...the heat! Yes, summertime is finally here. With rainy season (tsuyu) finally over, sunny days are here. It is a true fact that I end up at school drenched every day, and arrive home drenched every day, DESPITE RAINY SEASON BEING OVER!
The merciless heat is compounded by the lack of real air conditioning. Yes, Genkai has air con. Yes, it's on and has been since the beginning of the month. No, it doesn't really make a difference. In another brilliant move, where Japanese bureaucracy (the same bureaucracy that regulates for the most part in all prefectural schools and buildings IN THE PREFECTURE when to turn ON the air con) has decided to pinch pennies in all the wrong places and have the air con running at a balmy 26 degrees.
OK, so the fact that I come from a purportedly "northern" country has something to do with my discomfiture. But 26 degrees + single-pane uninsulated glass + no insulation = a hot fucking room. Why doesn't anyone else see that?
Really, it's not actually all that bad. Instead of sweat poring off of me, I'm relatively dry all day and a simple hand fan moves enough air for me to feel comfortable. But damn it I (and I am not alone in this), would gladly pay into some kind of air con fund and have the air con in the teachers room set to 24 all the time.
7/08/2008
7/06/2008
Beginnings and Ends
I'm always amazed at the subjectivity of time, and how time can seem to crawl or pass at the blink of an eye based on the situation a person experiences. I'm a sense, I'm going through a sort of time-crisis myself, as I consider the last 2 years.
On one hand, I feel like I've been in Japan forever. So much so that I can hardly remember my daily life in Toronto. Not of course that I've forgotten my friends and family there, but rather that I've so acclimatized myself to my life in Japan that at this point any other seems...impossible.
This is of course a slippery slope, and such delusions can lead to heartbreak later. Already, I am starting to feel the pressure of the ending of my next contract year, even though it hasn't begun. Where will I be once August rolls around. Will I be recontracted? Will I have a new job, here in Japan? Or will I go home, kicking and screaming, to a country where I have no appreciable job skills? In a very real sense, I cannot rely on JET to recontract me another year. Budgetary concerns have already seen a reduction in the number of high schools with JET ALTs, in many cases to be replaced by Interac ALTs, and while I have high confidence that Genkai will continue to use and request JET ALTs (the JET Programme continues despite reduced capacity), whether I am included in that as a 4th year hopeful is still up in the air.
And so I feel the crunch very acutely, of really thinking about getting my house into order. While I am technically just as unskilled here in Japan as I am in Canada, I have my English ability, but perhaps more important my Japanese ability, to fall back on. That said, I don't know if I want to continue teaching, and a happy ending for me would see me working somewhere where my bilingual skills would be put to use. Still, hoping for an ideal situation to come along is risky at best, so I need to consider making myself more ELT-worthy. Going for my TESOL certification is definitely on my to do list. A company from Canada runs a week-long seminar in Yokohama. Eventually, I might even consider going back to school for a BEd. in foreign language teaching, though that is indeed getting well ahead of myself. I have lived my life according to my own set of rules, that those include not getting overly worked up about my own future. I feel that I have an indomitable optimism with regards to this. Whether this turns out to be true, or simply the fantasies of an idle mind, remains to be seen.
I didn't mean this to be a rant, but the last few substance based posts have had a similar tenor, a sure sign that at least on some subconscious level, I am sufficiently worried. So that's good, I think.
But to return to the main point, while I feel I've been here in Japan forever, I feel that I have not much time remaining before some real action on my part must be taken. But as well as feeling long, my time in Japan has also felt very brief. To this I point to my co-ALT, or rather her departure.
Elaine will be going home, in just over a month. In about 3 weeks, she will stop being my co-ALT and will be replaced by a new girl. There is of course a certain anxiety I feel, as is usual when new co-workers enter the office, but as well a certain sense of excitement, as this new ALT learns the "wonders" of the environment she'll be working in. The gist of it is this: I cannot believe that it's been 2 years already. Where did this time fly? It feels almost like yesterday that I checked into the doctor's clinic on the 27th-or-some-odd floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel with an asthma attack, my first and lasting memory of arriving in Japan on the JET Programme. At the same time, that seems like a lifetime ago. I remember my initial growing irritation with Elaine distinctly, but also how our work relation mended itself until we were partner's par-excellence, a veritable teaching team here at Genkai. This too is both a distinct memory, but as well something which seems to be very much in the past.
Perhaps it is my growing senecense. Perhaps it is a form of culture-shock. Perhaps the early July heat is rotting my brain. Regardless, this dichotomy of time will haunt me for some time...
If you can guess, Current Mood: Contemplative
On one hand, I feel like I've been in Japan forever. So much so that I can hardly remember my daily life in Toronto. Not of course that I've forgotten my friends and family there, but rather that I've so acclimatized myself to my life in Japan that at this point any other seems...impossible.
This is of course a slippery slope, and such delusions can lead to heartbreak later. Already, I am starting to feel the pressure of the ending of my next contract year, even though it hasn't begun. Where will I be once August rolls around. Will I be recontracted? Will I have a new job, here in Japan? Or will I go home, kicking and screaming, to a country where I have no appreciable job skills? In a very real sense, I cannot rely on JET to recontract me another year. Budgetary concerns have already seen a reduction in the number of high schools with JET ALTs, in many cases to be replaced by Interac ALTs, and while I have high confidence that Genkai will continue to use and request JET ALTs (the JET Programme continues despite reduced capacity), whether I am included in that as a 4th year hopeful is still up in the air.
And so I feel the crunch very acutely, of really thinking about getting my house into order. While I am technically just as unskilled here in Japan as I am in Canada, I have my English ability, but perhaps more important my Japanese ability, to fall back on. That said, I don't know if I want to continue teaching, and a happy ending for me would see me working somewhere where my bilingual skills would be put to use. Still, hoping for an ideal situation to come along is risky at best, so I need to consider making myself more ELT-worthy. Going for my TESOL certification is definitely on my to do list. A company from Canada runs a week-long seminar in Yokohama. Eventually, I might even consider going back to school for a BEd. in foreign language teaching, though that is indeed getting well ahead of myself. I have lived my life according to my own set of rules, that those include not getting overly worked up about my own future. I feel that I have an indomitable optimism with regards to this. Whether this turns out to be true, or simply the fantasies of an idle mind, remains to be seen.
I didn't mean this to be a rant, but the last few substance based posts have had a similar tenor, a sure sign that at least on some subconscious level, I am sufficiently worried. So that's good, I think.
But to return to the main point, while I feel I've been here in Japan forever, I feel that I have not much time remaining before some real action on my part must be taken. But as well as feeling long, my time in Japan has also felt very brief. To this I point to my co-ALT, or rather her departure.
Elaine will be going home, in just over a month. In about 3 weeks, she will stop being my co-ALT and will be replaced by a new girl. There is of course a certain anxiety I feel, as is usual when new co-workers enter the office, but as well a certain sense of excitement, as this new ALT learns the "wonders" of the environment she'll be working in. The gist of it is this: I cannot believe that it's been 2 years already. Where did this time fly? It feels almost like yesterday that I checked into the doctor's clinic on the 27th-or-some-odd floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel with an asthma attack, my first and lasting memory of arriving in Japan on the JET Programme. At the same time, that seems like a lifetime ago. I remember my initial growing irritation with Elaine distinctly, but also how our work relation mended itself until we were partner's par-excellence, a veritable teaching team here at Genkai. This too is both a distinct memory, but as well something which seems to be very much in the past.
Perhaps it is my growing senecense. Perhaps it is a form of culture-shock. Perhaps the early July heat is rotting my brain. Regardless, this dichotomy of time will haunt me for some time...
If you can guess, Current Mood: Contemplative
6/13/2008
Yeesh
2 months since I last posted. Anyhoo new profile pic and album from my recent Kuju trip. Thanks Sandy! (And to a lesser extent Rob for posting his pics from the day, thus reminding me to do the same).
P.S. I'll post more this weekend.
P.P.S. Make that 3 months. Thank goodness I'm not here in Japan to spread my awesome math skills.
P.S. I'll post more this weekend.
P.P.S. Make that 3 months. Thank goodness I'm not here in Japan to spread my awesome math skills.
3/24/2008
Spring time...
...is here in Japan.
Evening, sports fans. Spring break began for me last Wednesday after school. The last day of the school year, and at 4:20 I was out of there. I had after all an enkai to go to. Well, no tales of my drunken shenanigans (revelatory though they were). I woke up the next morning at the crack of noon.
HANGOVER: Enter, stage left.
Actually, thanks to some precautions it wasn't too bad. So, what did I do for the next four days?
hikkikomori
That comes from the combination of two words. The first is hiku, which means to pull away from. In this case, it means to pull away from society at large and social interaction specifically. The second word is komoru, which means to coop oneself up somewhere, in this case at home.
Its actually a social phenomenon that is affecting a number of otaku-types in Japan, and is the harbinger, dare I say, of a very serious pestilence affecting Japanese society in this post-modern world.
But that's not what I'm getting into in this post, so we'll leave it at that.
Indeed, I stayed home for the last four days, and by day four I was itching to go out. I was going to go see a dance recital (gods that makes it sound so lame) done by some of my graduated students, but inclement weather kept me home. Well, they got their ticket money from me, so my appearance was optional.
I did have a plan though, and that plan started to come to fruition today. This week I have all afternoons off (not free mind you. I'm using up my vacation days). So this week I will be organizing and cleaning my apartment. I purchased today a wonderful new bookshelf, which now houses all my magazines, English books, and art books, as well as my 1/100 MG Gundams (and other sundry things). This too was revelatory, because I realized that I have inherited by mother's crazy desire to clean. I nearly had a panic attack when, towards the end of the move, I looked around at the disarray I had created. Well, unlike my mother, I know how to deal with a panic attack. One slug of whiskey later, and I mellowed out, grabbed a trash bag, and gathered all the clutter that was pissing me off.
Well, that's the new shelf. Holy crap I've accumulated a lot of...crap.
Tomorrow I tackle my pantry cupboard, as well as perhaps start sorting through the all the paper in my house.
On an unrelated note, I paid off some more bills, and I came to the realization that, at virtually no impact to my lifestyle here in Japan, I've reduced my consumer debt by a considerable amount. When I first came to Japan, I had something like $2700 debt on one of my Visas alone. All told, I think I had something close to $5000. But as of today, I'm down to under $1800. Total. Spread over 3 cards, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That makes me pretty damned happy.
And last, but not least, to placate my many gourmet fans, I present tonights dinner (sans the beer, which is only for show).
Evening, sports fans. Spring break began for me last Wednesday after school. The last day of the school year, and at 4:20 I was out of there. I had after all an enkai to go to. Well, no tales of my drunken shenanigans (revelatory though they were). I woke up the next morning at the crack of noon.
HANGOVER: Enter, stage left.
Actually, thanks to some precautions it wasn't too bad. So, what did I do for the next four days?
hikkikomori
That comes from the combination of two words. The first is hiku, which means to pull away from. In this case, it means to pull away from society at large and social interaction specifically. The second word is komoru, which means to coop oneself up somewhere, in this case at home.
Its actually a social phenomenon that is affecting a number of otaku-types in Japan, and is the harbinger, dare I say, of a very serious pestilence affecting Japanese society in this post-modern world.
But that's not what I'm getting into in this post, so we'll leave it at that.
Indeed, I stayed home for the last four days, and by day four I was itching to go out. I was going to go see a dance recital (gods that makes it sound so lame) done by some of my graduated students, but inclement weather kept me home. Well, they got their ticket money from me, so my appearance was optional.
I did have a plan though, and that plan started to come to fruition today. This week I have all afternoons off (not free mind you. I'm using up my vacation days). So this week I will be organizing and cleaning my apartment. I purchased today a wonderful new bookshelf, which now houses all my magazines, English books, and art books, as well as my 1/100 MG Gundams (and other sundry things). This too was revelatory, because I realized that I have inherited by mother's crazy desire to clean. I nearly had a panic attack when, towards the end of the move, I looked around at the disarray I had created. Well, unlike my mother, I know how to deal with a panic attack. One slug of whiskey later, and I mellowed out, grabbed a trash bag, and gathered all the clutter that was pissing me off.
Well, that's the new shelf. Holy crap I've accumulated a lot of...crap.
Tomorrow I tackle my pantry cupboard, as well as perhaps start sorting through the all the paper in my house.
On an unrelated note, I paid off some more bills, and I came to the realization that, at virtually no impact to my lifestyle here in Japan, I've reduced my consumer debt by a considerable amount. When I first came to Japan, I had something like $2700 debt on one of my Visas alone. All told, I think I had something close to $5000. But as of today, I'm down to under $1800. Total. Spread over 3 cards, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That makes me pretty damned happy.
And last, but not least, to placate my many gourmet fans, I present tonights dinner (sans the beer, which is only for show).
3/07/2008
Mama-mia!
Hot on the heels of my last post, I bring you my next creation. There are many things I miss about Canada, and not least among these is food. While the Americanization of Japan continues apace, luxuries such as Pizza Hut and Burger King remain the purview of the mandarins in Tokyo.
Among the food I really miss though is Mom's cooking. When people ask me here what kind of food I ate at home, while I usually tell them things like katsudon or yudo-fu, I also explain that my mother's repertoire necessarily included a healthy dose of western food. Meatloaf and lasagna were probably my favourite.
This post, unlike my last, demands a certain amount of verbosity, not only because this is the first time I've made lasagna from "scratch" (that is, not kit-bashed), it is also is a sense an homage to my mother's cooking.
So here I will walk you through the lasagna-making process. Unlike my mother's, which is highly nutritious, filled with vegetables and all such manner of goodness, mine is much simpler fare, made with for the most part pre-prepared ingredients.
1 Large pack of minced beef/pork mix.
2 packs of tomato sauce
1 pack of cottage cheese
14 pieces of lasagna pasta
1 pack of shredded Mozzarella
Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
oregano
garlic paste
tomato paste
First, brown the meat, adding salt and pepper about 1/2 way through the cooking process. Drain fat, and transfer to a bowl. Put the tomato sauce into the pan used to cook the meat, add tomato paste, oregano, garlic paste. Add meat, mix on low heat until even.
Boil lasagna pasta. I did mine in 2 batches. In a Pyrex baking dish, put down a layer of sauce and cottage cheese, then lay down a layer of pasta. Continue in this manner until you've used up the pasta, cutting some into smaller strips to fill out the layers.
Each layer should be perpendicular to the last layer, so as to reinforce the structure of the lasagna. Each layer in mine had both sauce and cottage cheese. Top the lasagna off with the remainder of the sauce, sprinkle Mozzarella and Parmesan.
Bake in an oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 30 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, cover the lasagna in aluminum foil.
And done. I've modified the recipe instructions above after reflection on my meal. First, I left the lasagna uncovered the entire time in the oven, leading the mozzarella cheese to harden into a crust. In future, the aluminum foil should help with that. Also, though the lasagna is solid in the last picture, it collapsed as the pasta slid away. For this, I might try to reduce the pasta sauce a bit (as in let the water content evaporate a little more), and try to spread the cottage cheese a little more evenly.
Also, in a effort to save time, I would do both the sauce and boil the water for the pasta noodles at the same time. I did this today in the order listed, and as a result it ended up taking about an hour to prepare, and a further 30 minutes to bake. Eating was a 20 minute affair (x2 nights, so 40 total). Ideally, I'd like to get something closer to a 1:1 ratio.
Manic.
Among the food I really miss though is Mom's cooking. When people ask me here what kind of food I ate at home, while I usually tell them things like katsudon or yudo-fu, I also explain that my mother's repertoire necessarily included a healthy dose of western food. Meatloaf and lasagna were probably my favourite.
This post, unlike my last, demands a certain amount of verbosity, not only because this is the first time I've made lasagna from "scratch" (that is, not kit-bashed), it is also is a sense an homage to my mother's cooking.
So here I will walk you through the lasagna-making process. Unlike my mother's, which is highly nutritious, filled with vegetables and all such manner of goodness, mine is much simpler fare, made with for the most part pre-prepared ingredients.
1 Large pack of minced beef/pork mix.
2 packs of tomato sauce
1 pack of cottage cheese
14 pieces of lasagna pasta
1 pack of shredded Mozzarella
Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
oregano
garlic paste
tomato paste
First, brown the meat, adding salt and pepper about 1/2 way through the cooking process. Drain fat, and transfer to a bowl. Put the tomato sauce into the pan used to cook the meat, add tomato paste, oregano, garlic paste. Add meat, mix on low heat until even.
Boil lasagna pasta. I did mine in 2 batches. In a Pyrex baking dish, put down a layer of sauce and cottage cheese, then lay down a layer of pasta. Continue in this manner until you've used up the pasta, cutting some into smaller strips to fill out the layers.
Each layer should be perpendicular to the last layer, so as to reinforce the structure of the lasagna. Each layer in mine had both sauce and cottage cheese. Top the lasagna off with the remainder of the sauce, sprinkle Mozzarella and Parmesan.
Bake in an oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 30 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, cover the lasagna in aluminum foil.
And done. I've modified the recipe instructions above after reflection on my meal. First, I left the lasagna uncovered the entire time in the oven, leading the mozzarella cheese to harden into a crust. In future, the aluminum foil should help with that. Also, though the lasagna is solid in the last picture, it collapsed as the pasta slid away. For this, I might try to reduce the pasta sauce a bit (as in let the water content evaporate a little more), and try to spread the cottage cheese a little more evenly.
Also, in a effort to save time, I would do both the sauce and boil the water for the pasta noodles at the same time. I did this today in the order listed, and as a result it ended up taking about an hour to prepare, and a further 30 minutes to bake. Eating was a 20 minute affair (x2 nights, so 40 total). Ideally, I'd like to get something closer to a 1:1 ratio.
Manic.
3/06/2008
GINOURMOUS SALAD
Ceasar style. This is my dinner tonight. Instructions as follows:
Chicken Tenders
Romaine Lettuce
Croutons
Ceasar dressing.
IF YOU CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE THIS, YOU ARE ST00PID!!
/ahem
Chicken was cut, marinated with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, coriander.
Did you know that Ceasar salad was actually invented by a Mexican chef? It was not, as some people believe, invented by the Roman Dictator cum Emperor. Such a salad would no doubt have a healthy dose of daggers, blood, and et tu, Brute?
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