Upgrade!

Thanks to some encouragement from Russell's parents, Russell and I finally went out on Christmas and bought a new refrigerator. Well... new to us. The old one? Only slightly bigger than the kind one keeps under a lofted bed in a dormitory. And we've been making due for almost four years now. We're both excited that we no longer have to choose between keeping the milk or the beer cold. Thankfully, Russell has become lactose intolerant. As a bonus, we also have a drawer freezer that fits more than a single ice cream bar. (Poor Russell)

The only downsides? Even though its not a big refrigerator, it feels pretty monolithic in our tiny apartment. Plus, we haven't seen our power bill yet...

But whatever!

Here's the before and after:

Note that everything we had in the original refrigerator now fits in the door of the new refrigerator.


Update:
Me: Do you want an ice cream sandwich?
Russell: Do we HAVE ice cream sandwiches?
Me: I had to get something to put in our new freezer.
Russell: Well okay then.
(I get one out for each of us)
Russell: Were there only two in the box?
Me: No, but we don't have to finish the box in one sitting anymore!

2k Relay Fiasco

Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

After the success and high spirits of our 5k in November, the Exercise Instigator at work found out about a run being sponsored by the university down the street from us. This particular run featured a choice of either a 6k run or a 6k relay run by three people (2k each). Remembering that it would be December (cold) and having nearly done ourselves in with a mere 5k, three of us (including the Instigator) opted for the 6k relay. In the end the Instigator had gathered four people (including herself) to run the 6k as well. It took quite a bit of effort and help on a colleague's part to get the entrance forms and sign up, but we managed to get it done.

As of this morning, our enthusiastic troupe of runners had dwindled somewhat. The Instigator has been suffering from shin splints and then caught a bad cold on top - so she backed out of both runs. Two other 6k runners also backed out due to very busy schedules. Our last 6k runner (and one of our most athletic representatives) agreed to run a 2k leg of the relay so that the relay team could still run. To be honest, I had been hoping she would refuse since the two of us from the original team had to work at Open Campus that day, and between the run and the day at work I was losing a fair chunk of my weekend. Alas, she was a good sport and we all agreed to meet at the school around 9:30am.

The two of us who had been in this from the beginning arrived first and went to register. Walking into the registration room the whole thing started to seem like a very bad idea. The next oldest person in the room was probably 22 or 23 and all seemed to be pretty much at their physical peak. We went to the sign up desk, explained that a number of runners could not come and made the changes to the roster to show who was running. We then waited for Our Pinch-Hitter.

We got a call from her just before the opening ceremony. She didn't have a bike key and needed a place to stash her bike. I went over to the school to help her and my other colleague went to the opening ceremony as Our Representative. While I was helping Our Pinch Hitter get her bike into our English Office for safe-keeping, she admitted to me that she had been out rather late last night for an end-of-year party - the "forget the year" drinking parties that friends, social groups and co-workers enjoy together throughout December. She had also just been awarded a black-belt in karate and the end of year stacked up with celebration of such an achievement had left her a bit worse for wear on this particular morning.

Once Our Pinch Hitter and I arrived at the opening ceremony, I got a bit of a culture shock. All of the teams were neatly lined up one behind the next with each team facing the speaker. Several speakers gave words of encouragement to the students - because they were all students.  Yes, we had signed up for a student run. Almost all the teams were not only university students, but athletic teams and clubs. The guys from the soccer team, team, the baseball team, the running club, etc. Our Pinch Hitter and I slunk to the back of the crowd. I had to chuckle looking at all the neatly organized, energetic youth in their warm-up suits and the three of us - one out of shape, one just plain overweight and one hung over. All we needed were cigarettes and Bloody Marys.

The next speaker announced that it was time for Radio Taiso!

I have described Radio Taiso before. Basically it is a simple calisthenics routine done to standard tunes. You see construction workers, retirees and school children doing Radio Taiso in the morning before they start their days. Everyone knows the routine. Even for those who don't (me) it is not too hard to catch on. The trickiest bit was leaning opposite the leader - who was facing us. I started following the students in front of me instead. At this point I spotted Our Representative and we fell in to line behind her. Properly warmed up, we were regaled by the school brass band and then saw a performance by the Cheerleading squad.

And it was time to run. The first run was the 6k. Our Pinch Hitter asked me if I was running the 6k and I assured her that Our Representative and I were not. She decided that she really shouldn't either. We could tell by looking at her that skipping the 6k was clearly the best choice. We had an hour before the relay, so she found a table and took the opportunity to catch some rest. Our Representative and I spent the time chatting. When it was time for the relay to begin we decided to leave Our Pinch Hitter for the time being since she was running last and had at least 20 minutes before she would need to run. Our Representative said she would come back and wake her up after I was on my way. I did my best to warm up (it was a stunning sunny day and much warmer than the two weeks prior) and when the starting gun was fired, I did my best not to be left in the dust. Thankfully, there were a few other girls teams that were not planning to sprint the full 2k. We made a nice little pack and I did my best not to fall behind. About 200 yards in I really wanted to just quit. Deep down, I hate running, and getting past the initial phase, when your muscles are still cold and everything is uncomfortable just sucks. Thankfully, I pressed on, and after about 1k I was warmed up and grudgingly willing to finish. There were only two of us left at the very back at this point, but we weren't so far behind. I did my best to sprint the last little bit and Our Representative took off next.

I looked around but I did not see Our Pinch Hitter. I went to the cafeteria and she looked like she was doing everything she could not to vomit. She looked up at me and said she didn't think she would be able to run after all. I don't think we would have let her if she wanted to. I took her running number with the briefest thought of running the last leg so our team could have a finish time. I didn't know if that would be acceptable - and they would clearly recognize me, since I was the only foreigner running that day - but in the end I just couldn't do it. I was spent from the first leg and just didn't want to. I cheered for Our Representative as she crossed the finish line and then told her what was going on. We both had fun and we left it at that. After all, if Our Pinch Hitter had cancelled that morning before coming, we wouldn't have run at all, and that would have been a shame. I have such a fun story to tell as a result.

Allergens

I don't know what was different about this year, but when we pulled our winter sweaters out of the closet we discovered that some sort of allergen had settled into them. Both Russell and I instantly start sneezing uncontrollably and searching for tissues whenever we put on a sweater. I'm suspicious this is because I stored everything in plastic tubs this winter for the first time. I put moisture eaters in that were suppose to keep the humidity at bay and prevent mold, but something clearly went wrong. I wore one sweater on Wednesday assuming it would air out over the course of the day, but that was a false assessment. I was a mess all day and started sneezing again the next morning when I picked the sweater up off the floor.

This got us thinking that it might be time to finally purchase a vacuum. We've needed one for other purposes, but cleaning out the closet seems a high priority, and a vacuum would sure help. We went out this afternoon and purchased a high powered vacuum that not only vacuums normally but filters the air above the vacuum as well while its running. We spent the afternoon vacuuming all our sweaters and bedding (which had been stashed in the closet as well during the summer). Hopefully it will help. If not, we'll bite the bullet and take everything we can't wash to the cleaners. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Tomorrow we will venture further into the closet. Wish us luck.

My Running Day Pictures

The post before this one explains the story - not here are a few pictures to set the scene. Warning - they're not all pretty. Case in point:

My co-worker has been joking about how people post pictures of themselves after they finish a big run and everyone always looks terrible - it doesn't matter that they do, that isn't the point, but nonetheless. I took this picture after my first 5k in the morning and sent it to my coworker as proof that I had in fact finished the run. She believed me. I will also point out that right around this exact moment I was thinking to myself, "Running sucks. I never plan to do this again in my life. EVER."

This is me about 5 hours later with the registration packet for the second run. 

This pic is still early in the race. 

Team KSGU - celebrating our completed runs and showing off our school spirit. (We all wore our school t-shirt). The blue number is not blue for boys, but blue for 10k. The paper cups contain free samples from a wine tasting that took place after the race. Can't complain there.

Kobe Run Fest 2012

Sooo... I actually ended up running two 5ks today... Funny story...

My co-worker has been really pushing herself to get physically fit, and the rest of the office has been collateral damage. We really aren't complaining - its been good for us. A few months ago, she found out about the Kobe Run Fest - which features a 5k and 10k run around Harborland in Kobe. She set to work getting as many co-workers as possible to sign up. Originally I said no, because I was just too busy to train (the last couple months have been packed with research, conferences, family visits, etc). Then her husband asked Russell and he agreed and started signing up. Since he was signing up, I told him to just sign me up too. We were both planning to run.

Then Russell never got around to paying. In Japan, credit cards aren't that widely used - even online, so outside of Amazon.com, you can't count on just giving your credit card number. Instead, you have to use a special kiosk in the local convenience store. You enter the code you got on the website, they tell you the total and you pay the kiosk in cash. Russell signed up pretty late at night and didn't feel like heading out to the convenience store. He then forgot altogether - so we were kicked out of the run. 

My coworker who had organized the whole thing was bummed. Her group of four coworkers and three spouses was dwindling and everyone was starting to wonder if they were really up to running (there was more enthusiasm for signing up than training). I felt bad. So I told her I would cheer and go out for dinner afterwards. Out of solidarity (and to feel less lame sitting around drinking beer with a bunch of people who had just run 5k) I decided to run 5k in the morning before the official evening run. 

I DID run 5k (3.1 miles) by myself in the morning. It wasn't a fast 5k - maybe 38 minutes - but I ran the full thing with only a few pauses at traffic lights. I felt like a good friend. Later in the afternoon, I went out to Harborland to meet everyone before the race. 

As it turned out my friend's husband had been sick and couldn't run. He had suggested giving the ticket to Russell or I, but nobody had given us a heads up. I offered to Russell first (since he hadn't run yet today) but he said no. Waiting for the registration table to open, surrounded by runners, (and calculating that the run would be dead flat - 'cause hills suck it turns out)  I really still wanted to run. We didn't know if they would allow me to take someone else's number, but when we asked, they said it was no problem. Did it help that the registration lady was also a student from our university? Perhaps. 

I registered and found myself the proud bearer of number 136. 

So I was signed up for my second 5k of the day.

In the end one of my co-workers ran the 10k (very convincingly, I might add - I think his time was around 40-45 minutes) and the rest of us (four coworkers and a spouse) ran the 5k together. Everyone made it to the end. The fastest among us finished around 20 minutes. I was the slowest, but not by much, and considering my morning, I'm not at all disappointed. I did get an even better time on the second run. I don't know my exact time but it was somewhere between 33 and 34 minutes. And however slow my running speed, not a step was walked. 

To be honest, for someone who never broke 14 minutes in the annual mile run in high school (yes I was trying and yes, I was actually that slow) I'm very proud. I don't really want to keep running in the cold dry weather that is creeping up (otherwise known as winter) but I'll try to keep walking to work and starting next spring I would like to start training again and try to trim that run time down. We'll see how it goes. 

After the run we all went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant and then a sizable group of us continued on to a bar that Russell has been frequenting called "The Bees Knees". It is run by a very friendly Canadian fellow and was especially notable for being smoke free. Around this time my legs started to really make sure I knew they disapproved of the day in general, but I wasn't asking much of them anymore, so it was all good. We enjoyed ourselves a good long time at the bar. Past the last train, as it turned out. 

Russell and I ended up walking (me more like a penguin) to Sannomiya, ate noodles and then decided that walking the rest of the way home wasn't all it was cracked up to be and took a taxi instead. 

It was one of those "good memory" days I wanted to make sure to chronicle. 

Today is going to be one of those less exciting "not moving off the couch" days that I'll leave up to your imagination.

Saturday in Hong Kong

We didn't go out of our way to wake up early on Saturday, but we were scheduled to meet Lis at the hostel around 10am. I emailed her to let her know we would be late - maybe 11. Since we knew we would land in Hong Kong so late at night, we had chosen not to try and find our way to the hostel (two islands away) on public transportation that closed at 1am. It was a wise choice. Our first hotel was perfectly comfy, within taxi range of the airport and offered a lovely buffet breakfast.

After taking a little too much time over breakfast, we finally headed to the ferry to cut across to Hong Kong island. If you aren't familiar with Hong Kong, break out the maps. Its largely composed of Kowloon Peninsula, which connects to mainland China, Hong Kong island due south, Lantau Island due west and a bunch of much smaller islands scattered around. Our hotel was on the south side of Lantau Island so the ferry was the quickest way to cross over to Central - on the north side of Hong Kong Island.

Once we got to the ferry station in Central, we realized we had no idea how to get to our hostel. It was already 11:30 and I was sure Lis would be wondering where we were. We knew the name and address of our destination, but that hadn't been a ton of help the day before. Hoping the more urban setting was more likely to yield an English speaking taxi driver, we decided a taxi was our best best for a speedy arrival. Luckily, our driver spoke (and sang!) English. Unluckily, he did not know the address. He called it in to a central operator who gave him directions. Off we went.

The driver dropped us off on the side of the street and... we had no idea where to go. We saw a sign for Fortress Hill - and our hostel name included a reference to Fortress Hill - but other than that we were lost. We figure out that we were on the correct street but we had no idea which direction to go or what side of the busy four lane street to be on. Eventually we figured out the building numbering system and made our way to the correct building. Once inside we even saw a sign with the hostel name on it. We hunted around and found an elevator, but when we took it to the floor we wanted, we saw no hostel. No sign either.

We went back down and talked with the security guy. He didn't speak English, but he was enthusiastic to help. Before he would help us, though, he pulled out a well worn notebook and flipped to a detailed, hand drawn and carefully shaded world map on a back page and indicated Europe. We said no, we were from America. He was very happy. He then flipped to the front of his book with an equally elaborate map of the first floor of the building. It turned out we needed the elevator for the front of the block, not the back. He had little feet showing the path from his elevator to the front elevator. We thanked him and made our way to the unmarked metal door that led to the front elevators.

We got to the hostel around 12:00 and... no Lis. We checked in, dropped off bags and began to loiter. As far as I knew she had crossed the border into Hong Kong around 8am - and Hong Kong is not a big place once you get inside. I was getting worried. We decided to go wait on the street in case she was having as much trouble as we had had finding the place. We waited about two minutes and here she came.

She has an equally harrowing tail of crossing the border with a sea of mainland Chinese visitors followed by many train transfers, but she tells that story better than I can.

Once reunited, we dropped off bags and went to get lunch.

Lunch!

After wandering a few blocks, we found a noodle shop that seemed busy (a good sign, right?) so we wandered in. They seated us at a big round table with a family of three and a single woman. They brought over an English menu and we looked it over. For about US$4 we could get the noodle soup with the works (around 15 ingredients - possibly more), or for about $US2.50 we could select one topping and then add additional toppings for a fee. Lis, being the clever traveler, opted for the basic soup with two toppings. Russell and I went for the full shebang. It was more food than I have eaten in a very long time. It was absolutely delicious, but my tummy hurt a good long time after. I had no interest in dinner and very little interest in breakfast the next morning.

After lunch we went back to the hostel and lounged until we felt able to waddle once more. We used the time to read through our travel guides and make some plans for things to do (we had never gotten around to research). We decided to spend the evening on the south end of Kowloon (a major shopping / tourism district) and take the Star Ferry tour around the bay after dark. We headed out around 4:00 and spent the evening doing just that. We wandered around seeing the city and browsing through outdoor markets before heading to the waterfront for our ferry ride. The ride was beautiful and the weather was perfect. Cool and breezy but not humid or chilly.

My first impression of Hong Kong? To be honest, at this point, I felt like it was pretty much just a city. I'm not into shopping and not really impressed by city night views (thought this one is impressive as night views go). The public transportation (we had figured out the Metro at this point) was absolutely awesome - even better/easier to use/faster than trains in Japan, but I wasn't overly charmed yet.

Thankfully that changed on Sunday.

Apologies for the lack of pictures. I didn't have my camera on me until Sunday. I promise there are pictures to come. The photo at the top is the view from our hostel room.

A jaunt abroad

Russell and I FINALLY went on vacation in Asia but outside of Japan. Spurred on by a request to meet up from my friend Lis (who was in the middle of some serious globetrotting) we weighed our options.

The criteria:
- Outside Japan
- Cheap to get there
- Cheap to stay there
- No complicated visa (we're lazy - we'll try to get over it.)

Top choices:
 - Seoul, South Korea
 - Hong Kong
 - Taipei, Taiwan

I had just been to Taiwan (though not Taipei) for a conference and Russell and I are kind of saving Seoul for a serious swing dance weekend - its got to happen one of these days...

So Hong Kong it was. At first we thought the tickets would end up being too expensive. Note above that we are lazy and that also meant booking at the last minute. Then Russell remembered to check Peach - Japan's newly minted budget airline. $60 each way for the win. We bought our tickets and proceeded to forget to book a hotel room. Lis reminded us a couple of days before we left, so we scrambled and found a hostel with a private room for three (in-room bathroom and all!)

So how about that budget airline? It was spiffy, new and modern but still pretty much hell. Even for me, and I love flying. For those of you who travel, you've surely seen the kind of standard size airplane with three seats on one side an two on the other? We were in that size plane but it was three seats on each side. We had a middle and window seat. Russell had to share half of my leg room. Oh, and it left at 9pm - thus arriving at 1am (one hour time change). About 30 minutes in my tailbone hurt. Thankfully, Russell hunched form was shielding me from the passenger on the other side of him who was happily munching the remains of extra garlicky fried rice with tear inducing green onions on top.

After getting through customs (the most massive line I have ever seen, but not the longest wait by a long shot - yay efficiency) we got a taxi and showed him the address for our hotel. Unfortunately, our hotel name and address was in English, and he did not speak English. He flagged down a stewardess who read it to him. Silvermine Inn? He still didn't know. In Mui-Wo? When he heard the town name he seemed convinced of the destination and off we went. After about 20 minutes of hairpin curves up and back down a mountain (Hong Kong's got mountains!) we found ourselves in a rather remote looking town. The driver pointed us down a dark alley and tried his best to reassure us.

We went down the alley (the snuffling noise to the right was a feral cow) and sure enough, our hotel was by the water. The hotel manager was waiting for us and we successfully checked in. First obstacle overcome, we set our alarms and crashed for the night.

Wild in Japan

One of my co-workers used to complain about how the students would all stare at her for eating her apple whole (as in not peeled, not cut up, certainly not carved into apple bunnies). It made her so uncomfortable to be stared at that she would either find somewhere secluded to eat her apple, or go for a walk off campus and eat it there. Then the boss got a comment from a neighboring school that they always see this girl out eating whole apples and they wanted to know if she belonged to us.

Seriously.

Recently. I have been eating whole apples as well. I also get stared at, but so far I've just used it as an excuse to make them think about other cultures and other ways of doing things. Most students are pretty good about recognizing that there are more than one way to do things. But then, most also start the conversation with a startled: "Jaci! Apple! Apple! Wild!!" Because I'm acting such a heathen. This has happend 3-4 times this year. I'm impressed they all know the word "wild." I haven't heard it in any other context, but everyone regardless of level seems to use it for apple eating. Oh- it was also used to describe my use of a pen to secure my hair in a bun.

The other day one of my students came to make up a class she had been late for. She was looking kind of down, and she told me that she was hungry but she had forgotten her lunch. I happened to have an apple on my desk and I had just had a large lunch, so I offered her my apple. She was super happy about it and very appreciative. Then I gave it to her. She still really wanted it, but I could see her wondering how she was going to eat it. There were two boys at the table watching her closely. She tried to take a bite, but it was tougher than she thought and the first bite failed. Embarrassed to have the boys teasing her, she gathered up her apple and bags, thanked me again profusely (which was very sweet), and headed out. About an hour later, she came back with her friend to show me the apple core.

She was very pleased with herself.

It was one of the highlights of my teaching career thus far.

Summer is upon us

My guilt has finally overcome me and I am sitting down to whip out a quick blog update. I have many longer posts in mind, but I just don't have time these days.

Summer is well underway in Japan. Rainy season is doing its thing - making sure things stay nice and muggy. The temperatures are no longer confortable, but I have no doubt they will be far worse in another month. Summer usually doesn't give it a rest until around October sometime. Bleh.

Add to that the threat of rolling power outages this summer and you can imagine how much I love this season.

All bitterness aside, one thing I DO love about this season are all the gorgeous hydrangea. There is a wide variety of them, all gorgeous, and EVERYWHERE. Their lovely cool shades seem totally out of place in this heat - but welcome nonetheless.

Last day of the conference

I woke up this morning and realized my alarm hadn't gone off. I had accidentally set it to only go off on weekdays, and today is Sunday. It meant I missed the free shuttle to the conference, but I still had time to eat a quick breakfast, take a taxi and catch the plenary at 10:00. 

On my way to breakfast, though, the woman in the elevator with me asked if I was going to the conference. 

Seriously. 

She was another attendee and she and her boyfriend were checking out and then driving over in their car. They offered me a ride. No breakfast, but I wasn't complaining. She was also incredibly friendly and we stopped and chatted a number of times throughout the conference. 

It was nice to be at the conference today without my presentation hanging over my head. I could just sit back and relax. I ran into one of my guides from last night and we chatted for a while. I think she'll be a Facebook Friend soon. 

The conference has been very nice. There were a lot of very considerate touches that I've never seen before. 

For example:

1. The gift bag only had useful things in it. There was a notebook with lots of paper for note-taking, a pen, a high end tote bag, a conference book, a plastic folder,  certificate of participation and a scoring book for the best presenter. We could vote for our 6 favorite presentations and the top 6 were given awards. 

2. There was a room with two tables heavily laden with a wide variety of pastries and coffee dispensers at all times. 

3. There was a hoard of university students trying to find every way possible to be helpful. 

I was very impressed with the whole thing. 

It all ended with a closing ceremony and awards for the conference. There were awards for graduate student papers (there is some fabulous CALL research going on in Taiwan) and the awards for best presenter. There were 6 awards, and #5 went to yours truly. I couldn't believe it! I didn't think that many people had attended my presentation to begin with. 

Yay!

Now I'm trying to decide whether I want to go brave the night market for a delicious dinner - or just grab some food from 7-11 and crash in my hotel room.  I'll probably go out. 

FOOD

Today was the first conference day that I attended. It was also the day that I presented. My presentation went fine and I attended a number of other good conference sessions. Even better, I feel that I'm doing much better than average at networking - something I am never very good at. I was even asked to do a book review for a major journal. Yikes! I channelled my boss, though, and just said "you bet". Now I have to figure out how to follow through, but I'll do it. I'm really excited.

This evening was our tour of the night market. There are many night markets all around Taiwan, but one of the well known ones is right down the street from our hotel. Night markets are centers of activity that are open all night every day of the week. They are characterized (as far as I can tell) by many stores selling everything you can imagine - mostly at very cheap prices - and tons of street food. It probably won't come as a surprise to hear that this one is right next to a very large university. I don't know if that is always true, but it does seem the perfect place for such a hub.

Three of us (all foreign teachers from Japan, actually) were in a small group with two adorable Taiwanese students. They were super awesome.

Oh Man! The food hasn't slowed down, and is only getting better and better. I was good and took lots of pictures, but I can't upload them until I get home. Until then, here is a summary of all the delicacies I just had at the night market.

1. Sausage on a patty of sticky rice - this was my favorite. I got the spicy one and it was absolutely delicious.
2. Real Taiwan Bubble Tea (I've had lots of bubble tea in the US and Japan, but it really is better in Taiwan. Yum).
3. Stinky Tofu- both regular and spicy. I didn't find the smell pleasant, but I've eaten far stinkier things. I thought both were delicious, but the spicy one was super delicious.
4. Pig's blood cake on a stick - pigs blood cooked with sticky rice and formed into a patty which was then rolled in toasted soy bean powder and shredded cilantro. This was delicious. I never would have known what it was if I hadn't heard about it before and been so keen to try it anyway.
5. crispy grilled prawns. They are grilled whole in their shell and are so crispified that you just eat them head, shell, tail and all. Delightful.

Our guides did seem a bit disappointed that we were all so enthusiastic about all the food they were sure foreigners wouldn't eat. They were pleased at the same time, though, since they love all these foods too. 

Favorite moment: Ron (who is probably about 6'2") said he was really tired. He said he would keep going, though, until he fell over. He suggested that when that happened, the girls shouldn't worry, they should just call the ambulance. One of our guides (barely 5 feet and tiny) very seriously said, "No. We don't need to call an ambulance. When you fall over, I will carry you on my back. Its true. I'm very strong."

The girls kept claiming they're English was bad and they were shy of speaking, but they were chatting away the whole night and were sharper than I was with the teasing. Ron was constantly teasing them and they were giving it right back. It was a lovely, fun evening. I was, once again, totally spoiled.

Quick Update from Taiwan

Hello! Sorry its been so long between posts. Life has been crazy - though I only seem to post when things are really out of control crazy, so perhaps things just haven't been busy enough. Next week is midterm week at our school, so last week I was preparing students for their midterms (and writing their midterms a week in advance so I would know what to teach them about). Along with this, I was also planning my slideshow presentation for a conference in Taiwan.

Sometime late last year I was trying to get my old thesis research accepted to a journal, and since I was elbow deep in all the literature again, I decided to submit the research to a conference at the same time. I was accepted to present at a conference in Taichung, Taiwan. Unfortunately, things have been so hectic at work, that I waited until the last minute to put my presentation together. Of course, I know the material well, but it still required quite a bit of time to make all the slides and practice. I also had never been to Taiwan before, didn't know how to get from Taipei (where I was flying in) to Taichung (where the conference was going to be) and didn't speak Chinese. My impression was that the Taiwanese people were generous about switching to English or Japanese when they were able and that I would be able to get by.

Even so, I was really getting nervous. The night before I left I was frantically digging on the internet for information about currency values, venue addresses in Chinese (so I could show a taxi driver)routes from the airport to my hotel in Taichung... there was a lot to figure out and I was imagining myself lost in the middle of Taiwan, getting my purse snatched and being utterly alone. No one was waiting for me, no one would know how to contact me. I decided to approach the trip the same way I approached Spain (my first solo trip abroad). Just keep accomplishing the next step.

1. Wake up on time - check
2. Get to the airport bus - check
3. Check in to your flight - check
4. Get through immigration - check
5. Get on the airplane - check
6. Get through Taiwan immigration - check
7. Follow signs to the shuttle bus that goes to the high speed rail - check

And here the powers that be decided to step in and help me out. While I was on the shuttle, a woman leaned over to me and said, "Hey, are you going to the conferece? The one in Taichung?" Why yes, I was! We started talking and it turned out that she is also teaching English in Kobe. Her parents are (I believe) Taiwanese, but she grew up in New York City and married a Japanese man. She is fluent in Chinese, English and Japanese and will be met at the train station by her good friend and fellow presenter who has a car and will take her to her hotel. (Her hotel is different than mine, but on the same side of the city). She'll ask her friend if I can come too. Seriously. So I tag along.

We talk the whole way, and by the time we get to Taiwain, I feel like I had always planned to meet up with her and we've known each other a long time. We meet her friend, who is incredibly gracious and doesn't bat an eye at picking up a stray. They decide it would be better to go get lunch together and then go to the conference to check in before going to our hotels. This works out better than I could ever have hoped - I hadn't figure out eating or registering for the conference yet. We went to a restaurant that specialized in Taiwanese food for lunch (delicious), chatted the whole time, had a special Taiwanese dessert I will post more about later, and then went to register for the conference.

While there, the lady that had picked us up from the station ran into another visiting professor (this one from Nebraska) and started talking. I introduced myself, and it so happened she was staying at the same hotel. In fact, she was on her way to the hotel now, so we could share a taxi. I went and got my things, said a temporary goodbye to my first two guardians and headed out with a new guardian and her friend, who she had just met a week earlier in Taipei. We stopped at the friend's hotel for coffee and then headed on to our hotel. I checked in (the room was lovely) and at 5:30 - met back up with my new friend and her family to go to the welcome banquet.

I'll write more about the banquet soon, but for now, my mind is just blown at how completely I have been taken care of in spite of not knowing anyone or anything about this weekend or what it would be. I was hoping that I would meet people I could hang out with once I got to the conference, but this is so far beyond what I had imagined. I am very appreciative to everyone I have met so far.

Mac and Cheese

Maybe it was because Russell seemed a little down today, or maybe because we haven't had Kraft Macaroni and Cheese since coming to Japan (that's more than 3 years now!), but when I saw the classic blue box with the neon orange pasta on the front in the import store, I decided to buy it. Even though I knew what it would taste like, and even though it cost $4 a box.

For the last year or so, Russell has brought up the fine orange pasta whenever he has anything remotely hotdog-like. I can only assume his was a household that put hotdogs in their mac and cheese. In Japan, however, you can do one better than hotdogs. You can do octopus weiners!

Behold. Russell's Octopus infested Macaroni and Cheese.


May it hold him for another three years.

The cherry blossoms - they are a-bloomin'

Spring has sprung in Kobe. The cherry blossoms are either in full bloom or getting there and the weather is at times nippy, but comfortable.

Our school year usually has a couple days start followed by a break while the first year students go on a camping trip to bond, and then back to school for a couple weeks before everyone goes on Golden Week holiday.

Not so this year.

This year, the opening ceremony was last week, we have one full week with no classes with which to prepare, and then classes start this coming Monday. We'll have three full weeks of class before our first day off, so its much different than before and much nice. We have textbooks, class lists and a chance to plan - all before the first day!

I am currently writing in the weekend before the storm. Russell and I just got back from Shukugawa (a famous place for cherry blossom watching). We weren't there for the flowers, though. We went to see a pianist who had come down from Tokyo. This particular pianist has caught my boss's eye, and Russell and I had been out to dinner with him earlier this month. He's Japanese, but he grew up in Portugal and Spain and studied piano in Germany. He's about our age and seems like a nice guy. He's been making it very clear to my boss that he DOES NOT want to teach English.

In any case, it was a nice concert - Steinway piano in the marble entrance of a library with a blue stained glass window as a backdrop. Rather stunning, actually.

Russell and I walked home along the river and caught an eye full of cherry blossoms and revelers past their prime.

Russell has band practice tonight. I get to choose between:

A) Cleaning our disaster of a home
B) Making CDs for Listening classes before the term starts
C) Vegging out and doing absolutely nothing.

I'm sure you can guess what I'm leaning towards.

Tomorrow there is a cherry blossom party at Osaka Castle Park with the swing dance group. Dancing in the park should be lovely. There's also a fancy evening dance that happens once a month. After working through my last few weekends, I'm really enjoying the opportunity to kick back.

Won't last long, I'm sure.

ABC Cooking

I apologize for my silence. Chances are it won't get much better in the near future. Things are just busy. We don't have classes right now, but we have a wide variety of projects, from textbooks to voice recordings to mail magazines and TOEIC prep. Just crazy.

I did, however, have an experience today that I just can't really pass on sharing. I took a cooking class at ABC Cooking - a chain cooking school targeted at young women who want to be outstanding home-makers, or who feel they need to brush up on some of the basic cooking skills so as to be better wives. It was an interesting experience.

The cooking skill is women only. You have to bring your own apron, slippers and hand towel, everything else is provided.

My friend recently joined the school and today was a free trial lesson, so she invited me to go with her. We were learning how to make roll cakes. Everything we got was pre-measured and we were guided through the cooking process by one of the school's expert cooks - an extremely cheerful young woman who was concerned I might not know what a spatula was (to be fair, they probably do get women who have never seen a spatula before). She also seemed very disappointed that I knew what a flour sifter was. That I can understand - flour sifters are clearly an imported tool, and to be honest I only ever used one in my middle school home-ec class.

The recipe we made was highly involved and "required" a number of techniques that were cool, but probably not even remotely necessary. We did learn that if you slowly mix cold whipping cream into warm melted white chocolate before whipping it, you get a nice dense, delicious whipped cream. After filling and rolling our cake, we were also shown how to make little rounded egg-shaped daubs of whipped cream with a pair of spoons. This then served as a base to stick fruit and chocolate to the top fo the cake.

At the same time, the class sharing the long work station with us was learning how to gut a fish with chopsticks. Which was horrifying and kind of awesome at the same time. By the time they finished their fish and clam sautee it did smell absolutely delicious.

When we were done decorating our slices of roll cake (we each got to take home 3 slices), they were whisked away to the refrigerator and we got the sales job. $450 for 6 classes was the starting package (on sale for $350 if I commit right away), and you could only take one class per month (each month featured four "menus" you could learn how to make). Presumably they are counting on you wanting to take more than one per month and pay for more out of pocket. There are also a variety of bonus lessons if you bring a friend.

So more than I can afford right now, anyway. It would be hard to justify the expense for recipes that seem to include a lot of specialize equipment and ingredients that I don't want to buy. Maybe someday, though. It was a fun way to practice Japanese.

What I really want to do is sneak into their kitchen at night and use all their awesome tools and facilities to make my own recipes.

Birthday Surprise

Yesterday was my birthday in Japan. It was Friday, so I had to work. The day was pretty normal. Only one of my co-workers had any idea it was my birthday and I think she remembered late. That was okay, though, because I had a big birthday dinner planned at a fancy Italian restaurant with Russell for that evening. I was really looking forward to it because we've barely been eating out at all lately, and certainly not at fancy places.

Around 4:30, however, I got an urgent request to do some work for my boss. I got right to work, but it ended up taking me two and a half hours to finish, so it was 7:15 before I was leaving the university. I was very worried that we would arrive at the restaurant too late, but Russell called and made a reservation for 8:00, so we knew we were okay. We had a nice dinner together and my birthday and then my birthday was over.

I was a little mopey that I hadn't gotten birthday cake, so I was planning to treat myself Saturday night while Russell was out with his friends. As it happened, my coworker (the one who did know it was my birthday) called to see if I wanted to do something with her. I told her I had been planning to take myself out to pizza and birthday cake at Mother Moon (I think I've posted pictures of their cake before). We made plans to meet downtown and go together.

We got to the restaurant, and it looked really full. I didn't think we would be able to find a seat, but Katrin suggested we at least ask, so we went in and the waitress guided us straight to a table. The table had a reserved sign on it, though, so I was worried we were taking someone else's table. The waitress said it was fine, though, and so we sat down. We decided to share the gorgonzola and mozzarella pizza and have cake after. The waiter asked something about if we wanted to order cake as well, and Katrin said, no, we would order cake afterwards.

The pizza came out and it was amazing. Very cheesy, thin crust but chewy around the edge. They did a great job (this was my first time trying their pizza). Afterwards, we got the cake menu, each chose one to share and ordered.

We were talking away and the waiter brought over this big plate. He set it in the middle of the table and it had our two slices of cake with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and fruit. Around the edge of the plate it said "Happy Birthday Jaci" in chocolate. I looked at the plate and was really confused. I couldn't figure out how they: A. Knew it was my birthday (Katrin hadn't gotten up to use the bathroom or anything), and B: spelled my name right.

At this point Katrin started laughing. She really pulled one off this time. It turned out she really hadn't ever heard of the restaurant when I suggested it earlier that day, but she was out with another friend and happened to walk by it. She stopped in, made the table reservation, and asked if they could do a special birthday message for me. She wrote out the message and made sure they knew how to spell my name. Then she went on her way.


The really lucky thing is that Mother Moon has three locations in downtown Kobe. This isn't the one that I normally go to, but a friend had happened to bring me a few weeks back and I discovered that this venue had a pizza oven. Somehow by luck, Katrin had stumbled on the exact shop I was thinking about.

Katrin had her back to the wall and was facing the restaurant. She said it was all she could do not to laugh, or give herself away, because the waiter who was in on the surprise was really anxious and was just humming around behind me. She kept trying to reassure him that yes, we were still going to have cake, but it had to be the right moment. He had a very pleased glow about him when it all worked out.

It was a perfectly executed surprise and its going to be a special memory for a long time. I really owe her one.

Hard Day's Work

Today was a busy, busy day.
Russell was leaving on a business trip, so he was up extra early to pack. We got all the clothes and omiyage to fit in his suitcase and then had a late breakfast. Around noon he headed out and I beelined for the fancy grocery store with the good selection of wine and cheese.

Forbidden dinner in hand, it was time to go home and clean. The house hasn't been too bad, but we have really only been straightening up and keeping dishes washed since Lis was here. A great deal of cruft had built up in the corners. Since I'm proud of how much I got done before Russell had even left the country (he had to fly to Tokyo first and is only flying out now) I'm going to list it all:

Washed the bedding and my pajamas
Aired the futon and comforters
Mopped up the dew that had accumulated into puddles around the outside walls of our bedroom.
Swept up all the fuzz and dust that had accumulated around bedroom
Treated the floors and windows with a bleach rinse (mildew has been popping up where the dew forms in the morning)
Brought in the futon, etc. and reassembled the nest.
Straightened, dusted and washed Russell's desk (which was a disaster area)
Swept under the desk (where fuzz especially likes to accumulate)
Put away the clothes that Russell folded this morning
Cleaned the living room table (kotatsu)
Swept and mopped the floors in the kitchen and living room
Washed the remaining dishes

I am now sitting down to relax with a glass of Malbec.
The next couple weeks are off to a tidy start.

Brie, cheddar and pepper gouda for dinner...

New Year 2012 FOOD

My apologies to anyone reading this who is actually Japanese and knows what SHOULD be eaten for New Year in Japan. I did the best I could with the limited knowledge I have. The following food may not be traditionally prepared, but hopefully I was going the right direction with it. Because there is was so much food involved it deserves its own post.

To start things off, we made sure almost every day of Lis's visit was filled with Mochi. Delicious mochi. As you may recall, mochi is a pounded rice cake. It can be eaten savory: grilled or added to soups or eaten sweet, with red bean paste in the middle or red bean AND a strawberry. There are other variations as well. All delicous.


New Year's Eve: Soba
I am not sure how soba is suppose to be prepared for the New Year, but I know you are suppose to eat it. My version was a soup using the stock that came with the noodles plus vegetables that didn't seem too out of place in a Japanese dish. Note that my presentation skills are still somewhat lacking.

Apple Bunnies
This has nothing to do with New Years, but they are a staple of Japanese lunch boxes and I was having no luck describing them verbally to Lis. My solution? Buy and apple and show her. I don't think she was quite seeing how this equalled a plate of bunnies. Can you see them?

A Little Bump for Grandpa Pieterick
While the coming hike kept us off alcohol the evening of New Year's Eve, Russell and I did toast Grandpa Pieterick with our shots of brandy.

New Year's Morning: Toasted Flax Seed Peanut Butter from Trader Joes
Thanks to Lis, we had gloriously delicious peanut butter on our toast, brewed some tea for the thermos and hit the trail. At the top? We had dried persimmons and various other snacks we had hauled up with us. That's a persimmon going down the hatch in the photo. You can tell by the grin. None of our hiking provisions count as traditional.

Plum Wine:
Russell and I finally broke out our plum wine that we set aside last spring. I'm pretty sure we posted about the process at the time. You are suppose to let the wine sit for 6 months to 2 years. 6 months was right at the New Year, and since we had a guest it seemed fitting. The verdict? Wow! Its so easy to make awesome plum wine! It was equal or better than anything we have had before, which gives us confidence to try making more - perhaps with variations.

Osechi: You saw the pictures from the previous post, but here are the boxes in close-up glory. I may not love everything in osechi, but it sure is fun to eat so many tiny and varied things. Maybe next year I'll make it myself? I wouldn't wish that on guests, though, so it will depend on whether anyone is visiting.


This friend is a salted and grilled breen fish - known as Tai in Japan. (I think). These are usually grilled in such a way that their one fin is sticking straight up and their tail is curled up. I'm not sure of the significance, but that is the way its done. Ours followed tradition, but its not easy to see.


This box has honey grilled pork, grilled chicken, boiled oysters, salmon roe, crunchy little fishies, and kurikinton - which is a yellow yam and chestnut paste - this one with three sweet chestnuts sitting on top.


This box had mushrooms, bamboo shoot, some sort of celery-like vegetable, carrots, burdock root, sweet black soybeans (both small and large), lotus root, pink and white fish cake, grated daikon salad and some sort of shoot that is suppose to help with new beginnings.


This final box included different forms of mochi, a form of candied walnut with bonito flakes cooked in, grilled tuna (buri), crunchy fish egg sacs (the long yellow things), a rose made of smoked salmon, several variations on sweet egg omelet and some sort of weird meat roll.

Our osechi was enjoyed with liberal amounts of green tea and plum wine. It was no wonder Russell and I couldn't move afterwards. After a long nap, I suggested going downtown to see Ikuta shrine again, this time in full New Year's swing. I knew there would be food stands, but we were still too full from the osechi. We bought mochi with bean paste and strawberries in the middle and headed home. We saved our treats for breakfast the next day. We also made ozoni on January 2nd. I believe I have pictures posted from last year, but I forgot to take any this year. The version of ozoni I make was learned from a friend last year. Ozoni comes in many forms. it is a soup that you eat around New Years and I'm pretty sure all variations contain savory mochi and red carrots. Probably also some sort of mushroom. From there, though, recipes vary. Ours had thinly sliced pork, white miso, leeks, mushrooms, red carrot and mochi. So delicious.

And that ends the auspicious (and less than auspicious) foods for the New Year. If I get around to it, I will have another food post with other treats we enjoyed during Lis' stay. Japan is all about the food. The ancient temples aren't so bad, either. Stay tuned.

P.S. Thanks to Lis for sharing her photos. She tended to have much nicer ones than I did!

Starting 2012 off right

Our winter break started on December 28th, and that happened to be the day my dear friend Lis came to visit from Minnesota (where she is finishing her PhD).

We have mostly been working in the mornings (Lis had a dissertation deadline to meet) and exploring Kobe in the afternoon. For the last day of the year we got out of the house a little earlier than normal and did some last minute exploring before everything shut down for New Years.

Left on the to do list? A walk through Kitano (the European-style houses on the hill), a mattcha/redbean latte from Starbucks (only spotted the day before) and a swing through Harborland to see the water (and perhaps the pink pirate ship). We managed to hit the first two birds with one stone by drinking our latte at the Starbucks that's IN one of the old houses in Kitano. We not only had the mattcha/ redbean latte, but also the redbean "cube danish" with the mattcha frosting. After a lazy morning chatting, we wandered down the hill towards the water. We stopped in Chinatown for a steamed nikuman and then did a lap around Harborland.

Having done our tourist duty we headed home to prepare for the New Year. We made soba (buckwheat noodle) soup with the fancy red carrots that come out for the New Year and we settled in for an evening of nationally televised musical splendor. They did not disappoint this year. There were many instant costume changes, enka stars rising up on enormous chinese dragons, pop idols playing with interactive decorative screens and a Japanese version of "Mexican" dancing to an enka song called "Mariachi."

At 11:45 the show ended and scenes from famous temples and shrines around Japan started moving across the TV. The Buddhists started ringing the enormous temple bells (108 times?), people were waiting anxiously to pray for good fortune in the coming year, there were bonfires and people skiing with torches in Hokkaido. At midnight the throngs of visitors poured into the temples and shrines to pray, dispose of old luck charms and buy charms for the coming year.

One Japanese tradition is to go to a temple or shrine for midnight and join these throngs. I was up for it, but Russell and Lis couldn't be budged. For good reason, I suppose... we had decided to do hatsu-hinode or the first greeting of the sun. That meant waking up at 4am and hiking up a mountain to get the best view of the sun as it crested above the horizon at 7am. They were looking forward to their full four hours of sleep. It was probably for the best.

We did get up at 4am. We made a thermos of tea and packed snacks and dry underclothes to change into at the top. We managed to hit the street at 4:45 and hiked up behind our house to a trailhead that would take us to the top of Mt Maya. This is the same Mt Maya we swore we would never hike up again after getting the idea to go hiking our first summer in Japan. It was no easy hike, but we did better this time than the first time. Lis (mountain goat she is and dead set on seeing the sun no matter what) followed a more seasoned team of hikers and made it to the top of the mountain before us. Russell and I plodded our way up as well and also managed to arrive about 15-20 minutes before the sun rose. Perfect timing.

After the sunrise we changed into our dry clothes, ate snacks and reassessed. We could go down the way we came up (boring) or try a new route that would take us over to the neighboring mountain and down to the Kobe reservoir and Nunobiki waterfall. We opted for route #2. We were very footsore by the end of the trip, but rather proud of the accomplishment, too. We staggered home and broke out our osechi box. None of us had the energy to shower first, so we opted to just eat.

The osechi box this year was even more awesome than last year. It was three full boxes of bite sized treats with an extra box containing our New Year fish - a grilled fellow in action pose. Notice that, try as we might and appetites that we definitely had, we just couldn't quite polish off the feast. We did a pretty good job, though.

Tummies full, Russell and I proceded to pass out on the floor under the kotatsu. Lis was made of stouter stuff and worked on her dissertation- also under the kotatsu. Even after the nap, Russell was struggling with the crazy wake-up time and 6 hour hike. Around 6pm he went to bed and hasn't been seen since. Lis and I went to Sannomiya (downtown) to see the action at the local shrine. The roads leading the the shrine were cut off to traffic and lined with food stalls. Crowds of people were still streaming into the shrine to pray, get their first New Year fortune and buy lucky charms. The trees on the premises had been surrounded by netting to save them from visitors tying their fortunes off on the branches (which is tradition) and instead the netting was covered with a coat of white paper knots. Picture to come. We bought some ichigo daifuku (strawberries wrapped in sweet bean paste and rice dough) and headed home.

You will notice a bush in this picture. This was taken before New Year when the shrine was setting up for the festivities. People could leave their fortunes and their charms from the year before at this bush. Now check out the bush ON New Years. 12 hours of luck charms later...


I had rolled my ankle just before finishing the hike in the morning, so we stopped at a local store and bought an ankle brace. It helps a lot. Tomorrow we are off to either Kyoto or Nara - and there will be no shortage of walking there. Best to shore up now.