Day 7-I discovered fashion!

This is my post for Saturday, August 20th!

Friday I bought two skirst and a shirt at a second-hand clothes store (古着屋 or furugiya) and I wore one Saturday a.m. It's a really cute black and white striped skirt! I wore it with a white button-up and a brown belt. Then in the afternoon, my friend and I went to a different furugiya and got a shirt that would go with it, but be a bit more casual. This is the following outfit:

super-strong chuu-hai that I never got to drink :(
I am queen of weird faces.

Intentionally clashing horizontal stripes with vertical strips! The shirt is also black and white with a peter-pan lace collar. It is super cute, right? The shirt, skirt and belt are all from furigiya, the shoes I bought in Tokyo's Marui (0101) department store. They are 'model size' which means they are for 'big feet'. I have size 8.5/9 feet, which I think are pretty average, right? Okay, enough about fashion!

waa! Look! Look!
Another weird face :D

We did puri-cura after our long day of shopping, to make it an official girly date!

Last night was also a work nomikai. We went to a really nice bar on the main drag called Qzo. They have a food+nomihodai course that included fondue! It was a really lovely night of overeating. Here we all are! Photo quality is not the best, in case you haven't noticed, because I've been using my cell phone's camera.

Fondue!

Well, that's it! I'm sorry about the terribly delayed post...

I have to do two today >.<

xoxo

Day 6-Not much to say...

I have a feeling that this is going to be my downfall...Not much to say!

I went to work at my new JHS again today! Basically the same as yesterday, minus the tour (although, I could definitely use another tour!). Finished the information for "Miss Lydia's English Board" which I hope will be interesting...I color coded it, so it at least should catch student's eyes...I guess I should post a picture of that? I will do that in another post...sorry -_-;;

Tonight I went to two different nomiyas. Nomiya (飲み屋) quite literally means drinking shop, or bar.

The first was Igo's bar, which I went to with Damon. Igo loves metal music, in particular Metallica and Slayer, both bands I know little about. But the atmosphere is always great. We went there quite early tonight, so the bar was empty until half an hour before we left. If we had stayed longer, I am sure we would have met the other customers. As it was, I left totally sober (had a beer and lots of tea) so I went onto my friend Meg's restaurant.

First, a picture from Igo's bar:

The chef (Takumi?? Takkun!) makes decent Italian food, and started us off with some lovely onion rings (not that I am claiming those are Italian...). He also made Damon a carbonara pasta dish and, although it wasn't on the menu, it was so good! Interesting note: although I kinda knew Takkun from previous excursions to Igo's bar, I never actually knew him until I went to Meg's restaurant.

Which brings me to the next part of my night! I went to Meg's restaurant for girl talk and, of course, Ossan was there! Ossan (おっさん）is actually quite a rude term for older men (it's like calling your father "my old man" but more rude). I used to call him Take-chan (and we all know chan is a suffix you add to names of younger children or people you're really close to) because my friend Meg calls him Take-chan (they have been friends for a while). But he is almost 20 years older than I am, so one day when I was talking to him, I was joking around and called him 'old man' but HE LIKED IT! The nick-name stuck and now many people call him that. 

In general I had a great night! I spoke more Japanese than I expected, ate some delicious food, and it wasn't raining so my bike ride back home was smooth and safe! It's nights like these that I really love Morioka <3

xoxo

Sorry for the crummy post...

Day 5-New School! New Food!

Today was my first day at my new JHS, Mirumae! It is much bigger than my last JHS. Otobe has around 290 students, and Mirumae has over 500! WOW! That's a lot of students! There are 5 classes in each grade, Otobe only had 3 per grade...So, that's 15 classes versus 9! I'm going to be teaching a LOT more than I did last year. Mixed blessings, I think. I *would* rather complain about working too much, than working too little. At least this way I'm actually doing something!

I was only at Mirumae for half a day, and I did not do much. After a tour of the school (I'm going to get super lost, I already know this), I wrote out a small intro profile about me (focusing on where I am from).  OH quick side note: My school is so big, I get to post "Miss Lydia's English Board" in THREE DIFFERENT PLACES! One on each floor, so the different grades don't have to share one board.

After I wrote out my little "I'm from Kansas..." bit, I worked on an English recitation with a 2nd year student and his English teacher. This is the same guy who gave me the tour around the school, but boy was his personality different. I can tell that the second years won't be giving me any lip at this school. I can honestly say I am a little relieved, although the student we were working with was obviously becoming increasingly upset every time the teacher told him his pronunciation was okashii (strange). All I could do was to tell him "good job" after he said a word with [what I judged as] good pronunciation. In the end, with me telling the him "good job" and his teacher telling him "okashii" I can only imagine he is even worse off.

My first day of work. Lasted a few hours. Got home by 1 and had lunch!! I made tumuric rice and served it warm with natto. In case you don't know what natto (納豆) is, it's fermented soy beans. It smells like it sounds, fermented beans. You know that really smelling cheese? Limburger? I always think of that and blue cheese when I eat natto. I mean, I don't know what limburger tastes like, but despite the way it smells, people still like it. That's what natto is.

Doesn't that look super appealing?

I know you want to try it...it comes with shiso tare (perilla flavored sauce)

Natto is always one of those things that comes up in a conversation with a Japanese person you've just met (most likely someone older, like a co-worker, or a principle of a school)

Japanese Person: Oh, you're Japanese is so good (lie)

Lydia: No, no...I'm still learning.

JP: Well, what sort of Japanese foods do you like?

L: I really like beef, so some of my favorites are sukiyaki and gyudon.

JP: Oh, well, don't you like sushi?

L: Of course, but I don't eat shellfish. Only fish, like salmon and tuna.

JP: So you can't eat raw food.

L: No...I like raw salmon and tuna. I'm Jewish so--(*think twice about trying to explain being kosher*) I don't like shellfish.

JP: I see. Well, what sort of Japanese foods do you hate?

L: (Oooh, I see where THIS is going. But I wont let you win this one, I've been training with natto the way a marathoner trains for long distance! By JUST DOING IT!) OH YOU MEAN NATTO?! I LOVE THAT STUFF (lie).

Ask any ALT (exchange student, worker) in Japan. They have had this conversation many times. Whether or not they like natto depends on the person, but the conversation generally follows the same path.

My masterpiece: Turmeric rice with natto.

The ingredients in the rice: rice, water, some chicken bullion, red pepper, tomato.

This was one of those recipes that made itself. I decided I wanted rice (since I had my lovely rotten soy beans), but I didn't want plain rice. So I threw a whole red pepper (minus the seeds and stem, of course) and a few mini-tomatos into my food processor and added them to the cooking rice (half cup) with a few shakes of turmeric, some chicken bullion and set the lid on. I added water and stirred as I saw fit, so it ended up like risotto in consistency, instead of the Japanese-style sticky short rice I wanted. BUT it was still good. And it went surprisingly well with the strong taste of the natto. Tomorrow I will just make normal rice and natto...Maybe throw some kimchi on it. That's a good, simple way to eat natto. 

Well, I hope this wasn't a terribly gross update. 

Eat more natto!

xoxo

Day 4-Where did day 3 go?

As long as I write 30 posts in 30 days, it's ok. Right? Can I re-write the rules to this game? Challenge? Is this cheating?

Post comments below.

Bye!

xoxo

I kid! I kid! Did you think I would just leave it at that? Of course I'm going to post something. This is the next post of the rest of my life! I'm not going to mess around with that sort of thing.

Who here knows about gacha machines? It's ガチャ (gacha) in Japanese and they are probably the coolest thing ever. Just a little dispenser machine where, for 100￥ to 400 ￥, you can get some sort of key-chain, toy, or in the following case, a basil plant!!

Rerakkuma adorns my lovely basil plant :D

 I spent 200￥ ($2.60) on this really cute Rerakkuma (Relax Bear) potted plant. I wish I had taken a picture when I first got it, but I didn't. This is about two weeks of growth! The set came with a little pot, a disk of dirt that grew when I first watered it, and 5 little seeds. It was so fun to watch them pop out of the dirt, and as you can tell, some grew faster than others. I can't wait to start using the basil, although it seems cruel to eat something I raised from a seed...Does that make me a sort of anti-vegetarian? "I refuse to eat anything I've grown myself!"

I want to go to the mall and see if this gatcha machine is still around! I want to get Italian parsley and the chamomile plants, but I would be happy just to get a few more plants to keep my basil company. I wonder how long they will live? I guess as long as I continue to water them and put them in the sun, they will keep growing. Until winter, that is (dun dun DUNNN).

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I was invited to go out to dinner with a friend last night and before we met up, I went to a book store to do tachi yomi ( 立ち読み) or reading while standing. This happens in the US, particularly at bookstores, so it's not an unheard of occurrence. But, I heard that it is especially common in convenience stores with young men who live alone. It is really common to see 3 or 4 men standing at the magazine racks, especially later at night, reading a comic book or magazine. I guess there is a sense of camaraderie, just standing next to another person and reading. Maybe they feel like they are being social, without having to actually talk? Who knows, all I really know is that, despite the fact that these men (and women) might not actually buy anything at the convenience store, they aren't forced to leave. However, some stores wrap their magazines in plastic to prevent this from happening.

The were a lot of people at the bookstore, doing the tachi yomi thing, especially around the girls fashion magazines, so I went to the next best thing. COOKING MAGAZINES! I grabbed the following magazine:

Curry Magazine!

This magazine is called 料理男子 (ryouri danshi or "cooking men" or Men who cook?). This issue is, as you can see, ALL ABOUT CURRY! I am super excited to try making ALL the recipes! Who knows, maybe I'll make one on Friday! I have a friend who LOVES curry, and she has infected me with the curry bug. I have currently loaned her the magazine, and together we will make some delicious curry! I will post step-by-step photos of the adventure, so keep an eye out for that!

Which brings me to the best part of the night: yakiniku! 焼き肉 is absolutely my favorite interactive dining style. You pay ridiculous prices to cook your own meat and veggies, wear a silly paper bib, and leave feeling full and smelling like meat. What's not to like?? Can you see the bib in the picture? I have to say, we looked quite cool.

This lamb really wants me to eat it.

The restaurant was called Ra mu (羅夢) and it serves...lamb! I think the name of the restaurant is sort of a pun...what do you think? The Japanese word for lamb is hitsuji (羊）so I am not really sure...Maybe it's a clever play on the owner's name? Maybe he/she is Ramu Takeshi or Kikuchi Ramu? I'll never know, because the restaurant is closing! So sad! It was super good, and would turn any lamb-hater into a lamb-eater. We also had some really delicious eggplant, another under-appreciated food. Eat more eggplant!

After two and a half hours of eating and socializing, I was BURNT. OUT. I had a lovely, half-asleep bike ride home and, despite how tired I was, I tossed and turned in bed for an hour before finally falling asleep.

I blame it on that one sip of Red Bull I had.

That's a drink that is over-appreciated. I don't think I like that stuff...

That's it for now! Tomorrow I start work at my new school! Can you guess what I will write about?

xoxo

Day 2.5--I'm confused. (Let's just call this day 3 ^_^)

Why did they make this? Who drinks it?

Suntory All-Free.

I question the point of this...No calories, no"sugariness; saccharinity"(whatever that means) and no alcohol! Triple whammy!

I guess it's for older salary men who quit drinking, younger men who are on a diet and stil l want to look masculine, and women who overly concerned with calorie counting.

Oh, and supposidly it STILL tastes like beer.
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I tasted it AND it doesn't taste like beer. It's super bitter, and has an aftertaste that lasts FOREVER. I gave up after one sip.

Day 2-Attempting to update from my cell phone.

(without spell check*gasp*)

Today I had a day trip in Tono City. It is famous for kappa, uber cute water demons. If you have read Harry Potter, they are mentioned in one of the first three books in the DADA class...with Lupin? Ugh, I don't remember...Anyway, one of the pictures I posted shows me as a kappa. Uber cute, right?

Me as a kappa! Being carried away by a *not* perfect boy!

I wanted to meet one, but my friend told me they will only show themselves to the perfect woman. 完全な女？Something like that...But he might have just been making fun of me.

I am still unsure about whether or not they are *good* but I'm thinking kappa are one of those spirits that are both? Like, some stories about them have them as the cute, goofy creature, and some stories have them as an evil, mischievous demon? I could look them up, but...

Look at the pretty lights!

We also watched a big fireworks display. It is pretty difficult to try and take a photo of fireworks, especially when your camera has a two second delay and you are also trying to watch at the same time...
Well, I did a second post! I will add some more, as well as turn these three posts into one when I get home tomorrow morning!

xoxo

お久しぶり

お久しぶりーlong time no see

Today I'm challenging myself. It's a 30-day challenge.

I have obviously been extremely under-motivated to write in this blog, and I wanted to try and challenge myself to change that.

My lovely twin sister told me recently that if you try to do something for 30days, really try, it will become habit. Or, you will change your habits. I'm not really sure. I've also heard the numbers 21 and 14 from other people BUT the point is, if you make an attempt to do something for 30, 21, or 14 days, it will become habit.

Here I go.

-Day 1-

Today I FINALLY got that food processor I've been wanting. Or was it a blender that I've been wanting? Uh-oh...Well, I really wanted to make smooth soup, and this food processor I bought said スープ(suupu) so naturally I bought it. It took me three stores and a long, hot and sweaty bike ride to get the machine, and I almost bought an ice cream maker instead (which I still really want--it was a used one for 2100 yen, about $27), but I managed to stay on track.

I made this:

(photo taken with my cell-phone camera)

I call it....'Red stuff' soup

Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

2 "baby" green bell peppers

half a yellow onion

half a leek

garlic

olive oil

*salt, pepper and various spices (paprika, oregano, chili pepper, cumin)

**1/2 cup water mixed with chicken bullion to taste (chicken broth would work, but I've yet to find that in Japan)

*A variety of other spices would be good: thyme, rosemary, basil

**I did not measure the water, this is an approximate guess

The serving size depends on how you serve this...if it's a main dish, maybe 1 and a half. If it's a side dish, around 3. Also, using more or less chicken broth changes the serving size more.

Method (In the first person):

I roasted the peppers over my burner (not the safest thing I've ever done...BE CAREFUL WITH OPEN FLAMES!), and set them aside in a plastic bag to "sweat" so they would be easier to peel. 

Meanwhile, I put the onion, garlic and some olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat, with occasional stirring to encourage caramelization, NOT burning (burnt garlic is not good eats, as my hero Alton Brown would say ^_^). After they had caramelized, I dropped in the leek, and the spices. 

After the 5 or 6 minutes I peeled the skin off the peppers (or, as much as I could). This was the most time  consuming part, and eventually I just used my knife to peel what skin I could. I chopped them into square-inch chunks and popped them into my NEW FOOD PROCESSOR! I WHIIIIRRRRED them until they looked pretty smooth, then I added it to the fry pan with the onion, leeks and spices. 

Stirred that, let it reach a simmer then transferred it back into my food processor for a final chop up. Dumped that BACK into the fry pan (I know, a lot of back and forth...), added in my water-chicken bullion mix and let it reach a final simmer. 

Done.

It was pretty good, but I added more cumin in the end. I think maybe a splash of creme in the final cooking period would have also been nice.

I love cooking! It's fun to follow recipes, deviate from recipes, or just make up your own! Today I just made up my recipe, which is why I can't guarantee a serving size. Also, this recipe would be good with a variety of ingredient swaps. Veggie broth instead of chicken broth. Cauliflower or squash instead of peppers. Honestly, this is such a basic soup, but it's super delicious!

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As for the Japan part of this update...It has been SO. LONG. I don't even know where to start.

There was the March, 11 earthquake, 3rd-years graduation at the JHS where I teach, a trip to Gifu in Toyama Prefecture during Golden week, Gassan Rock festival in Yamagata Prefecture, Sansa Festival in Morioka...Many things.

                  

I was under prepared for the earthquake and for within a week, most stores had limited supplies save beer so...had to stock up on whatever I could get! 

In Gifu, we went to an old, abandoned mining town. It was pretty cool, in an end-of-the-world sort of way...

  

  









Sansa Festival in Morioka! I don't have pictures of the dance, but I have a picture of me with friends, on the left, and a picture of Ryuta Sasaki, some guy in Ossan's band, and Ossan.

I will write more about Sansa in another post! I have to leave myself things to write if I'm to fill 30 days...

Wish me luck!

School Lunch

So, most of my peers (the other Assistant Language Teachers in Morioka) bring lunch to school, but I have opted for school lunch. It's called 'kyuushoku' and we get ours from a company which prepares lunch for many of the schools in my area. Interestingly enough, when I went to teach at an elementary school two weeks ago, it had the exact same lunch that was scheduled for my middle school. This is how I leaned that lunches in Japanese schools are something that's outsourced...Which I guess is pretty cool?

Some people might know that I studied school lunch for my thesis, so it's actually pretty exciting to experience it first hand...at least that's what I told myself in the beginning. I have been disappointed by the amount of pork that shows up in the lunch, but I should not be surprised, since that seems to be the cheapest meat here. I tend to eat around the pork, but I've accidentally eaten my fair share of babe...sorry D:

School lunches are, in theory, calculated for nutrition, calories, etc. However, the teachers are always served more, and there is never any nutrition count on the menu, so I never know how many calories I am eating. Look at the pictures, and you'll see that I get a HUGE lunch, which I never, EVER finish! 

We have some pretty weird school lunches, let me tell you. But I guess they are all..."Japanese" in a way. Here are some pictures!

This one has some mini fish in it which I did NOT eat. I'm sorry, I've bitten into mini fish like this before, only to find that their stomachs, and the contents of their stomachs, are still there. It's not a very pleasant taste/feeling. The thing on the left looks like a curry sauté of veggies and pork, but I can't be sure. The soup is a veggie/mushroom chicken broth soup. And we have a weird, mango-milk drink which we all disliked.

Why do I need two croissants? I don't! The school lunches are probably always about 1000 calories, especially for me. As a teacher, I always get bigger portions but as an adult, I have a smaller appetite than 12-15 year olds. We have here an egg quiche with squash in it, a veggie sauté and a bowl of mixed veggie soup. Don't forget the milk. It's 3.6, which means whole? Mmm...

Another lunch I couldn't finish! Pasta with eggplant and bacon (which I picked out), a squash 'croquette' which was super delicious, and a veggie and tofu soup. And milk. The milk is always there!

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So I showed you three days, and two of them had bread. I should point out that these were non-consecutive days, and there are more lunches with rice in them than bread. I've been forgetting to take photos of my lunches, and I apologize for having only three.

I tend to enjoy at least half of every lunch: the soup is always delicious (when there isn't random shellfish in it), and one of the side dishes is kosher. Next week there is a meal that has shellfish or pork in every dish (besides the rice and milk, of course), so I am going to have a bit of trouble with that.

Sorry for the delay in posting. It happens...I'm lazy.

I will *try* to post tomorrow about the other aspects of my life.

Enjoy the pictures:

The first is a picture of an acorn squash I cooked myself! I called my host mother for a recipe, and this is the end result. The squash was from a coworker, who farmed it himself. It was a HUGE squash, and I still have half of it left. I'm not sure if it's still good...

The second picture are some grapes I got from another coworker. The are sooo delicious! I might add that this is maybe...8-12 dollars worth of grapes. They are super expensive in Japan, but she went to an orchard and picked them herself. 

The last pic is my kotatsu. All the books are Japanese language books that I have purchased in the past two weeks. I am studying for the JLPT level 3, which will be in December. I hope to pass it and take level 2 next July. Ugh....Japanese is difficult.

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Well, that's it for now! LA