Oh, How Time Flies!

It has already been 4 weeks! I can't believe it. I felt like I was so busy, but was I really busy? Maybe its just my personal rationalisation for why I haven't cleaned the floors of my apartment yet haha. During the past weeks , I went to Tokyo and Saitama, ate BBQ at the beach, attended my first speech contest, and even went to a Buddhist church building. It was quite eventful and I just couldn't possibly fit in so trivial a task such as cleaning the floors, right? (the rationalisation is strong...) I find it easier to describe everything in pictures and beside reading is overrated :p (JK reading is awesome sauce!)

 Bought my first surfboard! It was used but a solid choice and a nice size for beginners. Only problem was that on my first day out... I broke two of the fins off... but that was the challenge brought before me and I was not about to give up!

 Not going to give up... that is until クラゲさん ( Mr. Jellyfish ) decided to give me a high five... two broken fins and a jellyfish "V" sign... No! I won't give up! haha

 Got my baby girl repaired the very next day and she was outfitted with a deluxe trio of super strong and flexible fins. Thanks to the awesome surf shop owner at Creight!

Thanks to a serendipitous meeting at the beach, I acquired a pair of Asahi beers and more importantly a pair of new friends that are just amazing people. It began as I was going for a dip in the ocean and saw two girls thrashing about nearby. Then as I attempted to read after a light surf, it began to rain. I retreated to the only shelter that was nearby... but those "crazy girls" were there... and it turns out they  new someone I had met previously! A small world moment indeed~! Those are the best kind of meetings, chance meetings during rainy nights. 

 First N-kai with the herd of teachers from Kamo-chuu and it was a good one indeed. Complete with sashimi, copious amounts of beer, and many other delicious foods. 

So, I was casually strolling around the local supermarket, deciding on the proper course for dinner, when suddenly the man at the yakitori shop starts shouting. What? What!? What's going on!??!? It turns out that it was the time before closing and the yakitori was all heavily discounted. Get this, 300Y (around $2.50) for 5 random sticks!!! 

 Crossing the beautiful Tokyo Bay and had some good timing as I just barely caught the sunset over the bay. This was also the first time I took the bus vs train to Tokyo and I must admit, not only was it faster but it was way more convenient as well. You don't have to transfer and you can just sit there and wait until you arrive at your destination. Bus > Train.

 My first Japanese friend was Kenji. We met in our first year of college long ago and he was gracious enough to hold a birthday party for me! It was also Akitoshi's birthday party, so let's just say there was heaps of alcohol involved! 

Special thanks to Tetsu and his wife for bringing this amazing cake. It was by far one of the most delicious things I have tasted in my life and if you know me well, you know I LOVE desserts!

And yet another big thank you to Natsu and Nami (not a wave lol) for this mysterious gift! I don't completely understand the meaning, but it is very fun and it will bring me "luck" right? HAHA

 Wandering around in... I can't remember exactly, but somewhere in Tokyo (I think Shimokitazawa?) and we found this little gem. Yep, that's right, Las Vegas is alive and well here in Tokyo! Not only that, but it's an arcade! How perfect hahaha.

 First live show in Japan. It brought back so many fond memories of my old alternative rocker skateboarding days. Michi, Yu, Kenji, and I all went together and rocked out all night! I had to leave early because I had to catch the last bus home, so I missed the final picture, but I still had an amazing time. Thank you for the invite :)

 Met up with the block 7 swag team and hit up this okonomiyaki (Japanese style pizza) place in Katsuura. It was sooooo good and okonomiyaki is my favourite Japanese food, so I felt as if I was in heaven. They even had an amalgam of two of my favorite foods, kimchi okonomiyaki!

Lots of beers and cheers! Such a fun time. To end on a high note, we decided on monjayaki as the finale. Monjayaki is like okonomiyaki, except more watery and you eat it with tiny little spatulas. It is often over-looked because of its vomit-like appearance, but it is definitely a must-try. Make sure to ask the host for directions on how to prepare it, there's more to it than throwing it on the hot plate.

 House food party round two at Max's apartment and it was absolutely amazing. I didn't prepare any of this and just watched the masters at work. Zach's special green curry, Nacchan's dynamite natto pork, Max's kimchi salad powwow, and my contribution, the otsumami slam dunk (otsumami is a type of food you eat while drinking alcohol and these particular ones were gifted to me by a supervisor at work). A good night indeed~

 This didn't strike me as strange right away... but then people began to point out how I load my carbs with additional carbs o.o but how can I resist? It's so delicious and of course this was followed up with dessert!

Block 7 BBQ meet up and Melinda found this arrow shaped piece of kelp :o At first I wasn't allowed in the picture for not being artsy-fartsy enough (HAHA) but then I did one of these and I made it in the pic yay! 

 Sometimes you just stumble on to fun things when your browsing the interwebs and I thought I'd share this little gem for my science peeps :) Its a human skeleton outline and each bone is constructed from the actual name of the bone~

 My next visit to Tokyo was a one day trip during silver week to go to the Keyaki Beer Festival in Saitame, but I forgot to take pictures :( However the aftermath led me to a darts bar where I got my butt handed to me :o and to put it lightly, many batsu (penalty) shots followed...

Just this last Friday was the day of the Southern Chiba area English speech contest. Us English teachers have been staying late everyday to whip these gifted JHS students in shape for this very moment. The kids all worked very hard, so I decided to surprise them with little charms, candies, and a note of encouragement. I think they liked them haha and guess what! Kamo-chuu took the Southern Chibas out and claimed three 1st place prizes and one 2nd place prize in the four categories. You rock Kamo-chuu! I couldn't have been happier. Also I can't take any credit as these kids practiced their hearts out. The level of self-motivation was impressive!

 This is a picture of the beginning of the end... yes, that's right, it's LATTE DAY. The coffee binge adventure was challenged by 5 brave souls and began at cafe boba. I ordered some awesome curry and a cafe mocha blended beverage with boba inside. You probably don't know this, but boba is an extremely rare commodity in Japan, but there is a nice little spot right here in Isumi!... only an hour away! lol well worth the journey as not only was the food and beverage delicious, but the owners were super nice and speak perfect English (they lived in America for some long number of years).

 After the gruelling battle at cafe boba, we had sadly lost two members of our party, however we went to Mobara to grab the only female member for today's Journey. Even after hearing the terrifying story of the loss of two others to the boba bandits, she agreed to join and challenge the Latte gods. We began here in Coffee Second. The decor of this first dungeon reminded us all of grandma's house and the odour did well to match the ambiance. 

 The barista studied in Australia and had a fun personality. He whipped us up delicious drinks with the classic art associated with the latte culture. I was literally in heaven and caffeine levels were beginning to approach max capacity. 

 After roaming around the local bookstore, we made our way into Daifuku, an amazing pizza joint in Mobara, and proceeded to destroy pizzas one after another. They even have some kind of spicy olive oil that you can pour on top of the pizza! It was quite the gastronomical experience!

 We almost didn't make it out alive, but I decided to throw out a last minute Curaga. Thankfully no one was KO'd. But in all seriousness, it was someone's birthday so they shut off all the lights and then disco ball hell breaks loose. Luckily for me, one got stuck and decided it would rather spend its final moments blinding me than to shoot off all willy nilly to celebrate a stranger's birthday. Thank you technical difficulties. Because of you I got an amazing picture and could also see coloured spots for about 20 mins after. 

 After the near death experience in the Daifuku dungeon, we came across the final battleground, Peace Coffee. I have only heard stories of this place and it's caffeinated coffers. The place just reaked of American cafe culture and the mobs inside looked frightfully dangerous. Many bosses lay in wait for our brave travellers, many with confidence-shattering names. There was sleeping guy (who was never sleeping, but just looked like he was) and English study guy (studying the ancient runes of Eigo). Quite a presence was had there. The four brave souls clashed with the titans therein and with the help of a new ally (MAX, hidden amongst the treacherous enemies), came out alive to continue war against the Latte gods. 

 Last minute coffee bean purchase netted us a final latte and the metaphorical stake in the coffin... The only two adventurers brave enough were warrior Mackenzie and myself. The last sip proved to be too strong and we both died just a little bit inside. Luckily we were revived at the local family mart (was it a family mart?) and bid our farewells. The adventure was a success and the Latte gods barracks took a devastating blow. 

 During our adventure, we acquired special treasures. The Gudetama charms protected us well against our adversaries and will continue to lend us there powers. The power to be lazy!...

Life can surprise you in many ways. It can take you on all kinds of journeys. Sometimes your heart will be racing from the excitement, sometimes it will beat from fear, but sometimes all you gotta do is say yes. You may end up with nothing at all or you may end up with new friends and a Mont Blanc Parfait. Carpe Diem and seize the moment~ you might never get the same chance twice!

School has Begun

Classes in Kamogawa have just began, or at least for the school I will be teaching at. I was so excited to begin and start my journey of teaching. I knew I had to prepare a small speech for the school's opening ceremony, but I ended up indulging a little too much in my hedonistic side this weekend and didn't get to practice at all. It's okay because I would arrive at 8:00 and not need to present until after 9:00.... or so I thought. As I entered, I was informed that I would give my introduction around 9:30ish, but I also had to do an introduction in front of the entire staff right away! I gave a rather choppy introduction at that time and told myself, "you better practice that big speech a thousand times Brandon!". With the remaining time I practiced and gave my introduction in English and then in Japanese (which I was told surprised many students LOL). My Japanese is not very good, but I will be trying to improve it as much as I can! The rest of the day was basically a free day as I toured the school watching all of the kids practice their battle dance for the upcoming sports festival. The amount of hard work and dedication that these kids showed me was admirable. I wished they had something like this back in the states. The sports festival day was nearing and I couldn't be more excited!

 On Sunday I decided to try my hand at making Japanese style hamburg steak. It was a half success...although I learned a lot about how to prepare better next time. I thought I had to cook the patties fully before pouring sauce on top, however I missed the step where you allow the patties to simmer in the sauce for 10 minutes, thus finishing the cooking process. I ended up just dabbing them in the sauce for fear of overcooking. 

 Due to a tip I read online of adding tofu to the recipe, the meat stayed remarkably moist despite the lengthy cooking time. I was thoroughly impressed and had an all-kill game plan for the next hamburg escapade. 

 The next day I thought I'd try making yakisoba pan (pan is bread)! I was inspired by the combini yakisoba pan I ate from family mart that day and figured, Hey, I make yakisoba all the time, so this should be easy! Oh how wrong I was LOL. The downfall began with the bread, which said something along the lines of margarine and jam on the package. It looked rather plain so I purchased two of those bad boys. When I got home I was surprised to find that inside the bread was a fat line of jam and an even larger line of margarine... Although I read that on the package, I thought it was merely a suggestion of what to eat the bread with >_< The worst part was yet to come... the margarine and jam were easily excavated with a spoon, however the yakisoba pan had the structural integrity of a wet paper bag in a hailstorm... thus as I ate this wonderful bun, the Niagara Falls of yakisoba poured from every orifice in the bread. I remember at some point I got angry at the bread (yes, AT the bread) that I held the bottom with both of my palms and ate the bun like a monkey eats a banana. I had experienced devolution that night...

 Luckily the next day I was able to have my first experience of preparing okonomiyaki in Japan. This food is often coined as the pizza of Japan, only its probably 100x healthier. It consists of a light batter and heaps of cabbage with a crusted pork belly top.

 Now I couldn't leave this pizza naked, so I added the traditional okonomiyaki toppings of: okonomi sauce ( a tangy brown delicacy), kewpie mayonnaise (accept no others!), shaved bonito flakes (they wave in the heat of the okonomiyaki, signalling that its ready to eat), and a brisk shake of aonori (delicious flecks of seaweed). Quite the sight and equally quite the feast. Start to stop time on making these puppies including prep, probably 15 minutes!

When I arrived to work, I was greeted with the Kamogawa newspaper (I showed the picture only previously) and it was a nice little reminder that I was here to do something great for the kids in Kamogawa and I couldn't be happier to do so~!