Wow!! We did it! What a milestone!

They're beds, what do you expect?!

I was walking through Midori Denki the other day and saw this bed on display. I thought it was funny that they would need to put outlines of people sleeping on the beds...they're beds, I'm sure customers can imagine what they're used for.

I also thought it was interesting, the concept of sleeping arrangements families have in Japan. The dad on his side, on the tiny bed with no room to roll, and the mother and child(and the child isn't a baby either!) on the slightly bigger bed. Well, at least this family is sleeping in the same room. Often times, the dad sleeps in his own room, and the mom and kids sleep in another room.

I hope he wins!!

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Yup, that's how I feel too!

Midnight madness

There's this 6-part TOEIC (a type of business English test) course that my boss is teaching every two weeks now, on top of our regular class schedule. I'm not teaching it, but I'm helping with the transcript translation, which is turning out to be a translation of basically the whole textbook. Neither of us had this in mind when we planned this, so the prepping gets insane the night before the class, 'cause even though we try, we just can't get it all done until the night before.

We've had two classes so far, meaning we've basically had to do an all-nighter before each class. It's crazy. It's really hard to try to do massive amounts of translating 5-7 hours straight in the wee hours of the morning. My brain stops functioning.

So my boss has had to teach the 2.5 hour class with 1 hour of sleep last time, and 2 hours of sleep this time. 2 down, 4 more to go! I hope my boss doesn't pass out from exhaustion one of these days!

What were we thinking...

Food again!

As I mentioned before, people over here often bring you food. Today, a student came by to take a practice test for about 2 hours...neither I or my boss had to actually teach or anything, she just came to take the test on her own, we just provided the material. About an hour after she left, I heard the front door opening and wondered who it was...the student came back with two chirashi-sushi sets, saying thank you! I appreciated her gesture, but it was loaded with seafood, so I gave mine to my boss =).

Earlier in the day, another student came by and brought coffee and tea for us!

This custom of receiving food (out of the blue, to me it seems) always surprises me. I always think "Wow, thanks, but geez, what's this for? What did I do to deserve this???"

Rose along the sidewalk

I was waiting behind my condo complex for my ride to come and saw this lone rose standing tall. I felt like it was calling me so I walked over and smelled it...it had a really deep scent. Sometimes I feel like nature can talk...this rose seemed to call me over and tell me "hey, I'm standing upright by myself over here and living the moment...hope you do to."

Sushi.....minus the fish and meat

Would it come to you as a surprise if I said I like sushi....even though I'm vegetarian?!

Well, I do.

I like going to the kaiten-sushi, the restaurant that has plates of sushi coming around to you on a conveyer belt and you can just pick whatever you want to eat. It's quite entertaining. When people imagine sushi, it's usually raw fish on rice. But I don't do fish....in matter of fact, I don't like to do anything that once used to move. So what do I eat, you say?!

There are eggs, corn-mayo, sour plum rolls, natto, and avocado-shrimp(I yank the shrimp out!). There are some others, but I can't remember what. Most people have a hard time narrowing down what to fill their stomachs with, since they have like 30 different kinds of sushi they have to choose from. Me, I have no problem at all! There are probably less than 10 for me to choose from, and typically I only eat the same 5 kinds, so I don't have to constantly keep one eye out on the sushi passing by, and one eye on the sushi I'm eating.

Another odditiy of mine is that I CANNOT under NO circumstances, eat WASABI. If I have to, I'm willing to wash down seafood or meat, but not wasabi. That stuff just makes me wanna gag. So when I go eat sushi, I always order the kiddie plates that have no wasabi =).

PS. Shino, I know you're laughing at me! My version of "sushi" is flat-out not even considered "sushi" in your book, huh?!

Yummy!

My friend sent me my mail from the States and stuck a bunch of Reese's inside! Last time I asked her to bring a bar or two of Twix and some Reese's pieces...she brought a case of each! I put them in the freezer, so I'm still thawing and eating them when I feel like it, but I still have a whole lot more left =). My friend must've wanted to test my will power =).

Several years ago, I asked her if she could bring some fruit roll ups for me when she came to visit, and from then on, she took to bringing me what seemed like a whole years worth of fruit roll ups every time! After the 2nd or 3rd year, I had to tell her that I really appreciated the fruit roll ups, but I needed a break from them.

Two Birthdays!

So this is about last weekend again, after Kaoru and I (and more than half the Resilience staff) went to the talk on Sunday. We had a surprise party for Kaoru, since it was her birthday in a few days. The Resilience staff is nice about picking vegetarian-friendly restaurants if we go out to eat, so I get to enjoy the food too, instead of having to worry about what in the world I'm about to put in my mouth.

Kaoru didn't realize we were having a birthday party for her...until Nosaka san decided to spill the beans as we ordereded drinks =).

To a new life!!

The next day, we had another surprise birthday party for Kaoru's son, Hiroki, since it was almost his birthday too. We made an assortment of food and it was a whole lot of fun. Never thought there'd be a day like this, where I'm actually just enjoying hanging out with friends...in Japan!

Yes, it's a birthday cake, but the way they're posing, it kinda looks like a wedding cake, huh?! hee hee.

I don't know how she did it.

I went to Tokyo last weekend to listen to this lady from Canada speak. I couldn't really tell from the title what she was really going to talk about, but I'd heard about her several times and was curious to hear what she had to say. Another reason I went was because I wanted to learn more on how my friend, Sachi, translates.

Let me tell you, Sachi is REAL good at translating. But this day's translating must've been more than challenging even for her. Of course, she pulled it off without hardly any glitches. (Although she has the funniest look of "what in the world are you talking about lady!" on her face in the pic above.)

Man OH man, the speaker was incredibly difficult to translate. I tried to take notes and practice translating in my head, but I gave up after the first 5 minutes. I don't know how Sachi did it. I think if it were me, I would have thrown my pen and said "sorry, no can do ma'am" and walked out. It wasn't the topic that made the whole thing difficult, but just the way the speaker's train of thought worked...anyways, what I learned was that you gotta basically be able to think like the speaker and kinda try to read the speaker's mind, on top of knowing the content well, if you wanna be a good translator. Just knowing the words doesn't help.

Carrying around the gods

This was just the oddest thing. I was in Tokyo waiting in the restaurant for the rest of the group to come, and I look out the window on a busy street and I see a bunch of people wearing green clothes carrying a....what do you call it...it's a portable alter that carries the gods around...omikoshi(??) around. Now I see this happen once or twice a year in Sanda, and even that strikes me as odd, but Sanda is in the country so I can understand people sticking to those old traditions....but here in Toyko? In the middle of a busy street?!

I don't understand it. Do the gods here have to take certain route to get to their destination? Why's it gotta be on a busy street where they end up stopping traffic? It's awesome how old traditions are kept alive in modern times, but I still am so surprised by it whenever I see it happening before my eyes. You don't know what to make of it.

More flavors!

This time I found grape flavor and houjicha(roasted green tea) flavor! Grape flavor and Kit-Kat didn't go that well together. But I liked the tea one. I don't really know what houjicha is supposed to taste like, but it seemed like a good match.

Repainting the deck

The other day, the weather was so nice I suddenly decided to take on the patio deck re-painting project I'd been putting off for quite some time. I had to first move all the stuff my mom had put on the patio, which was a pain. Of course, the mosquitos were still out trying to fill their stomachs, so I had two katorisenkos going. After several hours of moving, cleaning, and repainting, I finally finished and was quite exhausted, but satisfied with the outcome. I actually made this deck couple of years ago! Above, I've just started painting, but already tired.

Students and vegetables

It's so interesting how students often bring home-grown vegetables or fruit for us here. It's really nice of them!

Kit Kat-watermelon flavor!

 

People over here absolutely love "limited edition" stuff. This goes for food too. Something I've noticed lately and like trying out are the different flavors of Kit Kat they come out with every few weeks or months. I've seen some pretty odd flavors that get me thinking "why would I want a Kit Kat in THAT flavor??"

I noticed this watermelon flavored one recently at Seven-Eleven and I tried it. It really tasted like watermelon! That's something that amazes me over here...if the package says such-and-such-flavor, then they really make it taste exactly like that!

Randy Pausch

I happened to pick up his book called "The Last Lecture" at the Seattle airport in August. I ended up reading the whole book in one sitting(well yes, it was a long flight), along with another book I picked up. Wow, what can I say? It was so inspirational. After I got back to Japan, I found his last lecture online and was mesmerized. It really made to think about how I'm living my life and how I want to live my life.

I've always had this philosophy of wanting to live my life in a way that I won't have regrets when I die, which usually means jumping at the chance to take the road less traveled. Watching Randy Paush's last lecture reconfirmed that's how I want to live my life. Here's a man who knew death was approaching, but was so brave and stood firm in his beliefs, and did all he could for his family before he went. I think it's true, what he said, "It's not the things you DID that you'll regret, it's the things you DIDN'T do that you'll regret."

I sent links to a bunch of my friends recommending the video to them. I also bought the Japanese book with the DVD too, 'cause I wanted my Japanese friends to see/read it too. After reading a bit of the book in Japanese though, I realized the humor Randy brought into his talk didn't translate into JP too well, so that was too bad 'cause his humor is a big part of him being so inspirational. I mean, he's dying and he's making people laugh. That's amazing.

I only hope that when my time comes, I'll be able to look back and be able to say "Yup, it was a good life. I did everything I wanted to." One thing I'll definitely be happy about is to having gone to the Marshall Islands to volunteer for a year. It was an amazing experience I wouldn't trade for anything.

I read that Randy passed away on July 25. My heart goes out to his wife, Jai, and his three kids that he absolutely loved with every bit of his heart.

Care for a $20 mango?!

WHO is going to buy a 2000 Yen mango??? It's all wrapped up in protective foam and encased in a plastic container, but really....it's just so ridiculous!

Always amazed...

So there's this whole "let's be green" movement going on overe here...i.e. bring your own shopping bag, set your A/C to 28℃, don't wear a tie, things like that. But then you go to the grocery store and any gift shop and you find something like this! Can you imagine having individualy wrapped vegetables in the States? I mean, why not just stack all the veges up like in the States? Seems like we'd be throwing away way less plastic if we didn't wrap everything in plastic like this. I just thought it was kinda funny and couldn't resist taking a picture.

Oregon08

Went to Portland, Oregon again this summer and took a group of professionals for training at the Dougy Center: A Place for Grieving Children and Families. I got to see old friends and teachers too. It was awesome.

Okinawa 2008

Went to Okinawa for the first time back in June. The Marshall Islands were hot too, but Okinawa comes pretty close in terms of humidity. Shino and I visited a friend of ours, which was great....but what I remember the most is the HEAT. Oooh, it was just so incredibly humid...

Are you kidding me?!

Pancakes the size of your palm...

Salad, the size of a saucer...

Needless to say, I didn't feel like I ate a whole meal.

"Tooth loved dental clinic" ?!?!

Umm, are you serious?! "Tooth Loved Dental Clinic"?? They couldn't come up with anything better??

The much dreaded ditch cleaning day

Twice a year, the neighborhood where I work at holds a ditch-cleaning day. Apparently, some people in this neighborhood still don't have running water, which means all the water other than sewage just drains into this ditch. So we have to clear out gunk and pour some chemicals bi-annualy. I really really dread these days. I gotta take off all the heavy metal coverings on the ditches, then squeeze in and scrub it. Are there bugs?! Ooooh, yes. I'm not a big fan of the bugs. This year, it was pouring 'til an hour before the start time, so every time I brushed against the bushes, I got wet. In the end, I was all wet and muddy and cold. And exhausted. Very very exhausted.
Although the whole cleaning ordeal isn't that pleasant, I am somewhat used to it from going around with my dad in my elementary school days, when he worked as a gardener. I don't mind this heavy physical labor type of thing, but it does bug me when the official start time is 7:30am but since most of the residents in this area are old, they get up and start at 6:30am or something.! WHY people, WHY??!! Can we start at the designated time please?!