So this is what I made for dinner on Thursday:
I put oil in the pan with broccoli, salmon, orange and
yellow peppers, and quail eggs. This would probably be put on rice or maybe
even noodles most of the time but I have rice at lunch every day and it’s getting
really tiring, plus I’m usually lazy to make noodles so I just eat it like it
is. I was surprised, but it’s actually really quite good! (Quail eggs taste
exactly as a soft-boiled chicken egg does—the difference is that it’s really
small, no need to cut it or anything).
I drink orange juice all the time, that’s where I get my
fruit mostly. It’s mainly because fruit here is quite pricey. There is a shop
that sells produce a bit cheaper, but it’s quite out of the way and half the
time I end up forgetting about it. Plus where I normally go sells veggies for a
fine price- it’s the fruit that’s pricey. Even so, I’ll head out there
eventually.
On Friday, I headed to work and had preparation time for 1st
hour which I was glad for, it helped settle me down. This is because I was to
go to the close elementary school and teach the same lesson 3 times in a row. I
had never done the lesson before. It was an introduction lesson for can/can’t
for the 6th graders. The first class took to it well enough, it was
fine. The second class was pretty enthused on it overall. Then the third class
were much less energetic, but I did hold their attention. There had been two
kids in there that caught my attention. One was sleeping for part of the
lesson, and the other looked angry/sad like he would cry. The actual sensei
went over to them to try to fix it. In any case, by the ending activity where
each kid gets involved in competition, in round 2, the both of them went up
against each other and they had become energetic enough and happy looking.
Probably most of that is thanks to themselves, but I hope I might’ve had
something to do with it too. J
From work I headed to the doctors to get my prescription
again. The doctor prescribed me a Japanese inhaler (for some reason no matter
what I said, he had it in his head that I used mine everyday and that I’d need
another---really I just use it if I need to, my asthma is mild. Oh well, it’s
fine).
I drove straight from there to a fellow ALT’s apartment-
Maya. She lives close to the train station and even better, there are spots at
her place that aren’t assigned so virtually anyone can park there for a while.
I parked, walked to the station with my bag, and started my train journey to
Tokyo.
To be honest, I had made a friend who is from a neighboring
prefecture, Yamanashi. She’s from England, and is also a hetalia fan. xD If you
don’t know what that is, here’s a run-down. It’s an animated show about
countries. Each character represents a country, and the show is about their
history and cultural quirks and stereotypes. It’s a lot of fun. America yells
about being a hero, Russia is large and scary, people forget about the
soft-spoken Canada, etc.
Basically, I was meeting this friend, Robin, in Tokyo that
night so we could stay at a hostel and wake up at 5AM. This is because a retail
chain store, Animate (what they do is sell everything there is from comics,
shows, goods, etc. about all of the popular animated shows) runs a cafe. Every
month, they change the theme of the cafe and this month is hetalia. Robin had
been once already and from her and the internet, I learned that it was rather
epic.
That night we went and found a TGI Friday’s. And actually, it felt just like being in America! I mean the atmosphere, the amount of (excellent) English used, the food, everything. We sat at the counter, and the guys behind the bar were really nice. They put on a show that involved a lot of juggling, basically. Everyone was cheering and one of the guys had a big Styrofoam hat thing that he put on my head. xD I then put it on Robin’s head. There were these two customers sitting at the bar. These guys were hilarious because they seemed like they were American with how they were acting—everytime the bar guys did tricks, they did that “WHHHOOOOOOOOAAA OOOOOOOOOOOOH” thing that American college guys tend to do..like “OOOOH BALLLLEEEERR” xDD it was really funny.
So what did we do? Like true nerds, we got up at 5AM to be the first ones
in line for the 11AM opening. Yes actually, it was necessary. See, there were
no reservations for the cafe, although having to reserve is standard for
special cafes like that (i.e. maid cafes, butler cafes…look it up). But in this
case, it was get in line early enough to receive a spot. Cafe’s times were from
11am to 8pm. But it’s so incredibly popular, that you can’t just show up at
10:30 or something. No no, arriving at 6, we were first in line. By the time it
was 9, a really long line had formed from the 3rd floor of that
building and down all the stairs. They began with us, confirming our group name
and number of people and that we would be one of the first groups inside. Those
who had gotten in line by 9:15 (mind you, still 2 hours before the opening)
were able to get spots for the cafe that day. That’s right, those who were the
last to be accepted in line got their spots for the evening just before
closing. This all happened before opening at 11. That’s how epic it was. (And
you get nerdy bragging rights for being first, for sure xD). And people who came like at 9:30 and later, would read the signs an employee had posted that says: "We're very sorry, we have been booked through the entire day and we no longer have any room available." And they'd all go "uso darou" (bascially: "seriously? no way!").
Basically there’s merchandise, collectables, the show
playing, a waitress dressed up as a character, and decorations everywhere. The
food was a drink with small pastry that differed by country. For example, you
could get a coke with cookies- America. I got coffee with a small chocolate
cake with a jelly spread- apparently Austria. For the main dish I got little
bits of pork and mashed potatoes with a sauce- apparently this is German. There
was a sweet bread that was offered representing “big brother France”, and a
dessert that was tomato-flavored soft serve. Never heard of it before and yes,
it tasted like vanilla soft serve with…amazingly…actual tomato in there,
somehow. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but it was apparently an Italy
and Spain theme dessert.
I’m not sure if I can accurately explain why this sort of
thing is so awesome to me, but well—everyone needs hobbies. This is mine. xD
We met with Robin’s friend, India, from Alabama. She’s going
home next month, but I looks forward to seeing them both again if possible. It
was India’s birthday and they all went to a Butler cafe and Hooters. xD I
didn’t go, because I needed to get home for Sunday but I’m totally checking
that out one day.
Also that morning on our way to the cafe, there were
definitely still people outside at that hour partying (waiting for the trains
to run again I guess). There was stuff all out on the street and there was even
one guy passed out on the ground on a corner by a convenience store!! It kinda
freaked me out and I was sorta worried. But later on when we passed by again (and
it was raining too!) he wasn’t there anymore.
Also that morning on the way to the cafe I made the mistake
of making eye contact with some dude who was standing around. He started
walking with us and used some English asking if we wanted to get a drink. Robin
had ignored him the whole time, which I should’ve done, but nooooo. >>;;
Okay dude, it’s 6AM for one thing, for another, I don’t know you, and finally,
I know what you mean by “get a drink”- I've been lectured on this. You mean that as well as.....other things.
Uhhh no. Luckily he was really easy to make him go away and not persistent, so
there was that. But I’m so not used to being approached by people like that! So
I never even think it might happen.
I made it back sorta late because I messed up on getting right
train at the final transfer so I had to wait like an extra hour. But anyway, I
was really happy that I got to go to the cafe and meet friends and chat with
them and stuff~ it was cool.
Yesterday, (Sunday) I went with the city’s English club on a
tour in a nearby city Komagane. (AND I’M SO PISSED I FORGOT MY CAMERA!! I woke
up late so I dashed out without thinking about it, grrr. It’s ok though, others
got some pictures so I can attain some).
I drove to city hall to meet everyone. I only knew a couple
of them previously. One was Maya, the ALT who’s parking lot we all use xD and
her father was visiting from America at the time too~ another was another ALT,
Lauren, who I do ahng out with now and again with our friend Elizabeth- they
work in Minowa (north of my town, which
is South Minowa) and we watch movies together sometimes, they’re cool. The last
was Mrs. Kono, my Doctor’s wife. Her English is quite good, and she’s been very
kind to me and just really nice. She says she has kids my age and sympathizes about
us ALT ladies and being away from our country and home. So she’s invited us
into her house before, and has given me things when I was sick, like bread and
such, like my friend Sayaka did.
I met more Japanese people and other ALT’s on the tour. I
met Ayaka and Misato, and Chieko. I saw this ALT Molly (who leaves soon) that I
had gone to that NagaYES even I posted on a while ago—she’s really nice, it’s
sad she’s going. And I met this guy Rex whos funny. I’m glad to get to know
more people and make friends.
We first went to Kouzen temple. Basically, it has really
tall cedar trees, 3 of them are 700 years old. Also, in the cracks between
rocks, you can see glowing moss. There’s really good water, and an old style
home you can go in—it’s super peaceful. The tale of the temple is basically
that there was a dog who lived there called Hayatarou who defeated a horrible
monster and saved villagers. His grave is there at the temple~
Also, there were wild monkeys in the surrounding forest!
They were cute~ everything was nice and green and just sweet~
(I'm actually in that middle picture~)
Then we went to this brewery for lunch. When it's a big
group meal like that, you just order a bunch of dishes and just take from them.
There was pizza, some fish, salads, veggie dishes, and then famous beer. I
tried this apple type one which didn’t taste like apple but it was strong yet
sweet. I generally can’t stand beer and if even I was able to handle that one,
I guess it’s pretty good. We were able to try cherries downstairs—about $8.50
for a pack (this is standard) but actually, if cherries tasted like that all
the time, then I’d actually like them. It wasn’t sour or tart at all~
We walked over to this bridge over a wide, fast, river. This
is also where I wish I had my camera- the scenery was gorgeous. I hope to be
going back next month and get wonderful pictures then. Also, I’m going to check
facebook and see if there’ve been pictures put up by other people as well.
After that, we drove to this nearby pond/reservoir. There
were a few people fishing, though I don’t know why. I wouldn’t expect fish to
be in a reservoir, but whatever. For the
most part we were just looking at the water and one of the ladies had made rice
krispie treats- but with rice puffs and less on the sticky marshmallow so it
was like a milder form of the stuff you can get at the store, it was really
good.
We headed back to city hall and most of us said goodbye.
Myself, I followed Misato back to her home- she had invited a few of us over
for tea. She lives pretty close to me. She’s a housewife with a rock climbing
wall by the entrance of her house. By entrance, I mean the indoor entrance.
Yes, there’s a rock climbing wall in her house. Awesome. xD For a while it was
just myself and her- the others got lost. But then Ayaka and Lauren showed up.
We chatted a lot and had coffee, tea, banana bread, and green tea biscuits.
There was black tea, and a Chinese tea made from mushrooms. @3@ It was all
pretty good~ Ayaka works at the central
hospital nearby- the big one near my house. She’s a mid-wife there, and she’s
getting married at the end of summer. Everyone is really nice, I was so glad I
went out yesterday~~
Also, there’s a new convenience store that opened up close
to my house. Well, the chain isn’t new, but it’s a new location. The mascot is
a raccoon and there was a big life-size guy in a costume of it. It was cute,
and the place was packed. I dropped in to get a salad and juice, but wound up
with a free bread dessert thing, and a free cup of popcorn. Hooray for sweet
promotions! The popcorn seemed to be just for kids, but I had chatted a little
with one of the workers, and when I came back outside she said there was too
much and gave me some. Plus this one is not only in walking distance, but I
don’t have to cross the road to get to it~ (unlike the nearby 7/11).
The store is called "Lawson". The pronunciation in Japanese is "Ro-sone". I was actually called Lawson-sensei by a student a few days ago- I was thrilled. xD The other Lauren I mentioned gets called Romen-sensei (which is a dish specially originated from this area of the prefecture), so that's kind of our nicknames. xD
On Wednesday, Maya’s Dad is going back to America (and Maya
is moving to Nagano City in August…we’re all sad because it’s kinda far). So
Chieko-san organized a karaoke event with them tonight. I’ll be attending as
well, I’m not sure who else is going though.
Karaoke here is not like at home. You always get a private
room for yourself and your own group. Price goes by the hour and often includes
a drink bar (not all alcoholic) some food is extra but it’s not too bad.
It should be fun, I’ll write about it later if anything
particularly interesting happens. xD
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