Oh, Thanksgiving. So, poor planning resulted in a small two-person fun-fest what was supposed to be a 4-5 person pot luck. To be honest, it was probably better off as a two-person fun-fest; mainly because the two of us couldn't cook very well. Nor did we have anything prepared 'til late at night, so if there were any other guests present, they'd probably be pretty pissed off.
So, my buddy John invited me and a few other ALTs to his place the weekend after Thanksgiving for some festivities. He ordered a hefty amount of turkey meat that we would cook (bake?) and we had planned to hit up the supermarket for ingredients for other Thanksgiving dishes: mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn-on-the-cob. The image in our minds was a grand feast.
Instead, we got a grand laugh.
First off, the turkey meat we had, while very little compared to a normal turkey, was still pretty damn huge for the two of us. He ordered enough meat for 5 people; heavy helpings each (so more like 8-10 people). So with just the two of us, we decided to use a little less than half of the meat. Well, with a big hunk of meat and no oven, how were we supposed to cook it? Oh, right, with the microwave.
So, the fascinating thing about Japanese microwaves is that they are part microwave and part oven. I don't really know how the oven part works; maybe just like any other oven? I imagine the microwave parts would get destroyed with that sort of heat. But apparently not, 'cause that's what it was designed to do. So yeah, we used the microwave as an oven. Neither of us really knew what we were doing, so we used our best judgment and thought things out. The turkey turned out well cooked; not burned, but a bit dry. But at least it wasn't raw. Objective completed!
At the supermarket, it was surprisingly difficult to find certain ingredients. Like corn. Eventually we found it...frozen... and not on the cob. John was disappointed. He was looking forward to it quite a bit. We bought the frozen corn anyway, but didn't end up eating it 'cause we were stuffed from the other dishes.
John made the mashed potatoes and I made the stuffing. And DAMN was it good! We didn't have any stock for the stuffing, so John suggested using the soup from a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. What a wonderful suggestion, 'cause it tasted damn awesome. I just wish I cut the bread cubes and celery bits a little smaller. The mashed potatoes turned out pretty well, too! But what didn't was the gravy.
We had never made gravy ourselves before, so we scoured the internet for some recipes. The main idea was to use the turkey runoff as the base for the gravy, add some salt and spices to flavor it, and add flour to thicken it up. Weeelllll, we added too much flour, so it basically tasted like uncooked pancake batter. So, after using some of the gravy for the turkey, we cooked the batter and made a "gravy pancake."
We also decided to make Yaki-Campbells. It's like Yakisoba, but instead of frying soba noodles, we fried the remaining contents of the can of chicken noodle soup. Nice. What a feast.
Word of the day: 感謝祭 「かんしゃさい」 "kanshasai," which means "Thanksgiving (Day)."
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Fall Leaves
The leaves in autumn
Fall ever so gracefully.
A beautiful sight.
秋の葉は
淑やか落ちて
美しい。
So, the leaves have been gradually changing over the past month. It starts in northern Japan, and sweeps the country towards the south, like a shock wave. This means that the leaves changed color up here before Kyoto. That also means that I had the opportunity to see beautiful mountainside views of the leaves up here, then to travel down to Kyoto and see them again! So I did. I took so many pictures! I will post some up here for you all to enjoy. Actually, I went to three different sites. The first was after the Fall Festival, a few weeks ago. Then after that, (a week or two later), I went to Naruko with Shoe to check out the leaves there. Gorgeous. Then this past weekend, I went to Kyoto again! My girlfriend and I visited Arashi Yama (literally, "Storm Mountain") and saw the beautiful leaves, next to the beautiful river, with beautiful geisha tending to their clients. It was quite a beautiful weekend.
My girlfriend and I were both recovering from a cough/cold, so we couldn't do too much, but we still explored and did everything we could. Some fun activities include:
1) Going to a ninja themed restaurant!
2) Participating in tea ceremony!
3) Eating awesome delicious huge fresh sushi with an old college buddy!
4) Winning Evangelion figurines from an impossibly difficult UFO catcher with said buddy! (Actually he did all the work, haha.)
5) Watching a master flower arranger arrange flowers!
6) Watching a kyougen play! (old-style comedy play)
7) Watching a dance performed by two beautiful geiko!
8) Watching a bunraku (puppet) performance!
It was definitely my most event-filled trip to Kyoto thus far. I will try to post pictures...somehow. Can't do it right now, 'cause this computer I'm using at work is just too old for that!
Word of the day: 美しい 「うつくしい」 "utsukushii," which means "beautiful."
Fall ever so gracefully.
A beautiful sight.
秋の葉は
淑やか落ちて
美しい。
So, the leaves have been gradually changing over the past month. It starts in northern Japan, and sweeps the country towards the south, like a shock wave. This means that the leaves changed color up here before Kyoto. That also means that I had the opportunity to see beautiful mountainside views of the leaves up here, then to travel down to Kyoto and see them again! So I did. I took so many pictures! I will post some up here for you all to enjoy. Actually, I went to three different sites. The first was after the Fall Festival, a few weeks ago. Then after that, (a week or two later), I went to Naruko with Shoe to check out the leaves there. Gorgeous. Then this past weekend, I went to Kyoto again! My girlfriend and I visited Arashi Yama (literally, "Storm Mountain") and saw the beautiful leaves, next to the beautiful river, with beautiful geisha tending to their clients. It was quite a beautiful weekend.
My girlfriend and I were both recovering from a cough/cold, so we couldn't do too much, but we still explored and did everything we could. Some fun activities include:
1) Going to a ninja themed restaurant!
2) Participating in tea ceremony!
3) Eating awesome delicious huge fresh sushi with an old college buddy!
4) Winning Evangelion figurines from an impossibly difficult UFO catcher with said buddy! (Actually he did all the work, haha.)
5) Watching a master flower arranger arrange flowers!
6) Watching a kyougen play! (old-style comedy play)
7) Watching a dance performed by two beautiful geiko!
8) Watching a bunraku (puppet) performance!
It was definitely my most event-filled trip to Kyoto thus far. I will try to post pictures...somehow. Can't do it right now, 'cause this computer I'm using at work is just too old for that!
Word of the day: 美しい 「うつくしい」 "utsukushii," which means "beautiful."
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Ninja Post
I have lots of news! Well, not lots, actually. Just a little. And as per usual, I shall write things in reverse chronological order. And in a numbered outline format. 'Cause it's annoying. :-)
1) I got my reappointment contract today. It's due on February 4th, but my supervisor (Supes) asked that I decide by January 20th. Way to make a difficult decision even more difficult. >_<
2) I am in the Osaki City newspaper! Osaki is the large city north of me; it's not actually a "city" per se; more like a district or county. 'Cause there are many towns and an actual city in Osaki. But yeah, a photographer came one day after I was teaching the Kindergarten class, and the other teachers told me to join in the picture! So I did! I'll try to take a picture of it and post it up, if I can.
3) It is cold. Like, really cold. It was 3°C this morning. BRRRRR!!! It sucks. I miss insulation badly. My heaters heat really well, and I thought I got used to the smell, but I was wrong. Well, I should put it this way; when the heaters are running, it smells fine. But when the heaters are either starting or stopping, they ventilate themselves, so the fumes get all spread out. It's especially annoying when I turn off my bedroom heater before I go to sleep.
4) There are a bunch of games that have been released (or are coming out soon) that I really want to buy. But they're hard to get, 'cause I have to import them from the US. But that means I have to buy a PS3. And that also means I have to connect it to my SDTV. Which finally means I have to find the time to play it.
5) I have a hard enough time finding the motivation to study, let alone properly manage my schedule. Well, I've been keeping up with all of my normal responsibilities; just not studying Japanese. Maybe it's because of how the text book is set up? You know: really annoyingly.
6) So, my car broke down the other day. Well, not exactly. But over the past two or three weeks, it had been giving me a slight bit of trouble. It wouldn't start right away; I would turn the key, and the engine would chug a couple times before it started. It was a sign that I needed a new battery. So I asked my friends about it that weekend; how to go about getting a new battery, and possibly an oil change. I had a feeling the oil needed to be changed. Well, one day, I was driving towards a convenience store about 3 kilometers south. When I got to about 2.5, I noticed the car started acting funny; something felt weird. Well, when I pulled into the parking lot, the car was slowly choking, and finally it just DIED, two feet before I was completely in the spot. So, I put it in park, pulled the handbrake, and stepped outside. I had a feeling something was wrong with the oil. I don't know how I knew this, but I knew I had to check it. So I went inside, bought a towel to use as a rag, some work gloves, and some food (which was my original intent). I went back outside to my car, popped the hood, and began the procedures. When I checked the dipstick for the oil level, my heart dropped. There was barely enough oil to touch the dip stick, let alone the minimum level that should be in the car. So, I had to fill it up. Thankfully, my predecessor left a container of engine oil in the trunk, in case something like this should happen (Thank you!); I guess it was foreseen? Or it happened before? Anyway, I was trying to open the container. For about five minutes. No matter how I turned the cap, it wouldn't open. Finally, I mustered up the courage to ask a passersby. The guy was like, "Here, do this," and he touched the cap. With a *pop!* it magically opened. Feeling like an idiot, I thanked him and took it back. I emptied the container, and filled the oil up so that it was right in the middle of the appropriate level according to the dipstick. It really must have been foreseen. So, after letting the car run for a few minutes, the engine sounded normal again, and I drove safely home.
7) One day, I couldn't even start my car. "Dammit! Effin' battery!" I shouted. I stepped out of the car, bowed to a neighbor as he was throwing out the trash, and said, "My car won't..." I couldn't think of how to say it, so I went Filipino-style, "My car won't open." He asked, "Is it locked? Did you use your key?" And I was showing him that it wouldn't start. I demonstrated. We agreed that it was the battery. So, he waved to a guy in a truck that was driving by. They looked like old friends; the first guy told the truck guy what the problem was, so the truck guy drove off to find the jumper cables. Eventually, he came back, and my neighbor helped me get my car started. Having arrived at work a couple minutes late (I called as soon as I couldn't start my car), I explained the situation, and one of my JTE's called his mechanic to come in and change out the battery. That day. In the school parking lot. What nice guys! And what great service!
8) Kyoto soon. :-)
Word of the day: 面倒くさい 「めんどうくさい」 "mendou-kusai," which means "troublesome" or "annoying." I added the hyphen because it is actually a root word, mendou, which itself means "an annoyance" or "a troublesome (thing)," and "kusai," which means "reeks of". "Kusai" can be used to say, "smelly" or "stinky." Like, "Gross, man, that stinks! くさい！"
1) I got my reappointment contract today. It's due on February 4th, but my supervisor (Supes) asked that I decide by January 20th. Way to make a difficult decision even more difficult. >_<
2) I am in the Osaki City newspaper! Osaki is the large city north of me; it's not actually a "city" per se; more like a district or county. 'Cause there are many towns and an actual city in Osaki. But yeah, a photographer came one day after I was teaching the Kindergarten class, and the other teachers told me to join in the picture! So I did! I'll try to take a picture of it and post it up, if I can.
3) It is cold. Like, really cold. It was 3°C this morning. BRRRRR!!! It sucks. I miss insulation badly. My heaters heat really well, and I thought I got used to the smell, but I was wrong. Well, I should put it this way; when the heaters are running, it smells fine. But when the heaters are either starting or stopping, they ventilate themselves, so the fumes get all spread out. It's especially annoying when I turn off my bedroom heater before I go to sleep.
4) There are a bunch of games that have been released (or are coming out soon) that I really want to buy. But they're hard to get, 'cause I have to import them from the US. But that means I have to buy a PS3. And that also means I have to connect it to my SDTV. Which finally means I have to find the time to play it.
5) I have a hard enough time finding the motivation to study, let alone properly manage my schedule. Well, I've been keeping up with all of my normal responsibilities; just not studying Japanese. Maybe it's because of how the text book is set up? You know: really annoyingly.
6) So, my car broke down the other day. Well, not exactly. But over the past two or three weeks, it had been giving me a slight bit of trouble. It wouldn't start right away; I would turn the key, and the engine would chug a couple times before it started. It was a sign that I needed a new battery. So I asked my friends about it that weekend; how to go about getting a new battery, and possibly an oil change. I had a feeling the oil needed to be changed. Well, one day, I was driving towards a convenience store about 3 kilometers south. When I got to about 2.5, I noticed the car started acting funny; something felt weird. Well, when I pulled into the parking lot, the car was slowly choking, and finally it just DIED, two feet before I was completely in the spot. So, I put it in park, pulled the handbrake, and stepped outside. I had a feeling something was wrong with the oil. I don't know how I knew this, but I knew I had to check it. So I went inside, bought a towel to use as a rag, some work gloves, and some food (which was my original intent). I went back outside to my car, popped the hood, and began the procedures. When I checked the dipstick for the oil level, my heart dropped. There was barely enough oil to touch the dip stick, let alone the minimum level that should be in the car. So, I had to fill it up. Thankfully, my predecessor left a container of engine oil in the trunk, in case something like this should happen (Thank you!); I guess it was foreseen? Or it happened before? Anyway, I was trying to open the container. For about five minutes. No matter how I turned the cap, it wouldn't open. Finally, I mustered up the courage to ask a passersby. The guy was like, "Here, do this," and he touched the cap. With a *pop!* it magically opened. Feeling like an idiot, I thanked him and took it back. I emptied the container, and filled the oil up so that it was right in the middle of the appropriate level according to the dipstick. It really must have been foreseen. So, after letting the car run for a few minutes, the engine sounded normal again, and I drove safely home.
7) One day, I couldn't even start my car. "Dammit! Effin' battery!" I shouted. I stepped out of the car, bowed to a neighbor as he was throwing out the trash, and said, "My car won't..." I couldn't think of how to say it, so I went Filipino-style, "My car won't open." He asked, "Is it locked? Did you use your key?" And I was showing him that it wouldn't start. I demonstrated. We agreed that it was the battery. So, he waved to a guy in a truck that was driving by. They looked like old friends; the first guy told the truck guy what the problem was, so the truck guy drove off to find the jumper cables. Eventually, he came back, and my neighbor helped me get my car started. Having arrived at work a couple minutes late (I called as soon as I couldn't start my car), I explained the situation, and one of my JTE's called his mechanic to come in and change out the battery. That day. In the school parking lot. What nice guys! And what great service!
8) Kyoto soon. :-)
Word of the day: 面倒くさい 「めんどうくさい」 "mendou-kusai," which means "troublesome" or "annoying." I added the hyphen because it is actually a root word, mendou, which itself means "an annoyance" or "a troublesome (thing)," and "kusai," which means "reeks of". "Kusai" can be used to say, "smelly" or "stinky." Like, "Gross, man, that stinks! くさい！"
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Remember, Remember
So, it's November. I won't be the guy who posts the Guy Fawkes Night rhyme here because he thinks it's cool just 'cause he saw it in V for Vendetta. No. Not me. Instead, I'll link it here. And for the sake of battling ignorance, I want to point out that it is a national holiday in Great Britain because Guy Fawkes (and his crew) FAILED. Just keep that in mind next time you're cosplaying as V. :-)
So, speaking of cosplaying, I wish I had some sort of costume for Halloween. I mean, I dressed up as this on Halloween night, but I couldn't go trick-or-treating with it, haha.
The night before, I was invited to a dinner/drinking party (nomihodai) with a friend I met through JET and her friends who live in Sendai. It was nice meeting and greeting a new crew, but I felt completely underdressed. She failed to tell me that it was a costume party until I was on the bus! Oh well. I had my new hat on me, so I just said I was Michael Jackson. If I had a vest, I could have gone as Daichi Miura! Oh well...
Speaking of which, I'm trying to learn this song and the corresponding dance for the next time I do karaoke. It's called "The Answer."
And speaking of dancing, a new gaming peripheral for the Xbox 360 was released called the Kinect. It's a pretty remarkable piece of hardware. It's basically a camera with three separate lenses (or rather, three separate cameras), with the technology to track your every movement and apply them to the game. So essentially, the Kinect takes the best parts of the Nintendo Wii controller and the Sony Playstation Eye and puts them together. No need to hold anything (like the Wiimote) because it uses a camera (like the Eye), but the player's movements and actions control the game like a normal hand-held controller. For example, if you're playing a tennis game, just swing your arm as if you were holding a tennis racket, and the game will register the swing. Badabing, no more need for a controller! Now clearly, this sort of setup only allows for very specific types of games, but the possibilities are nigh endless. Just no fighting games...or RPGs... But yeah, check out this sweet dance video, courtesy of Justin from The Rumble Pack!
So these past two weeks have been pretty standard fare. The usual schedule; nothing really crazy. A lady from the Community Center came to me today to discuss a little of the eikaiwa; but it hasn't been decided yet when it's actually going to start. She just mentioned some things like holiday activities.
Oh, another thing I wanted to mention was that today was the last day of Judo for my students. I was sad to hear that because I wanted to join my 3rd Year Homeroom 1 class for one of their classes. I had actually helped a couple times before by showing them how to roll properly. Well, the 3-1 class had their final Judo practice last Friday. So I was invited to the final Judo class for the whole school. It was today, with the 3rd Year Homeroom 2 class. Ohhh boy was that fun!
I had matches with three students, two of whom are taller than me, and the other is my height. One of the kids is actually the tallest person in the school; probably the entire town! So, I used his height to my advantage and did my favorite throw: morote seoinage, which is an over-the-shoulder throw. That technique won me the match. Against the first kid, I used an ogoshi, in which I throw the opponent over my hip by grabbing his neck with my arm and pulling him over. Against the third kid, the one who was my height (maybe shorter), I did a similar throw, but instead of having my arm around his neck, it was around his back (under his arm, rather than over it). Again, it won me the match. What was amusing was watching them struggle trying to throw me for the first 60 seconds. I let them waste energy. :-) The only problem with all of this is that afterward, my lower back was sore from all of the twisting and using muscles that haven't been used in so long!
Lastly, I'll mention that my next post will be about the Aki Matsuri this past Sunday and the subsequent scenery-viewing. I'll post some nice pictures. ^_^
Anyway, time to hit the sack.
Word of the day: 踊る 「おどる」 "odoru," which means "to dance." Well, it means "I/he/she/you/it/they dance(s)". 踊り 「おどり」 "odori" is "a dance."
So, speaking of cosplaying, I wish I had some sort of costume for Halloween. I mean, I dressed up as this on Halloween night, but I couldn't go trick-or-treating with it, haha.
The night before, I was invited to a dinner/drinking party (nomihodai) with a friend I met through JET and her friends who live in Sendai. It was nice meeting and greeting a new crew, but I felt completely underdressed. She failed to tell me that it was a costume party until I was on the bus! Oh well. I had my new hat on me, so I just said I was Michael Jackson. If I had a vest, I could have gone as Daichi Miura! Oh well...
Speaking of which, I'm trying to learn this song and the corresponding dance for the next time I do karaoke. It's called "The Answer."
And speaking of dancing, a new gaming peripheral for the Xbox 360 was released called the Kinect. It's a pretty remarkable piece of hardware. It's basically a camera with three separate lenses (or rather, three separate cameras), with the technology to track your every movement and apply them to the game. So essentially, the Kinect takes the best parts of the Nintendo Wii controller and the Sony Playstation Eye and puts them together. No need to hold anything (like the Wiimote) because it uses a camera (like the Eye), but the player's movements and actions control the game like a normal hand-held controller. For example, if you're playing a tennis game, just swing your arm as if you were holding a tennis racket, and the game will register the swing. Badabing, no more need for a controller! Now clearly, this sort of setup only allows for very specific types of games, but the possibilities are nigh endless. Just no fighting games...or RPGs... But yeah, check out this sweet dance video, courtesy of Justin from The Rumble Pack!
So these past two weeks have been pretty standard fare. The usual schedule; nothing really crazy. A lady from the Community Center came to me today to discuss a little of the eikaiwa; but it hasn't been decided yet when it's actually going to start. She just mentioned some things like holiday activities.
Oh, another thing I wanted to mention was that today was the last day of Judo for my students. I was sad to hear that because I wanted to join my 3rd Year Homeroom 1 class for one of their classes. I had actually helped a couple times before by showing them how to roll properly. Well, the 3-1 class had their final Judo practice last Friday. So I was invited to the final Judo class for the whole school. It was today, with the 3rd Year Homeroom 2 class. Ohhh boy was that fun!
I had matches with three students, two of whom are taller than me, and the other is my height. One of the kids is actually the tallest person in the school; probably the entire town! So, I used his height to my advantage and did my favorite throw: morote seoinage, which is an over-the-shoulder throw. That technique won me the match. Against the first kid, I used an ogoshi, in which I throw the opponent over my hip by grabbing his neck with my arm and pulling him over. Against the third kid, the one who was my height (maybe shorter), I did a similar throw, but instead of having my arm around his neck, it was around his back (under his arm, rather than over it). Again, it won me the match. What was amusing was watching them struggle trying to throw me for the first 60 seconds. I let them waste energy. :-) The only problem with all of this is that afterward, my lower back was sore from all of the twisting and using muscles that haven't been used in so long!
Lastly, I'll mention that my next post will be about the Aki Matsuri this past Sunday and the subsequent scenery-viewing. I'll post some nice pictures. ^_^
Anyway, time to hit the sack.
Word of the day: 踊る 「おどる」 "odoru," which means "to dance." Well, it means "I/he/she/you/it/they dance(s)". 踊り 「おどり」 "odori" is "a dance."
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
COLD
WHY IS IT SO COLD HERE!??!
So, two days ago, a massive cold overtook Japan from north to south. It snowed in Hokkaido! It even snowed on a mountain nearby! And it's even cold in Kyoto! :-(
Speaking of Kyoto...so, I was there last weekend! It was fun to visit my girlfriend. On Friday, we saw the Jidai Matsuri, which was surprisingly short. It was just a parade of people in various attire from the olden days to pre-modern days. Later that evening, my girlfriend and I went to Gion, where the Geisha roam the streets. We saw one, actually! She was a Maiko, an apprentice geisha.
Finally, that night, my girlfriend had a small pot luck dinner, where she invited three of her Japanese friends over, and the four of them each had some sort of dish to share. My girl made her awesomely cheesey mac-and-cheese. There was also chirashi-zushi, hot cakes, and Ritz crackers. *nice* We also watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame; fun times.
On Saturday, I got to eat ramen at what as become my favorite ramen shop. SOOOOO GOOOOOOD. Then later that evening, we hit up Fushimi Inari, which is the famous shrine with hundreds of torii gates along the trails that lead up the mountain. My girlfriend and I walked the ENTIRE LENGTH of the trail! It took THREE HOURS. And it was COLD. And DARK. It was really, really creepy and surprisingly scary at some points. Plus, there are families that live up there, who tend to the various shrines. So sometimes we could hear them make sounds, which, in the dead of night, is damn frightening. Anyway, the whole trip with breathtaking. It was amazing. And near the top, there was a beautiful view of western Kyoto.
So yeah, Kyoto was awesome. And the cold is not.
Yesterday, Shoe came over and taught me how to use the kerosene heater. We cleaned them up (I have two) and turned them on. It is surprisingly efficient. It heats up instantly, heats the room up quickly, and is relatively inexpensive compared to the electric heaters. But the problems are that the kerosene smell is awful and the room must be ventilated every hour to insure that the toxic fumes (carbon monoxide) don't kill me. But in ventilating the room, the heat escapes. To deal with this problem, I was told that if you just keep the window a little open, the room is both ventilated and keeps the heat from escaping too quickly. Nice. But man...the smell sucks. And so does the cold.
Word of the day: 灯油 「とうゆ」 "touyu," or "kerosene."
So, two days ago, a massive cold overtook Japan from north to south. It snowed in Hokkaido! It even snowed on a mountain nearby! And it's even cold in Kyoto! :-(
Speaking of Kyoto...so, I was there last weekend! It was fun to visit my girlfriend. On Friday, we saw the Jidai Matsuri, which was surprisingly short. It was just a parade of people in various attire from the olden days to pre-modern days. Later that evening, my girlfriend and I went to Gion, where the Geisha roam the streets. We saw one, actually! She was a Maiko, an apprentice geisha.
Finally, that night, my girlfriend had a small pot luck dinner, where she invited three of her Japanese friends over, and the four of them each had some sort of dish to share. My girl made her awesomely cheesey mac-and-cheese. There was also chirashi-zushi, hot cakes, and Ritz crackers. *nice* We also watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame; fun times.
On Saturday, I got to eat ramen at what as become my favorite ramen shop. SOOOOO GOOOOOOD. Then later that evening, we hit up Fushimi Inari, which is the famous shrine with hundreds of torii gates along the trails that lead up the mountain. My girlfriend and I walked the ENTIRE LENGTH of the trail! It took THREE HOURS. And it was COLD. And DARK. It was really, really creepy and surprisingly scary at some points. Plus, there are families that live up there, who tend to the various shrines. So sometimes we could hear them make sounds, which, in the dead of night, is damn frightening. Anyway, the whole trip with breathtaking. It was amazing. And near the top, there was a beautiful view of western Kyoto.
So yeah, Kyoto was awesome. And the cold is not.
Yesterday, Shoe came over and taught me how to use the kerosene heater. We cleaned them up (I have two) and turned them on. It is surprisingly efficient. It heats up instantly, heats the room up quickly, and is relatively inexpensive compared to the electric heaters. But the problems are that the kerosene smell is awful and the room must be ventilated every hour to insure that the toxic fumes (carbon monoxide) don't kill me. But in ventilating the room, the heat escapes. To deal with this problem, I was told that if you just keep the window a little open, the room is both ventilated and keeps the heat from escaping too quickly. Nice. But man...the smell sucks. And so does the cold.
Word of the day: 灯油 「とうゆ」 "touyu," or "kerosene."
Monday, October 18, 2010
So busy!
Wow, I've been so busy these past couple weeks! My time at the Junior High has been spent helping my students prepare for the Culture Festival that happened this past weekend. It was basically a collection of performances by the students; mostly musical. Some danced, some played an instrument, all of them sang; it was a good time. I was the camera man. At one point, I was recording video using both the school's digital camcorder and my own iPhone. Hah! Hilarious. And kinda difficult.
And this week, both of my elementary schools are throwing a show with singing, dancing, and acting performances, too! I saw the dress rehearsal today; I was impressed by their ability to remember all of those lines! Especially the ones who were doing rapid-fire paragraph-long speeches as comic relief. They were also wearing various types of clothes, from school uniforms to kimono, to farmers' clothing. It was very interesting. Oh, and the fifth graders did a taiko drum performance followed by yosakoi dancing. Rock on!
Ah, Yosakoi. So, there was a yosakoi festival last week in Sendai. It was splendid. I will post a video here so you know what yosakoi is; or better yet, just do a search on google and youtube so you can read info and watch some dances. It's awesome.
This week, I just got my JET Programme Japanese Language Course Textbook and Workbook. Being placed into the advanced level, I have been given text books whose lessons are in Japanese. This will provide good reading practice and introductions to a wealth of new vocabulary. What sucks is that the first few lessons will be super tough, 'cause I'll have to stop every 30 seconds to look up a word I don't know that's in the lesson. >.< The workbook I was given has 504 kanji; most of which I've never learned before, or even seen. This is gonna be a challenge! I need to figure out how to pace myself for this. Let's break it down.
The course is split up into six textbooks, each distributed one month apart, from October 18 to March 17. We are given about a month and a half to complete each book, take a 50-question multiple choice test, and mail the test to the language center. The lessons in the book are designed to be completed on a daily basis over a span of four weeks; each lesson is four pages long, and there are five lessons per week, for a total of 20 lessons per book. So, it's already established that I'll be doing 4 pages of lessons per day. But what's unclear is the kanji workbook.
The kanji workbook was designed for self-study, and it is not included in the test. There are 504 kanji that the book gives. So if I split it up as evenly as possible, that means 84 kanji per month, or 21 kanji per week. Which means 4-5 kanji per lesson. That's not bad. I think.
The thing is, this is the breakdown for the kanji if I want to study them in the traditional fashion. But I've observed that it's much easier to forget kanji when it's learned in this way, and Heisig's method seems to actually work; it works in both remembering the meaning and how to write the kanji. So, I think I'll supplement my JET kanji studies with lessons from Heisig. This ends up doubling the amount of kanji I learn per day, and I'll go through 1000 by next April. But actually...I had this crazy idea in my head that I could get through all 1945 joyo kanji by this time, next year. Which, I guess is possible, if I maintain that pace of 42 kanji/week. Damn, that's 8-9 kanji a day. Back in college, we had 13 kanji a week, or so. Then again, I usually didn't study until the night before for an hour, and I managed to remember them. Alright, it's doable. I just have to bust my ass. :-)
Let me end this post by circling back to the topic I opened with: festivals. There is a massive Jidai Matsuri in Kyoto this weekend. Actually, it's this Friday. And I REALLY WANT TO SEE IT. So that means I'll be calling off work for the first time this week. Neat. I'm also excited to see my girlfriend. She's planning a little get-together/movie night with some friends, so I'll get to meet them and watch a good ol' Disney movie. We'll also check out another temple this weekend. It'll be great!
Side note: please read the comments of my previous post to find out what I learned about the milk here in Japan!
Word of the Day: 忙しい 「いそがしい」 "isogashii," which means "busy."
And this week, both of my elementary schools are throwing a show with singing, dancing, and acting performances, too! I saw the dress rehearsal today; I was impressed by their ability to remember all of those lines! Especially the ones who were doing rapid-fire paragraph-long speeches as comic relief. They were also wearing various types of clothes, from school uniforms to kimono, to farmers' clothing. It was very interesting. Oh, and the fifth graders did a taiko drum performance followed by yosakoi dancing. Rock on!
Ah, Yosakoi. So, there was a yosakoi festival last week in Sendai. It was splendid. I will post a video here so you know what yosakoi is; or better yet, just do a search on google and youtube so you can read info and watch some dances. It's awesome.
This week, I just got my JET Programme Japanese Language Course Textbook and Workbook. Being placed into the advanced level, I have been given text books whose lessons are in Japanese. This will provide good reading practice and introductions to a wealth of new vocabulary. What sucks is that the first few lessons will be super tough, 'cause I'll have to stop every 30 seconds to look up a word I don't know that's in the lesson. >.< The workbook I was given has 504 kanji; most of which I've never learned before, or even seen. This is gonna be a challenge! I need to figure out how to pace myself for this. Let's break it down.
The course is split up into six textbooks, each distributed one month apart, from October 18 to March 17. We are given about a month and a half to complete each book, take a 50-question multiple choice test, and mail the test to the language center. The lessons in the book are designed to be completed on a daily basis over a span of four weeks; each lesson is four pages long, and there are five lessons per week, for a total of 20 lessons per book. So, it's already established that I'll be doing 4 pages of lessons per day. But what's unclear is the kanji workbook.
The kanji workbook was designed for self-study, and it is not included in the test. There are 504 kanji that the book gives. So if I split it up as evenly as possible, that means 84 kanji per month, or 21 kanji per week. Which means 4-5 kanji per lesson. That's not bad. I think.
The thing is, this is the breakdown for the kanji if I want to study them in the traditional fashion. But I've observed that it's much easier to forget kanji when it's learned in this way, and Heisig's method seems to actually work; it works in both remembering the meaning and how to write the kanji. So, I think I'll supplement my JET kanji studies with lessons from Heisig. This ends up doubling the amount of kanji I learn per day, and I'll go through 1000 by next April. But actually...I had this crazy idea in my head that I could get through all 1945 joyo kanji by this time, next year. Which, I guess is possible, if I maintain that pace of 42 kanji/week. Damn, that's 8-9 kanji a day. Back in college, we had 13 kanji a week, or so. Then again, I usually didn't study until the night before for an hour, and I managed to remember them. Alright, it's doable. I just have to bust my ass. :-)
Let me end this post by circling back to the topic I opened with: festivals. There is a massive Jidai Matsuri in Kyoto this weekend. Actually, it's this Friday. And I REALLY WANT TO SEE IT. So that means I'll be calling off work for the first time this week. Neat. I'm also excited to see my girlfriend. She's planning a little get-together/movie night with some friends, so I'll get to meet them and watch a good ol' Disney movie. We'll also check out another temple this weekend. It'll be great!
Side note: please read the comments of my previous post to find out what I learned about the milk here in Japan!
Word of the Day: 忙しい 「いそがしい」 "isogashii," which means "busy."
Thursday, October 7, 2010
October already?
I can't believe I've already been living in Japan for over two months! It really doesn't feel like that. It feels more like...a couple weeks. I was expecting that my language ability would be spectacular by now. But really, it still feels like it's plateaued, though I know that I've gained a few things, like new vocabulary, a bit of new grammar, some local dialect, and new kanji. So I guess I have improved a bit. But I suppose I'm just frustrated about not being able to understand everything that people are saying around me, or even directly to me.
Today, one of the teachers was asking the other teachers what he should do or where he should go for this three-day weekend. After some discussion, he was excited to have decided to go to Tokyo Tower. But besides those main parts, I couldn't understand what they were talking about. And just a few minutes ago, I got back from the convenience store, having purchased some food. When I was buying the siopao (a Chinese pork bun; I forget what they call them here), the clerk was asking me something. I had no idea what she said. The only thing I caught was the "-masu ka" at the end of the sentence, indicating that it was a question. So I quickly explained that "I had just moved to Japan (so my language skills suck)...", so she said "ah" and pulled out a plastic bag. I didn't even hear the word for bag (fukuro)! Maybe she was asking something along the lines of, "For here or to go?"
Then there's my students...I don't understand half of what they say. Especially the little ones, 'cause they mumble or they're so quiet or they're asking me something using little-kid vocabulary. Don't talk about bugs, ask me something about the embassy or the library! Speaking of students, I keep forgetting that one of my junior high kids (3rd year, so, equivalent to a 9th grader in the US) lived in the US for five years! The reason I keep forgetting is because whenever I see her, she rarely ever speaks English to me. Even when I grade her homework, she is always one of the top students, but not significantly better or more creative than the others.
Change of topic; I've discovered something that's baffling, amazing, and after further thought, a little troubling: I can drink the milk here. For those who don't know, I suffer from adult-type hypolactasia, also known as lactase non-persistence. Or, in layman's terms, lactose intolerance. Because I am lactose intolerant, I cannot drink a normal glass of milk without having intestinal discomfort. I won't go into detail, but lactose intolerance SUCKS. Especially because I love milk and dairy products: ice cream, cream sauces, cheese, milk-based drinks (including my awesome White Filipino). It's not very severe, so I can actually enjoy the foods without too much of an issue, but it's when I drink a glass of milk that I really feel the effects of lactose intolerance. So, to get around this problem, I take lactase enzyme supplements when I eat or drink dairy products. They work fantastically well.
At school, in both the JHS and ES, milk is provided as the drink that accompanies the school lunch. I made sure to pack a two-month supply of lactase enzymes in my suitcase before I moved to Japan. Welllll, it's been two months, and my supply is incredibly low. So I searched online if it was possible to buy lactase enzymes (or Lactaid brand milk) in Japan; and I even looked at various stores, including a large pharmacy (like a big CVS or Rite Aid), but it was a no go. One of the things I found online, though, was that someone had mentioned that a friend of theirs who was lactose intolerant didn't have problems in Japan. I pondered this. And I needed a solution to my problem of running out of lactase enzymes. I wanted to test it. So, I did.
I drank a tall glass of milk, into which I added this coffee mix (turning it into "coffee milk," a delicious drink you can find at any convenience store or supermarket). After having finished it, I didn't feel a thing! Normally, I would feel the effects within 15 minutes of drinking it; sometimes even before I finished the drink. But no, nothing. So, I tested it again the next day, and drank another coffee milk drink from a carton. Again, no issues. Hmm... Okay, the best way to test it is to use the real, pure, genuine milk that we get at school. During my first week of eating school lunch, I actually had to run to the bathroom after having drank the milk, even though I took a lactase enzyme tablet. The stuff was so thick that I could swear it's cream. (Japan loves its whole milk.) So, the day of reckoning came.
Two days ago, I drank the carton of milk at the ES. I accidentally left my lactase in my bag downstairs, too, so I had to drink it straight. I was a little nervous, because I had to teach classes in the afternoon. I didn't want to feel discomfort or have to run to the bathroom during class. Well, thankfully, the test provided good results! Again, I didn't experience any problems! I was happily surprised (or rather, relieved for the lack of "surprise"). I tested it again today, at the JHS. Again, good news.
So what's the deal? Why am I lactose intolerant in the US, but seemingly, not in Japan? What's the difference between the milk in the US versus the milk in Japan? Is it 'cause it's so damn creamy? No, that can't be it... Oh, I know.
The milk in the US is pasteurized.
What does this have to do with anything? And how can stopping a drink from being made safer possibly improve its drinkability? Well, I heard from my Canadian and American friends this past weekend that the milk here in Japan is not pasteurized. Having heard this, I was a little troubled. I know of a man in Pittsburgh who was hospitalized because his family drank a batch of bad unpasteurized milk. Not that it had "gone bad," but rather, it still contained microbes which were responsible for making his entire family get sick. So, I am well aware of the dangers of unpasteurized milk. For those who don't know, the process involves heating the milk to a certain temperature to kill all of the bacteria and other microbes that might be inside. Well, if milk is left unpasteurized, placed into a milk carton, and is consumed by someone, then that person is also drinking whatever microbes may still be present in the milk.
Now, keep in mind that not all microbes are bad. We use bacteria to make many products, including yogurt. So I speculated that perhaps the milk here in Japan contains a certain microbe that metabolizes the lactase sugar in the milk and produces very little or no bad waste products that would make us experience discomfort. If it metabolizes the lactase, then the bacteria in our intestines can't use the lactase. Normally, if the bacteria in our intestines eats lactose, the process of metabolizing it produces waste products that lead to the symptoms of lactose intolerance. But lactic acid bacteria will turn the lactose into fatty acids and other useful things without creating any troublesome products. So yeah...I'm thinking that perhaps because the milk in Japan is not pasteurized (so I've been told), then maybe it contains the wonderful lactic acid bacteria that allows me to drink milk without any gastrointestinal problems! Yay!
Now, this is all just speculation, and the only proof I have to back this up are my own experiences. There is no true scientific evidence. And I still believe that the risks of drinking unpasteurized milk outweighs the satisfaction, and if I had a choice, I would rather drink pasteurized milk with a tablet of lactase enzymes.
Speaking of scientific evidence (and such), I want to wish Richard Heck, Eiichi Negishi, and Akira Suzuki a huge congratulations for winning the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry today! Dr. Heck lives in the Philippines (Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Delaware), and the two other winners are Japanese; one is from Purdue University and the other is from Hokkaido University.
Word of the day: 牛乳 「ぎゅうにゅう」 "gyuunyuu," or "milk." Literally, "cow milk."
Today, one of the teachers was asking the other teachers what he should do or where he should go for this three-day weekend. After some discussion, he was excited to have decided to go to Tokyo Tower. But besides those main parts, I couldn't understand what they were talking about. And just a few minutes ago, I got back from the convenience store, having purchased some food. When I was buying the siopao (a Chinese pork bun; I forget what they call them here), the clerk was asking me something. I had no idea what she said. The only thing I caught was the "-masu ka" at the end of the sentence, indicating that it was a question. So I quickly explained that "I had just moved to Japan (so my language skills suck)...", so she said "ah" and pulled out a plastic bag. I didn't even hear the word for bag (fukuro)! Maybe she was asking something along the lines of, "For here or to go?"
Then there's my students...I don't understand half of what they say. Especially the little ones, 'cause they mumble or they're so quiet or they're asking me something using little-kid vocabulary. Don't talk about bugs, ask me something about the embassy or the library! Speaking of students, I keep forgetting that one of my junior high kids (3rd year, so, equivalent to a 9th grader in the US) lived in the US for five years! The reason I keep forgetting is because whenever I see her, she rarely ever speaks English to me. Even when I grade her homework, she is always one of the top students, but not significantly better or more creative than the others.
Change of topic; I've discovered something that's baffling, amazing, and after further thought, a little troubling: I can drink the milk here. For those who don't know, I suffer from adult-type hypolactasia, also known as lactase non-persistence. Or, in layman's terms, lactose intolerance. Because I am lactose intolerant, I cannot drink a normal glass of milk without having intestinal discomfort. I won't go into detail, but lactose intolerance SUCKS. Especially because I love milk and dairy products: ice cream, cream sauces, cheese, milk-based drinks (including my awesome White Filipino). It's not very severe, so I can actually enjoy the foods without too much of an issue, but it's when I drink a glass of milk that I really feel the effects of lactose intolerance. So, to get around this problem, I take lactase enzyme supplements when I eat or drink dairy products. They work fantastically well.
At school, in both the JHS and ES, milk is provided as the drink that accompanies the school lunch. I made sure to pack a two-month supply of lactase enzymes in my suitcase before I moved to Japan. Welllll, it's been two months, and my supply is incredibly low. So I searched online if it was possible to buy lactase enzymes (or Lactaid brand milk) in Japan; and I even looked at various stores, including a large pharmacy (like a big CVS or Rite Aid), but it was a no go. One of the things I found online, though, was that someone had mentioned that a friend of theirs who was lactose intolerant didn't have problems in Japan. I pondered this. And I needed a solution to my problem of running out of lactase enzymes. I wanted to test it. So, I did.
I drank a tall glass of milk, into which I added this coffee mix (turning it into "coffee milk," a delicious drink you can find at any convenience store or supermarket). After having finished it, I didn't feel a thing! Normally, I would feel the effects within 15 minutes of drinking it; sometimes even before I finished the drink. But no, nothing. So, I tested it again the next day, and drank another coffee milk drink from a carton. Again, no issues. Hmm... Okay, the best way to test it is to use the real, pure, genuine milk that we get at school. During my first week of eating school lunch, I actually had to run to the bathroom after having drank the milk, even though I took a lactase enzyme tablet. The stuff was so thick that I could swear it's cream. (Japan loves its whole milk.) So, the day of reckoning came.
Two days ago, I drank the carton of milk at the ES. I accidentally left my lactase in my bag downstairs, too, so I had to drink it straight. I was a little nervous, because I had to teach classes in the afternoon. I didn't want to feel discomfort or have to run to the bathroom during class. Well, thankfully, the test provided good results! Again, I didn't experience any problems! I was happily surprised (or rather, relieved for the lack of "surprise"). I tested it again today, at the JHS. Again, good news.
So what's the deal? Why am I lactose intolerant in the US, but seemingly, not in Japan? What's the difference between the milk in the US versus the milk in Japan? Is it 'cause it's so damn creamy? No, that can't be it... Oh, I know.
The milk in the US is pasteurized.
What does this have to do with anything? And how can stopping a drink from being made safer possibly improve its drinkability? Well, I heard from my Canadian and American friends this past weekend that the milk here in Japan is not pasteurized. Having heard this, I was a little troubled. I know of a man in Pittsburgh who was hospitalized because his family drank a batch of bad unpasteurized milk. Not that it had "gone bad," but rather, it still contained microbes which were responsible for making his entire family get sick. So, I am well aware of the dangers of unpasteurized milk. For those who don't know, the process involves heating the milk to a certain temperature to kill all of the bacteria and other microbes that might be inside. Well, if milk is left unpasteurized, placed into a milk carton, and is consumed by someone, then that person is also drinking whatever microbes may still be present in the milk.
Now, keep in mind that not all microbes are bad. We use bacteria to make many products, including yogurt. So I speculated that perhaps the milk here in Japan contains a certain microbe that metabolizes the lactase sugar in the milk and produces very little or no bad waste products that would make us experience discomfort. If it metabolizes the lactase, then the bacteria in our intestines can't use the lactase. Normally, if the bacteria in our intestines eats lactose, the process of metabolizing it produces waste products that lead to the symptoms of lactose intolerance. But lactic acid bacteria will turn the lactose into fatty acids and other useful things without creating any troublesome products. So yeah...I'm thinking that perhaps because the milk in Japan is not pasteurized (so I've been told), then maybe it contains the wonderful lactic acid bacteria that allows me to drink milk without any gastrointestinal problems! Yay!
Now, this is all just speculation, and the only proof I have to back this up are my own experiences. There is no true scientific evidence. And I still believe that the risks of drinking unpasteurized milk outweighs the satisfaction, and if I had a choice, I would rather drink pasteurized milk with a tablet of lactase enzymes.
Speaking of scientific evidence (and such), I want to wish Richard Heck, Eiichi Negishi, and Akira Suzuki a huge congratulations for winning the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry today! Dr. Heck lives in the Philippines (Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Delaware), and the two other winners are Japanese; one is from Purdue University and the other is from Hokkaido University.
Word of the day: 牛乳 「ぎゅうにゅう」 "gyuunyuu," or "milk." Literally, "cow milk."
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