Good News! I got my software untangled! You can now see photos from last year's day trip to Yokohama, our early January trip to Myoko Kogen to ski, and our most recent trek through the Hakone area a few weeks ago. Click on My Photos on the right side menu or on the highlighted tabs above. This picture captures the oddity of the Owakudani black eggs, part of the Hakone trip.  

Did you know the 2005 World Expo is in Japan? EXPO 2005 AICHI, JAPAN I've never been to a World Expo... I'm not even really sure what its all about- but after playing with the website a bit... I'm certain I'm going to have to check it all out!

I'm kind of bummed because I can't get my camera software to work so I haven't been able to post pictures in awhile. I have a pile of them from skiing and our trek to Hakone, etc... so as soon as I work out the tech. glitches I promise to share. I also changed my "comment" button on this page to Blogger instead of the outside company I was using... but got my coding a bit screwed up in the process, so bear with me. I know it is a bit quirky at the moment. Feel free to try it out though!

In lieu of posting pictures, let me share with you my new favorite recipe. Since I take my lunch to work every day, am trying to eat healthy, and also save money- I try to cook most my meals (I give myself a break on the weekends). This recipe for chocolate pudding will make the real cooks out there laugh, I expect, as its pretty silli-ly easy. BUT- it was really quick and DE-licious. That's all it takes to get a gold star from me. (recipe courtesy of the Student's Vegetarian Cookbook, by Carole Raymond, which also gets a gold star by the way).

Dark Chocolate Pudding

prep time: 5 min
cooking time: 5 min
yield: one serving
caution: microwaves may vary!

2 tbs sugar
2 tbs unsweetened baking cocoa powder
2 tsp firmly packed cornstarch
3/4 cup soy milk or dairy milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

1. In a 1-quart glass microwavable bowl, combine the sugar, cocoa, and cornstarch. Add 1/4 cup of the milk and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the remaining 1/2 cup milk and stir.

2. Stir once just before you close the microwave door because cornstarch quickly settles to the bottom of the bowl. Microwave the milk mixture for 1.5 min. on High. Stir carefully (its hot!)and return to microwave. Cook for another 1.5 min. on High. The pudding will begin to thicken.

3. Remove the bowl from the microwave, and add the vanilla. Stir once. Let the pudding rest for 1 to 2 minutes. It will continue to thicken as it cools.

Bon Appetite! Now accepting any and all recipes for trial in my very own Tokyo kitchen ;)

I had a lazy weekend. In fact, I swear I can't really remember what I Did. I tried to tell my parents on the phone last night, but I only came up with a handful of "um..."s and some TV watching. I know I made it to church at one point and I also got my new DVD player (its region free so I can play DVDs from home and Japan!).... and I know I have to have done SOMEthing else...

...well it was a rainy two days.

Today made up for it. My boss called last night around 9:30pm to ask if I could please go to the other school tomorrow. There are two English Now pre-schools; I work at the one near my house (surprise!), but there's another across town. The other is actually the original location and has been open for over 3 years. My school only opened last October. I had never been to the Mother School.. hehe... so I was as excited to see it as I was nervous to have to play my game on a new court. (did you catch that analogy?).

As one would expect, there are different teachers, different toys, different potties, and different kids across town. It was very similar, but different enough to be slightly disorientating. I led the songs/games that we've been doing back at "our" school, but Dave (the other foreign teacher there), had to lead more than his fair share since many were new to me. Poor guy is even more tired than I am, I'm sure. The kids warmed me up quickly though- so I had a great time. Since they have been open much longer, they have many more kids. It was too bad I couldn't get to meet all of them, but I did my best to learn most of the names.

So- it was a big, fast blur of an exciting Monday. I can't fathom running tonight after all the jumping/singing/hand-raising/puzzle-finishing/and tea pouring that I did today... maybe I'll just go for a slow walk. wooosh!

Last night I went to my neighborhood sento (public bathhouse) for the first time. I've wanted to for awhile, but have been too shy to try it out. Lately, my apartment has descended into the February chill. My bathroom, in particular, is rather ice-y. In case you haven't seen it, here are some photos (one & two) of my '50s era bathroom (okay, I'm not really sure what year- but my Japanese friends agree that its OLD for a bathroom). To get hot water anywhere in my house (which means the bathroom sink, shower, or kitchen sink), I must a) turn the gas on using the metal nob in the lower right of picture number two, b) crank the white handle on the metal gas heater in that same shot, then c) look in the window of the heater to see if the gas stayed lit (if so, there's a nice blue flame, if not- I get to repeat steps b & c until that happy flame stays lit). Then, as you can see in the photo, my shower head is attached to a hose (not the wall), so I have to hold it in my hand while I shower. This, frankly, sucks. Considering the additional facts that my bathroom isn't heated and the shower has very little water pressure or actual water coming from it, I pretty much freeze while showering.

These issues along with my rather expensive water bill (due mostly to my huge toilet water tank, see picture one, that must refill every time I flush), I finally decided to go take a soak in someone else's bath tub. Public baths, sento, are very common in Japan. The fancier types are onsen, sometimes very elaborate baths using water from natural hot springs. Many onsens also have rotemburo, which are outside. You can browse the archives for my past adventures in Japanese bathing. Anyhow, the closest sento (regular water- not hot spring) to me is actually just across the street on the next block. After a run last night, I grabbed a bag with pajamas and a towel and set off for the bath. I paid my 400 yen (about $4.00) and headed into the ladies half of the sento. Stuffed my bag in a locker, stripped off my running gear, and then walked into the bath room. My first surprise was that there was no soap! I wasn't too surprised that there wasn't any shampoo- but there is almost always soap. I was a little embarrassed because you are really supposed to wash extremely thoroughly before getting into a shared bath (common sense, really). But what is a girl to do? I picked a shower most out of direct sight from the four older ladies and one little boy (someone's grandson), and dumped buckets of water over myself. After I felt I had done as much cleaning as I could using only water, I sheepishly headed to the bath. It was divided in three sections- in total about the length and width of a van. Usually, onsens and sentos are hot- but I wasn't prepared for this one! It was about 47 degrees Celsius. I thought my eyeballs would steam up and I turned bright pink immediately. The heat relaxed my tight muscles, but after only 5 minutes I was feeling a bit woozy. Chagrined, I headed back to a cold shower and quickly exited. I hope no one complained about the stinky gaijin in the bath! I think I took a longer time getting dressed again and wandering back to my house then I did in the water... but I will have to try it again. I get brownie points for communing with ... the community!

Tonight I'm studying Econ and taking breaks to do laundry. I have to lug it downstairs and over a block to use a laundromat, but the reward is having warm, dry laundry instantly instead of having to string all my cold, wet clothes across my kitchen like back in Nagano. Ah, the bliss of modern convenience.

A belated happy Valentine's Day to you all.

I had a supremely fun week. It started out easier than last week since last week Chester, the other American teacher, had food poisoning and I had to teach solo for the first time. Though I survived, it was a bit on the rough side and I was exhausted by the end of Tuesday! He was back and better this week and the week just flew by! I'm really starting to get into the groove with the kids. It also helped that the kids seemed to be much more "with it" this week too. Today Haruka (who is a handful and a half) was absent, Makoto seemed to have woken up with fluent English, Yuki sat down (if not still) for an entire activity, Haruko rose her hand while staying seated, Reina stopped hitting other kids with the hula hoops after only being asked 1...er... 5 times (ok, still need to work on Reina), and Kay actually volunteered to go to the bathroom at snack time! And that was only the morning!

During lunchtime, we only had little Hana- who is notoriously shy. She literally didn't say a word all morning. But then- once all the other kids had gone home, she started talking non-stop for about an hour! It was really amusing- the four of us teachers were sitting around the table eating lunch when Hana busted out with a stream of 3 year old garbled up Japanese/English. We were first stunned then just lost for words (since we couldn't quite understand what she was saying). That didn't really bother Hana though... she just kept right up with the commentary. Every few sentences, one of us would try to take a stab at what she was saying. "Park? You went to the park, Hana?" and then wait for approval. Just as I thought I'd gotten a sentence right, she turned to me and said totally clearly "I'm talking to CHESTER!". We all just burst out laughing.

Perhaps you had to be there... but we were so bowled over by the New Hana: The Speaker- that we pretty much let her run the show for the last hour. Good times. Never knew a kid could be so entertaining!!

Not much else is going on around here. I've been a bit panicked because Rara (read some of my previous entries) has been out of school with the chicken pox. The panic is more because I've developed some of my own itchy spots than it is because I miss Rara (though I do). I have had chicken pox not once but twice... so I should be beyond safe this time around. But then I started wondering, since I managed to get it twice... maybe I can get it three times! Yikes. I feel fine, so I think (knock on wood) I'm ok. But... I really need to pay up on my health insurance next week. This is a dangerous job!

Tomorrow is Japan's Nation Founding Day (Japan never fought for its independence from another country... at least not that anyone can remember), a national holiday. So I'm now on my weekend- wahoo! Tom and I are thinking about trekking out to Hakone to do this three day trip planned (so kindly) by the Japanese Tourist Organization. We considered heading out for another ski trip, but are a bit on the tired side. And all the ski resorts are likely to be packed. Hakone is only an hour and a half from Tokyo, so if we get tired, bored, or broke... we can come back and crash in front of the TV. Both options sound pretty good, actually. (What else would you do with a 3 day weekend in the middle of February, anyhow??).

Cool- discovery of the season. Skype is a web company introduced to me by my dad and brother. By downloading their free software you can make international calls for free! Both the caller and the receiver have to have the skype software (which is as easy as any of the instant messenger software and quite similar to run), and a microphone (my bro got me a computer headset for Christmas)... but that's all it takes. (If person the caller is calling doesn't have the software set up, apparently the caller calls to their phone instead of a computer, and but it is still only $.02/minute-including overseas calls!). Now when I see either of them online, we can dial computer to computer and talk as long as we like... totally gratis... until we've said everything we'd ever want to (which my mom tested out on Monday morning) or one of us starts to fall asleep (which was the almost unavoidable result of Monday's chat with Mom...sorry Mom...!).

Anyway- its really quite cool. I'm very psyched about it, and would be more so if I could get some of you guys to sign up too. Nothing like making even more use of 24 hour internet connection! If anyone else is on skype or signs up.. please e-mail me and we can swap usernames. I promise to respect international timezones if you do....

Not much else going on. If anyone remembers that sketchy client I had at my last job who I'd decided was a drug runner or something equally illegal- you will be as "shocked" as I was to hear that it turns out he was using stolen credit cards. Yes, I am oh-so-very-shocked. I have the world's largest "I told you so" stuck in my throat, but instead of sharing it with my old boss... I've been helping him re-create the history of the transactions for a report he must submit. Its pretty ugly for him, but its not like I didn't warn.... about 10 different people.

We're heading back out to Niigata for skiing all day on Saturday. They are reportedly getting record levels of snow this week. Tom reported that they were actually canceling and delaying shinkansen trains due to all the snow on the tracks. For those of you in the midwest who imagine that you're pretty hard core when it comes to winter- think meters of snow (that's plural, and that is over 3 feet to ONE meter, for those of you who are metrically challenged!)- we're talking Winter with a capital W and several underlines. ;) Wish you all could join me to play in it...