The highlight of mine?
I tried to eat a candle.
Yeah. Thought it was chocolate.
Sweet.
Cheers,
sick Baer
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas...?
So yay, my sore throat went from "well shit, my cold is coming back" to "holy gods, when did the aliens replace my esophagus with sand paper??" in about a day. I am super glad that I don't have any more classes this year because it hurts even to whisper.
In other news, I am once again cooking pumpkin pies. Six in total, the last of the pumpkin my mother brought me. I will bring them to work tomorrow, the elementary this time, and attempt to make it feel like it is Christmas.
I realized that the likelihood of me waking up tomorrow and not remembering it's Christmas is pretty high. I can honestly say that has never happened before.
Christmas Eve
It's Christmas eve.... I made brownies and bought imported gingersnap cookies to bring to the JHS. In addition, I handsewed some felt ornaments and brought other small gifts for a few select teachers. I also received a couple more gifts myself, which I am saving to open tomorrow. Yay!
Today is the last school day, though there are no classes. Instead, everyone dressed in uniform for the closing ceremony. The Japanese are quite fond of their ceremonies. I watched as the vice principle and principal walked onto the stage. They bowed as they came up on the stage, bowed as they approached the microphone, bowed as they backed away from the microphone, and bowed as they left the stage. If there happen to be other people on the stage, they stopped and bowed to them as well. I hid a smile.
Later we are all going out to lunch, for there is no school lunch today. I am hoping maybe I will be allowed to go home early after lunch without taking time off, since there is nothing to do today. Crossing my fingers!
More updates later,
drummer boy Baer
Today is the last school day, though there are no classes. Instead, everyone dressed in uniform for the closing ceremony. The Japanese are quite fond of their ceremonies. I watched as the vice principle and principal walked onto the stage. They bowed as they came up on the stage, bowed as they approached the microphone, bowed as they backed away from the microphone, and bowed as they left the stage. If there happen to be other people on the stage, they stopped and bowed to them as well. I hid a smile.
Later we are all going out to lunch, for there is no school lunch today. I am hoping maybe I will be allowed to go home early after lunch without taking time off, since there is nothing to do today. Crossing my fingers!
More updates later,
drummer boy Baer
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
A few things
Well, it was quite exciting to come in to work this morning, open my homepage, the New York Times, and see smack in the middle of the page a picture of two men kissing in Mexico City, holding up a victorious sign "Gay Marriage Revoluton" (emphasis on the "love"). A brand new day indeed! I thought it was a little funny that the report said people were shouting "Yes, we could!" when Obama has done nothing at all for his own gay community. A failure to be added to the ongoing war and the latest disaster in Copenhagen. Anyway, it was an exciting, if totally unrelated-to-Japan way to start my day.
The reason I mention this especially is because I was a good little (resident alien) citizen and wore a mask at work to keep from spreading my germs. It is true what you see on TV, that everyone here wears masks, especially in public places (like on the train). However, they don't actually do anything unless you are already sick.... a minor detail, by most standards.
As an extra tidbit to this mornings report, I have to show you a little something that came in my school lunch:
Yes, my friends, that is a packet of tiny little dried fish, seasoned with sesame seeds, for your snacking pleasure. I try very hard never to appear phased by what is put in front of me, for it would not do to offend my hosts, but every time this comes in my school lunch, I just have to laugh! I think a severed lamb head could not look anymore out of place sitting on my lunch plate. I get a real kick out of thinking what would happen if you tried to feed this to American school kids (or even my mother!). One teacher, who always criticises me whenever I don't like something, asked why I didn't eat it. I told her, "it's a bit too strong a fish taste for me". She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I don't think this is fishy at all!"
...
They are almost entirely plain, little tiny dead fish! I don't think, by the very definition, you can get anymore fishy than that!
Cheers,
I'll-stick-to-chicken Baer
I got quite a wonderful surprise yesterday at work. The "tea lady" Yoshida-san, one of the teachers, and the sort of jack-of-all trades of the office, Kakinuma-san, got together to get me a Christmas present. They are the ones that I usually help around the office, so this was their way of saying thank you. It as so sweet! The Kakinuma-san handcarved an adorable little owl for me! He said it is supposed to bring happiness. I was so touched. Both he and Yoshida-san don't speak a lick of English, but they are the sweetest people and I often rely heavily on Yoshida-san especially. I thanked them profusely and even gave Kakinuma-san a bow this morning for his efforts. I am so excited! I have a present to open on Christmas! ha ha, it made my week.
In other news, I forgot to mention that I got sick for the first time since I've been here. It was just a cold though, so nothing serious. I found some wonderful drugs at the drugstore (after standing in the drugstore and staring blankly at the wall of boxes for probably 15 minutes) that dried me up almost immediately. Yay~ Unfortunately, perhaps because of this weather and my constant need to be in it, my throat is already starting to feel icky again.
The reason I mention this especially is because I was a good little (resident alien) citizen and wore a mask at work to keep from spreading my germs. It is true what you see on TV, that everyone here wears masks, especially in public places (like on the train). However, they don't actually do anything unless you are already sick.... a minor detail, by most standards.As an extra tidbit to this mornings report, I have to show you a little something that came in my school lunch:
Yes, my friends, that is a packet of tiny little dried fish, seasoned with sesame seeds, for your snacking pleasure. I try very hard never to appear phased by what is put in front of me, for it would not do to offend my hosts, but every time this comes in my school lunch, I just have to laugh! I think a severed lamb head could not look anymore out of place sitting on my lunch plate. I get a real kick out of thinking what would happen if you tried to feed this to American school kids (or even my mother!). One teacher, who always criticises me whenever I don't like something, asked why I didn't eat it. I told her, "it's a bit too strong a fish taste for me". She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I don't think this is fishy at all!"...
They are almost entirely plain, little tiny dead fish! I don't think, by the very definition, you can get anymore fishy than that!
Cheers,
I'll-stick-to-chicken Baer
Friday, December 18, 2009
I'm blogging, I'm blogging!
LOL, I get so many complaints that I don't write enough blogs. I'm sorry! I'm glad you guys think my life is interesting enough to warrant daily updates but I am afraid it is just a Japanese version of mundanity. I will give you a few tidbit, to satisfy that rabid curiosity of yours.
First off, it is getting gradually colder here. Not exactly the 15 degrees Fahrenheit that it is in New York, but for a person with no gloves (they're in the mail!), no central heating, and no car... it's pretty cold. It's 50 degrees in my apartment and it is only 4:30 in the afternoon. I find it difficult to get up in the morning because it means leaving the relative warmth of my futon- only to get in a shower that doesn't quite keep the cold air out because the door doesn't close all the way. Then, of course, there is getting out of the shower, which usually involves drying off with a freezing, wet towel because I inevitably forgot to dry it in front of the heater the night before. Even at school, the teachers wear jackets to move between classes in the frigid hallways.
School itself has been alright. I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I was given an assistant at the elementary, and she translates everything for me between the other teachers and the students. It is heavenly. It has made my working life in that school 100% less stressful. Because there are two of us, we have ended up taking over all the classes, with her taking the place that normally the homeroom teacher would take. The result is that I more or less run all of the classes as the main teacher. It is not so bad because there are set lesson plans that I just have to follow. I love my assistant! I am really sad/scared because I talked to my friend, another JET, Bob, and he told me that our assistants will be leaving us in January.
Noooooooooooooooo!
More bad news, Hashiba-sensei informed me that the school board will be replacing all of the computers in mid-January... and ALTs no longer qualify for having their own computer. Really, it's almost worse news than losing my assistant. I very well might die from boredom. On a more serious note, it really irritates me; Japan is expanding their English education program, so they limit the resources of their English teachers? I'm sorry, can you say that again with a straight face?
Bitterness aside, I have to say again that I am so grateful for this job. I love it. I don't think I will ever not be an awkward panda when it comes to dealing with children/youth, but it is really not such a problem.
Speaking (belatedly) of the elementary, today was my last day of teacher classes for the year. Yay!
Back at home... things have been quiet this month. After my last concerts, plus Xmas presents, plus shipping said Xmas presents, I have less than no money to do anything, so I stay home. It's no so bad, as you read about my Santa adventures. I have not even had to do any cooking lately. The tea lady at my school gives me left overs from every school lunch. I combine that with what I don't eat of my lunch and bring it home for dinner. Instant free meal 4 nights a week. A good money saver and hella easy on me.
Typical School Lunch
Seeing how the weekend is coming up, however, I had to do some cooking to get me through Friday-Sunday. I will teach you the secret to all Japanese cooking: soy sauce, mirin, and sake. You put these three things on anything, and you have easy Japanese cooking. The reason I have not been posting food updates is because, when I do have to cook, that is usually just what I use. I buy whatever meat and vegetables are cheap and/or on sale, throw them in the frying pan, and stir fry in soy sauce, mirin, and sake. Sometimes adding a little sugar is a good idea too, but I usually forget. No matter what recipe I ask my Japanese friends/coworkers about, they always always tell me to cook whatever it is in these three ingredients. It's not fool-safe, but pretty damn close. I don't even measure the amounts anymore.
On the right you can see what I cooked for this weekend. It is beef slices, green beans, green onions, sweet potato, mushrooms, a little fried tofu, and some random lettucy-stuff that I got from the school garden. In soy sauce, mirin, and sake.
I did cook something a little exciting at the same time. I am not sure what it is actually called... I just call it hijiki, because that is the main ingredient, but it's a little like calling a salad merely lettuce. On the left you can see what I am talking about. Hijiki is a very short, very mild tasting seaweed. It has none of the fishy taste that most seaweed has. With it I cooked some sort of soft white bean, and a particular type of thinly sliced tofu that I can only say is fried, because I don't know the name. Cooked in -you guessed it!- soy sauce, mirin, and sake. It's really very good. I am actually missing some ingredients, but I made it based on memory from what I ate in my school lunch, so...
I was told by one of my English teaachers that I was a "fantastic American" because I like hijiki. That made me laugh. Hijiki is nothing. If you can eat natto (I cannot!!), then I think you qualify as "fantastic" (or at least olfactory and taste-bud deprived).
Cheers,
cold Baer
Monday, December 14, 2009
Santa Comes Early
This last weekend, I had the chance to be Santa Clause.
One of Masa's students - Masa is Yuki's boyfriend and owner of a small English school - was having a Christmas party, and the parents wanted a Santa to come and surprise the kids. Masa was busy, so he asked me to do it, and I gladly agreed.
Last Wednesday, Yuki brought over the costume for me to try on. Predictably, I was nowhere near fat enough to pull off a real Santa, so we improvised. Using the ties for my yukata, I tied a huge pillow around my torso. This looked pretty good, but left me a little lopsided, so I took my Rilakkuma pillow and stuffed it down the back of my pants to give me a big butt. Perfect! One poorly attached beard and some fake eyebrows and I was ready for the show.
The actual party was on Saturday. That morning, I practiced my Santa voice in the shower - the acoustics are good for something other than singing, it turns out. I used the deepest voice I could muster and discovered that, with a little Sean Connery thrown in (he is an epitome of masculinity, after all), it was passable to the non-native ear.
We had some extra time on the way to the party, so when we saw a hill lit up with lights, we decided to stop. I threw on my beard and my swagger, and hammed it up the best I could. Yuki gave me some sleigh bells that I attached to my shoe, so that I jingled with every step I took. There were lots of kids walking around with their parents, and both children and adults alike turned and stared, exclaiming "Santa-san!". Christmas is actually popular here in its own way, but I don't think they have the exposure to fake Santa's that we do in the States. Thus, I think I made quite a spectacle of myself. One little girl, probably 4 years old, was staring at me with such huge little eyes, I had to turn and talk to her, asking if she had been a good little girl, etc. Yuki translated for me. Even some teenagers were following me around, taking pictures with their cell phones. I got quite a kick out of it, and would randomly start talking in a loud voice, such things as "Oh, I wish Rudolf could have come!" "That's a mighty nice tree!" "That castle is nice, but mine is a little bigger", etc. In truth, I could have said anything, recited my grocery list, and it would have had about the same effect, I think. Yuki was laughing so hard she could barely walk.
Afterward, we went to a private house to give presents to the children who couldn't come to the party because one of them was sick. They were older children, but seemed to like it a lot anyway. It was fun.Afterward, we went to Masa's school to pick him up for dinner. I took off my costume. I thought the "hidden Santa" was pretty funny, so I took a picture:
Cheers,
Santa Baer
Friday, December 4, 2009
Fridays
Ah, Fridays. I have mixed feelings about Fridays. While standard TGIF applies, this also happens to be the one day a week I go to my elementary. For a variety of reasons, the elementary is the part of my job I enjoy the least (to put it kindly). Chief among these is because I am at a serious lingual disadvantage. What if my supporter, who translates for me, to get sick and miss a day? I'd be left in the Japanese equivalent of lingual Siberia. I think the teachers have all quite given up on talking to me, even, perhaps, grown to dislike me a bit. I can only be paranoid as I listen to them chatter, eyeing them over my coffee as I hear my name battered about.
I have to say studying here is a very rewarding process. I have always found studying language to be exciting and rewarding but... actually living here? Everything is just so much more relevant. I once heard someone describe language learning as a process of "leveling up", as in a video game. This is so true. Even just a little bit of study and my ear perk, catching things I didn't catch a moment before. XP, baby (XP=experience points, for you non-geeks). It's almost absurd how excited I get when I stumble on an explanation for a word or grammar point that I hear literally a hundred times a day.
Today was the perfect example.
At the elementary, I don't generally bring my textbooks with me to study because.... it's annoying, and I don't have a real desk to actually store stuff. However, at the end of the day, I once again had a lot of time on my hands and nothing to do. This is made more awkward because one of the support teachers sits right next to me. He's a nice fellow from as far as I can tell, but we sit less than a foot apart, sharing one desk and neither of us really speaks the other's language (any of them)... so, we have thus far mostly ignored each other out of awkwardness.
Today, he saw me practically stabbing myself through the eye with bordom and offered an olive branch. It was pretty freakin' awkward, I'll give you that, because I simply couldn't think of what to say, but it was a legitimate attempt at friendliness that I could not afford to miss out on. So, when he left for a moment, I whipped my mini dictionary out of my purse and started looking up words. lol. When he returned I expertly (pfffft) offered him a compliment on his excellent study of Japanese (he is Brazilian) which he blushingly denied. Aww. In return, he pulled out his sketchbook and let me look through it. I recognized many of the characters from the popular manga Slam Dunk, which I have never read.
Such moments remind me why struggling with textbooks is worth it.
Cheers,
super-suave Baer
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
JETs Agree: Kabocha is NOT pumpkin
Last Friday we had a seminar in Maebashi. It was riveting, as usual. However, the real excitement was afterward, when a big group of JETs got together for a belated Thanksgiving. I don't have too much to say. It was not bad. We had turkey (though it was dry), stuffing (though it tasted weird), mashed potatoes (perfect!), gravy, cranberry sauce (I don't eat these things...), so it was pretty legit. I don't think I was the only one, however, who was really holding out for pumpkin pie. That was, unfortunately, quite a disappointment. I don't think anyone gave the cook an actual pumpkin pie recipe so... we had kabocha/squash pie, not really resembling pumpkin pie in any way, shape, or form. I think that if they had had a real recipe, enough cinnamon and ginger could have made kabocha taste more like pumpkin but... c'est la vie. I am just glad I had my own pumpkin pie at home.
(Being dorky and enjoying our pie)
Cheers,
okay-I-think-I've-had-enough-pumpkin-pie-now Baer
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Listen
This conversation is actually from a long time ago, right before V-Rock Festival (I had it saved in a different journal), but it is related to what I was feeling tonight:
They sort of laughed in that knowing way that I've come to recognize as polite, amused, derision for my love of visual kei.
So I asked them, "I have noticed that many Japanese don't have a good impression of VK."
Another derisive laugh.
Me: "You don't like it?"
Teacher: "I think it is.. a little strange."
Me: "Ah, yes. Their outfit are a bit unusual, but I think it just adds to the music-"
Teacher: "So you consider them musician, then?" Very direct.
OMG, this comment just shocked me to silence for a moment.
Me: "Of course!! I wouldn't care about them if I didn't like their music!"
Teacher: "Oh, really? They actually play good music?"
Me: "Yes!! Musicians?! Yoshiki is the most famous musician in Japan!"
Teacher: "Oh, well, yes, Yoshiki is good. He's good.."
Me: "He's the father of visual kei!!" <--- complete disbelief that is conversation is happening.
I'm still reeling. Is that what Japanese people really think? That they are all just a bunch of overpaid crossdressers? The prejudice is just overwhelming. This was actually the first time (not this conversation, but the subject in general) I have come in contact with the rather infamous prejudices of the Japanese... to have it be against something I love so dearly (hello, a MAJOR reason for my interest in Japan!) really rather crushed me like a burnt piece of paper.
Anyway, I think of this conversation often (b/c even close Japanese friends of mine, while being polite, cannot help suppress a laugh when asking me how my concerts went). Like this evening, I was getting depressed thinking about Christmas again, wondering what I was gonna do... and Miyavi pops onto my iTunes singing a soft acoustic song, and it was like... the equivalent of a family member suddenly calling me just when I need to hear a friendly voice. I wish I could impart that feeling to my Japanese friends. It is part of their own culture, after all.
Anyway, this is what came up on my iTunes. you should listen to it. maybe you'll know how I felt.
Found at: http://www.filestube.com
Found at: http://www.filestube.com
Cheers,
382 Baer
Happy Thanksgiving!
Yay, my 2nd favorite holiday after Halloween!
To celebrate, and educate my sadly unacquainted-with-Thanksgiving co-workers, I decided to make pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, is something I only began to crave once I started living abroad. First, in Russian, where I convinced our program director to throw a make-a-pumpkin-pie party, and now here, struggling with a little tiny oven. They are just such American foods, living abroad brings it out in me.
So, my first attempt was actually last Friday. My mother sent me my Grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe, and I had 3 cans of American pumpkin from when she visited me. I know what you are thinking: "Lindsay, you couldn't even manage to bake cookies without burning them, how the heck are you gonna make a pie?" Well, I would be shocked and offended at your doubt in me, but since it is true, I can forgive you. As it turns out, before I started baking the pies I figured out why I ended up with burned outside/mushy inside cookies. It had never occur ed to me before that moment that my oven was actually set in Celcius... a minor culture shock error, except that it had me cooking cookies at about 464 degrees Fahreinheit. Oops.
To the right, you can see my first pumpkin pie (ever!). Sorry, I
didn't think to get a picture of it until after I had taste-tested it. Yum. Actually, because I only have a convection oven, it was really more of a pumpkin-tart. Each one is only about 8 inches in diameter in a tart tray. But the intention was pie, so that is what I am going to call it. Anyway, I saved half for myself and gave the other half to Yuki. On Saturday, I made another pie and gave it to my supervisor, Sakazume-sensei. I am really on a quest to prove that American pumpkin and Japanese Kabocha are not the same thing. What are they more likely to believe than their own taste buds?
I discovered that because my pies were so small, the recipe I had actually made 3 pies worth of filling, and 2 pies worth of crust. I suddenly had a great deal more pumpkin than I thought I had. The only annoyance was buying butter. Butter is expensive! To buy a 200g pack (2 sticks) is about $4.50! Each recipe calls for 1 whole stick of butter (so, half a stick of butter in each of my mini-pies). I was able to find some cheaper butter later, but still, I ended up spending about $12 on butter! I asked Yuki about this and she said that the government actually had requested that only a small amount of butter be produced (because it is unhealthy, I imagine). She said, even a couple months ago, you would have been hard pressed to find even a single stick of butter. Unbelievable. A country that loves deep fried food almost as much as Texas, and they are afraid of butter. Huff.
Anyway, ignoring my rapidly lightening wallet, I had plenty of supplies to make lots of pumpkin pie. So I did! Last night I made 5 pumpkin pies! Actually, I even still have enough filling and crust to make 1 more, but I was so damn tired (not from cooking, just in general) that I opted for bed instead.
Thanks to my efforts, I had 4 lovely pumpkin pies to take with me to school today for my teachers. Aren't they beautiful!
To celebrate, and educate my sadly unacquainted-with-Thanksgiving co-workers, I decided to make pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, is something I only began to crave once I started living abroad. First, in Russian, where I convinced our program director to throw a make-a-pumpkin-pie party, and now here, struggling with a little tiny oven. They are just such American foods, living abroad brings it out in me.
So, my first attempt was actually last Friday. My mother sent me my Grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe, and I had 3 cans of American pumpkin from when she visited me. I know what you are thinking: "Lindsay, you couldn't even manage to bake cookies without burning them, how the heck are you gonna make a pie?" Well, I would be shocked and offended at your doubt in me, but since it is true, I can forgive you. As it turns out, before I started baking the pies I figured out why I ended up with burned outside/mushy inside cookies. It had never occur ed to me before that moment that my oven was actually set in Celcius... a minor culture shock error, except that it had me cooking cookies at about 464 degrees Fahreinheit. Oops.
To the right, you can see my first pumpkin pie (ever!). Sorry, I
didn't think to get a picture of it until after I had taste-tested it. Yum. Actually, because I only have a convection oven, it was really more of a pumpkin-tart. Each one is only about 8 inches in diameter in a tart tray. But the intention was pie, so that is what I am going to call it. Anyway, I saved half for myself and gave the other half to Yuki. On Saturday, I made another pie and gave it to my supervisor, Sakazume-sensei. I am really on a quest to prove that American pumpkin and Japanese Kabocha are not the same thing. What are they more likely to believe than their own taste buds?I discovered that because my pies were so small, the recipe I had actually made 3 pies worth of filling, and 2 pies worth of crust. I suddenly had a great deal more pumpkin than I thought I had. The only annoyance was buying butter. Butter is expensive! To buy a 200g pack (2 sticks) is about $4.50! Each recipe calls for 1 whole stick of butter (so, half a stick of butter in each of my mini-pies). I was able to find some cheaper butter later, but still, I ended up spending about $12 on butter! I asked Yuki about this and she said that the government actually had requested that only a small amount of butter be produced (because it is unhealthy, I imagine). She said, even a couple months ago, you would have been hard pressed to find even a single stick of butter. Unbelievable. A country that loves deep fried food almost as much as Texas, and they are afraid of butter. Huff.
Anyway, ignoring my rapidly lightening wallet, I had plenty of supplies to make lots of pumpkin pie. So I did! Last night I made 5 pumpkin pies! Actually, I even still have enough filling and crust to make 1 more, but I was so damn tired (not from cooking, just in general) that I opted for bed instead.
Thanks to my efforts, I had 4 lovely pumpkin pies to take with me to school today for my teachers. Aren't they beautiful!
Hashiba-sensei is always remarking, after I have told her about my latest kitchen-adventure, on how much I like to cook. Somehow, I feel like this is not quite accurate. My mother likes to cook. I just like to eat. and I like to surprise people with unexpected gifts. Cooking just sort of becomes a necessity, doesn't it? Does the fact that you like to be clean mean you love taking showers? or that you just don't want to be a one-man island on the subway. You decide.
In the meantime, I'm gonna have some pie. mmm pie.Cheers,
pumpkin Baer
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Apartment Life
I know I am long overdue on posting pictures of my apartment. My apologies. However, there are some things about living here that don't show up in pictures. Just little things. First there is the man that lives... somewhere.. near me, who likes to sing. I don't know what it is he sings, but the wobbly old man voice makes me think he is a fan of enka (look it up on YouTube). He only sings at night and only for a relatively short period of time. It occurred to me that he might be a singing-in-the-shower kind of guy. I wonder if he knows all of his neighbors are in his shower with him.
When my evening soundtrack is not old-man warbling, there's also the cat fights. First time I heard the cats in neighborhood crying, I thought it was one seriously upset (human) baby. Except it just kept going on and on, one continues painful wail, and I was wondering, why the heck nobody was taking care of this baby? The animal finally had a catch in its breath long enough for me to identify it. Gods, I've never heard a cat make a sound like that. It really sounded human. Now it is not so much the crying I hear, but occasional cat fights. I've never heard a cat fight before either, but man... there must be some seriously unhappy cats living in this neighborhood. Their bark must be bigger than their bite or there would be nothing left.
Winter is starting to sneak up on us. In the interest of keeping costs down as much as possible, I have resisted using my heaters. However, now that it is consistently 52 degrees in my apartment every evening, I have given in somewhat. I pamper myself with a little space heater in the living room, where I spend most of my time. It heats the small room up to about 65 or so, which is just fine for me. However, going to sleep and getting up in the morning is still a painfully chilly dash, as I don't put the heater in there. I have a big fluffy down comforter that, with some socks on, keeps me warm. A month ago I laughed at my friend Mark, who is from London, for searching for a hot water bottle. We had a long discussion on the differences between American and British conveniences (did you know they don't use pot holders?). I'm not laughing anymore. I think I will put it on my shopping list for next time I go to the mall.
It seems like this month has flown by. I was just at the hyaku-en shop ($ store) tonight and saw that they have quite a bit of Christmas stuff out. I even found some icicle lights (for 100 yen!) ! I want to get some blue ones and hang them along the wall of my little living room. It will be kind of like my freshman year of college, lol.
I can't believe we are almost to December. I am really starting to get bummed about Christmas. Even if the religious significance is lost to me, it is still a pretty deeply ingrained holiday/tradition. The idea of getting up on Christmas morning, ALONE with NO tree, NO stocking, NO presents, NO cinnamon rolls... and then having to go to WORK! Ugh. I haven't had any homesickness at all since I have been here, but I think I am going to be really depressed on December 25th. Send me some love, ok? I think I will make some little gifts of some kind to take to work with me, give myself something nice to focus on/look forward to.
In the mean time, Thanksgiving is almost here. I am attempting to make some pumpkin pie with the canned pumpkin my mother was kind enough to bring me. There actually IS a Thanksgiving party for JETs next Friday (so I will actually be celebrating the same day as all of you back home! ha ha) so, fortunately, it is one holiday I wont have to miss out on.
I'm gonna go fight my not-so-easy-bake oven now.
Cheers,
just Baer
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Kaleideoscope /Kaya concert
I haven't written a blog in a while, so, if you are interested, I wrote about my concert experience last Saturday in Tokyo. I went to Tokyo solely for the purpose of seeing this concert, and headed home the same day.
The show was held at the Ruido K3. This was actually my first concert in Japan, not counting V-Rock Fest, so I had no clue about the venue, setup, crowd, anything. When I arrived, I was shocked to the see how small the building was. It was no longer strange to me that it didn't show up on Google Maps. There was a very small crowd of about 65 nicely dresses, mostly lolita-style, girls standing around outside, (I was defiantly the only foreigner) so I knew it was the right place. A staffer guy started calling out ticket numbers, which was a surprise to me. I knew my ticket had a number, but I thought it was all standing room. To facilitate an orderly entry once the doors opened, the staffer lined us up more or less in numerical order. Except, the entry was in the basement and the building was so small, we lined up by winding around the stairs going up the inside of the building.
After the doors opened, we slowly wound ourselves down into the basement. I was really shocked (again) to see how small the room was were the concert would be held. They had filled the standing room with folding chairs, which explained the ticket numbers, but I am pretty sure we could have held the concert in my 1LK apartment. Honestly, I was thrilled to see the arrangement. It guaranteed that no matter where you were, you had a good seat and could see Kaya and all the band members. I was super happy to get to sit down for the next hour and half as well.
The band members came out first, took up their places and, minus Kaya, began to play. I liked it immediately. It was a jazzy sort of rock/pop that I could tell immediately would suit Kaya to a T. Even without Kaya, I would have gone to see this band play, as they were quite good, and quite fun to watch. I thought the Bassist, Shingo, was particularly cute, as he was clearly having fun; he kept sticking his tongue out and would sometimes silently mouth the sound of the other instruments (which cracked me up).
After the first song, the band paused, and Kaya blew onto the stage. He was dressed in platform boots, a black high-waisted pants, a white shirt, a short black jacket with looong coat tails, and a short white wig. I was a little disappointed he didn't just stick with his natural hair. The wig was definitely a little weird, and I know he looks gorgeous as just himself... ah, but anyway, he was very quiet, reserved, did a simple little bow, and sat down.
The first couple of songs were the same jazzy stuff that the band had been playing as a warm up. It was not very fast paced, just easy, relaxing. Kaya sounded even better with them than I could have imagined. From the first time I heard his music, my fantasy of him has always been to have him sing at private jazz club/restaurant, without big crowds and where one could dance. My fantasy was somewhat fulfilled; I think, if he ever did such a thing, this is what it would sound like. I wanted to sit there and listen to them forever.
However, after the first couple of songs, the lights came up and so did the band members. Kaya, Shingo, and... the guitarist (he was cute too! I just.. can't.. remember his name...) had all been sitting down, but they popped up and suddenly the mood changed. Kaya laughed and started talking. I have no idea what he said after "Good evening!" so don't ask me. They started playing without much talking, but it was a faster pace, not as mellow, though it still had that jazzy edge to it. After they played for a bit, Kaya whisked away off stage while the band kept playing. I assumed he had gone to change his clothes. The band played a full song, and when Kaya had still not reappeared, they continued into a... rotating solo. Shingo went first, the spotlight shinning down on him as he showed off with his bass. The guitarist went next, then the pianist, then the drummer. They did this about 5 times until Kaya swept back on stage again. He had indeed changed his clothes, now a blouse and skirt. As the girls next to me burst into a quiet round of "Kawaii~!", Kaya summed up the transformation himself: "I'm a princess!" He then apologized (I think... don't quote me on the translation!) for taking so long because he couldn't get his clothes on! Everyone laughed at both comments.
The fast paced music continued for the rest of the show. They did pause for about 15 minutes to do a "Talk Show Corner", where Kaya read from cards collected from the audience. I could only read the second half of the question on my card, so I didn't fill it out; I think it was asking where we wanted to go with the Kaya Express, but again, don't quote me. I grew a bit bored from not being able to understand. Watching Shingo was fun though; at one point, he was too busy checking himself out in mirror and fixing his clothes, that he didn't even hear Kaya ask him a question, which he got teased mercilessly for.
I floated out of that venue on a cloud. It was such a good show on every possible level. The band was amazing, Kaya was amazing, and venue was perfect, and even the sound was great. I was really sad that I hadn't bought a ticket for the 2nd show of the night, but I did have to make the last train home so... till next time Kaya.
I have two more concerts in Tokyo this weekend, ha ha. I don't think they will be as amazing (the venue is much bigger) but I will let you know!Cheers,
musical Baer(s)
Monday, November 2, 2009
Twizzlers, oh so good for you~
Happy (belated) Halloween!
I love Halloween. I do. It's so much fun and not religious, so I don't even have to feel guilty about enjoying it.
Thus, it was a little disheartening to see such a lack of proper enthusiasm from my fellow residents! My neighbor, Yuki, who speaks English, invited me to a Halloween party at a nearby English school. She told me not to dress up though... so I just wore a colorful tie in effort to be a little different. Walking around Ota, you'd never guess there was anything unusual about this Saturday, that it was a Saturday like any other. It drove me crazy! I wanted to yell to the people on the street, "It's Halloween! Why aren't you dressed up?!" Yuki just laughed at me.
The English school was really small and yet the amount of people at the party could not have filled even one room. It was a little awkward, to say the least. There was a mix of ALTs from all over and Japanese people interested in English. The absolute best part of the party was... one of the Japanese women there had been given Twizzlers as a gift from an ALT, but hated them. When she discovered that I liked licorice, she perked up and immediately said, "Wait here, I'll go home and get them for you!" We all just sort of stared as she ran out the door... she was really eager to get rid of those Twizzlers!
When she came back and gave them to me, I was feeling a bit mischievous and looking for something to cut the boredom. So, naturally, I offered some "great American candy" to the Japanese people around me. I cannot even tell you.. how amusing it was to watch their reaction, from the moment they pulled a single strip from the package and watched it sort of flop in their grasp. 'Seriously skeptical' would be an understatement. However, good manners won out over suspicion, and they all gamely took that first bite. Gods, their expression! After chewing for just a moment, they looked over at each other and asked, in Japanese, "What is this?" over and over, like they simply couldn't understand. "This is plastic./Is this plastic?" or "is this really edible?" was the standard response, accompanied by a pain expression as they chewed. Yet, even as they have this look on their face like they are eating poison, they look over and me and nod, "Oh yes, very good. Delicious." I was laughing my ass off. Even for the sake of being polite and maintaining harmony, they simply could not contain their disgust for this so called "candy." One woman even suggested that it might be a candle. lol. They asked me if it was really candy. I told them it was actually quite popular in America, and they didn't believe me!
Thus, for every unsuspecting Japanese person I saw that night, I would innocently offer them some "very popular American candy," to which they would eagerly respond until they actually tried it. Then the response was universally the same as I described above. A few people actually said they didn't mind it, but I was not sure at all if they were just better at maintaining harmony in the face of great odds. lol.
I am SO buying Twizzlers to bring to the office. Mwahaha.
Cheers,
evil Baer
I love Halloween. I do. It's so much fun and not religious, so I don't even have to feel guilty about enjoying it.
Thus, it was a little disheartening to see such a lack of proper enthusiasm from my fellow residents! My neighbor, Yuki, who speaks English, invited me to a Halloween party at a nearby English school. She told me not to dress up though... so I just wore a colorful tie in effort to be a little different. Walking around Ota, you'd never guess there was anything unusual about this Saturday, that it was a Saturday like any other. It drove me crazy! I wanted to yell to the people on the street, "It's Halloween! Why aren't you dressed up?!" Yuki just laughed at me.
The English school was really small and yet the amount of people at the party could not have filled even one room. It was a little awkward, to say the least. There was a mix of ALTs from all over and Japanese people interested in English. The absolute best part of the party was... one of the Japanese women there had been given Twizzlers as a gift from an ALT, but hated them. When she discovered that I liked licorice, she perked up and immediately said, "Wait here, I'll go home and get them for you!" We all just sort of stared as she ran out the door... she was really eager to get rid of those Twizzlers!
When she came back and gave them to me, I was feeling a bit mischievous and looking for something to cut the boredom. So, naturally, I offered some "great American candy" to the Japanese people around me. I cannot even tell you.. how amusing it was to watch their reaction, from the moment they pulled a single strip from the package and watched it sort of flop in their grasp. 'Seriously skeptical' would be an understatement. However, good manners won out over suspicion, and they all gamely took that first bite. Gods, their expression! After chewing for just a moment, they looked over at each other and asked, in Japanese, "What is this?" over and over, like they simply couldn't understand. "This is plastic./Is this plastic?" or "is this really edible?" was the standard response, accompanied by a pain expression as they chewed. Yet, even as they have this look on their face like they are eating poison, they look over and me and nod, "Oh yes, very good. Delicious." I was laughing my ass off. Even for the sake of being polite and maintaining harmony, they simply could not contain their disgust for this so called "candy." One woman even suggested that it might be a candle. lol. They asked me if it was really candy. I told them it was actually quite popular in America, and they didn't believe me!
Thus, for every unsuspecting Japanese person I saw that night, I would innocently offer them some "very popular American candy," to which they would eagerly respond until they actually tried it. Then the response was universally the same as I described above. A few people actually said they didn't mind it, but I was not sure at all if they were just better at maintaining harmony in the face of great odds. lol.
I am SO buying Twizzlers to bring to the office. Mwahaha.
Cheers,
evil Baer
Sunday, November 1, 2009
JRock is good for the soul
I am late in my report, as usual, but before too much more time passes, I wanted to tell you what a did the weekend before last.
On Saturday, Chingyi and I headed into Tokyo. As usual, it was right after payday, so I was guaranteed to be poor for the rest of the month. However, I'd been looking forward to this weekend for a month, so I was sure it would be worth it.
First we went to a somewhat last-minute concert for a band that Chingyi likes and that I have never heard of, Monkey Majik. What was funny about them was that the band was made up of two Japanese guys and two Canadian guys. The Canadian guys sang all the songs in Japanese though, and, as it turns out, were former ALTs. It was a pretty small concert, held at the Canadian Embassy, and I think we might have been the only foreigners there. What really cracked me up was that, if the band members wanted to confer privately (say, about the next song) all they had to do was switch briefly to English and they were instantly alone.
We puttered around Tokyo for the rest of the day, primarily Harajuku (my heaven/haven). Unfortunately, as soon as we left the concert, it started to rain! Rain! I was so unhappy about this. Raining on my Tokyo day. Not to mention, raining on my nice dress!! Irk. We hid in Laforet for a while, looking around at all the nice clothes and trying desperately not to buy anything. I did end up getting a coat, a nice long white one that Chingyi says makes me look like a Russian princess. I was sure happy to have it though, because the rain did not let up for the rest of the weekend. We were even forced to buy an umbrella, a super stylish $6 one that I would end up losing later that weekend.
As a weekend of many firsts, it was, firstly, the first time we ever got lost in Tokyo. We had been good little girls and left Harajuku with plenty of time to get some rest at our hotel before the evenings activities, however, we did not anticipate how much difficulty we would have finding it. We probably walked for 1/2 hour before I determined we were definitely lost. We caught a cab in effort to save time and energy, but the cabby ended up being an idiot who could not even find a MAJOR department store, letting us off in the WRONG place, and forcing us to go down into the subway before we could find the correct route to the hotel. $9 just to get us more lost. thanks a ton.
That night we went to a party in Tokyo, called Tokyo Decadance. This is a party where every crazy Tokyo fashion you have ever seen or heard about, come together. It was quite amazing to see. I didn't get any pictures, because I didn't want to be rude, but it was fun. We saw the first couple performers, really unusual performers, but had to leave at 2am. I was really sad to leave... one of my favorite artists was supposed to perform later that, er, morning, probably closer to 5am. However, I had to wake up at 5am so... I've never had that kind of stamina, unfortunately. 3 hours of sleep already had me feeling like death the next morning.
So, yes, the next morning I went to Chiba, the next prefecture over, for the 2nd day of the V-Rock Festival, a huge event held at Makuhari Messe, where about 50 visual rock artists came together to perform. Snow told me later that she had seen on TV that 30,000 people went to this festival over 2 days. Amazing! I saw 3 of my favorite artists, including Versailles. It was so nice to see Versailles. They are absolutely my most favorite band to see live. They had some random fellow wearing all black, standing towards the back of the stage playing bass in place of Jasmine You (I wrote earlier about how he died recently), which was sad to see... They had Jasmine You's guitar there though, and held it up during introductions, as if to say "He's still a part of us." It made me happy to see them together.
So, a pretty busy weekend! I took the next day off, which was good, because I needed it just to recover. Already, though, I am buying tickets to other concerts soon, and even planning to see Versailles again in January. Not soon enough, I think.
Cheers,
VK Baer
On Saturday, Chingyi and I headed into Tokyo. As usual, it was right after payday, so I was guaranteed to be poor for the rest of the month. However, I'd been looking forward to this weekend for a month, so I was sure it would be worth it.
First we went to a somewhat last-minute concert for a band that Chingyi likes and that I have never heard of, Monkey Majik. What was funny about them was that the band was made up of two Japanese guys and two Canadian guys. The Canadian guys sang all the songs in Japanese though, and, as it turns out, were former ALTs. It was a pretty small concert, held at the Canadian Embassy, and I think we might have been the only foreigners there. What really cracked me up was that, if the band members wanted to confer privately (say, about the next song) all they had to do was switch briefly to English and they were instantly alone.
We puttered around Tokyo for the rest of the day, primarily Harajuku (my heaven/haven). Unfortunately, as soon as we left the concert, it started to rain! Rain! I was so unhappy about this. Raining on my Tokyo day. Not to mention, raining on my nice dress!! Irk. We hid in Laforet for a while, looking around at all the nice clothes and trying desperately not to buy anything. I did end up getting a coat, a nice long white one that Chingyi says makes me look like a Russian princess. I was sure happy to have it though, because the rain did not let up for the rest of the weekend. We were even forced to buy an umbrella, a super stylish $6 one that I would end up losing later that weekend.
As a weekend of many firsts, it was, firstly, the first time we ever got lost in Tokyo. We had been good little girls and left Harajuku with plenty of time to get some rest at our hotel before the evenings activities, however, we did not anticipate how much difficulty we would have finding it. We probably walked for 1/2 hour before I determined we were definitely lost. We caught a cab in effort to save time and energy, but the cabby ended up being an idiot who could not even find a MAJOR department store, letting us off in the WRONG place, and forcing us to go down into the subway before we could find the correct route to the hotel. $9 just to get us more lost. thanks a ton.
That night we went to a party in Tokyo, called Tokyo Decadance. This is a party where every crazy Tokyo fashion you have ever seen or heard about, come together. It was quite amazing to see. I didn't get any pictures, because I didn't want to be rude, but it was fun. We saw the first couple performers, really unusual performers, but had to leave at 2am. I was really sad to leave... one of my favorite artists was supposed to perform later that, er, morning, probably closer to 5am. However, I had to wake up at 5am so... I've never had that kind of stamina, unfortunately. 3 hours of sleep already had me feeling like death the next morning.
So, yes, the next morning I went to Chiba, the next prefecture over, for the 2nd day of the V-Rock Festival, a huge event held at Makuhari Messe, where about 50 visual rock artists came together to perform. Snow told me later that she had seen on TV that 30,000 people went to this festival over 2 days. Amazing! I saw 3 of my favorite artists, including Versailles. It was so nice to see Versailles. They are absolutely my most favorite band to see live. They had some random fellow wearing all black, standing towards the back of the stage playing bass in place of Jasmine You (I wrote earlier about how he died recently), which was sad to see... They had Jasmine You's guitar there though, and held it up during introductions, as if to say "He's still a part of us." It made me happy to see them together.
So, a pretty busy weekend! I took the next day off, which was good, because I needed it just to recover. Already, though, I am buying tickets to other concerts soon, and even planning to see Versailles again in January. Not soon enough, I think.
Cheers,
VK Baer
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Happy Halloween! (almost)
Since this weekend is Halloween, I was requested to give some information in my first year classes. To make it a bit more fun and interesting, I also decided to wear a Halloween costume; my favorite Japanese character, Rilakkuma! Aren't I just the cutest thing? I think I look more like a hamster than a bear, lol.
It was pretty funny. I was just sitting at my desk after changing, being normal, except that... I am dressed as a big white bear. The principle comes out of his office and stands at the front of the teacher's room, surveying the room in silent contemplation...until his eyes comes to me, and suddenly he does a double take, and bursts out laughing. Every time a new teacher came into the room, this senario was repeated, with lots of wide-eyed staring it "Sugoi! Kawaii!...Nan desu ka?" (Wow! How cute!...um, what is it?) I got quite a kick out of it.
I only wore it to two classes, but it certainly livened things up! The girl students liked it especially.
I only wore it to two classes, but it certainly livened things up! The girl students liked it especially.
Cheers,
Rilakkuma Baer
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Let's Search for Tomoroooooow!
No theme this time, just some general comments.
First off, I just found out what the name of this show was, so excuse my excitement. I actually haven't turned on my TV since I got internet... but when I DID, every once and a while, this show would come on that was just the funniest thing; Otomen Shojo Manga. Even though it was completely in Japanese, I got the storyline somewhat and found it quite funny. It's about this guy (or guys?) who is, on the one hand, a manly (though beautiful) kendo player, but also has a secret love for girly-manga/comic books. It's so cute, go figure I just found out that it is a live-action adaption of a manga. Too bad the TV series is so new, I would buy it to watch even in Japanese.
A more reality based comment... the junior high school students are practicing for a singing contest tomorrow. (This contest has had them miss a number of classes since it, like pretty much everything else, is more important than English). As I sit here at my desk, I can hear them practicing in the music room. What drives me CRAZY is... they sing this song "Let's Search for Tomorrow" (those being the only words in English in the song) but instead of saying 'to-morrow' they say it 'tomo-rrow', so that, before I knew what they were actually saying, I thought it was a song about some person name 'Tomorow'.
Maybe it is just a bit irrational, but it reaaally grates on my nerves. I feel like busting in there, throwing up my hands and yelling "STOP! Sing it THIS way.."
...
What can I say? I never knew I had such an attachment to 'tomorrow'.
dork Baer
First off, I just found out what the name of this show was, so excuse my excitement. I actually haven't turned on my TV since I got internet... but when I DID, every once and a while, this show would come on that was just the funniest thing; Otomen Shojo Manga. Even though it was completely in Japanese, I got the storyline somewhat and found it quite funny. It's about this guy (or guys?) who is, on the one hand, a manly (though beautiful) kendo player, but also has a secret love for girly-manga/comic books. It's so cute, go figure I just found out that it is a live-action adaption of a manga. Too bad the TV series is so new, I would buy it to watch even in Japanese.
A more reality based comment... the junior high school students are practicing for a singing contest tomorrow. (This contest has had them miss a number of classes since it, like pretty much everything else, is more important than English). As I sit here at my desk, I can hear them practicing in the music room. What drives me CRAZY is... they sing this song "Let's Search for Tomorrow" (those being the only words in English in the song) but instead of saying 'to-morrow' they say it 'tomo-rrow', so that, before I knew what they were actually saying, I thought it was a song about some person name 'Tomorow'.
Maybe it is just a bit irrational, but it reaaally grates on my nerves. I feel like busting in there, throwing up my hands and yelling "STOP! Sing it THIS way.."
...
What can I say? I never knew I had such an attachment to 'tomorrow'.
dork Baer
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
I love food
I had to laugh when I read this article this morning on the New York Times website:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/earth/20trash.html
It's about the growing "fringe" movement of "no waste" - efficient recycling- in the USA.
I laugh because Japan is so far ahead of the US on this matter that after being here for two months, reading this article is sort of like reading "US beginning to widely consider the revolutionary idea of the world as being round!
...
and I hear crickets in the background. lol.
Anyway, that is not really what this post is about! It's about my favorite subject: food!
I haven't shared my cooking with you in a while. Actually, for about a week, I got lazy and didn't cook at all. I've discovered the not-so-secret evil of living alone; while I don't mind, and even enjoy, cooking, and I don't mind doing the dishes, I hate doing both. So, sometimes the prospect of this eats away at my motivation. Pretty typical [of single life], I imagine.
Anyway... on to the food!
This delightful looking stuff was actually an experiment from a month ago:
I know what you're thinking: "Lindsay, that looks like something you scooped out of the bay." Well, you wouldn't be far wrong! It's seaweed, but don't ask me to tell you what kind, cause I have no clue. Hashiba-sensei told me that seaweed is good and can be used to make a green salad of sorts, so I decided to try it.... however, after soaking it in water (it comes dehydrated in small packets), it was soft but so strong I couldnt even cut it with a knife. I gnawed away at some of it for a while... it didn't have a bad taste, but... yeah...
The meal you see to the right, I actually finished eating last week, so it was very recent. Mmmm, this is definitely one of my winning recipes. It was... beef chunks, onions, potatoes, edamame, in garlic in sake, mirin, and soy sauce. I modified the recipe a bit, but it was so good! Yum. The potatoes were actually a gift from Snow.
I don't have a pictures, but last weeend was the first weekend I made pancakes! Yum. They made me nostalgic for the nearly weekly trips that my roommate, Nicole, and I used to take in college to the local diner for pancakes, on the weekend. I miss doing that. One problem though- Japan does not have Aunt Jemima's! I had bought some fake syrup, but it still tasted like maple syrup (yuck) so have to eat them plain.. bleh.
So the next night, last night, I took what I had left of the red bean and recooked it, adding water and sugar... and when it was still not smooth enough for me, I chucked it in the blender! What a moment of brilliance that was! The paste was smooth and sweet! Delicious! I even had some mochi gome (sticky rice) left over from my predecessor, so I was able to make the correct kind of rice. Actually, for Ohagi, you don't have to mash the rice, but I thought it tasted better, so I did it. So difficult!! Really exhausting.
To the right you can see the different stages of production: bowl of mashed rice, bowl of red bean paste, spread paste into a circle on Saran wrap with a rice ball in the middle, roll it up, and you have = ohagi.
Really, not cooking for the faint of heart. I only made about 10 balls and I was quite ready to be done. They turned out pretty well though. I brought a few to school again, and actually got a little mini round of applause. lol. I feel bad I didn't bring more for everyone but... it is just too much damn work!
Man, here I am talking about food and I'm starving...
Cheers,
chef Baer
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/earth/20trash.html
It's about the growing "fringe" movement of "no waste" - efficient recycling- in the USA.
I laugh because Japan is so far ahead of the US on this matter that after being here for two months, reading this article is sort of like reading "US beginning to widely consider the revolutionary idea of the world as being round!
...
and I hear crickets in the background. lol.
Anyway, that is not really what this post is about! It's about my favorite subject: food!
I haven't shared my cooking with you in a while. Actually, for about a week, I got lazy and didn't cook at all. I've discovered the not-so-secret evil of living alone; while I don't mind, and even enjoy, cooking, and I don't mind doing the dishes, I hate doing both. So, sometimes the prospect of this eats away at my motivation. Pretty typical [of single life], I imagine.
Anyway... on to the food!
This delightful looking stuff was actually an experiment from a month ago:
I know what you're thinking: "Lindsay, that looks like something you scooped out of the bay." Well, you wouldn't be far wrong! It's seaweed, but don't ask me to tell you what kind, cause I have no clue. Hashiba-sensei told me that seaweed is good and can be used to make a green salad of sorts, so I decided to try it.... however, after soaking it in water (it comes dehydrated in small packets), it was soft but so strong I couldnt even cut it with a knife. I gnawed away at some of it for a while... it didn't have a bad taste, but... yeah...
More recently, I made the chicken rolls you see to the left. As usual, I was following a recipe, but it did not work out like it was supposed to... As you can see, my chicken was not quite big enough to fully wrap around the chives and asparagus... however, with some mustard, it tasted simple, but quite good. Maybe I will just skip the rolling next time.
The meal you see to the right, I actually finished eating last week, so it was very recent. Mmmm, this is definitely one of my winning recipes. It was... beef chunks, onions, potatoes, edamame, in garlic in sake, mirin, and soy sauce. I modified the recipe a bit, but it was so good! Yum. The potatoes were actually a gift from Snow.I don't have a pictures, but last weeend was the first weekend I made pancakes! Yum. They made me nostalgic for the nearly weekly trips that my roommate, Nicole, and I used to take in college to the local diner for pancakes, on the weekend. I miss doing that. One problem though- Japan does not have Aunt Jemima's! I had bought some fake syrup, but it still tasted like maple syrup (yuck) so have to eat them plain.. bleh.
My next experiment was definitely a challenge I set for myself. I wanted to make Ohagi, sticky rice balls coated in red bean paste. I love red bean! I was kind of hoping I could buy the red bean paste already made but... that was a pipe dream. So I made them from scratch! My first attempt, I was trying to follow the recipe pretty closely and.. they didn't really work out the way I wanted. As you may or may not be able to tell from the picture on the left, the paste ended up being lumpy. Also, the recipe didn't say anything about using special rice, so I just used regular Japanese rice... which is WRONG. In addition, it (the red bean) was not sweet enough... I brought some for my closest teachers yesterday, and Hashiba-sensei said that is was good.. but the rice needed work.
So the next night, last night, I took what I had left of the red bean and recooked it, adding water and sugar... and when it was still not smooth enough for me, I chucked it in the blender! What a moment of brilliance that was! The paste was smooth and sweet! Delicious! I even had some mochi gome (sticky rice) left over from my predecessor, so I was able to make the correct kind of rice. Actually, for Ohagi, you don't have to mash the rice, but I thought it tasted better, so I did it. So difficult!! Really exhausting.To the right you can see the different stages of production: bowl of mashed rice, bowl of red bean paste, spread paste into a circle on Saran wrap with a rice ball in the middle, roll it up, and you have = ohagi.
Really, not cooking for the faint of heart. I only made about 10 balls and I was quite ready to be done. They turned out pretty well though. I brought a few to school again, and actually got a little mini round of applause. lol. I feel bad I didn't bring more for everyone but... it is just too much damn work!
Man, here I am talking about food and I'm starving...
Cheers,
chef Baer
Friday, October 16, 2009
Waterfalls
You might think that the title of this journal entry is intended to be a metaphor.
Let me tell you.
It's not.
Last weekend, I did something a little crazy. I went canyoning. Not to be confused with canoeing, canyoning involves sliding down a freezing cold river and jumping off waterfalls - with no other protection than a helmet and wetsuit.
Did I mention I am afraid of heights? I didn't really predict this to be a problem, but only because I don't think I ever really THOUGHT about what I was going to do before I did it. Nothing like a 20 meter free fall to bring about reality!
But I get ahead of myself.
I actually signed up for this event a month ago with little idea of what it was. It sounded exciting, so I signed up. Period. I took a train to Minakami, about 1 1/2 hours away, where I met up with 12 other Gunma ALTs, some JETs included. A bus took us to the base where we would get ready. We had two guides, both Australian, who took us around and gave us our wetsuits, with instructions on how to put them on ("This is a shirt. You know how to put on a shirt? Well first..." quite a funny-man). They warned us ahead of time that they were going to give us small wetsuits, to guarantee that we would be as warm as possible.
Despite this warning, I don't think any of us took the threat of the wetsuit quite seriously until we actually tried to get it on. It was like...trying to force yourself into a tire. I cannot even begin to express how difficult it was to put these things on. We literally all managed to get the first piece up to our thighs before we would have sworn on the life of our pet goldfishes that it was going to go no further. Talk about a team bonding experience, we were literally shoehorning each other into these blasted things. When we were not strong enough to help each other, we waddled out to the deck, where one of the guides would literally would pick us up by our pants.
...
Actually, I have to laugh just reliving that moment. Standing out on the desk, one slender muscular Australian guy watching, trying not to laugh, while another huge Australian guy is jerking me off my feet by my pants like it's a pillowcase and I'm a recalcitrant pillow.
Needless to say, we were all quite exhausted before we ever made it onto the river. The wetsuits were so thick and stiff that we literally had to waddle, penguin style, to walk easily; Effecting a normal gait was quite a workout.
We took another bus to the river. On the bank, out guides gave us instruction. Of course, we didn't quite expect him to suddenly say, "okay, everyone lay on your face." Although they had the slightly bored air of well-practiced professionals , there is no way they could not have been amused by our pitiful struggle to perform such a simple act. Soon, he had us rolling around on the ground, and we had been downgraded from penguins to beached whales. Affectionately (I like to imagine), our guide berated us for not being quite as quick as some touristing Marines had, the previous week.
Afterward, we took a picture ("possible the last!" he warned us with a laugh):
I am on the bottom right.
Next, we headed down the river:
The smile you see was strictly for the camera; it was preceded and follow by a look of abject fear. The guide and cameraman had to continually persuade me to move closer to the edge, I am not embarrassed to admit. I have no idea exactly how big the waterfall was, but at least a three story fall. One of the guides lowered us halfway, or so, sliding us down the vertical rockface by a rope. The water was intense and completely overwhelmed me, blinding me, blocking out everything else, and trying to push my body away from the wall. Then, the rope was released, and I plummeted the rest of the way down, crashing into the water below.
Fortunately, rubber floats. and I was wearing quite a lot of it. So, I was spared the trouble of swimming while initially trying to get my breath back.
The rest of the trip went similarly. We floated/swam along, going down small rocky inclines headfirst, feetfirst, and backwards headfirst as the occasion called for it. The water was so cold. Even with two inches of rubber on, some of my fellows had violently chattering teeth. We didn't see any more waterfalls as big as the first, none requiring ropes. Instead, on the next one, I slid off headfirst, got pulled into a whirlpool (loving called the "washing machine"), tugged out of the whirlpool, and made to shimmy between rockface and waterfall to escape. On this same waterfall, we were given the option to climb back up and go again. I have to tell you, wetsuits, or at least ours, made the absolute WORST climbing gear imaginable. What a workout! Not only fighting gravity, but the very movement of your arms and legs! Gods, it was exhausting. This time, at the top, we were told to jump off the cliff of the waterfall, rather than slide down the water. Waaaah, it was so much scarier to jump than it was to slide. Looking down, all you can see are the rocks, and it seems impossible that you will clear them and make it to the water.
It was at this point that I realized bungee jumping was probably not for me.
On the last waterfall, the smallest one, went down headfirst and backwards, reclining as one would watching Sunday morning cartoons, before slipping over the edge.
All and all, it was quite an experience! I was glad to have done it, but... don't think I will do it again. For one thing, it was quite a lot of money for a short period of time. Mostly though, I think I am just not an adrenaline junky. Next time, I want to try white-water rafting.
Cheers,
adventure Baer
Let me tell you.
It's not.
Last weekend, I did something a little crazy. I went canyoning. Not to be confused with canoeing, canyoning involves sliding down a freezing cold river and jumping off waterfalls - with no other protection than a helmet and wetsuit.
Did I mention I am afraid of heights? I didn't really predict this to be a problem, but only because I don't think I ever really THOUGHT about what I was going to do before I did it. Nothing like a 20 meter free fall to bring about reality!
But I get ahead of myself.
I actually signed up for this event a month ago with little idea of what it was. It sounded exciting, so I signed up. Period. I took a train to Minakami, about 1 1/2 hours away, where I met up with 12 other Gunma ALTs, some JETs included. A bus took us to the base where we would get ready. We had two guides, both Australian, who took us around and gave us our wetsuits, with instructions on how to put them on ("This is a shirt. You know how to put on a shirt? Well first..." quite a funny-man). They warned us ahead of time that they were going to give us small wetsuits, to guarantee that we would be as warm as possible.
Despite this warning, I don't think any of us took the threat of the wetsuit quite seriously until we actually tried to get it on. It was like...trying to force yourself into a tire. I cannot even begin to express how difficult it was to put these things on. We literally all managed to get the first piece up to our thighs before we would have sworn on the life of our pet goldfishes that it was going to go no further. Talk about a team bonding experience, we were literally shoehorning each other into these blasted things. When we were not strong enough to help each other, we waddled out to the deck, where one of the guides would literally would pick us up by our pants.
...
Actually, I have to laugh just reliving that moment. Standing out on the desk, one slender muscular Australian guy watching, trying not to laugh, while another huge Australian guy is jerking me off my feet by my pants like it's a pillowcase and I'm a recalcitrant pillow.
Needless to say, we were all quite exhausted before we ever made it onto the river. The wetsuits were so thick and stiff that we literally had to waddle, penguin style, to walk easily; Effecting a normal gait was quite a workout.
We took another bus to the river. On the bank, out guides gave us instruction. Of course, we didn't quite expect him to suddenly say, "okay, everyone lay on your face." Although they had the slightly bored air of well-practiced professionals , there is no way they could not have been amused by our pitiful struggle to perform such a simple act. Soon, he had us rolling around on the ground, and we had been downgraded from penguins to beached whales. Affectionately (I like to imagine), our guide berated us for not being quite as quick as some touristing Marines had, the previous week.
Afterward, we took a picture ("possible the last!" he warned us with a laugh):
I am on the bottom right.Next, we headed down the river:
While it may look like I am just floating there, as if in a swimming pool, I was actually moving steadily forward, head first, toward a small outcrop of whitewater and rocks. Yay.
As it turned out, the first waterfall of the day was also the biggest. Quite a thing, to be floating along, and suddenly have the current pick up and have no real way to stop yourself from hurdling over the edge. I am being dramatic, however, for our guides took good care to keep us from falling - yet. I was second in line, and as I was peering over the edge, unable to see the bottom, I was definitely wondering WTF I had been thinking in signing up for this. "Holy s**t," doesn't quite cover it.
To mark the occasion, our photographer took one last photo, second before being pushed over the edge:
The smile you see was strictly for the camera; it was preceded and follow by a look of abject fear. The guide and cameraman had to continually persuade me to move closer to the edge, I am not embarrassed to admit. I have no idea exactly how big the waterfall was, but at least a three story fall. One of the guides lowered us halfway, or so, sliding us down the vertical rockface by a rope. The water was intense and completely overwhelmed me, blinding me, blocking out everything else, and trying to push my body away from the wall. Then, the rope was released, and I plummeted the rest of the way down, crashing into the water below.Fortunately, rubber floats. and I was wearing quite a lot of it. So, I was spared the trouble of swimming while initially trying to get my breath back.
The rest of the trip went similarly. We floated/swam along, going down small rocky inclines headfirst, feetfirst, and backwards headfirst as the occasion called for it. The water was so cold. Even with two inches of rubber on, some of my fellows had violently chattering teeth. We didn't see any more waterfalls as big as the first, none requiring ropes. Instead, on the next one, I slid off headfirst, got pulled into a whirlpool (loving called the "washing machine"), tugged out of the whirlpool, and made to shimmy between rockface and waterfall to escape. On this same waterfall, we were given the option to climb back up and go again. I have to tell you, wetsuits, or at least ours, made the absolute WORST climbing gear imaginable. What a workout! Not only fighting gravity, but the very movement of your arms and legs! Gods, it was exhausting. This time, at the top, we were told to jump off the cliff of the waterfall, rather than slide down the water. Waaaah, it was so much scarier to jump than it was to slide. Looking down, all you can see are the rocks, and it seems impossible that you will clear them and make it to the water.
It was at this point that I realized bungee jumping was probably not for me.
On the last waterfall, the smallest one, went down headfirst and backwards, reclining as one would watching Sunday morning cartoons, before slipping over the edge.
All and all, it was quite an experience! I was glad to have done it, but... don't think I will do it again. For one thing, it was quite a lot of money for a short period of time. Mostly though, I think I am just not an adrenaline junky. Next time, I want to try white-water rafting.
Cheers,
adventure Baer
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
BBQ
Last Saturday, Tsuiki-sensei was kind enought to once again invite me out, this time to a picnic. They picked me up in the morning along with another friend/co-worker. The area we went to for the picnic was really lovely. I guess it was sort of a community area, with a huge, well-cared for garden, lots of green green grass, and a sort of mini-golf place.
The coworker that we picked up on our way was the only othe person besides Tsuiki-sensei and Raj that spoke English. It worked out well enough for me, with three people to talk to, one excited child, and a group of very friendly Japanese happy to stuff me full of food without any exchange of words. I can't tell you for sure what we ate, but it was really really good. "Barbeque" here certainly doesn't mean hamburgers and hotdogs. I think we started with pork belly. I don' t even want to know how unhealthy it was, as I imagine it had to be pretty bad, but it was so damn good. They made waaaay too much food though! I can't imagine how anyone says that the Japanese dont eat plenty of meat, because I think I got a months worth in one day. It just kept coming.
It was a simple and relaxing day. I talked with the other English speaker a bit. We played "guess my age".... and he said I was 32! 32!! My students sometimes think I am 19! Man, what a blow... lol... The time not spent talking was filled with Taro-chan, who was, in the tradition of children, ever to happy to take up our attention. I still don't have a great fondness for children, but I can fake it quite decently.
Seeing me eyeing the mini-golf course a little longingly, Tsuiki-sensei invited me to play with Raj, Taro, and his friend. It was pretty fun. Raj's friend was strong, but so bad. He kept hitting his ball into every possible obstacle. Taro-chan was hopeless. Tsuiki-sensei was quite good and Raj was even better. It was pretty fun.
Tsuiki-sensei and Raj are so kind to me. Since she is not actually my sensei anymore, I wonder if it is okay if I call her Tsuiki-san. Maybe after a few more visits?
Cheers,
grilled-sweet-potato Baer
The coworker that we picked up on our way was the only othe person besides Tsuiki-sensei and Raj that spoke English. It worked out well enough for me, with three people to talk to, one excited child, and a group of very friendly Japanese happy to stuff me full of food without any exchange of words. I can't tell you for sure what we ate, but it was really really good. "Barbeque" here certainly doesn't mean hamburgers and hotdogs. I think we started with pork belly. I don' t even want to know how unhealthy it was, as I imagine it had to be pretty bad, but it was so damn good. They made waaaay too much food though! I can't imagine how anyone says that the Japanese dont eat plenty of meat, because I think I got a months worth in one day. It just kept coming.
It was a simple and relaxing day. I talked with the other English speaker a bit. We played "guess my age".... and he said I was 32! 32!! My students sometimes think I am 19! Man, what a blow... lol... The time not spent talking was filled with Taro-chan, who was, in the tradition of children, ever to happy to take up our attention. I still don't have a great fondness for children, but I can fake it quite decently.
Seeing me eyeing the mini-golf course a little longingly, Tsuiki-sensei invited me to play with Raj, Taro, and his friend. It was pretty fun. Raj's friend was strong, but so bad. He kept hitting his ball into every possible obstacle. Taro-chan was hopeless. Tsuiki-sensei was quite good and Raj was even better. It was pretty fun.
Tsuiki-sensei and Raj are so kind to me. Since she is not actually my sensei anymore, I wonder if it is okay if I call her Tsuiki-san. Maybe after a few more visits?
Cheers,
grilled-sweet-potato Baer
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Home Stay
It's been forever since I made a post, I know. As such, I won't attempt to rehash everything in great detail, but it certainly has been an interesting couple of weeks.
Backtracking a couple weekends ago (ah, it was Sept. 11, I do recall), one of the teachers, Tsuiki-sensei, at my elementary school invited me to go stay with her for one night, have dinner, meet her family, etc. I certainly was not going to pass up the opportunity. Even though she is not an English teacher, she was one of the very few that spoke English at the elementary, and was always kind to me.
As it turned out, Tsuiki-sensei actually lived in an apartment with her husband, Raj, and young son, Taro. The apartment had about 4 rooms, counting the kitchen, with the tatami room and the kitchen area right next to each other, making one big room when the doors were open. It struck me that, even though the apartment had more rooms than my own, the hallways made it feel quite small. Having only visited one other Japanese home, quite a nice, large house, it was somewhat of a shock to me.
The evening was very nice. Raj also spoke English, which helped greatly. I felt like I was a bit of a burden to them, that they were busy but still felt the need to entertain me. Anytime my thoughts began to drift a bit, a head would perk up, "Oh, are you bored?" and would find something to do, even it it meant stopping what they were doing to just stand there and talk to me. It was quite sweet, really, though I felt bad about it. I was quite happy to watch them go about their lives.
Actually... we had Italian food for dinner. Or, a variation of Italian food. Tsuiki-sensei said, "Oh, I'm just so tired, and this is easy," but I knew she had done it for me, since she knew it was the sort of food I liked. Like a said, very sweet people. She had homemade pesto sauce for the pasta... ah, delicious. Actually, I've found, quite to my surprise, that Japanese people are quite fond of Italian food. Then again, who doesn't like pasta? One thing that was amusing was their son. He ate so much!! He was only... 3? but I swear he ate just as much food as the rest of us. I think he would have kept going if the TV hadn't finally distracted him. Amazing. Better hope those skinny Japanese genes get past to him!
At night, the three of them went to their bedroom to sleep (their son sleep with them, despite available space elsewhere... apparently this is normal), and I was given the tatami room. I do love tatami rooms. However, I did discover that, having adapted to my double-futon, one futon just wasn't quite enough! Sleeping on the floor.... it still gets me.
In the morning, we had a typical Japanese breakfast: miso soup and rice. To me, this sounds like lunch, but I go with the flow. As I am being served the soup, my sensei's husband says, "If this has a weird taste for you, don't worry about finishing it." Honestly, I had every intention of finishing it.... but... seeing the little minnow-sized fish floating around in the broth had me second guessing myself. I'll try anything [dead] once, but... it was certainly not the miso soup I was used to! Their son, Taro-chan, certainly had no problem with it; he licked those little suckers right out of the bowl!
Before taking me back to my apartment, the couple wanted to give me a little bit of a taste of Ota. They brought me to a Brazilian festival. While I have heard that Ota is full of Brazilians, I never see any sign of them. I think they must have all been located in the area we drove through, Oizumi (?), which seemed to be a Little Brazil. The festival itself was a ring of food vendors with a stage out in front. Most of the food though, seemed to be quite multicultural, but the dancing on stage was supposedly Brazilian. I though it looked a little like Vegas, with feather headdresses and dancing lines. I was very confused. lol. But it was fun. We hid from the rain under big tents and ate kabob.
I am sad to say that that sensei has since transfered out of my elementary. I will miss her more than I can say at the moment. However, before she left, she invited me to a BBQ which is actually this weekend. Perhaps I will remember to take pictures this time! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Cheers,
Visting Baer
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A Phase 2 moment
...mmf... A little venting, feel free to ignore.
I know I said in my last post how easy this job is. and, it IS pretty easy
but there are some things that make it really frustrating. One of my schools in particular, I just don't know what is expected of me, or how to plan, so I mess up a lot and a lot of time gets wasted because of it. I feel like... someone should be helping me in this respect, letting me know "Oh, you can only do this and this, so keep that in mind". I express this to fellow ALTs and they are like "Oh, that's your responsibility, you should know that, you should figure that out on your own." Honestly, I say, I have never done this before, so how do you just KNOW? They say, "Oh, we are new at this too, yet we are doing okay (a.k.a. what is wrong with you?)".
All I can say is I'm already doing the best I can, obviously, so that fact that I make mistakes is an indication that I don't KNOW what mistakes I'm making. They say "Well, then, just fix it" and I keep asking "Fix WHAT?"
Perhaps they don't realize what their lack of empathy does to me, but... it's like, if other ALTs don't know what I am going through, then who does?
At such times, I feel so incredibly alone.
...
Today we all got comments from our schools about our performance. While the things they tell me I need improvement on frustrate me, I did get good comments on my overall attitude. Sometimes, I get so frustrated and upset because I don't know what I am doing and there is no one who can help me but... I always try and come back to that. To have a good attitude, to be cheerful, THAT, at least, is something that I can do, is in my control. Have to remind myself to use that attitude when dealing with all this frustration, to use it to keep moving forward, to take the negative and make it into something I can improve on, not just drag me down.
It mays seem stupid to some people that I even have to go out of my way to say such things. However, for me, it is very difficult, that part of the challenge of this whole experience is to remember to always be positive. This is not part of my nature.
I do want to say, since this is a sort of Phase 2 (a.k.a. "I hate Japan") post, that these are just moments, just days, where things overwhelm me. They do not overshadow my whole experience here. Don't worry about me too much.
coping Baer
School Life
Ah, well, school started and I fell out of love with my blog. Sorry for the delay.
Perhaps it would be a good time to describe school life. Schools here have quite a few differences from schools in the states.
I arrive at school usually about 8:15am and go to the teacher's room. Here, the teachers all reside in one room, their desks made into four groups, one for each grade level (and one 'other' group). I sit in the 1st year group, next to one of the English teachers. At 8:20am, there is a teachers meeting. I have no idea what they talk about, but I have to be sure to arrive before this time or else it is rather awkward. My first class is not until 8:55am, and until then, I do nothing.
My schedule changes everyday, and sometimes week to week as well. I usually am involved in about 3-4 classes a day, 50min each. I either go to the class with the teacher I am teaching with, or students from the class will come and get me. Students in each grade are divided into 3 classes, A, B, and C. There is no difference, it just specifies which room they reside in. Rather than moving from room to room like they do in the states, the students stay in one room while the teachers move.
How much involvement I have in the class varies depending on the teacher. Mostly, though, I am a human tape recorder. I read phrases off the chalkboard, out of the book, off worksheets or flashcards. This is my primary function at the junior high school. Thus far, I haven't been asked to do my planning on my own, which is fine by me. I much prefer being a tape recorder to making lesson plans.
The students are.... sometimes quite a challenge. Discipline is done differently here, primarily, out of class. Thus, sometimes the students are quite rude, loud, or just plane crazy, running around, interrupting the lesson, making things difficult. The sort of things they put up with in class would never be tolerated in the states. I am not sure how discipline is handled here, but it is away from the eyes of one's peers. To me, this is very frustrating just as a matter of principle. At the same time, since I am not expected to plan the lessons, the fact that we don't usually get through them isn't really my problem, so I don't worry about it.
Actually, to me, the way English is taught here seems to be completely inefficient. I feel as though, if anyone was to learn English, it would be in spite of the lessons, not because of them. The emphasis is heavily on 'communication'. This is very important of course, but generally, I think, should be taught in addition to grammar, not replacing it. Learning only 'conversation' basically means they learn only set phrases and set vocabulary for those phrases, often in a rather random fashion (so they don't build on each other). Personally, as a language learner myself, I believe that if you don't learn grammar, if you don't know the meaning behind phrases and know how to build them yourself, you will never be able to speak a language. I find evidence of this in the fact that my elementary school students and my junior high school students seem to be at the same level: "My name is Naoki. I like dog. I like book."
At 12:45, school lunch begins. As I said before, everyone eats school lunch, even the teachers. Homeroom teachers eat lunch in the classroom with their students. Everyone else eats at their desk in the teacher's room. This is where I eat. The meal is so packed with calories, I usually am full half way through. Students carry the food in bins up the classroom, put on smocks and hats, and serve the food to their peers in the class where they eat, at their desks. It is very cute to see the smaller students in their little white serving uniforms.
After lunch, all the students clean. Desks are pushed out of the way, broom are taken out, the floors are swept and scrubbed. This includes not only the classrooms, but the hallways and stairwells as well. No janitors are employed here. The students do it themselves, everyday.
I only go to the elementary school once a week, on Friday. Things are done a little differently here. First off, I have to write the lesson plans for the 4th grade. This is very difficult to me, and I have so say, I absolutely loathe doing it. I always make them too difficult. Everyone says to me 'oh, just make it easier', but that is not so easy to do! I am given a list of vocab and a goal to accomplish, but I discovered, the students cannot read or write or repeat phrases of any length. I discovered that I actually cannot even use all the vocab I am expected to teach. Learning all this has made for some pretty painful planning lessons. Now that I know they they can do basically nothing except repeat after me, perhaps it will be a little easier. Most likely not, since that severely limits the sorts of lessons I can do.
For the other grades, there is a lesson plan already set out by the book. It is generally more equal (as far as involvement between myself and the Japanese teacher) than the JHS lessons. We do little skits to introduce vocab, and usually have flashcards with much repeating. Other differences... I eat lunch with the students in the classroom and I clean with them as well.
Generally, I have to say this job is pretty damn easy. It may get a little more challenging later on, as I may be expected to do a little more planning, but, for the chance to make good money, to be in Japan, I think it is a pretty sweet deal.
Perhaps it would be a good time to describe school life. Schools here have quite a few differences from schools in the states.
I arrive at school usually about 8:15am and go to the teacher's room. Here, the teachers all reside in one room, their desks made into four groups, one for each grade level (and one 'other' group). I sit in the 1st year group, next to one of the English teachers. At 8:20am, there is a teachers meeting. I have no idea what they talk about, but I have to be sure to arrive before this time or else it is rather awkward. My first class is not until 8:55am, and until then, I do nothing.
My schedule changes everyday, and sometimes week to week as well. I usually am involved in about 3-4 classes a day, 50min each. I either go to the class with the teacher I am teaching with, or students from the class will come and get me. Students in each grade are divided into 3 classes, A, B, and C. There is no difference, it just specifies which room they reside in. Rather than moving from room to room like they do in the states, the students stay in one room while the teachers move.
How much involvement I have in the class varies depending on the teacher. Mostly, though, I am a human tape recorder. I read phrases off the chalkboard, out of the book, off worksheets or flashcards. This is my primary function at the junior high school. Thus far, I haven't been asked to do my planning on my own, which is fine by me. I much prefer being a tape recorder to making lesson plans.
The students are.... sometimes quite a challenge. Discipline is done differently here, primarily, out of class. Thus, sometimes the students are quite rude, loud, or just plane crazy, running around, interrupting the lesson, making things difficult. The sort of things they put up with in class would never be tolerated in the states. I am not sure how discipline is handled here, but it is away from the eyes of one's peers. To me, this is very frustrating just as a matter of principle. At the same time, since I am not expected to plan the lessons, the fact that we don't usually get through them isn't really my problem, so I don't worry about it.
Actually, to me, the way English is taught here seems to be completely inefficient. I feel as though, if anyone was to learn English, it would be in spite of the lessons, not because of them. The emphasis is heavily on 'communication'. This is very important of course, but generally, I think, should be taught in addition to grammar, not replacing it. Learning only 'conversation' basically means they learn only set phrases and set vocabulary for those phrases, often in a rather random fashion (so they don't build on each other). Personally, as a language learner myself, I believe that if you don't learn grammar, if you don't know the meaning behind phrases and know how to build them yourself, you will never be able to speak a language. I find evidence of this in the fact that my elementary school students and my junior high school students seem to be at the same level: "My name is Naoki. I like dog. I like book."
At 12:45, school lunch begins. As I said before, everyone eats school lunch, even the teachers. Homeroom teachers eat lunch in the classroom with their students. Everyone else eats at their desk in the teacher's room. This is where I eat. The meal is so packed with calories, I usually am full half way through. Students carry the food in bins up the classroom, put on smocks and hats, and serve the food to their peers in the class where they eat, at their desks. It is very cute to see the smaller students in their little white serving uniforms.
After lunch, all the students clean. Desks are pushed out of the way, broom are taken out, the floors are swept and scrubbed. This includes not only the classrooms, but the hallways and stairwells as well. No janitors are employed here. The students do it themselves, everyday.
I only go to the elementary school once a week, on Friday. Things are done a little differently here. First off, I have to write the lesson plans for the 4th grade. This is very difficult to me, and I have so say, I absolutely loathe doing it. I always make them too difficult. Everyone says to me 'oh, just make it easier', but that is not so easy to do! I am given a list of vocab and a goal to accomplish, but I discovered, the students cannot read or write or repeat phrases of any length. I discovered that I actually cannot even use all the vocab I am expected to teach. Learning all this has made for some pretty painful planning lessons. Now that I know they they can do basically nothing except repeat after me, perhaps it will be a little easier. Most likely not, since that severely limits the sorts of lessons I can do.
For the other grades, there is a lesson plan already set out by the book. It is generally more equal (as far as involvement between myself and the Japanese teacher) than the JHS lessons. We do little skits to introduce vocab, and usually have flashcards with much repeating. Other differences... I eat lunch with the students in the classroom and I clean with them as well.
Generally, I have to say this job is pretty damn easy. It may get a little more challenging later on, as I may be expected to do a little more planning, but, for the chance to make good money, to be in Japan, I think it is a pretty sweet deal.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
School Lunch
To everyone who told me I'd lose weight in Japan.... I laugh at you through my tears.
Gods.
My first day of classes was today. It went well. I did two 'Hi-my-name-is-Lindsay' lessons with the upper level Junior High students. They didn't talk hardly at all, but were well behaved. I like the 2nd class a little better because I had already had one go at it, so I had practice, and the students were a little more interactive. However, the lower level class was... so disruptive. Had to shout to tell them anything. Really, it was more than I would tolerate if it was my class alone.
Now, back to my opening statement. School lunch.
Yesterday, even though I didn't have any classes, was techniquely my first day. It was also the first day of school lunch. This is not an optional sort of thing. Everyone eats it, no exceptions, including the teachers. We pay for it monthy, 4100 yen, I believe, which averages out to about $2 a meal, which is pretty damn cheap. So, price is not the issue. In fact, my first day, we had bread, alphabet soup, a piece of corn, and a small hamburger steak. Really, it didn't look like a lot of food and I thought, `no way this is 1000 calories, as they said it would be in orientation`.
Today, we had curry rice with seaweed salad (I'm not a fan) with a small piece of frozen pineapple. Again, it looked like a pretty reasonable meal. Still, when I finished, I felt sooo full. Way more full than a small bowl of rice and a bowl of curry. Even an hour later, the feeling had not dissipated. So, growing suspicious, I pulled out the lunch menu, which, I discovered, has calories written on it. GODS BE! So many calories! I can hardly believe it. 1000 calories was no joke! It made it all the more difficult to watch one of the teachers eat two helpings of everything. Ugh, I can't imagine.
I know I have gained weight already, which is bad enough. I tend to go the Japanese way and eat rice with lunch and dinner, because it is easy and filling... but I am not Japanese, and the calories from all the rice do not burn quite they way this should... However... this is just too much! Bah! I shared my pain with Chingyi, who felt the same. She suggest something brilliant that I will try from now on; eat half of lunch and bring the rest home for dinner. So brilliant. Not only do we save on calories for lunch but save on money for dinner! $2 for lunch AND dinner? I'm in heaven. I can halve my grocery money and buy more clothes. lol.
I am already tired of fish. Not good.
bleh,
stuffed Baer
Gods.
My first day of classes was today. It went well. I did two 'Hi-my-name-is-Lindsay' lessons with the upper level Junior High students. They didn't talk hardly at all, but were well behaved. I like the 2nd class a little better because I had already had one go at it, so I had practice, and the students were a little more interactive. However, the lower level class was... so disruptive. Had to shout to tell them anything. Really, it was more than I would tolerate if it was my class alone.
Now, back to my opening statement. School lunch.
Yesterday, even though I didn't have any classes, was techniquely my first day. It was also the first day of school lunch. This is not an optional sort of thing. Everyone eats it, no exceptions, including the teachers. We pay for it monthy, 4100 yen, I believe, which averages out to about $2 a meal, which is pretty damn cheap. So, price is not the issue. In fact, my first day, we had bread, alphabet soup, a piece of corn, and a small hamburger steak. Really, it didn't look like a lot of food and I thought, `no way this is 1000 calories, as they said it would be in orientation`.
Today, we had curry rice with seaweed salad (I'm not a fan) with a small piece of frozen pineapple. Again, it looked like a pretty reasonable meal. Still, when I finished, I felt sooo full. Way more full than a small bowl of rice and a bowl of curry. Even an hour later, the feeling had not dissipated. So, growing suspicious, I pulled out the lunch menu, which, I discovered, has calories written on it. GODS BE! So many calories! I can hardly believe it. 1000 calories was no joke! It made it all the more difficult to watch one of the teachers eat two helpings of everything. Ugh, I can't imagine.
I know I have gained weight already, which is bad enough. I tend to go the Japanese way and eat rice with lunch and dinner, because it is easy and filling... but I am not Japanese, and the calories from all the rice do not burn quite they way this should... However... this is just too much! Bah! I shared my pain with Chingyi, who felt the same. She suggest something brilliant that I will try from now on; eat half of lunch and bring the rest home for dinner. So brilliant. Not only do we save on calories for lunch but save on money for dinner! $2 for lunch AND dinner? I'm in heaven. I can halve my grocery money and buy more clothes. lol.
I am already tired of fish. Not good.
bleh,
stuffed Baer
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
PA Death
oh man, I feel like such an idiot...
Today is the opening ceremony for the junior high. Everyone is afraid of swine flu, so we did not have a general assembly. Instead, speeches were to be given over the PA. I was given some notice that I would have to give a short speech.
No one gave me any help as to what I was supposed to say in this speech... but I metally prepared some pretty general 'looking forward to the year' type comments... mmf.
WELL. I was (understandably!) quite nervous... and after I gave my short intro in Japanese... I only managed a couple sentences before... forgotting everything I'd memorized in English! There was this long pause.... and I finally just blurted out something, I don't even remember. Gods. So bad. One of the English teachers then translated it for me, so hopefully she made me sound less retarded.
The principle was standing there, ever a jovial sort of man, and he smiled, but even he could only say it was 'a little okay'. Not even 'okay' but a 'little okay'.
...
I'm going to go be mortified over here now (under this rock).
See you.
Today is the opening ceremony for the junior high. Everyone is afraid of swine flu, so we did not have a general assembly. Instead, speeches were to be given over the PA. I was given some notice that I would have to give a short speech.
No one gave me any help as to what I was supposed to say in this speech... but I metally prepared some pretty general 'looking forward to the year' type comments... mmf.
WELL. I was (understandably!) quite nervous... and after I gave my short intro in Japanese... I only managed a couple sentences before... forgotting everything I'd memorized in English! There was this long pause.... and I finally just blurted out something, I don't even remember. Gods. So bad. One of the English teachers then translated it for me, so hopefully she made me sound less retarded.
The principle was standing there, ever a jovial sort of man, and he smiled, but even he could only say it was 'a little okay'. Not even 'okay' but a 'little okay'.
...
I'm going to go be mortified over here now (under this rock).
See you.
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