Denny's in Japan

Well, it was Saturday night date night and we decided to go to...Denny's! It's a bit different from the Denny's back in America.

Joanna entering our local Denny's. 

 Mmmm...Delicious Potato Fries with not ketchup but...Fish Egg sauce.

 Januck's traditional Japanese Denny's dinner!

 Joanna's Salmon Patty dinner!

The amazing Japanese Parfait!

Only In Japan Episode VI

Saturday Night Dinner

Usually on Saturday night we like to splurge a little bit and one of our favorite delivery places is a sushi delivery. There is nothing like placing an order and within an hour, we have sushi at our doorstep. All we have to do is set the trays outside our front door the next morning and they come and pick them up.

This is one of our usual platters.

We love the tuna and cucumber cut rolls.

Alex and I like to get a side of udon.

Beetles as Pets?

My students daily bring in beetles to keep in the classroom.  They are getting bigger and bigger.  One day during parent conferences one beetle was chewing the plastic container it was in and escaped somewhere in the classroom.  Students came in every day and looked for it.  We forgot about it and then I moved a chair one time and found it ALIVE.  What it ate we don't know.  But the students were so happy we found it.

The Sound of the Cicadas

I posted a video last year walking through the park near our school. This year I stopped near a tree to take the video. They are so loud that I can't really hear my music through my headphones.

Only In Japan Episode V

Friday Night Dinner

We had our parent conference this week for Alex and we are so proud of him and how he is doing. We know the next year and a half will be difficult for him, but we know he will do great! Tonight we went out to dinner to celebrate his success!

Dessert! Yum!

Kakigori!!!!!! Yummy ice with sugar topping!

Swimming with my students

Well, part of the Japanese curriculum for P.E. is swimming.  My class went twice to a local indoor swimming pool to practice swimming by levels of ability.  I got the high group this year and had the students lead exercises and then shower off before we got in the pool.  The heat was blasting and almost made me feel sick to my stomach, but after getting in the pool I felt better.  I had 19 students in my group and concentrated on four major strokes.  All of the students have taken lessons and way better at swimming than myself.  We had a break after 40 minutes and then decided to do some relays with two teams.  They did really well.  The second time we went the students wanted to play tag and guess who they wanted to be IT.  Of course, ME!  I told them we could play Freeze Tag.  Thank goodness I have had many experiences playing with my own kids in a swimming pool in California.

Only In Japan Epsiode IV

Only In Japan Episode III

Fun!

In Japan, we often see things that make us laugh. Here are a couple of pictures.

 This was at a rest stop.

I think they should pick a different finger to hang up these gloves.

What is That Pile of...?

Joanna and I thought we would try a new place to eat on Friday after work. We couldn't really read the menu well but we were able to order some yakitori, a slice tomato that was really good, and some barbecued mushrooms. We saw a sign that said crab and miso so Joanna asked the lady about it and she finally ordered it. When they brought it, it looked like a pile of poop. We're not exactly sure, but we think it might be that waste part of a crab mixed with miso. I helped Joanna eat it but it was so disgusting I almost gagged.

 Delicious shitake mushrooms. Yum!

 The tuna sashimi was amazing! It tasted sooooo good!

THE PILE! Gag!

Kamakura

One of our Sixth Grade field trips is to Kamakura and it was raining this morning so I wasn't sure if we were going to go but we did. It was actually quite nice because it wasn't so hot but it was still really muggy.

The Spiders Cometh!

Yesterday morning I woke up and was heading downstairs when I looked at the tea fields next to our house and saw an eerie sight of the spiderwebs in the fields.

I'm a Genius...Not!

Well, a week ago on a Saturday I had laundry out and it was getting late but it was really warm outside. I decided to leave them hanging outside and then when I woke up the next morning, they'll be mostly dry. Success! When I got up, the sun was up and they were mostly dry.

Last weekend we had to work on Saturday and I couldn't do much laundry I did a few loads and put them out to dry. I decided that my genius plan worked once so I'd try it again. Our drying rack was completely full and when I went to bed I checked the weather and it said 20% chance of rain which is really nothing here. I decided to sleep in for once but at around 6:20 AM I heard a sound that made me bolt straight up out of bed. Yup, raindrops! By the time I got downstairs it was pouring rain and Alex helped me bring in the clothes and we hung them up inside. Of course the rain stopped and it turned out to be a nice day and I was able to put the clothes back outside to dry...again! Mr. Genius I'm not!