Om Nom Nom

Hi! One test down, one to go. Our History exam was pretty straight-forward! Here's hoping Japanese goes as well...my last exam didn't go as well as I was hoping, so I'll be studying lots tonight. But first, an update for you. Because I love you. :)Tomorrow will be fun! We're going on an adventure to Takarazuka! First, some background. The Takarazuka Revue is a theater troupe that is sort of a reverse of Shakespearean theater groups. All the members are female - they play both females and males. They adapt all sorts of musicals and then perform them - for example, they just finished a run of Romeo and Juliet. One of my friends here is a diehard Takarazuka fan, and is going to see a show of theirs in a few weeks. She wanted some company as she figures out the route there, so we decided to come along. Osaka happens to be on the way, so we're going to do some sightseeing in Osaka after, spend the night there, and do some more exploring of Osaka before we head back to Hikone. Should be an adventure! This will be my first overnight trip where I don't have hosts waiting for me.

And, because I haven't been doing much lately and need to get to studying, it's time for a Top 5! My Top 5 today, a personal favorite of mine, is Wonderful Foods in Japan. Here are probably my 5 favorite meals to eat here!

1. Gyoza and ChahanOkay, so this one might be "cheating", as this is not actually Japanese food. It's Chinese! But I could probably have these every day without tiring of them. Gyoza are dumplings, usually containing veggies and pork. Chinese dumplings are more widely-varied, but the Japanese version is delicious. And chahan is, of course, fried rice. The most common types of fried rice are seafood: ebi (shrimp), kani (crab), and gomoku (which has several types of fish/seafood). Love it!
2. NabeAs I've said before, nabe can refer to a lot of things, because the pot itself is a nabe pot. You basically heat a broth of some sort and cook veggies, meats, and whatever else you want in it. It's a really common meal when you have parties because it's easy to feed everyone - just add more stuff to the pot until everyone has had enough to eat. My favorite type of nabe is sukiyaki, in which the sauce is a combination of soy sauce, sake, sugar, and water. However, there are lots of variants and they're all good! Shabu-shabu is popular in Japan, because everything is just boiled in water and you just eat it with a little soy sauce. It's very healthy, apparently. Another common trend with nabe is to put noodles in at the end of your meal - the broth has a ton of flavor from all the veggies and meat you've tossed in, so you can have really tasty noodles at the end. It makes me wish we had a nabe in the dorm!
3. DoriaAh, Japanese "American" food. It always amuses me what qualifies as American food in American restaurants in Japan. A big staple is the hamburger steak...there are several restaurant chains that mainly serve that, usually with fries. Doria, however, also takes a bit from the Italian tradition. It's about as close as you can get to baked ziti here. :) Basically, you take white rice and mix a bit of butter and salt in, and put a layer in a baking dish. You add whatever toppings you want - shrimp, chicken, or my personal favorite, bacon and spinach. Then you cover it with a thick, rich cream sauce, cover the top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and bake it. Ahhhhh...so tasty. I will go to Viva City just for the doria, because that's where the best ones are.
As a sidenote, 2 more cool things about Japan are in this picture. This is at Coco's, the restaurant connected to campus. A big thing in Japan is corn soup...mmm. I will miss having it everywhere when I go home. :/
Another common theme in Japanese American restaurants is the "drink bar". It's so much cooler than any drink fountain you've seen in the US. They have soft-drink dispensers, but that's the tip of the iceberg. They also have a hot drink dispenser for hot cocoa and things, as well as a wide selection of loose teas so you can steep your own tea. Thus, my 3 different drinks. XD
4. Katsu Curry2 of my favorites, on the same plate! First, the katsu. Katsu refers to a breaded and fried filet of meat...usually it's a chicken breast or a pork cutlet. And Japanese curry! Japan is not a spicy food-country, for the most part. So Japanese curry is incredibly flavorful without being spicy. Perfect for me! When you make curry at home, you usually put pieces of onion, carrot, potato, and meat so it's really thick. But the katsu curry version is just really creamy. And you get it all with rice! I imagine it would be hard to make at home, so I need to go have some more while I can! XD
5. Japanese BreadIf you've been reading my blog for any period of time, you know how I love Japanese bread. I wasn't expecting this when I came here, though. My first time in Japan, the only place I had bread was in Hiroshima. And it was delicious, but I figured it was some random fluke of a place. After all, when you think of pastries and artisan bread, where do you think of? Europe, and rightly so. They have awesome stuff in places like Switzerland, Germany, and France. But Japan? Nah. And then my roommate took me to Vidal. And that's not even an anomaly - there are pastry places everywhere! I'm really considering taking a bread cookbook home with me...I don't even care if it's in Japanese. I will translate it so I can have the delicious bread when I get home. My favorites are probably caramel apple bread, chocolate orange bread (pictured here), and cheesecake bread. Mmmmmm....

Goodness, this is making me hungry. Good thing it's almost dinner time. ;) Have a great day! When we meet again, I'll have Osaka pics for you.

Lazy Weekend

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

SNOW!!!

We have SO MUCH SNOW! Snow fell all Sunday night and most of yesterday, and it was blizzarding this morning. Everything is COVERED in snow. It’s kind of awesome, besides the fact that I’m snowbound and without access to a grocery store. I went shopping on Saturday, but I forgot to get much in the way of food (like meat or veggies) so I’m pretty sure I will be surviving on vegetarian curry, fried rice and cereal until it clears. XD

It is gorgeous outside, though! It has stopped snowing for a while, so the sun is out. And we got our class canceled for an hour this morning while it was still blizzarding. So, today has been a short day! This afternoon we went out to build snowmen, but were stymied by the bulldozers (all they have to clear the snow!) so we instead decided to just play around by the lake. :D And now I'm back inside with a cup of Mexican hot cocoa and my Engrish sweatshirt, warming back up and thinking that life's pretty great at the moment. :)

Not much else has happened today! We have been given the opportunity to participate in internships - they're a 3-hour commitment one day a week. I'd like to go teach English at the elementary school - there are also some waiter and clerk jobs and a translator job at City Hall. We interview for those tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes. :)

Today I’m doing something a little different with my post. I figured that, after a while, posting every 2 days would get redundant. After all, weekends are exciting but my classes aren’t really. I mean, I learned Japanese today! But I also learned it every day last week as well. Nothing too interesting has happened yet. So, I’ve decided to start some Top 5 lists. Basically, the lists are of random things I’ve noticed about Japan but haven’t really been able to include in posts yet. So, I get to share random pictures and you get to learn more about Japan. Sounds good?

I figured I’d start my lists off positively with 5 Innovations That Make Life In Japan Great. There’s also one on innovations I wish Japan would pick up on, but why be a negative nancy to start with? Here are some of the random perks of living in Japan. :D

Specific Water Heaters

See this little console? It’s really cool, and hooked up to our shower. Basically, you set it to the temperature you want (I like 41 degrees Celsius, personally), turn the hot water faucet all the way on, and in 2 minutes you get the perfect temperature of water. You can also use it to boil water to make tea/hot cocoa/instant meals right in your tap. No more twiddling the dial! Also, as an added bonus you never have to worry about the water spontaneously cooling down because the heater maintains the temperature you set.

Microwave convection ovens

This is the coolest microwave ever! As you can see, it doesn’t have any number buttons – everything is just an option. Do you want toast? Just press the toast button (#4!), and your bread will come out nice and toasted on top. Want to warm up some milk to make hot cocoa? Press the hot beverage button! Want to bake a cake? Press the cake button(#8)! (And while I haven’t tried it yet I’m going to maintain that it works. I’ll get back to you on that!) Just warming up food is a little trickier because the buttons are more difficult to find, but you can do that, too. Just set the power level and time like you would at home (by pressing the minute button at the bottom). Awesome. :D

Lappi Machines

Lappi Machines are in just about every vending machine store ever. They look sort of like a miniature Redbox kiosk or an old arcade game. But they are so much more useful! You can buy all sorts of things with a Lappi machine. I’ve used it to get concert tickets, but you can use it to pay for online purchases, buy merchandise, get train tickets or tickets, make copies, and even pay bills! You can also order concert/event tickets online and pick them up at your closest convenience store. It’s super-cool.

Train Timetables

The subway system in Japan is, of course, legendary. Everyone knows about how you can get anywhere you want in Japan by subway. And it’s mostly true! In large towns like Tokyo, it is entirely possible to get anywhere you need to go by train. In Kyoto the train and bus system combined can get you anywhere. Even smaller towns like Hikone have a train station (and Hikone has 2!). What is really remarkable about it is the train schedule. Pick a day, any day, within the next three months. You can know the departure and arrival times of every train in Japan. And, if you book a trip for some random day in March, you can depend on those times still being accurate. It’s pretty cool. Hyperdia is my new hero – it’s a search engine for traveling Japan by train. I’ve looked up a lot of different routes to get to new places, and it’s a must-have resource if you ever intend to travel in Japan. Timetables rock.

Rice Cookers

This one is also a little less exciting than the others. After all, they have rice cookers in America also! But I’m still a huge fan of rice cookers. They’re versatile enough that you can use them like crock pots (and though I haven’t tried any recipes, they sound intriguing). Also, you don’t have to wait to need rice to start cooking it. You can start your cooker at, say, breakfast and have fluffy, perfect rice available for you for lunch and dinner (and perhaps even the next day, if you push it!). My roommate says it’s also great for making stews. And it’s so tiny! Very portable, very safe for use (as opposed to the fish fryer and open burners we have to deal with otherwise), and so easy. I understand why the Japanese eat rice all the time!

I hope this was enlightening. :) Have a wonderful week, and hopefully by the next time you hear from me, I will have been able to leave campus(and will maybe have an internship!).

5 Reasons I Know I'm In Japan, Not Texas

1. The doorsThis is the entrance to my room! It's separated from the rest of the apartment with sliding glass doors. And the quilt on my bed is made entirely by my mother, who is fantastic and knows me all too well. :)
2. The kitchen
This is all the kitchen I have, which is a little depressing. As you can see, it consists of a stove with 2 burners and a tiny broiler for cooking fish. Off to the right is a fridge and a convection oven/microwave. Which means if I want to bake, I have to get creative. And I will! Just...not tonight.
3. The signs
Obviously, all the signs are in Japanese. This is on our bathroom door (the Japanese is "Otearai", which means washroom. The two characters are te, meaning hand, and arau, meaning wash). I will get more pictures of the city at large later - too much rushing around today!
4. The food
This was my lunch today! It was ramen - the real kind. It was delicious! I don't actually know what I ordered...I just pointed at something on a menu and hoped it would turn out okay. I believe it had a soy-based broth (as opposed to salt or miso) and had some kind of meat and green onions. Not sure what the orange stuff is - the theory was some sort of fish roe but it was spicy, so I have my doubts. Also, the little white and blue thing that looks like a tamagotchi? It's the order button! You press it and the waitress comes to you. :) So you can take all the time you want to decide.
5. The snow!
It's the view from my window! I didn't encounter any snow, but there was a lot of snow that fell on New Year's that has yet to melt completely. So cool. :D

I've accomplished a lot today! :) And last night - I totally unpacked so my room feels a little more homey, if lacking in wall decorations. Definitely should have brought my Nightwish flags. :) Here's a picture of the nifty closet thing on the other side of my room. I also have a desk, chair, lamp, and a bookshelf. It's all pretty empty right now! Also, the little gray thing on the bottom shelf is my space heater. We don't have central heating in the dorm, and keeping the room heater on is expensive, so the space heater is the cheapest way to keep things warm. I don't mind the chill too much - it just means I have to snuggle up under a ton of blankets, which is fine with me!I also met my roommate - her name is Amanda, and she's a visual studies/Japanese/political science major at Michigan State (MSU). She's really cool, and we have so much in common it's frightening. The same shampoo, toothpaste, and deoderant, the same winter coat (in different colors), and we like the same authors (including China Mieville) and bands. I think we'll get along really well! I also met her friend Jade, who is a Japanese major at MSU also (at least 40% of the students here are from MSU). I think I'll be seeing a lot of them both. :) I've met plenty of other people, too - we've been mixed up with a lot of different people so I'm starting to get everyone's names.

Today was orientation day! We learned about all the rules and regulations, which was a lot to take in. Mr. Kanagawa then talked to us, praising the glory of Shiga prefecture. It's apparently responsible for 43% of all of Japan's manufacturing though it's only 1% of Japan in terms of land mass and population. What's even more impressive is the fact that the lake nearby (Lake Biwa) is so pristine. This area is really environmentally-conscious, so they put a lot of work into keeping their cities clean.

After orientation, we received our bikes and checked out a lock and helmet. Mine is named Angevine. :) We then went on a bike tour of the city. I was a little nervous because I hadn't ridden a bike since probably middle school, but it ended up coming pretty naturally to me. We were out on the town for a total of 5 hours, including stopping for lunch and getting groceries. It was probably 2.5-3 hours of solid biking, so I am sore and exhausted, but triumphant. I didn't crash or cause others harm, and I kept up with the rest of the group! And I managed a Japanese grocery store pretty well. They're huge! It's hard to tell at first glance what an aisle has because all the packaging looks the same. I really just need an afternoon to wander around. I did, however, get some of my staples - garlic powder, Golden Curry mix, and gyoza. And Frosted Flakes. XD

I'm not sure how much of the map knowledge I'll remember from the tour, but it was nice to see everything(or, glimpses of it, at least). Hikone is gorgeous, and the weather was clear and not too cold! And by not too cold, I mean I was in jeans, tights, tall socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and a coat and wasn't freezing. XD And now I'm back inside and relaxing for the night - made curry for my roommate and her friend, and had a bit of a music exchange party. I'm sharing my symphonic metal knowledge in exchange for some J-rock. Good times. :)

We have our placement test tomorrow! I'm hoping to test into Level 3. Interestingly enough, the books JCMU uses are the same as the ones at A&M, so I've already covered most of the Level 3 book. But I have a feeling I've lost a LOT of the language skills I had at the end of last year, so I'm just hoping I held onto enough. :)