Here and There

We had a field trip today at school. I thought it was going to rain and was kind of hoping it would but the weather cleared up. It ended up being fun aside from the bus ride back where I was prodded and poked by extremely immature middle school students. I'll get to that sometime this weekend though.

Yesterday I mentioned that I did ikebana and here I am actually getting back to post the picture. The nurse/health teacher at the middle school printed out two photos and even laminated them for me. Japanese people always know how to be so nice. I wonder if they feel obligated most of the time though. I'm still not sure what other responsibilities the nurse/health teachers have other than caring for sick students. They have one at each of the schools I visit. But anyway here is the splendid piece of Japanese art I crafted. Pretty nice right? That was the lady who came to show us the mystical wonders of ikebana and complimented me ever so wonderfully. When you put an arrangement together it feels like you better understand the simple yet extravagant beauty inherent in nature. How did people get in the business of putting together, typically, such contrived flower arrangements and bouquets?



The other week I taught at a kindergarten down in Ino. They sometimes schedule these random events for me which I like quite a bit. They tell me to teach a subject and I show up to make the kids happy and have fun. I taught two classes about animals and the sounds they make. It would have been better if they hadn't lumped all the kids into two classes. The first class was 36 students with the second rounding out at 49 students. I think I better understand how a PE teacher feels. There were a lot of teachers in the room though and a handful of girls observing from the local college. I really just wanted to show a picture of some of the kids. I love when they smile.



Tonight I bought meat for the first time in what seems like 3 or 4 weeks. I caved. I don't regret my purchase however. You see my refrigerator is practically empty and I didn't want to spend money on vegetables if I go into town this weekend. I settled on making pork bowl with rice. One could call this gyudon but that is beef. I'm not sure what you call the pork version because I've only ever heard people say gyudon. Thing is that you can go to a restaurant and get a pork version. I made this back in August I think but haven't tried it again because I didn't have mirin which is a type of cooking sake/wine or something. It's such an easy dish to make. Dump soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and dashi into a pot. Cut some thin slices of onion and simmer. Then drop thin cuts of beef/pork into the sauce and cook for a few minutes. You extract the beef and onions and serve on top of rice. It's always tasty to spread some of the liquid over the rice so it has more flavor. This definitely hit the spot tonight. I'll consider making an exception on my meat fast each week for this.



Before I head off into the night, I'll leave you with this.



What a sweet shirt.