There is a short melody that plays on speakers all over the city of Moka every day at 12:00pm and 6:00 pm. That's all.

silly little things

Here's a brief account of some of the sillier things happening in my life:

• It is 8:25 am on Saturday morning, and I am WIDE awake. We had some friends over last night, and we hung out until about 3:30, but I don't have curtains on my window, so no matter how late I go to bed, I cannot sleep longer than the sunshine. It's problematic. However, I'm being productive in my early morning alertness - I have already made plans to go to karaoke tonight with some Japanese friends. It should be an adventure.
  
• I convinced one of my Japanese friends to only speak to me in Japanese from here on out, even though he speaks perfect English because he graduated from Cal State Fullerton. We're both hopeful that this will help me learn Japanese!
  
• My job is still a blast. I can't get enough of my kids. Their joy is infectious. I get to be happy and silly all day long.
  
• The closest store to my house is a Peruvian store, and all of the signs are in Spanish. I live in Japan. (But I speak Spanish, not Japanese, so I'm not complaining! :-))
• On "bento day" this past week, I forgot my "bento" at home and had to order one when I got to school AND they still serve everyone creamy whole milk, even on "bento day."
• I got the luxury of riding to school in a taxi twice this week  courtesy of the Moka Board of Education because it was raining, and it's safer than riding a bike.
• There is supposed to be a terrible typhoon mauling Moka right now. We've been hearing warnings about it for days from everyone we know. "Stay inside all day Saturday!" they tell us... but it's Saturday morning and blue skies and sunshine.

Now I will put on my sunglasses and try to go back to bed.

Success in the kitchen.

     I made miso soup today, and it was... Delicious! Meghan and Josiah can testify to it. I feel like a million bucks. I consider this a complete victory over all culinary insecurities! Tonight I'll set my rice cooker before bed so I can have traditional Japanese breakfast in the morning - miso soup and rice. Hopefully it will keep me full until lunch time, because cereal and milk have NOT been doing the trick. 

     Tomorrow is "bento day" (aka bring your own lunch to school day), and I told my English teacher I would cook myself something to eat for lunch, but today at the grocery store I bought a "bento" with sushi, rice and tofu for $3.00. I think it was a good purchase. It probably cost less than any meal I could prepare myself because groceries in Japan are super expensive. Because it's "bento day," I'll get to bring my own beverage as well, which will save me from the whole milk I am usually served with school lunch. Mm, so creamy...

Settling

     It is currently Sunday evening, and we have no school tomorrow because Monday is "Respect for the Elders Day," a Japanese national holiday. I went with 3 of the other AETs on an afternoon drive into the countryside to the north of us. We had some good mochi and visited two parks. It was quite nice, and Japan has some sweet playground equipment. (see photo)

     Now I'm home again, and I'm feeling like it's a good night to try my skills in the kitchen and actually prepare a Japanese dish. I want miso soup. I bought the miso paste. I've read several recipes. I know what ingredients I can use. I could pick them up in a quick bike trip to the store... But I'm hesitant. I don't have any culinary skills, and although miso soup seems quite simple, I don't trust myself to prepare it well. Oh lack of confidence in the kitchen... When will they invent some sort of pill for this?

     In other news, I have eaten sushi (twice), ramen (from a real ramen shop - none of this Top Ramen garbage), yaki soba (fried noodles), and gyoza (pot-sticker-esque pork and cabbage dumplings). I have thoroughly enjoyed all of it. Any fears I had about not liking Japanese food have gone out the window. I definitely enjoy eating here! If I wasn't riding my bike everyday, I might actually gain weight in Japan. Hopefully I can get over my kitchen insecurities and learn to cook some of these things so I can bring the goodness home!

Now it's time for me to cook some dinner.

     

     

Contact info.

If you are wondering about the best way to contact me while I'm in Japan, here are several ways:

Physical Address:

Jennifer Bieda

Namiki-Cho 2-12-2

House 1

Moka-Shi, Tochigi-Ken

321-4361

Japan

Phone Number (when calling from US)

0081-285-83-5903

However, I think the best method is through Skype, which is a free "phone" service through the internet. It works wonderfully. All you have to do is download it, and then let me know when you would like to talk and I'll be sure to be online at that time. My Skype name is JayBe413.

So there's that. I'm excited to hear from you!

Greetings from Japan.

Hello!

I am safely in Japan. I live in a little city (perhaps it should be called a town) about 2 hours from Tokyo. Here in Moka, I live in a two bedroom duplex with my roommate Meghan. She is pretty fantastic. We share a common wall with another Assistant English Teacher (AET), and on the other side of our little patch of grass, there is another duplex with 3 more AETs. It's a pretty great set up.

I have a pink/red bike named "Chessboard," and she seems like a pretty trusty steed. I even got a new bell on her. I ride my bike everywhere. It makes things interesting, especially because I am learning to drive on the opposite side of the road while sharing the streets with cars, and I don't remember the last time I road a bike consistently... Luckily, I have not yet fallen off ole Chessboard. I'll let you know when that happens.

Today we got internet installed in our home, so now I will be much more accessible. I might even get a cell phone here, (gasp) but I don't really want to. I like being "out" when I'm out.

I start work at Moka Nishi junior high on Thursday. In the meantime we have been doing all sorts of fun stuff, including alien registration, tax forms, and health checks (you can imagine how fun those are when conducted in a foreign language...). 

Today all of the AETs visited a local middle school to observe English classes and get a taste of what we will be doing. I can't wait to jump in! I think it will be so much fun! And much to my delight, there is a considerable Spanish speaking population here in my little rice farm town! I got to greet two students in Spanish, and it brought great joy. :-) Who knew it would all come together so nicely?