Stan and I are off to Wakayama prefecture tomorrow! We are staying at Urashima Hotel for 4 days. I can't wait! We have been so overly busy lately, that both of us are wild about the idea of laying in bed, swimming, soaking in cave onsens, watching downloaded TV shows, and playing video games. In other words, we can't wait to do a whole lot of nothing!
We love hanging out with our friends, but lately there have been so many goodbye and welcome parties, along with the Mie orientation, where we both worked. It's just been too much! Living in a very rural prefecture like Mie, where all the JETs are stretched out over a big distance, and a zero tolerance drinking and driving law means that going to a party often involves a lot of logistical planning, expensive cab rides and/or sleeping on people's floors. Sometimes going to a party turns into a big hassle!

Anyways, enough of that! We're off tomorrow, and I can't wait.

I got a great haircut yesterday. It's so great that my hair is singing "Hallelujah!"
You see, I hadn't had a hair cut in 9 months. It's not that I suddenly decided to grow my hair out to half way down my back, although that's what happened. I just kept putting it off, because I didn't want to spend the money. Let me tell you though, this haircut was money well spent! I felt cute and put together afterwards. I can't wait to go out with my hair doing something other than hanging in a ponytail!
I went to the salon with Molly, which was also fun. Molly seemed stressed out by the hairspray in her hair after the cut, but her hair looks great!
Yay, friends! Yay, good haircuts!

Sayonaras are sad- Part 2

Here are more pictures from Mie's Deep South Goodbye Party,　where I said goodbye to a lot of great friends!

Allison, Lauren, and I.

Lauren's still around (thank heavens!), but I had to say goodbye to Allison. I remember getting to know her better about a year ago at the JET recontracting conference, and then at the 2006 Sayonara Party. As we were talking and joking, I remember thinking, this girl is really fucking cool. My impression was totally right on, and I'll miss Mie's southernmost "deep south girl". I'm still kind of crossing my fingers that she'll be back!

Emily, Yamamoto, and Kara

Emily has left, but only temporarily. She's coming back to Japan to teach in Shiga. This will give Stan and I a great excuse to visit Shiga, and enjoy Subway and Starbucks with our favorite Georgia Peach.

Me and Jonathan

O, Jonathan! Why'd you have to leave?? Another year in Kii Nagashima may have been just what the doctor ordered!
I'll miss Jonathan a lot. I remember when I first met him two years ago, I thought that he looked too much like a pop star to be my friend. It turns out that his cool LA exterior hid a heart of gold. I'll miss our bitching sessions at the various fine establishments in Kii Nagashima. He's another one who I'm expecting to make his way back to Japan before long!

Me, Katie, and Marisa

Marisa's Japanese is amazing, as is her ability to replicate Japanese anime theme songs at karaoke! I hope she'll be happy back in Chicago!
My dear, dear Katie. I'll miss her so much! Katie is one of the kindest people I have ever met. She's one of those people whom make you feel all warm and fuzzy when you're around them...and the girl was always up for karaoke!! I was so happy that she joined the Habitat for Humanity team this year! I still giggle when I think how Katie would say "Thanks, love" even while passing heavy Philippino bricks!

Melissa and I

O, Spooner (aka Melissa)! She's not leaving, but I like this picture of us. Spooner's neurotic quirks, her willigness to drive 3 hours for a party, and her work ethic in the Philippines have endeared her to me.　She's always welcome to a futon at Stan's house!

Delicious kiwi chuhai

I had never had a "nama" fruit chuhai before. Nama means raw in Japanese, so you get a piece of fruit which you juice into your drink. Wow! It takes chuhais to a while new level! I highly recommend it.

Fumiko and Jonathan. A match made in heaven?!

After dinner we moved the party to a small karaoke snack bar called Fumiko's. Fumiko was an absolutely hilarious host. She sang along a lot and clapped her hands,　and the woman was absolutely IN LOVE with Jonathan! She kept yelling "KAWAII" in her husky, too many chuhais and cigarettes, voice. As soon as she got a chance to hug him,　she wrapped her arms around him and looked like she was in ecstasy.

I got involved with a project called "Blogging by Mail" recently. I sent a package of some of my favorite things to
Rachel, and I received a package of favorite things from Jen!
Thank you so much, Jen! Your package exceeded any expectations I had!


My AMAZING package from Jen


I got delicious teas, flavored sugar and salt, an adorable strawberry stamp (which I will use in my classes),　boston baked beans, scented candles, Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap (I love that stuff!), a Ray Bradbury book, dried lavender, FREEZE DRIED STRAWBERRIES, and more!!!!
It was such a great combination, and her box contained so many things that I am excited about. I had a big smile on my face as soon as I opened it!

Jen's website, , has lots of delicious recipes on it, so I tried one out last week. I made Lemon Blueberry granita. It was my first time eating or making granita, and it was delicious! Mine turned out a bit too sweet, because I couldn't find 100% blueberry juice, but I adjusted it by adding a bit more lemon juice. I highly recommend trying this out. It's so easy!


Lemon Blueberry Granita

If you're interested in checking out Blogging By Mail next year, go to The Happy Sorceress!
Happy blogging!!

Thank you, Vanessa! Another one of your delicious "Vanesscipes" has made my tummy happy as can be!
I decided that it was Stan's turn to cook for me on Friday, and I pointed him in the direction of two great looking recipes: Corn Pudding with Roasted Tomatoes.
The pudding reminded Stan of fresh creamed corn. We both agreed that it was sweet, creamy and delicious. The tomatoes were tart and flavorful. When you put the tomatoes on top of the pudding and ate them together, they were wonderful!!!
We also had sandwiches, but I didn't get a decent picture!




And here's the adorable chef...

Look closely at this picture. There is a small area between the sink and the stove that Stan's thin body is blocking. That sliver of space is the entirety of Stan's counter space! It's just over a foot wide! He lives in an average-sized Japanese house, and has approximately one foot of counter space. How can you cook for one or two people with that much counter space, let alone a whole family! Oh,　how I hate　Japanese kitchens!!!!!

Sayonaras are sad.

It's that time of year in a JETs life, when half their friends move away!
Yuck! Last year I only had one close friend leaving, but now there are so many.
The above picture is from the "Deep South" Sayonara Party, i.e. Mie's Deep South.

There's a typhoon hitting Japan this weekend, which means that all my plans have been cancelled...and I couldn't be happier (about the staying home part)!
There have been evacuations and injuries in Kyushu. While the typhoon will be passing through Mie, it looks like I'm not in any immediate danger.

I have been sitting around with Stan all weekend. And it's a long weekend in Japan, which means that I've got two more days of this heaven left!

We went shopping on Friday night and then did a little supplementary shopping today.
Poor Stan's fridge just can't handle groceries for more than two days. It's pitiful and tiny and we both hate it. Thank God we only have to feed ourselves!


All of you out there with full-sized fridges, count your blessings!

But back to the real story...
I found tortillas at a foreign food store this week, so last night was "Mini Burrito Night"!!!!!!!! Mini burritos may sound like nothing special to you, but I haven't been able to find tortillas in months! They were sooooo good. We were deliriously happy and full!

This morning Stan made me whole wheat, banana-chocolate pancakes. Good man!
For lunch he made me toasted sandwiches. Another good move!
For dinner I made our new favorite comfort food, Kimchi Yakisoba!

In between all this stuffing my face, I have been enjoying citrus white wine spritzers and watching downloaded TV programs! I downloaded the whole second season of "Top Chef", and Stan and I have been having a "Top Chef" marathon! I've also been catching up on "Men in Trees".

I'm looking forward to another heavenly, lazy day tomorrow! I hope your weekend is as great as mine!

I made a killer dinner for Stan and I last week.
I have been trying to spend less time sweating over the stove, because it's been so hot in Japan. So, we had salad and sandwiches. I can't seem to resist torturing myself with that stove, so there was a small amount of broiling involved!

Our sandwiches had basil mayonnaise, which I made with mayo, fresh basil, lemon juice and salt and pepper; fresh mozzarella; some melted Japanese "mix cheese", fresh, sliced tomatoes; sauteed onions; broiled asparagus and broiled red peppers (not shown in photo). These sandwiches were SO good! Stan loved the mayonnaise so much that he wanted to dip bread in it. My mouth is watering just remembering it! I also made one of these sandwiches to take in my bento for the next day. The only slight problem was that the asparagus was hard to bite, so I might cut it into smaller pieces next time!

The sandwich


I decided to get creative with the salad, and use some of the Japanese ingredients that are readily available here. Let me see if I can remember what I put in it...
I used mizuna, some Korean greens (forgot the name), sliced cucumbers, shredded daikon, shredded carrots, a block of fried tofu cut into small pieces, and boiled peanuts. We used Japanese sesame dressing on top. It was an awesome salad! The boiled peanuts were soooo good. I bought some a few days later and just ate them for a snack. Even Stan, who isn't usually crazy about salads, ate a big bowl! Success!

The salad

Tofu kimchi Yakisoba

I made a super yummy dinner for Stan and I tonight!
We had Tofu Kimchi Yakisoba and shredded carrot salad. Yakisoba is Japanese fried noodles. I got the recipes out of "Juugofun de gohan" (Meals in 15 minutes). The original yakisoba recipe called for pork, but I substituted tofu and added in gochujang, because I wanted something spicy! Check it out!


Shredded Carrot Salad (Ninjin sarada)
1 carrot
1 Tbs vegetable or olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of rice vinegar
1 Tsp of Japanese mustard
Sugar, salt, black pepper to taste

Shred the carrots using a slicer. Try to make the pieces 3-4cm long.
Mix the other ingredients into a dressing. Then toss the carrot in the dressing. Voila!

Tofu Kimchi Yakisoba
2 servings of yakisoba style noodles (These usually come precooked in plastic bags.)
1 package of age tofu (fried tofu)
150 grams of bean sprouts
50 grams of nira (garlic chives/Chinese chives/Chinese leeks)
80 grams of cabbage kimchi
1 Tsp of sesame oil
1 Tbs of soy sauce
1 Tbs of olive oil
gochujang to taste

Wash the bean sprouts using a sieve and a bowl of water.
Cut the nira into 4cm pieces. Cut the kimchi into approximately 1~1.5 cm pieces.
Cut the tofu into cubes.
Sautee the tofu and a spoonful of gochujang over medium heat for about 3~5 minutes.
Add the sesame oil, bean sprouts, and kimchi. Sautee ingredients over medium heat for 2~4 minutes. Add the noodles and stir.
Add the nira and sautee for just a couple of minutes more. At any point, add more gochujang for taste. Eat and enjoy!

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!