Well I am coming up to the 3 month mark and all is well.
Last Sunday I had my birthday here, my first in another country since I turned one in England. I did turn one in England didn't I Mom?
So 33 in 2000 in Japan.
Had a wonderful day. The apartment was pretty well up to scratch, at least none of my visitors said anything to suggest that it was below par. Maybe because I kept them too busy eating [famous trick].
So one friend brought over his gas cooker and some of the essential ingredients for making Shabu Shabu come to life.
Essentially one has a pan of boiling water in the middle of the table and everyone uses their chopsticks to grab some meat and wave it through the boiling water. It is cooked in seconds and then it is dipped in the sauce of your choice and then popped straight into the mouth. Other accompanying dishes include rice and salad as well as there being Hakusai [Chinese Cabbage] and other vegetables boiling in the same pan. These are fished out at almost anytime the stock being constantly replenished.
I also made a potato salad, I just love Japanese mayonnaise and a bought some pre-made nori maki. These are the small rolls of rice covered in seaweed that have an inner content of say tuna or some other fish-meat. My favorite in Oz was avocado but I haven't seen that style over here.
The crowd was good, well OK the guests. Shouldn't over sell the event but the house was fit to just below bursting. Easy to do in the typical small Japanese accom's but everyone had a seat and a feed and something to drink so it seemed a success.
I was just thrilled to have a housewarming of my own so soon in Nippon.
My best present was from the girlfriend. She gave me a book written in Hiragana for six year olds. So I now have a mammoth task of deciphering and translating this whole fairytale.
Other than that it's back to work as usual.
My students seem to be enjoying the classes, although I am not sure how much English they are learning but at least they seem to not be having a bad time. I teach some kids on the weekend [10 year olds] and I just love it/them. The very nicest of human natures is apparent with these young ones. Happy and honest. Transparent when it comes to being either interested or bored, excited or scared. Now if I just stop playing card games with 'em and start teaching...
I went to Tokyo again a couple of weeks ago. The girlfriend, Wakako, took me to the Meiji shrine which is right next to the Harajuku station. Great place. Set amid some gorgeous rainforest in the heart of such a citified city it defied belief. I was back home all of a sudden, breathing cool clean air, listening to great numbers of birds doing what comes naturally to them, singing and flitting around.
Small creeks winding through the bases of wise old trees and then under ancient worn stone bridges.
Eventually the roadway taking us to a cluster of large buildings, predominantly built with huge timber beams [my interest in architecture had my antennae raised] with the traditional tiled curve-sloped roofs that one relates with the orient.
We washed our hands tossed some money bowed our heads and said a prayer. I did the tourist thing and opened my camera's shutter at as many different angles as I could without wanting to look like the earnest photojournalist portfolio builder.
Every gaijin I see has a camera in hand, I was reminded of my origins. That I am not a local, if ever I will be. Still, I couldn't miss the chance for some "stills" of this still place amid so much city bustle.
A lovely centerpiece were the kimono clad women with their young babies. They bring them to the family shrine for blessing not long after they are born. Traditional dress is a beauty in itself but added to that the sleeping face of a not long born child and you have a heart warming moment. Little wonder we have trouble controlling our urge to breed. Maybe the law should be "don't show your new born to too many people" it's *too* inciteful. "Woohoo, lets have us one of those, we can do IT!"
OK, hope all is well, thinking of you all occasionally {grin} but yeah, not really that often
I am taking photos and I will put them on a web page hopefully this month. Yet to find the best place to get them processed. Most places do photos excruciatingly small and expensive. Film is reasonable to buy but good developing shops have to be hunted out.
mata ne (lit. "again yeah", or "see you later")
nomaD
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