Life + a Rice Cooker

Well, life is busy as usual. I still have so much to learn about teaching. Sometimes I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it, and other times I feel so overwhelmed by how much I still have to learn. The students are mostly great, though. I have a hard time with the 3rd graders (9th grade in America), because they're either very shy or "too cool," but they're still good kids. They just don't like to participate. :P

Last week was quite busy. Thursday the whole school walked to the culture center for a concert. It was a string quartet with two French horns playing several Mozart pieces. I liked it a lot, however the students seemed to be having a bit of trouble staying awake. Haha. Then on Friday, I went with the other English teachers at my school (the Japanese ones and the other American, Ken) to the other junior high school in my town, Yashiro, and watched another American teacher's class. It was good to see another teacher like me in action, but I guess I was expecting him to be worlds ahead of me. I don't think he necessarily was. He does have one advantage, though, and that's smaller class size. My classes are 30-36 students and his was only 24 students.

Anyway, yesterday was Saturday and I met up with another teacher like me, Eric, in Matsumoto. We did some shopping and spent a while hanging out at the park by the castle. It was a really nice day, perfect for just listening to the birds and watching people go by. Lots of foreigners visit the castle so that was kind of funny to see. I helped Eric a bit with his Japanese because he hardly knows any. Hopefully he'll pick up on it quickly and be able to communicate okay.

Today is Sunday and I haven't done a lot. Cleaning, laundry, and shopping basically. I did finally buy a rice cooker! I've been wanting one since I came but just never got around to getting it. I looked up online how to use it and it seems really straightforward. It even came with a cute measuring cup and plastic rice paddle. :) I'm planning to make some rice for dinner so we'll see how that goes, lol.

This week looks to be pretty normal, busy but without any special things going on (as far as I can tell), so it should go okay. Summer is definitely creeping up and pushing spring out of the picture. Soon it will be June, when the rainy season starts, so I have something to look forward to... not. XP

Some posters I bought that came from New Zealand! They're each about 8x10 inches I think.

Mt. Fuji at sunset

A large koi at Matsumoto Castle

Matsumoto Castle

The castle from a different angle

My rice cooker!!

With the lid open

It has a cool handle, although I'm not sure why. :P

Shopping in Matsumoto

After all four people I had invited to join me in going to Matsumoto bailed, I decided to go ahead and just go by myself. I spent the last few days thinking about where I wanted to go shopping, so it was a good choice to go ahead and do it instead of just moping around my apartment. :P

I took a train with a ton of other people (strangers, I mean) to Matsumoto and got there about 1 pm. My first stop was the anime/manga store called Animate. A visit to Matsumoto simply isn't right unless I stop in there. :) I got another Pokemon cell phone charm there. Next, I went to a big bookstore called Maruzen. My mission was to find the Japanese version of Hunger Games, but also I was hoping to find out if they really did have an English section. Lo and behold, way in the back on the bottom floor was a small section of English books! I didn't end up getting any of them, though, because I'd rather spend my money on things I can't get back home. So I got the first volume of Hunger Games (I guess with the Japanese version, they split each novel into two books, the "upper" and "lower" volumes).

Oh, I forgot to mention that before I made it to the bookstore, I passed a cute music shop with a bunch of pianos in the window. I thought, wow, that's cool. But as I was about to turn the corner, I realized they had a bunch of sheet music. I really wanted to check it out, so I went in. Can you guess what I found? A whole section devoted to ocarina music!! It wasn't that big, but I was really surprised. I ended up buying a book entitled "Ocarina: Best 100" that has all kinds of pieces in it, from J-pop to classical to popular songs like Country Roads. :) Now I can finally add more songs to my repertoire!

After all my shopping, I stopped in the Starbucks in Matsumoto station and got a vanilla frappuccino. I attempted to read Hunger Games while sipping it. Actually, I can understand enough to compare it to the English version, at least in some places! I think it's good practice for me so I'll keep reading it slowly when I have time. It does take me FOREVER to read, haha, since the characters go right-to-left, top-to-bottom.

Before leaving to head back home, I found another small bookstore in the station and wandered around it. I ended up in the map section and found one for the area I'm living in! It shows my town plus some of the neighboring towns/cities. Of course, it's all in Japanese, but I've been wanting a map of the area, so I'm happy. ^_^

One last thing before I sign off. It was such a beautiful day today, that I got to see some gorgeous scenery as I stood on the train heading to Matsumoto. May is rice planting month and there were many farmers hard at work, some running machines that seemed to be doing the planting for them. The alps were especially beautiful with the sun reflecting off the snow; a lot of the snow is starting to melt, though, and I wonder if it'll mostly or all be gone in a month. Mt. Fuji still has plenty of snow on it!

Well, anyway, as always, here's a few pictures from my day.

Looking out of Matsumoto Station at the tracks

The Northern Japan Alps

I THINK this is Mt. Norikura, which is famous for hiking in the summer, but I could be wrong.

Size comparison to show how small Japanese books are! The Kindle is the size of an average American book.

My spoils of the day, from the left: map, Hunger Games, ocarina book, charms, small origami paper, and wasabi chocolate.

First post in a long time

Sorry it's been so long since I've made a post. I was very busy last week, and then yesterday I went to Tokyo for training, so I've had good reasons/excuses. :P

I would say I'm living a pretty nice routine now. Teaching is slowly becoming easier; although the more I teach, the more I recognize my own shortcomings. I'm sure that's how most teachers feel, though. The students are so great. Maybe American junior high kids are spoiled and rotten, but not Japanese ones. Of course, they have some of their own quirks, but class management has never really been an issue (aside from some of the 3rd graders who sleep the whole class!).

My apartment is nearly perfect. I figured out how to change the air conditioner from heating to cooling, since I don't think we'll be having any more cold weather. It definitely feels like someone flipped a switch from winter to spring, because a couple weeks ago, it was still really cold. Now as I'm typing this I'm too warm! I bought a small fan today since it's only going to keep getting warmer.

I guess there's not much else to say... Life is moving along. Nothing exciting on the calendar for May. On the 23rd I'm going to be watching a class of one of my fellow teachers at the other junior high in my town, but that's about as exciting as it gets. :) I'm hoping to get out to the surrounding towns more often. And of course Matsumoto (the closest big city)! I think that's where I want to go next weekend. Maybe I can convince some of the other newbie teachers to go with me and go in the castle. :) Well then, until next time, I'll leave you with these pictures!

My tatami room that I use as a bedroom

My living/dining/kitchen/study/etc.

Mt. Fuji & the turtle ferry :)

My town is famous for it's rowing teams!

The Japan Alps from the train on the way to Tokyo

Mt. Fuji from the train on the way to Tokyo

Last weekend

It's Sunday evening, and I haven't had a chance to get to the computer to blog since Friday morning, so I'll just touch on some highlights of the weekend.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all sunny and 75.  I couldn't have asked for more lovely weather.  On Friday, we rode our bikes to Kamisuwa, which rings part of the lake. We came to the man-controlled geyser about 5 minutes before it was scheduled to blow, so we watched that.  It made me think the name should be "Little Faithful". ha ha

A little further along are the docks where people were boarding the turtle and swan ferries. There is also a dolphin-shaped tour boat, and little swan pedal boats for rent.  Many families and school children were enjoying picnics and playing in the beautiful park that is there.  We bought some soft serve cones and enjoyed them while watching the boats on the lake. Traci had choco/banana flavor, and I had strawberry cheesecake flavor.  yum!

On Saturday, we rode our bikes to Traci's school (so I could see the front of it) then parked our bikes and walked uphill to nearby Akimiya shrine.  It was cool and frangrant under the cedar trees.  This shrine has the largest bronze lion statues and largest rice straw ropes in Japan.  Even without that claim to fame, the buildings and grounds were beautiful, and I'm glad I got to see it.

On the way home from the shrine, we stopped at the grocery store.  It's fun to see name-brand labels, written in Japanese instead of English. See photo below of Campbell's as I've never seen it before. ;)

Today, we visited McDonald's for breakfast, then I helped Traci get a couple things home from the store - like a carpet for her living room, and wire shelf unit for the kitchen, and a nightstand.  It's much easier with 2 bikes with baskets and racks, than 1!  I had to return my lovely rental bike this afternoon. This evening, we may visit Cafe Gusto again for dinner, then I have to pack up to leave. My shuttle van comes at 8:40 am tomorrow. :)

Dolphin boat and pedal swan boats

My favorite!

The little trucks are so cute!

Note large lions and rope.

There was a man dressed in traditional robes reading from a  scroll.

This is for ritual of dipping water to wash hands.

Crane fountain at shrine pond

I thought these labels were fun!

Ice cream in Sakura (cherry blossom), Rose and Sweet Potato flavors!

Thursday

After Traci headed to school, I headed to the store--armed with shopping list, plastic bags, and bungee cords, in case I bought more than would fit in my bike basket. :)  I'm not sure if I looked like a dorky foreigner, or like a local, with my pack of kleenex boxes strapped to the back rack. lol

The store is close, and the neighborhood is so pretty.  Tulips and daffodils are still in bloom. I think daffodils are about  6 weeks later than at home. The apple trees started blooming this week, so I stopped to take a picture. I rode past the frog pond, which is either a square pond or a future rice paddy, but when we have gone out after dark, a million frogs were singing!

The sky clouded up, and there were small rain showers, so I stayed in for the afternoon.  I never tire of looking out at the lake, and in the afternoons I have seen the turtle ferry crossing and re-crossing the water.

In the evening, we met Amy and Brendan for dinner at Kappazushi, which is a local conveyor-belt sushi restaurant.  The food was delicious, the company was very entertaining (see photos below) and the restaurant was fun!  The way it works:  you sit at a booth, and as plates of food go by on the conveyor belt, you grab what you like.  But you can also use the touchscreen above the belt, to order what you wish.  A few minutes later, your order is delivered to your table by a little bullet train on the upper conveyor belt!  It is too cute!  We saw trains whizzing by with juice boxes on the back for kids at the next table. lol  The trains can hold up to 4 plates.  They have sushi-- rice rectangles topped with slices of fish, shrimp or other seafood (think squid and octopus), egg/sponge cake squares, stuffed tofu pockets, and cake for dessert.  It was all really delicious, though I stuck to mackerel, shrimp and salmon.  They charge by the plate, so when you are done, they come count your plates.  Traci and I spent $13 between the 2 of us, and we were stuffed.

I took a picture of the restaurant sign, which has 2 Kappas on it.  They are mythical creatures that live in the swamp and eat cucumbers.  I think they look like little turtle faces.

Well, it's Friday morning now, and we are going to ride to the swan boat docks (there are 3 of them) and look at the schedule.  I haven't seen the swan boat with the crown crossing the lake this week, but this morning I have already seen the turtle and smaller swan boat.  We'll see which ones are running when we get there.  Today is sunny, so we want to do some lake activities today. :)

I took a picture of Traci's 2 chairs and her  new shelves.  Also, last picture is a walnut red bean bun that Amy brought to me and said "Happy late Birthday".  It was yummy.