hey all,
Last weekend, Michi and I went to see The Dark Knight Rises, and the Age of Batman has begun. The next day, I watched The Dark Knight, and sometime next weekend, I will probably watch Batman Begins. I'm currently working my way through another go at Batman: Arkham City, which has become fun again (mostly; the NG+ is still pretty killer/frustrating).
Tough day today, so I'm gonna head in early.
Cheers,
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
My Soy-Called Life
hey all,
Does anyone remember that TV series? With Claire Danes and Jared Leto way back in the day?
I was just reflecting on my lactose-intolerance. Here is about two weeks worth of soy milk.
I also like to make mango lassis using mango juice and soy milk instead of yogurt. I've found that modern yogurt has the milk sugar added back into it after the bacteria have done their work, and will still upset my stomach some.
Cheers,
Does anyone remember that TV series? With Claire Danes and Jared Leto way back in the day?
I was just reflecting on my lactose-intolerance. Here is about two weeks worth of soy milk.
 |
| Compare with my brother's weekly supply of milk. |
 |
| Some chocolate mousse made from chocolate and silken tofu. |
I also like to make mango lassis using mango juice and soy milk instead of yogurt. I've found that modern yogurt has the milk sugar added back into it after the bacteria have done their work, and will still upset my stomach some.
Cheers,
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Week Off
hey all,
My week off from work is coming to an end. Tomorrow I'll be heading in to the school to drop off some texts I borrowed in order to catch up on some typing/prep. work, and while there I'll be setting up my new classroom, etc.
I don't have any exciting things to report about my week. I did a lot of typing at first: the scientist pack is mostly finished, I got a good number of essay questions typed for my various classes, and I fleshed out some more on a grammar packet about questions. I caught up on a few anime series, and even played Kingdoms of Amalur. I also finished two teaching books I'd been reading for several months now: Making Thinking Visible, and Teach Like a Champion (the regular book, not the Field Guide). I was looking into reading The Dark Knight Returns on my Android, except the Kindle version is just unreadable. I downloaded a sample, and it was difficult to navigate through the panels, impossible to see the action, and near impossible to read what was written.
Maybe the only interesting thing is that I went swimming once, and an elderly Japanese guy came over and said in perfect English "Your swimming is very powerful!" After chatting for a bit, I had to compliment him on his English, and then we just went right on swimming. It is because of him that I finally got up the nerve to try a little butterfly. You see, he had been swimming a pretty decent, if a little stiff, butterfly for maybe ten minutes before that.
It seems like it was the combination of butterfly, breaststroke, and sheer fatigue that gave me tendinitis a few years ago, so I'd been holding out on trying it again. But it felt really nice to break it out again.
Otherwise, this week has reminded me a lot of my time in Tokyo. Between city taxes, health insurance, and paying off my student loans, money has been a little tight this month. So I really haven't gone anywhere the whole week.
Cheers,
My week off from work is coming to an end. Tomorrow I'll be heading in to the school to drop off some texts I borrowed in order to catch up on some typing/prep. work, and while there I'll be setting up my new classroom, etc.
I don't have any exciting things to report about my week. I did a lot of typing at first: the scientist pack is mostly finished, I got a good number of essay questions typed for my various classes, and I fleshed out some more on a grammar packet about questions. I caught up on a few anime series, and even played Kingdoms of Amalur. I also finished two teaching books I'd been reading for several months now: Making Thinking Visible, and Teach Like a Champion (the regular book, not the Field Guide). I was looking into reading The Dark Knight Returns on my Android, except the Kindle version is just unreadable. I downloaded a sample, and it was difficult to navigate through the panels, impossible to see the action, and near impossible to read what was written.
Maybe the only interesting thing is that I went swimming once, and an elderly Japanese guy came over and said in perfect English "Your swimming is very powerful!" After chatting for a bit, I had to compliment him on his English, and then we just went right on swimming. It is because of him that I finally got up the nerve to try a little butterfly. You see, he had been swimming a pretty decent, if a little stiff, butterfly for maybe ten minutes before that.
It seems like it was the combination of butterfly, breaststroke, and sheer fatigue that gave me tendinitis a few years ago, so I'd been holding out on trying it again. But it felt really nice to break it out again.
Otherwise, this week has reminded me a lot of my time in Tokyo. Between city taxes, health insurance, and paying off my student loans, money has been a little tight this month. So I really haven't gone anywhere the whole week.
Cheers,
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Trip to White Horse Mountain
hey all,
Like many of our trips, this one was transportation heavy. It involved taking a train for 3 hours, a bus for another 30 minutes, and riding various ropeways/gondolas, before we even got to hiking.
View July 2012 Trip in a larger map
The map shows our route from Tokyo to Mt. Shirouma, which is one of the 100 famous mountains of Japan.
Getting to our first camp site involved about 3 or 4hours of hiking, some of it through snow fields.
We think that Michi got a little altitude sickness on the first day, which I can tell you from my perspective was frightening as anything. She seemed to recover pretty quickly, and we got some of the staff of the lodge to help us to get there. They even gave us free food and put us up in the staff room for the night.
The next day, Michi decided to rest, and I went on to climb Mt. Shirouma by myself. It had started to rain the night before, and it kept up for part of my hike. There was also a lot of fog/low cloud cover, so the views were nonexistent. On the way back, however, it started to clear up.
The original plan had been to camp at the big pond, hike Mt. Shirouma, then camp at another spot just on the other side, then hike across to another ropeway/bus stop and then head home. So instead of camping on the other side of Mt. Shirouma, I hiked back, we made dinner, packed, and went to bed.
The next day, we hiked back to the ropeways and began our trip back to Tokyo.
The new hiking shoes worked out really well, and the crampons were definitely needed.
I've got the rest of the week off, so I have a whole laundry list of things to get done.
Cheers,
Like many of our trips, this one was transportation heavy. It involved taking a train for 3 hours, a bus for another 30 minutes, and riding various ropeways/gondolas, before we even got to hiking.
View July 2012 Trip in a larger map
The map shows our route from Tokyo to Mt. Shirouma, which is one of the 100 famous mountains of Japan.
Getting to our first camp site involved about 3 or 4hours of hiking, some of it through snow fields.
We think that Michi got a little altitude sickness on the first day, which I can tell you from my perspective was frightening as anything. She seemed to recover pretty quickly, and we got some of the staff of the lodge to help us to get there. They even gave us free food and put us up in the staff room for the night.
 |
| This flower is called Mizubasho in Japanese. I have no clue what it is called in English. It is ridiculously popular in Japan. |
 |
| Crampons! |
 |
| First big snow field |
 |
| Me at the summit of Mt. Shirouma |
 |
| mountain flowers! |
 |
| Part of the hike back to the lodge. |
 |
| Part of the hike back to the lodge. |
The next day, Michi decided to rest, and I went on to climb Mt. Shirouma by myself. It had started to rain the night before, and it kept up for part of my hike. There was also a lot of fog/low cloud cover, so the views were nonexistent. On the way back, however, it started to clear up.
The original plan had been to camp at the big pond, hike Mt. Shirouma, then camp at another spot just on the other side, then hike across to another ropeway/bus stop and then head home. So instead of camping on the other side of Mt. Shirouma, I hiked back, we made dinner, packed, and went to bed.
The next day, we hiked back to the ropeways and began our trip back to Tokyo.
The new hiking shoes worked out really well, and the crampons were definitely needed.
I've got the rest of the week off, so I have a whole laundry list of things to get done.
Cheers,
Monday, July 16, 2012
Return
hey all,
We're back safe and sound, and as usual, a full update will have to wait until tomorrow.
Cheers,
We're back safe and sound, and as usual, a full update will have to wait until tomorrow.
Cheers,
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Lunch
hey all,
I just finished Visible Learning for Teachers a few days ago, and I've gone back to reading Making Thinking Visible and Teach Like a Champion. I actually got reminded by one of the techniques in Champion that I'm being negative when I remind my students of how to behave during lunch ("Don't do that" "Knock it off") instead of telling them what to do ("We're eating lunch" "It's lunch time" "Time to eat")
Cheers,
I just finished Visible Learning for Teachers a few days ago, and I've gone back to reading Making Thinking Visible and Teach Like a Champion. I actually got reminded by one of the techniques in Champion that I'm being negative when I remind my students of how to behave during lunch ("Don't do that" "Knock it off") instead of telling them what to do ("We're eating lunch" "It's lunch time" "Time to eat")
Cheers,
Monday, July 09, 2012
Nostalgia
hey all,
This weekend was Michi's interview for the Eiken Pre-2. We're not sure if she passed or not. I guess she'll get the results in about three weeks.
We finally got our kitchen knife back from the store. We took it in the weekend before to get it sharpened, and the whole week in between was tough. Michi's old knife is about as sharp as the broad side of a barn, so cutting fruits and vegetables is not easy, and forget about chicken.
Yesterday we finally got around to making falafel. We had the ingredients for it a week ago, but weren't able to get around to it. We used canned garbanzo beans, and fresh grated onion and garlic, and of course plenty of spices. Once fried, the insides were softer than I remembered from the co-op, but still really good. It really took me back to be able to have that food again, and especially to make it from scratch (even more "from scratch" than we made it at the co-op). Although it feels like I've been enjoying something of a Renaissance at my current job, living at the co-op was also such a time. I learned a lot about life, school, friends, food, and work while living there.
Cheers,
This weekend was Michi's interview for the Eiken Pre-2. We're not sure if she passed or not. I guess she'll get the results in about three weeks.
We finally got our kitchen knife back from the store. We took it in the weekend before to get it sharpened, and the whole week in between was tough. Michi's old knife is about as sharp as the broad side of a barn, so cutting fruits and vegetables is not easy, and forget about chicken.
Yesterday we finally got around to making falafel. We had the ingredients for it a week ago, but weren't able to get around to it. We used canned garbanzo beans, and fresh grated onion and garlic, and of course plenty of spices. Once fried, the insides were softer than I remembered from the co-op, but still really good. It really took me back to be able to have that food again, and especially to make it from scratch (even more "from scratch" than we made it at the co-op). Although it feels like I've been enjoying something of a Renaissance at my current job, living at the co-op was also such a time. I learned a lot about life, school, friends, food, and work while living there.
Cheers,
Saturday, July 07, 2012
And...We're Back
hey all,
I'm still kicking around here in Japan. Yes,I know it is now July, and no I didn't really do anything special for the 4th.
Michi and I are planning a hiking trip to one of Japan's 100 Famous Mountains. Length-wise, and fitness-wise, it does not seem too bad, but we are going shopping for crampons since they are recommended for this mountain. Oh, and Michi still hasn't gotten her foot x-rayed or spoken to a doctor to see if this is a good idea. It seems like her ankle is doing OK recently, but still. She didn't wear the brace as long as she was supposed to, and she had a resurgence of the pain after our last hiking trip to Aomori, which was somewhat lengthy but only involved walking along a river trail with no serious ups or downs...and for this climb we will need to be walking on snow/ice and using crampons. Sounds like it will do therapeutic wonders for her ankle, doesn't it?
At work, we're still training one of the teachers, and we've started having another one come in to see how he does.
I finished Infinite Jest the other day. I'm a lot less satisfied with the ending this time around, and I find myself wondering about the meaning of the eponymous film in the book and the meaning of the main character's loss of communicative ability. I'm back to reading my teaching books sporadically.
Cheers,
I'm still kicking around here in Japan. Yes,I know it is now July, and no I didn't really do anything special for the 4th.
Michi and I are planning a hiking trip to one of Japan's 100 Famous Mountains. Length-wise, and fitness-wise, it does not seem too bad, but we are going shopping for crampons since they are recommended for this mountain. Oh, and Michi still hasn't gotten her foot x-rayed or spoken to a doctor to see if this is a good idea. It seems like her ankle is doing OK recently, but still. She didn't wear the brace as long as she was supposed to, and she had a resurgence of the pain after our last hiking trip to Aomori, which was somewhat lengthy but only involved walking along a river trail with no serious ups or downs...and for this climb we will need to be walking on snow/ice and using crampons. Sounds like it will do therapeutic wonders for her ankle, doesn't it?
At work, we're still training one of the teachers, and we've started having another one come in to see how he does.
I finished Infinite Jest the other day. I'm a lot less satisfied with the ending this time around, and I find myself wondering about the meaning of the eponymous film in the book and the meaning of the main character's loss of communicative ability. I'm back to reading my teaching books sporadically.
Cheers,
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