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Bryan

The Year of Travel

Apr 03, 2010
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Kuniko heard at work yesterday that she will officially join the upcoming school trip to Vancouver. That is good news – she’s never been, and it will be nice to travel on the school’s dime. We had a feeling that she would be assigned to the trip, but it wasn’t official until yesterday. The trip is planned for sometime in May, and she’ll be gone for about 10 days. Should be lonely around here, though…

Combined with our other trips that will have us visiting five different countries this year. Quite a few for a couple of full time workers. It is a good thing we don’t have many houseplants – we’ll need to hire a friend or relative to take care of them while we’re away.

Back to Denya, Quiet Futami

Apr 03, 2010
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Friday I had a day off, so I spent the day exercising, walking around doing errands, and eventually topped it off with a trip back to Futami to check in over at Denya. It has been a long time since I had seen the master, and things were much the same at Denya.

I did notice when I got off at Higashi Futami station (a station I used to walk to every day when I first arrived in Japan) that the surrounding shops were pretty empty. The liquor store run by the family of a drinking buddy was shut down, and various stores that had been open months ago were abandoned. Things are not well in Futuami, and it was with some trepidation that I approached Denya. Luckily it was open, but I was the only customer.

I caught up with the master, and had a nice meal while watching the Hanshin Tigers game. As I ate some more customers straggled in, and the master suddenly got busy, so that was good news for him. I said farewell after eating my fill, and then walked north across the newer part of Futami to get to Tsuchiyama station, and things were a little better than the older part of town. Still, there is a little different vibe in Futami these days, and I am sure glad we didn’t decide to build a house in my old neighborhood. Okubo continues to grow, especially around the station, and I think we are lucky to be where we are.

Day Off Shopping, Japanese Reminder

Apr 01, 2010
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Yesterday Kuniko and I both had a midweek day off, so we slept in and headed into Kobe for some shopping. We did a big circle from her school in Motomachi to southern Sannomiya and back, and on the way picked up some new plates for entertaining, new alcohol for entertaining, and some new foods for entertaining. We’ve got a party coming up, and we want to get ready.

During our stop at Kaldi Coffee Farms, an import food store in Motomachi, I was lucky enough to find a bottle of bleu cheese dressing – something that hasn’t really caught on here. Can’t wait to try it on a salad in the near future and see if it is all I remember it to be.

I received some friendly encouragement from my old friend Nozaki sensei reminding me that recently I haven’t posted anything in Japanese, so I’ve got to get back in the habit. Posting in a foreign language is a great way to keep up your skills – I often recommend it to my students. So expect to see more Japanese posts in the near future.

Busy On Her Day Off

Mar 30, 2010
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Last night I shared a train home with one of my students, who was enjoying one of the perks of working in his department. Because of the amount of stress that his department is under, they are required to go home on both Monday and Wednesday without working any overtime. The entire company observes “no overtime day” on Wednesday, but he has Monday as well. Most of my students usually work until between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., so at least on a couple of days a week they can get home and rest a little.

As for me, I had the evening to myself as Kuniko was out and about doing fun things like having lunch, trying hot yoga, and having a birthday dinner for one of her coworkers. She was pretty tired by the time she got back in the evening, and we went pretty much directly to bed.

I used my free morning to catch up on my American TV shows, and also to do a little paperwork at home. Tomorrow and Friday I have completely off, so an easy week continues.

Too Much Ain’t Enough

Mar 29, 2010
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Today I’m off to work for just the afternoon after enjoying a relaxing weekend. Kuniko is even farther into relaxation mode, with just a lunch with some coworkers and a dinner with friends tonight. She and I have it easy for the next week or so, and we totally took advantage of the slow pace last weekend.

We spent most of our time walking – walking to the home center, walking to the grocery store, walking before dinner, walking after dinner. We really covered some territory this weekend, and I feel like we walked by just about everybody in Okubo.

Besides the walking we did some eating and drinking – the blender worked well to turn out margaritas (maybe too many of those), pina coladas (just the right amount of those), and fruit smoothies for dessert (probably should have had more of those). Saturday we grilled chicken and vegetables out on the deck, and Sunday Kuniko made nikuman for dinner, so we had a lot of variety as well.

This week I should have plenty of time for blogging, so I’ll try to stay up to date.

Let the Blending Begin

Mar 26, 2010
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I had to take the day off from blogging yesterday to watch the latest episode of Lost, but now I’m back and what do you know? It is Friday.

Kuniko has today and the next three days off, and four days off in a row for Kuniko is like suddenly getting three weeks off. That is to say, pretty much unheard of.

To celebrate we went out to yakitori last night. Actually, we ended up at yakitori because we both had to work a little later than normal, and we ended up coming back at about the same time with an empty fridge at home. So, we met up and ate grilled chicken. It has been a really long time since I’ve had yakitori, and the master there was happy to see me. I tried to drop in a couple of weeks ago, but at that time the place was full. In fact, we were lucky to get a couple of seats last night – he is really doing well for himself. He complained to me that there is no chance for him to take a vacation in the future – public holidays are his busiest times, but I guess that is the breaks when you choose a job like that.

After a big dinner and plenty of beer we walked home, and just caught the delivery of “The Blender”. I paid for it, took it inside and unpacked it, and it looks like it’ll do the job. Already tossed out the old blender, and I’m looking forward to trying out the new one. This summer we should be able to make smoothies, but tonight we’ll make frozen margaritas.

So, this should be a long day of classes while I think of the icy refreshment waiting at home for me. I’m out of here soon to go teach some classes, but Kuniko will be holding down the fort and enjoying some down time. I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more…

Now With 50% Less Employment

Mar 24, 2010
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Today I have a half day off as things wind down with my current course. Good news from some of my students – they have received permission to continue the course, so at least two of my students will be familiar, and the rest should be new students. I’m pleased that they decided to stick around – I think one year of intense one-on-one English conversation practice will really improve their skills.

With this kind of weird schedule in the next few weeks I have been trying to schedule a few events and meet-ups with friends that I haven’t been able to see lately. I got an email from the master of Denya asking what I was up to, which means it has been too long since I have been by. Maybe in the next few weeks I’ll get over to Futami to visit. I set up a meeting with Yoshi in early April, and Kuniko is inviting some more stressed out teachers over to our place to de-stress. Apparently the reputation of our hospitality is getting around.

Payoff, Long Weekend

Mar 23, 2010
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Friday night after work Kuniko and I met on the platform of Hanshin railways in Sannomiya, and then proceeded to the sushi restaurant – just about a five minute ride on the local train.

The place was part of what appeared to be a strip mall, except Edo period Japan’s version. Interesting layout, full of traditional Japanese restaurants, and the sushi place was no exception. The interior was nicely lit, the counter and all the tables were made of wood, and I could tell it was going to be expensive.

For ordering we just left it up to the sushi chef, and that made for some unpredictability and a fun night. When we arrived we also ordered some cold beer, and then followed that up with two small bottles of sake to share.

We had lots of variety – mainly nigiri sushi. Tai, chu-toro, lobster, crab, egg, squid, yellow tail, mackerel, sea urchin, plum and shiso rolls, pretty much the works. They were all good – but the toro was really good, and I think the crab was the best. It was served with cooked crab meat on top of rice, with a little spoon of kani miso on top. Yum.

The dinner turned out to be about half the cost of what we had predicted, but still a little expensive. It will be hard to go back to 100 yen sushi after this, though.

Saturday Kuniko was stuck at work, and it was a day for me to catch up and relax at home. Sunday was a brief trip to Kobe to run some errands, and Monday Kuniko was back at work while I cleaned house and did shopping around here.

Now today I’m gearing up to go back to work, and I’m feeling pretty refreshed. Tomorrow is another afternoon-only teaching session, so it should be a really easy week.

Wrap Up, Sushi Anticipation

Mar 19, 2010
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I’m wrapping up a course at work, and that means saying goodbye to a lot of students. Some students may continue the course, but others have to move on and that means I’ll be seeing a lot less of them. Luckily I have some free time at the end of each day and I’m encouraging them to drop by for some free conversation at their convenience. Hopefully they will take advantage of the time to continue building their skills.

Sushi night tonight! The place is near Shinzaike (æ–°åœ¨å®¶) just east of Sannomiya in Kobe. That means I’ll need to bail out of work and hustle to get to the station. Maybe a cab is in order tonight. I’m looking forward to this place – I hope it lives up to the expectations.

Still working on plans for the weekend – nothing solid yet. We may end up making plans over sake and sushi tonight. That’s where great ideas are usually born around here…

Sushi is Coming, Kitchen Road

Mar 18, 2010
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Yesterday I had only a half day of work, which turned out to be five classes in the afternoon. Usually my afternoon students see me after a busy morning, so I think they noticed that I was a little more refreshed on Wednesday. Time really flew in the afternoon, and I was back home before I knew it. Dinner was an easy one – miso soup and rice, and Kuniko came home exhausted after another big day at work.

In short, just another typical day of the week. We are both looking forward to going out after work for sushi on Friday, and it has become the light at the end of the tunnel for both of us this week. Even better, the upcoming weekend is a long one, and so even with Kuniko’s brutal Saturday schedule we should have some time to relax and recharge this weekend.

Thanks to one of my students who used to live in Osaka, I think I have tracked down “Kitchen Road”, an area that is completely filled with professional restaurant equipment stores in the downtown area. I’m in the market for a high power blender (among other things) and a rigorous search of the internet has yielded few results. I’m hoping to be able to head there this weekend or next to browse the offerings.

Strange Schedules

Mar 17, 2010
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Because of the schedule wrapping up for the first six month English course at work, I have ended up with some half days off here and there over the next three to four weeks. This means that I can have a leisurely morning here at home, drinking coffee, making a big breakfast, and taking care of errands that normally would have to wait for the weekend. Now I’m eating a fried egg sandwich – something I haven’t had in probably a year or so. Life is good. It will be interesting to see how my classes go in the afternoon – and if my students notice a difference.

Last night Kuniko got home late, so I cooked an easy Chinese food dish (katayakisoba) and we sat around catching up on each others’ day and talking about the rest of the week. She has been working on the schedule for next year at school, and so she has a tiny bit of control over when she will teach classes. It sounds like every other Saturday she will have lots of classes, and in compensation she will get Tuesday afternoon off. That sounded like good news to me, since mainly she is working now from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. Any reduction in that schedule would be a good thing.

OK, I’m off to do some chores around the house!

Take That Sea Shepherd

Mar 16, 2010
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I had a kind of goofy night at the yakitori with some of my students last night. One of them lives in the same town I do, and the other halfway between where we work and where I live. They wanted to go out for some beers and once out of the classroom we switched to a blend of English, Japanese and Chinese, the latter because one of the students just got back from Tsing Tao and is on a Chinese kick.

The food at the place was pretty good – more of an izakaya than a yakitori, actually. The menu was filled with a lot of different things, and we kept the dishes coming. They had whale on the menu, so they ordered that based on all the news stories recently about the Sea Shepherd group’s activities. The annual craziness that goes on with the lasers, ramming ships and pirate flags tend to make most Japanese people think that the group has no ground to stand on – and to me seems to solidify at least Japanese minds against any kind of logical argument against whaling. As my dinner companions said, it’s not like the whale meat is actually that delicious. To prove the point we ate the grilled whale meat, and sure enough – not so exciting. Give me beef instead.

We talked for a few hours and then called it a night – it is a school night after all. On the way out they apologized for scoring low on a standardized English test recently, and it looks like their English scores actually decreased in the time period that they have taken my class. There is a serious blow to my confidence. Actually, the test measures vocab, grammar and listening skills, but has no conversation/speaking section and I think that is where the students have made progress. As one student said to me the other day – his customers have noticed that he is speaking more smoothly and have told him so, but apparently this fact isn’t reflected in the scores (yet?). Depressing, though, and it put a mild damper on the evening. I’d like to see the rest of my students’ scores to get an idea of the overall picture.

Huge buckets of rain came down last night, but this morning it seems to have cleared enough to allow me to get to work and back without an umbrella. I’m getting a little tired of the rain and the rainy season hasn’t even started yet.

Elementary My Dear

Mar 15, 2010
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Friday night some of Kuniko’s coworkers came over for some steaks and wine, and it turned out to be a pretty good party. One slight hitch when they showed up an hour late and the cooks accidentally killed a bottle of wine waiting for them. Still, we managed most of our entertainment requirements and everyone had a good time. Some drinks were spilled, apple martinis were consumed, and there was even a cocktail napkin catching fire. Excellent.

Saturday Kuniko got up early (amazingly enough) and went to work at the usual time, and I slept in, cleaned up the house, and did some paperwork at home. That night we watched the late show of “Sherlock Holmes” which turned out to be quite entertaining. I was relieved to be able to watch the show with the original voices instead of dubbed over Japanese voices. This is becoming more and more of a trend at the big theaters in Japan – I am really surprised. It is a lot easier for Japanese people to watch Hollywood movies when they don’t have to keep looking down at the subtitles, but it is weird to me to watch a movie with Leo DeCaprio speaking Japanese. They always have the same 5-6 voice actors for these things, which subtracts even more from the believability factor.

Sunday we slept in, did laundry, and took a long beach hike to Akashi to burn some calories and enjoy the beautiful weather. Then an afternoon reading (Raymond Chandler) and a dinner at Da Lorenzo – the “better-than-anyone-has-a-right-to-expect” restaurant across the street from our old apartment in Okubo. After dinner we walked back home and shared a bath to recharge for this week. Luckily, my week is pretty easy, and filled with fun stuff including a half day off, an evening at a new yakitori (tonight) and another sushi dinner at a restaurant that Kuniko really liked. Life is good.

I Guess It’s Official

Mar 12, 2010
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So we pulled the trigger on tickets for the summer trip. After much deliberation we decided to pass over a trip to India and a trip to Egypt/Turkey and ended up deciding on a Germany/Belgium/Switzerland combo. August 7-22, escaping the heat of Japan for the Swiss Alps. We’ll spend most of the time in Germany and Switzerland, and I’m hoping to reserve tickets on the Glacier Express for a trip through the mountains.

I’m starting my German studies today, but compared to some of the other languages I’ve studied it should be quicker to pick up. I have plenty of time to work it out.

Today is Friday and after work we’ll be hosting some of Kuniko’s coworkers for a BBQ party. We’ll be grilling steaks and opening the red wine, thanks to our Costco run last weekend. The rain has stopped and it is supposed to be much warmer today, so I’m looking forward to getting behind the grill.

Hopefully I’ll be in decent enough condition this weekend to blog the aftermath…

That Foggy Feeling

Mar 11, 2010
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Yesterday at work I felt like I was teaching through a fog. I’m not sure why it was, but I just didn’t have much energy and hopefully that didn’t show to the students. I guess I can’t be a superstar every day, but I’d feel better knowing what was going on. Maybe I better hit the coffee a little harder this morning.

Other than feeling (and looking?) like a zombie things went well and I got home with plenty of time to make a veggie stir fry for our dinner. Kuniko didn’t get home until 9:30 or so – that made it a late evening. The rain seems to have left for the time being, which means a little cold for a while and then hopefully it will warm back up. Hopefully.