Thursday, June 4, 2009

Swipes and Blows.

Greetings and salutations.

It’s Thursday night here at Inzai Shion Kindergarten and all is quiet. I am currently digesting my dinner of eggs, ham, and potatoes but still chewing on some thoughts…
I think I’ll get some of them on here. I have no complaints. I just want to talk about excessiveness.

In Excess:

1. Fish. Fish cakes. Fish patty. Fish ball. Fish cream.
2. Rice. Rice cakes. Rice patty. Rice ball. Rice cream.
3. Behinds. (Forgetting to pull pants to waist before hitting the playground or classroom.)
4. “Below the belt” blows to Mike-sensei.
5. “Credit card” swipes on Mike-sensei. (Reply comments if definition of "credit card" is needed.)

Haha. Ok. But seriously. Too much of those things. Especially #s 4 and 5.

This week was again fantastic. We got things started off completely right on Sunday with that crazy-good BBQ. I’ll let the picture speak, just multiply it by 10 and then you’ll have a pretty good idea…

Corn on Cob. Horse-radish salad. Beef steak. Yakisoba. Potato.

On Sunday evening, we went into town with Minako-san and purchased some groceries for the week. We get a 3000 yen (about $30) budget per week which is plenty for me. I buy things like spaghetti, Coca Cola, lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, lunch meat, bread, ham, sushi, ramen, bananas, yogurt, eggs, potatoes, pastries, etc…It’s nice to be in control of what you eat for dinner. It’s also nice to have an inkling of what exactly it is that you are eating. Let me rabbit trail… I think I took that for granted before this. I really like trying new foods but I don’t like the unexpectedness that comes with so many of the foods here. It’s like this: Have you ever drank water from a glass that you thought was going to be Sprite? Or, have you ever put salt in your coffee, thinking it was sugar? Well I HATE those few moments of realization just after consumption. Almost everyday at lunch, I eat something that gives me this same hated feeling. Understand, it’s not actually the taste of the morsel, it’s not knowing what it is beforehand! I have a process for solving these mysteries but it regularly fails.

Recent examples:
Fishy paste disguised as a prune.
Custard filled pastry that was really a pastry laced with butter.
Chicken that’s fish. Fish that’s chicken.

The work at the kindergarten is a blast. It is actually boosting my confidence. It seems like if I am able to work with and teach kids who speak a completely different language, than I will excel in the States. Maybe I’ll use that for some leverage in the job hunt…

What else. I’ve been representing the Red Wings over here. I wear my shirt too much and had a really gnarley/pubescent playoff beard for a week or two. I am actually downloading the games from iTunes at the moment…


That's all I've got.

mike.

P.S. A few pics...


My people doing BBQ their way.

Yui-chan, me, Naomi-chan. They define "sweetheart."
Also, my two new girlfriends...haha.

Hiroto and me. He's a good man. At age 5.

11 comments:

Brianna said...

Can I just say that biting into a pastry and getting a mouthful of unexpected butter is
the
worst
thing
ever.

FLAVOR OF THE MONTH said...

cute girlfriends! HAHA sorry to hear about getting credit carded, yuck! As for me, I can never get enough rice ;)

Go Wings!

James said...

Credit card definition required.
Kidding.
By the way, that meal looks friggin DELICIOSO.

WINGS GAME TONIGHT! I will cheer for you, since they probably don't play hockey in Japan.

Jessica and Erika said...

asian food can be scary. i only ate like 2 different types of meals in korea, so i'm pretty proud of you for actually trying other food :)

-Jessica

Kate said...

Woah I think Cory is going to be jealous if you have not one, but two new girlfriends! Glad you're enjoying yourself.

Anonymous said...

What is a credit card swipe?

Mitch said...

Have the kids been making purchases with credit cards? At that age, children should never swipe. Anyway, stay strong, whoever's charging.
Clench.

Jessica and Erika said...

dude.
1. GREAT job representing the wings. can't wear that shirt too much. where's a picture of the playoff beard?
2. it's so cool that you are mike-SENSEI. it's like karate kid.

- erika

Jackson said...

"Fo fifteen years now, the children in kindagahten have made purchases from their Mike-sensei."
Keep it fresh ATM boy.
Let me know when you're Skype-able.

Brianna said...

Hey, Mike! Yes, July 25-27 works for me. Let's hope for nice clear weather and good Fuji-san viewing.

You guys should definitely go to Asakusa while you're here - that was my favorite place to visit when I was in Chiba. It has great shopping and it's a more historical part of Tokyo.

I hear Nara (near Kyoto) is pretty beautiful, although I've never been there myself.

I visited Hiroshima and Miyajima during Golden Week and LOVED them, but that might be a little far (and expensive) for you.

But yeah, definitely Asakusa.

Stephanie said...

Ugh! I hated the butter pastries! Have you had the hotdog and butter ones? SIIIIIICKKK