Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

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Dear 2012,

I know it's been just about a month and a half, but it's Valentine's Day and I want you to know, I like you. My feelings will probably change drastically in the next month, but I thought I would put it in writing while it's still good. It's been great thus far, so please don't disappoint me too much. I'm willing to settle for pretty good.

Yours truly,
Allison
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Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I hope your Valentine's is more romantic than mine. I am in a relationship with my job and it's not romantic. It's a not-love-but-kind-of-like-not-hate-but-really-dislike-at-times relationship. If it was publicized on Facebook, it would be complicated.
Valentine's Day in Japan is a lot less depressing than in America. PDA...not really acceptable here. I like that. Everyone else getting flowers and chocolate, but you...doesn't happen. I like that too. Listening to others wallow about their dateless night...not a word. I really like that. Also the girl is supposed to give chocolate to the boy she likes, I guess as a way of asking them out (not really sure on that..) or you can just give some to your friends (フレンドチョコ--"friend choco"). I was told about this beforehand by my male coworker, so I didn't expect my encounter with him to be as awkward as it was. I made Rice Krispie Treats for all my coworkers and handed them out in little baggies. Handing one to him, wishing him a Happy Valentine's Day and walking away would have been sufficient, but of course I had to say, "Here you are. I don't love you." Then I walked away. Winning. 
I don't know why I don't have a boyfriend...I clearly know how to make someone feel special. I don't need one because I have amazing friends who make me cool videos like this to make me feel special! (click the big "this"). 


I also have friends here that made my birthday away from home special. My coworkers threw me a mini party after work with sushi and a cake and presents. That weekend I went to Numazu to spend some time with Mary and Valerie. They took me to a neighborhood bar they recently found and we stayed out until 6:30 am talking with the bar tender and his friend, Mr. Bean. The bar is called The Silver Lump. So many jokes to be made...We also made unintentionally phallic-looking pizzas, watched movies, and had ice cream cake!! Mary and Valerie also surprised me with an already booked hotel room for our trip to Kobe (神戸) in March ☺(Thank you girls so much!!!) I couldn't have asked for a better birthday celebration!!

Thanks!!!

Cake #1

Shawna made this cute little bunny!

lovely gifts from my coworkers: a tumbler with  pictures, a steamer and recipe book and a Japanese phrase book.

@ The Silver Lump, Numazu

Cake #2

Thanks guys! You're the best!!

This is just hilarious. It's a lunchbox.

One day soon I will get up to date on these posts. There are just a few more events to share. Until next time!! またね！
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New Vocabulary:
~バレンタイン　デー  bah-ren-tine deh  Valentine's Day
~彼氏  kah-reh-she   boyfriend

Burns' in Japan...Part Ni (that means 2)

Now, where was I? Ah, yes. We made our way down to Kyoto (京都) and took a cooking class my mother found online.  The guy spoke fluent English and he had the cutest little daughter, Haruka (Maybe..Haru something). I tried talking to her in Japanese, but I realized that even my Japanese was too advanced for a 2 year old. Winning. We made kinpira (きんぴら) which is just chopped cooked veggies, usually made with carrots and gobo (ごぼう) (burdock root that tastes and looks like a tree branch), but we used carrots and lotus root. We also made sunomono salad (酢の物)--a vinegared cucumber salad and tamagoyaki (卵焼き)--a Japanese omelet in which the egg is rolled into a square shape. Not as easy as it sounds. Lastly, we got to make teriyaki (照り焼き) and ponzu (ポン酢) chicken. Everything was so yummy and so easy to make!! If my mom would send me the recipes, I would be happy to make them again. She also has all the photos from this event (hint Carol...)

The next day, I had planned a whole Kyoto sightseeing route for us, but we made it to two stops before we called it quits. The owner of a restaurant I frequent in Shizuoka told us that the building on the back of a 10 yen coin was in Kyoto in a place called Uji (宇治). It's called Byodoin Temple (平等院). This area is also very famous for tea and we happened to stumble upon a tea museum and tons of tea shops with free samples. We made our way back to the main Kyoto area and hopped on a bus to Ginkakuji Temple (銀閣寺)--the Silver Temple, only to find out it closed right as we got there. That also meant that all the other temples would be closed as well. Not wanting to waste our bus passes, we rode the bus until we found something interesting, which happened to be a GIANT shrine gate. We walked down the street that was lined with street vendors, had at some snacks and visited the Heian-Jingu Shrine (平安神宮) before finding the sushi restaurant recommended by our cooking instructor.

On the way to cooking class!

Byodoin Temple in Uji

It's on the 10 yen coin! 

Heian Shrine Torii--the GIANT gate

Heian shrine. Very orange.

The next day we headed to Osaka to meet with my old host family. We hadn't seen the two girls since 2003 when they visited us in America. I hadn't seen the parents since I was 13. It was like nostalgia overload walking into their house. Unfortunately the nostalgic feelings stopped there. I was reminded of all the different places I had been to, but I couldn't remember anything. That afternoon, Emi (the older sister who recently got married) took us to Kishiwada Castle (岸和田城) and then to lunch, followed by bowling, and Kaizuka City Hall. For those of you who don't know, Culver City's (my hometown) sister city is Kaizuka in Osaka. At the City Hall there is a statue representing the sisterhood of these two cities. My mom took like 500 pictures of the statue in hopes that maybe one will wind up in the local newspaper. That night we had dinner with the whole family and the next day we all went to Nara (奈良). That place is infested with deer. After wandering through the deer maze, we saw the Giant Buddha. Dude, that thing is BIG. Inside the temple where Buddha is, there is a tree with a cutout at the bottom big enough for a person to crawl through. The cutout is the size of Buddha's nostril. And should you choose to crawl through, you are a booger. We returned to the house and prepared ingredients for our make-your-own-sushi dinner. BIG NEWS. We ate blowfish. AND..we survived. We deserve t-shirts. 

Kishiwada Castle 

The infamous Culver City/Kaizuka statue

Dinner time with the fams...

...Emi...Saki...Alli...

Mom feeding a deer

That's where they keep Buddha

BIG Buddha

fanning rice for sushi making

Please come back to America!!

It was so good to see them again. It really felt like no time had gone by. And my parents got to meet their parents! It wouldn't have been possible without...Facebook. Thanks, Facebook. ♥

I had such a great time with my parents and I am happy that they finally got to see first hand that putting me through 14 years of Japanese class was not a waste (I'm starting to think you didn't really need that router thing you had me inquire about, Dad...). It was a great trip, but it would have been so much better if Aaron was able to join us. We missed you Bro!! Also, congratulations to my parents for finally leaving the Americas. Yay! With only minor injuries. I'd love to invite them to come again, but I have a little over 5 months left and minimal time off and that week is booked. I will be home in no time. It's official. I faxed my response last week. ☺

I have lots of posts to catch up on, so stay tuned!! Until next time! またね！

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New Vocabulary:

~鳥居    toe-ree    Shrine gate

~料理する  ryo-ree-sue-roo   cooking

~観光  kahn-ko   sightseeing

~ふぐ  foo-goo   blowfish

~鹿   she-kah  deer

~大仏  die-boo-tsu   Big Buddha

~またアメリカに来てください mah-tah America-knee-key-teh-koo-dah-sigh    Please come back to America. 

It's Cold. Like a Bitch.

So, if you can't guess from the title of this blog just how cold it is, let me tell you: it's been in the negatives. 

It's of course gotten colder since I took this picture.

Yes, that's Celsius, but still. Anything below freezing in just inappropriate and unacceptable. Scratch that, anything below 68°F is inappropriate and unacceptable. Why am I babbling on about the weather? Weather is one of those topics you bring up in a conversation when you have absolutely nothing else to talk about. Or, when you think the other person can't understand anything you say until you make gestures about how hot or cold it is today and awkwardly comment on how warm their jacket looks.

Anyway, I have LOTS to talk about, so enough with the weather. My parents came to visit me in Japan!! I was so happy they were able to come and spend my entire winter vacation with me! Since it was over a month ago that they visited and my fond memories have been replaced by a giant jumble of Japanglish, I will just share the highlights of the trip:

My parents flew into Tokyo the Friday before my break started and spent two nights there before I met them in Yokohama (横浜) on Sunday. I get an email from my dad while I'm at work on Saturday with the subject, "your mother fell". Apparently, she was so in awe of the sights around her, she failed to see a sign and tripped. Luckily, she was ok. Just a bruised knee. So, I met them in Yokohama on Sunday with Mary and we had lunch in the Chinatown area there and walked around after what seemed like hours to find out hotel. Monday, we went to the Ramen Museum in Shin-Yokohama where there were street performers and different ramen shops from all around Japan that you can try. I don't like soup, but that was good. We made our way back to Shizuoka so I could go to work for one more day before my highly anticipated 10 day winter vacation. The next couple days we made short day trips to nearby cities like Hamamatsu (浜松) and Atami (熱海). I didn't get the memo, but Japan pretty much shuts down between 12/28-1/4. We ate Hamamatsu's famous eel, but that's about all there was to do there. Except for the German brewery, of course. I'm not the best tour guide, but I managed to get us to Atami and up to the castle and back to Shizuoka in time to go to my favorite sushi place! 

Shark Fin Soup anyone?

Chinatown in Yokohama

Chinese food in Japan!

Sushi at a rotating sushi bar in Yokohama Station

Eating onigiri (rice balls) 

Ramen Museum

Eel lunch

German brewery. 

Mt. Fuji on the way to Atami

Atami Onsen manju (Atami's famous snack..hot-spring steamed buns filled with  bean paste)

Atami Castle

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I just realized, I haven't said that yet. On with the adventure...

We were also invited by a family I befriended from work to celebrate New Years and learn about Japanese New Year traditions. We got to help pound rice to make mochi and kagami-mochi (鏡餅)--a new year's decoration consisting of two round discs of mochi, stacked, with an orange on top, meant to bring luck. My dad made quite an impression on the little girl, Yuna. She cried when he left. 

Spending New Year's Eve in Japan was so far from my normal drunken American celebration. I didn't even drink! The family took us to a shrine to countdown to the new year of the Dragon, because that's just what you do. I will do my best to translate the explanation I received about what we witnessed. So, apparently in Buddhism, there is a lion dance where the lion eats the 108 bad spirits. Then these girls come and do a dance and at one point people started throwing mochi into the crowd. Then the firemen did a dance (very disappointed. they were not attractive). We also got to throw a 5-yen coin and bow and clap and ring a bell. I  hope my wish comes true. I asked the Japanese g-d's for a boyfriend. I just hope they don't give me a  Japanese boyfriend. After all the festivities, we went to Denny's! It's not the same. There aren't any pancakes! 

On New Year's Day, we went on an adventure to Kuno-san Tosho-gu Shrine (久能山東照宮). We took two buses and a ropeway to get there to find out it's like another 800 yen to walk to the shrine. I saw a glimpse of it, so I'm going to count that as, I went there. That evening, we returned to the other family's house and they had a tea ceremony where we drank special tea that tasted like asparagus called Gyokuro (玉露) and ate special new years snacks like Kazunoko (数の子)--it looks like dried mango, but really it's thousands of tiny herring eggs and Hanabira-mochi (花びら餅)--mochi filled with white miso paste and a piece of burdock root. It was quite the experience. 

Mommy making mochi!

This is how it's done...that's rice. 

Then you pound the shit out of it. 

Dad's new friend...

Kagami-mochi!

Lion Dance

On a mountain overlooking the Suruga Bay.

 

Kunosan Toshogu Shrine..kind of.

The Journey of Japan Continues...in the next post...Until next time!! またね!

By the way...have you ever seen an Asian Santa Claus? 

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New Vocabulary:

~お正月   oh-sho-gah-tsu   New Years

~温泉まんじゅう  own-sen-mah-n-jew   Hot Springs bun filled with bean paste

~うなぎ  oo-nah-gi    eel

~ラーメン  rah-men  ramen

~おにぎり  oh-knee-gi-ri   rice ball

~鏡餅   kah-gah-me-mo-chi   new year's decoration with two tiers of mochi and a tangerine on top

~竜  ryu   Dragon

~五円玉  go-en-dah-mah  5 yen coin

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! kind of..almost...

I know I haven't updated in awhile, but things have been a little busy. With my parents coming to visit over winter break and now me just being lazy, there just isn't enough time. I wanted this post to be GIANT and have all the fun activities I have done in the last month, but I decided to share something more important:

MY BIRTHDAY! 

I feel like since I am in Japan and the majority of my friends and family live in America, I get two birthdays. Here in Japan, my birthday is in less than an hour. If I celebrate on America time, I'll get another one 17 hours later. Clever. I think I'll take two.

What's that? You want to know my big plans for turning 26 in a country different from the one I was born in??? Well, I plan to work. Because that's what the Japanese do. They work. I have 7 classes to teach tomorrow, but don't think I haven't been reminding my students for months now when my birthday is. I included it in lessons. I also tested them on it. They can't forget. I'm prepared to be disappointed tomorrow.

I've thought about mentioning this...

Anyway, I'm not as excited as I usually am for my birthday. True, this entire post is about my birthday, but don't be fooled. I am usually WAY more excited. I just plan on having a relaxing weekend in Numazu and the following weekend I am meeting a friend from my training group in Kyoto.

In other recent news, I had my six month evaluation with my manager. I can't believe I've been here for 6 months. It seems like way longer. This also means I still have 6 months left. In my evaluation meeting, my manager and I discussed my improvements from my 3 month evaluation, but she also marked me down on a couple things. She marked me down because she didn't like a sweater I wore one time. I didn't realize her personal fashion sense was taken into account. If we're going to talk outfit preferences, I don't like suits. Just be glad I come to work dressed. That was hard to do in the summer, so, you're welcome. Then she asked me the question I had been anticipating since I started: What do you think about extending your contract??

I just cried.

I don't know why! I have answered this question 100 times in my head. I rehearsed it so I didn't blatantly laugh in her face and walk away. Maybe it was all the nice comments she had given me before asking me to stay. Or maybe I care about this job more than I think I do. No, that can't be it.

I finally was able to gather myself together enough to explain (or lie) to her why I can't stay. She said she understood, but she asked me to reconsider for maybe extending 3 more months. I felt bad for saying no, but I came here for the experience. One year then continue my life in America. Had things been amazing here and I thought I could do this forever, then I would stay at that school. She is great, my coworkers are great and I love (most of) my students. It's been an incredible experience, but I was done with it 3 months ago. We started discussing the job itself and I explained to her that this job is hard. I've never worked harder in my life and I'm sure none of the other NETs have either. It's hard on your body, on your mind, your emotional stability. I can't understand how others have survived for more than a year.

It's not official just yet. I haven't filed any papers saying I have refused the offer, but the word is out now. I just hope it doesn't ruin the relationship I had with my manager. She asked me, "What if the new person isn't like you?" That is so nice. I just told her, "I'll punch them."

I feel relieved and happy, but sad. She cried. That was hard to watch. Japanese people don't cry. Emotions...what are those?? Anyway...

Happy Birthday to ME! You have 6 months left in Japan. Make them count  :-)
Until next time! またね！
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New Vocabulary:
~誕生日  tah-n-joe-be   birthday
~六ヶ月  ro-ka-geh-tsu   6 months
~泣く   nah-ku    to cry