Foreign Foods

hey all,

Each country seems to have a particular foreign cuisine that the natives latch onto: the US has the pizza, Amsterdam has Indonesian food (in particular, satay), and Japan has curry. In each place, you can find tons of restaurants that serve these items, and every convenience store and grocery store will carry them pre-made, or will have the ingredients you need to make them yourself.

My school has even served curry for lunch at least once.

The question is, why does this happen? Globalization and increased international contact might explain how it happens, but why does the cuisine of one foreign country get favored over others in each particular nation? The French, for instance, feel snubbed by the fact that Italian cuisine is more popular in the US and elsewhere than is French food. How did Italian food get to be more popular than French food (universally)? Crepes, chocolate mousse and duck fondue are at least as good as pizza, spaghetti, and tiramisu. Is it the snobbish Parisian attitude (the Mediterranean part of France is a whole different galaxy than Paris) and smaller number of French diaspora?

How did curry come to be more popular than Chinese, Thai, or even Italian food in Japan? Contact with China and Thailand was earlier than with India or Italy, although it must be remembered that Buddhism has its roots in India, and some cuisine might have been passed along with the religion.

Why did the Dutch latch onto satay and not curry, or even Pad Thai? The Dutch traders of 300 years ago had at least as much contact with Indonesia as India and Thailand, and even some contact with Japan. Why isn't Japanese food all the rage in Holland?

This is something of a mystery to me.

Cheers

Hiking

hey all,

Today was a holiday, so I decided I'd go over to Yorii and go hiking. Yorii is about an hour away from Omiya by train. This morning I loaded up my new satchel with my Japanese phrase book (just in case), and loaded my Suica card with 5,000 円. The Suica is a card that can be loaded with cash, then used to by train tickets, bus tickets, drinks and snacks from vending machines, borrow books from the library, and apparently several other uses.

I got over to Yorii without problems, and thanks to the brochure that one of my teachers had given me, found my way to the hiking trails as well. In contrast to the decrepit old people I had mentioned earlier, today the hills (and the trains leading to any cities with hiking grounds) were crowded with more robust grandmas and grandpas.

The hiking trails themselves are not incredibly well marked, so I ended up having to backtrack a few times once up in the wooded hills. I made it to one peak and rested there while taking in the view, then decided to head to the next peak, which was some 3km away.

On my way there, I ran into a group of hikers resting on the trail, and after going past them, seemed to lose the trail. I stopped for a bit and allowed the group to over take me, then I followed them for a bit. Doing this, we all ended up pretty far off trail and at the bottom of a steep valley. After we made it back to our original trail, I decided I'd had enough and went back the way I came (back to Yorii). In Yorii itself, there are several Buddhist temples (one of the "hiking" trails is a route that visits all of them: since they are in the city, and there no hills to contend with, this is not really hiking...), and I stopped at the first two of those before heading back to the train station. At the second, there were these two frightening statues that appeared to be guardians on either side of the entrance to the compound.
I took a ton of pictures, which should be up on my facebook albums in the next day or two, but for right now, I just finished walking around 12 km, mostly through rugged terrain, and my knees are hating me right now. So I'm going to watch some anime, drink my yoghurt drink (飲むヨーグルト, "nomu yooguruto," litterally drink-yoghurt), then go to bed.

Cheers

Japan vs Amsterdam

hey all,

So various people have been asking me about Europe/Amsterdam, and it began to dawn on me that Japan and Europe/Amsterdam are actually pretty similar in some ways.

1. Businesspeople on bikes
2. The prevalence of traveling by biking
3. The type of bikes used (heavy, old-fashioned granny style)
4. The quality (generally very high) and ubiquity of public transport
   
5. Train stations have so many shops and so many types of shops they are basically malls
6. The centrality of the train station to navigation, cost of housing (houses closer to train station are more expensive), and shopping (a halo of shops surrounds each train station, growing less dense the further away from it you go)
7. The general rarity of clearly visible tattoos
8. The status of fashion/being fashionable (many not-gay guys can be seen carrying around Louis Vuitton purses)
9. The generally high cost of living
10. The difficulty in finding towels (when I moved to Amsterdam, and when I moved to Japan, I didn't bring any towels, so I had to find a store that sold them. In Amsterdam, I had to walk for 45 minutes to get to an Aldi, and they only had these hand towels. Same deal in Japan: I bought some at a 100 Yen shop, but they are small and thin. Of course, since then, I've seen about 3 places to buy awesome thick, full-sized towels, but they cost the same as 1/5 of 1 month's rent.)
    

Of course, there are some blatant differences. In Amsterdam, the sex and drug trade are regulated and mostly legal. In Japan, both are illegal, but the sex trade seems to be tolerated to some extent. In most places in Europe, I had no trouble finding my way around or ordering things from a menu, because even if I mispronounce something, I can still read the letters. In Japan, unless the menu is written in English or in hiragana or katakana (the two phonetic alphabets that Japanese uses) I just get to point and say "Kore-o onegaishimasu." (Please give me this, I'll have this, etc.) In Holland, I'm really short, but in Japan, I'm almost average: there are some guys and a few women who tower over me, but for the most part I don't stick out too much.

One of the really weird things is that you see a ridiculous number of decrepit old people in Japan, which I've never seen in Europe or America. The thing that gets me is their backs: their legs come up straight from the ground, but then their upper body is almost parallel to the ground. Even if they could straighten their backs, they'd still only be 4'6".

Cheers

Weekend

hey all,

Pretty relaxing couple of days. Friday night I went out with some local ALTs, but we came back early. Yesterday the weather was terrible: quite cold and rainy, but Masa and I ended up walking around Omiya a little bit. Found a good candy/snack shop and an international market that had some good chocolate and even had stroopwaffels from Holland (probably one of the few things that I miss from there). Today I didn't do too much: picked up some groceries, figured out how to work the rice cooker here in the guesthouse, and watched some anime and a show called Deadliest Warrior.

Tomorrow, I have work, but there's also a meeting (maybe with the board of education) some time in the afternoon (I've been given conflicting times, so I'm just going to leave in time to make the earlier one). I have Wednesday off, so I'm sure there'll be some celebrating Tuesday night.

Golden Week is also coming up, which is a series of 5 holidays in a row, but I haven't really made any plans for that. I still want to travel to Kumagaya, but that is only a day trip, or maybe two days at most. (I've also found a route that only costs about 1130 円, which saves me about $10 round-trip.) I might look into traveling to Kyoto, since some of the ALTs have said that going there in August would be hellish due to the extremely hot and humid weather. However, the shinkansen is very expensive, so it would definitely be better to wait until I get my pay check.

Of course, climbing Mt. Fuji is also on my to-do list, but the climbing season for that doesn't begin until the end of June, if I remember right.

Of my bills, the only outstanding bill I have left is my phone one.

Cheers

Hormonal Roller Coaster

hey all,

For most of the week I've been on the down swing of feeling at home, useful, and productive here, but today was a really excellent day. I got to teach 3 classes, which today meant that I asked a few questions to the incredibly silent 3rd years, and when prompted by the teacher, performed a few gestures to go along with sentences. The kids are learning about "have," "just," "yet," and "already" as helping verb and adverbs, so I did things like pretend to eat and say "I've just finished eating" or pretend to trip and say "I have just tripped," etc.

After that, I ran into one of the other ALTs teaching in Ageo and we hooked up with yet another ALT and hung out in Omiya for a little, then I went with one of them over to Kasukabe and met with his pregnant girlfriend. We ate at a really cool restaurant: we had raw horse (basashi), Chinese dumplings, bacon and cheese yaki, and yakitori, and also some cool desserts. The raw horse was OK, but the horse burgers that I had in Holland were better. I really liked the Chinese dumplings (gyo).

I might actually go to this party tomorrow for the teachers, but I still need to pay my phone bill and health insurance bill. However, I have gotten my rent and school lunch bills out of the way.

Cheers

Conundrums

hi all,

I've been meaning to pay my health insurance for several days now, but I just went to the post office and discovered that they only deal with health insurance from 9AM to 4PM, which means I'd have to leave work about an hour early in order to make it there in time. Since I haven't even been paid yet, I don't really want to lose more money by taking time off to take care of it.

There's also my rent, phone bill, school lunch bill, and several other bills piling up at this time. One of the teacher's at my school found out that I like rock climbing/hiking and gave me a brochure about the Osato district of Kumagaya, about an hour from Ageo, where I work. There are several mountain top temples and hiking trails around the area. The trip to get out there costs about １７５０円 (almost $18), so I think that trip might have to wait until after I get my first paycheck.

The weather the last few days has been very frivolous. It will be very sunny and warm one day, then overcast and rainy the next. Once last week, I could even see a snow capped mountain peak in the far distance, but for several days it has been too overcast and foggy to make it out.

My work day routine has basically been to come in around 8:05 or so, say good morning to everyone on my way to my desk in the teacher's room, then sit around trying to find something to do for 7 hours. I bought a book a few days ago, so I've been reading that mostly, and I've also been going through my old Japanese textbook and re-learning the kanji and vocab that I've forgotten. Occasionally, one of the English teachers will come up to me and ask me to come to class. If I haven't met the class before, a good chunk of the lesson is me doing my self-introduction, which is just me talking about myself in English slowly, and drawing on the board, and talking about where I'm from, my family, and my hobbies. If I have met the class before, then I basically just do what the teacher asks me. Usually, this is handing out papers, pronouncing vocabulary words, or repeating bits of dialog from the textbook. Other than that, I just stand to the side of the room and try not to distract the students or look too bored. My basic purpose is to be a living tape recorder.

Now obviously, the Japanese educational system is doing something right when it comes to other topics like math and science, so it is somewhat perturbing to have such a blatantly ineffective educational method used. It is also strange to think that my Japanese might improve more than my students' English during my stay here.

Yesterday, an OL (office lady) at my school said there was some kind of party for teachers this Friday in Ageo, but I haven't decided whether I want to go. There are a couple teachers who've been friendly to me, and several who spent the first couple days talking with me, but now everyone comes and goes and ignores me. From talking to other ALT's, I guess this is actually really typical. Also, these parties usually cost about $45 to $100 dollars, as they include drinks and food. So, I'd basically be paying to hang out with people who have been pretending I don't exist.

Cheers,

One Month

hey all,

I realized last night that I had just been in Japan for barely over a month. That in itself is such a innocuous and yet crazy fact that I'm not sure what else to say about it.

Crazy night last night. Out to a bar, and conflicts over who owes who a beer, then more conflicts over whether so-and-so just went to the bathroom with someone else's girl, and several bowel loosening hours at a bass-thumping hip-hop dance club.

Cheers,

This Week

hey all,

I've actually accomplished several things this week. For instance, I got a cell phone, but that was really not my doing. I ran into an ALT who'd been here for 3 years and has amazing Japanese, and he basically talked the sales clerics through it.

I've received my first health insurance bill, which can apparently be paid at a convenience store or post office. I've been meaning to pay that, but I'll be trying to do that tomorrow, I think. Today, I rushed from Ageo to Omiya so I could get to the bank before it closed and open an account. I actually succeeded in that, and my bank card is "Grasshopper" green. I couldn't resist!

I've been teaching a few classes here and there, and have a strong preference for the younger students. The older ones are "too cool for school" and won't speak up, answer questions, or really do anything except act rude and disinterested. The third year English teacher seems like one of these older, going-through-the-motions type of teachers, and doesn't do anything about it, so I can't really take charge and yell at them. The second year English teacher, in contrast, won't even tolerate students having a single button undone on their uniforms.

Not too much else going on.

Cheers

Busy

hi all,

Monday was really boring. There's not anything to say about it other than that. I sat at my desk for 7 hours.

Today, I actually taught some lessons and went over some worksheets. On my way home from work, I ran into another ALT who'd been here for several years and he helped me get a cell phone. My original plan was to rush to Omiya and try to open a bank account, but getting the cell ended up taking a while. Now I will have a phone number to give the people at the bank tomorrow.

Not too much else to say. I've been eating a little better the last few weeks, and have started socializing with some of the other ALTs in my area. Both have been pretty big boosters for morale. Part of the deal for getting a cell was waiting around in a few bars while they were making sure my info checked out, so I'm a little tipsy and will be heading to bed shortly.

Cheers,

Weekend

hi all,

Yesterday I went to a SGI (Soka Gakai International) meeting with Masa. That was pretty interesting, but kinda crazy. Today, a bunch of us ALT's went to a Thai place and walked around the park to see the last of the sakura blossoms. I picked up a composite video cord so that I could play my PS3, but I couldn't get it to work. The PS3 sounds like it starts OK, but I can't seem to get the video or sound to come out of the TV.

Tomorrow is the first day I get to take out the trash from my guesthouse. I get to do that all week. Monday is also day number four of working at the school.

I'm really disappointed about the PS3, cuz I was looking forward to it. There might be a way to get this going somehow but I don't really know.

Cheers

Day Number Three

hey,

My third day was much better than yesterday. Today, I was late to work by 13 minutes because I got lost on the way there by taking a new route. This is not too big a deal, but I still don't like it because I'm still setting the pattern for what I'll be like as a teacher, and being late shouldn't be part of the pattern. Anyway, I got to school and I started pulling down the old pictures from the pervious ALT's bulletin board, and then asked for permission to use a computer to print mine out. Asking for permission (and being explicit about the reason) is actually an important thing, because if you don't tell them the reason they think maybe it is illicit. I got those printed out, and then there was yet another ceremony in the gym, which involved a few skits of things students shouldn't do, and then demontrations from all the clubs in the school (kendo, soccer, art, tea ceremony and flower arrangement, basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, ping pong, and track). I might try to join the soccer club.

After that, I started puting my pictures up, and then I was asked to actually come to a third year classroom and teach. "Teaching" in this case meant doing a self-introduction in English, doing an activity which most of the students didn't do, and then just standing in front of the classroom while the Japanese teacher of English spoke for the rest of the class in Japanese.

I also walked around the school with the JTE for the first year middle school students, and they seemed a little more eager to speak English and more fun than the third year students.

I also finally got tired of riding in from Omiya, so I bought a parking spot for my bike, and took the train back to Omiya. I met up with some ALTs and we all went out to a local bar and there was much merry-making until 2 or 3. A pretty satisfying day, overall.

Today, I'm catching up on reading some manga, surfing friends' pages, and just relaxing. There is some kind of party in Roppongi today that a lot of ALTs are going to, but from what I've been told Roppongi is exactly the type of place I'd want to avoid. I've been invited to a hanami party on Sunday, so I'll probably chill today, and have fun tomorrow.

Cheers

Day the Second

hey all,

Today was kinda a let down compared to yesterday. I thought I would be teaching, but then they said that class wouldn't start until the 14th. This is a very weird thing that is going on. I mean, school has started, kids are showing up when it begins and leaving when it ends, and teachers are coming and going to different classes through out the day, but I have nothing to do.

So I still got two whole days with nothing to occupy my time, yet I'm required to come in for my 7 hours. Despite their friendliness, the other teachers are really busy with their own stuff, and aren't too forthcoming on how I should spend my time. I've already completed several obvious tasks, and I actually spent a lot of time today going over my Japanese textbook, and drawing a picture that is kinda a mishmash of Switzerland and feudal Japan.

I guess the only thing that I think is really interesting right now is the suicide rates in Japan. After sitting through two induction ceremonies for junior high, it seems like an incredible amount of crushing social pressure is being placed on students. I can see why under that kind of stress, that some students would choose not to deal with any of it any more.

Tomorrow, I'm bringing in a CD with a bunch of pictures from my travels. They have an "international" bulletin board that currently features pictures from the previous ALT, who seems to have been British. So I'm gonna put up my pictures, and maybe try to get the other teachers and passing students to chat about them with me to kill time.

Cheers,

First Day

hey all,

So today was my first day and it was interesting, but at the same time really grueling. I got over to Ageo by train, and tried to take a bus to the junior high school. It started out looking like it would be easy, but soon the bus started going on streets that didn't look familiar, so I asked the driver if this bus was stopping at my stop, and he seemed to say no. So I got off, and used my map of Ageo to ask some people on the street how to get to my school. They gave me directions in Japanese, but I understood them more or less, and I asked a few more people as I got closer, until I finally arrived.

They had a teacher show me to the teachers' room, and I spoke with a few of the teachers. Then there was some kind of ceremony in the gym involving several speeches, songs, and several rounds of introductions. Then back to the teachers room, where I chatted with a few of the teacher some more, in a mix of Japanese and English, and then we had lunch. It was sushi and soba (raw fish and buckwheat noodles), and most of it was actually pretty good. A few of the pieces of fish were too chewy, but the soba was nice. After lunch there was another ceremony, this time with some guest speakers from the PTA and local government. More songs, speeches and bowing than I care to remember later, we do more introductions. After that ceremony, I worked on my introduction and some activities to do, then chatted with the teachers some more. I left at my leaving time (4:15PM), and walked back to the train station, which is a 45 minute walk.

I bought a new bike on the way back (the cheapest one I found after stopping at two bike shops cost about $102, which includes a crime-prevention registration fee), and tried to buy a parking space at the train station. This would make it very unlikely that my bike would be missing when I came back to Ageo. But, the old guy at the train station bike parking garage couldn't seem to understand anything I said to him in any language, and when I tried putting my bike in several different spots, he ended up telling me that those were full. I asked if he could show me an empty one (in English), and he couldn't understand that, so I finally just rode my bike back to Omiya, which took about an hour.

The teachers at the school were all incredibly friendly, interesting, and put up with my bad Japanese by complimenting me on how good it was, but the problems of getting to the school and back kinda messed up my good mood. I spoke with Masa, and he suggested I try a different parking garage on the other side of the station (apparently all of the spaces were booked in the one I tried, which I hadn't even thought about), and even told me how to ask if there were any open parking spaces (まだばしょがいっていますか?: are there any spaces left?). So, tomorrow, I will supposedly be teaching 4 classes in a row, and maybe I can even get a parking spot for my bike, both of which are pretty exciting prospects. But, I still have over an hour long bike ride to get over to the school tomorrow morning, which means I'm going to bed around 10PM tonight (again) so I can get up at 6:26AM.

I'm sweaty from running to the school this morning, walking back to the station, and riding my bike back to Omiya, so I'm gonna take a shower, eat some food, brush my teeth, and go to bed.

Cheers,

Introduction???

hey,

Today, I met Ayumi (my coordinator) at Ageo-shi train station, and she took me and another ALT to our schools. Turns out, I did find the right place before, but now I'm not sure how I'm gonna get to it. I got to the train station a little early, and decided I should check on my bike. Lo and behold, my bike was not to be found. Since I only paid $30 for it, this is not the end of the world, but it is annoying. It is a 45 minute walk from the train station to my school, so that is kinda out of the quiestion. On the other hand, I've heard not so great things about the buses. I can buy a brand new bike, but I shudder to think of the prices. Plus, I'll still have to ride in to Ageo tomorrow on my hypothetical new bike, which would take 3 times longer than the train. Either way, walking or biking, I'm looking at getting up 45 minutes earlier.

Anyway, once at the school I met with someone who was apparently another teacher, and I introduced myself to him, and then Ayumi and the teacher spoke for a few minutes in Japanese, and then I introduced myself to the Japanese teacher I'll actually be working with. And then we left. So, I still don't know how busy my days will be, or a lot of other things. It seems like I get into these situations, and I go into shock, and later think of questions that I should have asked at the time.

After that, I came back to Omiya, and updated my visa status and my gaijin card, so now I officially have permission to work and live here. I tried opening a bank account but they wanted a telephone number, so I'll have to wait until I pick up a cell before opening one.

Dinner yesterday was kinda a disaster. I bought what I thought were the right noodles, but they were actually some kind of shaped clear starch that was incredibly chewy (think gummy bears, but more so) once cooked. The Pad Thai tasted ok, but the non-noodles really threw the texture off.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, so that's it for now.

Cheers

Synchronization

hey all,


I guess if you're not into anime or manga this post won't make too much sense. I've noticed that a ton of Japanese shows feature some kind of synchronization as part of the powers of their heroes.

So in Naruto, when you team up with another ninja to perform a magic spell, you have to synchronize your soul with their soul. In Bleach, the characters each have a weapon that has a soul, so in order to use more of the weapons' power and special abilities, the characters must commune with the soul of their weapon. This is not featured very heavily in the series, but for several episodes, it forms a main plot point. The characters in D. Grey-Man have to do basically the same thing, except it is much more central to the main plot line. Same thing for the characters in Soul Eater: except that the weapons are actual people who can transform into weapons, so the importance of understanding and accepting another person's soul/personality is even greater.

So what is this obsession with merging, synchronizing, or resonating with another soul?

I honestly don't get it. Anyway, I picked up my gaijin card today. Nice to have that kinda done, but I'll still need to change it once I get my Visa status updated. Masa and I are cooking Pad Thai tonight, so that is pretty exciting.

Weird Conversation and Sea Salt Gelato

hey all,

I went walking around Omiya a little bit today. Took some more pics of blooming sakura flowers, trees, and some random ramen shops. I was also finally able to Skype with Bri, which was good.

Perhaps the weirdest thing that's happened today is that some random Chinese person started chatting with me on skype. It took me a while to figure out that this person was completing some kind of school questionaire.

About the only other thing that's very exciting is that I tried some Sea Salt Gelato (spelled Gerato on the on container), and it was really good. There are several other sweets that I have lined up for sampling, including some colored balls on sticks that I have no clue what they are. I know they are a dessert, but other than that they could be colored/flavored pounded rice cakes, or fruits of some kind.

Nothing much going on tomorrow. On Tuesday, I meet with Ayumi and get introduced to my school.

Cheers

酒は、日本でほうがです。

hey all,

A few summers ago, my brother went to Europe, and while over there made the discovery that Guinness consumed while in Ireland is much better than Guinness elsewhere. Presumably, this is because of the local waters used, and also because it is fresh: we all know that beer is put in brown bottles to help keep the sun from decomposing certain fragile chemicals in the beers, etc.

Today, I had my own experience with sake, 酒 in the local writing system (please pronounce the final 'e' like cafe, not like coffee...). I had tried several different brands of sake in the US, and I had tried them cold and tried them hot, and never found one that I liked, or could even tolerate for more than a few sips. I tried a pretty cheap sake, warmed it up, and found that it was tolerable, even pretty good. It had no grimace-inducing aftertaste, and went down smoothly. Although it still smelled like rubbing alcohol, the taste was mildly fruity.

Sake is better in Japan (酒は、日本でほうがです。)

One last thing is Masa and I hung out a bit today, and we ate ramen at a place called ninniku ramen, or garlic ramen. Now I have very little skill in Japanese, but 'ninniku' sounds like 'human meat': 'nin' is human and 'niku' is meat. So effectively, we ate at The Soilent Green Ramen Shop. I'll have a pic posted later.

Cheers (かんぱい)

Yay Schedules!

hey all,

So I finally have my official schedule for the entire next year. Basically, I work 8:15 to 16:15, Monday-Friday. Most weeks, I work entirely at a junior high, but on some Fridays they have me working at a nearby elementary school. It looks like it is maybe 20 lessons total (for the whole year) for the elementary school, but I still don't know exactly how many classes I'll be teaching each day for junior high. Both junior high and elementary schools have about 6 50-min. periods (with 10 min. between classes) during the day, plus lunch. So although I "work" from 8:15-16:15, I might only have 3 or 4 actual English classes to prepare for.

I know that school ends around 15:00, so I'll be there for another hour after it's over. What one of the people at Heart said (a former ALT), is that this is a good time to join a club: computer club, web design club, chess, swimming, kendo, whatever. I think as long as I can find a club where I won't have to take my shoes and socks off, and thus revel my tattoos, I should be fine. Tattoos are still heavily linked to the yakuza over here, and are basically banned from being shown in public baths, schools, etc.

On April 7th, I'm meeting with my coordinator at Ageo-shi train station, and then she'll drive me over to my school and introduce me to them. The day after that, I start work. Since I have so much free time, I'd like to go and sight see some more, but I think just the cost of train tickets would start to cut into my funds.

Kinda gross

hey,

I've started picking up some ice cream to eat with dinner, and so far I've tried a chocolate/orange one, and a green tea one. The orange/chocolate one was really tasty, but the green tea one was kinda gross. I mean, it tastes like green tea! Green tea is like a slightly bitter herbal flavor, and it really does nothing for me. It leaves a weird aftertaste and your whole mouth feels kinda funny afterward. For some reason, instead of water, most restaurants serve green tea.

So why did I pick it up? I thought that I was picking up a melon flavored ice cream (which would also be green). Check out this guy's blog for more on Japanese ice cream, complete with pictures.