hey all,
So it is hotter than Satan's butt over here. Despite that, I'm still cooking curry pretty often. Actually, although curry itself is served hot, and it really heats up the kitchen while cooking it, because I make it spicy, I sweat when I eat it, and it cools me down.
Last Friday night, Michi and I met up and made pasta and fruit salad. Now, I've been rather lustily eyeing this recipe for at least 2 or 3 months, so I was really excited to make it. What's more is that because of the heat, this fruit salad is really good.
1 apple
12 strawberries
12 cherries
1 banana
1 kiwi
.5 cups walnuts
yogurt
mayonaise
lemon juice
vanilla extract
salt and pepper
Basically, you chop/slice the fruit, and toast then chop the walnuts. The salad dressing is made by simply mixing about .5 cups yogurt, .25 cups mayo, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything together and eat. It rocks.
In the Japanese news lately has been the fall of Japan's latest prime minister: Hatoyama Yukio. He was immensely popular, as he achieved a landslide victory about 9 months ago. His victory, and most of the Diet as well, heralded the end of almost 50 years of continuous rule by the Democratic party. However, he promised to get rid of the American base in Okinawa, and he failed to deliver that. And the press also focused on his poor choice of wardrobe, and several financial scandals of his fellow party members. So last week he resigned, the modern political equivalent of Japan's feudal ritual suicide.
All in all, it doesn't change much. Many Japanese prime ministers resign after 1 year or less, despite having a term of 4 years. If everyone served for 4 years, Japan should be on its 16th prime minister (counting from 1947). Instead, it is nearing its 30th. In Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomican, one of the Japanese characters marvels at how the Americans radically changed the way they fought war to deal with Japanese tactics and technology. Nobody resigned, or committed suicide, they just said: OK, that didn't work, let's analyze the situation and do better next time. That kind of thinking is still foreign, as I think Japan's political situation illustrates.
I like to think that I'm a good example of this kind of thinking, but I know sometimes I'm not. Still, I have to say that my skills (as a teacher at least) are improving.
Anyway, this week is not all to my liking. I had to work on Sunday, and if I only worked at that one school, I'd have gotten Monday off. But I work at 3 schools, so I had to work today, and I'll have to work tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, and next Saturday as well. I get Wednesday off, but I really want 5 days of work, and 2 days of rest, like most other people enjoy.
The job search continues. Not much else new.
Cheers,
