I don't even have anything particularly exciting to look forward to this weekend, aside from the absense of teaching elementary school. Today was the 10th consecutive work day I have spent at elementary school, and it was a doozie. While elementary school has its perks, like shorter hours and the ego boost from having an entire classroom crowd around asking for your autograph, they kids are walking germ dispensers and it is incredibly exhausting to keep coming up with new and exciting games utilizing English. I don't know how the full time teachers do it.
Aside from getting my ass kicked by elementary school, what have I been up to recently? The weekends since the Snow Festival have been full; celebrating Jamie's birthday, hunting for ume blossoms/any signs of spring, and experiencing some "firsts" in Japan--like my first Japanese haircut, my first Japanese movie theater experience on my first Japanese date, my first Japanese lesson and first "Japanese" cooking class.
Jamie's birthday was good fun, celebrated in the typical Jamie/Allison/Wendy fashion with lots of food and equal amounts of gossip. We lunched at the local Pietro's (Japan's Olive Garden, more or less) and Allison made an amazing chocolate moose cake in her microwave oven. I helped stick candles in it. We went over to deliver the delectable dessert and rang Jamie's doorbell hoping to surprise her, but alas, her music was up too loud and the great doorway unveiling was thwarted after about 5 minutes of ringing the doorbell and banging on the door went unanswered. The door was unlocked, so we just let ourselves in, but the great cake reveal wasn't nearly as dramatic as we were hoping it to be.
I had to leave the movie watching/cake eating celebration a bit early so I could get my beauty sleep for my hot date the next afternoon. The day dawned bright and sunny, which I took as a good sign, and proceeded to get dressed as if if was going to be a balmy 65 degrees out. Alas it was not; it snowed while I was on my way to catch the train, and again while I was on the train. I was mildly consoled however, when I arrived to find my date wearing a similar "date but not exactly weather appropriate" outfit. We even coordinated...black and tan on top, jeans and brown shoes. Another good if not slightly weird sign? But the very best sign in my opinion was that in the middle of dessert, he said he was still hungry and the only thing that would fill the void in his stomach was two large size scoops of ice cream. A very excellent sign indeed.
The date was good (and since, there has been a second, and potentially a third, if I actually manage to get myself out of bed at some point tomorrow). We ate lunch, ice cream and browsed the foreign music section at Tower Records before catching a showing of "American Gangster" at the movie theater. It was my first Japanese movie theater experience, and it was a tad different from the ones I am used to in the U.S. In Japan, you pick your seat when you buy your overpriced ticket (around $18), so even though there were probably only 20 other people in the theater with us, we were all concentrated in the same middle area. Hmmmmm. No Japanese person would ever think about sitting in an empty seat to which they had not been assigned. Second difference was that the floor of the theater was amazingly non-sticky. I guess Japanese people don't spill things either. Other than the Japanese subtitles at the bottom of the screen, the rest of the experience was pretty much the same. No moveable arm rests though.
:-/
The next weekend was haircuts and ume blossom hunting. My hair desperately needed a trim, since it hadn't seen scissors since before I left the good ole U.S. of A. in the end of July 2007. I paid a visit to Yasu, hair artist/antiques dealer who cut some much needed layers and made it amazingly curly using just his fingers and a blow dryer. You can check it out on his blog: http://blog.nakamura-biyoushitu.com/?day=20080223 or in the picture below. It's not really noticeable, but a few people, including a very observant 2nd grader I last saw in October or November, have noticed.
Allison and I eating some ume soft cream from the place with 25 flavors at Dazaifu (see earlier post.) The actual ume blossoms were not quite out in full force. It's been pretty cold (snow on dates, and then this week it actually rained and snowed at the same time, gross) so only about 2/3 of the blossoms had opened. There was a nice variety in the color though. Some blossoms were white, and others ranged from pale pink to dark magenta. Mostly, the ume has just made me even more excited for the sakura or cherry blossoms that come out in April and inspire entire hanami, or flower viewing parties.
Hot pink ume bonsai tree!
Maybe the first week in March is still a bit early to wish for full-fledged "spring," especially since Puxcatawney Phil did see his own shadow when he crawled out of his hole thousands of miles away from here. But there are a few signs that winter might actually come to an end within the foreseeable future such as the ume blossoms, daffodils and later sunsets.
My favorite place to observe these changes is the forest-y area just behind our apartment. Allison introduced me to various pathways through the trees just after we returned from winter vacation, and I have since taken several walks back there, enjoying the quietude, especially after elementary school.
And while ume soft cream is delicious, strawberries are by far the most delicious harbinger of the change in seasons. I swear the strawberries I have eaten in the last few weeks have been some of the most delicious strawberries I have ever eaten. Most of this is probably due to the fact that I am really sick of mikan, or the small oranges that are about the only fruit available from October onward until the strawberries hit the shelves in late February. I am not entirely sure why strawberries are a late winter/spring crop in Japan, but I don't really care. All I know is that they are delicious!
What better way to eat them than on a puff of cream on top of a golden-y delicious sugar cookie? Combining our love of eating sweets with a need to get out of our cold apartments on weekends, Allison and Jamie signed all of us up for a cooking class at the local mall. It was hardly cooking, and more just mixing all of the pre-portioned ingredients in a bowl and then listening to the sales pitch while we waited for the cookie part to bake. Whatever, it only cost $10 and was a very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Not so enjoyable that we signed up for one of the expensive course options that would require us to spend every weekend for next few months at the mall, but good times nonetheless. Here we are with our creations, which sadly collapsed on the bike ride home.
The cooking school required you to bring your own apron. I bought mine from the amazing West Coast. Now that I have one, its a great excuse to go back for another class. I mean, I really do need to get my $2 worth out of it, and then some.
Now it is time to feed my bad television addiction with an episode of The Hills, another reason Fridays don't come nearly often enough.
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