Highlights of Months Past

As I'm sure you've noticed, my blogging has been spotty at best these last couple of months. A lot of that has had to do with the new school year starting. The additional responsibility of acting as contact for four study abroad schools on top of a full teaching schedule has kept me quite busy. I feel like I barely find time to fit in sleep anymore - let alone blogging. Hopefully that will improve, though, now that everything is up and running.

In the meantime, I have failed to post some outstanding stories. Better get going on that, eh?

Outstanding Story #1: Nara and Fushimi Inari Shrine with Phil.

Phil headed home weeks ago... a month ago? Russell and I really enjoyed the company and we managed to get out to do quite a bit of sight seeing even though Phil worked most of the week days with Russell. One of the last trips we made was to Nara (to see the deer and giant Buddha) and then on to Fushimi Inari for a hike through the Torii-lined trails of the shrine. (Torii are the red gates found at Shinto shrines.) This shrine, as you may remember from Carolyn and Dad's visits has thousands of torii and is quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, Russell's leg was acting up and he didn't think he'd survive a hike. He had brought his computer, so he headed off to find internet somewhere while Phil and I took on the shrine. I'm afraid prior knowlege of how daunting the hike at this shrine can be has caused me to see this particular stop as a hiking challenge more than a sight-seeing destination. This meant I charged up the hill with little regard for whether Phil might want to, you know, enjoy the scenery or take a few odd pictures. . I'm not always the most thoughtful hostess.

It turned out to be a good thing that we had raced through the shrine, though. A couple hours later, just when we were on our way out, I got a message from Russell. I quote:

Russell: "Status?"
Jaci: "On our way out. I"ll text at exit."
Russell: "I"m at a bar nearby: Asonia." "Bartender is trying to feed me Absynthe"
5 minutes later
Jaci: "Just finished"
Russell: "What should I do?"
Jaci: "About the absynthe?"
Russell: " Ha. He gave me some. I think I have to drink it. Mottainai"

So Russell sent us a map with directions so we could find him. Phil and I set off. Just as we were arriving, though, we saw the previously mentioned bartender and Russell exiting the bar and going into some sort of business next door. It looked like a display room or storage room for antiques. We couldn't really see in very well, but there was another older guy there. Everyone took their shoes off before going in and we saw them all kneeling down at a low table where Russell was getting instructions on something (proper neighborhood shrine etiquette we later found out). Phil and I weren't so sure we wanted to join in, so we hung back a bit to see what would happen (and took pictures, of course).

After showing respects, the older fellow go up and started untying something we couldn't quite see. It turns out he was responsible for this little neighborhood shrine and had an extensive collection of samurai armor on display there. He wanted Russell to try on one of the helmets. Once the helmet came out, Phil and I knew we needed to get close enough for a decent picture - no more covert footage. The bartender saw us and we explained that we were with Russell. At this point, Russell was all geared up, so we took some pictures. We weren't disappointed. Along with the helmet, Russell was given a sword (sheathed and tied down after a long explanation of how dangerous the blades were). More pictures. Then the "God of the Shrine" (as the bartender had apparently referred to the older man) offered to suit Phil up as well. The helmet switched heads, and more photos were taken.

The "God of the Shrine" explained that the armor was going to be used in a parade that weekend for Golden Week. Apparently the parade was the start of a rather large festival which would include horseback acrobatics - of the kind designed to avoid getting shot by arrows. Apparently an ambulance is needed every year. We were invited to come watch (which we unfortunately had to pass on- hopefully we can go next year). After that, we headed back to the bar. The bartender was awesome. He spoke quite good English but was happy to use either language - which was good for Russell, who wanted to practice Japanese, and Phil and I, who couldn't keep up. Overall, he seemed a very friendly, laid back sort of guy, and we will definitely visit his establishment again when we are next in the Kyoto area. Phil also sampled the Absynthe (tastes like black licorice) and we all agreed it was a perfectly decent spirit - presuming you like black licorice.

Thank goodness Phil and I didn't dilly dally at the shrine!

Rainy Season Year 2

Guess what time of year it is?

Early this year instead of late, we have reached rainy season. It is currently dumping buckets outside. The nice part of this is that it is not hot. Its just good honest cold rain. I have no problem with that. I know all the water is going to mix with some hot weather next week and things are going to get ugly, though, so I am experiencing our weather today with a solid dose of pessimism.

Apparently, rainy season is usually in July. This might just be a surprise spring shower and not actually rainy season yet, but no one seems to believe that.

Last year Spring was lovely and the rains didn't start until almost August.

Needless to say, I don't really know WHAT to expect from Japanese weather. There seem to be 10 distinct seasons and they start whenever they darn well please. It does keep things interesting, though.

Now if only the oppressively hot summer will surprise us all with a short stay...

More to come soon. I have great things to post but we are coming up on Midterms and life has just been crazy. I'll do my best to get some more posts out soon.

I love surprises!

When I got home this evening, Russell told me he had gotten me a surprise and that I would probably find it at some point. I asked him if I should hunt for it and he said no, not especially.

Mysterious.

So I went about my usual unwind-from-work routine. It was only later, when I was putting away dishes that I discovered:



The best mug EVER. It says Piranya Cafe (the cafe down the street). "Piranya" is a cutesy way of saying piranha in Japanese.
I love it.

Its what's for dinner

I was talking to my mother and grandmother today and my grandmother asked me what I had for dinner. It reminded me of a question Phil had asked us, something along the lines of "Are you guys cooking Japanese food now?"

The honest answer is, "no." I don't think any Japanese person would claim the food we make as part of their culture. Even so, our cooking has changed significantly since coming to Japan.

Change #1: Some things you just can't get.
Cheese for example. One of Russell's favorite meals/snacks in the US was a burrito with whole wheat tortilla, whatever leftovers we had in the fridge and cheese on top. With no tortillas (much less whole wheat ones), no cheese (plastic-y camembert doesn't count as cheese), and no microwave, this tradition bit the dust. As a side effect, with the lack of regular cheese and milk, Russell's body remembered that it was lactose intolerant, so dairy is pretty much out in all forms. Even pizza. I don't get pizza any more, even though I found a pizza place I like. Bummer. We also can't get decent peanut butter. Yes, there is Skippy at most supermarkets, but it costs $8 for a tiny little jar and, well, its Skippy. There is a rumor that a store in Osaka has fresh ground peanut butter, but we've been too lazy to seek it out, so unless a kind traveler brings us some (thanks Dad and Phil!), we are pretty much peanut butter free.

Change #2: Different ingredients at different prices
Of course, there is a wide variety of seafood to be experimented with. Its kind of fun and terrifying to grab a couple filets of some kind of fish you have never seen before and hope its tasty. It usually is. The vegetables are also awesome. You can get some of the same things - spinach, carrots, potatoes, green onions, green peppers, etc. But there are a lot of other vegetables that are either less favored in America or downright unavailable. There are several varieties of mushrooms that I had never seen in the States (but LOVE) and a different style of eggplant that has become a staple at our house. Then there's goya (bitter melon, which I mentioned in a previous post) and different varieties of sweet potato. In spring, there is a lot of bamboo shoot, too. Oh, and burdock root (gobo), okra and lotus root are also easy to come by. All of these are delicious and we cook with them often. We never use tomatoes. Aside from the fact that I don't like them anyway, they are crazy expensive all year round. Fruit is also expensive. We just have to bite it on that one, though. Neither of us are willing to live fruit free. We try to eat whatever is cheapest, though. Usually bananas and oranges. Right now, there are a variety of fruits in season so we have been feasting. Strawberries are under $4 a container, I got a half pineapple for $2 and a big bunch of tasty grapes was under $3. When we first arrived in Japan, these prices seemed expensive, but now that I know what fruit will cost in winter, I'm happy to pay the price I can get.

Change #3: Different seasonings
This is the biggest difference in our cooking. In the US we used a lot of olive oil, cayenne, basil, oregano and pepper. Here we tend to use soy sauce, mirin, sake, dashi, miso and oyster sauce to flavor our cooking. Oh, and I found shichimi (seven flavor seasoning) to replace cayenne. I pretty much use it in everything I cook to add some kick. Its great.

So what did we have for dinner last night?

The ingredients were Japanese, but the preparation was definitely of our own making. We got some mystery fish from the store and some sliced lotus root, shredded carrot and burdock root. We cooked the fish with a little oil, soy sauce, mirin and sake, got it slightly brown on each side and then pushed it to the side and cooked the vegetables in the remaining sauce. All of this was dumped unceremoniously on brown rice. It was delicious and very Japanese inspired, but I think my Japanese friends would probably be a little bit horrified at our version of their cuisine. Oh well.

Interestingly, while rice is a major, major staple in Japan (like, in movies, people who have been abroad cry when they taste real, Japanese white rice again) brown rice is difficult to find and rarely eaten. Most grocery stores stock a small bag of brown rice, but not the big bags like they do for white rice. I have one student who grew up eating brown rice, but the rest are aghast when I tell them that's what I choose to eat.

So how would a Japanese person prepare a dinner like the one I mentioned above? Good question. Having not had the benefit of a culinary-oriented home stay, I can't really say how all of the little side dishes are made. I do know that you usually have a small bowl of white rice with other small bowls - one with the fish, one with vegetables, one with something else, etc. I don't know how all of them are seasoned or how to make them myself. It also seems terribly time consuming (though I guess I wouldn't know). Maybe someday I will become good friends with someone who will show me how to do this all right. :)

Arima Hot springs

Sorry I haven't had pictures in a while. I will try to make up for it in coming posts.

I have managed to have some fun adventures.

Tuesday Russell and I bade Phil adieu and then headed into Osaka to spend a day together playing. We went to the Osaka State museum and saw a traveling exhibition of Renoir paintings. So far, we have been pretty lazy about museum crawling, so it was nice to do something different.

Wednesday, Russell got back to work and I went hiking with some friends. The plan was to go hiking and then go swing dancing in the evening. We weren't sure that was a good combination of activities, so we chose an easier hike - we rode the cable car to the top of Mount Rokko and then hiked down to the Hot Spring resort of Arima.

Arima is one of the three most famous Hot Spring Resorts in Japan (from what I hear.) There are well over 10 hot springs and many offer different natural minerals that are naturally occurring. There are two public hot springs and the rest are privately owned. The public hot springs cost about $6 and the private ones are around $15 and up. Considering the hype of this place, the prices seem incredibly cheap to me - but then, public baths and hot springs are plentiful and often only cost a few dollars per visit.

The hike down to the town was gorgeous. We didn't see any sign of civilization until we were practically on top of the town. There were a number of people out hiking, but the trail wasn't crowded. It was really steep, though. Two of my coworkers decided to hike out the way we came in, and my hat is off to them.

Arima itself is a small, outdated town - not the sort of place you go to be wowed by tradition or modernity - but it has a lot of tasty treats and everyone comes for the baths anyway. We went to the Gold Bath - one of the two public baths. It was clean and well appointed and held the large number of visitors easily. There were three baths - they started at 42 degrees Celsius (107.6F) and got hotter from there. Two of the pools were copper colored with natural minerals and the third was filtered to be clear water. It was a bit too toasty for me. I'm something of a heat wimp, it seems. I did manage to sit all the way in the hot spring after much wincing and preparation, but I couldn't stay in too long. Even so, after a thorough scrub and a hot (if fast) dip, I felt really good.

Ready for swing, I road the train back to town and grabbed Russell. He was a very good sport, especially considering he hurt his leg (again) trying to catch the train to Osaka. The lesson was easy for him and he danced with a number of people. He was cranky that he didn't know more steps, though, and very cranky that his leg hurt. I'm hoping we can research moves together during the week and he will keep going.

The day after he danced, though, he couldn't really walk. He was worried, so he went to the hospital. They took all sorts of X-rays and couldn't find any problems. (which is good, right?) so he has been resting and icing his leg. Hopefully he will be willing to try again next week. Finger are crossed.

Flying home

Dear gentle reader,

I have had the privilege of being a guest at the Mull's residence for the past two weeks. Here is what I have learned:

Japan is not America. The people here have been living on these islands for about 32,000 years. Their language is quite different; their customs are somewhat different, and the place they have created is not the same as my American home, to say the least.

What does that mean? Japan is another example of what people can do with their lives -- it shows there is an alternative to your home town, to your customs, and that alternative is rich, aware, steadfast and complex.

It's another confirmation that we can shape our home town, that we can create the world we want to live in and be a part of -- granted, it may take a few hundred years of refinement, but such is life.

With that, here's to our dreams: Here's to being outside, eating good food, raising a good family, making art -- writing, dancing, music making -- traveling, experiencing other things, relaxing, building and relating -- to our lives.

Regards,
Phil

Osaka Swing

One of my new co-workers started taking swing lessons in Osaka a while back. A friend of hers introduced her to a club where you pay $15, get a token for a free drink, an hour-long beginners lesson and then swing dancing for three hours. Since Phil, Russell's swing-dancing co-worker was in town, I asked my co-worker if she would take him swing dancing with her.

The original plan was for Russell and I to go into Osaka, spend the evening wandering around and then meet up with Phil to go home. As it turned out, though, Russell had forgotten his Japanese conversation was set for Wednesday. Then I found out most of my other co-workers were going to try the place out too, so I decided to tag along.

I took one ballroom dancing class in college and a community salsa dance class with Russell a few years ago, but I've never really danced much.

Post swing reaction? It was a lot of fun! We got some basics from the beginners class, got to practice with a bunch of slow songs in the beginning, were regularly asked to dance by the locals (who were very good about asking everyone to dance) and got to watch some pretty good dancers do their thing.

The only downside was the $4 bottles of water.

I'm definitely hoping to go back. All of us had a good time and we are scheming a swing take over of our school Christmas party this year... gonna take some practicing.

Now I just need to get Russell in on the action. He's currently holding out.


New Dilemma: Swing dancing or Japanese? My Japanese lessons are at the same time as swing dancing. They were cancelled the last two weeks, so I didn't make the connection, but now that lessons have started again, I'm going to have to face reality... Japanese is way more important, but Swing is so much FUN. What to do...

Low Moments in Japanese Cuisine

I guess its not the cuisine that's to be blamed in this case...

We took Phil, Russell's co-worker to Kyoto yesterday. We actually got out of the house at 7am and therefore had enough time to hit up Sanjuusangendo (the long temple with all the Buddhas inside), Kiyomizudera (the shinto shrine in the hills with the huge wooden deck), and Nijojo (The castle with the nightingale floors). We tried to go to the National Museum, but the main display was closed and the traveling display had a 40 minute wait to get in.

Even so, it was a packed day and we were hoping for some good grub afterwards.

We went to Gion.

Gion is one of the old districts in the city. Very picaresque and full of shops and restaurants. It can be a tourist trap at times, but there is also a lot of quality things there to see. We have eaten fairly well there before - it can be expensive (being in the touristy part of town) but it isn't usually too bad.

Last night, we were wandering down the street with all the restaurants and having a hard time choosing. FInally we were hungry and decided that one particular izakaya looked fairly reasonable. We went in and the host explained that they were a little full and could we sit at the bar? We said we could and he took us upstairs. Unfortunately, the bar was full, but two tables were open. He put us at one of the tables. We started perusing the menu and realized that our first assessment of the prices had been wrong. Instead of $5 for three chicken skewers (for example), it was $5 for one. And that was the cheapest thing you could get. Instead of $3 for a pint of beer, it was $7. Things weren't looking good.

We each ordered a drink and a couple of cheap starters. When we finished the host came over and offered us our bill. We were taken aback. In Japan, restaurants never hurry their customers. You can sit and talk for hours and no one will even give you stink-eye. To be rushed after only two appetizers seemed really odd. Russell said we were hoping to order a few more things, and the host said okay. He took the bill back. We then ordered a much larger selection of foods (the portions were really small) and at that point the host came back, rather flustered and asked us to move to the bar. This was really odd, too. We took our drinks and moved. In retrospect, I think the table had been reserved and they had originally planned to move us to the bar, but we hadn't understood.

In any case, once settled at the bar, we waited for our food. Out came two tiny skewers with a pair of meatballs on them the size of quail eggs, two small chicken skewers and two chunks of eggplant. Not really enough for one person, let alone three. At this point the shine was off this restaurant. We nibbled our skewers, finished our drinks and left.

The bill was $70.

We returned to Kobe and paid another $10 to get three large beef and rice bowls. Not gorgeous, not in a beautiful wooden building, but awfully tasty and certainly filling. Good enough.

Health Check #2

It is once again Health Check season. We got to start the year off with a staff-wide physical. We did this last year as well, but I didn't make it through the full check. Last's year's program was scheduled for 9:00 - 12:30, but all the English teachers had to teach from 9:20 - 12:30, so we only got through the first half of the check.

Turns out we had skipped the EKG and chest X-ray. I knew they were coming, but somehow I hadn't really processed what that meant.

All I can say is that everyone who came out of the EKG room looked a little traumatized. Mostly because nobody had told us what would happen. All they had to do was hook up sensors and check your heart beat, but that required full frontal nudity. Not a problem if you know its coming. When an old woman suddenly and swiftly yanks your shirt up, though, its a bit of a surprise.

After that we headed to the X-ray van in the parking lot and hugged a giant metal box for our chest X-rays. Creepy, but not so bad.

At least is over with.

Eat Your Greens

I have to take a quick hiatus from sharing dad's visit to tell about something interesting that happened today. Our home has pretty much been a revolving door of guests over the last month. Dad left and within a week we had new guests. They stayed about a week and then we got another week off before one of Russell's coworkers and friends arrived. Phil - said friend - has only been here a couple of days. SInce its Friday night, we decided to take him down and introduce him to everyone at the local izakaya (bar).

We had a couple rounds of food and drinks and then the owner came over to pick up some dishes. She cleared away the glasses and some of the dishes, but a number of dishes still had garnish lettuce left on them. She chided us for not eating our vegetables and left with a "go on - its healthy."

We quickly did as we were told.

Dad's Visit Continued

After a couple rainy days, things seemed to be clearing up - at least enough. So dad and I headed to Kyoto again to catch some more sights. Kyoto, of course, is on of those tourist Meccas that can keep you amazed for weeks on end. There is so much to see. Russell and I really need to go explore it more because we have really only hit the core attractions. There's tons more to do and see.

While dad was here we decided to first hit Kinkakuji (the golden pagoda) and then head accross town to Ginkakuji (the silver pagoda). I had been to the first, but never to the second. When we arrived at Kinkakuji it was pretty over cast and just starting to rain. By the time we got in the gate it was officially miserable outside. We tried to take some half-hearted pictures of the pagoda but right about then a digestive emergency caught up to us and we had to make a hasty run for the exit. Emergency averted, we used our tickets to go back inside the temple. This time we had perfect luck. Just as we were entering, the sun burst out and we got a gorgeous view. Those are the pictures you are seeing now. We meandered through the grounds again at a much more relaxed pace and then headed to Ginkakuji.

Russell took some friends to Ginkakuji early in our stay, but I was working and hadn't ever made it. I have to say, compared to Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji is way more awesome. The pagoda itself isn't as impressive (no gold - no silver either) but the gardens around the pagoda are far superior and the homeliness of the pagoda is much more endearing than Kinkakuji - which comes across a bit as opulent for opulent's sake.

This picture is also from Ginkakuji. Next to the pagoda, you can see a white rock garden. This was different than any other rock garden I have seen in Japan. The rocks are deep and dug out into perfect shapes. There is a mount that is carefully sculpted in one corner and the rocks are dug into deep trenches along the majority of the garden. This doesn't look anything like gardens that have been carefully raked - it looks hand sculpted. As you walk around it, you keep getting new and scenic views of the surrounding trees and rocks. Its really impressive. After the rock garden is a hike up a hillside with Japanese gardens on either side mixed in amongst the trees. I will definitely be coming back.

Unfortunately, Dad and I chose a major travel day to visit Kyoto, so the buses were packed and the streets were super jammed. It took two hours to get from Kinkakuji to Ginkakuji by bus. We easily could have walked it just as fast. We didn't know that when we got on, though. By the time we finished it was just about closing time across Kyoto, so we headed home.

The next day. we were treated to a rare sunny day and decided to go the other direction on the train to Himeji. I didn't realize what we were getting into at the time, but I'm sure glad we went. Himeji castle, as you may remember from before, is one of three major castles in Japan. It is one of the few remaining castles which has the distinction of not having been bombed or burned down in the last few hundred years. It was restored in the 1950s (when they found all sorts of items that had belonged to the previous builders hidden in the walls and rafters). I really like this castle. There are many castles to be seen in Japan, but this one does have a special air to it.

When we arrived, there was a line forming outside of the gates to the castle. The line wasn't too long, and it was early in the morning, so we assumed we had arrived just before opening. We waited about 2 minutes and were then let in. It turns out, though, that we were not the first group to enter the premises. In fact, we were experiencing only a taste of the lines that would start piling up over the next couple of weeks. As it turns out, the castle is due for another refurbishing. After cherry blossom season had ended it was slated to be closed to the public for 6 YEARS. People from all over Japan were making the pilgrimage to see the castle before it was covered up. Once we were inside the gate, we spent 20 minutes waiting to go through the women's dormitory (shown in the pictures with a view of Himeji in the background and a hillside where enemies would try to spy on the castle) and then another good hour waiting to just get into the castle. It easily took another 40 minutes to make our way up all the stories to the top. It was incredibly crowded. I assumed at the time that it was just normal cherry blossom traffic (Himeji castle is a famous place to go enjoy the cherry blossoms) but it seemed a little extreme since the blossoms were only barely starting to peek out. Now I know better.

We had originally planned to meet up with one of my friends for a cherry blossom party on the way back to Kobe, but she ended up getting sick, so we opted to head back to the city and take a gondola up to the top of one of the mountains framing the city. This particular mountain was new to me. It has a botanic garden at the top, so we took the ride up, shot some video of the city and then enjoyed the garden. It turns out the botanic garden is more like a botanic zoo - with a variety of species of plants from other countries (as opposed to local varieties of plans). It includes tropical fruits, spice plants and plants used for various perfumes. It was interesting, if a little stinky. Russell had recommended walking down from the botanic garden (as opposed to returning on the gondola) but it was getting dark when we finished, so we played it lazy and let the gondola do the work.

Barely Treading Water

Sorry its been so long since my last post... Things have been really busy. We have our new term up and running, now, though. The first two weeks are over and we have been absolutely swamped with students in the English office . This is great, but its almost impossible for teachers to get any prep done during the day. Many of us have resorted to staying late at night and working on the weekends just to get our classes ready.

I was home early last night (7pm) but by 8pm I couldn't keep my eyes open. Russell found me curled up on the floor when he came home at 9pm. The plan is to sleep in tomorrow (Saturday).

In the meantime, I have more pictures to share from Dad's visit:

Unfortunately, Dad's visit was plagued with bad weather. On the first rainy day, we decided to go check out the Kobe Maritime Museum, but unfortunately, it was closed on the day we happened to choose. This was especially disappointing because it was kind of away from anything else we might want to do. Before we started back to town, though, we decided to stop in at Fish cafe. I had walked by Fish cafe early in our stay and noted that it looked just like a Geary sculpture. Turns out, it was! At first I thought the cafe was inside the fish, but it isn't. The fish is attached to the outside. The cafe was okay, but I could take it or leave it. It was a welcome break from the rain, though, I must say. They also did latte art, which was fun.
The next day, we went into Osaka. Dad had spotted the Sky Building from the train and was quite taken with it. I did some research and found out that tourists can walk around the top of the building. We decided to try it out. Sky Building is one of the more recognizable sky scrapers of the Osaka skyline. It consists of two towers with a circular opening at the top and a pair of diagonal escalators towards the top to get into the circular "garden." I took a picture of dad on the escalator. The view was great from Sky Building (though the weather was cloudy and awfully gray. We did see a stand on one floor of the garden that was selling personally engraved, heart-shaped lockets. Then, when we went outside on the deck above, we discovered a corner where couples could lock their locket. There were thousands of little engraved hearts hanging from the railing. Aha.

To round out our drizzly day, we went to the Osaka Aquarium. It is one of the biggest in Japan (though there are maybe two that are bigger). Its pretty darn awesome. I love it. Dad was a little tentative about going (having never seen an aquarium on this scale). He soon realized his error. IN the first mini-exhibit (a walk through tunnel right in the beginning) he took a ton of pictures. It just got better from there. We had a really good time.

After the aquarium we went to my friend's cafe and had decadent coffees and cake. It was a nice finish to the day. On the way home, though, we had one more spectacle to take in. A huge crowd had gathered around an enormous TV screen in the Hankyu Train station. What was playing? The national Sumo championships. They were taking place across town. The crowd was rapt.

Dad's Visit

After 10 days of non-stop action, my dad returned home on Monday. I was really sad to see him go. We had a great time together. Many of the places we went have been discussed in earlier posts, so I won't go into too much detail. A few of the places were new, though, so I'll stop and write about those as I get to them.

To begin with, dad arrived on Thursday night two weeks ago. I had to spend all Friday finishing textbooks, but my intention was to stay as late as it took to finish and then be done. That didn't pan out. By 7pm we still had a lot to do, and after 12 hours of non-stop work we were all clearly out of energy. I decided it would be more effective to come back on Saturday - even though it meant one less day with dad. I was pretty bummed. I met dad and Russell at the neighborhood Izakaya and moped.

They were both good sports, though. I got to work early the next morning and by noon Russell and dad showed up with lunch. They stayed the rest of the day and helped with formatting and page number checks. We worked until 5pm, but we got the textbooks finished. We celebrated with yakiniku and two pitchers of beer. The waitstaff seemed slightly taken aback when we ordered the second pitcher.

Now that I was free, we planned our remaining weekend day. Since it was the one of the only days Russell would be able to join us we chose something we could all enjoy - a trip to the whiskey distillery!


After the distillery we headed into Osaka. It was evening, so Russell looked up a highly rated okonomiyaki restaurant and we stopped in for dinner. There was a long, cold wait outside, but we figured that was a good sign. It turned out we were right. The food was awesome. Okonomiyaki is always generally good, but rarely as good as this. I would definitely go back to this particular restaurant. The food wasn't too rich. It was really good.

After dinner we walked around Namba - one of the main shopping centers. It is also the famous home of the Glico man. Dad was an instant fan and seemed a bit disappointed later in the trip that we hadn't been back to visit. Dad got much better pictures of the Glico man all lit up. I was less careful, so my picture is a little less impressive, but it gives the idea.

Starting Monday, Dad and I were on our own. Russell had some serious work to do, so he was glued to the house. Dad and I decided to head into Kyoto. We went to Kiyomizudera first - I've posted about this place a lot. The one new thing we did was go on the pitch-black below-temple-tour. It turns out that if you pay an extra hundred yen (about a dollar) you can go under one of the temples into pitch blackness. You follow the wooden bead railing around through twists and turns until you come to a lit stone. You are suppose to make a wish at this point and then keep following the beads until you come out again. It is really eerie because you have no idea where you are going or what is ahead of you. The first time I was sure there would be stairs or an incline or something, so I kept feeling gingerly out in front of myself before taking a step. Turns out there is no need to fear, though. The walk is all flat and smooth. Sadly, it was a bit overcast, so my pictures are not as good as they sometimes are. That ended up being a theme through all of this trip.

Before we headed out, we stopped at Sanjuusangendo - the really long building with the 1,001 buddha statues in it. This was one of the first places in Kyoto that Russell and I visited, and we haven't been back in a long time. It was a nice stop. The buddhas themselves are all almost, but not quite the same, having been hand-carved individually by several artists over the years. You have to look pretty closely to see the differences, though. In front of the Buddhas are the guardian spirits. These guys are the really fun statues to look at. They are all quite different and detailed. Unfortunately. not pictures are allowed. I only have a shot of the outside. It really is a long building - supposedly the longest wooden building in Japan.


That's going to have to do for now. I'll post more soon. We have 7 more days to go!

SO Tired

Dad made it safe and sound to Kobe. He is sleeping on our floor as I write this. He seems perfectly cozy to me, for those who are wondering.

Unfortunately, I have barely gotten to see him yet. The last two days have been virtually solid textbook work. I was at work by 7am on Friday in hopes of finishing early, but by 7pm I was pretty dead and there was still a lot to do. We all decided to call it a night and come back fresh the next morning.

I met dad and Russell at the neighborhood izakaya (family bar) and had dinner there. Then we came home and I pretty much went straight to bed. Today (Saturday) I worked from 8am to 5:30pm but can now officially say I am done writing textbooks! Its such a relief. I love materials writing, but after a month and the stress of a deadline, I am really ready for a vacation.

So glad dad is here to share it! We will be off on mad-cap adventures tomorrow, far, far away from my office.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

It turns out I do have one more post for tonight. Its Saint Patrick's Day! This is one holiday that does not seem to have been adopted by the Japanese. I guess I'm not surprised. Chances are good that foreigners all over Japan are hitting the local pubs to celebrate, but we weren't able to go out tonight. Instead, Russell brought home some bottles of Guiness and a bottle of Bushmills Irish Whisky to help us get int the spirit of the day.

In the picture you can see my evening textbook-writing set up. A Guiness on the left (served in a small plastic tumbler) and a glass of whiskey on the right. Russell felt it was important that I start both the beer and whiskey before we passed midnight and were no longer technically connected to the holiday we were celebrating. Since I am still writing textbooks, I will probably be nursing these two beverages for quite some time. I am not, as it turns out, quite the lush I paint myself to be on my blog. Thank goodness.

Apartment Love

One thing I love about our apartment is that I can panic about how dirty it is at 7pm and have it deep cleaned by 10pm. Russell was out with a conversation partner, too, so I did most of it by myself. Russell did two wicked tiring parts thought... the shower and hand washing most of the floors.

We are all sparkly clean, now, and ready for my dad to visit!

No guarantees on how much I will post in the next week, but I should have lots to post in the not too distant future.

White Day

And yet another holiday!

I mentioned that this one was coming in the Valentine's Day post. Today is White Day, the day when men get a chance to reciprocate the gifts they were given by women a month earlier. This one is just as fabricated as Valentine's Day, but I suspect it is one of the main reasons women suffer though Valentine's Day. At least its not completely one sided - and the men are suppose to one up the ladies - in price if not in personal attention.

The stores have all had White Day displays up. Chocolate is one option to give to the ladies, but from what I hear, marshmallow treats are also considered highly appropriate. I gave Russell very specific instructions that anything with marshmallow would not be accepted as a replacement for chocolate.

I should back up, though. Such comments make it seem that Russell was being guided through White Day, and that actually wasn't the case. I had long forgotten that I had potential chocolate on the horizon, but Russell was on keeping track. I only caught wind of the holiday again when Russell mentioned it to a conversation partner. Of course, then I started weighing in.

In the end, in spite of having worked at least 18 hours a day for the last week and only having slept about five hours the night before, Russell dragged himself out of the cave and went in search of some sinfully delightful chocolates. I was at work (on a Sunday, grr) but when I got home, Russell had a bag with a highly packaged box of Belgian chocolates inside. A double-decker even!

Very well done, Mr. Mull.

Hopefully his work crunch is over now and his work schedule will return to normal. I've got until Friday before I can relax, but my dad comes Thursday evening, so I will get a nice vacation with family to help me unwind from all the crazy. I am VERY much looking forward to that.

Crazy Weather!

We had a lovely and short false Spring a few weeks ago. It had been very cold before that and then all of the sudden it was all sunshine and flowers. After about a week of that, though, it started raining. This isn't normally a rainy time in Japan. It hasn't been down-pouring, but it has been pretty consistently showering over the last two weeks and lately it has been getting COLD again. Not freezing, but awfully chilly. Today it hailed off and on all day.

I keep thinking about the muggy summer, though, and can't bring myself to wish the current weather away. I'll take grey and miserable over oppressive sun and moisture any day.

The Beef is Back!

I can't remember if I shared the sad news a few months ago, but the beef-bowl place across from the station that I raved about not too long after Gwen and Nicole visited - that place was torn down a few weeks ago. Russell went to enjoy a bowl of beefy goodness and when he got there, the sign on the door said it was closed. This was right before New Years, so we thought maybe the owner was taking a vacation. Alas, no. In spite of periodic checking, the shop never reopened and a few weeks ago a demolition crew came in and razed the building. It was very sad. Russell and I spent the last few months glanced optimistically at the empty building while waiting at the tracks, hoping for some sign that the restaurant would come back, that maybe it was just being remodeled. No such luck. It wasn't every going to come back.

Today however, we got a surprise. Two blocks down the road from the first restaurant, a new beef bowl restaurant opened. The sign was new, but looked very similar to the old restaurant. We peeked inside this morning and saw that the restaurant was situated the same and the chef, though we couldn't see him clearly, could definitely be the same guy. We were in a rush, so we didn't have time to stop and test out our theory.

On the way home tonight, the draw was too great. We had already eaten dinner, but Russell was pretty sure he could fit in some beef. I continued home and he went over to try the new place out. Before I even got home, I found a very satisfied text message on my phone. It was the same place. Well, apparently not quite the same. It is the same chef and the same basic style, but it is under new management and so there have been a few changes to the menu. The basics are all still there, though.

Russell is very happy, as am I.

Now that the beef bowl place is back, tasty as ever and all bright and shiny new, we are pretty sure it means Gwen and Nicole have to come back and try it.

It will definitely be on the tour for anyone who comes to visit.

Web Comic

Oh, there's one other thing I've been up to this last week. Russell reminded me about a web comic I had intended to read but never quite got to. For those of you who aren't familiar with web comics, imagine pages/ strips of comics posted online a certain number of days a week. Some post every day, others post every other day, or whatever they choose.

I follow a number of comics online, Sluggy Freelance, Questionable Content, Starslip Crisis and Penny Arcade, among others, but the latest one I've been reading is Girl Genius. It isn't new to the Internet. Phil Foglio and his team have been posting this comic three days a week for 4-5 years. I'm a bit late. Its really good though. It took me three days to get caught up (keep in mind I have to go to work, too). Now I'm caught up and only three comics a week is killing me.

I'm going to have to re-read the story a few times before I come to accept the three comic a week routine. I'm half way through reading it a second time now. Its just as good this time. The entire 4-5 years of comic have been establishing and moving along one enormous storyline, which is impressive. Most web comics seem to go through story arches as the writers develop bigger and grander story lines for their characters. This just feels like one enormous story that will someday come to natural end. Well done Mr. Foglio and Friends.

The comic blends steam-punk, romance, adventure comedy and awesome characters. It kind of scratches the same itch for me as Princess Bride, though the premises are totally different. Another difference is that the characters are evenly balanced between men and women if not weighted in favor of the women - before this comic I hadn't really realized how male dominated online comics are.

So if online comics are your thing, or you are willing to try one, I recommend Girl Genius.

Sick

Sorry for the lack of posts. My life this last week has been 100% taken up by writing textbooks and sleeping off a pretty bad cold. The last week has been sad as coworkers from this last year have started to leave. Only one of the native English speakers is staying on - the one that has been here two years already. On the up-side, though, new co-workers are starting to trickle in, and they seem to be a good crowd with good experience. We are also making progress on the textbooks, so hopefully it will be a more pleasant place to work for the new hires.

Looks like the final count will be two from Canada, two from America, one from Guam and one from Russia.

Starting to Accumulate...

We finally got one particular item that we both know we don't NEED but which I kind of wanted anyway - a microwave. Russell and I have been doing just fine without a microwave - or oven for that matter. I missed it when we first arrived, but I'm totally used to doing without one now.

Even so, one of my colleagues was leaving Japan and had a microwave that he was willing to give away. We decided to go for it. Microwaves in Japan generally have a microwave and an oven setting, so if you want to do any baking (that isn't in a rice cooker) this is the way you go.

Russell wasn't too happy with the plan at first. He was pretty sure it was at odds with my plans to lose the winter weight I have put on. He was pretty sure I only wanted the microwave so I could make cookies. I will admit, at Christmas time I did really want to make cookies, but that's in the past. Now I just want to be able to re-heat left overs once in a while. So far we've only used the microwave twice - once to make croutons (Russell's idea) and once to reheat a couple bentos.

I suspect it won't actually get that much use, but its still nice to have around.

I have to say, after a year, smaller living is really appealing to us. Our house back home seems pretty cavernous now. Its hard to imagine moving back to it. Maybe it should stay a rental and we can find something smaller. Just a thought. We will be putting that decision off for at least another year. Kobe is pretty awesome.

Don't Worry

I have been getting concerned emails today about the 7.0 earthquake that hit Okinawa early this morning.

All I can say is don't worry. According to the newspaper (which didn't even report on the incident until six hours later) there were only two injuries (one older woman fell and another older woman rolled out of bed) and one burst water pipe. And that was IN Okinawa. We are about 750 miles away - that's like Seattle to San Francisco. Its not close.

Of course, Japan is earthquake central, so I'm sure we will feel an earthquake - maybe several - at some point, but there is no concern from the one that happened today. Japan is probably one of the safest places for earthquakes because they build with earthquakes in mind - and they rebuild frequently.

And if you didn't see any news today about the earthquake, don't worry. I don't think most people in Japan did either.

UPDATE:

You probably know that there was a huge earthquake in Chile that caused a tsunami. There is a tsunami warning here, but the predicted wave size for Kobe is 50cm. Probably not safe to be strolling the beach today, but we are way up a hill, so we are still in absolutely no danger. They are calling for 3 meter waves around the north side of Honshu island, so there may be some damage in that area (very far from us). Okinawa may be getting more action from the tsunami as well - they are not anticipating big waves there, but the whole island is on middle level alert for some waves and raised sea levels.

Hina Matsuri

Another traditional Japanese holiday is just around the corner. March 3rd is Hina Matsuri, or Girls Day. The basic idea of the holiday is to bring good fortune to female children (there is a boys day in May) and hopefully bring them good fortune in their lives. The main way Girls Day is celebrated is to put up a a display in the house of a red carped draped over a stair-step stand upon which a set of very expensive, very fancy display dolls are set up. At the top are dolls representing an emperor of many years passed and his empress while the lower stair-steps hold their attendants.

The dolls are very finely crafted and not meant to be played with at all. They are very expensive and it is not uncommon for grandparents to buy a set for a baby girl when she is born (assuming they can afford it). One of (Western) co-workers informed me that in olden days only the rich could afford the dolls, so they would put up displays were the poorer girls in the neighborhood could look in and enjoy them as well. I haven't found any reference to this online, so while colorful, I am suspicious that particular story may not be true.

In any case, one thing my co-worker was very right about was that the little treats that are often displayed along with the dolls are delicious! You can buy packages of crispy little rice balls flavored with sugar, soy sauce, seaweed, squid and others that are chocolate covered. Imagine sweet and salty KiX. I don't really know how tasty that sounds... but they are addictively awesome. Apparently they will be gone after the 3rd, so I'm going to have to stock up.

After the last two posts, I'm starting to get all nostalgic for my first year in Japan. There have been so many surprises. Pretty soon, I'm going to know what to expect... won't that be weird.

Not-barb

I have been all excited these last few weeks because a batch of rhubarb arrived in the grocery store. I have been too busy at work to make anything as elaborate as, say, dessert, but I grabbed some rhubarb today to make into a topping for ice-cream.

To counter balance the real main course of the evening, I decided to be extra healthy for dinner. I decided on spinach salad with a chinese-restaurant-style saute vegetable concoction on top and a slab of grilled fish. After a dinner like that you practically NEED dessert, right?

I tried to buy vanilla ice cream on my way home, but the 7-11 didn't have any and it was raining like it meant it outside, so I just trudged home. After dinner, I sent Russell out to get the ice cream and I started chopping rhubarb. All was going well until I decided to chew on a piece.

Celery. I got some kind of crazy big celery-tasting rhubarb impostor.

I was terribly disappointed. It wouldn't be so bad if I actually could get rhubarb here... but now I'm worried it won't happen. I guess its still early in the season. I should probably try to be patient - but I've been here very nearly a full year so far, and I don't remember any other likely rhubarb candidates.

I was also sad that I couldn't find beets. We're pretty close to Russia here, I was hopeful that beets would have made the little hop over to Japan, but apparently not.

The good news is that there is a wide variety of absolutely delicious vegetables in Japan that I'm really hoping I won't be forced to part with when I eventually return States-side. I don't really want to imagine a kitchen without goya, satsuma imo, young bamboo shoots and the wide variety of amazing mushrooms.

Vegetable Love.

I also still got ice cream out of the evening's fiasco, so that 'aint so bad.

Evening Out

Had a wonderful evening out with my co-workers. It was a good-bye party for three of my colleagues who will be moving on. I'm really going to miss them. There are some new people coming in next week, though, so I'm looking forward to meeting them.

We got a reserved table at a Thai restaurant. We all paid our part for a 5 course set menu and one of our co-workers (who could not attend) picked up the tab for drinks. The food was really good - actually spicy!

By a couple drinks in, everyone at the table was pretty relaxed and happy too. It was good. There was very little talk of work, which was also good. The co-worker who was actually celebrating his last day of work today was presented with a very large bottle of sake, followed by his presenting us with a very nice speech. The next co-worker who will be leaving gave a very short speech due to an allergic reaction that was setting in, and the third co-worker (who plans to leave but hasn't been granted a final day yet) also said a few words. It was nice.

I'm glad this won't actually be the last time I see everyone. Its hard to process the fact that people really won't be coming back to work. I wish them well in their future pursuits.

Valentine's Not-Gingerbread... Monster Church?

During Christmas, I was kind of disappointed to discover that most people in Japan don't know what a gingerbread house is. Most thought they were interesting, but not enough to make one. So sad.

A bakery in Osaka, however, did manage to build an all-baked-goods church for Valentine's days. There were even danishes sitting in the pews.

At least construction with confections is not a total loss.

They get extra credit for making it as tall as Russell and making sugar stained glass windows.

Happy Birthday to Me

We are just rounding out the end February 17th in Japan - and its just beginning in Oregon. I guess technically I was celebrating early. I woke up in a pretty bad mood, but things improved quickly with some hot-off-the-griddle French toast from Russell.

I caught all my transportation easily (no running today!) and got to have a very nice long discussion with my boss about textbooks in the morning. I had given up on the possibility of a textbook meeting because none of my colleagues managed to make it to work on time today. I've been anxious to get started on that project. Textbook talk was followed by two mini-classes for some students who returned from abroad and need to make up some extra credits. They were full of questions and while the whole class was a tangent to what I had planned it was really fun and energizing.

Russell met me downtown and we decided to go to yakiniku for dinner. We headed back to the place near our house (our favorite) but unfortunately it is randomly closed on Wednesdays. No yakiniku for us. Instead of getting back on the train to head downtown again - or settle for average food in our neighborhood - we decided to postpone the yakiniku until tomorrow night and opted instead for bento from the convenience store.

After dinner Russell gave me a pretty necklace for my birthday and a cake! The cake was awesome. Its spongy yellow cake on top with pudding in the middle. There are also chunks of strawberry and apple in the pudding and a crispy chocolate cookie bottom. Definitely unusual, but very tasty. I like it better than the traditional Japanese birthday cake. Russell also got me some imo-custard treats. These are custard in the center with a sweetened sweet-potato outer layer. Very Japanese and very tasty.

Very tasty evening followed by TV and snuggles. Nice.

Our Latest Visitor

For the long weekend this week (four days!) I make plans with Jamie Suter - one of the long standing Program Assistants I had the benefit of working with at Oregon State University. Jamie had moved to Japan to teach in the JET program a year before I came, so she is just finishing her second year now. We had been in vague contact for a while but hand't ever managed to get together since I had arrived in Japan. This was the last good weekend, though, so we made it happen. Jamie came all the way from Ojiya, a country town a ways north of Tokyo, and we spent the weekend having fun in Kobe and Osaka.

Jamie arrived Thursday late afternoon, so Thursday was spent mostly just walking around the (very rainy) city, then eating dinner downtown and going to karaoke.

Friday we got a little more creative.

First, we went out to my school so Jamie could see where I work. After that, we ate lunch at the awesome vegetarian restaurant in town and then headed to the cat cafe. I posted pictures of this before and if I ever get pictures from Jamie I will post the more recent set. Imagine the lady being swarmed by cats and then imagine its me in the middle of the cats and the cats are surrounded by Japanese highschoolers taking pictures. You get the idea. We jumped in early with the treats this time around and that really did make the experience more fun. The cats warmed up to us more than last time, too. I assume because they were hoping we still had a few treats hidden in our pockets or something.

After the kitties, we headed to Harborland and checked out tickets to ride the pink pirate ship around the bay. It turned out the we had missed the last normal ride and the very final ride of the evening would take a different route out to the Kobe airport and back. It was a longer trip, but the price was the same, so we went for it. Once the ship was back, we climbed on board. I have a poor quality picture of the boat (it was dark and my phone doesn't take good night shots) but you get the idea. To really get the idea look at the picture and play "My Heart Will Go On" from titanic loud and on repeat. We could sit in the bottom level, the top level, or walk out onto the deck on the very top (where it was crazy cold and windy). We generally stayed up top until we couldn't take it anymore and then retreated to the second story to look out the windows instead.

The trip was fun (once we learned to block out the music). We got to see my school on Port Island (from the water point of view). We also got to see the insanely large shipping vessel that's been parked outside the MOL shipping center next door to our school for the last week. Its 6-7 stories tall in the center and just massive. It kind of scared me when I first noticed it. Its even bigger when you are in a small pink pirate ship. As an unexpected bonus, we also got to see the Akashi-Kaikyou Bridge that goes from that goes out to Awaji Island. It is currently the longest suspension bridge in the world. At 1,991 meters its pretty impressive. It was all lit up in rainbow colors so it was easy to see at night.

Finally, on the way home, we had a beautiful view of Kobe all lit up. I really should have brought my good camera. The camera phone has its downsides.

Saturday was spent wandering around Osaka and enjoying the aquarium. (They have capybara! Huh?) The highlight of Sunday for me was watching the opening ceremony for the Olympics and making not-takoyaki at the end. Jamie is vegetarian, so she wasn't so excited about eating octopus balls. Unfortunately, we have this awesome takoyaki pan that gets far too little use, so we compromised. We made octopus balls with mochi and cheese inside instead of octopus. It was surprisingly delicious. We are ever honing our takoyaki skills.

We also slipped in some Go, SET and whiskey to round out the evening.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Russell and I have never been big on Valentine's Day - with one exception. We always order the heart-shaped pizza from Woodstock's Pizza in Corvallis. Why? Because there's only one day a year when you can get one and its kind of silly.

Otherwise nothing. No gifts, no cards. Occasionally we wish each other a Happy Valentine's Day, but that's really just as the mood strikes us.

I already posted on Valentine's day customs in Japan, and as far as I can tell those have held true. I didn't get to definitely verify the customs this year, though, because Valentine's Day falls both after the semester ends AND on a Sunday this year. Not only that, but Thursday was a holiday, so I took Friday off too and made a nice long weekend for myself. I was super disconnected from cultural activities (other than long lines for chocolate at the stores). I did drop by work for a few minutes on Friday and was presented a box of sweets from two of my students. She had made them for all the English teachers to share, but there was only one other English teacher in on Friday and she didn't want any of the treats. I was planning to leave them in the refrigerator until Monday, but my colleague convinced me to just take them home and enjoy them before they got stale. They were quite good. There were two homemade chocolates (like super melty center of a really good chocolate truffle, wrapped in saran and sealed with a pink pig sticker). A slice of chocolate cake and a half dozen chocolate and vanilla swirl short bread cookies. It was all delicious. I feel guilty for not sharing more at work. It was a very sweet gift.

This Valentine's Day, Russell and I plan to stay home and play video games, cook curry, do laundry, and generally not move much. We are looking forward to it. I did buy Russell a box of chocolates as a tip-of-the-hat to our current home. Plus, I fully intend to help with their consumption. I guess Valentine's Day isn't that bad.

For anyone out there still reading this blog, Happy Valentine's Day. If you are in Corvallis, have a slice of pizza for us.

My Students

My students drive me crazy sometimes, but then they turn around and do the cutest, sweetest things. Overall, in spite of some deserved eye-rolling, I have pretty awesome students.

Monday was the last day most of them were around school because it was the last official day of final exams. We had lots of students stopping in to say goodbye to the teachers who will be leaving and asking for photos.

I didn't figure out why they kept bothering me until close to the end of the day. Here I was, trying to get papers graded and they wouldn't leave me (or my co-workers) alone! Sheesh!

Then I realized that even though I would be at work for the next month and beyond, this was there last day for a while and they wanted to chat. They would scoot up to my desk with big expectant eyes and I would ask them if they had a question and they would maybe say "no" or maybe ask me some question like, "are you going back to Oregon during the break?" I'm not the brightest bulb sometimes, but once I realized they just wanted to make a last connection before they finished their first year of school, it made me feel all warm fuzzy.

Monday was also Russell's birthday, and there was only one bus running from the school since most of the other schools had already finished their finals. Even though I now realized my students wanted to chat, I explained that I had to get home to celebrate with Russell. They all got very excited and told me to wish him a happy birthday for them, which I promised I would.

Then, today, one of the students showed up with a bag. She asked me if Russell like "sweets." I told her he did and she said she had some sweets for him for his birthday. She started pulling out little snack pouches of barbeque potato chips, prawn crackers, peanuts, etc. She asked me if he liked salty sweets better or sweet sweets better. I told her he like all snacks quite a lot and we discussed the finer differences between "sweets" and "snacks." She told me I had to tell Russell the snacks were from the "Japanese Jokers." I offered her some paper to write her message herself, so she set to work. The final paper says:

Happy Birthday Russell (With a smiley face and a bow)
Please eat snacks with Jaci (Heart)
I hope you have a good year with Jaci (Star)
From Japanese Jokers

I'm not 100% sure what the "Japanese Jokers" part is about. I suspect it is the result of Russell's visit to the school last Friday. He met up with this same student and at some point in the conversation she asked him how old he was and he returned the question. She accidentally told Russell she was 9 years old instead of 19 years old which got everyone laughing. She was embarrassed about the mistake, but my boss covered for her insisting that it was a "Japanese Joke" (never a mistake!) That caught on and pretty soon they were all laughing.

We have an awful lot of fun sometimes. I enjoy the students a lot.

Happy Birthday to Russell

There are five minutes left of Russell's birthday here in Japan, but since it is only 7am in Oregon I'm not going to worry if I'm a bit late.

Russell had a rather unfortunate birthday in some ways - namely getting food poisoning from a restaurant in Osaka yesterday when we went to get one of his birthday presents. He's okay now, but he spent most of the day less than happy.


On the other end of things, he is one lucky boy when it comes to all other aspects of the day. He managed to get three pretty sweet prizes for his birthday this year. A Play Station 3 console, the new Final Fantasy game (in Japanese, so the voice acting is excellent) AND a multi-effects stomp box for his guitar. The last gift probably shouldn't count since he gave it to himself as something he needs and wants for playing with his new band, but I'm tacking it on the list anyway.

Russell was a little sheepish that his stash was going to be posted online, but the way I see it, all he got for Christmas was a $10 takoyaki pan.

We run a little hot and cold in the 'ole gift giving department in this family. The way I see it, he should revel in the fact that he is making out like a bandit because it may not happen again for a very long time.

We also celebrated with a classic Japanese birthday cake. The standard white cake with strawberries on top is emblematic of birthdays in Japan. All the television shows, animation and movies show exactly this kind of cake. It seemed very important to follow tradition. It was tasty, too! All that "frosting" is actually whipped cream, so its not super sweet. Just right.

Happy Birthday, Russell!

Weekend Stuff

The last few weeks have been really tough at work. Good, but tough. The students suddenly realized they had to take final exams, give final presentations, turn in papers, redo rough drafts, etc, before the end of the term. (Monday is the last day of Final Exams week - not counting second chance and third chance tests... but that's another post) .

Long story short, I have been swamped in the office. This is partially my fault for being as transparent as possible for my tests. Students knew exactly what they have to do, and realizing it will be difficult, decided they actually did need come see me. Many were also writing students with questions about their final reports. This has resulted in a revolving door of students. From 9am to 6 pm and sometimes later, I have been fielding questions, giving practice questions and giving feedback on papers. On good days I can squeeze drinking coffee in before the 9am rush and buying rice balls for lunch while someone is in the middle of working on a project in the office. I generally eat at my desk between students or occasionally while helping students. Being a good American, however, I have so far refused to skip lunch.

This has made weekends all the more precious. While I wish the last few weekends had been a break from the chaos, they were really more of a staging ground for the following week - still good, though.

Weekends give me a chance to catch up on grading and get laundry done. Of course, always one to procrastinate, I also get some web surfing an blogging in between grading projects. Today a case in point.

This weekend things are finally starting to wind down. I have to give final grades to the 50 reports I collected, but I am finished giving and grading my listening exams and the oral presentations on Monday should be graded before I leave school that day. Its nice to see the light at the tunnel. So nice, in fact, that Russell and I have been putting extra energy into getting organized this weekend. We finally did a good job cleaning the house (as opposed to just straightening). This hasn't happened since before Russell's sister came in November - and wasn't even done especially well then. It is a huge relief.

We have also been doing mega-ammounts of laundry. Three loads yesterday and two loads today. Its almost finished. Of course, the quantity is partially due to washing all the bedding in anticipation of a guest next week. We have also been airing out beds and trying to de-fume the large futon (the one that got the bleach treatment a few months back). We think the bleach smell has been thoroughly baked out now.

Finally, on Saturday night I finished grading my last listening tests while Russell launched into a PlayStation3 game he bought to go with his shiny new PS3 console. We are waiting for Final Fantasy XIII to come in the mail, but in the meantime Russell found a samurai game to tide him over.

Hanging out in a fresh and shiny home with lots of snacks and something interesting to watch felt awesome.

Round Two for Rockstar Russell

Russell's first band (Green Day cover band) wasn't really working out. The bass player quit before Russell started (he had to get a job) and the drum player was sick and then too busy. Russell met up with the other guitar player a few times, but it had fizzled out lately.

Finally having given up and reinvigorated by Rock Fujiyama, Russell went searching for a new band. He seems to have found one, too. Now, instead of Green Day covers, he's going to try covering Ai Otsuka. She would be more in the "super sugar coated Japanese pop" category. All of her albums include the word Love. Of course, her name, Ai, also means love, so she isn't JUST being girly.

Russell met with the band today (or at least some of the band members) and he has hope for this group. He hasn't played with them yet, but he seems impressed so far. I think what he's really hoping for is a band where he's not quite up to snuff and can rise to the challenge. In the meantime he will assume as much and hope he is good enough to at least be kept once they do meet again and start playing.

Time to tune the 'ole axe.

English to Japanese word of the day: "Akogi"

Submit your guesses in the comments. Your hint? Russell learned it today when he met with the band.

Stealth Holiday

We damn near missed one of the coolest Japanese holidays ever!

Thankfully, my co-worker tipped me off at work, so we were able to salvage some of it.

Today is Setsubun! Setsubun is apparently the last day before Spring according to the Japanese lunar calendar. It can fall on February 3rd or 4th. This is a day to get rid of bad spirits and bring luck into the house.

So how do you do that? From what I hear:

1. Dads around the country come into the house wearing a demon mask and their children throw roasted soy beans at them until they leave the house.
2. While throwing soy beans, the chldren yell "Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi" or "Devil out, Good luck in!"
3. The children eat their age's worth of the beans (on the floor?) I think so...
4. Hang burned, dried sardine heads outside your house so the strong smell will drive away evil spirits (not largely practiced anymore).
5. Clean the house extra super good.
6. Various regional traditions. In Kansai, (where we are) someone offical announces what the lucky direction is for the year (as my co-worker pointed out, this seems not unlike Mr. Punxatawny Phil). Everyone then eats a futo-maki (long rolled sushi) facing that direction. They can't talk until they finish.

I didn't have a demon to throw beans at, unfortunately, but I did throw peanuts at my students. That was fun. It was their idea, by the way. Four of them took one bag of peanuts to the bottom floor of the school (outside) and the rest of us stayed upstairs on the deck and we threw peanuts at each other and yelled "Oni wa soto!" A couple of us threw a few peanuts at the school and yelled "Fuku wa uchi" for good measure.

Russell and I also ate our age in - well, not roasted soy beans but peanuts again. I thought I had found soy beans but I was lead astray.

We also ate our futo-maki facing West Southwest, which I was informed was the direction for this year. I made the mistake of assuming that I should eat it fast. My tummy kind of hurts now. In retrospect, I don't think there was anything about speed in the directions.

In the end, we are hopefully a bit better off for luck this year than we would have been otherwise. Hopefully if we did anything too grievously unlucky today we will get a few passes for being foreigners. Next year I will be better prepared!

I tried to take pictures, but they didn't turn out - and my computer is currently refusing to recognize my iphone when I try to transfer photos...

End of the School Year... Almost

The school year in Japan starts in April and ends right around now. We are in the middle of finals week, but after next Monday I am done with my first year of teaching.

Of course, there are plenty of other projects to keep me busy until the new year starts in April, but its hard to believe my classes are done.

At the moment I am buried in nervous students wanting my help before they take their final exams. The only reason I got lunch today was because I ran downstairs and bought two rice balls while one of my students was working out how to change a passive sentence to an active one. I ate while I talked with her and then was quickly spirited off to interview returning study abroad students. I don't think I stopped moving for more than 2 minutes today. It was exhausting.

I also haven't had an evening without work to bring home. I think I complained about that earlier as well. It shows I'm getting soft. I used to do hours of take-home work every night when I worked in Oregon. Now I'm getting pretty used to having my evenings free.

Once the week is over, though, things are going to get real quiet. I will still be busy, but I will be able to focus on just textbooks. No more balancing final exams with paper checking, presentation checking, grammar help, interviews, test writing and voice acting. I look forward to the monotony.

Remind me of that in a few weeks.