mieko's diary

It's the last week in January, and the first week in February.

2012-01-30T04:31:00.000-08:00

I finished today's chores. How was your weekend? I had a big event, and now I'm really happy to finish the event without troubles.

Last week, I sometimes had lunch at a cafe. ( My lessons are usually from 4 to 10, except Wednesdays. On Wednesdays in the day time I have two adults lessons.)
At lunch I always drank coffee and I was really surprised the difference of the " cost" of the coffee. Of course the taste was different. But I didn't think the difference of the quality.

Last Tuesday, I went to a cafe & hall with my friend. Because my friends and I are thinking to hold a concert this year there. They have a grand piano. So I went to check the piano.

It was a nice hall and cafe. We had lunch there. The lunch set was 1000 yen including a dessert.( Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the lunch because I was into talking with my friend.)

Last Friday, I had a job at a nursery school in the morning, and in the afternoon I went to a friend's house. So I had a lunch at a doughnut's shop alone, which is becoming really popular in Utsunimoya these days.
The catch-phrase of the shop is "Our doughnuts are gentle to your body".

The doughnuts were really nice, and I bought some for my friends. Of course they seemed to like them. But the coffee is a little bit expensive. It cost 500 yen. (The coffee at Starbucks is 350 yen, and the coffee at McDonald is 120 yen.)

Last Sunday I had a job all the day, so I had lunch at a cafe alone, too.

The coffee was served with pot, and another kind of coffee was also served as a sample, because it's coffee shop. The lunch set was 780 yen.

Return to Saturday. I had a lunch at a Japanese cafe with a friend. Here they served special Japanese tea (not a green tea), it cost 500 yen. But the owner has pride of his Japanese tea. So I can accept the price.

Sometimes I have lunch outside, but last week I think I did too much. I have to save money. In February my daughters will come in turn.

Lebkuchen

2012-01-25T02:54:00.000-08:00

Have you ever eaten "lebkuchen"?

Around Christmas in last year, Yuki got "chocolate cookies " (I had thought they would have been chocolate cookies) from a German man. He seemed to say "they are special in Germany". At that time we had enough sweets, and the expiration date of the cookies is March. So I put it aside in the pantry.

Today I served for adult students, saying " these cookies seem to be popular in Germany". They were spicy and sweet, three of them seemed to like them. And all of them said "these cookies are different from usual ones. Why the back is white?"

I check the sign on the back of the bag. The sign was "Nuremberg Marzipan Gingerbread (Lebkuchen)".

Nuremberg is one of city in Germany, and it seems to be famous for lebkuchen.
And lebkuchen is a kind of cookie or bread with honey and lots of spices. They are specially eaten on Christmas. So the German must have take them the Christmas season.
I found an interesting account on lebkuchen.

debut in a cocktail bar

2012-01-23T05:30:00.000-08:00

Yuki and I play Jazz, so sometimes we go to a Jazz club. We like to eat out, so sometimes we go out for dinner at a casual restaurant.
Did I tell you? This winter we gave ourselves up to hot wine (It is called mulled wine in English, isn't it?) Though usually we have hot SAKE in winter, this winter we prefer to drink hot wine.

Coincidentally I got an information about a bar where they serve hot cocktail. At the Jazz club, they serve various alchhole including cocktails, but mostly they are cold. So I showed a big interest in the bar. The name of the bar is Harcourt, which is named after one of Baccarat glasses. (The owner of the bar loves Baccarat glasses, so all glasses which they use are Baccarat glasses.)

We went there Sunday night.
We wondered whether they would accept first-timers such us. But the masters and two bartenders welcomed us with a good smiling.

I drank hot wine, and hot connection, Yuki drank Belgian beer, and hot rhum with butter.

To tell the truth for us they were little bit expensive , however we had a really luxurious time.

The bar was near the station, so we went there by bus. We came back to home by taxi. (We tried to come back by bus again, but it was too cold to wait for coming bus. At that time we had to wait a bus coming for at least 30 minutes.) In Japan it is prohibted stricktly for people who drink alcohol to drive cars, even have a slight amount of beer.

At the bar I asked how they made hot wine. A bartender answered "we use port wine, orange juice and orange liqueur". Cocktails are really beautiful. I wish I could drink cold cocktails or hot cocktails more. Once I drink cold alcohol including beer, I get a headache immediately. So I usually "sip" hot-Sake. Actually at that time, I ordered two glasses of cocktails, and when I started to drink the second one, I felt headache, so Yuki drank it instead of me. After drinking at the bar I drank hot coffee at a hamburger's shop.

It's snowing slightly.

2012-01-20T20:31:00.000-08:00

Since yesterday it has been snowing. Fortunately the snow doesn't pile up, as soon as it snows, the snow melts.
Wednesday's topic of this week was about party. These days I seldom attend any formal party.Though New Year's days are a sort of family reunion and we held a party, it's really casual. When I was a child, I used to wear KIMONO. In my case it's usual that I don't have chances to attend a party because I work at home. However even Yuki, he doesn't have attend "formal" parties, these days. Probably it's because of this depression.
While my student and I were talking about parties, I remembered a thing about a knife and fork. When my mother and I went to a traditional hotel and had sweets, she said " Long time passed since I ate cake with a knife and fork."
When I was a child, I was told it was a traditional way to eat rice with a knife and fork when we were at a French restaurant. I'm not sure whether rice is served in France, but anyway in Japan, if rice is served instead of bread, we seem to have eaten it with a knife and fork.(we put some rice on the back of the fork.) These days I seldom seen such a scene. When I wen to a formal French restaurant in Tokyo, chopsticks were on the table with a knife and fork, so I ate rice with chopsticks.

Today I went for an annual checkup in the morning. Now I vacuumed the rooms. So today's chore I had to do was done. I'll enjoy my reading (Japanese books) .

Monday

2012-01-16T03:05:00.000-08:00

Though I didn't or couldn't go for a workout during New Year's vacation, I went there three times last week, and even today I went there. What a good woman I am! This Saturday I have to go for a checkup, so I want to keep my condition "healthy", and when I'm asked "do you do something good for you?" I'll immediately say "yes" to the doctor.

Now KINKAN (Kumquat) and lemons are in the season, on the other hand the season of YUZU has gone. My honeyed-YUZU has also gone. I baked cake mixing my honeyed-YUZU with the "rice cooker". I made dough of pancake, and put it into the rice cooker, and set a timer for early morning. So I had the cake for breakfast. Instead of honeyed-Yuzu, I put sliced lemons and Kinkan into a jar of honey.

My English classes have started again. All students seemed to spend a good vacation without troubles. Some students brought souvenirs. So we shared them in our class. Tow of them are souvenirs from Tokyo Disney Land & Sea.

Some students will graduate from my class this March. It's wonderful and sad. Anyway I started advertising my English class. I'm not sure whether new students will come or not, though my adult students seem to want more classmates.

February is just around the corner. I changed the decoration of the entrance hall.

Chores

2012-01-10T23:36:00.000-08:00

Today it was the first lesson for adults in 2012. The topic in the morning was "chores". Before lesson I served them. They are not books, they are chocolates.

What chores do you hate doing? Her answer was ironing. Me neither. However she is a good wife, at least she ironed her husband shirts once a week. I seldom do that. Let me tell the excuse. My husband usually wears polo-shirt, So I don't often need to iron things.

How have chores since your parents' time? I think washing clothes is easier. Even though they had the washing machines, the procedure was more complicated than now. On the other hand, now we are surrounded by many home appliances, such as a fridge, a microwave, a toaster oven, an electronic kettle, etc. So we often dust or wipe them out.

Well, what kind of stove do you use? Do you use electronic stove or gas stove? I use gas stove. So I often not only wipe out the stove top, but also wash stove burner grates. How do you wash them? I sometimes wash them with baking soda. Do you use baking soda not only to bake cookies?

In Tokyo with my mother

2012-01-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to Tokyo again to see Japanese dance at National Theater. My friend danced at a small hall there. I thought my mother would enjoy it, so I went there with my mother. She sometimes sees KABUGKI (traditional drama performed by male actors), but it seemed to passed several decades since she saw Japanese dance. It means it was the first time to see it after I performed Japanese dance when I was five. (I took lessons of Japanese dance for three years long time ago.)

Before seeing it, we needed to eat lunch.
There, it is National Theater, they serve good foods for senior. Her choice was ODEN. I chose sandwiches.

Many performers who are from 5-year-old boy to 86-year-old lady danced very hard. The dance of 5\-year-old boy was 5 years old boy was exciting and vigorous. Young boys and girls who are in their 10's danced dynamically. My friend danced lithely. I thought we (my mother and I) would fall into a sleep because we are not familiar with the world of Japanese dance. There was nothing to worry about. In fact we were caught by their performance. Seeing various performance, hearing live Japanese music by Japanese instruments made us calm. We had a good time.

After that we dropped by New Otani Hotel, which is one of historical hotels in Japan. We had sweets.

My friend gave snack sect to all visitors. They were sweets and SUSHI. When I came back to UTSUNOMIYA, I ate it for dinner. I didn't need to cook. It was a clever gift.

Sorry I wanted to show her performance. It was prohibited to take photos. Every performance was wonderful.

Thanks for presents.

2012-01-06T01:31:00.000-08:00

This is an antique bowl. It doesn't have the sign of Japan or NIPPON. It means it's very old. I showed it to the Master of KARAKU where I play the piano once a month. The Master is familiar with Japanese china. He said "it was probably made around 1885. It looks a little rough but it was painted by hand."
I'm thinking how I use it. These days I started to collect old stamps as a a fund-raising campaign. So it might be good to put old stamps in it.

The sign says "Massage Cushion". It looks like a thick hard cushion. When the cover is open, we see massage device. And the device has a function to make itself warm. It's fun, isn't it?

Thanks everybody.　From now I'll go out for dinner with YUKI. Today he comes back earlier than usual. I have a good birthday.

We're in Utsunomiya

2012-01-03T04:27:00.000-08:00

Happy new year.

Yuki and I came back here from Tokyo. In the morning I put all FUTON away, and washed all bedclothes my mother and my daughters used. After we had lunch at home, we went out to visit FUTAARA-shrine. It was the first visit to shrine in this year, which is called HATUSMOUDE. The shrine was really crowded. We prayed for our health.

We dropped by a tea room near the shire. They serve various tea. Yuki drank coffee&tea blend.
I drank spicy tea which is named Jazz flavor tea. Can you guess which is which?

When we went back home and had simple dinner. Today we had a calm day.

Have a wonderful new year!

2011-12-29T16:33:00.000-08:00

From now we're going to go on a short trip to a hot spring with my family, my daughters, my mother, Yuki and me. Our winter vacation has started.

Yesterday Yuki and I went to a nice restaurant to celebrate our work this year. We had a good time. After that we saw a Japanese movie. Before spending with my family, it was a quiet day.

Thanks for coming my blog this year, see you next year.
Have a wonderful new year.

Today's topic -- Residential area

2011-12-27T23:16:00.000-08:00

Two (piano) are lessons are left. After that my "busy" winter vacation will have started.
In the morning a lady came to take my lesson. We talked about our residential area. She lives in the suburb, and seems to like her neighborhood. She said "It's quiet, and not so many kids.It has more space than the downtown. Though there is a little of public transportation, I don't mind it. Because the may transportation is cars."
I asked "What is one the thing that could be done to improve your neighbor hood?" .
Her answer made me surprised. It was that "I wish if I would communicate more in my neighborhood."
I didn't think of that.

So I asked again "Why don't you start something to communicate more with your neighbors?" She said "It's difficult. Most of them work in the day, and they try to keep certain distance each other."

I also wanted to communicate with my neighbors. So I sometimes invite my neighbors to have tea. Or I sometimes share something that I get. So I think I try to keep certain "comfortable " distance with my "some" neighbors. I don't have any relatives in Utsunomiya, so for us neighbors are really important. Fortunately or unfortunately our neighbors are older than us. So I don't need to compete or compare something with each other. It made me easier to communicate with my neighbors with respect.

In the afternoon two adults came to take my lesson. I asked them about their neighbors. in the residential area of one of the ladies, most of them are elder people. So they often communicate each other. Once a month they go out for lunch.
In the residential area on the other lady, they share something with each other when they get something too much.

How's your neighborhood?

Our club

2011-12-27T00:02:00.000-08:00

Somebody might know that I'm organizing a club. The name is English picture book workshop club. The other day two foreigners participated in our study meeting. One-day visit members have to pay 500 yen. (From next year it gets lower to 300 yen.) Why they have to pay to attend just a study meeting?

I started this club about five years ago. The first aim "was" to hold some workshops lectured by major lecturers. Utsumoiya is a very small city. It' not so far to go to TOKYO by bullet train, but it's very expensive. It's far to go to Tokyo by local train. People living here is calm, it means not so competitive, aggressive. So sometimes it makes me bored. I had thought if major workshop would have been held more. So I started our club. To collect members who are interested to attend workshops about English picture books or English education, I started study meetings. They pay attendance fee to attend the study meetings, we use the money for advertising and place for workshop we are going to hold.

Unfortunately it doesn' t go well. Most of them who attend the study meetings want to attend just a study meeting, so for them paying money is not what they want to do.

On the other hand one of my friends, who teaches English in TOKYO, started to preparing NPO-group to spread her world. She is really energetic.

What do I want to do? I'm not so energetic. This is my favorite phrase "it can't be helped".
However I don't want to go backward, so I'll do something as much as I can.

While I was thinking about my club, I wrote two articles. It was an English day today. Now it's my lesson time.

The final week in 2011 has started.

2011-12-25T20:53:00.000-08:00

How was your Christmas? I bet you enjoy it.
Yuki and I spent simple Christmas. In the morning we did winter cleaning. He washed all windows, of course I helped him.
After that we went out shopping to the suburbs. And we came home buying two pieces of cake and fresh vegetables. We had the cake for a snack. Can you see Kahlua liqueur? On the day I had no lesson, so I enjoyed coffee with Kahlua.
For dinner we had simple Christmas dishes with mulled wine. Can you see a small jar? It's a jar of pickles. We bought it at a special French restaurant for Christmas.

The final week in 2011 has started. I already changed decoration into Dragon decoration. Because next year is Dragon's year according to our calender.

If you tell me about your Christmas, I'm very happy.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

Today I have no lesson. And Yuki went to work as usual. So for me it is a little bit lonely day. In the morning I went to workout. I was really surprised at my attendance card. It was the first day to come there in December. I never play truant from gym, I had not been in a good condition to work out. (It's a wonderful excuse, isn't it?)

At noon, I suddenly started to polish toilets. What a good housewife I am!
It is said the harder you polish toilets, the more money you would save.
Then I went to see my friend to get a hair cut.

Now I'm drinking apple cider while I writing this diary.

What shall I do from this? I have some books to read --- it might be nice to set around home at reading. Today I'll smoke salmon with smoke pot instead of chicken.

Have a nice Christmas Eve.

Christmas sweets cooking lessons -2-

2011-12-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

I made Christmas cookies with elementary school students. When my daughters were little, I used to make such cookies. At that time I bought these Christmas shaped cookie cutters.

I prepared dough.The students cut the dough as desired shapes.

At night high school students came. They dressed up the cookies that baked with elementary school students.

We enjoyed the cookies with apple cider. (Thanks Jan)

The leftover was our breakfast with special carrots juice.

Today I'll do the same lessons. I have to prepare dough again.

Christmas sweets lessons -1-

2011-12-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

Long time no see you. I'm fine, and this week I'm enjoying Christmas sweets lessons with my students.
I made popcorn snowballs with kindergarten students.
First we made caramel sauce.

Of course we made popcorn. The popping sound made us excited.

And we mixed them, and made snow (mud?) balls.

Wednesday's sweets

2011-12-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

On wedensdays three adults come to take my lesson.
Yesterday's sweet was ---

It's Christams version of Japanese cake.
What is Japanese cake?
I found this site.

It takes a little trouble to make luxury time

2011-12-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

My dear friend sent me this cup. It's a cup of Tea Forte. I've heard of the name. And this time I know that it is the company that they invented pyramid shaped tea bags. So all cups are made for the pyramid shaped tea bag.

Of course I wanted to use it. And I wanted to make my own luxury time immediately. But unfortunately I didn't have tea of tea-bags. but ----

I had Taiwan-tea bags. It's ginger-tea. The bags are not pyramid-shaped, but they are tea-bags. I opened it.

Unfortunately they don't have strip. Do I have to put strip on each bags to enjoy this cup? What did I do???

Every person is different --- that's natural.

2011-12-12T00:32:00.000-08:00

A lady's hobby and daily duty is waking. She usually walks with her friend. She said " I don't like walking alone. I "sometimes" do walking, but I don't like walking with someone because walking space is different.

I sometimes eat lunch at cafe alone. (Usually after volunteer work in the morning) A lady said " I can't eat out alone". (She said that she didn't have courage.) Another lady said "you're a housewife, so why don't you eat at home to save money.

Additionally I don't have courage to enter into RAMEN-shop, GYUDON shop, or KAITEN-sushi alone. My younger daughter M preferred (or even now) entering GYUDON shop alone to entering a hamburger shop. It made me really surprised. She said eating GYUDON is better cost performance than eating a hamburger.
If I see only RAMEN shop or GYUDON shop on the way home, I come home with hunger and eat something at home.

That's natural, every person is different.

P.S
I made GYUDON for dinner, and I already ate it alone. This is GYUDON,

Christmas is just around the corner.

2011-12-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

This week my students and I was making Big-Apple pinata. Everybody brings 25 tiny things and put them in each pinata. And the last lesson in December they'll take their own pinata as a Christmas or The new year present.

In my house our Santa has already come. Yuki and I couldn't wait to open the box. So we opened it. How wonderful! Our Santa always knows what we want. Golf magazines, golf gloves, candy, coffee, "apple cider" and so on. I've never see apple cider in Japan. Why? I love it. Instead of it, though we have YUZU-tea, ginger-tea, and so on.

I almost finished winter cleaning. Do you know my cleaning style? I'll show you. When I looked at my self in the mirror, I laughed at my self. What a perfect cleaning style.

new stove

2011-12-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

If you are Japanese, you must think "You bought a new heater again?". We call stove, stove burner, or range KONRO, and if we use range, it means microwave range.
I bought new KONRO.
I had used previous one for 15 years. Finally the function of automatic light-on doesn't work. So I decided to change it.

Do you know what does it work?
We use it to grill fish or others. It is an usual thing. When I used previous one, I grilled a thing per side. But with this one, I grilled both side at the same time.

As a trial, I toasted bread. But --- it doesn't suit to taste bread. Or I need to train more.

Here is the new KONRO.

moss balls

2011-12-04T04:45:00.000-08:00

Today I went to IMAICHI where it took about 40 minutes by car to attend a workshop. In IMAICHI there is an interesting art gallery, so we (Yuki went to IMAICHI together. While I was attending work shop, he was in IMAICHI library.) dropped by there on the way home.

It was a gallery dealing with moss balls. I bought one for my friend as a Christmas present.
The owner of the gallery was a man who was in his 60's. He opened the gallery after he retired. Unfortunately his wife has already passed away, and his children are independent and lives in other prefectures. So he enjoy his own life in this gallery in this town with the residents in this area. He said "I want this gallery to be open-gallery for my neighbors." Actually the second floor is open for neighbored as a meeting place. It was really interesting for me as an art-gallery, and a open-house.
And we also dropped by a cafe where Yuki once played bass and piano there.

Today's main dish for dinner was --- this jarred-fish. Do you know it? Probably in your country except Japan it is very popular.

Which was a main job, attending a meeting or eating?

2011-12-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

Today I "had to " attend a meeting as an English teacher of a branch school. It started at 10 and finished at 2. During the meeting I was permitted to take only 10 minute break. It was a tough meeting.

Fortunately it rained today, so Yuki played a role of my chauffeur. (Today he can't play tennis because of rain.)

I'll write what I did in chronological order.
I got up at 8. ( I slept over.)
As soon as I got up, I waked up Yuki.
We went out to eat breakfast at a cafe at 8:50.
We got to the cafe at 9:10.
We ate the morning-set.

He took me to the office.
I attended to the meeting.
(While I was attending the meeting, Yuki went to a barber shop to get his hair cut, and practice golf.)
He picked me up at 2.
And we went to a restaurant to have lunch.(We made a restaurant reservation before-hand).

We came back at 5.
At 8,I was full, so I ate some pieces of apple, and Yuki ate SOBA.

Now I'll watch TV.
That's all today.

December has started

2011-12-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

~~While~~ The moment December started, the sky got gray. It has been cold. It looks like snow. (Yesterday instead of snow it rained.)
Well, well, we see apples and tangerines at the store. AND my favorite KINKAN also appeared. So I bought one bag.
Most leaves ~~shaded~~ fell.

And "my" Kinkan of this year is ---- too bad.(Last year I got lots of Kinkan). On the other hand even now I got some green peppers and mature green peppers which are into red.
I like this season, because I don't need weeding.

My favorite story book

2011-11-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

I'm groaning quietly in front of the PC. I have to write a report about "my favorite story book". I like reading. And I'm quick reader. I tend to read books randomly.So I'm not into a writer, or a book.
What should I write about???

Do you have any your favorite story books?
Do you answer it immediately if you are asked?

When I was a child, I used to read a series of Sherlock Holmes.
Did I like detective stories? I don't think so. I like to read Anne of Green Gables, and Little Women.

I don't remember what I read when I was a teen-ager, though I read a lot or I had to read a lot.
When I was in high school, I liked to pretend to be mature, so I used to read some ethic books like Nietzsche's works, and Kant's works. --- but I don't memorize anything.
Once I was into poems.

When I worked at a company, probably I had no time to read books fun, I read various computer books and medical books to my work.
When I became a mother, I read various "mother's books to become a good mother.

When my daughters were teen-agers, I used to read many books which were written how to deal with teen-agers.

And now I tend to read the books which were written about senior life plan,or the life itself. so I face to myself calmly.
Reading book always gives me the direction which way I would go.

Tomomi's art

2011-11-27T20:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my daughters, their friends and I went to a talk show in Utsunomiya. It means My daughters and their friends came here from Tokyo. And they dropped by this house for about an hour. My elder daughter Tomomi brought her recent work.

And this time they also a bottle of wine for hot-wine, and sweets. The other day I bought cheap wine and made hot-wine. It was not so bad, but a little bit acrid. The wine she bought was not acrid.

Christmas will have arrived.

2011-11-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

Now it is the end of November, in America probably all of them must enjoy Thanks giving day.
And a month later it will be the end of this year, which makes me really surprised. Time flies like an arrow.
I'm finished to decorated some shelves with Christmas goods.
This year I bought this white wreath, which is made from pieces of wood.

I put some Christmas picture books in the living room. This year it is Sunday on Christmas day, so probably Yuki and I will enjoy much fancy feast. Anyway until Christmas I'm busy in doing Christmas lessons.

pickles

2011-11-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

This is "the" blue papaya. It feels a little sticky like a yellow papaya, but it's hard. I slice a half of it with slicer and flied them with beef. I made salad a quarter of it. And I pickled the rest

I made another pickles. It's celery's one. To make pickles, I consciously bought an inexpensive bottle of wine. Of course I don't use all of wine, so Yuki "consciously" drank rest (or most of all) of them.
Half of bunch of celery became pickled celery, and the lest of bunch of celery became celery-liquor.

Jan can you see this page, I miss your pickles. So please tell me the recipe of your pickles source.

It's not sweets

2011-11-21T17:13:00.000-08:00

We were enjoying hot-wine with home-made YUZU-honey. To tell more exactly, Yuki was drinking SYOCHU with blue cheese, and I was shipping hot-wine with blue cheese.

And I wanted some sweets. The other day I got a pretty box. I thought it would be cookies or chocolate, though I wondered why a label of expiry date wasn't anywhere on it. And I opened it.

There were handy-towels inside.

Actually outside we see "ANNASUI", but I didn't know the bland name, it seemed to be popular among young people. Additionally I got it from a young mother.

So I opened another sweets box. Yuki asked me "How many sweets box do you always keep?"
I answered "This is the last". It is true.

vegetables

2011-11-19T22:16:00.000-08:00

To my delight, these days I met new or rear vegetables. The other day I met "NATA-beans". I decorate them on the shelf in the entrance hall. Everybody who open the door is surprised to see them.

The other day I got enormous cauliflower. As you know there are only two members in this house. How do we eat all of them? First I thought I would boil the bunches and keep them as frozen ones.
But --- I made curry using all of them.

And yesterday I bought Blue-papaya. Have you eaten one?
I didn't know how to cook, so I got recipe with it. It's easy we can eat it in any way, like uncooked or cooked, though I have to pill the thick skin.

Probably next morning I'll cook it. This evening I'll go out for dinner with Yuki.

Today it is Sunday.
Yuki has gone to play golf. I went to the library to read English picture books at a small room in the morning. Today about 20 people (kids and their parents) came to listen to us. And now while I'm waiting for YUKI, I'm playing on the computer like updating my blog.

black bean brownies

2011-11-16T21:38:00.000-08:00

On Wednesdays three adults come to take my lesson. So yesterday morning I made black bean brownies for them. I think taking lessons is fun and having sweets together is also fun.(or much more.)

In Japan, when we hear "black beans", it means "black soy beans". But in America and Europe, it seems to be different. I found a can of "black turtle beans" at a imported food shop.

According to Jan's recipe it is not necessary to add sugar. It was actually OK, but I wanted to make it sweeter, so I added peach jam Jan made. It was completely perfect.

I told about black beans to the students. They showed interests to the can. So one of topics on the day was "beans". And coincidentally, a student brought a curious kind of beans. Do you know it?

We call it NATA-beans. NATA means a froe. The longer bean is about 25 centimeters long. This kind of beans seem to be a model of the story "Jack and the beanstalk". According to a book, when they are young, it means they are about 10 centimeters long, we can eat them as usual beans. but when they get bigger like this, they are slightly poisonous, So when they get bigger, we use them as tea after we dry the beans. Do I do that? Of course "not". it's troublesome. I put it on the shelf to show. Everybody says "what big beans are they".

Souvenir from Taiwan

2011-11-14T22:37:00.000-08:00

Did you remember that our family went to Taiwan this summer?
It was really fun, all of them enjoyed the trip. So I recommend a fired to go there---

And she really went there last week. (She didn't tell me though we met before she went to TAIWAN.)

Suddenly she came, saying "Here you are, your favorite pineapple cake".

For her it was the first travel abroad. She could have traveled to Korea with her daughter this March. But because of this earthquake she couldn't. And this time she went to Taiwan instead of Korea.

It's Monday

2011-11-14T03:51:00.000-08:00

Last week it was really warm. So On Saturday I went to wort out in the morning. Since I went to the gym last time, three weeks has passed. ( I skipped out on them, because I was afraid of feeling dizzy outside.) In the evening Rosaura who is from Costa Rica visited us. Yuki , Rosaura, and I talked with Japanese education at high school. (She is a high school teacher in Costa Rica, and now she is studying at Utsunomiya University on a scholarship. Her interest is Japanese education at high school.) She listened to Yuki's opinion as one of businessmen position, and to my opinion as one of mother's position.

And we went to a Jazz club to have dinner and listen to Yuki's live. (Yuki played the guitar there.)
This club is also popular with serving good cocktail. So Rosaura ordered "Autumn leaves" cocktail, which is made from ginger ale, whisky, and ??? ( I forgot) And I ordered coffee because I was a " chauffeur".

Today, at midday one of my friend visited me with a bag of souvenir. She went to TAIWAN. I recommended her to go there, and she went there last week. We talked about our memories at TAIWAN.

Talking with someone is fun. This week has started in a good mood.

Do you know how to cook ginkgo nuts?

2011-11-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Now the color of leaves of ginkgo trees changed from green to yellow. My grand mother loved ginkgo nuts. When she visited us, she used to roast ginkgo nuts with pan. Unfortunately I didn' t like them because they were "too" bitter. Now I became an (old) adult, so I love the bitterness. But I didn't cook them because roasting was troublesome.

But ---microwave ovens are wonderful, aren't they?

First we prepare ginkgo nuts and a "paper" bag.

Next you put some nuts into the bag.

And of course put it into the microwave oven, and heat them until you can hear the sound of "pon, pon" several times. (Not once it's too early.)

You take it out of the oven, and open the bag.

Here they are. Of course don't forget to take the shells out.

If you already know it, how clever you are!

Lazy Mieko

2011-11-11T00:05:00.000-08:00

This week is almost finished, isn't it?
This week I'm getting lazy. I don't get up as usual time, don't cook breakfast as usual, and even clean the rooms as usual, though I cook a little, I clean the rooms a little.

It is the last month for Japanese pear, so the final kind of Japanese pair is NIKKORI.

It's really big, isn't it? I sent some to my mother, and my mother in-law.
Halloween finished with fun. And I already got new costumes for next Halloween.
One is a present from Jan, and the other is that I bought on sale after Halloween.

Today I went to a farmer's market, and bought some YUZU. So I made YUZU-honey.

Now my lesson will start.

A lectcure

2011-11-06T01:01:00.000-07:00

Last night Yuki and I went to see a a little bit famous actor who came from TOKYO speak. Actually not only the actor but also other three members did gave speech about FUKUSHIMA radioactivity.
This lecture was organized by a citizen group, and the MC was my friend.

Here Utsunomiya seems to be safe, it means the level of radioactivity is 0.054 micro Sv per hour (currently according to the Utsunomiya city hall announce) , which is less than TOKYO. And natural average level in the world is said to be 2.4 milli-Sv per year. So it has no problem. But We can't ignore the problem. It's a difficult thing to think what we can do, what we have to do. What we do now is to know the accurate information.

Some people came from FUKUSHIMA to Utsunomiya, or even some people move out UTSUNOMIYA to Hokkaidou or western Japan. On the other hand many people have to live in FUKUSHIMA. It's a difficult issue.

Anyway it was the first time for us to attend such a lecture organized by a citizen group. Since the day of the disaster something has changed.

My Thanks Giving

2011-11-03T23:51:00.000-07:00

Today it's a warm day. I changed the decoration in the entrance hall.
Can you see a turkey? It's a really unusual bird in Japan. Last year Yuki found it in America. I love this toy bird. Its face is funny, isn't it.

And as soon as I finished this job, a friend came to my house with this year's harvest. The yellow things are "YUZU", kind of citrons. The smell are so good. I put them with the turkey.

Thanks giving day doesn't seem to be popular in Japan like Halloween , Christmas and Valentine's day. But Japanese people enjoy new rice. It is the harvest season everywhere in the northern hemisphere, isn't it?

beef

2011-11-02T01:09:00.000-07:00

Long time no see you. Now it's November. Usually it's a cold season, but this year it's not so cold during the day. According to the weather report,the power of Pacific anticyclones is working.(sorry, I don't know the detail.)
But at night it's very cold. So for me it's difficult to adjust this weather.It's a usual thing but for me it's a tough season. (My doctors saw my medical record, and said "every this season you get out of shape." I suffer a slight autonomic imbalance, and of course I want control my symptom, but it seems to be difficult. (Jan, I know it's wrong to say it can't be helped.)

Anyway I'm getting better.
The other day Yuki got the third prise at a golf competition. So he came back with --"beef" instead of a trophy. Why beef? because the title of the competition was YONEZAWA-beef competition. YONEZAWA-beef is one of famous brand beef. Have you ever heard of KOUBE-beef?
Of course the beef is YONEZAWA-beef.

If our two daughters were here, we would have one piece of meat. But fortunately or unfortunately there are two members in this house. So we simple flied and ate one sheet of meet without hesitation.
It was the beef with good quality. Because once we put a knife into, we could cut them smoothly.
Can you guess how we seasoned them? Do you see a yellow thing? It's a special steak sauce that is sold in a famous local restaurant. The base of sauce is onion.

Chayote

2011-10-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

Now I'm getting better. This morning I got up without headache pill though I needed to take dizziness pill.
Yesterday Yuki and I drove for a change. We went to a local farm market.

There, I found a curious vegetable. The sign was CHAYOTE. And now I know they are Chayote in English. Do you know Chayote? Have you ever eaten Chayote?

They seemed to be cooked in various ways such as, deep fried, fried, salad. And it seems to be good as as a desert of simmering Chayote with wine and sugar.

So I cooked them this morning. I fried with HARUSAEM and other vegetables.

Saturday

2011-10-22T03:45:00.000-07:00

About one week passed since I updated my blog. Though someone may have guessed, I was not in good shape. Now I'm getting better.
I've had a bad headache. Without medicine I couldn't do nothing. But anyway I did all things; managing a meeting, doing volunteer jobs, and of course lessons that are the most important things. So I skipped cooking breakfast and doing house chores. The supermarket nearby is open until 12PM. So Yuki can buy something fresh such as vegetables, fruits, on the way home. And thanks to frozen foods we can have meat or fish.
Today it was the worst day. It was difficult for me even to come down stairs. So Yuki took me to a clinic before he went to work. I got a shot. And I was sleeping almost all the day. Now it's past 6 PM. Though I have a slight headache, I'm getting better.

This month I'm enjoiyging Halloween, ---- but it made me busies than usual.
This month the difference of temperture between mornings and nights is so big.---- it makes me weeker.
And I feel irritable at myself, because it's a little bit difficult to keep it step with some members in my volunteer group that was founded by myself.
It was difficult for me to continue volunteering work, or improving my self alone, so I started to make a group. Though everybody seems to enjoy the activities, it's a little bit hard to encourage to improve each other more.
I know I'm upset, I should be slow down.

Sorry I'd like to morn.

The other day I called a friend to morn, but she was more tired from nursing her mother-in-law.
She said "I envy you to keep such a group activity". Actually I'm lucky. I couldn't morn anything to her. She didn't complain about anything, she just told her current statement calmly.She's an accomplished woman. Or for her I'm not easy to speak to. We are in a completely different world. It's sad.

Anyway, next Thursday it is the day of trick or treating. I have to recover my power.

Sunday

2011-10-16T03:32:00.000-07:00

It was a sunny and a hot day, though when Yuki went out for golfing early morning it was raining.
I cleaned the rooms and reorganized the carport (we did the craft of carving pumpkins at the carport.)

And --- I thought I would read English books or study English, but I decided to go out alone.
First I went shopping some bagels to my favorite bakery where it took 30 minutes by car. The baker and I already become acquainted. So I talked him for a while.

And I dropped by a cafe. Last week I went there coincidentally. At that time I didn't have enough time to look at the dishes. The place is a cafe and gallery of dishes.
I look at the dishes, had Chinese tea, and talked with the young master who was 31 years old.
I had a leisurely afternoon.

To tell the truth I've had some troubles among the members of my volunteer&studying group. You might ask what the problem are. It's difficult to tell them in short. We start to notice differences in our interests in our activity. It can't be helped.I neither refuse who comes nor go after who leaves.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

Kindergarten students made bone-hands with popcorn.
Of course we made popcorn from dry-corn.

Elementary school students made "strange" TAKO-YAKI.

Usually inside of Tako-Yaki is boiled octopus (it is TAKO in Japanese.) This time, they chose Wasabi, Karashi, small tomatoes, pumpkin paste (I recommended), Kimuchi (Korean pickles), chocolate. Unexpectedly chocolate-TAKOYOKI was bad. On the other hand Kimuchi-TAKOYOKI was yummy.

Of course everybody carved pumpkins.

Happy Halloween.

Yesterday's report

2011-10-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

A lady enjoyed milk coffee with the pumpkin spice in the morning.
Two ladies enjoyed carving pumpkins in the afternoon.

Three kids came to take piano lessons in turn in the evening, unfortunately they don't have enough time to do crafts, they enjoyed Corn Candy.
Two junior high school student came at night, -- they took usual lessons having Corn Candy. Junior high school students and high school students are going to do "trick or treat" in the end of October wearing a costume. So they don't do any crafts.

Today, I'll crave pumpkins, and cook "strange" TAKOYAKI. I'll show you them tomorrow.

Halloween month

2011-10-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

For your country it might be Thanksgiving week, but, in my class, it's Halloween month.
Though as I wrote about pumpkins, a farmer I always get pumpkins from for almost free, couldn't grow pumpkins because of this disaster. I thought I wouldn't let make my students Jack-o-lanterns. But I want to give new students in this year a taste of doing it.
and I ordered pumpkins through the Internet.
On the other hand fortunately another farmer gave me some Japanese pumpkins which are green outside, so I simmered them to make pumpkins paste.

Now Halloween month begins. Of course the sweet came. Though Halloween has become popular in Japan, I've never seen candy corn. To show how candy corn is traditional sweet, a picture books is necessary.
I prepared pumpkin napkins. And it is the turn of the pumpkin spice.
Today's adult lesson is going to be done outside with pumpkin spiced coffee.

I appreciate Jan's kindness.

rice bread

2011-10-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

Do you know "rice bread" that we call "gohan pan)? It's not common, because a senior lady "invented" it. There is a small restaurant nearby. It is run by a senior lady and she serves her home-made vegetables there.

She loves inventing cooking. And she invented this rice bread. First she served it to only old customrs, and next she served it as appetizer. Finally the health department approved to sell it. I hope her rice bread will be popular in this area.

Monday

2011-10-10T00:07:00.000-07:00

Though it's Monday, on our Japanese calender it's holiday. And for children in this area, they are in their fall vacation.
Though I did all jobs that I had to do last week, to tell the truth, I was not in good condition. I was suffering headaches.
Today I don't take medicine, so it seems to get better.

On Thursday and Friday, I did the first Halloween English time wearing the pumpkin costume. Everybody seemed to enjoy "me".
On Sunday, Yuki recommended to play something outside, so I went to practice golf or watched Yuki's playing golf to a golf range nearby.
There ---- I got small Japanese pears for free. (The owner of the golf range is in the landscape business, so he might have some pear trees.) So I made pare jam.

Though I would say "it's delicious", --- I seemed to put much citric acid. ( Unfortunately I didn't stock any lemons, so I put some citric acid.) It's too sour. (Later I'll put some honey in it.)
The other day, Jan kindly sent her home-made peach jam. It is really delicious, we enjoy it. So I try to make my jam ---- it didn't work well in my world.

Do you know chimichurm?

2011-10-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

Do you know a condiment of chimichurri? I didn't know that. Just yesterday I knew the name.
According to the dictionary it is mainly made from finely chopped parsley, minced garlic,.
Though some people know I update our breakfast on the FOTLOG. These days a person in Uruguay put a comment. There she introduce the name of chimichurri. Unfortunately I can't put my comments on the fotlog these days, I don't know why? I'm asking FOTLOG-help center about it.

Well, well, today's breakfast is just sweet that my neighbor brought last night. I can't eat all of them. so another roll is today's fresher at the adult class.

October came

2011-10-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

We changed a carpet in the living room from a bamboo carpet to wool carpet.Though it is warm in the day, it's cold early morning and at night. SYUKAIDOU is blooming in the garden.

How was your weekend?
I had a good and active weekend.

Since Thursday Yuki and I went to KUSATSU on one night two day trip.
At Saturday night, we went to a concert at ICHIGEIKAN where once we held a concert. This time a small Jazz band came.And on Sunday I went to NIKKO to attend an English workshop.

Well, today it is Monday. My usual days have started. This week is a volunteering week. I'm going to do an English activity at two nursery schools wearing a pumpkin costume.

I'm waiting for Yuki

2011-09-25T05:03:00.000-07:00

Today, it's Sunday. For most of people it's a holiday, but Yuki is working. Now I'm waiting for his coming. He said "Today, maybe I will come home early. so I'll have dinner at home". --- but he seems to come home late as usual.
Today I made smoked-tuna with my smoke pot. Something smoked is good whether it's hot or not not. So it doesn't matter how he comes late.
The reason why I cooked it, is --- this present. It's SAKE. Our daughters sent it to him. Because -- the other day, it was his "birthday".

To be precise, his birthday was three days ago.On the day we didn't have enough time to have dinner, so I just bought him this chocolate cake.

It was an usual day, it means ---- our daughters didn't call him, didn't send an e-mail to him. They forgot the day. Next early morning I sent an e-mail to them -- just one sentence that "What day was it yesterday?"

It worked. They called him as soon as they got up.(I dare not to write what time they got up. It was a holiday.) And today this SAKE reached him.

I think smoked-tuna suits to SAKE. So I made it and I'm waiting for Yuki. (Usually I don't wait for his coming, I go to bed when I get sleepy.)

I've prepared for the Halloween month.

2011-09-24T06:20:00.000-07:00

October is just around the corner. It means -- the Halloween month is just around the corner.

Can you see a real orange pumpkin? I don't know the real name, it is called "KORINKEE" in Japanese. I hear that we can eat them raw as a kind of fruit. (Usually when we eat pumpkins, we cook them.) I bought it at a local farmer's shop nearby.
I decorated the rooms with Halloween goods.

And I prepared books and music to read at nursery schools, and costumes for my students who aregoing to do trick or treat in the end of October. New Halloween books also arrived. (Thanks Jan)

The books were in a big box that arrived the other day. The box was from Jan. She sent some books (mainly for Halloween) to me. I was really surprised when I opend it, because I found a familiar author's name in the books. It was Taro Gomi. He is a famous Japanese author. I sometimes see Reimported cars (from America to Japan). But it was the first time to get a reimported book.
Does everyone know Taro Gomi?

Wednesday's topic

2011-09-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

Typhoon has gone. I didn't need to evacuate, but some places around my house were flooded, and according to Yuki, he showed signs of "no trespassing"(by flood) on his way home. And he saw some , and some water-damaged cars. Fortunately he came back without troubles.
Today it's sunny, and---"hot" again.

The worst time of yesterday was only evening. So I had usual adults lessons.
Yesterday's topic was "your friends".

We talked about the "distance" between friend ship. The closer we become, the deeper our intimacy is.
It means the distance of our friendship is closer, and the distance is too much close, sometimes the friendship breaks.
(Does it make sense?)
So we said that appropriate distance of our friend ship is important.
(I'm not sure whether the word distance is suitable word or not.)

For you what is the most important quality in a friend?

Yesterday's fresher or special is this cake called Baumkuchen (it is German in origin.)
"Baum" means tree and "kuchen" means cake in German. It looks like rings of trees, doesn't it?
This is "the" cake of "club Harie".--- it's a little bit famous cake shop in TOKYO.

Dinner with a neighbor

2011-09-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

Though today is the last day of three-day weekends, Yuki went to work as usual. (He doesn't come back yet.) For me, half of the day is a usual day, and half of the day is a holiday. I prepared for this week's classes, and went ~~glossary~~ grocery shopping as usual Mondays. But today, I didn't need to have dinner alone. My next-door neighbor invited me to have dinner together.The couple ~~of my~~ next-door neighbor is are in ~~the~~ their 60's. Mr. M is retired but he still works sometimes to help in his nephew's office. Ms.M is a housewife. Sometimes she and I go out. For example, last month we went to a concert. ~~I think we keep our distance well.~~ Our relationship is not too close not too far. We have a comfortable relation ship. (Does it make sense?) It was the first time to have dinner at their house. Unfortunately Yuki couldn't join us. But next time he'll join us. These days Yuki and I reconsider our life in UTSUNOMIYA.Without children activities and without the name of the company he now works at, we have to ~~build a communication~~ develope friendships with local people to spend our further life. It is a good thing to have dinner with our neighbors like today. Mr.& Ms. M are really nice, outgoing and comfortable with people. Unfortunately he "can't" play golf because of having a bad back.

I didn't know that.

2011-09-14T00:11:00.000-07:00

It has been half year since the disaster. Fortunately I don't affect anything directly though some blocks of fence fell down. So to tell the truth the atomic issue isl thought of as someone else's problem.
But...

Now fall is just around the corner. So I called on a farmer who grows Halloween pumpkins as his hobby.
Mieko "Hello, this is Mieko. How about your pumpkins this year?"
Mr.Y "Oh, long time no see you. Sorry, this year my fields had lots of damage, so I couldn't plant pumpkin seeds. Were your house all right?"
--- I was really surprised. He lives in the same prefecture, the place is about 15km to north from here.
We talked for a while, and hanged up the phone.

Yesterday I went to KARAKU to play the piano. Master is really disappointed.
Mieko "Why do you look so disappointed? in two weeks you'll go to America to see your grand child."
(Master and his wife is going to go to America to help their daughter. They are having their second grand child.)
Master "It's difficult to pack for our trip, Every agricultural food from Tochigi is prohibited to bring into America. Two week staying without Japanese food made in Tochigi is difficult for us."
I didn't know that until now not only from Tochigi, but also from Fukushima, Miyagi, and Sendai, their agriculture food is prohibited to bring into America. And all Japanese agricultural food is prohibited to bring into Europe."
I'm really surprised at knowing Tochig's product is included.

Come to think about it, for foreigners, there is no difference where Tochigi is and where Fukushima is.
It can't be helped.

Now I re-understand that I live in Japan that suffered from the big earthquake and now facing the big problem of atomic power. Though I read news paper fulled of this problem every day, I have to think about it more seriously. On the other hand I think what I can do is just waiting.

Well today I served this cherry pie. my neighbor baked it.

Do you like to work in a team?

2011-09-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

"Do you like to work in a team?" , this question was yesterday's topic for high school students class. It might be difficult to answer with yes or no, it depends on the situation.
Three of four students said "yes". The other said "no".

The student who said no, said" to tell the truth I prefer work in a team to a solitary work, but I don't desert a project when I'm absent, or I leave. "
The students who said yes, said "we can share opinions, and responsible".

This conversation reminded me of an opinion. At a Toaster master meeting, we had such a topic "why Japanese product can keep high quality".
A person said, "we are good at working in a team beyond generations.Though it has a bad point, because of lifetime employment, our spirit, responsibility, skills cross from one generation to another."

On the other hand, thinking about me, teaching English at home is a kind of solitary work. I don't need to hesitate anythings to others. I do what I want to do. But once I quite, everything will be finished.
And being a house wife is also a kind of solitary work, I think.

Now here in Utsunomiya Cambell (Cambell Early?) grapes are in season. This morning I made fresh grape juice. It was the first time, because I didn't know that it was not unnecessary to take out the seeds.
The necessary thing is that we should strain juice through "rough" strainer.

Can you guess how much it is?

2011-09-07T00:43:00.000-07:00

I know the title is not polite, but I'm not in upper class, so it's not my business. I served this coffee to today's adult students. This is a bottle of iced-coffee.
------------------------------------------------------
Mieko; "I'd like to share this coffee celebrating the end of summer."
Student A;"Looks like a bottle of wine."
Mieko;"I found this bottle in June in OHTANI supermarket, not in TOBU department store. (OHTANI is a high-class supermarket, but department stores are much higher.) I was really surprised at this saying "Why such expensive coffee is here? Who buys? " But Yuki and I were really interested to it. We were afraid to get used to the taste, so we decided to buy it at the end of summer. (If we have got used to the taste, we would have got into red (further) ). This is a bottle of Blue Mountain iced-coffee. Can you guess how much it is?Let's enjoy the Blue Mountain taste. (The students and we seldom drink Blue Mountain coffee.) And you have to understand if you feel the difference from usual iced-coffee sold in usual supermarkets, it comes from the high cost. It's not a matter whether you like the taste or not. I know it's not true that the higher it costs, the more delicious it is.
-----------------------------------------------------------
And we enjoyed this coffee with laughing.

Well, well I usual drink this iced-coffee. It costs about 150 yen, it is almost as much as milk.
And when we drink iced-coffee at coffee shop, it usually around 400yen except MacDonald.
Can you guess how much is this bottle?
Of course Yuki and I enjoyed the taste.
To tell the truth, we understood the difference from our usual iced-coffee, not bad. but we don't know whether the taste is worth in the cost. We are not crazy about coffee though we love coffee.
But we really enjoyed it with atmosphere. Tasting expensive things sometimes make us elegant and happy.

Thanks for your comments

2011-09-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

I'm really happy to get analytic comments on my previous report.
Watching the news in Japan, this typhoon left lots of damage especially KI peninsula. One of my friends who live in Wakayama, is suffering water outage now,though her house itself has no damage. The roads in her town was flooded.
Every day newspaper reports the level of radiation, and how evacuated people from FUKUSHIMA are struggling to manage their life.
Listening to CNN student news or watching ABC news, they reported that one of four children in America got food from food stamps system and feel hungry, and they had zero job growth in August.
What I can do is just expressing my regret at them.
About me, these days I tend to decrease my intention.
But getting such comments from people in various countries always encourage me.

These days I had an opportunity to think about whether atomic power is an necessary evil or not. "Necessary evil", this word is really difficult to deal with. What example can you show about necessary evils? Probably one of them is experiments on living animals like mice.

It's true that we don't know what will happen in one minute. Or there is such a saying "In life, the future lies in the dark.". Both of meanings are same. But I don't like to use the word "dark".
Anyway today I paid the "last" college expense of my daughter through the bank. Now our financial support is almost finished. I hope my daughters and the youth will be able to keep having a desire to improve their life. And I hope our senior life will full of joy.

Sunday

2011-09-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

Fortunately the typhoon didn't seem to hit a big damage in Utsuomiya. This morning I could hang out all the laundry. And I weeded the garden " a little". Even it's in the end of summer, MYOUGA is growing. On the other hand KINKAN fruits don't grow bigger even though it had lots of flowers.

From yesterday I had decided what I should have done today. (Does it make sense, it's difficult for me to use a correct tense.) It's not a job, but-- "I'll read up all these three books". And now I'm finished.
One is an English picture book,it is not so difficult.
Another is an English kids novel, it is a little bit difficult to understand English.
The other is an English grammar reference book written in Japanese. I can understand the contents, but--- it's not so interesting.

These days I'll try to memorize a short skit as long as I have time. I think it will work for me to speak English fluently. Today's skit is interesting. (And Jan always help me, thanks.)
------------------------------
In British culture, talking about money is viewed as impolite. If you ask a British person about their wage or salary, the person is unlikely to give you any specific details, and your question might even annoy them. The upper classes take this idea even further, and often buy expensive things without asking the price. Because of this, there is an English saying ; if you have to ask the price how much it costs, you can't afford it.
-----------------------------
Do British people buy a car without asking the price? ( I'd like to hear Tim's opinion, or I hope to get some comments from the U.K)

September comes

2011-09-03T02:26:00.000-07:00

Summer is going away. This summer I got lots of souvenirs. I don't like if someone felt the burden of buying souvenirs. But sharing souvenirs while talking with each other is fun.

I bought one for my students in Taiwan.
One student shared one from her trip to America.
Another student shared one from his trip to Miyazaki.
Another student shared one from her trip to NASU.

Another student shared one from his trip to Hawai.
Another student shared one from her trip to Disney Sea.

Another student shared one from her trip to Shizuoka.

And my neighbor bought this cake after waiting in a long line in Tokyo.

Not only my students but also Yuki enjoyed these souvenirs. So the last souvenir in this summer is this one --- from Yuki's business trip to Osaka. One of them are cookies of OKONOMIYAKI.

Wednesday's topic

2011-08-31T00:39:00.000-07:00

We talked about tiny funny or strange things in our daily life?
"Have I ever told you about the time I saw a famous actor?" --- like that.
She's seen Sylvester Stallone at Los Angeles International Airport. At that time he was working on a movie. So she wanted to get his autograph, but she just took a look at him.

What famous person would you most like to meet? I'd like to meet TAMURA-MASAKAZU, and if I met him, I would take a photo of him with me.

Have you ever seen a UFO? Unfortunately both of us haven't see one. Do you believe that other intelligent beings are somewhere in space? So if some being traveled here, will it be friendly or more peaceful? I read an article that we hope they will be friendly and more peaceful, but on the other hand it's equally possible that the ideas of such an advanced being would not make sense to us at all, anymore than our ideas make sense to fish, and we might taste just as delicious."

The reason why we talked about such things was that. from September to December, classical movie fair is going to be held at this local theater once in a month. Usually it costs 1800 yen for adult, but on the day we can see at 100 yen. The scheduled movies are ET, Sound of music, and so on. She is going to see ET. Her talking led to UFO talking.

Today's specials were cookies from two students. One is a souvenir of trip to MIYAZAKI, the other is an also souvenir of trip to NASU.

Toast master's meeting

2011-08-28T02:45:00.000-07:00

Today I attended a Toast master's meeting. As I always tell you, when I attend this club I often feel I were in a wrong place. Because everybody except me is active working men and active working ladies (probably the ladies are single or have no kids even though I haven't asked.) So nobody mentioned about their kids. On the other hand I get used to talking about our family,our kids. (And these days I don't have current topics about my kids, so in another meaning I often feel I'm in a wrong place when I talk with active mothers.)
But attending this club makes my eyes wider, and inspired.

Today's table topics in English section were that;
What is your most enjoyable memory in summer?
What is your most romantic memory in summer?
What is your toughest memory in summer?

Fortunately or unfortunately, this time I was not appointed. So now I'll think about these topics.

My most enjoyable memory in summer is --- Taiwanese trip in this summer. It was the first time for us to go abroad. And the tour was also the first time. I really realised that seeing actual things is really important. Just listening to a knowledge is completely different from seeing actual things.

My most romantic memory is ---, in retrospect probably I could say visiting HOKKAIDOU was my most romantic memory. I went there with four members including my husband ( at that time all of four were in university.) I keep the photos, the trip on the photo looked romantic. But I don't have any romantic memories. When I visited HOKKAIDOU, it was after heavy rain. So the youth hostel I stayed was swamped, some roads were flooded. So the trip was really hard with lots of trouble.

My toughest memory in summer is --- the summer when I was studying hard because I failed to enter university that spring. (Fortunately I passed the next year.)

How about you?

My Saturday

2011-08-27T03:30:00.000-07:00

Now I'm making tomato soup with a pressure cooker for my supper.(Yuki is working and he will eat today's supper at his office.) It was cool in the day and now it's cold at night. I'm wearing long leaves shirt of course.

Today I had no lessons. I got up usual time and did morning chores including making breakfast. I cleaned all rooms and reorganized the entrance hall. And I weeded the garden " a little".(Fortunately Shiso-leaves and mint-leaves are growing rush, so "I" can't see weeds much, so I "don't need " to weed very hard I know it's a good excuse. And even though I spray bug spray before going to the garden, as soon as I go into the garden I get eaten up by mosquitoes a lot.)

After eating YAKISOBA for lunch, I went out to a department store to buy my summer sandals (for walking). You must think why I do it now. I know the summer is coming to end. BUT it is necessary. My sandals broke during the trip to Taiwan. I bought new cheap sandals in Taiwan. They are not so bad, but I wanted better ones. And now it is on sale.
The Taiwanese sandals were about 380 yen. And the new one was ---secret. I know I have to save money for our life because we went to an abroad trip.

On the way home I came by my favorite tea room. I know the hostess who is organizing the tea room. So it's easy to came by there alone. This time I had thought I would listen to an English story with my ipod. Darn it. I forgot bringing my earphones. So I just talked her eating pumpkin cake ( Don't say "you wasted money") and went back home.

Tomato soup is done! After eating this soup I'll study English (probably).

Licolis and Taiwanese food

2011-08-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

The picture on the left is called (probably) iron eggs There are two types, bigger one is usual eggs, and this one is quail's eggs. We boguht this bag of quail's iron eggs in Taiwan. It is one of local Taiwanese food.
There is instruction on the back of the bag. I'll introduce it, though I don't know the sentences are right or not. (Because the instruction is also written in Japanese, but some sentences are wrong.)
"These eggs are a delicacy in Taiwan. They are marinaded and simmered in a rice broth loaded with spices, then place in an oven to bake and lock in their flavor. The delicious snacks are hermetically sealed in a vacuum package to ensure their freshness."

And the picture on the right is licorice bars one of my students bought for us as a souvenir. Can you guess why I put these pictures together. Because the taste of the outside of the eggs, and licorice bars are the same.

Wendensday's topic and Taiwan sweet

2011-08-24T03:52:00.000-07:00

Today's sweet is this Taiwan sweet , which is called GEPPEI in Japanese. And I served a kind of Taiwanese ( or you can say Chinese) tea.

Well, well, today's topic was "Accommodations". It was a suitable topic in this season.
One of my adult student stayed in a youth hostel with her family.
Have you ever stayed in a youth hostel? I've stayed a few times when I was "young". I had thought that youth hostels could have been for young people. But these days they seemed to change. Families also can stay at reasonable prices. Did you stay in a youth hostel recently?
My family stayed in an inexpensive hotel. They didn't have any special amenities like gym, library, and so on. The clerks were kind, and we had standard features in our room, like hair dryer, shampoo, and so on. And of course it was a bed-and-breakfast. (We had breakfast the first morning, but next morning we skipped and went out to have local Taiwanese breakfast.)
What amenities would you expect in a hotel if you go there with your family?
What features would you expect in a hotel room?
What services would you expect from a hotel?

Taiwan -3-

2011-08-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

There are many things which we understand when we go there indeed. We have such a proverb "A big difference between what one hears and what one sees."
About KOKYU museum (national palace museum) , it was true that Hakusai(Jadeite cabbage), Kakuni(meat shaped stone) and Nabe were showed as the most valuable things.
KOKYU museum is one of the four biggest museum in the world. ( This time I knew it.) In front of them people were waiting in a line.
To tell the truth, I don't understand why two of the three are so valuable ---- but I understood they were really famous there.

And at souvenir shops we saw things which shaped Hakusai. The interesting things we didn't see things shaped Kakuni except at the museum. Probably they were not cute. Of course we bought one. When we see it, we always remember the trip to Taiwan.

Taiwan -2-

2011-08-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

If you go to Taiwan, what will you buy as your own souvenir?
We bought a small object (I'll show you later), and some foods.
( We bought some sweets for our mothers, and friends.)

Most of Taiwanese food are sold in Japan. But they are more inexpensive than in Japan. So Yuki thought it was a good chance to buy some foods he's wanted to try. We bought retort shark's fin soup.
It looked different with the photo of the box. But anyway there were shark's fin and one big ear shell. The soup was thick and soy sauce tasted. Not bad. I don't know the real and expensive taste of shark's fin soup. So what I can say is "not so bad, but it's expensive even though we got it at lower cost.

And we bought KARASUMI bortargo. In Japan Nagasaki prefecture is famous KARASUMI, but I've never had one.
The taste was ---" TARAKO", I said.
Yuki said "it's thicker than TARAKO(salted cod roe)"
"And it's more expensive" I said.

I always think the cost valance ---because I'm a housewife.

Do you now three of the most delicious delicacies in the Japan? They are "Uni(sea urchin), Karasumi(bortargo) and Konowata(salted entrails of trepang). This time, We had a chance to have Karasumi. So We should have Konowata.

Taiwan -1-

2011-08-20T23:27:00.000-07:00

We came back from Taiwan to Utsunomiya, and both of our daughters came back to TOKYO. Yuki's vacation was finished, today he went to work. I cleaned all the rooms, had lunch by myself -- and , usual life has started.

Taiwan, it is a foreign country to us, but here and there we see Japanese. Here and there we heard Japanese. Elder people talk Japanese naturally, some people can speak English.
We went to Taiwan on a tour at bargain, so it wasn't a gourmet trip. But of course we enjoyed "foods".
M loved airline food.

In Japan DinTaiFung　is really famous with SHORONPOU. We have been to Shinjyuk branch to eat them. BUT we were really eager to eat them at the main restaurant. So we went there. Many people were waiting in a line. Probably half of people were Japanese, and the half of them Taiwanese. The taste was good and as same as ones at Shinjyuku branch. Anyway we were satisfied with eating them at the main restaurant.

In Japan Chinese dumplings are familiar. So we didn't find new kinds of dumplings. But an interest thing is that they are eaten for breakfast.
Thanks of M (she loves to talk with anyone in Japanese? in English? in gesture? in Kanji? --- I don't know. ) , a hotel front desk took us a small restaurant where local people eat breakfast.

In Taiwan we saw signs of SOY MILK (of course written in Kanji), and we knew in Taiwan soy milk was really popular. So I would have tried to soy milk, but the hotel front clerk recommended to have rice milk. So we ordered two cold ones and one hot one. The taste was --- (I don't know whether you know it) --- Japanese SHIRUKO (Azuki beans sweet soup). Taiwanese rice milk seems to be made from rice and peanuts.

During OBON vacation

2011-08-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

Now Yuki and I are in OBON vacation. Last weekend I had a struggle against bad cramps, though I hadn't had it recently. Now it's OK. From Sunday to Monday our elder daughter T was here, and she went back to TOKYO to work. And now our younger daughter M is here. And since tomorrow three of us go to TAIWAN on two nights three day trip.
If the pain had come today, I would have canceled the trip. (I've experienced a few times). Lucky me.

Since our daughters came back, Yuki called himself a chauffeur, and he doesn't go to golf practice. (well, the main reason is that it's too hot.) Today both of three went to a clothe shop to order M's suit. He was just waiting for us while he was listening to music with ipod.

Both of our daughters have homeboys and homegirls here. I'm not sure that homeboys and homegirls are right words, what I want to say is they have local friends or they have neighborhood friends. So both of us go out to talk with someone easily. Because they were born here, in UTSUNOMIYA, and they were brought up until they were high school students. On the other hand Yuki and I moved to many places because of our parents transfers. (At that time transferred meant getting promoted. ) So actually we were born in in TOKYO, but we don't have friends who are called homeboys and homegirls.

And we ourselves were transferred here (in this case, it doesn't connect with getting promoted.) Now we are becoming one of local people since more about 25 years passed.

What do you call such friends, in Japanese we call them JIMOTO -TOMODACHI.

garden? field? or wild land?

2011-08-12T01:07:00.000-07:00

This is the current backyard. As soon as I take a step, I get mosquito bites immediately. Most of greens are "plants". Shiso-leaves, Mitsuba-leaves --they are edible. Mint, lemon grass , rhubarb, Western Wasabi -- they are herbs.
The backyard is completely covered with these greens, so I don't need weeding -- it's a good excuse, isn't it?

The other day I got this sweet called MIZUYOUKAN, it's a kind of jelly of beans. It's a typical summer sweet in Japan.

SUCCESSFUL!

2011-08-09T02:40:00.000-07:00

First, let me show my gratitude to some friends who probably come to see this blog. "thank you for coming and listening to our music"

In the morning my friend Naomi and I went through the rehearsal in her house. After we grabbed sandwiches, we went to KARAKU.
We were really surprised, because the parking lot was "full". Actually I invited some friends, but I can count them all one hand.
All of them managed to come to listen to our concert in such a hot day.

We started with Italian classical songs, because Naomi's major was Italian classical songs.
And now she mainly sings in a choir as a pro classical singer. Since we met each other more than 15 years passed.
After I introduced her to the audience, main stage opened. She sang some typical Japanese old songs with my piano. The audience seemed to be in their 60's or much older. So I think they really enjoyed our music.
And the ending was YAGIBUSHI. This song was born in TOCHIGI prefecture (my city UTSUNOMIYA is in TOCHIGI). I wanted to play something connected with this area, so I chose it. Usually it is played by Japanese traditional instruments, but I played it by piano. Everyone seemed to enjoy this song beating time with their hands. This youtube is orginal YAGIBUSHI.

charcoal cake

2011-08-08T03:36:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday I served this "charcoal cake" to my adult students. Having sweets is one of my lesson. Jan said "it's ash cake, isn't it". --- Yuki and I talked about the difference of ash and charcoal. This cake includes ground bamboo charcoal, so after burning the charcoal, it get ash. So it is "charcoal cake".

Anyway ever body was really surprised, and happy. All of them are really interested in health, and loves healthy food. So they enjoyed them. ( I don't know they buy one again for themselves, but I bet they buy one for their friends)
I thought such a a thing is only in Japan. But Jan said "I know ash cheese". It made me surprised. And I searched something charcoal, or ash. Charcoal crackers, Charcoal cheese --- there are lots of things in the word as a healthy food.

Have you ever had anything including charcoal?

cobs of corn

2011-08-07T00:19:00.000-07:00

Which way do you use to cook cobs of corn---, microwaving them or boiling them?
You might say "we don't do the both way , just bake them."

But in Japan since "my mother was child" (it means since ancient times) we boiled cobs of corn. Since we had microwave, some people prefer microwaving them. Because it's quick, and easy. But we would often trust the taste of boiling them would be better.

But these days we have many kinds of cobs of corns, and I think they become sweeter, farmers says people prefer sweeter corn. And farmers recommend to microwave cobs instead of boiling.

Today I bought some cobs, and I microwaved a cob, and I boiled the others.
The taste is --- both of them were good, though boiling cobs are a little bit salty, because I put some salt in the pot. I talked on the phone my mother who is 78 years old, As I thought she didn't believe it and she never thought to try once.

chupacabura

2011-08-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of Chupacabura?
Yesterday in a lesson of junior high school students we read this topic.
------
In the 1990's, people began to report attacks by a strange creature in Puerto Rico. They say it's green and has red eyes. It has huge fangs and a forked tongue like a snake. There are sharp spines running down its back. It looks like a reptile, but it hops on two legs like a kangaroo. It attacks farm animals and drinks their blood. People call it the Chupacabra. ------ Biologists say it is just a legend.

----- And they drew a picture of the Chupacabra using their imagination.

Toast Master meeting

2011-07-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended a monthly Toast Master meeting. This time I organized a table topic section in English.
I didn't decide the them until the very last minute, and I chose a safe them, it was "summer".
--------------------------------------------------
This summer is also an unusual summer like last year. Rainy season finished earlier than usual, and in early July unusual hotness attacked Japan. And these days we have unusual cool days. Anyway we often use the word of summer as a seasonal greeting like my starting speech. So we'll talk more about summer.

First, do you have anything special event in this summer?
One of my high school students have been in the U.S for about two weeks as an abroad student.
And another one is going to go to SENDAI to do volunteer work helping people who had the disaster of TOHOKU earthquake.

Second, do you have any countermeasure against hot summer?
Here and there we see green curtains made of GOYA , morning glories, or plants with trailing vine.
Two weeks ago Yuki and I went to buy SUDARE (bamboo shade) at a home center nearby. But they were all sold out.

Third, what is your favorite food in summer?
As someone knows I'm really interested in food. In summer I usually enjoy cold noodle like cold soba, cold Chinese noodle. And this year I'm into cold TANTANMEN.

Saturday was over

2011-07-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

This week --- to tell the truth, I was not in good shape. Anyway I did all my lessons. And today I went to see a gynecologist. He's a kind of my home doctor because of my uterus problem. He prescribed some Japanese herb medicine to control my body temperature.
It's not the first time, so probably it will work for me.

On the other hand I had some interesting and wonderful things this week.One of my adult students came by with "blueberries".

In the last lesson, I muttered "this summer I cut branches of my blueberry too much to have fruits". But the blueberry trees in her garden seemed to have lots of fruits. So she picked them and took them as soon as she heard my complain.

In two weeks I'm going to hold a small concert with my friend at KARAKU. So we had a meeting , not for practicing. The theme was "what clothes we have to wear?" It's not a public concert, just a private concert, so anything is OK. But for women it is a good opportunity especially for housewives to talk about cloths. It's not a women's hobby, "we have a reason to think about clothes". Of course it's an excuse. And we will wear just a little bit dressy blouse and pants.
And I sent out invitations to some friends. On each invitation I wrote short comments, they are like new year cards. It was fun. The day of our concert is an usual week day. So most of them must be difficult to come. It can't be helped. But it is fun to keep contact with them through my activity.

And today Yuki went to TOKYO on business trip, and came back very early with cakes.

For a while I didn't have cake. So I was very happy to have them. I can't think about the life without sweets.

Explorer 9 ----

2011-07-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

For a while I struggled with this new "explorer 9". I couldn't update this blog. Now I can. I'm happy.
"Once" I was good at computer. I could use some computer language like FORTRAN, COBOL, C-language, and AL. I don't want to proud of my past glory ----. Anyway it's difficult to adjust to the current PC world. Something is often updated automatically when I open this PC. And usually something happens when something new is downloaded.
I can't imagine the life without PC, but sometimes I think I would give up PC's life.

When I dropped by my friend's blog (in Japanese) the other day, I laughed at it.
One high school boy came to stay with her, he seemed to be an usual nowadays boy. He said to her "I've never experienced exciting things in my (16 year) life. I live because I won't die."
And she accepted him, because we (including me) know it's difficult to draw dreams in the future.
And we also think how our adults can bring up kids with dreams?
I think the answer is -- adults themselves must have dreams.
And I laughed at myself. Because I don't have any "positive" dream now, though I try to be positive.
These days, in the news paper here and there I see negative news. Sounds sad.
We have it good, so we have complaints.
I know a proverb , that is "He has enough who is contented with little."

Sunday

2011-07-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

Typhoon has gone. Fortunately we didn't have a serious damage.---- I forgot to put a lid of big can of fertilizer, so the rain attacked it, the fertilizer melt into the water, and it began to smell badly. So I put half of them into a refuse compost with ash I bought , and I buried the rest of them around the plants. And of course I went to my next-door neighbor to apologize.

Last night --- Yuki and I went to see "Harry Potter" instead of Pirates of Caribbean. Why? Please don't ask me. Actually I wrote about Pirates of Caribbean, not Harry Potter.
We saw the first Harry Potter with my kids. Unfortunately my family were not into Harry Potter series. But as Jan mentioned this movie is the last Harry Potter. So we went. And for us it was the first time to see a movie with 3D grasses.

I didn't know that we had do pay extra fee to wear 3D grasses.--- plus 400 yen each.
It was not bad, but I'm not sure it would have been 400 yen well-payed.

Today, some mothers of my students will come to talk to me individually. Have a nice Sunday.

Pirates of Caribbean

2011-07-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

Have you already seen the latest and last series of Pirates of Caribbean?
Unfortunately I haven't seen it yet. I don't often watch TV, see movies (including rented DVDs), so I seldom go to the movies. But I saw all series of Pirates of Caribbean, because my friend is into Johnny Depp. She is a really busy woman, so we don't have enough time to see the movie together.

But now, I'm thinking to go to see the latest movie alone ---- because---

yesterday, I attend a book club meeting and discussed about the book "Pirates of Caribbean, Penguin readers". The discussion recalled me of the first series of the movie. And I thought to see the last movie. Because the MC of the meeting seemed to be very impressed to see it.

Well, well, do I go to the movie alone? Probably the friend won't have time to see the movie together for a while. How about Yuki? I know he shows a little interest to the movie. and if I go to the movies together, we can get a "senior couple" discount. Usually the adult fee is 1500yen, but if one person in a couple is over 50, they can watch a movie for 2000 yen. ( I think it's strange , why only a couple? I wish the rule would be applied to the pair, either of which is over 50.) One ploblem is that Yuki doesn't see any of this serise. When he will finish to see all series of this, probaly the latest movie will have alreday finished at a theater.

Baby swallows come down.

2011-07-18T02:04:00.000-07:00

Some baby swallows come down and start to practice flying. In a few days they will leave here. And it's the time to finish that we worried about their ---dropping, especially Yuki's car.

Today is Monday, and holiday in Japan. Yuki went to work as usual. And though for me it is the day to go to a clinic and to work out, both of them are closed. So I faced upto practice English.

a flower of kumquat

2011-07-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

I thought that this year my tree of kumquat wouldn't put flowers because last year it had lots of flowers and this spring I trimmed it too much.

But, this morning I noticed it has a flower and some buds.
I hope it'll have more flowers.

Anyway it's hot. Yesterday we talked about cicadas. Though it's really hot, we don't hear cicadas yet. The time cicadas pushed out from the ground is not decided by the temperature in summer, by the temperature in winter. The winter was usual so, probably cicadas will come out end of July.

Yesterday a big event was finished with successful, though unfortunately we didn't have much audience --- about 40 people including stuff.
About 16 abroad students came and talked about their own countries in Japanese or in English.
Some junior high school students came. I talked them about a role of English as an international language.
No native English speaker was there. Their communication was done in English --- there are Japanese English, Mongolian English, Chinese English, Spanish English, French English, Russian English.

Baby swallows hatched

2011-07-15T01:02:00.000-07:00

The baby swallows hatched.Ever day the parents are busy in carrying foods.

Monday

2011-07-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

Anyway, hot, hot, hot---- and hot, even though it is still in early July. If it was in August I could bear this hotness because September will come in one month. BUT two months are too long. And if we had blackout --- I don't want to imagine the situation. So as much as I can, I try not to use an air condition. Until now we can afford to use electricity enough because car companies shifted their weekends.

On Mondays I usually prepare for all lessons of this week. In the class of kindergarten girls, we always do some crafts, and the craft of this week is ---- can you guess what these are?

After the preparation, I went a dentist and gym to work out in the afternoon.

Tomorrow, I'll go to a children center to teach English in the evening. It is a monthly job. To tell the truth, the students of this year are a little bit difficult to deal with. I should instill discipline into some kids. It's a little bit burdensome chore, though I believe I can mange to do it.

Anyway I did all things I had to do today.

Though it's Sunday ---

2011-07-10T03:41:00.001-07:00

It was also hot today, wasn't it --- if you live in the eastern Japan, you agree with me.
Now it' almost 8 o'clock PM. But Yuki doesn't come home yet, he is still working. At first we thought Yuki would be able to come back without overwork and have dinner together. --- But he has to work as usual Thursday and Friday. In this case we say "GOKUROUSAMA" in Japanese. Unfortunately we don't translate this feeling in English. Sometimes we are asked from his foreign coworkers "how do we say this phrase in English?", but we don't have exact answer yet. And the foreign coworkers is getting used to use "GOKUROUSAMA" directly.

I got up at usual time, and prepared breakfast. I cleaned the room, wash clothes, watered the garden. I finished all weekend's chores earlier than usual weekends. So I had plenty of leisure time. This hotness prevented me from going out. (Usually we go shopping getting for vegetables and grocery for a week.) I would try to prepare something more for next week--- but I decided to purse my work. I try to use this leisure time for myself regally.

So I "face up" to English. I always complain my English ability and I know I have to study more --- but like my students studying hard is not easy.
First I listened some audible books, next I practiced English words using a web training site.
And--- I took a nap for a while.
And--- I had a snack, because it was 3o'clock (snack time, isn't it?)
I opened an English grammar book and solved some questions.
I took dictations of some skits and did oral practice.

It was a more tough "job" than teaching English.

And I cooked fried rice, and now, I'm browsing some websites while writing this diary.
I don't know what time Yuki come back. A night without lessons is long.

Rhubarb

2011-07-08T21:00:00.001-07:00

When some people looked today's title of this blog, they might grinned. Yes I love rhubarb. This year getting hot was too early. So the stalks of my rhubarb are thin, though they are growing.

I love the sour taste of rhubarb, but unfortunately this year my rhubarb seems too sour.

Though it's not the reason why I bought rhubarb jam, anyway I bought rhubarb jam. These days here and there we saw rhubarb jam, but usually they are mixed with something like rhubarb & blueberry, or rhubarb & strawberry. So this green type is unusual.

Wedensday's topic

2011-07-06T03:16:00.000-07:00

Today's theme was "sightseeing in Japan".
Recently Hiraizumi and Ogasawara were designated officially as precious assets of world heritage. Now there 14 world heritage sites including 4 world heritage natural sites in Japan.And fortunately there is Nikko in this area, it is one of world heritage sites.

Have you been some world heritage sites in the world?

My mother in law is proud of visiting all world heritage sites in Japan. And thanks of her my family could visit Okinawa with her. In Okinawa there is "Gusuku sites and Related properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu" which was declared a world heritage in 2000.
I have wanted to visit "Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama", but it has not done yet. The site is really quaint.
I like imaging our trip, but to tell the truth I prefer to relax at home than visit important sights when I take a vacation.
When you take a vacation, do you prefer to visit important sights or to relax?

Well, today's refreshment was jelly with melon.

It was really hot today. So I prefer not to use oven. So I made this jelly.

the word of housewife

2011-07-04T03:34:00.001-07:00

When I meet someone for the first time, I introduce myself "I'm a housewife."
In Japan it is the easiest way for me to introduce myself, because I'm not a full time office worker.

And it means that my husband earns enough money to live and it means of course, that I'm not independent.
But probably most of Japanese don't think about education background of housewives.

Why I wrote such a thing is that----
The other day a lady who came from Costa Rica came to have dinner together. She was a nice lady. She comes here to study getting scholarship, and wants to improve her career. (She is a high school teacher in Costa Rica.)

We talked about the women's situation and she said.
"housewives are uneducated women".
I'm really surprised.

In Japan, most of women were independent after graduation, but when they have kids, they prefer caring kids or have give up to continue working. So they become housewives. I preferred caring kids, so I dare to introduce "I'm a housewife" proudly.
On the other hand housewives tend to live in a small word, so they might not be socialized.

Anyway did she think I was uneducated?
Next time we met, I'll ask her.

What do you think when you hear the word of "housewife"?

July came

2011-07-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

It's already July.
The big change is that --- Yuki's weekend has changed. His weekend is now, Thursday and Friday instead of Saturday and Sunday. As some people know, in Japan we are afraid of black out in summer because of lack of power supply. Some companies changed weekend to even up electric usage. And some companies started summer time system to decrease electric usage in the daytime.

I hope we won't have such a blackout in March again.

July 7 is Star Festival. Can you see some strips of paper. It is said that it might become a true if we write down our wish on strips of paper and hang them on the SASA tree on the day.

So I let my students to hang their "word test" on a plastic SASA-tree, adding this phrase " I wish I could 100 score constantly", or " I wish I could take better score next time."
And students in kindergarten or lower grade student wrote down their wish simply, like that "I want to be a zoo worker."

What is your wish?
To tell the truth , these days I'm not in good shape, so "I wish I would have power more".

It's too hot!

2011-06-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Though according to the weather report, the rainy season in this year doesn't end yet, it suddenly gets hot. For three days the maximum temperature is over 30 C. So I need to water the garden longer than usual or I can say, as long as in summer. This morning I found this caterpillar in the KINKAN-tree.(kumquat)

Well, thinking of my skill of camera, this photo is not bad, is it?

This Saturday a lady will come to my house to have dinner. She is studying at Utsunomiy-university as an exchange student. She came from Costa Rica. She seemed to work as a teacher in her country. Why will come? Because Next month Utsunomiya UNESCO club is going to hold an event, and she will do presentation about her country. And I'm one of main member of Utsunomiya UNESCO club. So we need to talk about her presentation.

The interesting thing is that, this time this event is organized mainly by Asian students. They are from China, South Korea, Mongolia,Kyrgyzstan. And the lady who are from Costa Rica joins them.

You might ask me why Japanese students organize it? Of course some Japanese students help it. But Asian students eager to introduce their country including Costa Rica. For the event the students and I have meetings sometimes, and they are always fun for me.

Wendnesday's topic

2011-06-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, it was very very hot even though it's in June and in rain season. It was the first time to turn on the air conditioner in the class room. And I put electrical fans in each room.
Today's theme was "classmates". We talked about our old friend who went to go to high school together.

Do you still keep in touch with your friends from high school? If so, how often do you hear from then? How often do you see them?
Have you ever been to a high school reunion? If so, what was it like? If not, would you like to go to one? why or why not?

I still keep in touch with some female friends, mainly by exchanging e-mails. And I exchange new year cards with many friends including some male friends. My class in the third grade of high school hold a reunion once a year, and our homeroom teacher who is 80 years old join us. Unfortunately I seldom attend it because it is usually held in Tokyo at Sunday night.

Though I sometimes go to TOKYO, I have no chance to talk with them. Most of my classmates live in "TOKYO", but TOKYO is too wide to meet each other instantly. So I have little chance to manage to meet my friends.

On the other hand my mother HIROKO-san who is 78 years old, she holds a small reunion once a year with her classmates of university. --- probably 6 alumnae. Each time they seem go to their favorite sushi restaurant.

Yuki hasn't attend such reunions. Because his high school reunion holds for all students in the same grade (Probably there were more than 200 students), it means it's too big. So he only exchanged new year cards with some classmates.
On the other hand, the other day he joined a kind of reunion. The members were people who joined the company in the same year. More than 25 years passed since they started to be their life as businessmen. They seemed talked each other about their younger days.

Monday has started

2011-06-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today it is sunny, it seems to be hot. Though being a warm day is good, the difference of the temper char makes me dull. (When I went to Tokyo, it was so cool for me that I put hot body warmer (KAIRO) on the back secretly.)
Anyway today started with watering the garden.

A funny report from the newspaper was that
How to wake up your kids, especially high school boys? The most effective way is to go to the bed and hug him instead of giving a shout. Is it only effective to Japanese kids???

A trouble new house chore is that
it seems to be the time to change the carpet into summer carpet in the living room and the lesson room. It's tough job.

Well, what will happen to me in this week?

WATARI-UM art museum

2011-06-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

This Saturday I went to TOKYO to see an exhibition at
WATARI-UM art museum in TOKYO.The them of the exhibition was "the wonder of learning". Kids pictures and their videos at a kindergarten in Italy were introduced as wonderful art works.
My daughters Tomo,Megu joined me. Each of us enjoyed them. My elder daughter Tomo and I enjoyed the style of exhibition, and interested in the kid's expression. And "probably" my younger daughter Megu seemed to have empathy with them. From our (Tomo and I) view point, Megu still have such pure, childish, simple and soft feelings. It is one of her good point, and it sometimes makes her unstably.
On the other hand T envies M's character, while she is usually stable , though she isn't a stable office worker.
Megu seeks stability for her life, and Tomo is going on the adventurous way --- It seems to be strange.
And I went to see my mother Hiroko-san. Her back hurts a little but she's OK.

I had a good time but I was so tired that I went back by SHINKAN-SEN.(It's expensive.) You might think it' just 100 km from here to TOKYO, but to tell the truth, it's to far to go often.

Today, I did usual holiday-house chores, it means, weeding, vacuuming all rooms. Now lot of herbs are becoming taller, so I trimmed them. And I put them here and there for example, in the entrance, in the kitchen, and in the toilet. For a while we can enjoy fresh green here and there. (If I often trim and change them.)

Oops. I forgot to write an important thing. Today it "was" a father's day. Yuki "suddenly" (it's my opinion, his opinion is "finlay")decided to buy a new guitar. And as a present to him, his daughters (of course Tomo and Megu) supported with paying. It means they gave him some money --- though it is less than 10 percent of the cost. Anyway he can buy the guitar with the agreement of his family.

Korean pancake

2011-06-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Now, I know it is called hotteok. I've never eaten real hotteok. The other day my friend told to me "I made it". I was so interested in it that I bought a box of the powder. Everything is written in Korean and some pictures.

What I understood is the temperature,the volume of water, and procedure.

Not bad. I might be into it for a while. Though you don't may know it, it tastes like "baked" sweet rice cakes.
I know the reason, the mix power includes rice power.
The difference is that, we have rice cakes with soy sauce (and sugar), these cakes have cinnamon sugar inside.

Wednesday's topic

2011-06-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

Are you often late to meet people? Do you mind when people are late to meet you? Do you have any friends who are often late?

About these three questions, I thought about myself. Probably I'm punctual. And I don't like people who are "often" late. And around me the person who are often late is--- my younger daughter. So I had seldom my cell phone to meet my younger daughter. --- because she depended on the cell phone, and used to call me to say excuse why she wouldn't come on time. When she knew that I didn't have my cell phone, she tried to be punctual. And since she started to see job after her graduation, she is punctual.

Well, in March I wrote about two kinds of people, and I said people who are living in rural areas tend "not" to be punctual (or lazy). It might be from not only the circumstance, but also from the way of main transportation, it means "car". We can't estimate the time exactly when we transport by car. Though now I'm used to getting along with the local people here, even now some people make me surprised because they are late for meeting without reason, it means they come to the place lately with proud.

And though I mentioned cell phones. Now many people carry cell phones. How has this affected making and keeping appointments?
The good points are like this
It is easy to avoid not to miss each other on the way, or get lost, or stand someone up.
On the other hand , as I mentioned my younger daughter, some people are dependent on cell phones. They think that they can change the place and time anytime when they call by cell phones. And they forget the people who don't have cell phones, or the case if they don't contact each other by cell phones.

Though it is a usual thing, everything has both sides, doesn't it?

KARAKU

2011-06-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to KARAKU to play the piano. It is a monthly event or monthly leisure activity for me. Unfortunately yesterday we had no guests. So I played in front of the Master's couple, and helper. I had a good time with three members.
After playing the piano I had a nice coffee and chocolate cake and talked with them.
I was basically babbling, but this time was still special to me because usually I spend most of time at home (though students often come.)

Today three adults comes, so for them (and YUKI) I bought this dry-fruit cake at KARAKU. It is today's refreshment.

Well, from now it is just my complaint.
After playing at KARAKuU, I went to a children center to teach English. (This is my monthly job.)
This time, I "couldn't" do class management well. One "gang" boy disturbed the class. For me it was an 'unusual' thing. According to the staff of the children center, these days the boy often causes troubles. But he was really quiet in front of his mother. I want them to enjoy free atmosphere while listening to my story and teaching without desks, pencils, erasers and textbook. I seem to need to change my policy.

I love soap

2011-06-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Do you use soap, washing cream, or body shampoo? I think it depends on the situation. I usually use soap when I wash my body and face. So one of my collecting is soap.My friend sent me this soap.

How do you use soap? I usually use this cotton net with soap.
It is easy to lather, and "I think" the form is more creamy.

a nest of a pair of swallows

2011-06-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what is it? It's a nest of swallows. The other day I found it on the ceiling of our parking lot. There are two swallows. Early morning I look at them, but when I try to take a photo, they fly away. Today I could do it. Can you see something black in it? It's a head.

I told YUKI about the nest. And he understood why these days the top of car is dirty with droppings.
We don't know how many eggs are there. Though droppings are not good, we enjoy watching them.

So Yuki wants to take a good photo --- it means he wants to buy a new camera with a single-lens reflex. Oops, he recommends me to take photos with a better camera. I think it depends on my skill.

Finally --- she did it

2011-06-09T17:57:00.001-07:00

Finally,my younger daughter M got an official job offer from a housing maker. Until now the rate of potential recruits among the future graduates in next spring is said to be about 50%. Anyway she could survive. Phew!!!.I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I know students don't go to university to seek for working "at a company", but as one of parent, if their children don't have any specialty or have usual common sense, it is happy for them to work at a 8stable) company. The most stable working place is probably to be civil servant. Unfortunately the exam is "now" very competitive. Some people who wants to be a civil servant go to a special school.And even if they pass the exam, some people must be waited for a few years as an part time employer.

Anyway she is going to start on her adult career. (I learned this phrase yesterday, thanks Jan)

Today it is the last weekday, I will have a calme weekend.

Wednesday's topic

2011-06-08T18:03:00.001-07:00

Today 's refreshment was "PECO-chan" roll cake. PECO-chan is a character of a famous cake shop "FUJIYA". Though young kids don't know the character, in our generation every one knows.
So my adult students seemed to be very surprised at it, and be happy.

Today's title of the text book is "high school memories".
1.Have you kept in touch with any of your high school teachers?
2.What are the three most important qualities in a teacher?

We hold a reunion once a year. Unfortunately I don't participate constantly because it is held in TOKYO. And my third year homeroom teacher always join in, though she is now over 80.
She was strict and at that time she seemed to be a little bit temperamental. But when I think about it now, she was not temperamental, "we" students were temperamental because of the period of adolescence. Now she is a playful elderly woman though she likes to preach us even now.

To be a "good" teacher, probably they need to be impatient, to be fair, and to be goal-oriented. Our life is indecisive, so, we don't set a goal. But we need to a small or big goal to proceed to somewhere. So showing such a goal to students are necessary as a teacher.

car pool

2011-06-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read an article about car pool. "Car pool benefits everyone, as each person saves in gasoline, parking costs, and vehicle maintenance, and also the burden and stress of driving is not placed on a single person." Partly it is true.
In Japan car pool is not familiar. But after the disaster for two weeks, Yuki had carpooled with his colleague who lives nearby. Because suddenly we fell into shortage in gasoline and Yuki's workplace was so damaged that they fell into shortage in parking lots.
So carpool benefited saved in gasoline, parking lots.

And ---

The article reminded us of the days of car pool (Now he goes to work on his own by his car.)
Because of car pool, it got difficult to drop by convenience store (to buy his stuff) or supermarket(to help me with house chores). So it saved our money (a little).
Because of car pool, Yuki came home at regular time. (Now the time he comes back is not regular, it depends on his working schedule on the day.) So I scheduled making dinner, and served them which were still hot. Concerning car pool, some parts are good and some parts are not good. Of course everything has both sides.
I know it's not a good expression, after the disaster we had slow days.　(I know even now many people in TOHOKU have to be evacuated, and some of them have not enough balanced foods yet.)

Well, yesterday we went a new coffee-beans shop, and bought homemade roasting coffee beans. At Karaku (where I play the piano once a month) the master roasted coffee beans by himself. We like his taste.And this shop's taste was not bad. When we drink enough coffee with good smell in the morning, we feel comfortable and thanks to start the day without trouble. Monday and this week has started. Have a nice day.

strawberry jam

2011-06-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

Once a year Imake lots of strawberry jam. And today I did it.
Yesterday Ms.E　came to my house with a big box of strawberry. Some people of the readers of this blog might remember her. She is a farmer and her group succeeded to produce their home-made YUZU-KOSYOU.

I "washed" them (Jan, I did it carefully) took off the hulls, cut them into half, and put them into a pot. Add some sugar and SAKE. And at last I put some lemon juice.
So today's my lunch was pancake with strawberry sauce and fresh strawberries.

While simmering the strawberries, I weeded the garden.

These greens are not weed, they are called MITSUBA, edible leaves.

Well, it is almost the time to prepare dinner. Yuki came back from golf with lots of fresh vegetables (He dropped by a local farmer's shop on his way home.)
The menu is grilled SHITAKE-mushroom and smoked mackerel. ( I have a small smoker which can be used inside.)

Our Sunday is almost finished. It was a good day.

Wednesday's topic

2011-06-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

The refreshment was chocolate cake.

On Wednesday we talked about foreign foods.
1.If you went to study for a year in a foreign country, what food would you miss the most from your country?
2. What was your favorite menu item at your high school or college cafeteria?
3. Imagine you are in charge of the cafeteria menu, for a large university. You want to offer some international dishes. Think of three dishes you might serve.

1. I would miss grilled fish, not Sashimi, tempura. I think BBQ fish and grilled fish are different from Japanese styled grilled fish. You might ask me what difference there is. --- It's difficult to explain it. sorry.
2. I would take my lunch to school. But Yuki, he would love "ketchup spaghetti". (We went to the same university). Of course the real name was not "ketchup spaghetti". It was served as meat sauce spaghetti. But it had no meat, no vegetables. So we called it "ketchup spaghetti".
3.I want to offer Tom yum goongo,calzones, and grilled chicken with BBQ sauce and dry rub.