I Spy...

This is a BENTO BOX. A typical Japanese lunch that I have come to love and enjoy. It's a surprise everyday! This one is especially huge that I ate (well, tried to eat it all) last weekend.

Contents shared in an "I spy" fashion. See if you can spot them all! (click on the photo for a larger view)

I spy one piece of broccoli and two slices of cucumber. A weiner, a chicken wing. A refreshing chunk of watermelon and a sliver of orange. A small cherry tomatoe. Meat on sticks, meat in cubes, a shrimp's tail. A fish head.

A deep fried jumbo shrimp. A deep friend nugget. A quail's egg covered in goo. Two inari-zushi. One package of mayonnaise.

A snail on a toothpick. One piece of fried chicken. A baby-handfull of noodles. An assortment of pickled vegetables. An assortment of boiled vegetables. Two slices of pork. Green decorative paper. Ginger. Scrambled egg in a cube. Mini-mushrooms. Parsley.



Prizes awarded to those who find everything!

The Numbers Don't Lie (+New Video!)

Not only am I a foreigner here, but I am also the youngest teacher in the school. When I talk to the students I like to think that I am really not much older than them. I feel like I can relate to them in a way other teachers may not be able to. After all, I’m just out of college! And before that, I was just out of high school! I was a high school student not too long ago! Right? Right...?

Imagine my surprise when I opened a journal by one student and saw a birth-date followed by the year 1992!

Wait. What? 1992? Wasn’t that just...like...10 years ago?

Let’s see... I graduated high school in 2002, and it is still just barely the 21 century. If these kids were born in 1992, they must be like 12 years old!

In disbelief and shock I whipped out my calculator and figured out how many years ago 1992 was. I almost fell out of my chair when I found out that the new students were a mere 15 years old. Even more flooring was that we are, indeed, in 2007, and that I am 7 years older than them! That’s an entire generation gap!

I realized I have lived my life in decades. I was born in 1984 and everyone I ever really talked to about birth years (friends, sisters) were also born in the 1980s. People born in the 1990s were too young, and if you were born in the 70s, I just couldn’t be bothered to do the math to see how old you really were. When we’re talking decades, everyone was pretty much the same age as me. Born in the 80s. Now I’m 2 years into my third decade and I’m noticing!

When I see news articles reflect dates like 2010 I wonder who on earth would think that far into the future?! Then, I remember it’s only 3 years away.

REALITY CHECK.

Working with students really does keep you young. In spirit, anyway...

And now to give you a glimpse of my students here is a short video for you. On Friday, I had a small BBQ with my English Club. It was exciting for me because I started the fire all by myself, and exciting for them because...well...it's an American thing to do. We had hamburgers and hot dogs. I had to improvise with the ingredients but overall it went pretty well.

Lovely Spring

Japan is beeeea-u-ti-ful during spring! We made it through a long winter and we are enjoying the mild tempertures until the horrid humidity arrives. These pictures are actually from about a month ago, but I have been meaning to share them with you.



In honor of Children's Day (which was last weekend) various koi nobori, or flags representing carp fish, are hung around town. These flags represent boys who their parents hope will grow up healthy and strong. We found some giant koi nobori hung along a river. It was gorgeous to watch them flow in the breeze.





Japan is famous for sakura, or cherry blossoms, and rightly so. They only bloom for about two weeks, and the Japanese say their fleeting beauty is a reminder that life is brief and beautiful. It is custom to have hanami - large picnics under the sakura to enjoy friends, family and booze. Lots of booze.







Most of the rivers are lined with sakura. These are just beginning to bloom. Imagine what it is like a few days later!



Lots of energy has been put into the public parks. You can see a hanami there if you look closely. All the people gathered under the sakura to enjoy the season.





We have been capturing lots of beautiful and quirky stuff on our video camera. It's been many places and it is a goal to do something with all that footage. Sounds like a project for a rainy day. Until that day arrives, we have been spending as much time as possible outside!



We hope you're all enjoying spring as much as we are.