Whoops!

It's been a while since I posted. I had a nice five day vacation, in which I accomplished my goal of doing absolutely nothing. Thursday and Friday were back to school.

Thursday I went to elementary school and introduced myself to the teeny tiny first and second graders. They were absolutely adorable. I wanna teach Elementary School! They're so much more fun than these middle schoolers who are too cool to speak up in class. I'd much rather have the kids fighting over themselves to scream a response at the top of their lungs.

Friday.......

Okay so, the dinner party below? Both Alex and I heard Friday but it was actually Saturday. WHOOPS. @_@ Alex really worked hard to get the house sparkling clean and prepare everything. He even made homemade lemonade. (I had some, it was delicious!) And then at around 4:00 PM (about two hours before we expected people, give or take an hour) we get an email...

"[Name] is coming tomorrow. So we'll have the party on Saturday, also we're bringing some more people"

It had some more important stuff in it, but the point was...

Saturday?

Two hours before we were expecting the party?


It was one of those "Oh man" moments.

Anyone who knows me when it comes to things like plans, is that I absolutely lose it when plans get dropped or pop up really suddenly. I can be spontaneous sometimes, but other times (like after a long day) it's like "WHAT."

So I called the person about it just to clarify, just in case. See, what had happened in the first place, was that the AET (my position) from...like...three AETs ago was coming back to town. His religion stated that he couldn't drink, so we couldn't have a meeting for him at an izakaya, and the house he was staying at couldn't accommodate people on the night he was coming. So we agreed to have it at our apartment.

Now, both Alex and I could swear that it was Friday night. Both of us. But she was like, "Huh? ...No, it's Saturday....it was Saturday from the beginning!"

So of course (and this is Nat holding back full "I'm a moron" mode) I grit my teeth and was like, "Oh, okay! That's fine! Um, Alex prepared a lot of stuff but he didn't cook it yet, so we'll just cook it tomorrow..."

But OH MAN was I embarassed. Probably more than I should have been, but, hee.

That night I had PTA chorus practice anyway. So I walked there at night, sang, and then came home.

Now, I don't know if Alex has said anything about this, but we have loudspeakers all over our town that play little tunes at 7 AM, 5 PM, 7 PM, and 9 PM, and a siren at noon. It's because we're out in the country. I think they're signals for people working out in the rice fields.

But anyway, I was walking home from chorus when the 9 o'clock song went off. Now the song it plays...I think it's 'Moon River' from Breakfast at Tiffany's at 9. I'm not really sure what the rest of them are. But walking through a dark alley, and all of a sudden absolutely surrounded by this music...I was suddenly just overwhelmed with the feeling that...I'm here, in Japan, half a world away from almost everything I know. I'm in a tiny town full of friendly people who want to take every opportunity to spend time with me, and I'm not being an idiot and pushing them away for once, because it's part of my job. I've got a really fulfilling job with great perks, and I'm with my husband, the person I love most in the world.

So standing there in the alley, surrounded by corny music, I just started to cry.

I only cry for really stupid things! Seriously! Moon River played over an intercom system!?

Town Life-Long Study Center Intellectual Playing Mansion

Today, I woke up, did some laundry and left. Last week, one of the local English speakers invited me to visit his workplace to look at some oil paintings in the gallery and I said I'd come. I figured I'd also stop by the grocery store on the way home so that I could pick up some necessities for tomorrow night's dinner.

I pass by the building every time I go to the ATM or the middle school (not as often for the middle school...Nat does that a lot, though), so I knew where it was. As I approached, however, I realized that the door I often pass looked slightly more like an employee entrance. I got cold feet and walked right by, deciding to see if I could take a walk to the shore. The route I took dead-ended into a field mere yards away from the seaside walkway. I didn't know if I was allowed to walk through the field, so I ended up turning around and going back to my original destination. The town life-long study center intellectual playing mansion (or "Town Culture Center", if you choose to be wise and not use Babelfish translations) loomed into view and there in the window was Johnny (he actually has a Japanese name, but he refuses to let me use it and so I completely forgot what it was). Johnny promptly encouraged me to enter the door which I had thought was an employee entrance. I was relieved. After I entered, he then informed me that it actually was an employee entrance and that the public entrance was on the other side of the building. I was embarrassed. We then proceeded to have an awkward introduction with the other three staff members in the office. Then, he and one of the staff members took me to see the aforementioned gallery (the other staff member apologetically informing me that she "English little".

The gallery was really nice. The current exhibition is oil paintings by a (former?) art teacher at Nat's school. There was a painting of Mikonos, a painting of the Mona Lisa with popped bubble-gum on her face and Amanohashidate in the background, a brushed ink sketch of an old man picking his nose, a series of flamenco dancer paintings and a surreal painting titled "Firefly" ("ほたる") without actually containing any fireflies (there were some seagulls and a girl, though). Partway through my tour of the gallery, Johnny excused himself to sneak off to the grocery store and buy some snacks for Nat and I, leaving his coworker and I to peruse the the works.

After he returned, I was served tea with my snack while they asked me what I planned to do with the rest of my day. I replied that I had to go grocery shopping and cook. They immediately tried to tell me what was on sale, but stopped short, because they didn't know what the words were in English. One of the coworkers tried, "Marron? Furansu-go ka?" (Marron? Is that French?). To which I timidly replied "H-hai, furansu-go desu," (Yes, that's French). I then explained that we called it a chestnut. Johnny confirmed this with his hand-held Japanese-English translator. The only reason I knew this was because of my current amusement with the French Republican Calendar. Then, they asked me if I knew Pacific saury (now that they had Johnny's translator on-hand, they could get specific with their fish), to which I replied that I knew what it was, but I didn't think we had it in America. They were then quite shocked and asked me if I ate fish. I assured them that I did. They later tried to name different kinds of fish I might, perhaps, have eaten ("Tuna? Do you know tuna? Do you eat...uhhh...horse makureru?" Horse makureru is horse mackerel in Engrish). After they were thoroughly impressed with my ability to eat raw fish, Johnny rushed me away to the public library section of the culture center (which was closed for the day...it's a holiday week here). I put down my half-eaten snack as he introduced me to the two librarians who were busy cleaning all the nooks and crannies of the library they don't have time to touch during open hours and then showed me the scant English-language section. I wasn't really expecting much. In fact, I had overheard someone say that all they had was Harry Potter, so I actually underestimated it...by about ten books. There was, indeed, the entire Harry Potter series in English. This made up the total of English language novels available in the library. They also have The Giving Tree and The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. They also had a bilingual Japanese cookbook and some books about Japan. Eventually, I was permitted to finish my snack and leave.

On the way to the grocery store, I realized that I was carrying the snack I was given for Nat. Carrying it into the store would be awkward and I didn't have any pockets to put it in (I have mentioned that I walk everywhere, right?). I decided my best choice would be to hide it on top of one of the outdoor vending machines and retrieve it when I'm done with my shopping. After entering the store, I notice that it is quite a bit less busy than it usually is around noon on a weekday. In fact, it looked a little darker. Still, there were employees and a couple customers, so it was definitely still open. The darker lighting, was probably because of all the new signs hanging from the ceiling that boldly claimed something I couldn't read. We're hosting a potluck dinner tomorrow night and the locals seem to think it would be a brilliant idea if I made fried eggplant and skordalia. I'm not entirely certain skordalia will appeal to Japanese tastes, but at least I can tempura-fry the eggplant to make it something they're more familiar with (or I could, y'know, do it my normal way since the only difference is how you add the flour). But this is what they wanted, so this is what I was at the store to get things for. I also decided to grab some ingredients for spanakorizo, just in case I'm feeling extra ambitious tomorrow. At least I can make that early in the morning and refrigerate it until dinner and reheat it.

I went home, and made the skordalia. We don't have instant mashed potatoes here, so I used the soggy bread method. The texture is slightly different and I don't dare make it as strong as I normally do, but it is good. Then, I remembered that I was going to buy shiso for everyone to eat after the dinner. Not only that, but I'd need some shiso for the spanakorizo. So, I ran off and bought a couple packets and ran back.

I put off vacuuming today because I want to do it tomorrow. I'll likely have to do it again on Saturday, too. Tomorrow's a busy day! I have no idea how many people we're hosting.

Goya: Round II

So, Nat got a goya (bitter melon) from one of her co-workers on Friday. This meant I had to, once again, face off with the bitter menace. However, this time I was armed with the knowledge of true Japanese preparation methods. I had the upper hand! Last time, goya simply caught me off-guard. This time, I was ready.

The battle was epic. No one was spared. Not even the children. In the end, I stood victorious over a delicious (and only slightly bitter) bowl of goya champuru. I was pleased. Goya is reported to be highly nutritious, so being able to incorporate it into our diet and still enjoy it was a great success.

I'm sure you're now wondering what to do if you ever come across a goya. If you do happen to stumble upon a bitter melon (which would be quite impressive, for some areas of the United States) I advise that you never cook this for a guest on your first try. Since goya is so bitter, you may need practice with it before unleashing it on your friends in order to more fully understand the needs of the vegetable. Got that? Good. With that said, here's a recipe for two (adapted from an out-of-print, English-language magazine published in Kyoto):

Goya Champuru
(Note: This goes very well over Japanese steamed rice.)

Ingredients:
Goya (bitter melon) 1 - Cut the goya in half, lengthwise, and remove the inner pith and seeds with a spoon (or your fingers, like I do). Then, slice the halves into very, very thin half-moons. Rinse the slices in a bowl of salty water. Gently scrunch the goya to release some of the oils. Drain and repeat. You might even want to steam/boil the goya before adding it to this recipe.
Tofu 1 block - Place a paper towel on a flat dish or cutting board and place the tofu on top. Place another dish or cutting board on top of the tofu as a weight and set aside for 10 minutes. This will allow the tofu to drain. Once done, use your hands to crumble the tofu (do not cut it, since the texture is intended to be crumbly).
Onion 1/2 - Chop the onion up. The size of the pieces can be however you like, really. Just as long as you want to eat it in the end.
King Trumpet Mushrooms 3 or 4 - These might also be called Eryngii, Eringi or King Oyster Mushrooms. Slice these into sticks. If you wish to substitute other edible mushrooms, that should be fine.
Soy Sauce to taste
Mirin to taste - This is a sweet rice wine used solely for cooking. If you've managed to get your hands on a goya, you should be able to find this. Just talk to your grocer.
Katsuo flakes - This is another thing that may be difficult to come by in some parts of the world. It's a mix of things, not the least of which are dried fish flakes. Very delicious, very important to this dish. If you've already got the goya and the mirin, you'll likely be able to get this too.
Eggs 2, scrambled
Cooking oil 1 Tbsp

Directions:

1. Place a frying pan over high heat, add the cooking oil. Then add the crumbled tofu and onion. Fry the tofu. Fry the tofu until it starts turning brown. (This is what my recipe says. However this has never happened for me. Either my pan doesn't know how to brown tofu or I'm just impatient. At least fry the tofu until any leftover moisture is gone.) Turn the heat down to medium and continue frying the tofu until it is evenly brown.
2. Add the goya and the mushrooms. Fry these FOREVER! The goya, in time, should turn translucent. The recipe I have warns that stirring the goya too aggressively may make the entire dish bitter. I never had a problem with this, but you may want to keep it in mind.
3. After the goya has cooked for a little while, go ahead and season with soy sauce and mirin. you may be more liberal with the soy sauce, but be a bit conservative with the mirin as you want it to flavor the dish and not sweeten it. Also give a generous sprinkle of katsuo flakes.
4. Once the goya appears to be cooked to a limp death, pour the egg over the mixture in the pan and stir quickly to get the egg cooked evenly. Immediately remove from heat and serve over freshly-steamed Japanese white rice. Mmmmmmm!

On that note, it appears that my entries are going to be primarily food-based. Hopefully, most people will be able to try these recipes at home (though the ingredients for this recipe might prove to be a scavenger hunt for some). If I feel ambitious enough, I might start taking pictures of food and ingredients as I prepare (also, we need new batteries for the camera...). I'm going to need a small clipboard next to the counter so I can take measurement notes while I'm cooking.

Also, use for mochi rice #56: Soup thickener - Since mochi rice has such a high starch content, it releases its starches into any soup you might be cooking and acts as a thickener. You only need a little bit of mochi rice for this to work. If you have a soup recipe that includes rice, I suggest using a 3/4 the amount of normal rice and use mochi rice for the remaining 1/4. Adding a tablespoon or two of mochi rice to a vegetable soup recipe can work too!

Yes. Yes, I did make hamburgers.

As Nat has just mentioned, I indeed made hamburgers with spinach and rice last night. The hamburger was mostly Australian beef (most beef is imported in Japan, save for a few heads of cattle who are treated like kings...until they are slaughtered) and American pork (I 'anno...). It was seasoned with fresh crushed garlic, salt, black pepper, oregano and a dash of soy sauce. I mashed the avocado up with some lemon juice in my handy-dandy mortar and pestle and used it as a spread. There was also sliced tomato and mayonnaise involved. While the concept of hamburgers is not unknown to the Japanese, I've only seen instances of a open-faced hamburgers when cooked at home (McDonald's and MossBurger still serve the traditional style: both top and bottom of the bun).

The spinach and rice was a little trickier. Earlier, I had accidentally bought mochi rice instead of normal Japanese rice. Mochi rice (sometimes known as "sweet rice") is slightly sweeter, a little lighter and a whole lot stickier than the rice normally used for a Japanese mealtime....and regular Japanese rice is already a lot stickier than rice normally found in Western cuisines. Normally, mochi rice is pounded into a sticky "mochi" (a rice dough or cake) which can be used for a variety of things. Typically, mochi is used for holiday cakes or traditional tea sweets called "manju". Very delicious. Very...not what you should be eating for your everyday meal.

Anyway, I'm stuck with this rice for now. I might attempt to make my own manju, but that's getting into realms beyond ambitious, since most recipes I can find don't take you from whole rice like the traditional method does (since that method is almost entirely ceremonial now, save a few small shops and country bumpkins). Instead, they tell you how to start with mochi rice flour. Obviously, since I have the whole rice and not the flour, this is not going to happen the easy way.

So, spinach and rice. For those unfamiliar, spinach and rice is a Greek recipe (also called "spanakorizo") using spinach, rice, a few other vegetables along with lemon juice and other seasonings. The largest hurdles for this recipe are that it calls for spinach, rice and mint. Well, the rice part wouldn't have been so hard had it not been for the mochi rice. I went ahead and used the mochi rice anyway. The extra gluten in the rice made the resulting dish a little gooey, but still delicious. I know they have spinach in Japan, but knowing which of the leafy vegetables is the spinach can be a bit difficult sometimes. I picked up a vegetable, hoped it was spinach and went on my way. It still may not have been spinach, but it worked well enough. The mint was going to be tougher. While some stores in Japan may have fresh mint or even dried mint, our local grocer is not one of them. I decided to experiment (as if the mochi rice and maybe-spinach wasn't experiment enough). A common leaf used in Japanese cuisine is shiso. Shiso comes in two colors. Red (actually a dark purple) and green. The red shiso is usually used for dying Japanese pickles and other foods while the green shiso is often eaten raw and whole as an accompaniment with rice, tempura fried, or shredded as a seasoning. Both red and green shiso are related to mint and have a mild minty flavor. I figured green shiso might work. It did! I'm so happy that it worked! So, basically, here are the steps (and ingredients) for Greek spinach and rice (I apologize for the lack of measurements, but I have no clue how much of what I use):

Spinach - (A lot...really. I don't think I've ever properly used enough spinach for this recipe, but I'm getting closer. I'd suggest at least two packages, if you're using pre-packaged spinach.) Chop this up, but not very small. 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares are probably best for the smallest pieces. Use the stems, too!
Uncooked white rice - (Any white rice will probably do, but I'd suggest not using mochi rice, since it makes the recipe more gooey. About 1/2 cup or 3/4 About 1/4 - 1/3 cup is good for two people.)
1 Tomato - Peeled, diced and mashed into a sauce. I use a mortar and pestil. You might find this easier with a blender. An even easier solution would be to buy a canned version at the store.
Onion - One half of the onion is enough. Chop it up. I like chopping it up really fine, but as long as you think the pieces are small enough, they probably are.
Garlic - One or two cloves, minced. Mince! Mince! Mince!
Olive oil - I prefer to not use extra virgin olive oil because I find it bitter. You may use whichever kind you like. Some other oils with mild flavors are okay, too.
Lemon juice - To flavor. The dish should be just slightly sour, but not overbearing.
Mint - Maybe 1 1/2 tsp, dry mint leaves? The flavor from the mint should never be too obvious. If you're in Japan, mince green shiso leaves are a good subtitute.
Oregano
Salt
Black Pepper (optional)
Basil (optional)

Directions:

1. Put a little olive oil in a soup pot (or whatever pot you're cooking this in) and saute the onions and garlic until they start turning brown.
2. Add the mashed tomato, stir a little bit and add water (I used about three-four bowls full of water, but I was using a small bowl. You're cooking rice, so you'll want a fair amount, but not too much).
3. Also add the rice.
4. Bring the water to a boil, then add the spinach, mint, lemon juice, oregano, salt and optional seasonings. Stir in the spinach. It may take a while to wilt down enough to fit, but don't worry too much about that. If it doesn't all fit at once, just add portions at a time. The rice takes a while to cook, so you don't have to worry too much about some of the spinach being undercooked.
   
5. Turn down the heat slightly, cover and stir occasionally. Add water if it seems the liquid is getting too low. Once the spinach is properly wilted and has turned a more faded green, taste (try for at least some rice, a piece of spinach and some of the "broth") to see if you need to add any more of any seasoning. Never forget to stir occasionally and add more water when necessary. (I repeat this, because I forget it and am sometimes I'm very sorry for doing so)
6. Did you forget to stir and check the water levels?
   
7. Once the rice is soft (Soft, soft, soft! Maybe a little mushy, even!). Let most of the water evaporate out (aka "Remove the lid"). A little liquid is good. I even suggest leaving a little liquid.
8. Serve and eat!
   

While this works best as a side dish in a hot meal, it can also serve as a small, one-bowl meal. It's also good as a leftover. The estimates I have for measurements are for two people (hopefully...maybe three). If they sound wrong to you, feel free to change them or make your own estimates. Next time I make this, I'll try to record how much of some of these things that I'm using.

Mai Hasubando

Alex made me a hamburger for dinner with avocado on it, and his spinach and rice on the side.

After how insanely busy I've been all week, I was like "AI LOVE YU"

I love him. ;_;

Kawaii Girl met up with What's Up girl and the two of them and I hung out before class today. (What's Up girl is a very enthusiastic third grader who likes going "what's up!" and knocking knucks. She's hilarious.) Apparently I'm cute because I'm short and look like Harry Potter (to the Japanese student mind). Also, it has been noticed that I smell good (!?!?). I was like, "Kay...I ..need a shower...?" Weirdness.

I don't have much substance for a post right now, I just wanted to hop on and tell everyone how awesome Alex is. ^_^

Sports Day Debauchery

Whew....Oooookay. I've been putting this off for way too long. Post, Natalie! Post!

So originally we were supposed to have Sports Day - tai'ikusai or 体育祭 - on Saturday the 12th. This would be a day of work for me, and then we would have the following Monday off as a vacation to make up for it.

It rained on Saturday. So it was canceled, and we instead had Sports Day on Sunday.

It rained a little bit in the morning, but not enough to justify canceling it again. The kids were adorable. They all ran around in teams of about 100 kids....well, here, let me explain how the blocks work. Each grade is separated into three classes. There's First Year - Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3, Second Year the same, and Third Year the same. The first year classes are each about 31 students, the second year classes about 32, and the third year classes are each around 35 students.

The teams, red block, blue block, and yellow block, were made up of every grade's class one, class 2, and class 3. So for example, Blue Block was made up of classes 1-1, 2-1, and 3-1. And so on.

Sports Day started with a massive relay race. Every single kid in every single block ran the relay around the track, passing the baton from kid to kid to kid to kid. There were some insanely fast kids! My little special ed boy especially tore up the track.

Then, there were other sports, like tug of war, group jump rope (like fifteen kids at a time jumping rope! The same rope, yes.), caterpillar racing (About twenty kids standing in a line, with ALL of their feet tied together, their hands on the person in front's shoulders -- hilarious!), a sort of pole race where five kids ran carrying a pole, and had to spin around cones like clock hands, a sort of six legged race where one person was wearing a basket and the other two had to dump fuzzy balls into the basket (of course, when they bent over to pick things up, everything would fall out...), and a lot of other fun stuff. The kids were a lot of fun to watch - they were all wearing little headbands of their block colors - these are known as hachimaki. They were all very competitive, but at the same time they all encouraged the team that was running behind. If Red Block was falling behind in the race, everyone would start yelling "Aka ganbatte!" (Red, do your best!) and "Aka faitoh!" (fight-oh -- heehee) and it was all very adorable.

Okay, I interrupt the post here to say that Alex is an AWESOME COOK. He just brought me a beef and vegetable stir-fry he made with very authentic looking rice and pickles. OM NOM. I love it. Okay. Back to your regularly scheduled post.

Also during the Sports Fest, there were PTA events. There was PTA tug of war, which was hilarious, and PTA tamaire (玉入れ - Literally translated as "Put the ball in the thingie"). I was on the PTA tamaire team. Now, this SOUNDS like basketball, but actually it's very, very different. There were five teams. Each team stood in a circle, a student standing in the middle. The student was holding a fifteen-twenty foot pole with a very long and skinny basket at the top. I know you're thinking "Okay, how is this not basketball?" Well see this basket is about two and a half feet deep, and the rim of it is about...nnh....the circumference of a large grapefruit. Or a small cantaloupe. Whichever you prefer. There were beanbags scattered all over the ground, and, in a set amount of time, you're supposed to get as many beanbags into the basket as possible. The basket has a bottom so they don't come out. Now, the way the Japanese PTA people did it was grab big handfuls of beanbags and chuck them all into the air at once.

I'm a wimpy little weakling though so I couldn't chuck the beanbags nearly high enough that way. So I grabbed an armload and started winging them into the air as fast, hard, and accurately as I could.

Against all logic our team (consisting of misc. parents, me, the art teacher, and the music teacher) completely creamed the other teams. I'd like to think that I made some kind of contribution with my "You're doing it wrong" tactics, but I think I only got like one or two in.

Plus, it was fun, because everybody chucking these things in the air, they would just land on everyone, so I'd be lining up a shot and BAM beanbag to the face.

The students got a HUGE kick out of me playing tamaire though. I could hear them absolutely screaming from their little tarps where each block was sitting - "Natari-sensei FAITOH!"

Then we all got a little brand-new roll of Saran Wrap for our exertions and were sent back to our seats.

After Sports Day, the teachers had a party at an izakaya in nearby Nodagawa. We all took a bus to get there. That threw up a flag to me. A flag that said "Oh hey, people aren't going to be driving home from this."

Now, I have to get one thing straight right now because my family read this thing. I am really not a drinker. I can't really drink too much, and when I do I just fall asleep before anything exciting or amazing happens. However this also means I fall asleep before I can drink enough to get myself in trouble, so that's good.

That having been said.

Drinking is an intensely important part of Japanese business culture. Japanese workplaces are all incredibly formal. It's the after-work parties, the izakaya or enkai, where people really loosen up, get to know each other, and talk frankly.

So I was very culturally acceptably tipsy.

I didn't expect Japanese beer to actually taste good, and not awful like American beer! After a couple of those, an umeshu (plum liquor - very sweet! ...very strong...), and a shot of this weird white sweet rice sake that apparently is famous in the reason, I was having a little trouble walking...but apparently no trouble speaking Japanese.

By the way, I have very intelligent friends when it comes to drinking, so, Mother, I was very careful to drink lots and lots of water, at least one glass of water per drink. This way I didn't really get overly in trouble when people kept ordering alcohol for me. Of course, this made the Japanese teachers laugh at me. "Mada omizu!?" (You're ordering more water!?) they'd say, and I'd answer by holding up my drink in one hand and my water in the other hand and saying, very seriously, "Baransu wa TAISETSU." (Balance is precious) which of course made them erupt in peals of laughter at how SERIOUS BUSINESS I was.

Also, miraculously, while ...indisposed, I had to go to the bathroom several times, which is what happens when you drink a substantial amount of alcohol and five glasses of water over the span of two and a half hours...and when going to the restaurant's bathroom, I found, to my horror, it was a JAPANESE SQUAT TOILET.

For those of you who are unaware of the full horror of this revelation, here is a picture for your reference.



That's right folks. It's a porcelain hole in the ground.

You're supposed to pull your pants down (Girls too!) and squat over the thing, do your thing, and finish up. I'm always too scared to try them because I have this phobia of, you know, messing up and all the consequences that entails.

But you know, this isn't the sort of thing to worry about when your impulse control is already suffering.

Apparently I can use them just fine, even when I'm having trouble walking. I was pretty elated. I don't think I could do it sober.

But I mean the izakaya wasn't all JUST drinking. We ate a ton of food too. The way it works, is that you get a bunch of family style dishes and pass them around. We got a couple small pizzas, had some spicy marinated shrimp stuff, a bunch of stuff I didn't recognize but ate anyway (because that's how I roll!), tempura, chicken, french fries (!?), and....

wani.


Wani is Japanese for crocodile.

I dunno where they got it or if the teachers were just playing an elaborate trick on me, but it was actually really good. It tasted uncannily like chicken though. When I got home I asked Alex about that and he said that he'd heard the same thing. Surreal.

We got dessert at the end; I got a cute little piece of chocolate cake. One of the other girls got apple sherbet. It came in a frosty little frozen apple that had been hollowed out and filled with the sherbet. I immediately regretted my decision.

Other highlights of the night were me teaching everyone how to tell someone they're good looking in four languages, a double-jointed contest, and trying on each others' glasses.

We took the bus home in high spirits and boy oh boy did I crash.

The next day was a vacation. I was happy about that. But I wasn't hung over at all, thanks to all the water I drank.

Today I went back to school. One of the English teachers' children came down with the swine flu (!! seriously!) so he wasn't in today. Everyone was really busy. It was fun. I often prefer busy days to the not-busy ones, because I have a lot to do and a lot of classes to attend, and I'm not left sitting in the teacher's lounge like a lump.

After classes I went to visit the band again. Since the Sports Day is over, I have time to go see them again. The girl who asked me to come was there again, and we talked excitedly about classical composers for about fifteen minutes. She likes Chopin and Mendelssohn. My heart practically flew away.

As Promised

Okay, I finally uploaded/fixed up the pictures I took!! Yay! So if you want to take a look, here they are.

If you want to see the whole image, you have to right click and choose 'View Picture' since this is only showing half and I DON'T KNOW WHYYYYYYY



This was my lunch that I took a picture of that one day. The main-looking thingie is a croquette, which had potato, ground meat of some sort, and cabbage inside it.



This is the view from the music room. You can see Amanohashidate on the horizon, the line of pine trees. It's actually just a very thin strip of land, but we're directly facing the bay that it crosses, so...



Some of my students! They're so cute.



The kids are practicing dances that they made up for the Sports Festival. Each class practices together in the hallway. Now they practice outside so they can spread out.



Here's the school band. I love them. <3 They're playing the theme from Ponyo (In Japanese, not the stupid (so I hear) English version), the theme from Lupin III, some Star Wars, and a bunch of other stuff that I think might be too tough for them....but good on them for trying!

Also, yesterday was my first day teaching at Ishikawa elementary school. It was so freakin' adorable. One kid kept asking questions about American food. "How big are American hamburgers?" "Are American hamburgers better than Japanese hamburgers?" "How big is American pizza?" "What do you like on pizza?"

The teachers tearfully shook both of my hands in theirs and thanked me fervently after the classes. One of them said, in Japanese, "I think the students are going to get very close to you very quickly." And the other said, "You're a fun and interesting teacher. I'm very happy to work with you." I was a little taken aback but blushed a lot and thanked them. They seemed to stare at me in absolute awe when I was speaking Japanese with them...I guess the elementary school program doesn't really require its teachers to speak English well, since it's not technically an English class, but English practice... so they were all immensely relieved that I could speak Japanese.

On the way downstairs after class, I saw two little first graders, who couldn't have been older than seven, dressed all in white with little chef hats, working together to lug a huge pot of food up the stairs together. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Then when I got back, I was watching the kids practice for their sports festival. One of them was sitting aside, and I asked her, "How are you?" to which she promptly gave me a pathetic look and said "NO."

I couldn't keep myself from giggling.

"How Are You" is translated to them as "Ogenki desu ka?" which is literally asking "Are you healthy?", to which the logical answer would have indeed been "No." I sat with her and talked a little bit - I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, but she said something-byo (-byo means 'sickness' so I could really only figure out that she was sick) so I left it at that.