Upcoming Trip, some treats, and stuff everyone should appreciate

We had a wonderful weekend. Monday was a Japanese National holiday so we had 3 days to work-out, hang-out, and cook!

On Saturday we went to the mall with our friends. It's about an hour away so we had to spend a couple hours there to make it worth it. We ate sushi and for a special treat Brian and I had Baskin Robbins. I chose a slightly healthier option of orange and strawberry sorbet, and it was delicious. I spent quite a bit of time at the foreign foods store getting whole wheat pasta, canned tomatoes and beans, and many other foods. I think most people go there to buy a couple things that are difficult to get, but I basically did a couple weeks worth of shopping! 

I also ordered a huge amount of Oatmeal which should last us the rest of our time here. I got a bit tired of paying about 4 bucks for a tiny box when we go through about two per week! So that combined with the oatmeal my mom is sending us should tide us over until July! I can even bake cookies and muffins without worrying about buying more oatmeal! Since I'm also trying to incorporate more beans into our meals since they count as vegetables and protein, I also ordered about 7kg of beans online. The price was great and I hope that will last us for a while as well.

I'm so excited about the provision in the health care bill (passed on Sunday) forcing chain restaurants to include nutrition information on the menu. I wish it were easier for all restaurants to include that information, but the provision is definitely a step in the right direction. It will be so much easier to control portions and make healthier choices at restaurants. Thankfully, this provision goes into effect much faster than other parts of the bill so we will see the benefits very soon! (Or in my case when I get back to America). Some restaurants in Japan include this information and it's really nice.

Brian and I are looking forward to our trip which is coming up on Sunday. The weather is supposed to be nicer in Kyoto so we are looking forward to it. It's pretty cloudy in Niigata and I need some sun! Dad will be in Osaka on Wednesday so we are going to meet with him and go to Himeji castle after lunch! Himeji is the most famous castle in Japan. Unfortunately it's covered in scaffolding at the moment due to some restoration efforts, but we will be able to go in anyway. They will be working on the interior around April 16th so it will be closed for the next few years to visitors. We might go to Osaka castle as well and we are visiting Matsumoto castle on the way down. It will take quite a while to get to Kyoto since we are taking all local trains, but the price was worth it. We bought a special seasonal ticket that only cost about $115.00 per person and can be used for 5 days of unlimited travel on local trains. We will be able to go to Osaka, Himeji, and Nara on this ticket and we don't have to worry about the cost of travel! 

We are returning our rental car today so I'll be back to biking and walking around Murakami! Hopefully it will help me with the biking part of my training for the triathlon!

I'd like to add that we went to the Murakami Doll Festival, when people open up their houses and display their special dolls. Often times, these dolls are hundreds of years old.  Here's some pictures.

There's a few more uploads on facebook.

Spring Means Stress for Fall Classes

I wish we had a nice spring. It gets warm for a day and then is plunged back to below 45 degrees. It's plain teasing -- and not a nice kind. I have to admit I'm looking forward to Raleigh -- slighter hotter, a little less humid in the summers, but I remember some kind of fall and spring. I could be wrong though.

Also, I'm applying for a fellowship at NC State sponsored by the department of homeland security. It means a pretty big raise (income + tuition & fees benefits) and some mandatory service during and after the fellowship.  I certainly hope I get it, though I think my odds are pretty good. It would also be nice to see Maria jump around in joy over something involving higher education -- the news from NC State and Duke hasn't been unqualified enough successes to make her do that. I should mention, if someone doesn't know for some reason, that she got into Duke, but due to some annoying stuff about their fellowships, we don't know if she can go. Her usual impatience (let's call it 'eagerness' so it sounds better!) means that she has already started working out the schedule she wants at NC State.

Which makes me remember that I really need to figure out my schedule at NC State next fall. I'd like to finish in two years and that seems possible but it means I'll only have 1 chance to pass my qualifying exams, the summer of 2011. While it shouldn't be too hard, I'd really like to not put all my eggs in one basket, because if I don't pass both parts it could make things a bit difficult. So I might have to spend this summer studying for at least one of the two qualifying exams I need and try to get that out of the way.

There's not a whole lot else to report for now, so I'm going to cut this one short. Thanks for reading, here's hoping we get all this stuff tied up before we go on our "honeymoon" to Kyoto at the end of March.

Cooking Eagerness

Last weekend I had a great time going to the mall near Niigata with some of the other female ALT's in the area. We were able to go to a foreign foods store, which was awesome! A couple of my friends here have figured out a way to make cakes, cookies, and breads without an oven! On Friday, Meghan, Brian, and I went to Aimee's house in Sekikawa and made carrot cake! We had a wonderful time, and the cake turned out pretty good too! They both inspired me (since Meghan made my birthday cake in her rice cooker as well as many other things), so when we went to the foreign foods store, I was so excited when I saw cornmeal! I bought quite a few things and spent most of the day Monday trying to find new creative recipes on the internet.

When I got off of work, I immediately went to the grocery store to buy the necessary things for baking. I had to go to three stores to get the necessary items. I started cooking right when I got home. We had curry and rice (Japanese style curry), and then I made Blueberry corn-bread. I made it without dairy (using soymilk and oil) since my friend here has a dairy allergy. I made the mistake of putting all the batter into the rice cooker, which made it take 2 hours to cook, and it became so thick I had to cut it in half at the middle. The blueberries also didn't make it to the top of the corn bread, so the top half was pretty much just cornbread. It felt great to actually do some baking though.

Yesterday I made an apple cake/bread (also dairy free). I think I need to use regular oil instead of olive oil since it had a slightly funny aftertaste (not to mention the price), but overall it  tasted pretty good. This time I only put half of the batter in at a time and it cooked much faster! I'm excited to try new (non-baking) recipes as well. When Aimee came over on Tuesday, I made a pasta bake with tofu instead of meat. It worked pretty well and you couldn't taste a difference. I made most of it on the stove, then transferred it to the toaster oven to finish off the cheese topping. We will have a few days leftovers from that meal! It's definitely lifted my spirits to be baking and cooking more familiar things. I have enjoyed the Japanese recipes I've found, but it's harder to know if I made it well since I'm not sure what taste to expect!

I've also been able to ride my bike to school a bit more these last two weeks. It really improves my mood when I get to ride to work. I feel like I've already done something productive early in the day. I've also started waking up early so I can do a quick exercise or stretch. It's also part of my "conserve gas and water" plan. When I got last month's meter reading for the gas I was shocked! It had never been so high before! I think it was high because I would use my morning shower as a way to warm up from the cold, but I guess I didn't think about how much longer I was staying in the shower. Now I try to take a max 10 minute shower.

Brian and I are looking forward to our "honeymoon" in Kyoto at the very end of March. We are going to leave for Matsumoto Castle on the 28th of March, and stay in that town that night. Then we will leave the next morning for Kyoto. We plan on spending one day in Nara, and one day going to Himeji Castle and Osaka. We have tickets to go to the Miyako Odori (Maiko Dance) where we will see apprentice Geisha perform their annual dance. We are hoping to also see a kabuki performance, but they have yet to start selling tickets! We will take the night bus back to Murakami from Kyoto on Saturday the 3rd. I think we will have a great time. I've been wanting to go to Kyoto since my grandma Georgianna got me interested in Geisha in middle school. After taking Japanese history, I wanted to visit even more, so it's kind of like a dream come true!

In May, Brian and I will be taking a trip with our friends from Sekikawa. We will be going to Nikko and staying the night there. I'm looking forward to that trip as well! Unfortunately, once we get back there will be absolutely no holidays until our trip to Tokyo to climb Mt. Fuji in July, which will make June a VERY long month.

I only have one more day at the school I'm at today. I will be very sad to have the current 6th graders leave, since they will be going to a school that I don't teach at. The kids here are really good and they like to talk to me. Most aren't too shy and they are very energetic. The teachers are fun to work with as well! I unfortunately have 2 days left at the school I dislike the most (but that's how it goes right? The elementary school you like least is the one you have to go to the most). I hope to get my schedule for April-July soon. It would be nice to have everything ready for the next school year. (I would also love to NOT be at my middle school on Mondays and Minami on Wednesdays. I wish I could switch them up because those are both bread days for school lunch and the bread is ANYTHING but whole wheat.

Anyway, that's all for now! I will let you know about my future cooking endeavors! If you would like any of the recipes I mentioned in this post, please let me know through facebook or email. =) 

- Maria

The month of February

I've read some pop statistic somewhere about New Year's Resolutions taking less than a month to break. It wasn't until I read one of the updates of this blog that I learned that I apparently had made a New Year's Resolution to update this every week. I'm caught between just saying Maria made the resolution and claiming I haven't dropped the ball anywhere, because I didn't really make the resolution (Personally, I don't want to do weekly updates.  My thoughts aren't that interesting and the day I think that they are, I will become even more of an insufferable bore. Might work for others, I'll possibly grant, but definitely not me), and sucking it up and saying "well, I certainly could have made an update, it was her update last time, so it's not as though I would be breaking the "less than 1 update a week" thing for myself and it's really the process of general apathy and laziness.  (By the by, did you notice how run-on that sentence was?  If you read this blog, aren't you GLAD that updates like that from my are terribly infrequent now?  It borders on and probably trespasses illegible.)

Since Maria's finally written an update, I'll just turn most of the rest of this over to her:

I know, I know, I've not been keeping up with my New Year's Resolution. To be fair, the month of February was probably the most difficult month here so far. I got sick on the 31st of January with a fever, and felt sick for the next two weeks. I did take a few sick days, but it took a long while to get it out of my system and get back to feeling normal. I ended up being sick for my birthday, which was unfortunate, but I still went to my birthday party and had a great time.

There were a few good things that happened during February. For one, I was able to talk to my boss about returning to the US, and they are letting me use all of my vacation days at the end of my contract so I can go home on the 15th of July! I will fly into Rapid City and I'm able to see my friend Erin's wedding! Brian is returning to the US on the 10th of July so he's going to drive out to SD to go to the wedding too. Then we are going to work our way back to NC on a 3 day adventure. I'm very excited to see my friend Kaleigh and my family during that time.

I also got accepted into NC State (I didn't get any funding), but I still got accepted! I'm waiting to hear from Duke still, but I think I should hear by the end of this week, so keep your fingers crossed! I also won a $1000 scholarship to go to school, which was pretty great and the funds will be released upon proof of enrollment, so that will be helpful.

I found out that I passed the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) Level 3 on my birthday. It was a relief to finally know the result! I studied so hard those last few months, and thankfully it paid off!

My friend Meghan had girl's night on the 11th of February, so all the Murakami area ALT's got together and ate a bunch of delicious food and fruit, and drank vodka cranberry cocktails. We had a lot of fun and it was definitely a boost after being sick for so long. We also celebrated her birthday on Valentine's day with a combination Meghan's b-day, V-day party. Her birthday is not on the 14th, but we decided since v-day was on a weekend it would be convenient. We went to a yaki-niku restaurant, where they give you raw meat and you cook it on a grill in the middle of the table. Afterwards we went to our favorite western food restaurant and got crepes.

As far as work goes, it's been pretty boring. I have one school where I had 3 "demonstration" classes that I wasn't really involved in. This is where the teacher makes up a lesson plan, and all the teachers in the school leave their classes unattended to come watch it. I was very thankful when they were over. Hopefully I don't have to do another one! February is also the cultural start of spring for the Japanese so there were fun school festivals where they threw peanuts at "oni" (Which are like little ogres or devils that try to get people to stray). Throwing peanuts at stuffed oni figures or kids with oni hats is there way of cleansing themselves. Mostly the kids just want to collect a bunch of peanuts.

The middle school 3rd years are graduating on Monday, March 8, and I'm pretty sure they don't come back for the rest of the month.  I will miss a few of them, but the majority were either a bit of a pain, or not very memorable. I hate to say that, if I were at the school more than 1 or 2 times a week I probably would know them a bit better, but overall I haven't gotten too close with the third years.

April is the start of the Japanese school year as I probably mentioned before, so we will have an entrance ceremony in April to let the new kids into the school. I have quite a few kids I'm excited to have coming to Daiichi from the elementary schools, and just as many that I can't stand coming as well. It's going to create a very interesting class dynamic with these kids. I kind of wish we could put them all in one class and just let them do their own stupid thing. The Japanese school system doesn't let students fail or hold students back a grade, and education is only compulsory through junior high school so if they didn't do anything, they might not be able to go to high school and they would be done with school right after JHS. Unfortunately, they will probably mix them up and divide them which will create bad atmospheres in every first grade class which will be even more of a pain, but I can't do anything about it except count down.

I have gotten a bit carried away with online shopping/ window shopping almost every weekend. Two weeks ago Brian and I actually bit the bullet and bought a painting from an artist we've been admiring. I'm very excited to put it up in our apartment in Raleigh. On Saturday I went to Macys.com just to browse and found that the table we decided to get a while ago was on a mega sale for the lowest amount I had seen! So we ordered that as well. It was actually an amount that didn't make me cringe so I figured we probably should -- Brian.  Thankfully the members of Brian's improv troupe are nice enough to hold them for us (but probably with a dual motive to get us to come back to Raleigh as well). We already put in our application to live in the same apartment complex we lived in before, so hopefully they will have one available for us.

Anyway, that's all I have to update! I hope you all have a great week and I will try to get back to my goal of writing once a week.
-Maria 

Back to Brian, I have very little to add.  I actually got to work some model runs this past month and that's been nice -- hearing that some people have trouble understanding the models and thus make some not always immensely helpful comments isn't so nice, but the group I work with is great so at least I can take comfort in that.  

It warmed up for the past week, though we were smart and never said "maybe spring's coming early" which has always struck me as a naive and needlessly antagonist comment to make to the weather -- maybe it's Minnesota/midwest upbringing. Or maybe it's a bias against optimism, which could be said to be the same thing sometimes.  We took a few walks, went on some runs and I sat in a park for 20 minutes one day in a t-shirt, and it was a nice brief break from winter, but we're back to days and days of cloudy skies and rain.  Thanks again to the Idiots who are holding things, I swear to you that I'm cutting her off from ordering anything ahead of time, no matter how great the deal is.  That's all we have for now.

-Brian