The summer break finished and school kicked off again. It's a slow term for me, over all, as I don't have as much primary school as last term. Part of this is due to the kids' undoukai (sports day) preparation. I'm not sure exactly why I have so few shougakkou classes scheduled for October, though.
This month so far has been pretty quiet. With so much free time at K-town chuu, I made a pretty neat wall display. Part of my duties there when not in class teaching is to make a monthly wall display. I settled on focusing on summer - namely, the summer break. As I didn't do much during the break (most of my time was spent in the office), I had to be quite creative. I'll try and get a photo of it when I have fixed all the bits of paper that have curled away from the wall. >.<
We went to K-city on Saturday. I had a wire installed in each of my big toes to try and counter the ingrown toenails. So far it is turning out to be effective. I just have to wait for my nails to grow for another two months before we see if there is a substantial change. I'm hoping that it will permanently fix the problem, but we won't know until November. I have to be very careful, too, that I don't make contact with anything - as any pressure could tear the wires out of the holes in the nails. :/
On Sunday, we stopped at Kitanokawa to see a little of their undoukai. Mika used to work at the junior high school and she said hi to some of the teachers that are still there. Eddi's school's undoukai is this coming Sunday, and I intend to attend the Shouwa shou/chuu combined one on Saturday.
The weather has continued to be pretty hot. It may be Autumn but there is still a lot of green around and the overall temperature hasn't dropped a great deal. The humidity has eased off somewhat, and nights are a little cooler. But we do still need to run the fan to try and cool our room down. Could be a few weeks until we see a noticeable change.
We got a refund (minus a huge cancellation fee) for the botched up tickets that the travel agent booked for us. I wouldn't recommend IACE Travel. They are impersonal, unfriendly and cost us a great deal of money due to their incompetence. We hope to book our (real) tickets to and from New Zealand for Christmas time before the end of this week.
Peace.
Timotheos
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
25 Ways To Express Yourself
I think I've seen enough Japanese TV by now to know how to express my appreciation and enjoyment of culinary creations. From commenting on the textures and array of flavours inherent in your mouthful, to allowing an exaggerated smile to spread across your face as the juices trickle across your tongue and your taste buds dance with delectable delight at this wonderful accompaniment of gourmet excellence, here are 25 ways of expressing yourself in the dining room.
Timotheos
| Learn To Express Yourself | ||
|---|---|---|
| # | English | Japanese |
| 1. | This is delicious! | oishii! |
| 2. | This is nice. | oishii! |
| 3. | This is good. | oishii! |
| 4. | This tastes great! | oishii! |
| 5. | You've done a good job with this. | oishii! |
| 6. | Mmm, sweet and fruity. | oishii! |
| 7. | Not bad. | oishii! |
| 8. | Very nice. I like it! | oishii! |
| 9. | Very refreshing. | oishii! |
| 10. | Juicy and tender. | oishii! |
| 11. | The sauce really complements it. | oishii! |
| 12. | Nice texture and not too salty. | oishii! |
| 13. | A wonderful combination of flavours. | oishii! |
| 14. | My tastebuds approve of this. | oishii! |
| 15. | You've really outdone yourself! | oishii! |
| 16. | A masterpiece of culinary excellence. | oishii! |
| 17. | Herbalicious! | oishii! |
| 18. | Stupendous. | oishii! |
| 19. | Wonderful. | oishii! |
| 20. | Magnificent. | oishii! |
| 21. | Truly appetizing. | oishii! |
| 22. | Tasty! | oishii! |
| 23. | Delectable | oishii! |
| 24. | Flavoursome. | oishii! |
| 25. | Yummy! | uma-! |
Timotheos
Monday, 16 August 2010
Just Passing Through
August. Summer is well under way and it won't be too much longer before school is back in session. I'm definitely looking forward to getting out of the office and back out there, doing what I enjoy most in this job: assisting kids in learning and experiencing another language and culture.
Passports
We have been planning to head to New Zealand at Christmas time. In order to go overseas, Mika needed to update hers and Eddi's passports, and Maya needed one as well. I took the day off on Wednesday to go with my family to Nakamura to try and sort this out.
Getting a passport when you have a foreign surname is difficult enough because of the difference between actual spelling and katakana romanisation. There needs to be a link somewhere; a reference. And when you spell your daughter's name differently in English than its hiragana to romaji equivalent, it just adds to the bureaucratic nightmare.
Despite spending a good deal of the morning in N-town, we are still waiting even now - five days later - for confirmation of everything having gone through. The link that we provided - my "Gaijin card" - has not yet been confirmed as an official connection between the actual spelling of my surname and the romanisation of its katakana counterpart here in Japan.
Our planned trip is still four months away. My family's passports will come through eventually, so we are not worried at all. Everything always works out, given enough time.
Passing on
I was "trying" to sell my car for quite a while - basically, ever since getting the shaken (vehicle inspection certificate) renewed at the start of June. When I say trying, I wasn't really putting in a great deal of effort. I had a sign on my car, had posted it two or three times to the Kochi JET message board, and had mentioned it around the place.
It wasn't until we decided to really pray and I made up fliers and we decided to advertise it in the town newsletter, that we found a buyer - miraculously. See, I didn't get a chance to print the flyers, and we didn't even have to advertise it in the news. It was truly an answer to pray that someone local approached us with great interest towards buying the car.
And so, last weekend - just days after praying and starting to take real action - I sold my car. One less burden, and just one step closer to making this holiday happen. God blesses us at the right time, always.
Now, we have all but purchased our airline tickets. We found the ideal flights (direct both ways, and at good times of the day to allow for domestic travel at both ends), and will pay for our tickets today. Everything is going ahead because we trusted in God, and allowed his timing and blessings to lead the way for us.
Passing away
Early Thursday morning, Mika's maternal grandfather died. He was 91 years old and had been in hospital for about 18 months. I only knew him as a stroke victim; the old man lying in a hospital bed. Being non-Japanese wasn't the only thing that made me stand out during the family proceedings over the weekend: I didn't know Mika's grandfather as everyone else in the family did, with their entire lives a part of his.
On Friday, I took the day off in bereavement leave. Mika had a lot to sort out - especially with travelling to get appropriate attire for that night - and so I was able to look after Maya for the four hours that she was away during the day.
On Friday night, we had otsuya (formal "o"). Tsuya is a pre-funeral ceremony, where people can pay their respects to the dead. We went to the funeral home, where most of the extended family gathered. Kira ojiisan's casket sat at the front, decorated with various icons, and there was a huge display of flowers behind.
A buddhist monk came and sat between us and the casket, performing some sort of ritual. He chanted and rang a bell and the deceased's children and their spouses went up, one at a time, to pay their respects. Incense burned as we sat in black; a sombre occasion. A number of people had small circles of prayer beads that they held both during tsuya and the funeral.
After the small ceremony, there was eating and drinking. Mika's relative like to drink, as I found out over the weekend. It's quite sad really, how much alcohol people feel they need to imbibe. :(
The funeral was the following day. It was like an extension of tsuya the previous evening. More people showed up and more family members went up to pay their respects, as their names were called. We went up together as a family as the monk continued to chant, hit a metal bowl that rang like a bell, and beat a hollow item that thumped like a drum.
The funeral ceremony lasted about an hour. Many people came up to a small table that had been set up between family and the rest of the visitors - more distant relatives and friends. They would take a pinch of something and add it to a bowl - possibly incense, as it began to smoke more, the more that was added.
When everything was done, the casket was brought out to stand in the centre, completely open. Everyone was able to gather around and add flowers and other items, which were arranged around the body. When it was done, the lid was replaced and a whole lot of items and tall saplings decorated with various coloured banners and lanterns and such were brought out. They were distributed amongst 22 family members and the monk - Mika carried a basket of fruit - and everyone walked around the coffin a few times, the monk leading. Men wore woven straw baskets on their heads, women wore white cloths draped over their heads and Mika's brother shook a basket on a sapling, filled with confetti.
The procession went out of the funeral home and the casket was loaded into a hearse, a gold and black shrine incorporated into the vehicle - very fancy. We got into our cars and followed the hearse to the crematorium.
It was my first visit to a crematorium. The operator explained that it would take about an hour and a half to complete the process of cremation. A small shrine was set up in front of the cremator and everyone placed sticks of incense into small pots of sand as the monk chanted some more. The baskets and white cloths were collected and we all went into the waiting area, where we ate a rather substantial meal as we waited.
When it was done, we all went into the preparation room, where Mika's grandfather's remains sat. It was a truly amazing sight. There were some whole bones and most of the skull sitting there and the whole room simply smelled of heat - like a hot iron. Nothing of the coffin remained: just discoloured ash amongst the white bones and pieces of bone.
Everyone was able to put the cremains into the urn and the technician crushed some of the larger ones. At the end, the jaw and skull were placed on the top and the urn was closed and placed inside a box, which in turn was covered with a decorative covering.
We all returned to Mika's grandmother's place and people ate (and draaaank) more. I wasn't hungry until everyone else had left, leaving the immediate family to clean up and spend time together. The urn had been placed on a small shrine that is set up in one of the family rooms.
On Saturday night, we went to the K-town bridge to watch a 40 minute fireworks display. Not bad for a small town.
All in all, it was a busy weekend, but very family orientated. It was my first experience of a Japanese funeral and gave me more insight into a typical Kochi family get together.
We were all pretty tired by yesterday, which consisted of church, a church lunch, a meeting with the guest speaker, and then spending the rest of the afternoon and evening at Mika's grandmother's place again.
Onward, to another week in the office!
Peace.
Timotheos
Passports
We have been planning to head to New Zealand at Christmas time. In order to go overseas, Mika needed to update hers and Eddi's passports, and Maya needed one as well. I took the day off on Wednesday to go with my family to Nakamura to try and sort this out.
Getting a passport when you have a foreign surname is difficult enough because of the difference between actual spelling and katakana romanisation. There needs to be a link somewhere; a reference. And when you spell your daughter's name differently in English than its hiragana to romaji equivalent, it just adds to the bureaucratic nightmare.
Despite spending a good deal of the morning in N-town, we are still waiting even now - five days later - for confirmation of everything having gone through. The link that we provided - my "Gaijin card" - has not yet been confirmed as an official connection between the actual spelling of my surname and the romanisation of its katakana counterpart here in Japan.
Our planned trip is still four months away. My family's passports will come through eventually, so we are not worried at all. Everything always works out, given enough time.
Passing on
I was "trying" to sell my car for quite a while - basically, ever since getting the shaken (vehicle inspection certificate) renewed at the start of June. When I say trying, I wasn't really putting in a great deal of effort. I had a sign on my car, had posted it two or three times to the Kochi JET message board, and had mentioned it around the place.
It wasn't until we decided to really pray and I made up fliers and we decided to advertise it in the town newsletter, that we found a buyer - miraculously. See, I didn't get a chance to print the flyers, and we didn't even have to advertise it in the news. It was truly an answer to pray that someone local approached us with great interest towards buying the car.
And so, last weekend - just days after praying and starting to take real action - I sold my car. One less burden, and just one step closer to making this holiday happen. God blesses us at the right time, always.
Now, we have all but purchased our airline tickets. We found the ideal flights (direct both ways, and at good times of the day to allow for domestic travel at both ends), and will pay for our tickets today. Everything is going ahead because we trusted in God, and allowed his timing and blessings to lead the way for us.
Passing away
Early Thursday morning, Mika's maternal grandfather died. He was 91 years old and had been in hospital for about 18 months. I only knew him as a stroke victim; the old man lying in a hospital bed. Being non-Japanese wasn't the only thing that made me stand out during the family proceedings over the weekend: I didn't know Mika's grandfather as everyone else in the family did, with their entire lives a part of his.
On Friday, I took the day off in bereavement leave. Mika had a lot to sort out - especially with travelling to get appropriate attire for that night - and so I was able to look after Maya for the four hours that she was away during the day.
On Friday night, we had otsuya (formal "o"). Tsuya is a pre-funeral ceremony, where people can pay their respects to the dead. We went to the funeral home, where most of the extended family gathered. Kira ojiisan's casket sat at the front, decorated with various icons, and there was a huge display of flowers behind.
A buddhist monk came and sat between us and the casket, performing some sort of ritual. He chanted and rang a bell and the deceased's children and their spouses went up, one at a time, to pay their respects. Incense burned as we sat in black; a sombre occasion. A number of people had small circles of prayer beads that they held both during tsuya and the funeral.
After the small ceremony, there was eating and drinking. Mika's relative like to drink, as I found out over the weekend. It's quite sad really, how much alcohol people feel they need to imbibe. :(
The funeral was the following day. It was like an extension of tsuya the previous evening. More people showed up and more family members went up to pay their respects, as their names were called. We went up together as a family as the monk continued to chant, hit a metal bowl that rang like a bell, and beat a hollow item that thumped like a drum.
The funeral ceremony lasted about an hour. Many people came up to a small table that had been set up between family and the rest of the visitors - more distant relatives and friends. They would take a pinch of something and add it to a bowl - possibly incense, as it began to smoke more, the more that was added.
When everything was done, the casket was brought out to stand in the centre, completely open. Everyone was able to gather around and add flowers and other items, which were arranged around the body. When it was done, the lid was replaced and a whole lot of items and tall saplings decorated with various coloured banners and lanterns and such were brought out. They were distributed amongst 22 family members and the monk - Mika carried a basket of fruit - and everyone walked around the coffin a few times, the monk leading. Men wore woven straw baskets on their heads, women wore white cloths draped over their heads and Mika's brother shook a basket on a sapling, filled with confetti.
The procession went out of the funeral home and the casket was loaded into a hearse, a gold and black shrine incorporated into the vehicle - very fancy. We got into our cars and followed the hearse to the crematorium.
It was my first visit to a crematorium. The operator explained that it would take about an hour and a half to complete the process of cremation. A small shrine was set up in front of the cremator and everyone placed sticks of incense into small pots of sand as the monk chanted some more. The baskets and white cloths were collected and we all went into the waiting area, where we ate a rather substantial meal as we waited.
When it was done, we all went into the preparation room, where Mika's grandfather's remains sat. It was a truly amazing sight. There were some whole bones and most of the skull sitting there and the whole room simply smelled of heat - like a hot iron. Nothing of the coffin remained: just discoloured ash amongst the white bones and pieces of bone.
Everyone was able to put the cremains into the urn and the technician crushed some of the larger ones. At the end, the jaw and skull were placed on the top and the urn was closed and placed inside a box, which in turn was covered with a decorative covering.
We all returned to Mika's grandmother's place and people ate (and draaaank) more. I wasn't hungry until everyone else had left, leaving the immediate family to clean up and spend time together. The urn had been placed on a small shrine that is set up in one of the family rooms.
On Saturday night, we went to the K-town bridge to watch a 40 minute fireworks display. Not bad for a small town.
All in all, it was a busy weekend, but very family orientated. It was my first experience of a Japanese funeral and gave me more insight into a typical Kochi family get together.
We were all pretty tired by yesterday, which consisted of church, a church lunch, a meeting with the guest speaker, and then spending the rest of the afternoon and evening at Mika's grandmother's place again.
Onward, to another week in the office!
Peace.
Timotheos
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Engrish, Two Years and A Special Occasion
Tomorrow, I am going to the airport with Marisa (CIR*) and Toda-san from K-town kyouikuinkai (Board of Education) to meet the new JETs. It will be nice to welcome Candice's and Brittany's replacements to Kochi, and it is a good opportunity for me to say hi to JETs that I haven't seen since Mid-year Conference back in January.
This means I have been in Japan for two years. Sugoi!
*Coordinator for International Relations - what Laurel used to do here.
Sunday was Mika's and my first wedding anniversary. :)
We went to K-city after church and booked into our hotel. After just chilling for a bit, we went out for a wonderful Italian dinner, complete with a bottle of wine.
Out on the town
After dinner, we walked down to the station and took a taxi to Aeon. We saw Inception at the movies. Good movie. See it if you get the chance.
Have I ever mentioned that Japan is big on bicycles? There is a two-storey storage area tacked onto the end of Kochi train station that houses hundreds of bikes.
Bicycles, bicycles, bicycles
Back to the hotel well after midnight, as we decided to walk from the mall and the movie had finished just before twelve.
After checking out on Monday, we spent a good deal of the day at Aeon mall, shopping and looking around, while waiting for my doctor's appointment. I had my ingrown toenail assessed and another appointment made for September.
Well, aside from such excitement over the weekend, there are a couple more things I want to mention in this blog post.
Firstly, I've talked about the fireworks displays here before. I had no idea, though, that the launching equipment was so industrially... huge.
The Susaki hanabi is on the 7th of August
We are looking forward to both the Nakamura fireworks display and the Tosa-Shimizu one, which is supposed to be magnificent. There will also be the usual fireworks at the end of the Ayu festival.
Now is a good time to go swimming in the river.
Swimming in Shimantogawa
Lastly, I wanted to put up a few Engrish pictures. I don't have my whole collection, but these range from a poster in a shopping complex near where we had MYC in January, to a sign on the door of the bathroom in our hotel room just this last Sunday.
Engrish in Kochi
In the last picture, it says "Sound the alarm for steam." The Japanese roughly translates as "The alarm will sound because of steam." I understand the thinking behind this. They translated "the alarm will sound" as "sound (of) the alarm" or "sound, the alarm"; and "because of steam" as "for steam" - ie. the reason being steam. It just goes to show how differently we think. No wonder I struggle so much with Japanese. :/
Peace.
Timotheos
This means I have been in Japan for two years. Sugoi!
*Coordinator for International Relations - what Laurel used to do here.
Sunday was Mika's and my first wedding anniversary. :)
We went to K-city after church and booked into our hotel. After just chilling for a bit, we went out for a wonderful Italian dinner, complete with a bottle of wine.
Out on the town
After dinner, we walked down to the station and took a taxi to Aeon. We saw Inception at the movies. Good movie. See it if you get the chance.
Have I ever mentioned that Japan is big on bicycles? There is a two-storey storage area tacked onto the end of Kochi train station that houses hundreds of bikes.
Bicycles, bicycles, bicyclesBack to the hotel well after midnight, as we decided to walk from the mall and the movie had finished just before twelve.
After checking out on Monday, we spent a good deal of the day at Aeon mall, shopping and looking around, while waiting for my doctor's appointment. I had my ingrown toenail assessed and another appointment made for September.
Well, aside from such excitement over the weekend, there are a couple more things I want to mention in this blog post.
Firstly, I've talked about the fireworks displays here before. I had no idea, though, that the launching equipment was so industrially... huge.
The Susaki hanabi is on the 7th of AugustWe are looking forward to both the Nakamura fireworks display and the Tosa-Shimizu one, which is supposed to be magnificent. There will also be the usual fireworks at the end of the Ayu festival.
Now is a good time to go swimming in the river.
Swimming in Shimantogawa
Lastly, I wanted to put up a few Engrish pictures. I don't have my whole collection, but these range from a poster in a shopping complex near where we had MYC in January, to a sign on the door of the bathroom in our hotel room just this last Sunday.
Engrish in Kochi
In the last picture, it says "Sound the alarm for steam." The Japanese roughly translates as "The alarm will sound because of steam." I understand the thinking behind this. They translated "the alarm will sound" as "sound (of) the alarm" or "sound, the alarm"; and "because of steam" as "for steam" - ie. the reason being steam. It just goes to show how differently we think. No wonder I struggle so much with Japanese. :/
Peace.
Timotheos
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Dragonflies and Kappa Sculptures
Yesterday was uminohi - Marine Day. We decided to go to Nakamura. Before leaving town, however, we stopped at the local concert hall to see a large collection of sculptures. The theme was kappa, a legendary water spirit. There were some truly impressive sculptures on display, and they ranged from fist-sized to about a metre high.
Below, you will find my top two pick as well as a slideshow of all the photos I took. Click the slideshow to view the album in its entirety.
A turtle-shelled kappa squatting on a gnarled tree - my top pick
A very unique snapshot of action - a sumo being effortlessly tossed
We ate lunch at McDonald's upon arriving in Nakamura. The weather was a bit funny - it rained on and off, as if temperamental rainclouds just kept moving across the sky constantly, sometimes dumping their contents unexpectedly as we found ourselves often caught without the means to deflect such reckless and sporadic precipitation and at other times scowling at us reprehensibly in preparation for another release of their contents.
Not that we didn't bring umbrellas on our excursion; we just didn't always have them with us as we went between car and shop.
After some shopping, we visited the tonbokouen - Dragonfly Park. Despite the drizzle, a few of the flying insects could be seen flitting from stem to stem near the ponds. We saw red, yellow, and black and white dragonflies, and even blue ones whose wings were of a solid hue as opposed to the usual veined, transparent appearance so prevalent in the genus. Suffice to say, I took what photos I could, as seen in the slideshow below (click to view album):
All in all, a nice day out. Had the weather been better, our visit to the Dragonfly Park may well have been more exciting, but as it is, I was happy to get a few closeups of these unique and beautiful creatures.
This was my first use of slideshows in these blog posts. If people like them, I may continue to use them in place of individual photos; except when I want to highlight a particular snapshot. Please leave a comment regarding my use of slideshows in this entry.
Peace.
Timotheos
Below, you will find my top two pick as well as a slideshow of all the photos I took. Click the slideshow to view the album in its entirety.
A turtle-shelled kappa squatting on a gnarled tree - my top pick
A very unique snapshot of action - a sumo being effortlessly tossed
We ate lunch at McDonald's upon arriving in Nakamura. The weather was a bit funny - it rained on and off, as if temperamental rainclouds just kept moving across the sky constantly, sometimes dumping their contents unexpectedly as we found ourselves often caught without the means to deflect such reckless and sporadic precipitation and at other times scowling at us reprehensibly in preparation for another release of their contents.
Not that we didn't bring umbrellas on our excursion; we just didn't always have them with us as we went between car and shop.
After some shopping, we visited the tonbokouen - Dragonfly Park. Despite the drizzle, a few of the flying insects could be seen flitting from stem to stem near the ponds. We saw red, yellow, and black and white dragonflies, and even blue ones whose wings were of a solid hue as opposed to the usual veined, transparent appearance so prevalent in the genus. Suffice to say, I took what photos I could, as seen in the slideshow below (click to view album):
All in all, a nice day out. Had the weather been better, our visit to the Dragonfly Park may well have been more exciting, but as it is, I was happy to get a few closeups of these unique and beautiful creatures.
This was my first use of slideshows in these blog posts. If people like them, I may continue to use them in place of individual photos; except when I want to highlight a particular snapshot. Please leave a comment regarding my use of slideshows in this entry.
Peace.
Timotheos
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)