Hiking Pictures!!

At the end of October, Shimon, Kato (Shimon's good friend), and I went hiking. At one time there was a well-marked and well-maintained trail. That was at least 10 years or more ago. It was an adventure! To show just how much an adventure it was... here are the pics. :-)

This was just starting out. Notice how nice it looks. A great day for a hike!

Oh wait, there's a river. The river is quite clear and runs pretty quickly.

Yup, we have to cross the river! Here are the guys preparing a log bridge for our eventual crossing. The sad thing about this particular crossing is that we had gotten a bit "lost" and were on the wrong part of the trail.

Really the scenery was quite nice. Even if it was a bit overcast.

 Here's another river crossing. How come it looks so easy in the picture?? It was a lot more difficult than this shot would make it seem. :-)

Lunch time!! Instant ramen (yup, cup o' noodles folks!!) and rice with some chocolate for dessert! Gotta love it.

Not sure when this shot was taken, but I really like how much green there is!

Getting ready again after the rain started. Blah! Not a fan of hiking and crossing rivers in the rain!

Getting closer to the waterfall (which is the final destination!).

This is a rather unclear shot of the waterfall, but this is as far as I went. What with the rain and the slippery conditions Shimon didn't want me to get hurt, so I waited for the guys at the bottom. To be fair, I was tired and didn't mind waiting.

This is what the guys got to see. Pretty cool really!

Victory!! We finally made the waterfall and needed a victory picture!! Shimon's in the middle, Kato in the red, and me.

Rushing on the way back, I climbed over a log and my momentum landed me just like this. Haha!

We only made it back just before dark. On our way back we actually ran into some people who were lost... and totally unprepared for the weather we were hiking in.... and they didn't have a proper map. So, we helped them find the way back and kept thinking - man they are really silly to come out on a day like to day so unprepared!

I'm not sure I'll volunteer for this hike again right away, but I think I might like to do it sometime in the future. When it's a bit warmer!

hope you enjoy the pictures!

Saturdays!

(Beware: This is a bit of a rant!)

Back sometime in March or April, I wrote about having to work on Saturdays and how I wasn't looking forward to it. Some people commented that I should give it a chance as having Monday off is kind of a good trade sometimes. I'd like to say that my initial misgivings have been proven completely correct.

My Saturday routine: wake up at 6am, leave house by 6:25. Catch a 6:45 train. Ride train (primarily standing) for about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Walk to the convenience store and buy breakfast (usually bready thing, veggie juice and a small energy drink). Complete the walk to school. Arrive at 8ish. Eat breakfast. Plan lesson and make printouts for the lesson. Teach from 10 until noon. Eat lunch (bought at now open grocery store). Plan lesson for next class. Teach from 1:30-3:20. After class, try to sneak out since there is no more work OR be forced to stay until 5pm.

So, it may sound like I'm making a big deal out of nothing. The main problem is that in Japan there are many 3 day weekends built into the work calendar. I haven't had a 3-day weekend since I started working. I haven't even had a 2 day weekend because I teach a night class at a university on Mondays and the Monday holidays during the year don't count for my class. When you have no three day weekends or even very many two day weekends, it's awfully hard to plan a nice weekend away. With friends. With your boyfriend. With anyone! Recharging my "batteries" is nearly impossible because there just isn't the time.

I just needed to get all that off my chest! I only have a few more months (until March) of this schedule. I will be SO ready to be done with it when the time comes!!

Hope everyone else is having a lovely day!

Communication

Living in Japan has its fair share of communication highs and lows. This week has been a very low week at one of the schools I work at. Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I'll let you be the judge.

On Tuesday, I headed to one of my classes to teach when I was informed that from this week classrooms would change and I would be teaching in a different room. Gee, wouldn't that have been nice to know when I arrived at school, rather than right before class. Especially since there was a printed sheet that had been handed out (to other teachers, just not me) with all of the pertinent information on it. I headed to the room... which was empty! Nice. Tired of the run around and needing to get class started, I found the closest member of the English staff that I could and explained the problem. He told me to wait in the designated room... and then found out that my students were in the English conversation room (not the room that was actually assigned).

Argh! I took a few deep breaths and managed class just fine after that.

Then there was today. There is a typhoon passing by the Tokyo/Yokohama area today. The junior high students had classes in the morning while I taught a class (had a Halloween party) of elementary schoolers. After class, I checked my desk - no messages - and headed out to get ready for an afternoon class with my junior high school kids. I returned from the brief shopping mission to find a notice about classes being canceled in the afternoon and hoping I wouldn't be inconvenienced.

I confronted the author of the note and asked why I hadn't been told sooner since I'd already spent my own money on getting ready for a party that wouldn't actually be taking place. I came to find out that the decision to cancel classes had been made at 11am (my elementary class ended at noon, so there was ample time to leave some sort of notice on my desk!) and he just apologized.

Apologize only go so far. And in my way of thinking an apology means that the person will try not to repeat a mistake. This is not the first or even the second time that a situation like this has arisen. I'm just less willing to nicely nod my head and say "oh, it's alright" than I used to be.

Sorry for the vent!

things that happen when you run...

Well, I have officially begun running again. I've managed 4 days this week (including last Sunday), which I figure is pretty good. :-) Now we all know that there are a lot of weird things that can happen when running.

Today I had the privilege of aiding a toad. Yup, that's right a toad. He was smack in the middle of the zebra stripes of a side road that I was running past. I nearly smooshed him actually. Well, I looked back to see what might happen to him and he nearly got run over by a bike!! (I think it actually ran over one of his legs!)

I just couldn't let Mr. Toad get run over... and as he was pointed directly at the main road and all it's busy traffic I decided he needed a little help. So, I picked him up behind his head and began looking for a bit of green to put him on. Now, in Japan it's a bit difficult sometimes. People don't have big gardens and yards to put a stray toad into. So... I went around the corner and saw some planters (they looked like they were just growing weeds) along the side of a house. I deposited the toad into the planter and continued on my run.

Since my run was an out and back, I ran past to see how the toad was doing. He had hunkered down and seemed quite pleased with his new surroundings.

Yay for random animal rescue opportunities!!

Lately...

Fall is upon us. The weather finally has a cool feel to it (not crisp yet, but still nice) and we're losing daylight to indicate that the seasons are changing.

I love fall. The food (chestnut rice, "sanma"- fall fish, and hearty soups!) in Japan is wonderful! It really adds to the feeling of fall.

This year I've been feeling "strange." This feeling didn't start with fall, but I finally decided to go to the hospital to see about what might be the problem. My mom seemed to think that it might be a thyroid problem as she and my grandmother both have thyroid issues.

I went to the hospital on Friday. Had a thorough talk with a doctor, she ordered blood work and a urine test too. Did it, waited for about an hour and saw another doctor. She went over the results of the test. I'm healthy! Nothing is strange at all as far as the tests showed. But she suspects that I'm perhaps suffering from mild depression.

I was a bit shocked. So, instead of heading to the doctors for a consultation (I was in general medicine), I said that I would try to change some things (diet, exercise among other things), but if nothing changed I would come back in December.

I'm searching for ideas about how to get motivated to re-start a regular exercise routine. I know that once I start I'll be much happier and have more energy, but I'm hard pressed to find the motivation to BEGIN. I know there are some runners out there that might have some advice. I'd love to hear anything!!

Hope everyone is well!

Busy Kitty weekend!

I have a cat. Her name is Suzu. She is a bit of a mommy's girl. She prefers women to men. And she rarely has visitors... until this past weekend. It was a busy weekend and I think that Suzu made some strides towards being a more amiable cat. :-)

Friday of last week was Tokyo Day! It really means very little, except that teachers at private schools often get the day off. Luckily I was one of those teachers and my friend and co-worker Michelle was one as well. So, we made plans for her to come down to Yokohama (where I live and she'd never visited before!), where we would do a bit of exploring and also do a bit of relaxing at my house and of course she would meet the kitty.

As mentioned above, Suzu prefers women. Even though she was cautious, eventually Suzu made friends with Michelle's feet (her first sign of intimacy) and there was very little in the way of hissing or hiding under the bed. Yay, Suzu!! Well done.

Saturday, I worked most of the day while Shimon helped fix a rotatiller and did a bit of shopping at a local outlet (he even bought me a fuzzy fall jacket!! love it!!). After the shopping, he and his friend Kato came over and we all had dinner together. Though Suzu's favored gender is not male, she did a great job. Kato was good with her (ignoring her most of the time - perfect!)) and playing a bit at the end once she knew that he wasn't going to do anything. Again another good encounter! Yay Suzu!!

The big challenge was Sunday. TWO people, my friend Sunaho and her husband, came over. Satoru is a cat person. He was so excited to meet Suzu that he had his wife email and ask what kind of snacks Suzu likes!! (Very endearing!) They came over and brought out the goodies... but Suzu was not as comfortable with TWO new people at once. So she hid for a bit... under the bed... and really hated it when I tried to get her. Once we ignored her, she came out and started to make friends. And once the goodies were opened she was very keen on getting some, even if mom wasn't the one handing them out. By the end, Suzu had proven she could even be around 4 people at once and not do a total freak out!! Yay!!

I don't have any good pictures of any of the fun, but there's lot's of Suzu pics already. Now, I may seem a bit obsessed with my kitty... I assure you, in a country where people are seriously obsessed with their pets, I look mild in comparison!

Hope everyone is having a lovely day!

Rain

It's been raining a WHOLE lot here in Tokyo. We get two solidly rainy days and then maybe a cloudy day (we're on our cloudy day today!). As a result of far too many wet feet days (otherwise known as "Alisha's a big grump" days), I figured it was finally time to invest in some appropriate footwear.

The result?? Cool yellow boots!! Well, they might not be "cool" in the conventional sense of the word, but to me they are cool because I have dry feet!!

Plus, I think I'm one of the only people to buy them... so it means I get to be an individual to boot!!

Hope you're enjoying nice weather wherever you are!!

Strange Dreams

Most of the time when I wake up in the morning, I don't remember what I've been dreaming about. It's pretty par for the course. But this morning I woke up and clearly remembered what I was dreaming about.

I dreamt that I was getting ready for a race with all of my cross country teammates at Truman. Only the race was being held at the cross country ski area in my hometown (Birch Hill). Being the hometown girl, I staked out the course and was briefing everyone on it... the hills to watch, etc. At that point, Em rolled her eyes and said "we know, it's hills!"(it was VERY funny in the dream).

We were all warming up and in our spikes, and it occurred to me that I hadn't done any summer training and that I was totally not in shape (probably the real, 30-year old me thinking). What was I going to do? Coach would KILL me! :-) Before the race began, I woke up and had to go to work.

So, to all my runner girls out there! You're in my heart and even in my dreams (haha) still. Hope everyone is doing well!!

Banana Bread: The Final Product

So, I made banana bread for the first time in awhile. It was so fun (if not quite hot!) and made me remember how much I really love to bake. There will be more baking to come, I promise. :-)

And here's the final product. Looks edible doesn't it? I think it will be a great dessert. Not overly sweet, not so unhealthy... and all of that delicious banana bread goodness. Whee! Am making myself hungry just thinking about it. :-)

Banana Bread!!

I have just made a batch of banana bread! My first in a very long time. Baking in Japan presents quite a few challenges and until recently I didn't have the willingness or reason (bananas quickly going off) to tackle the challenge.

For those of you who don't know the baking challenges of Japan, I'll review a few of them here.

1. Ingredients. Baking in Japan is made challenging (to say the least) due to lack of readily available ingredients. Yes, there's the standard flour, sugar, eggs and butter. But how about chocolate chips, the size and taste of the ones here is laughable! How about baking soda? Yes, I know baking powder can work, but... There's a very LONG list of common ingredients that we take for granted in the US that are difficult to find here. Particularly if you want to do your shopping at one store!
2. Baking Implements. Pans. Spatulas. Whisks. You name it and it's not cheap to get here in Japan. Yes, they can be found. Found fairly easily in fact. But the prices that one might pay for some of these implements borders on the absurd. Also, you may (like with the above ingredients) not be able to find them all in one place or at all. It's a bit hit or miss. Things that are easy to find?? Measuring spoons, measuring cups, and wooden spoons. Even cooking chopsticks (very useful for beating an egg!) are quite handy.
3. Ovens. In general, cooking culture in Japan does not require an oven. Therefore ovens in Japan are not like ovens at home. Where ovens differ most is in size. The average Japanese oven is about the size of a microwave, sometimes a very large microwave, but still a microwave. There are also to types of ovens. One that is essentially a function on your microwave, which means it is not as strong and things take much longer to cook. Example, a 20minute brownie mix took closer to 45 minutes to cook. The second type of oven is one that is designed to be an oven and has microwaving capabilities. This second type of oven is very useful and can cooks items like small turkeys and hams (for holidays) and such. They are a bit bigger and really get the job done. I do not have one of these ovens yet!

So, maybe you understand why undertaking baking in Japan is something I've been putting off. I really do like to cook and bake though, so I finally decided to give it a try again (I used to bake a lot when I lived in Yamagata) and faced with very dark brown bananas, decided banana bread would be the perfect beginning.

I used a recipe from Simply Recipes that looked, well, simple and also delicious. I know there will probably be some tweaking to be done, but I'm prepared for that. With a little persuasion and another paycheck, I should be able to get Shimon on board to buy a new oven. One of the good ones that I mentioned above. If we're going to have a good Christmas in Japan, it's going to be a must! :-)

Hope you're have a great day... I'll be posting pics of the banana bread pass or fail... later on!

Money

Money. It's one funny thing. It sure doesn't grow on trees!! And the first minute you think you're going to have a bit extra... it goes flying out of your wallet. What's that about!?!?

For example, I did a bit of extra work over the summer. It helped to stem the boredom and heck, who couldn't use a bit of extra cash!? Well, last weekend - computer broke. Some money is going to that. The cat has DESTROYED her cat tower. Some money went to a new cat tower. Insurance is due on Shimon's bike (large scooter-ish thing), more money flying out of the wallet.

The good news for me is that even with all the money flying straight out of my wallet, I should still be able to save over $1000 this month. (Woot!) So, I guess I shouldn't moan too much... but I can't help but think how much more could have been saved.

Money... it's a tricky thing. 

Back to school...

Now, I realize that most teachers in America have already been back to school for a week or more. I realize that those same teachers might object to my whining about being tired and not ready to go back... sympathy may be non-existent. Well, what I have to say to those teachers is... you get nearly a 3 month break to recover... I got roughly 6 weeks! I think I have earned my right to a few whiny moments.

I was SO not ready for my alarm to go off this morning. In fact, I woke up with a start and rushed around so much (afraid I was going to be late) that I was earlier than I normally am... even when I'm early.

In the time I was off of school I had managed to forget my lovely commute and the walk to school. A commute with three train changes, standing room only and a nice 15 minute walk in scorching heat is not my idea of a good way to start my day. However, in the weeks off I'd forgotten all about those parts of work. I remember them all to clearly again, now.

I have to say that actually teaching and being back in the groove wasn't bad. It was the post-teaching lull that was bad. By the time I left school at the end of the day I was ready to roll into bed. Luckily I get a nicer day tomorrow. Better commuting time (around 11:30am) and a better train (I'll definitely get a seat) and most of all a more cheerful school! :-) Whew! Back to school time makes me tired!!


Hope everyone else is having a lovely day!

Surprises

I like surprises. Sometimes I moan a bit at Shimon that we don't have many surprises between the two of us. Well, he proved he has the ability to surprise today.

He went into work on Saturday to get ready for a very busy week. He called and asked if I wanted to go with him somewhere after work. I said sure and we met up (he actually had to take something to a client... so we met afterwards).

We ended up going to Enoshima (about an hour and a bit outside of Tokyo). It was right before sunset and I had just told Shimon that I had seen Mt. Fuji on my way to meet him... we walk toward the sea and low and behold... a lovely silhouetted Mt. Fuji with nice sunset colors. Nice!!

For dinner we ended up in a nice Italian restaurant on the terrace with cool evening breezes blowing. After that we walked around the Enoshima area. Saw the fattest stray cat I've ever seen!! And enjoyed a lantern display that led around some of the famous areas of the island.

There were even fireworks going from a distance when we started our walk on the island. Wow! For a spontaneous, surprise date everything fell into its lovely, romantic place. Surprises are wonderful... :-)

Hope you have some surprises today!

Denali National Park

Before I post pictures, I have to stress how lucky we were when we went to the park. I don't have the statistics in my head anymore, but people who visit Denali Park are more often times disappointed than fulfilled. Why would that be? Well, people want to see the mountain. The mountain is the biggest in North America and creates its own weather conditions. Conditions that often do not allow it to be seen. This is life. A disappointed part of life, but life nonetheless. Then there's animals. Sadly, there is no way to guarantee seeing any. Many people leave the park only having seen a few distant specks of white that are dall sheep. Again, life. WELL... having said all that. We were incredibly lucky! We saw the mountain AND a ton of animals. When I mean a ton... I mean 7 bears, a heard of dall sheep on the road, etc... a lot of animals. So, without further adieu... enjoy the pics. 

That's right folks, that's the Mountain. Incredible isn't it!? 

Here are the specks of sheep. Don't worry, it gets much much better!

The wind was really strong that day as you can see by the flag!

And by the fact that I had to wear a hat!! Go Liverpool... thanks brother for the hat. Would have frozen if I didn't have it.

Cute ground squirrel!

Bears!! Momma and two babies. We spooked them a bit at first, but once they realized we weren't a real threat they didn't try to run away.

Next up? Sheep. They were right on the road enjoying some lunch... and we were right there to enjoy them!

Lest I forget the beautiful scenery.... here you go!

Golden eagle...

Wolf! This was my first time seeing a wolf... and this one was just walking down the road. Kind of like saying, "Screw running through the bushes, I'm taking the easy route!"

Caribou crossing the road in front of the bus. The driver actually had to break quite hard as we came around a corner. 

A slightly more picturesque view of the caribou!

And to round out the wildlife portion... here's some moose! We saw a momma and babies just off the road. They stayed in the bushes a bit, but you can see them peaking through a bit now. :-)

We saw so much wildlife that when we saw another bull moose up the hill... we didn't even stop. It would have made a good picture, but we were really late returning from the trip as it was. 

Hope you enjoyed the pics... there's a few more to post... just not of animals. Anyone ready for a trip to Alaska now?

Pictures!!

So, since my link was not really the right one (if you speak or read Japanese you would have been fine...:-), I'm putting up some Alaska pictures. Shimon and I went to visit my hometown, Fairbanks, Alaska, from August 7th through the 15th. It was a quick visit, but it was just about right for a first visit. This visit contained many firsts for Shimon: first visit to an English speaking country, first visit to America, first time meeting my family, first American-style barbecue... you get the point. :-) It was really fun and my family and Shimon seemed to like each other. We got to have a bit of quality time with everybody!! 

Now, without further adieu... pictures!!

On the way to my parents' cabin on Stampede Road in Healy, Alaska we managed to have our first Denali (Mt. McKinley) sighting. Wow!! Very few people get to see such a wonderful view of the Mountain like this. This sighting would bode well for us as the next day in the Park we had very good luck... with pretty much everything. 

When we had finally made it to the area where we could get to the cabin... my mom insisted that we help her pick for blueberries. And so we did... 

Of course when you pick, you have to sample too! See that bucket?? We filled 4 of them, then mom dumped them into a bigger bucket and made us start again! :-) 

To get to the cabin we had to use four-wheelers. This was exciting on so many levels for Shimon. He loved driving it, so of course commemorative pictures were required!

Another picture, following my dad so that we don't hit a patch of really bad ground or anything. 

That evening we got to see a wonderful sunset and spectacular colors painted across the clouds. Aaaah... Alaska!

The mountains are wearing hats!! haha... Had to provide a shot with mountains... the pictures wouldn't be complete without a few shots of mountains. ;-)

Next... Denali National Park and Preserve... get ready for some wildlife!!

Alaska pics...

Still not up. Sorry the album link didn't quite work like I wanted it to. Booo! Will work on uploading some onto this blog later today. :-) There are some really good pics, so I definitely want to share!

Pictures!!

So, I promised pictures from Alaska. For now, I'm going to give a link to a HUGE album online. This is just part of the pictures we took. When I say we, I really mean 99% were taken by Shimon. :-) Soon to come will be the Denali photos and all the animals we saw.

I may choose some highlights for narration, but for now... enjoy! :-)

Just back!

I just got back from Alaska last night. And I want to go back already... Not because I don't love being home. But being home means ridiculously hot weather and miserable humidity. When we went to the store last night, I asked Shimon if I could turn around and go home. Japan can be TOO hot sometimes!

Our trip to Alaska was fantastic. We got to see and do so much in our short week there. We hit Denali Park, the Fair, the Museum, the Musk Ox Farm (which is actually the Large Animal Research Station), and much more. Didn't make it out to the hot springs (next time!!). 

The best thing was that Shimon was able to meet my family and we're all like together. I think he had fun! I hope. :-) One of the highlights was getting to shoot a shotgun with my dad and brothers!! Not sure that will make it up on the internet, but there are certainly some pics to come. :-)

Quiet

This week has been anything but quiet!! On Saturday, Shimon and I head to Alaska for the first time together. We've been buying presents and getting ready for the big trip.

This is my horribly beaten up suitcase, getting ready to make yet another trip to Alaska. :-) It's not full yet. I've only managed to load all the presents into it. Not sure how all of the rest of the stuff will fit (we're taking two small suitcases!!), but I'm sure we'll find a way.

Wish us luck! This is a biggie!!!

Kitty sitter

From August 7th to the 16th, my boyfriend and I will be heading to Alaska. This leaves us with the dilemma of what to do with Suzu the kitty. In Japan, it's very rare to ask friends or even neighbors to look in on your animals or plants. It would constitute meiwaku (causing trouble) for them and people don't do it.

Plus, I don't have anyone to ask. In comes the cat sitter!! Cat's in particular don't like to leave their environment. So we searched online and found some pet sitters... and then we even came upon some cat sitters. Who specialize in taking care of ONLY cats! (This was exciting because a lot of the other pet sitting services were really full up with reservations.) So she is coming to meet Suzu and see where things are on Monday! Yay!!!

I mean, who wouldn't want to come watch my Suzu?

 She's just SO cute! :-)