Rainy Season--and so on

Rainy season has started in Japan, and despite the rumors it's been fairly tame. Also called tsuyu, or plum rain (because rainy season usually happens around the same time the plums ripen), rainy season in Japan generally lasts for about a month and a half. In the past, it's rained so hard during this time of year that - umbrella or not - you would be soaked if you went anywhere and the rain would go on for days straight. Though we've had a couple days in Yokkaichi in which our bike rides home from work were a little on the scary-I-can't-see-where-I'm-going-and-I-just-got-splashed-by-the-biggest-roadside wave-of-my-life side, for the most part we've had sunny, humid, hot and sticky summer days. Apparently, the worst of the humidity is yet to come.

In any event, the rice fields near our apartment are looking quite lovely these days:

We've been keeping extremely busy, which is kind of crazy considering how much busier we're going to be from August to the end of September. We're probably the busiest with work, which has had some additional -though minor- stressful points lately (the past couple of weeks, students in our adult classes have been asked to fill out surveys, and in our kids classes we've had openhouses in which parents join the class for one day). We've both gotten pretty great feedback, so that's encouraging at least. We work five days a week, and on our days off we seem to be in a neverending cycle of catch-up-and-clean-up. Luckily we've still had time for some fun amidst all the other activity.

One day, after an interview with a sub-company of ECC, we decided to hang out in the Nagoya area for the day. First, we went to an English pub and had REAL, DELICIOUS beer!

Above, we're happily enjoying a bass pale ale.

After our beer, it was off to dinner at a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki translates to mean "as-you-like-it-pancake" or "whatever you like, grilled," and it was first eaten in Japan during World War II when families had to ration their food and eat what was available. These days, the two most popular styles are Hiroshima okonomiyaki and Osaka okonomiyaki. The main difference is that the former has soba or udon noodles, whereas the latter does not. After cooking okonomiyaki for Chad at our apartment, he was pretty excited to try it at a restaurant--he was not disappointed.

The batter is spread like a pancake, and is ready for toppings.

Chad ordered bacon okonomiyaki, and I ordered taco, or octopus (my favorite!). There is a science to this art that I can only hope to master. So delicious!



Our friendly and talented cook.



Almost ready...better have a beer while we wait...

Mmm! Owarimasu (finished!).

We were happy campers after such a delicious and filling meal. We decided to walk off our bellies a bit in Nagoya before heading home.

Left: Near Kanayama Station

Above: Chad in front of Nagoya International Center after returning library books

At the end of the day we were home-sweet-home in Yokkaichi. Below is the lovely sewer cover design for our city:

There aren't really koalas or pandas here, but what the heck! At least the boat and factory parts are accurate.

On another day, we decided to have a picnic in a nearby park. We stopped at a Brazilian shop for some sausage and freshly made bread, and sat by a little pond. The park is so HUGE and amazing. It is seriously a little kid's dream park.

Check out Chad's sweet new ride!

The hydrangeas are just gorgeous right now. Reminds us of our wedding!

On the way home, we stopped for a dango treat at Chad's favorite shop.

We've been trying to stay pretty active these days, despite the humidity obstacle. I've joined a gym (strangely enough, it's called FEELZ...) in which I do hot yoga, hot boxing and boxersize (kind of like a mix between boxing and aerobics), and I've also been trying to keep up with running. Chad's been running and biking a ton (on top of what we already bike to work and so on).

Running outside in Yokkaichi has brought some surprising adventures. Recently, I had been hearing something about large hornets in Japan. Chad and I were running up a hill near a shrine in the woods, when suddenly I saw just the hornets I had been hearing about.

Fricking. Huge.

The following warning signs are not uncommon in Japan:




I'm not joking about how freaky these things are. And hornets aren't the only bugs in Japan that make you feel like you're suddenly in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." Centipedes and spiders are also huge. Hornets spray you in the face and then sting you repeatedly until you die, and centipedes are poisonous. Also, cockroaches are apparently inevitable, no matter how clean you keep your apartment. I haven't seen one in ours yet, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Click hornets for a wiki link on the scary sight we encountered on our most recent run.

One of my students informed me that in Nagano prefecture they capture the hornets and boil them in soy sauce and salt before wrapping them up and selling them as a delicacy. 1000 yen or about $10 for your own little bunch-o-bees. Finding out about this strange food has led me to ask about other strange foods as a warm-up lesson, and I've now heard about everything from grilled swallow, to turtle eggs, to snake, to horse meat, to vanilla ice cream with Matsusaka beef. That's not even the tip of the iceberg. Of course, one must keep in mind that these are strange foods to most Japanese, too. (But still.)

We learn a lot of interesting things from our students, and I feel like that is one of the coolest parts of our job. They learn English, and we learn about Japan and about our students' lives. Some interesting stories soon, but for now it's off to bed.

Love you and miss you!

Required post

I am horrible at writing these things, but was demanded by someone (Caitlyn) to update this bad boy. So I'm gonna' do it on trains and other crap! I take the hanbannoriban (Express Train) almost everyday to Tsu. It's about a half an hour train ride, and I normally study lesson plans on the way there. I can typically get a seat, and they air-condition most of the compartment so it's not that bad. The journey does have a tendency of making me tired though, and the majority of people take the time to catch up on a book, play their DS, or fall asleep (on me).

The express train


An interesting and somewhat morbid aspect of the train system is the combination of speeding trains and the high rate of suicide in Japan. In many stations, the limited express train (the fastest train aside from the bullet train) passes by without stopping at a startling speed. Occasionally a sad business man will decide to hop in front of the train, resulting in a "train accident" which holds up that line for an extended period of time. This is one of the poops fast trains:



Zoom!




Additionally, there are some pretty sweet snack stands in every station where you can purchase booze, candy, and newspapers. The booze can really come in handy after a day of smarmy kids. ;)

As mentioned above, the express train only stops at some stations. However, a magical local train stops at every station.

Here is a local train!


As you can tell, it's not that much different from an express train. The biggest difference is that the sign on the trains is either orange with "express" written on it, or blue and reads "local". Of course, that's not even mentioning the dreaded (green) semi-express!

Here are some people leaving.


Ticket machines!


Geographically speaking, Yokkaichi Kintetsu Station is located in the center of Yokkaichi city (where we live). The pictures featured here are all from the Kintetsu line, as that's the one we use the most. Another main station that houses the JR line is the demarcation where Yokkaichi goes from being a pretty sweet city (as well as reportedly having the largest ratio of restaraunts to people in Japan) to an industrial hell. I biked through this area and got a kicking head ache from the fumes.



Yokkaichi used to be one of the most polluted cities, but of course it has gotten better.

Finally some random pictures of dango, banana man and some crazy sports day for some college in Nagoya.