Paella in Japan

Today the International Culture Association cooked paella. This is the same group that cooked won ton soup and mabo tofu, and had the Christmas party. Mr. Yamagi is the president of this group.

Mr. Yamagi had introduced me to Sr. Bravo few weeks ago. He is a Spaniard living in Karasuyama, as a potter.
I tried to use my rusty Spanish, but my brain can only do one foreign language at a time, apparently. I was trying not to combine Japanese and Spanish vocabulary, and trying to remember which grammar set to use! Yikes!

The sentence I wanted was, "this meal was delicious." In English and Spanish, the past tense is contained in the copula (was). In Japanese, it's tacked onto the adjective. So, my poor brain was trying to add a Japanese past tense ending to "delicioso" (delicioshikatta?), and not even thinking about the gender of "cocina". And I started out using the Japanese word for "this".

Back to the cooking!

Mr. Yamagi










Mr. Bravo.











Here are our ingredients. Seafood, veggie and rice.













We divided into six groups to cook our paella. Here is part of my group.













Olive oil, chicken, onion, peppers and squid.







Soup and rice were added, and simmered to cooke the rice. Here, shrimp and clams are added at the end. The clams were previously soaked in wine.























A room of hungry cooks!










Mr Yamagi and Sam, another ALT in Nasukarasuyama. Sam is from Kenya.

Here is the end result!

Delicioso or oishii, it was yummy!

Tax refund

I got my tax refund! Well, the one from the Japanese government anyway. It's not a lot, but it's better than nothing, and a lot better than having to pay in.

My employer took care of it. If I had had another job, I would have had to do it myself. They asked me how many dependents I had, how much money I sent my dependents outside Japan and how much I paid for health insurance and retirement. The refund was added to my January paycheck. Nice!

Snow!

It's been slow here -- not much to report on. It's cold, but not as cold as Wisconsin.

One day last week, I looked out as saw snow! OK, so it was really just a heavy frost. But it looked nice. It was also the same morning that my pipes froze. This building is cinder block and not well insulated. And because heat rises, and I'm sleeping on the floor, it's always chilly when I get up in the morning.

So, here are some pics of the snow/frost.

Test Day

Today I took the J-Test!

The J-Test is a test of practical Japanese language ability. An alternative test is the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). But, with the J-Test, you take the test and they tell you what level you are. With the JLPT, you have to choose a test level, then you either pass or fail.

I took the easier test, levels E-F. I'll let you know how I did when I get my results!

It must have been test day. I saw several of my students at Utsunomiya station. They told me they were taking a test. They were very surprised when I said, "Me, too! I'm taking a Japanese test." They have to take an entrance exam to get into high school.

My test was near Omiya station, which is 2 1/2 hours away by train. I had intended to stop at Makudonarudo for lunch, but it was crowded (I checked two of them), so I decided to try KFC. They had a "Beer Set", which was advertised by saying that beer made chicken delicious. It wasn't as hot or delicous as McDonald's, though. One piece of chicken, fries and a small beer was 700 yen.

When I got done with lunch, I headed toward Tokyu Hands. On the way, I saw this. Yes, that is a man dressed as a cow, singing. It is the year of the cow, but how strange! I wasn't the only one taking pictures.

On the way home, I ran into some students again. I got to keep my question booklet from my test so I showed them my test booklet and they showed me their English test booklet. I hope we all did well!

BTW, for another gaijin look at Japan, check out this blog: Loco in Yokohama Some of it may not be totally SFW (subject and/or language -- your mileage may vary depending on where you work), but Loco writes interesting stuff. Check it out!

Edo-Tokyo Museum (江戸東京博物館)

I went back to Tokyo again on Sunday. I had arranged to meet my friend Kazumi and go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum.　　She brought her friend Mitsuko.

Mitsuko has a kiln at her home and she gave me a beautiful vase she'd made herself!!

This picture was taken using auto-everything.










This picture was taken with manual focus using Live View on the the Canon. I also used the aperture priority setting. Either way, it's a beautiful vase, don't you think?

This is the second time I've met Kazumi in person. The first time was, we figured out, three years ago when I came to Yamasa for the second time. That time, she gave me detailed instructions on how to get to a station near her house in Chiba prefecture, including how to get to the right platform at Tokyo Station. This time, we just agreed to meet at the west gate of Ryogoku Station (両国駅）. I feel so accomplished! For those of you who want to go to the Museum, it's right outside the west gate of the station.

Tokyo has been a big city for a long time. It was previously called Edo, and the Edo period of Japanese history started when the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu moved there in 1603. By the mid 18th century, Tokyo had a population of more than a million. By 1965, it was the first city to have population of over 20 million.

Back to the museum. It has several large models of the Edo-era city. It also has a good overview of the Tokugawa shoguns.

Currently, there is a taiga drama on NHK called "Atsuhime". It's about a princess in the time leading up to and during the Meiji restoration (1868). The museum has some pieces actually owned by the real Atsuhime. Sadly, photography is not allowed in that exhibit.

Here are some pics.

This is a picture of a 1/30 model of the area where the townspeople lived.













This is a model of the Nihonbashi area.












This is a model of buldings in Edo Castle.












I can't go to Tokyo Station without going to Maruzen bookstore. Here are some lights outside the Oazu building where Maruzen is. Just go out the Marunouchi North exit and there you are.