I mentioned that I had sent my climbing shoes in to a shop to be repaired, but they had come back not fully repaired. On climbing shoes, there is the sole, which is made from a special type of rubber, and there is the RAND, to which the sole is attached. The RAND is attached to the leather of the shoe, and that is where one of my problem areas was: the RAND had pulled away or detached from the leather in some spots. The other problem was that my soles were starting to wear thin in some spots. I got new fronts on the soles, but for some reason the RAND had not been reattached to the leather. So, I bought some superglue, and went to town on the seams, and then duct taped them in place for 24 hours to make sure the bond held.
I haven't climbed on them yet, but I think they should hold. They are getting old anyway, and instead of getting them repaired again, next time I might just buy a new pair. These I'll keep, and they can be my back up pair.
I've been planning on writing about rice treats for some time, but have never gotten around to it. A lot of things in Japan are made from rice (go figure): bread can be made from rice. There are manju, which are are streamed cakes of flour and rice flour that have different fillings.
Senbei, which are rice crackers. It is actually dismissive to just say "rice crackers:" senbei come in a bewildering number of different shapes, sizes, and flavors.
There are mochi, which are balls made of pounded glutinous rice. Even this is dismissive: mochi come in many varieties, and are eaten in many different ways.
Sake is brewed from rice, as is amazake (a type of sweet drink which is one of the precursors to real sake but has no alcohol in it).
Kasu, which is the solids that remain after sake has been brewed, fermented, and filtered, ss used as an ingredient in some soups. And of course, they just eat the stuff (rice, that is) by itself.
In other news, come January 16th I will have been in Japan for 1 year and 10 months, minus the four days I spent in the US. The 2 year mark is just around the corner.
Today was tough because one of the teachers decided to not come in without warning anyone. No call, no email. Everyone had to scramble and cover some of his afternoon classes, and miraculously our boss found a potential candidate to come in and cover his morning class. I'd hate to be him if he comes tomorrow.
Cheers,
