Week 34: Happy Birthday to me! :D

Well! not much to talk about the week itself. :)

I'm getting more used to my schools.  The students are getting used to me. Friday school is the same, so they are, of course, the most adjusted to me. Used to my humor. UNDERSTAND THAT I DON'T SPEAK JAPANESE.

They're cute, and energetic, and it helps a lot.

Oh! and my headache is gone! Yay!  I'm still tired a lot of the time, but the same thing happened last start of school.  It's just getting used to using up all that energy.  Should be improving this next week. I hope.

But yeah, lately, I get home from work, and just kinda hide in my room. And wait for bedtime.  :)  When my birthday rolled around on Friday, I was like "all I want for my birthday is to eat too much cake, watch too much TV, and SLEEP."

let's hear it for goal setting!

I made a cake!  Someone gave me a great (and easy) recipe, and so I tried it out!  Of course, I used a half recipe, and I had a pie tin, so there was too much batter for that. So I poured the rest into a rice cooker, and that cooked that bit.

Then, because I didn't want to mess with frosting (do you know how much powdered sugar COSTS over here?!) I just made some ganache and poured it over the top.  Not pretty.  But tasty.

I left the pie tin cake downstairs for others to have as a "it's my birthday!" gift to them.

I think it was a little strong for most of the Asians...

Then hid in my room and ate the rice cooker piece all by myself.  :)  It was far too much cake, but I don't feel bad about it at all.  (it was maybe 1/4 of the mix, which was half a mix, so...no, not a full cake by far)

Then on Saturday, for my birthday itself, I gave myself a few gifts.

the gift of clean laundry

the gift of a clean room

And then I went to a Jazz festival with some friends from the house!

I was SOCIAL

It was in Shiga, which I hadn't been to yet, so that was nice.  Kinda small place, but they had quite a few groups, and lots of variety in genre (very little of it was actually jazz)

They had an art/interactive section

We kept talking about how we wanted one, but where would we PUT it?

We had some lunch.

deer curry. Pretty tasty.

We listened to some bands.

He's clearly the sax symbol of the group.

They needed a separate singer, but their guitar work was great!

These guys are called W-D4, and they were pretty awesome!

obviously community band, but well done!

They had a "flea market" type area

"I don't need more stuff, I don't need more stuff!"

And a...I hesitate to call it "indie" but it was definitely an "alternative" section.  With all the kinds of people you would expect, and a DJ mixing sounds that were...interesting.

I thought I would enjoy it if it were a few decibels lower...

I think some of my favorite things was going around and reading the names of the bands (well, the ones I could read)

chicken souL

And there was even a pretty good rendition of Johnny B Goode. we caught!  :)

And of course, I got to show off my new skirt.

Not the greatest shot, but hey.

Those of you whom I told know why this is cool for me.  It used to be a shirt.  I was bored and made it into a skirt. :)  I'm very proud of it.

Anyhow, we started going back a little early because rain was threatening, and by the time we got back it had been drizzling for a little, so I had to go in and pull my futons off the balcony where I had been airing them out.  Happily, they mostly dried by bedtime. :)

So, not terribly exciting birthday, but exactly what I wanted this time.  :D

Week 33: Back to school!

So! I've been tired all week!  And hungry!

One of my friends said "you should sleep and eat more"

I'm like "...thanks."

I mean, I get my 8 hours, I wake up easily a little before my alarm.  Then an hour later I'm ready to go back to sleep.  Thursday I ate 4 full meals, and that's not counting all the snacking I did!  I think my body is getting used to the energy use again.

It doesn't help that I'm fighting a bit of a constant headache.  Why?

Well....Tuesday was my first day back at school.  And it was a half day.  So we did some whirlwind introductions to the students, and then they all left at 12:30, after which I had lunch.  And then I had nothing to do. for the next 3 and half hours. (if I leave early, the company cuts my pay for the day)  So I sorted and catalogued the supplies they had for me there.  I drew pictures for some songs.

Monkeys jumping on the bed!

And then they had a meeting at 2, where they didn't want to bore me, so they shuffled me off into another room, where I sorted and catalogued supplies, drew, and finally just played on my phone.  After a little I STILL got bored, so I did a couple of hand stands.  Because why not?  I was very cautious, of course, because can you imagine if someone looked in on me?

Well, I was doing well, and I guess I was doing too well, because I thought "Hey, I wonder if I could try a walk over?"  Well, I underestimated the fall power, and  slipped and conked my head on the (cement) floor. (that carpet had NO cushioning on it.)  and it wasn't REALLY hard, but it was just the right force and angle that I was like "Yup, that's gonna cause me trouble later"

And of course, I can't say anything to them because how do you explain that you got bored, tried to do a walkover in a suit, and then conked your head?  While sounding professional?  And in Japanese?

If it's not better in a week, I'm gonna hunt down a chiropractor.

Most of this week was being tired and hungry.  I gotta say, my bike ride for most of the week is along the river, and it's a really pretty ride.  Some of those trees are really fragrant, and my only complaint is that in the afternoon the gnats come out. :P

Saturday was lovely as well. (we are varying absolutely lovely days with rainy days)  So I figured I'd go out and see a regatta thing.  (it involves boats) which was the ONLY thing going on this weekend.  I mean, really.

I got lost.

Twice.

On a train, so I lost about 40 minutes. You can't turn around quick on those things.

When I finally showed up, the races and shows were over.  But it was a lovely day.

And so I decided to walk along the river.  There were still SOME boats.

And as I walked, I found some sort of traditional dancing...thing.

there was something like this at the Obon festival I went to too.

It was huge and full of people doing these dances. And the people on the platform would lead, and everyone would follow them.  But I got the feeling these dances were mostly memorized anyhow.

Mostly I enjoyed the sun and watching all the pretty kimono.

it Glistened!

I could tell they were groups because lots had matching kimono. (or yukata. Haven't learned how to tell the difference yet.)

And of course there was the lovely sun.  And flowers. And that wonderful fresh growth we have named "spring green"

it is SO fragrant around here this time of year.

And there was even a little beach!

obligatory "try to dig to the center of the earth" group

And then I went home.  Sorry, not that interesting of a week. Hopefully I'll be more used to working by next week and go do something.  Of course, hopefully something will be HAPPENING next weekend. :)

Week 32: In which Japan goes wild for Sakura

The air is getting warmer, the wind less biting.

It is spring.

And before it turns green, Japan turns pink.

The blooming of the Sakura (cherry blossoms) begins and suddenly there is pink EVERYWHERE.

I love all the moats Japan has

this was just a cool temple I found.

Japan loves their Sakura.  Cherry trees have been planted all over the place.  There are cherry trees lining most railways.

biking along these are nice

So it's just a double row of fragrant pink blooms for a mile or two.

There's always at least one cherry tree in every neighborhood park. And some are COVERED in them.

the park next to my house

People go out and have picnics to enjoy the flowers. This is called Hanami.  It is only possible to Hanami this time of year.  If you go out for picnics at other times, they are not called Hanami.  

There are family groups

kids running amok

and just groups of friends/works associates

and one honest-to-goodness English tea.

I personally, leaned up against the trunk of a tree and pulled out a book and just...sat.  I took so many pictures, but there's no way to capture the petals floating through the air. The gentle fragrance of the different trees. The warm breeze, the cool grass, the whimsical patter of the petals as they fall on you.  I can definitely understand why they feel this is a requirement for spring.

Most of the time people bring their own food for Hanami, but sometimes they don't so most popular places have a "Sakura festival" which of course, means food booths.

Which, I understand, but the smell tended to overwhelm the gentle smell of the blossoms, so... I much preferred the other park I found.

Plus, the hawkers were noisy.

There are VERY popular Sakura areas, such as where I went with a group on Sunday, it's a town in the middle of nowhere, who's only real claim to fame is the hillsides of Sakura.

this was just after a big rain storm, so the petals weren't at FULL bloom anymore

still very lovely.

And so I got to Hanami!

Picnic!

I helped make the obentos! (lunch box)

Look! I was social!

And then we walked around more.

one of them designated himself our photographer.

can you spot me?

I liked the stone statues on its side. different style than you usually see

a temple we found.

this is one of the kinds of sakura

And it was a lovely day.

There are a lot of nice places in  Kyoto, some with really old trees.

And many places, in the evening will illuminate their Sakura so it's lovely in a different way!  (not the mountain we went to on Sunday. They're far enough away, they kick people out at sunset so they can get home at a decent time)

Kyoto at sunset

got this one just by chance, and I couldn't be happier.

added reflection in the water!

they look whiter under the lights.

it's like a big old cloud!

The thing is, they LOVE sakura.  You can tell spring is coming when the sakura flavored stuff starts coming out. 

Sakura flavored red-bean cakes

candy

cakes

cream puffs

sausages?

bean paste

rice balls

salted sakura blossoms

sakura ice cream

When asked what it tasted like, all I could say was it tasted like a flower.  I mean, some of you have had my lavender cookies before. It tastes kinda like that but...pink?  It's a lighter, more spring flavor.  Really hard to explain. Quite tasty, actually.

These aren't even all the pictures I took, I couldn't find them all in my album. There's also Sakura flavored beer, sake and soda.  And of course, flavored water.  I thought they had sakura flavored french-fries at McDonalds, but it turns out it was plum flavored sprinkles.

When I first heard people getting excited about Sakura, I was excited too. I mean, I had heard about  sakura before, and it turned out it was even BIGGER deal than I had previously thought. So I asked a teacher

"So when is Sakura season?"

"Oh, it's usually end of March, beginning of April"

"Exciting! So do they have a big harvest season for the cherries too?"

"....cherries?"

.....
....
...

THEY'RE ALL DECORATIVE!!

WHY?!


i wanted cherries