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