Spousal Observations

A few weeks ago I caught an online sale for Eddie Bauer and bought Russell a variety of new T-shirts, etc. to replace the ones that are falling apart. The box came in the mail a few days ago. The first day, Russell opened the box, scattered everything around the living room, and picked out a T-shirt and collared shirt that matched to wear together. He proudly displayed them for me when I got home.

He liked them so much, he wore them again the next day.

Its been four days and I just realized he's still wearing the same blue t-shirt. I also just noticed that there is a perfectly good red t-shirt sitting in plain sight, but still in the packaging.

I guess some people just know what they like.

Pajama Night

The Wednesday swing group had a Pajama Night last night. I've been looking forward to it for two months. I don't really wear official pajamas - just t-shirts and the same flannel pants I've had since college - but since said flannel pants were pretty threadbare - and the seams were 70% ripped out, I decided Pajama Night was a good excuse to acquire some PJs. I looked around but couldn't find anything in the local stores that would fit me. FInally I browsed around online and found a cute pair of pajamas with owls. They even came with the guarantee that they would stare at your husband round the clock.

Unfortunately, they didn't ship to Japan, so I had to send them to my mom who forwarded them on. When they arrived I started wearing them right away. They were quite comfortable and thankfully light weight (since the temperatures they are a-risin'). Last weekend I got them all washed and pressed and ready to unveil at the dance. I also went out and found a pair of shiny gold pajamas for Russell at the local variety store. We were all set.

Along with the pajama theme, we were invited to take part in a Jack and Jill contest (our first). Jack and Jill contests are where you are randomly matched with another dancer and then compete. This one was casual - we just had one partner and there were no elimination rounds. We did a group warm-up, we each got as set amount of time within a song to perform for the audience, and then we all danced together again. The audience voted and the lucky couple won.

As in Russell and Miki (his partner for the evening. )

In fact, Russell not only won the Jack and Jill competition, he also won the best PJs award! He kindly informed everyone that I had picked them out for him and shared his prize - a free drink ticket.

I was not clever enough to take pictures myself, but several other people did. A few less than flattering ones were posted on Facebook, but I'm going to wait until I have some better ones to post on the blog.

Oh yeah - its summer

Summer has always been my least favorite season, but I never felt strongly about it in Oregon. I Japan I definitely hate it. Just to put icing on the cake, it looks like this year is going to be record breaker for heat and humidity.

Right now the temperature is 30C (86F) - which would be a lovely day in Oregon. However, with the thick humidity added to it, things are pretty miserable. Luckily the last few days have been mostly overcast, so we don't have the scorching sun to contend with, but outdoors is just not where you want to be right now.

It is definitely rainy season as well. We have had rain showers on and off for weeks. The rain I like, but the humidity is coming from somewhere and I'm afraid I have to blame the rain. Apparently there was a typhoon headed towards us this weekend, but it diverted to South Korea instead, so the rain and wind are lighter than they might otherwise have been.

Russell was telling me that due to the continued electricity shortage in the north and a push for the government to decommission nuclear plants, the Tokyo subways are going to only run air conditioning during rush hours

I don't recommend visiting Japan again until September.

Summer's Favorite

This is just... well... incredible on so many levels.

How could this NOT be a summer favorite? Mos Burger has rolled out Naan Tacos.

Update: We finally got around to trying the Naan Taco. Result? It was pretty good. Not unlike a gordita from TacoBell. Russell had the Black Curry Naan, which had a hotdog and black curry on top instead of taco salad.

So much writing

Just a quick update - I know I haven't been that good about posting, but I'm probably going to get a lot worse in the next month or two. It seems like all I am doing these days is writing as fast as I can. We have our own textbooks to write, the textbooks for a school in Tokyo to write, we have been tasked with writing some research articles and there is apparently a book project on the horizon.

The combination of no time to do anything fun and total disinterest in doing any extra writing has pretty much killed my blog motivation. I'll try to post here and there, though.

Umeshu

Around this season the grocery stores start stocking fresh plums. These are not plums like we get in the US. They are hard, very sour and generally inedible. They can be made into a variety of delicous things, though, given time and creativity. This year, we decided to experiment by making our own homemade umeshu. Umeshu is plum wine. In fact, you can probably find the same kind of plum wine we are making in your grocery store. Well, maybe. Its the one that comes in a large cylindrical bottle with the plums floating in the bottom. I believe the brand in the US is called Choyu. Something like that. It turns out plum wine is not at all hard to make, you just have to let it sit for a long time.

So how do you make it? First, you let the plums soak in water for an hour or two. This apparently mellows them a bit and takes away any bitterness. Once they are soaked, you pop out the little stems with a fork, dry the plums thoroughly, put them in a sterilized glass jar with rock sugar and white alcohol (all of which can be found on an endcap of an aisle in the supermarket) and you leave it to brew in a cool, dark place. We read that it is important to leave space at the top since a lot of liquid will come out of the plums. We did leave some room, but hopefully it will be enough... I would have liked to have left a bit more room if possible. Keep your fingers crossed!

So how long before we can try our creation? At least 6 months before its ready and it is apparently best to wait one or two years. Since the process was so easy, I want to make two more jars so we can try one at each time marker. We are also considering adding a bunch of fresh ginger to one round as an experiment. Seems like a good idea to me. If anyone comes to visit after New Years we'll have to dip into our little experiment and see how its doing.

The green stuff must be good for you, right?

I spent all of last week sick. Not sick enough to stay home from work, but feeling pretty crummy. That seemed to be echoed by most of my students and a few co-workers, too. Today is Sunday and I still don't feel great after a full weekend laying low. Last night Russell and I went to the grocery store to get things for dinner. Along with dinner we also spotted two other items of interest. One was materials to make your own umeshu (plum wine) and the other was a bag of single serving green powder to be added to liquid. The front of the package showed two pairs of aged but spry farmers in their green fields. This was clearly a health drink. I figured my health could only improve, so we threw a package in the cart.

I'll post about the uemshu next, but as for the green drink, we took it home and read the directions. It said it could be mixed with water or milk and should be stirred thoroughly until it fully disolved. We decided to experiment and try putting the powder in soy milk. A fairly safe bed. It worked out well and looked lovely in the glass I acquired at the belgian beer festival last weekend.

First impression? Tasted a bit like a seaweed milkshake, but was generally pleasant. Do I feel healthier? Not yet. Still working on that.

The Doppelgangers

We started swing dancing about a year ago. Around that same time, one of the faithful Osaka dancers who had returned home to Australia previously, returned to Japan. From the first day he met us he was convinced that we were the twins of a couple that had left Japan only about a year earlier. He brought this up often and referred to us as the Shelbyville version of his friends. He kept pointing out the similarities to other people who had known the previous couple and he generally got nods of agreement. It was driving him crazy that we couldn't meet each other.

Finally, his friends (Canadians) decided to come back to Osaka for a visit and to see a favorite band perform. The stage was set to get us together. Our friend was pretty sure something cosmic would happen if both of us were together in the same place. We arranged to meet at Captain Kangaroo (a foreigner bar in Osaka that boasts excellent chicken burgers, fries and even better selection of international beer).

The result? Nothing cosmic, but there were clearly some similarities in appearance and as our friend pointed out, both couples had come to Japan as a couple, which is something of a rarity. Our doppelgangers were certainly lovely people and we had a good night out.

Letterboxing in Nara - Almost

About a month back I ventured into Osaka to hear Russell's second band give their frist concert. The concert wasn't until later in the evening, but since I was already in Osaka, I decided to make sure I knew where I was going before heading off to entertain myself for the day. After some wandering, I discovered that the live house was actually right next to the station and I had walked right past it when I first arrived. That figured out, I sat down to figure out what I was going to do for the day. I had about four hours to kill. It occurred to me that there might be a letterbox in Osaka. I mean, it is a rather big city and there are tons of foreigners around. It seemed likely that one would pop up from time to time.

For those who haven't tried letterboxing or heard me emote about it in the past, letterboxing is a game where you get clues on the internet for a hidden box. You follow the clues, find the box (usually well hidden in a public area or hiking trail). Inside the box, there is a stamp (often home made) and a small book. You bring along your own personal stamp, book and ink pad and you stamp the box's book while using their stamp in your own book. Its a way to keep a record of the boxes you've found. Some of the stamp art is really cool, too and there is a huge sense of satisfaction when you can follow the clues all the way to your target.

Unfortunately, unlike geocaching, this has not caught on in Japan. I suspect it is because the boxes are quickly found and discarded by the overactive cleanup crews and conscientious citizens.

In any case, I did a search just in case something had popped up. Nothing in Osaka, but a new box had been planted in Nara. Nara is on the other side of Osaka from Kobe. Its a bit of a trek to get there, but I figured I would just have time. I managed to jump on an express train and was getting excited. I didn't have my own stamp or book, unfortunately, so I spent the train ride trying to figure out how I would remedy that. When the train pulled in, I realized that I was at the JR Nara station, which is a considerable hike away from the temple where the box was hidden. I debated taking a taxi, but that seemed a little extreme and I still needed to track down a stamp.

After a dozen blocks it was pretty clear I wasn't going to find a stamp. That left me with the option of making one on the fly. I jumped into a convenience store, bought an eraser, a small exacto knife, a notebook and an automatically inking brush (which I hoped would work for inking the stamp. I was running low on time, so I shot off for the temple. I was still only about half way there and time was running out. I figured out what my "point of no return" would be for time to make the concert. Unfortunately, the temple was farther than I had counted on and I didn't make it to my goal. I had to choose between a letterbox that may or may not have still been there or seeing Russell's first concert. I decided the box could wait if it had lasted this long. I headed back. I did make it to the concert on time.

I took a picture of my materials to commemorate the trip, but still no letterbox. I hope to head back to Nara in the near future. This weekend would have been perfect, but I have been sick and decided it would be better to stay close to home.

This has also made me want to start a letterboxing community in Kobe. Its an excuse to go hiking, be artistic and be sneaky. What's not to love?

What a way to spend a Saurday

Had a fun-filled Saturday yesterday. I started off the morning at the Big River Jazz festival. Several groups were playing Dixieland, swing and gospels down on the river in Osaka. It went from 11am to after 4:00 and it was tons of fun. I heard about it through the Wednesday night dance groups, so by 2:00 there was a group gathered to dance. It was perfect weather and perfect scenery. Several people had brought purple/lime green/gold umbrellas ala Mardis Gras and there were more than a few beads in the crowd. I arrived shortly after the music started and was the only foreigner. Since the rest of the dancers didn't arrive until around 2:00, I was of great interest to several people in the crowd wondering what had brought me to the concert. Finally one man came over and asked me if I was staying at the nearby hotel. I told him, no, I lived in Japan. He asked if I lived in Tokyo and I said, no, I lived in Kobe. Next he wanted to know why I was in Osaka. I told him I had come to see the festival. He seemed honestly taken aback. I think it made more sense once the dancing started...

After that, the remaining dancers headed to the Belgian Beer festival going on at the Sky Building. You bought a glass and 10 tokens to get started and hit the booths. Two tokens for a full glass of beer... not much opportunity for just tasting. My first beer looked dark, but tasted like someone had poured a cabernet in a Heineken. Not what I was expecting. The brown that followed was much better. As were the french fries. The festival was packed. There was music on a stage and at least 30 different beers to choose from. It seemed very well organized - much better executed than the German Christmas Festival in the same venue the last two years.

We stopped for bowls of ramen after the beer festival and then headed our separate ways. I had been invited many time to try Swingweek - a different swing dance group that meets on Saturdays. Usually, Russell and I already have plans for the weekend, so we rarely make it into Osaka. That paired with a vague sense of bad blood between the two swing groups and the worry that going to both might make us traitors, and we simply hadn't tried Swingweek after a year of invitations. I was invited again on Saturday and I figured I couldn't really plead previous plans to be elsewhere. I knew many of the dancers go to both, so I figured I would try it out. It was fun, but unless I'm in Osaka on a Saturday I probably won't be going as often as I go to the Wednesday dance. There's just something about celebrating being half way through the week with a good swing dance that attracts me.

And where was Russell? He planned to come, but decided to be grumpy and skipped out at the last minute. His loss.

Today we are going back to that spa with our friends. It will be nice after a full day on my feet.