Wild and free - for a few hours anyway!

Last night my husband stayed in Oita and didn't get home till just before lunchtime so I thought it was a perfect time to try letting my little friends out for a walk. When we first got chickens I had visions of them pecking around in the garden, but unfortunately these visions were always kept in a cage due to my husband's fears of bird-flu. I think swine flu has now reduced the bird flu fears and this morning I decided to attack the garden around the chicken house and I thought it would be nice to have some helpers. And great little helpers they were! None of them ran away. They all followed me around and dug up the parts I had weeded - doing poos here and there and generally having a great time. My husband came home while they were still out and didn't complain so I'm thinking of letting them out every evening for an hour or so to do some scratching and fertilising. They are still laying 10 eggs most days lately so their large cage life can't be too bad, but it is nice to see them out in the open too. Who knows they may even keep the weeds at a manageable size.....

Thunder thighs

Since high school I have been affectionately (?) called "thunder thighs" by some people (who I will not name at this time....). My thighs were very helpful playing netball as it meant I could jump higher than many and could block players from passing just by standing still. However now that I live in Japan I find that my thighs cause problems when shopping. Although there are more "larger sizes" becoming available, one of the major problems I have in Japan is buying trousers that fit. I can find tops etc., but basically every pair of trousers I try on looks great and feels good until I get as far as my thighs.... where they stop and refuse to move any further. The majority of Japanese women seem to have have pencil thin (but very bowed) legs and I have always been a little jealous until I read an article the other day which claims that "having slim thighs could be bad for your health". Apparently my thunder thighs are going to give me less chance of suffering from heart disease than my slim friends. Perhaps it will cause a boom here and I may be able to go into any shop and buy a pair of trousers that will go passed my knees... I live in hope!
PS: just in case anyone is worried.... the photo is a random one I found on the Internet - not me and no one I know!

Before breakfast

When I first came to Japan I couldn't speak any Japanese, but one of the principals at my school was insistent on teaching me complicated sayings that I thought I would never need or remember. One of them was "Asa meishi mae" which literally means before breakfast. In a less literal sense it means "a stroll in the park" or " a piece of cake" and this morning I managed to mix the literal meaning with the real meaning and achieved a whole day's work before breakfast - well 10am anyway! Today was my childrens' social study's outing so they needed a bento lunch box (Japanese style so no stuffing a sandwich in a bag and adding an apple) so I was up at 6am making that. After preparing for two kindergarten classes I made 3kg worth of strawberries and wild strawberries into jam as a "donation" for a friend who is organising a wonderful project called "Children's Kitchen" - more about that project another day. I then did my 30 minutes exercise before racing into the shower and was out the door by 10:10 to teach my 2 classes of midgets (none of which put their fingers anywhere near my bottom!).
It felt so good to get so much done in one morning that I decided to take the afternoon off and watched a DVD and had a nap.... it was far too hot to do anything else. A nice reward!
By the way.. I seem to have confused some of you with my measurements in the last recipe. At the moment my daughter is studying volume at school and they talk a lot about "cc"s so I got a bit carried away... - 1cc is the same as 1ml. Therefore in the recipe below 250cc really means 250ml or one New Zealand cup....

Cooking

It has been a while since I did a cooking classroom, so today I was slightly nervous - especially as one of the participants has her own cooking school where she teaches bread making. Anyway, I had no need to worry really as my standard first time recipes pulled through and they all went home very happy.... after chatting for over 2 hours!
It is basil and pumpkin season so today's menu was: Pumpkin muffins, herbed foccacia bread, basil pesto and apricot fudge slice. The fudge slice is always a big winner in Japan because it is so easy to make and doesn't require an oven. For anyone who is interested in trying it here is the recipe.... (sorry the measurements are in "cc's" and grams due to different cup measurements all around the world!)
APRICOT FUDGE SLICE
125g butter
125cc brown sugar
200cc sweetened condensed milk
250cc chopped dried apricots (can substitute other dried fruit - but apricots are my favorite!)
250g crushed plain wine biscuits (Marie style in Japan - get the cheap 105 yen packets!)

Heat, butter, brown sugar and condensed milk until butter melts. Do not boil. Add apricots and wine biscuits. Mix well. Press into a tin and sprinkle with coconut if desired. Set in fridge. Cut into squares. It will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for weeks - but never lasts more than a day or two in our house!
Right I'm off to a PTA meeting... can hardly wait!

Final Summer Camp

During the last week of August I took the children on a final camping holiday with one of my friends and her family. We took the ferry to Kochi prefecture in Shikoku island and had a really nice 3 nights at a wonderful camping ground. The weather was perfect till we headed home on the last day and the kids had a great time playing together, swimming, collecting shells etc. There was a great "star park" within walking distance too where we really enjoyed discovering what all the stars were and wandering around in the "white light" that they had created using solar energy.
The only unfortunate thing about the whole trip was that my car decided it didn't really enjoy carting heavy tents etc. all that way and overheated badly on the way home - resulting in an hour and a half break at one of the highway rest stops while it cooled down enough to get some water into it. It seems to have recovered for now... All in all a nice break away, but probably a little far to repeat in the near future.

Changing plans

Today I completed all my written goals, but not quite all my mentally recorded ones. For the last week or so I have been getting up early and/or staying out late trying to clear some of the huge number of overgrown weeds in my main vegetable garden - and discovering a few things like tomatoes, cucumbers and okra that have somehow survived among the weeds - as well as plenty of self-sown butternut pumpkins. Today was my first chance to spend the entire morning in garden without worrying about what the children were doing etc. and so I got my plasters on all my blisters (it hasn't rained for weeks and the hard ground doesn't make for easy weed pulling!), got my work clothes on and was outside by 8:30am and determined to work till 12pm. Unfortunately my big plans were changed rapidly when about 9:30am I discovered an unwanted friend under some of the big weeds. This friend is called a "mamushi" and is a poisonous snake - for which the anti-venom apparently only works the first time you are bitten. I have seen one before so knew exactly what it was, but it looked dead to me as it had a few flies buzzing on it and was curled up not moving at all. I had the camera with me so snapped a photo then went to get my big spade to "dispose" of it.... only to discover that it had disappeared when I got back. And that was the end of my gardening for the day and some bonus "me time"!
I told my mother-in-law about it and she banned me from the garden and told me that the mamushi never move when they see people (unless they feel like pouncing of course!). She then got on to my father-in-law who cut down the rest of the weeds for me and also managed to find the mamushi again and cut it up with the weed eater. He was very impressed that I could recognise one - not something that I really want to do again in the near future though... perhaps it is a very good incentive to keep the weeds at a manageable level!

30 day challenge

As of tomorrow the school holidays are over..... they have been long, but bearable with the odd bit of fun thrown in as well. I decided to take a break from blogging for a few weeks, but now plan to make up for it in September with a 30 day challenge. For me the end of the summer holidays always meant a new start to the year. A new class, a new teacher, another year older in the school system. For some reason Japan doesn't follow that system and the summer holidays are in the middle of the school year (hence the tons of homework they are supposed to complete so they don't forget everything). When I questioned someone once as to why they have graduation/entrance ceremonies in the spring I was told that it was because the cherry blossoms are at their best.... I guess that is as good a reason as any!
Anyway, back to my 30 day challenge. As I said the end of the summer holidays means a new year for me in New Zealand and therefore I've decided to keep that attitude and make some goals for this "new year". To be honest the last 8 months have just slipped away and I don't feel like I have achieved anything at all. So my 30 day challenges for September are going to be....

1. To write a blog entry every day (I'll try to catch up on some of the zillion things that have been happening)
2. To do at least 30 minutes of exercise every day (Not including gardening...)
3. To do at least 30 minutes of housework every day (Not including the regular dishes, washing etc. etc.)
4. To have at least 30 minutes of "me" time every day

Of course I am pretty realistic and I know that "every day" is an impossibility, but I hope I can do the above on at least "most of the days" of September. Wish me luck!

Spice of life

At least I can't say that I don't have any variety in my life. Yesterday I dropped my sister and son off at the pool by the beach and went to introduce the concept of "outdoor education" and team building to a group of principals from schools in Iran. It was supposed to be a 20 minute introduction, but in order to get started we had to wait for about 1 hour while they all got themselves organised. First one of them found a bike and decided to go for a ride along the road. Next half of them began their prayer session and then just as we finally got them all inside again the other half started their prayer session. They had very limited English, but had a translator with them who spoke Japanese. So I did the program in Japanese and it was fun to see a translator who is very similar to me - some of the long sentences I said he finished translating within 2 seconds. My short sentences seemed to take about a minute to relay to the group. I'm sure he was doing "selective translating" and adding his own stories - probably telling them things about a rabbit in a small white truck or something similarly unrelated, but as I do that all the time too I shouldn't complain! They seemed to enjoy the program and were all keen to come back to Japan with their students. I'm not sure how keen I am to teach their students, but we'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it!

Juggling

I spent the day carrying things from the apartment my sister wisely chose not to move into (imagine a few years of single males living in an already pretty run down apartment...) to her new apartment - which in comparison is a castle. It was hot.. but I think we got most of the usable things moved and if we could just get the stupid car insurance sorted out then they would probably be able to move in tomorrow. Of course Japan isn't making that easy so I think they may be fully moved in and fully mobile by sometime next week. I am not complaining though - the kids are loving having the extra English and extra people to play with them and I am happy that there are a few more people in the world who will believe me when I say that nothing in Japan is simple!
On a change of topic and backing up a few days.... we managed a great feat on Monday. The "looking at your shoes" girls left at 11am and the next group arrived at 1pm..... of course we still had Megan and Nathan here too so the beds were shuffled again and the fridge was rearranged to look like it was stocked up ready for their arrival. These guests were repeat visitors from Tokyo - a mother and her two children. The mother was really keen to speak English, but unfortunately her 2 year old boy was not at all impressed with this and would claim that he wanted to go home as soon as we tried to speak any English. In the end she just gave up and we all had a really nice time baking, using water pistols and generally just playing. It is always nice to have "repeat" visitors as they remember things they liked doing the time before and want to do again and we have a better idea of what they are interested in. Here's hoping they keep coming back....

Looking at shoes

On Friday I had to do a speech/workshop entitled "Communicating with children". Throughout my "talk" I made some references to the way that a lot of Japanese people answer questions by looking at their shoes. I don't mean looking down at their shoes and mumbling an answer, I just mean looking down at their shoes..... and not answering. It is one of the things that frustrates me a lot about "communicating with children" here. I had the audience in stitches, tears rolling down their cheeks as I described some of the conversations I have had with children here. Unfortunately I wasn't joking and the group of girls we have staying tonight are living proof that such shoe watchers are alive and well in rural Japan. After an afternoon of talking (very one-sided), making cookies, jam and hamburgers they finally started to say more than one word answers and they took less than one minute to actually get that one word out - occasionally they didn't even consult each other before getting that one word out! They managed to introduce a couple of card games and there was a hint of a smile every now and again. I have lived here long enough to know that they are actually really enjoying their time here - they just don't quite know how to show it yet. There still hasn't been one question asked from them, but I guess we need to take things very slowly... I think Megan and Nathan are now even more worried than ever about what their classes are going to be like - what it will be like to have a class of 40 unresponsive children. (Un)fortunately for them my experience shows that most Japanese children are actually the complete opposite and you spend far more time getting them to shut up rather than speak up! I guess as time goes by they will discover this for themselves..... and then they may be praying for a class full of girls like the ones staying here tonight!

I think we are slowly getting things for my sister and her boyfriend organised. The problem is that Japan never makes things easy. There are so many "official" things that need to be organised, but there is a definite order in which they have to be done. First you need to be registered as an "alien" - but to do this you need an address. To get an address you need to have an apartment, but to have an apartment you need to have an "alien registration". To get an apartment you also need to have a bank account, but to get a bank account you need to have an address and an alien registration. And so the circle goes around and around. I think today we managed to solve some of the problems and found a really nice "seaside villa" for them that they can probably move into next week.
One of the other "essentials" of getting anything official in Japan is a "seal" which is essentially your signature. We went and got my sister one the other day and I ended up getting a new one for myself too - my old one has lasted 13 years so I really shouldn't complain! It was interesting watching the machine carving the stamp - basically they just inputted the data that they wanted carved and the machine worked away scraping away at the plastic for about 5 minutes until the final image was completed.
Next step - becoming a full alien......

Revisiting old memories

Today I got to relive what happened to me 13 years ago when I first arrived in Oita prefecture. I went to the airport with a member of the board of education to pick up my sister - who is the new ALT in my town. I watched as all the new "foreigners" peered through the glass at the baggage claim looking for their supervisor who was there with a big sign to welcome them (most misspelt...) and watched as they sighed in relief that their supervisor didn't have a third head, or weren't carrying a samurai sword covered in fish eggs as a welcome gift. I then watched as they anxiously said goodbye to their fellow travellers and embarked on their new life into the unknown. I watched as my sister was taken to her new office..... and introduced to all those who were there today (not many fortunately!). I noticed that she hasn't perfected the art of bowing yet, but that no one seems to care. I noticed that the staff have not increased their English ability, but that she doesn't seem to care (for now anyway!).
It was fun to watch, rather than be fully involved for a change - it is nice to know a little more than others for a change. I think I am going to enjoy watching her make the same mistakes I made over and over again.... that's sisterly love for you!

3rd Grade Recreation

Every year each class at my children's school has a "parents and children's recreation day". This year we decided to make pretty much a full day of it and started out early by getting all the things ready for the great "try to catch the slippery noodles as they go down the bamboo slide" lunch event. I managed to put my big foreign foot in it right from the start by suggesting rather loudly that perhaps the children should decide if they would like to help with setting up the bamboo slide or cutting the vegetables rather than saying (like the teacher did) - "okay the girls can go up to the cooking room to cut the vegetables and the boys can go outside and do the manly thing of tying together the bamboo slides." Of course no one else could see the point that I was making, but I felt better for having said it anyway! Despite the wobbly start to the day it turned out to be a lot of fun - after the preparation everyone played the dreaded dodgeball then they all jumped in the pool before trying to catch the slippery noodles. My daughter caught on very fast to the fact that if she sat at the bottom of the slide she could just eat from the sieve at the bottom where all the uncaught noodles end up till she was about to burst without having to even try and catch them. We livened things up a bit by also putting mini-tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon (cut up of course!), peach, pear, pineapple and finally "super balls" down the slide too.
After noodles it was on to smashing watermelons - literally. Each child was given a turn with a big whacking stick - they were blindfolded and spun around 3 times then had to try and whack the watermelon open. Of course by the time it was finally split open no one was actually interested in eating it, but they had fun all the same. Some shaved ice to finish things off before heading home.
All in all it was a great day, but reminded me of some of the different attitudes of the mothers in the class. I am the vice PTA representative for this class so had to do some of the organising with the main PTA representative (there are only 11 kids in the class so it is not exactly difficult!). I always think these events are about the kids and therefore getting them involved and having as much fun as possible is the most important thing. Unfortunately the other mother was so worried about the "flavour" of the sauce, the noodles being a little too overcooked, the sauce not being cold enough etc. In the end she finally relaxed and realised that the kids (and the parents for that matter) didn't care at all about the flavour of the stuff - they were just content on throwing as much stuff down the bamboo slide and making as big a mess as possible - and having a great time in the process. Perhaps I am managing to convert a few people in my town........

7th Birthday

Every year my children really look forward to their birthdays. Until now they have always invited friends and we have had a party at home. This year my son decided he wanted to have a special day out instead so we did everything he wanted to do for the day. First up was 10 pin bowling in Beppu followed by a big swim at a big indoor swimming complex with a wave pool etc. (fortunately my husband wasn't with us so there are no pictures to prove I went in!). Lunch at McDonalds (as I said it was his choice for the whole day....) then a quick trip to the 80% off book shop in Oita (Katy - it is the one on the right just as you go into Oita city - Merindo -2 sections - kids books in one area and adults in another, plus 3 or 4 "bins"). Next up a wander around Toys R Us to spend the money from his Japanese grandmother. After wandering around the whole shop twice he settled for a baseball bat and a big stag beetle and the necessary dirt, jelly etc. to go with it - he even managed to get a thousand yen change.
As well as their party the children also really look forward to their cake each year and until now I have spent quite a long time making rockets, Blue's Clues, Nemo, butterflies etc. etc. but this year I asked if my son wanted to make his own cake - which he did. Last night they made the cake itself and this afternoon they did all the decorating and had a great time. It was far less stressful for me and my daughter has already decided that she wants to do the same this year too. A new tradition may have been started.
After decorating the cake we went to a local festival for some cheap food, some arcade type games and some conversation with ex-kindergarten friends. Home again to eat the cake and then to bed... a long day, but a really happy one for all involved.

Family holiday

For those living in New Zealand etc. the concept of taking a 3 day holiday away as a family in the summer is not exactly a foreign one, but for those of us living with Japanese husbands it often takes a little more persuasion to convince them that going away as a family for more than one night in a row is an important part of the year. My husband is pretty good really and this year he decided that we should get into camping - great I thought, I have great memories of camping as a child. I also have memories of hauling a trailer behind the car that was stuffed full of all the things necessary to go on a camping holiday. My husband came home last week with a tent and a table - all set for camping! I decided to go along for the ride and let him choose where we were going etc. and only took part in getting the food ready for the trip.

Cutting a long story short... we left on Saturday in the middle of a thunderstorm and to protests from my mother-in-law who really has no idea why people would want to spend any time away from their home and jobs - especially when there is a thunderstorm. First stop - book shop in Oita to buy one book each to pass the time away if it continued to rain solidly for 3 days. One and a half hours later and 40 books heavier we left the book shop - it just happened they had 80% off all their English children's and adults books...... great start to the weekend! Another couple of hours driving and a few missed turnoffs and we were at our destination - the beach in Nobeoka, Miyazaki prefecture. Our luck continued and there was one free cabin so we didn't have to risk our luck putting up our new tent in the still steadily pouring rain. Also as luck would have it the cabin was pretty impressive - shower, air conditioning, kitchen... who could ask for more! Across the road there was a small aquarium so after the books were read (well some of them) we headed there for some fish spotting followed by hamburgers for tea.
The next day we started off with some mini golf in the rain (my son wouldn't give us any peace until we let him do it) then my husband took the kids swimming in the fairly heavy rain! I stayed in our cabin reading my book till the rain cleared enough to take photos! We didn't need to check out till 1pm so after lunch we checked out at 12:59 and headed to another beach close by where we decided to rough it in our new tent - fortunately the rain stayed away and after only a few disagreements about how the tent should be put up (camping wouldn't be camping without arguments about how to put up the tent!) we settled in and spent the day swimming, eating, and of course reading! The final day was spent fighting about how to put the tent away and more swimming...... with a bit more reading thrown in for good luck. A pretty good break away - despite a sleep on the very hard ground the second night. We bought sleeping mats on the way home......

Mouse update

Anyone who has ever owned a cat will know that they love to show off their prey after they have caught it - bringing a half dead bird or mouse and dropping it at your feet thinking you will be really impressed. I think my husband might have been a cat in a former life..... this morning when I got up (okay so I won't mention the fact that I was the last one up and that my husband had already left for work before I waddled out of bed) I was greeted by our lovely mouse trap with a lovely big mouse in it - that was still breathing and occasionally trying to move around. My husband had successfully caught it and rather than removing it thought I might like to see it..... The major problem with this is that it was at the intersection of the dining room, kitchen and bathroom. Another major problem is that my husband won't be home till after 6pm tonight. Another major problem is that I really hate mice!
Anyway, a phone call to my husband confirmed that he just left it there for me to see and that he had no idea how to deal with it. We are going away on a 3-day family trip from tomorrow so the thought of throwing it in the rubbish bag till we get back doesn't hold much attraction for me. For now I managed to sandwich it between the two sticky boards and slide it into a paper bag.... for my husband to deal with after he gets home tonight. A great start to the day!

Mouse traps

Every second year or so we have a little (or perhaps pretty big) friend come to visit. It is always only one friend, but they make quite an impact on us. This year our little friend has managed to chew through the aerial to the TV, leaving us with only 2 satellite channels. It has managed to move food from the compost to under the dish drier, kicked passion fruit off the bench and onto the floor and nibbled through bananas - just to name a few things! Last night we decided our little friend had been around long enough so set the "traps" for him (I'm sure it must be a boy!). For anyone who is unfamiliar with Japanese mouse traps - the standard ones are big, VERY sticky pads that even the biggest mouse couldn't get off if it stood on one. The idea being that the mouse walks over it, gets stuck and then...... the real problems begin. How are you then meant to dispose of a tired out, but not dead mouse that is completely stuck to a sticky mat??? (Un)fortunately we didn't need to deal with this problem this morning. We set the trap up so that if the mouse wanted to get into the kitchen the only way in was to go over the mats. Which it did.... in one flying bound! My husband got up early in the morning and discovered it in the kitchen and then watched as it leaped over the mats and raced away never to be seen again (or at least until tonight....). I guess we will have to try another plan for tonight if we ever want to watch TV again. There doesn't seem much point in fixing it until we have captured our little cable chewing friend..... any tips welcomed!

Land of the frogs

Japan is often known as the "land of the rising sun", however during this season I always think it could be named the "land of the noisy frogs". There are frogs everywhere and as anyone who has ever been here knows - they are very noisy. They jump off the washing line into your washing basket, they mysteriously appear out of the dirt while you are digging, they even hop inside every now and then to check out your house. Until today I thought that there were frogs all over Japan and that Japanese people found them a bit boring... great piece of stereotyping on my behalf! The biggest entertainment for today was a trip to the waterfall and the 4 girls not just looking at a real frog for the first time, but holding onto a frog for the first time in their lives! They spent almost an hour playing around in the river catching tiny crabs and screeching anytime they saw a spider's web or any other kind of bug. A nice cool place to be after another hot day!

If I can just get through this week

Sorry yet again for the lack of posting lately - everything just seem to be the same every day and therefore not really worth writing about. Yet again I am in the "if I can just get through this week phase". After a morning in the garden on Sunday life caught up with me and I ended up in bed for the afternoon with a shocking migraine. I have a vague recollection of taking a phone call from a friend in the middle of it, but had to apologise to her the next day as I really can't remember what I said. Sorry!
Anyway I recovered from that which was fortunate as on Monday and Tuesday we had the workers here putting our solar electricity panels on the roof. If the banging all day wasn't enough, it was also over 35 degrees each day so I was grateful not to have a migraine with the heat as well as the noise! Japan seems to have a good system for solar electricity at the moment. Although it costs quite a lot to install there are lots of regional and national subsidies, and you can sell any excess electricity you make during the daytime to the electricity company. Here's hoping we have lots of sunny days this year!
Tonight I went and collected our last group of students till September. They seem like a very nice group of 4 girls - although I haven't really seen them much yet. We didn't pick them up till 5:30pm and then by the time we had the silly ceremony and got home it was close to 7pm. A quick curry for tea, a few brain teaser games and then they retreated to the cottage for showers and conversation. I know I probably should have made more of an effort to talk longer with them tonight, but they had been up since 6am, travelled from Osaka to here and gone to an amusement park before I picked them up. They looked tired and after teaching all morning and then later this afternoon too I am not exactly full of energy either. Tomorrow night I'll be more entertaining!
They leave on Friday and from Saturday I have a 3 day camp to run.... I can't wait till Monday afternoon!