hottest travel times in the country.

This year we have the emperor's birthday today (Friday) and three more holidays next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But what to do with Monday and Friday? Most companies just gave everyone the full week off - so a nice 10 day vacation for the country. Schools, on the other hand, are teaching Monday and Friday.

Right! Like any of our students will be there!

Oh well.

Russell, unfortunately, does not get these days off, so we won't be able to go anywhere. There is going to be a bunch of swing events in the area, though, so we'll make up for it dancing away the week. I have a feeling I'm going to be hobbling to my Friday class.

But then it will be the weekend again!

No thanks - just water for me

Japan is the land of vending machines, and our school has no shortage. We have four machines fully stocked with soda, juice, tea, coffee, cocoa, water and whatever variations the soft drink companies can dream up. Hot and cold. Generally, I try to stay frugal and just stick to instant coffee, tea and water which can be had much cheaper in our office.

While today was quite chilly again, the last couple of weeks were starting to get pretty warm. I was keeping up with my morning cup of instant Nescafe but by the end of class its been too warm to justify coffee for an afternoon pick-me-up. I decided to try Pepsi Nex. Is that what its called in the US? Somehow I doubt it. Its basically a variation on Diet Pepsi. Perhaps not even a variation. We have no theory on what image "Nex" is suppose to inspire. I think of Nexxus shampoo, myself.

In any case, the first can was quite refreshing and packed a reasonable dose of caffeine. The next day after class I found myself heading down to get another.

Along came Friday. We have been giving our students homework where they have to come ask the English teachers questions and record the answers they hear. It gives them an added opportunity to practice English outside of class and draws them into the English office so they are more likely to come on their own down the road. This week was favorites/likes/dislikes. One of my conversations went something like this:

Student: "Questions... Okay?"
Me: "Yes, go ahead."
Student: "Do you like Japan?"
Me: "Yes, I do like Japan."
Student: "What is your favorite sports?"
Me: "My favorite sporT is swimming.
Student: "Do you like sushi?"
Me: "Yes, I do like sushi."
Student: "Really?"
Me: "Yeah, really."
Student: "What is your favorite drink?"
Me: "My favorite drink is coffee."
Student: "Not Pepsi Nex?"

I'm switching back to water.

One Year of Swing

I just realized that this coming Wednesday will mark my first year of swing dancing. Russell and I have really learned a lot in one year and made a lot of good friends. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the swing group in Osaka that taught us, dragged us through our first attempts and continued asking us to dance in spite of the job we were doing. We were lucky to mixed up with such a friendly and upbeat group.

We are also lucky to be going into the Spring blitz of swing events. All around Golden Week the swing scene in Osaka comes alive. There will be the normal weekly dances - but with some added flare, workshops, dance events centered around live performances and jazz festivals that will likely be taken over by dancers. Its a good time to be looking to dance.

During English class at the university the other day, we were doing a speaking activity designed to get students to socialize with each other and use English. They had to ask each other if they liked doing certain activities, like playing video games, skiing, etc. Of course, I was wandering around the group answering and asking questions, too. One student asked me if I liked dancing. I told him I did and as a follow up (bright kid, gold star for him) he asked what kind of dancing I liked. I told him swing dancing and he immediately looked it up on YouTube. He verified with me that he had found the correct style (he had - it was a fairly representative social dance - thankfully not a competition with aerials) and then he showed it to the other boys that were hanging around. "Hey, this is what the teachers does!" They all started laughing hysterically.

I choose to assume they were laughing with sheer respect and awe.

Adventures in Light Fixtures

After more than two years, Russell and I decided it was time to spring for one - maybe even two light fixtures. On our first every shopping trip we managed to procure one large light fixture for our kitchen area, so its not like we've been living completely without light - the apartment even came with light fixtures in the toilet and shower areas. We've managed just fine with those three sources of light.

Sure, its a little dark in the winter, but not so bad...

Today we had some time to kill downtown, so we decided to peruse the fixtures at the local electronics mega-store. The key reason we never settle on a fixture for the living room is that the fixture has to hang from an already low-hanging beam- dangerous for Russells. The fixture in our bedroom is right next to the beam, so all the wide fixtures available won't fit. We either needed a hanging one (which would be too low) or a super skinny fixture. We gave up after a while.

Today we finally found a fixture that was both relatively low profile, skinny, and as a bonus, light. Even if he does hit the light, we figured Russell would have a sporting chance. Unfortunately, there was only one fixture in the store, but we figured one was better than none. We bought it and headed home.

We hung it in the living room and it worked perfectly. That is, until we tried to turn it off for the evening. Where was the light switch? We have now determined that we need to buy one of the "comes with a remote" lights for the living room. Thankfully the fixture was skinny enough that it will fit in the bedroom.

Getting a hot lightbulb out of a skinny fixture while turned on proved to be a scalding experience, but necessary in order to get the fixture down. Eventually we unscrewed the light bulb with a towel. Things were easier from there.

So the living room is now dark again, but we can see every nook and cranny in the bedroom.

Health Check 2011

It was health check time again this Thursday. I have a love-hate relationship with this time of year. On one hand its a huge invasion of privacy, but on the other hand, its a very thorough physical all done in less than an hour. I don't have to go anywhere for it (its done at school) and it s free!

Not to mention that in a few weeks I will get my results mailed to me neatly lined up against my previous years' results so I can see if I have had any changes (good or bad) over time.

At the same time, it involves standing around chatting with co-workers while holding a cup of urine, stripping for an EKG, giving blood samples, and getting a chest X-ray (which may require more stripping if you accidentally wore an underwire bra.

At least the actual check is finished. Now I can just sit back and wait for my results.

Some photos:

Justin had posted some of his pictures from he and Michelle's trip to Japan on his Flickr account. You can see them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/incanus/sets/72157626127446470/

Michelle also brought along Flat Stanley. He's a paper doll that her nephew made as a school project. Students had to send their Flat Stanleys to a relative in another part of the country so they could learn about a different part of the US. SInce Justin and Michelle were coming to visit us in Japan, they brought Flat Stanley along. Not technically helping with the whole "discover other parts of the US" project, but wicked cool all the same.

To see Flat Stanley, check out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/incanus/sets/72157626203099908/

Justin's an awesome photographer. I'm looking forward to seeing more of his shots from Japan (and elsewhere).

Getting back on the wagon...

Its been far too long since I last posted.

I need to post about our February guests, Justin and Michelle and all the cool places we went together (any chance you'll share some of your awesome photography, Justin?).

I also spent a week in Nevada with my grandmother.

Its spring now, so the cherry blossoms are out. We are actually just past the blossom peak in Kobe.

I had an amazing dinner out with my co-workers. We went to an Okinawan restaurant that was incredibly good.

I also had a friend over for the night and tried my hand at making burritos with pico de gallo and guacamole. Overall a success, and the first time I've tried such a dish in Japan. Thankfully, cilantro is easy to find here.

In Russell's absence (he's on another business trip) I've been reading a history book about Japan (fascinating!) and watching Dancing with the Stars. I had no intention of getting hooked on DWTS, but it just kind of happened. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

I've met all my new students for the year and things are off to a good start. The new freshmen are very enthusiastic and sweet. I've been impressed with the lack of attitude so far. I hope it lasts!

If you have been watching the news about Japan, there are still regular earthquakes in the north and fear that the strongest aftershock is yet to come. We haven't felt anything in Kobe at all. Life has been totally normal, with the possible exception, that people were feeling a guilty about celebrating the cherry blossoms with hanami parties, knowing that others are still suffering in the north. Most government-sponsored celebrations were cancelled, but many individuals still had picnics. Apparently one sake brewery in the Tohoku region (the area hit by the tsunami) was trying to encourage people to celebrate the season and buy alcohol from Tohoku to help their economy. That seems like a good compromise to me.

The situation at the nuclear plants seems to be stabilizing, though it will be a concern for months, and maybe years to come. We are all still watching in closely, though we feel very safe in Kobe at this point. You can get daily peak background radiation levels online for most provinces in Japan (as measured by several universities or research labs). So far Kobe's radiation levels have stayed right around the same level they've always been. Even when there's activity around Fukushima (which itself is classified at the moment) we haven't even seen a tiny rise in background radiation here. That's been comforting. I keep an eye on it, though.

If anyone is interested in a good, brief, but interesting history of Japan, I recommend "A History of Japan: From stoneage to superpower" by Kenneth Henshall. It covers the history quickly to give an overview and to provide references for people who want to go back and learn more about one era or another in more depth. Its very approachable and interesting. I will definitely go back and read about certain times in more detail.

So that's a summary of what is going on in my world right now. I will try to get back on track for posting.