TraveLLs

A few weeks ago I went on a weekend adventure to Nagano.  On this adventure Kumiko was kind enough to book a soba noodle making class!  Soba is the Japanese word for buckwheat.  So it goes that soba noodles are noodles made of buckwheat flour. The class we took was easy to follow due to the fact that Kumiko was able to translate for us.  If she was not there we would not have a clue as to what to do or why we were doing what we were doing.   We were given a bowl of flower and a cup of water.  We then poured the water in an lightly mixed it up, first with a flat wooden spoon, then with our hands.   When we were finished lightly mixing we kneaded the dough into a ball.  We were told to knead the dough 200 times.  Kumiko and I took turns and we each kneaded 100 times.   When we finished kneading the dough we were told to roll it out into a circle.  The old woman who was an expert helped get our dough starte...

Last weekend we had an extra day off.  This was due to a holiday called "Aged People's Day" which is the equivalent to the U.S.'s "Grandparents Day."  We spent the week at school learning about our grandparents and making special "aged people's day" gifts.  After a very successful surprise birthday dinner for Dominique on Friday night,   Kumiko, Ellen, Dominique and I all ventured out early Saturday morning to the prefecture of Nagano for the three day weekend. Nagano is the prefecture in which the 1998 Winter Olympics were held.  Due to the fact the 2001 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, I was overly excited about seeing what this mountainous prefecture had to hold.   Our first stop was four separate wineries.  The wine proved to be sweeter and wetter than that that I am used to.   Next stop was a wasabi farm in Doho-de where we purchased wasabi ice cream, wasabi beer, and wasabi juice!  That night we staye...

I am officially a teacher of the 5 year class at Kids International School.  I just finished my first full week of school.  The week went very well considering it was the first week for me at the school as well as the first week for the children in a new classroom! Kids International School is a wonderful place.  It was founded 20 years ago by Mitani-san, Matoba-san, and Kimiko.  These three women were all passionate about learning English from a young age so they developed a strong curriculum and an encouraging environment for early childhood EFL education.  KIS is one of three parts of a company called Education Network.  Along with KIS is the KEC branch and the Kids Station branch.  KEC is an English conversation school that teaches private and group classes to Japanese people ranging from 0-75+ years old.  Kids Station is a branch that provides training and supplies to English teachers in the public primary schools in Japan.  At KIS t...

I am approaching my three week mark in Japan.  While it still amazes me that I am here, sometimes I forget I am in a foreign country.  In the first few weeks here are a few facts by which I have been pleasantly shocked: They drive on the left side of the road There is no wi-fi, anywhere.  The choices are 3G or an Ethernet cord.  Guess which one I have!! There is no sign of English.  While the people directly surrounding me speak wonderful, fluent English, the labels at the grocery store show no sign of anyone speaking anything other than Japanese. Everyone rides bikes [with built in locks.] Things are not as expensive as I had anticipated.  While taking the bus from town to town is not as cheap as traveling SE Asia (nothing is, I assume), I have learned I will not spend my time in Japan starving and dressed in rags in order to see the sites.  I look forward to my three day weekends and several school breaks to start exploring the country. The...