March 17-23 (Mon-Sun) - “Rar” says the Dreadful Dragon

Wait, it’s been more than a year!!

Monday: Today was a grand adventure into the land of the dinosaurs! Nathan, Alice, and I went to the Dinosaur Museum in Katsuyama. Having an archaeologist in the group is a very good idea.

Before you reach the museum, you can experience what it might be like to have a T-rex coming after you under the open sky. It may be unnerving, especially seeing as he appears taller than the mountains.

Guarding the parking lot is this mosaic dinosaur, who looks a little old.

The museum is a silver dino-egg dome,

so the inside is, naturally, round. From the second floor.

I liked the fossils, 

and the moving dinosaurs.

I faced off against this one. We came to a mutual understanding.

Apparently many bones have been found in the Katsuyama area (perhaps the largest fossil site in Japan), and since they’ve discovered 3, possibly 4 new dinosaurs, these dinosaurs get named Fukui~. Here we have the Fukuisaurus,

 the Fukuiraptor,

and what may be the Fukuititan but since these are all the pieces they’ve found they may be jumping the gun:

There were lots of pretty rocks,

some skulls to climb through,

an old fish from the USA,

and possibly the best dino timeline ever created in 3D. 

Then there were fossils with wings,

and a beautiful rendition.

For lunch we ate real high-class hamburgers I forgot to photograph, then we dropped by Fukui for Alice’s classes. I got to meet a student who actually speaks English (or tries) and studies every day. Nathan and I walked the neighborhood while we waited. We didn’t find anything exciting but the weather was really nice.

It’s spring!! Almost.

Tuesday: It rained. I went to the post office and mailed a heavy package. I went shopping. I made food.

Wednesday: I walked to the post office for errands, did tkd, and in evening classes I had Jonathan take the floor for part of it. He seems to be getting used to the job.

After that we both went to Miki’s class. It was nice having another person there for when I couldn’t think of a word, but it was kind of sad realizing it was the end of weekly chats with Miki.

Thursday: I went to karaoke. Then we had the teacher’s meeting and demo lesson. The demo lesson was hilarious although, and we all admitted, thoroughly mean to Jonathan. Actually we were not the worst class. Each of us did a pretty good job of imitating several of our most annoying students and making Jonathan’s demo lesson as difficult as possible (without running around or chatting with each other or yelling or hitting things or spitting or drawing pictures or—). Luckily it was funny enough not to be too mean. I think he forgave us. It was… really… funny….

In a vengeful sort of way.

I had lunch twice because I went to okonomiyaki with people.

Friday: It’s the first day of Spring! And it’s a holiday in Japan. Mako, Kaori, and I did yoga, then we got together to make burritos.

 Alice joined us later and we made crepes. It was so fun! And delicious! 

Then Kaori freaked Alice out with a picture of a spider, and Alice told us a story of how once she killed a spider by setting it on fire. 

Saturday: I still hate Saturdays. Even though I have two classes I really like. But it’s ok. It’s almost over.

Also the sunset was gorgeous but it’s hard to take a picture while driving.

Sunday: I had a demo lesson in the morning. It was pretty fun because I knew one of the girls from one of my schools. Kaori and I walked by the river, where they have put up the lanterns and koi-nobori again. 

Everything is becoming like it was when I arrived. It’s strange. 

That night we had a welcome/farewell party for Jonathan, me, and Tomoe. It was a karaoke party! So I had a lot of fun. Although I got really thirsty because every time they ordered, I happened to be singing. I sang a lot. And ate a lot. I am satisfied. 

Here’s to one exciting year behind me and another before.

Recent Japanese:

kaseki (化石) = fossil

inseki (隕石) = meteorite

sanjyouki (三畳紀) = Triassic

juraki (ジュラ紀) = Jurrasic

hakuaki (白亜紀) = Cretaceous

shoseidai, chuuseidai, shinseidai (小生代、中生代，新生代) = paleozoic (old life era), mesozoic (middle life), cenozoic (recent life)

tsuno (角) = horn

tairyoku (体力) = endurance

March 10-16 (Mon-Sun) - Checking Stuff Off That To-Do List

Monday: Taekwon-do practice left me sore and tired, but the day was far from over. After koto we tried putting on the kimono again, this time took less time but it’s still very long. Then I explored on my way back, and finding a Book Off I hadn’t been to I popped in to grab a dozen or so cds. Then it was get gas, do grocery shopping, make dinner. I was a little worn out and slept really well.

These are all the puddings I got to try. The custard is the best.
(They are custard, fried, pumpkin, and fried cheese puddings.)

Tuesday: With no schools, I had a full productive day ahead of me. First, since the snow was so beautiful, I finally walked to this nearby shrine.

 It’s red.

It had huge beautiful ropes.

There was the funny-shaped tree.

And on the way back started my Sakura report.

Rest of the day was errands and work. It’s performance i.e. come-watch-the-class week at UFO Academy.

Wednesday: I had my last elementary school class, and last class at Itou Elementary. Itou was probably my favorite school because it was small and in the mountains, and I liked the teachers. They always met with me to let me know what they planned for the lesson. When I left I asked to take a photo and all 3rd, 5th, and 6th-grade students, plus the teachers, were in the photo. Yay!

Evening class performances. Kind of. Nobody really comes to watch. My first class they performed only 1 of the three riddles they wrote, because nobody was there. Poor kids. But they’re good sports about it, they didn’t seem to mind. In the second class there were only 2 kids, bringing the time it took for them to do their reading down by half. So… we played backup games.

I had Miki’s class after, and she brought me a souvenir from Paris and let me see her pictures.

Thursday: In the morning, Alice, Nathan and I went to breakfast at an interesting cafe (the only place open before 10), then we went to karaoke! Yay! After, lunch was okonomiyaki. Then that evening Alice and I went to a neat traditional restaurant,

to meet with Sayuri and some friends to practice English, and we ate delicious soba. 

I didn’t know soba was delicious until now.

But after the meal, they bring you the water used to cook the soba. It's in a tea cup. But it's not tea. It's rather horrible :O

Friday/Saturday: work -- but I saw a rainbow!

Sunday: The day arrived! After spending the morning fretting and trying to do my hair, I went to the Miwa house to prepare for the koto performance. Actually, it was some sort of long and detailed religious service, which was very neat, although it would have been more fun had I not been sitting out of sight in a kimono. Perseverance! 

At the start we organized these rice cakes, which would later be thrown to the waiting crowd — EXACTLY like a piñata!! I’ve never seen adults scramble for ‘candy’ like that. But they are pretty.

I got to meet my teacher’s teacher, who is the daughter of the woman who wrote the music we performed. And one of my (English) students played the Mario theme ^^

Thank you Kaori and Alice who came and watched!

Recent Japanese:

nebusoku (寝不足) = lack of sleep

torizara (取り皿) = individual plate (used to take from the main dish)

March 1st-9th (Sat-Sun) - The Desolation of Parfait

Saturday: I’m sure I worked. Not sure about the rest.

Sunday: This morning I had a demo lesson in Fukui. Two boys came, one was so shy his Dad had to help him out (which was really cute) and the other got more shy as the lesson went on and the younger proved to know more than he did. But we played a janken (rock-scissors-paper) game at the end and they both seemed to enjoy that. 

Once the lesson was over, I rushed back to Sabae for a cooking lesson. Late because of work, Alice and I missed the demonstration and explanation and were thrown right into doing what we were told. Our teammates were Nathan and Sayuri (his Japanese teacher). The class taught a pork soup (butajiro), kakiage (deep-fried veggies), an egg salad, and shiro-tama (like small mochi) in azuki. It was fun.

Later that evening most of us teachers went to see the Hobbit Part 2. The Japanese subtitles were surprisingly accurate (I thought), but the font they used was so fantasy-ish it was hard to read. I’m a little sad I can’t see that movie in IMAX 3D, as it seems that’s what it was made for. Oh well.

After the movie we ate at an ‘American’ food family restaurant-type place, it was fine, but realizing my limited time left to do so I decided to try a parfait. So I got this big parfait and it was lovely. 

Well, it looks better than it tastes maybe, or at least I imagine I could make a better one, but it was fun. The strawberry ice cream was not real ice cream (milk ice), the vanilla was (shock), the strawberries on top were real and not frozen (shock), then there was a layer of azuki, some pudding, and the bottom was substandard jellified strawberries. But the important part is it was fun :)

Monday: After tkd class, I had lots of stuff to do so headed immediately to Fukui (“the city”). First, I had to pick up a koto for rent. It makes me excited to have my own! And getting out I had to cross this intersection, which is possibly the most frustrating in the world. Look. How do I get THERE?

After I traversed that heart-attack, I eventually made it to a parking lot and went shopping. I don’t usually go to the city so it was odd, especially because it was daytime.

I went straight to koto lesson, and after we finished my teacher wanted to practice putting the kimono on me. It took a long, long time. It’s super complicated! There are only two or three layers, but you use maybe 30 pieces, 10+ of those are strings to keep stuff in place, and at least 5 of those are pieces to make you square. (Or tube-like, I suppose.) But it was cool.

Tuesday: Having mostly recovered from the flu, I had to clean my entire apartment and do all my laundry to make sure there were no germs remaining. Can’t take chances.

Since I had to wait for my laundry anyway, I decided to go get ramen!! but it was closed for some reason I didn’t understand. So instead I went to Okonomiyaki. 

The Complete Guide to Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki (look for お好み焼き) means ‘whatever you like fried’. The standard mix is cabbage, batter, egg, benishouga (red pickled ginger), and maybe cheese and negi (green onion), then you have selections such as tomato, pork, kimchi pork, extra extra cheesy, mochi (chewy rice cake) and cheese, various seafood, etc. My favorites are mocheese and kimchi pork. You get a bowl of stuff (this is buta tama, pork egg onion); 

which you mix and stick on the burner in a round shape (after applying oil 油 to the burner). 

After it cooks for a bit you can use the spatulas to further shape it. It doesn’t take long, perhaps 5 minutes, before it’s time to flip it. Voila!

Then it has to cook the other side. Don’t forget to turn off the burner before it’s actually done, as the burner will take some time to cool.

Whenever you want, you can apply toppings. Okonomiyaki sauce is thick and sweet (and perhaps salty), usually you brush it on, followed by mayonnaise, aonori (seaweed), and katsuobushi (bonito/fish flakes). All optional. I don’t like seaweed but I like a bit of aonori, whereas I don’t see fish flakes belonging anywhere near MY okonomiyaki. Behold, perfection.

Then you cut and serve. If I’m hungry I can eat a full okonomiyaki, but any more and it’s pushing it. This lunch special included a salad, yakisoba (I learned you are supposed to fry it with the sauce!!), a small okonomiyaki, and dessert:

Pretty, right?

Wednesday: On the way back from Ito I finally went to see where this bridge led to. 

And finally investigated the children’s park. It had the longest roller-slide I’d EVER SEEN…

…so of course I had to try it, even though it was raining. 

My oshiri was soaking wet and sore. But it was worth it. Even if I had to go shopping afterwards.

(However, I recommend if you ever go down one of these, use a carpet or a sled.)

Thursday: I had my last class at Sabae Higashi, and made it a giant game day mimicking what I’d done with Hugh. I had new teacher Jonathan there to watch, and I think it went OK. After the class all the kids wanted me to sign their stuff, which was funny but took forever. 

With my private class I also practiced koto, and was pretty tired when I got back.

Friday: Work.

Saturday: After work I hung out with Team Sunday (even though it’s Saturday), Mako made delicious nacho-like french-fries and we watched an old Shaolin Martial Arts movie.

Sunday: Kaori and I did yoga for the first time in a while, then it was time to give Jonathan a driving lesson. He did fine, seems he’ll get used to it in no time. Then we went shopping.

That evening a bunch of us went to curry and afterward we had a pictionary/taboo party. Games yay!

Recent Japanese:

monogusa (物臭) = laziness, lazy person

tobi (鳶) = black kite (a very common bird around here)

shuuhenshikaku (周辺視覚) = peripheral vision

February 22-28 (Sat-Fri) - I Don’t Like The Flu

Saturday: I woke feeling very, very sick. But I had an extra, early class, so I had to wrestle myself up and get to it. It was fun other than that I was sick. 

My next class, the kids asked about my peppermint-oil necklace, which I wore because I was feeling nauseous. I let them smell, and because it smells like mint, the little girl was convinced there must be gum inside. (Because that’s the only mint you’ll find in Japan!) 

Struggled through my next classes, and by the time I got home I was about to die. Took a bath to try and warm up, was a little worried I was going to fall asleep and drown, but although I did fall asleep, I didn’t drown, so that’s good. Went to bed at 8 and slept 12 hours. Kind of. I hurt too much all over to sleep properly.

I didn’t know at the time but muscle pain, fever, chills, etc. are good signs of the flu. And it definitely wasn’t just a cold.

I’m not surprised I caught it, I should have expected it, interacting with so many people as I do.

And it’s so cold when you have to go places. Walk the corridor, it’s cold. And when you go to the bathroom, it’s cold. And when you wash your hands it’s freezing cold. And if there is a hand-dryer it’s also freezing cold. 

Well I was freezing. Thank goodness for heating blankets.

Sunday: My definition of misery ended when my fever broke. But I was still sick and stayed in bed all day.

Monday: And all day.

I’d just gone shopping before I got sick. Very sad. Here is a an-pan-pastry thing I only got to enjoy half of.

Tuesday: Then I had to work. Then I learned if I’d gone to the hospital and proved I had the flu I’d have gotten work off… but then it’s the last class for almost all my schools and my nursery school this week :( So I persevered through it. Stupidly. Hope I didn’t get anyone sick. 

Last lesson at Yoshikawa, we played games. At first the kids were kind of as rowdy as ever, but they liked the games so I think it ended up fun. There is one special-needs kid in one class, she’s always really shy and like never speaks in Japanese let alone English, but for whatever reason, she was super hyper. She came up to me before class with an enthusiastic greeting, and said she[‘d] had the flu. Maybe that was why. But it was really cute. And at the end of that class, the last one, her caretaker, whom I’ve always really liked, talked with me, then announced to the teacher’s room I would be leaving for good, so they actually said goodbye, and that was really nice. 

At Yutaka, we’re on the ‘what do you want to be?’ lesson, and in previous classes a few students had to ask me how to say what they want to be in English. Here, every single student had to ask me, and it varied wildly, from psychiatrist to power-plant worker to self-defense force (really!). I could understand or translate all of it, but trying to figure out how to say it in English proved more difficult. How do you say ‘clothing-store worker’ more succinctly? What’s a person who makes a car? I couldn’t think of these things on the spot. But I was impressed at the variety. There were multiple manga artists and nursery-school teachers, and sports stuff, but that was about it.

Survived through evening classes. Barely. Made soup. Ate soup. Went to sleep.

Wednesday: At Ito I had my last 3rd-grade lesson. We played games and it was fun. At Kawada I watched the kids rehearse then perform their original Momotaro stories. One group in particular did a very good job, with a good story, clear roles and lines, and a happy ending. And they worked out their gestures and fights very well. It was quite amusing. I’ll miss those kids.

Thursday: My last nursery school class! Oh no! I played games the entire time, and at the end, all of my students came together to make a tunnel which I walked through (I was pretty proud of myself), then they presented me with a photo and board with notes from the older kids. Aww! I’m so sad!! Goodbyes are hard.

That night I made fried rice! It was tasty.

Friday: This was a long day, but Hugh and I team-taught almost all of it. I helped him out with the Miyazaki 3rd-graders, which was entertaining, we separated for 5th-grade, and for 6th we brought our classes together in a big room to play a bunch of games. Hugh thought it all out and it was great. We started with a hockey game, played with foam swords and a tiny dying ball, which was super fun, then the kids had to do a bingo worksheet, which they had fun with, then they made paper airplanes with the worksheet and saw who could throw the farthest, then at last we had a running around game like Simon Says but without Simon. Hugh is a master of this game. We had ‘jobs’ cards in designated squares; comedian, vet, and florist. Very first, he would yell ‘comedian!’ while pointing towards one of the others, and at least half the kids would start for the one he pointed to. Add in stand-up sit-down and ‘I don’t know!’ and it was hilarious to watch and apparently very entertaining to play. The kids had a blast, and it was really a great last class. I think my 6th-grade teacher at Miyazaki might be my favorite English teacher, though she didn’t start that way. The best teacher is the teacher who always improves, right? Miyazaki is definitely my favorite school. Sad to say byebye.

That afternoon we replayed the group activities first with both my 5th-grade classes, then with both Hugh’s 6th-grade classes at Kitanakayama. I enjoyed myself. It was pretty sad to say goodbye to those classes too. There are some real characters there. A couple of the girls were quite dismayed to learn I wouldn’t be returning. ‘If we happen to meet someday, remember me,’ said one girl. So cute!

Maybe it was the running around, or the sheer fun of it, or just another day, but I felt almost not sick by the end of the day.  

Recent Japanese:

jieitai (自衛隊) = self-defense force

rikujou (陸上) = track and field