I've got a naeng myun update!
Last week I made some of the delicious, cold Korean noodle soup, using Vanesscipes's delicious vegetarian recipe.
The only changes were:
I forgot to add the daikon.
I added "gochujang" (a spicy Korean paste) to the broth and plopped some on top.
I used somen noodles, because somen is so good in the summer!

I've got one word for you people...
YUMMY!
Clink on the above link ASAP for this delicious recipe!

Here's the first bowl I made. It was a bit small to hold all the deliciousness.


Here's my second helping, which I put in a bigger bowl.


Last night Stan and I made fresh rolls with peanut sauce and kinpira gobo. Kinpira gobo is one of my very favorite Japanese foods! It's sauteed burdock root and carrots, with a yummy sesame/soy flavor. Mmmmm, it's so amazing. Our fresh rolls had fried tofu, asparagus, nira (garlic chives), bean sprouts, carrots, and rice noodles.
O, it was such a yummy dinner!

Here are some of my fresh rolls. I'm not the best roller, but they taste delicious!


Here's my beloved kinpira gobo!

One of my students wrote, "I will fishing a master future. I will die may probably. my mother get angry."

What do you think he's trying to say?

I changed it to, "I will be a fishing master in the future. I will die probably. My mother will get angry."

I don't know if that's exactly what he was trying to say, and it still sounds a bit weird, but hopefully it's along the right lines!

I really like it when my students write essays in English, but they are quite hard to correct at times. One of my favorite mistakes was, "I want to be a candy shop." Creepy and delicious!

Last night Stan and I made Japanese food for dinner. You might think that we'd do that all the time, but although we live in Japan, we don't do it often enough. We crave foreign foods, so we cook a lot of foreign foods.
Dinner was very tasty, besides the hijiki and carrots, which was far too oceany for me. We had rice; miso soup with tofu and green onions; red, yellow and orange bell pepper kinpira with soy meat; and cold tofu with green onions, soy sauce, sesame and wasabi. I was really stuffed by the end.
I am more excited about tonight's dinner!
I found this delicious recipe at www.vanesscipes.com. Vanessa's recipes look amazing. I can't wait to make naeng myun (Korean cold noodle soup) tonight. I actually found her site by searching for naeng myun recipes! I had it on my last day in Korean last year and it was so good! It sounds perfect for the increasingly hot, sticky days here. Hopefully, I'll remember to take a picture of the noodles, so you can share in the joy.

I had a lovely weekend.
On Friday night a big group went out for Indian food in Matsusaka to celebrate China and Naomi's birthday. Afterwards we had drinks at the ruins of Matsusaka castle, with a nice view of the city lights.
On Saturday, Stan and I headed down to Atashika Beach near Kumano. It was a long drive from Stan's house, and we got a late start. So, by the time we got to the beach we only had about an hour before everyone wanted to leave! Oh, well. The water was beautiful and I floated around for awhile. Spooner, Molly and I all got a running start to get into the water.

After the beach, more than ten of us headed to Allison's house for a BBQ and drinks. It was a lot of fun, and I even secured Stan and I the only available futon to sleep on.
This morning I got to play dominoes on the kitchen floor, and then we all got handmade gelato on the way home. Mmmm, it was delicious!

Last Friday was Stan's 29th birthday, so he created a new holiday known as "Super Stan Day". It was a smashing success! We went out for "yakiniku" and karaoke. What's "yakiniku" you ask? It's broiled/barbequed meat that you make on a grill right at your table. I had veggies, which are also delicious when barbequed at your table! One of the best parts for me is the yakiniku sauce. MMMM, such good flavor!


Ahkey and yakiniku.


Cally wins the prize for most appropriate t-shirt.


Habitat's Team China is reunited.


Molly and Chito- the 2nd cutest couple in Mie.

It was almost scary how many good presents Stan got. Our favorite Japanese bear, Rilakkuma, was well represented.


Tomohiro, Stan, and Rilakkuma.


Katie, Mitsuko, and Melissa passing on the sake torch.


Stan and Kasumi.


Molly and Chito found Rilakkuma slippers for Stan. Look at that smile on his face!


Miki and Stan.


Marsha and Erica got Stan a naughty gift.


Stan and I singing "Redemption" by Gackt.


Stan always pulls off a cute pose for the camera.


Stan loved it when Mitsuko sang M-Flo.


Drunken group sing-along.


Stan is dancing like a train, as Youkou sings "Train".

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Another drunken group sing-along.


Youkou and Nigel. New BFF.

You can't really tell from this pictures, but I sang A LOT! Stan thinks I sang every second song, but I think he's exaggerating. Oh, how I love karaoke!

I'm back from another AMAZING Habitat for Humanity/Global Village volunteer trip. This year I took on the task of being team leader, which included recruiting, fundraising, organizing and planning a trip with a team of 10 other people. The planning itself almost put me in my grave, but in the end, it was more than worth it! I had an even better trip this year than I did last year!
My team was made up of other ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) living in Mie. We worked in Magarao, outside of Naga City, Camarines Sur Province in the Philippines.
We were building duplex houses out of interlocking concrete blocks. Below our pictures from our work site! Enjoy!


This is the town hall of Magarao, the town where we built.


Team Mie JETs first day on the worksite!


We had a view of the volcano, Mt. Isarog, from the worksite everyday.


Another one of the beautiful views on the worksite.


We rode everywhere in a jeepney during this trip, but this was my first time riding on top. It was awesome!


The beginnings of the foundation of a house.


Stan pounding down the dirt in the foundation.


Cementing the bricks was my favorite job!




One day we got to use the jeepney to transport bricks from one end of the worksite to another. We were all so relieved!


Julie power!


Team Shovel.


Cally wanted a Megan-Stan hug!


English teachers need breaks, too.


All the water we used, including what was needed to flush the toilet, was either brought up from the river in buckets, or pumped.


Stan and Melissa were the water pump stars. Stan even had a pump dance!



Julie and Manny.


Two workers on a roof.


Stan and I on a bicycle cab. Our awesome driver, Mario, pedaled 3 of us over bumpy dirt roads!


Stan and I got along well...for the most part!


Almost everything we did was done in lines. We're passing buckets of cement here.


Buckets of cement are HEAVY!


Laying the cement floor.




Ellen, Stan, and Cally formed Team China.


Maggie and Melissa got jealous, so they formed Team White.


Leo and Katie put together Team England.


On the last day I rode back on top of the jeepney again!