Back to Life ... Back to Reality

Back in the United States ... I can't believe it's been almost two weeks already! Then again, it is always difficult for me to grasp how fast time flies.

This time, however, time isn't flying because I'm having fun with my friends and students. I have so much work ahead of me, and I need to get ready ...

Luckily, I found a studio apartment relatively quickly, so that's good. I found a cute little place in a nice area of Reno. I will take photos and post them after I move in on Friday, August 15th.
I have a bicycle, so transportation is taken care of, but I do need to find a way to get to Truckee Meadows Community College two times a week. I will be teaching one class of 21 ESL students. The title of the course is 'Bridge Reading Skills', which is defined as "a reading course designed to develop academic reading/writing skills in order to enhance success as a college student".
The campus is a few miles away, too far for a bike. The bus goes there, however. Good!

My other job is at Washoe High School, as an adult alternative education teacher. I teach there two or three times a week in the evenings. Fortunately, Washoe is very close to my new home, so that is great! Especially when it starts to snow in the winter ...

Now all I need to do is get ready for school! Not as a teacher, but as a student. :) I will most likely have two classes plus comp exams. I have a meeting with my advisor this week to finalize my fall schedule. I'm planning on walking the stage in December; let's hope I do!

Busy, eh?

I'll finish this entry with a photo of my niece Maile and nephew Ethan. I really missed them, and it's good to be back.

teddy`s beach bar

Now I remember why I gained so much weight while living in Tsuruoka! The food is delicious, the beer is refreshing, the sake is locally produced and is so smooth, and the dinner conversation is fabulous! Nicole and I have eaten way too much this week ... I feel like I have the gout, I swear. Yesterday (after checking out of the onsen), we strolled down to the beach to hang out at my friend Shu`s beach bar. He is an authentic Japanese rockabilly and so his bar is absolutely the coolest. There we were ... playing darts in a shack on the beach, listening to rockabilly music. It was just so neat! Shu made Nicole a tasty cocktail with all kinds of fruit juice and I had an ice cold beer. Saori and Yousuke joined us (friends of Shu`s from Yamagata city) and then Shu made yaki soba, right there on the beach. Wow. It was so delicious! After that, we played another game of darts, drank ice coffee, then went for a stroll down to the water`s edge. The water was nice and warm, the sky clear and blue, and we could even see Mt. Chokai domineering the view up north. It was incredible.

Yunohama Onsen

Onsen means "hot springs" or mineral bath. All over Japan, there are natural hot springs that are pumped up from underground to create mineral baths. Public baths are very common but in Yamagata prefecture, every town has an onsen, too. So we will be staying at a small inn near Yunohama beach that features onsen and speciality foods. Soaking in mineral baths and eating good food! What more could you ask for?

Country Living

On Monday, after checking out of our apartments and saying goodbye to Nishi-chiba (the name of the neighborhood where we lived), Nicole and I jumped on the bullet train for Niigata. As we raced past the skyscrapers and ventured out into the open rice fields and verdant mountains of the countryside, it finally hit me. I'm leaving Japan!

Now we are at Yumi's house in Tsuruoka. Her family owns an organic farm, so everyday we eat the rice and veggies that her family has grown. Yesterday we took a small walk to their plot of land and ate cherry tomatoes off the vine ... so delicious.

Their house is in a little village outside of Tsuruoka. We are surrounded by lush, green ricefields and thick groves of bamboo. Last night there was an earthquake and the house shook, but no serious damage, fortunately. This morning we woke up to sound of pouring rain ... it is the end of the monsoon season, and the rain cools the temperature nicely. Much needed because there is no air-conditioning out here!

Tonight, Nicole and I are checking into an onsen in Yunohama.

CLEAN ... GO ... Goodbye?

I am sitting in the middle of piles and piles of stuff ... once again it's time to pack and go. How many times have I done this? Too many to count ... I'm not ready to leave.

The last two weeks have been absolutely crazy. I completed all of my student evaluations (61 of them!) just in time for the goodbye party. We went to a really delicious Chinese restaurant. We had tons of yummy food, beer, and lots of bittersweet goodbyes. They presented me with a big card that everyone had signed. It was really special!

Almost time for Tohoku

It's getting close to my last day of work, and that means I'll be leaving soon for Tohoku (Northern Japan). This time, Nicole will come along! Yippee!

Here are some photos from my last trip north to Tsuruoka. I love that place ...

Of course, no trip to Tsuruoka would be complete without a trip to Ajiwai, where they serve the "Ajiwaimen" special. It's a HUGE bowl with miso/sesame soup, pork, green peppers, other random veggies, and TONS of bean sprouts. And ramen noodles, naturally, but you just can't see them. They're in there somewhere. I have only finished the Ajiwaimen once, but I may have done permanent damage to my stomach muscles ... it's just so huge!
Speaking of eating, this is Taka with a mouth full of food! Yummy. Look at those cheeks. Taka is Naomi's baby, Yumi's sister. What a cutie.


Saturday night was the big night out for us. Martin met up with Yumi and I at Doutor's (they have a Doutor's coffee shop in Tsuruoka now; how cosmopolitan!) and we proceeded to call up the whole gang for a little reunion. Alex came in all the way from Yamagata City (3 hours away), Maruyama arrived after his late shift at the post office, Shunsuke left the farm early (he's a soybean farmer), and Toko arrived fully decked out in his rockabilly gear, as always! He is the lead singer of a rockabilly band called 'Memphis Mafia'. I was a guest singer for a couple of shows back in 2001. Martin brought his girlfriend, Yuko, a very nice lady, just beautiful and great. Jeff also joined us, an American who teaches at East High School in Tsuruoka. They were a few other guest appearances, mostly by former students of Yumi's and of Martin's. Kako's is a very popular place, after all ...

We had such a great time! I truly felt so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people, just fantastic, generous, funny friends that drop everything when I'm in town. We laughed so much!
Lots of photos were taken. In fact, this is a photo of Martin and Jeff looking at the photo they just took of Yumi and I. Here are some of the highlights.


Yumi being silly ... it is so hard to get a normal photo of her!










Finally, we managed to get one. This is Yumi talking to one of her former students, who also worked for her mother.


















Yuko laughing. Nice action shot!














A friendly kiss on the cheek from Toko. Look at that hair .... and this is the same guy who sits on the PTA board of his son's junior high school. Rock on, Toko!



The last photo is of Toko and Shunsuke talking with Yumi who snapped the photo, I think. Everyone traded cameras at one point.

Thank you Yumi, Martin, and everyone for a great trip. I'll see you in two weeks ... can't hardly wait.

3 weeks to go ...

I just realized that I only three more weeks of my job. Whoah! What happened? How could it possibly go this fast? ........................... I`m not ready to leave.


Right now I`m at work and Jessica is out there, somewhere in Roppongi or Ginza, doing some sightseeing/shopping. We are meeting up tonight so we can go to Tokyo Hyatt. We weren`t able to go to Shinjuku over the weekend. Our ages caught up with us and we went back to Nishi-Chiba, but that was after seeing Asakusa, Hanayashiki Amusement Park, Omotesando, Harajuku and Shibuya. However, Jess plans on staying in a capsule hotel tonight. Me? I`ll head back. I love my mini-apartment; I certainly wouldn`t trade it for something smaller! Plus, it`s kinda fun for Jess to have a little solo adventure in a foreign city. I remember how proud my mom felt after going all the way to Hiroshima and back, by herself! You go, girl.

Jessica!

Jessica arrived on Thursday night, flying in FIRST CLASS from San Francisco. Ah, the perks of being a flight attendant. Did I mention that she flies for free?

It was wonderful to see her walk down the stairs at Nishi-Chiba station, but also a little strange. Two worlds collide sort of a feeling. My Bay Area life meets my Japan life ... it was strange for only a couple of moments, however. Now it just feels incredible, to have one of my best friends here!

Last night, Jessica came to my school and we went out with my students. There were about 12 of us, all gathered around a table at an izakaiya (Japanese pub that also serves tapas-sized dishes), drinking and laughing. Sugoi!

Today we are going to Asakusa Temple and then will walk around Shibuya, Harajuku, Yoyogi, Omotesando. Naturally, we'll go for one drink at the Tokyo Hyatt, where 'Lost in Translation' was filmed, which is in Shinjuku. That's where we'll finish the night by spending the night at a capsule hotel (if we can find one at a reasonable price).
Exciting!

In other news, Yumi sent a futon and blankets for Jessica to use while she is here. Thank You, YUMI! Yumi is my Japanese best friend, and lives in Tsuruoka. She also sent a CD with photos on it. So, I finally have photos to share with you from my trip to Tsuruoka at the beginning of this month. I'll try posting them tomorrow evening.

Rush Hour

Okay, okay. I know I keep mentioning the trains, but I had an especially crowded commute this morning. So I decided to share a video clip with you. This is an example of how crowded it can get on the morning rush hour trains. Thankfully, mine isn`t quite as bad as this clip, but it`s close!

Week end/beginning?

Most Tokyoites (or most Japanese, for that matter) work for the weekend. Ah, yes ... that one day, SUNDAY, where everyone piles into their cars for a drive to the supermall. That`s where I ended up on Sunday, wandering aimlessly around a supermall in Funabashi called LALAPORT or RARAPORT (depending on which sign you read). Here is a small list of some of the things I saw:

1. A massive line for Krispy Kreme doughnuts (very popular here all of a sudden). When I write massive, I mean about 200 people ... no joke.

2. A really cheesy boy band that performed on the mall stage to a packed crowd (well, everywhere was crowded, but ...). The funniest part was when one of the guys started rocking out, then realized he had forgotton to put the capo on so it was completely off-key! The crowd was very forgiving, actually. I think it was because they probably were just happy to find somewhere to sit down.

3. A restaurant that was dedicated to all the different types of bread dishes found around the world, but served them Japanese-style (aka COMPLETELY WRONG, like with rice and filled with red kidney bean paste or corn/mayonnaise).

4. More `Hello Kitty` dressed children than you could shake a stick at.

5. An entire section of a department store featuring `Billy`s Bootcamp` exercise videos. Apparently, this guy has a serious following in Japan! That reminded me of the petite, middle-aged Japanese housewives I see at my gym. I belong to the YWCA in Ochanomizu, and that place fills up with aerobics-crazed ladies in the evenings. They just love bouncing around to bad euro-techno!

6. Oh, and I saw the new Indiana Jones movie, too. Not bad, but not that great either. But it was refreshing to hear only English for two solid hours.

It was a good day.

Dating in Japan (so glad I`m not dating!)

p.s.

please include your name if you comment ... so i know who you are. yoroshiku ne!

Transitions/Translations

the telling moments are the ones in between

as i`m perched on a platform
leaning against warm bodies packed in a train

stepping across skinny roads
avoiding grandmothers on bicycles

listening to the cries of boys playing baseball
smiling at girlish heels clicking past

squinting under the glare of flourescent lights
picking plastic wrapped fruit at the 100 yen shop

those are the moments when i notice ...

i am no longer crying inside.

Liquid Happy!

For people who ask if I'm enjoying myself in Japan!

It's melon soda with vanilla ice-cream, enjoyed at a cute little cafe in Shibuya. Oiishi!

NIHON Temple at Mt. NOKOGIRI

After an exciting evening out with Nicole and friends, we decided to do a little sightseeing on Sunday. We ventured out to a mountain at the seaside in western Chiba. It's called Nokogiri mountain, and features a gondola ride to the top. The "Ropeway" was totally out of a 1970's James Bond movie! We even had a fully uniformed "Ropeway" girl who talked into a microphone the whole way up (even though there were only 4 of us in the gondola). Once we got off, we found this super old cafeteria complete with an old school arcade. Check out the "Magic Mushroom" air hockey game. Strangely enough, there's also a temple founded in 725 A.D. Plus, the temple has Japan's largest Buddha that was carved out of the mountain side. I guess the magic mushroom metaphor is fitting because it was like going back in time!

This is where I provide a link because I don't have a camera:

http://www.town.kyonan.chiba.jp/nokogiriyama/nokogiriyama.htm

There are some really great photos, especially of the views from the cliffs that overlook the forests and ocean below.

Luckily, Shun (one of our Japanese friends) had a cellphone/camera, so there are some low resolution photos.

Every trip to a famous Japanese temple usually entails lots of exercise, and Nokogiri-yama was no exception. In all, we climbed nearly 2,000 steps to the different areas of the temple. It was nice to see young and old people alike huffing and puffing to see stone carvings from the 1700's. Plus, there wasn't a single liability release form or 'climb at your own risk, blah blah' sign anywhere! Nice to be back in a country that doesn't assume everyone is an idiot.

Nicole's Post

hey everyone,

i'm busy compiling the photos from my trip to yamagata, but in the meantime ...

go to nicole's site and read the post called LOCAL FLAVOR. that is what we did on saturday night. lots of fun.

all of nicole's posts are pretty great, actually. you should bookmark it because they are super entertaining to read. we hang out a lot so i appear in her posts occasionally. she's a real foodie, so we get along great! :)

http://www.misskoco.com/

until next time, ne!

SOBU SEN

so i ride the sobu local line everyday to get to and from work ... it takes an hour each way. that adds up to WAY TOO MUCH time!

5 things i hate about riding on the train:

the little song they play at each stop (to signify that the doors are closing) totally gets stuck in my head and i whistle it all day.

how can so many trains be so full all the time? where are all these people going?

there's always some salaryman with a serious case of halitosis who manages to stand right next to me.

no matter how much i try to predict who will get up first, i always end up in front of the people who are riding to the end of the line.

and when i do get a seat, the only thing at eye-level is everyone's crotches. great.

5 things i like about riding on the train:

in the mornings, i ride the women-only train car. so wonderful!

it's okay to fall asleep on the train, which i totally do. sometimes i even accidentally slump to the side, but a lot of people do that.

in this PDA-phobic society, it's occasionally nice to have a pretty lady sleeping on my shoulder.

there's always a train about to arrive ... i only have to wait a couple of minutes.

i can practice reading japanese because the trains are plastered with ads. some of them are pretty crazy! they make me giggle.

plus, every once in a while, i look out the window at the neon jungle spread out under the tracks and think, "wow! i'm in tokyo!"

well, look at that. i found 6 things that i like but only 5 things i hate about riding the train. i guess it's not so bad after all ...

MILK+WATER Show, Sunday May 25th

MILK+WATER

What a show! Nicole and I went to Shibuya (one of Tokyo's hot spots) to see Milk+Water. The show was held in a tiny little club called 'Home'. There couldn't






have been more than 20 people total in the audience! But once Milk+Water hit the tiny stage, they totally made us feel like we were at a huge rock show. What charisma. Nicole took these photos of Kozo, the lead singer. When he sang, he fully opened his mouth and practically swallowed the mike. And look at his eyes; as he sang they bulged out, which made him look a little crazy but it was actually a pretty cool effect.
After the show, practically the whole club went to an izakaiya (Japanese pub) for drinks and food. Here you can see what Japanese rock stars eat. That's slimy seaweed in vinegar and ponzu (citrus soy sauce), served with a cucumber slice and grated fresh ginger. It goes great with beer! Then there's chicken stew- all types of chicken bits, simmered in stock with veggies. Yummy! Anyways, Nicole, Andrea, Koji and I had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, we had to leave kinda early so Nicole and I could catch the last train back to Chiba. It was a 'school-night', after all.

Miso Soup Video!

http://www.misskoco.com/2008/05/misoshiro-fried-tofu.html

Go to this link and watch the utube video at the bottom of Nicole`s post. It`s hilarious!

:)
Mia

Cooking Night!

Last Wednesday, my neighbor Nicole and I made dinner. She wants to learn a few Japanese recipes so I gladly volunteered. I love cooking! We made shiromiso stew: potatoes, chicken, tofu, carrots, green pepper, leek, and lots of mushrooms with white miso paste soup. Shiitake, shimeji ... mushrooms are so cheap here!



We also made a homemade version of agedashi tofu. It's fried tofu served with grated radish, fishflakes and seaweed in a soy marinade.