Week 13

June 21, Day 84: PASTA!
Today I was invited to a new-hire lunch with the Principal and Vice Principal of MeySen. We went to an Italian restaurant and it was a nice break from Asian noodles. My dish had a cream sauce with bacon and shrimp and it was hard to spot a dish on the menu that didn’t contain some sort of seafood. Canned tuna was a very common addition to the sauces. Interesting… Eating out is hard because the menu is in Japanese most of the time and Google Translate does a poor job explaining things sometimes. I sat across from the Principal and Vice Principal and enjoyed my time getting to know them. I wish I took a photo of my food to display here, but I felt immature taking a picture of my food in the company of very important people. First impressions are important you know. I had to leave school in the middle of the day and return after our lunch, but my students greeted me with squeals and hugs. Big smiley face.

June 22, Day 85:
I officially ordered curly hair product online. Ever heard of iHerb? I placed an order after work and am excited to try out some anti-frizz products as we enter the season of extreme humidity. Oregon is not humid, so the muggy, damp weather is new to me. Paired with mask-wearing, it is not pleasant. Luckily, my classroom and apartment have air-conditioning and dehumidifying features!

June 23, Day 86:
In this unit, we are learning about the letter ‘u’ which of course means we are also learning about the word ‘umbrella’. As a craft yesterday, we made stained-glass umbrellas using tissue paper, glue, umbrella cut-outs, and wax paper! They turned out beautifully and there wasn’t a single accident at the craft table.

June 24, Day 87:
You know what’s funny about Japanese kid lunches? They consider fruit the dessert. There are no Oreos, candy bars, M&Ms, or cupcakes; rather, the kids drool over pineapple and canned pears. They aren’t supposed to eat the fruit until they are finished with the other parts of the bento, but sometimes I catch a student licking the fruit just to taste the juice as a sneak peek and I laugh because they look up with guilty eyes when I catch them. It just blows my mind that they ask for permission to eat FRUIT after finishing most of their other food. If it’s not fruit, kids bring jellies as dessert. At first, I thought it was the Jell-O stuff you see in America, but Japanese jellies are actually made with Kanten powder (vegan gelatin) and fruit juice. Some consider it healthy! Today in the school bento, jelly was served on the side and the kids went nuts. Grape is also a very popular flavor here which is different from American preferences.

June 25, Day 88:
Coming from Portland where there are coffee shops on every corner, I feel deprived of the cafe experience. There’s a popular place in Sendai called the Flat White Coffee Factory and it has a very similar interior to what you’d see in Oregon. Empty coffee bean bags hung on the wall, chalkboard illustrations of pastries, brunch options, and baristas with dyed hair. I went with some friends this morning and ordered avocado eggs benedict and a matcha latte. I’ve heard it’s bad practice to say “yum” multiple times while eating, but I couldn’t help it. I haven’t had eggs benedict since National Toast Day in February! Did you know there’s Levi’s outlet stores in Japan? And GAP? And Columbia? We went to a few American stores today after brunch and it was refreshing to see familiar brands and styles! I needed to buy some long shorts for ‘water play’ coming up at school this week… I’ll describe that in a later post. Brunch and shopping; what a pleasant Saturday!

June 26th, Day 89: Baseball in Japan!
The temperatures are rising in Japan, along with the humidity. I went to a Rakuten Eagles baseball game today and it was even more exciting than I imagined it to be. Baseball is a big deal in Japan, so people arrived decked out in Rakuten gear. I could tell who was on their way to the game on the train. The stadium was packed, but it was shockingly quiet aside from the noisemaker sticks people would beat in between plays. No shouting, no obnoxious singing, and no shirtless men under the influence. I had octopus bites and waffle fries for lunch along with some caramel corn, of course. There were so many food options to choose from! Sushi, Italian pasta, ramen, curry, fruit sandwiches, bento boxes; all at a baseball game? Strange. It started raining in the 4th inning, but it only lasted a few minutes and my friend and I are both from the Pacific Northwest, so we didn’t mind. The Eagles lost 2-0 which was a bummer because they didn’t set off the fireworks. On the way home, we stopped at a Thai Food Festival in downtown Sendai. I ordered Pad Thai from a booth, but it did not taste like the Pad Thai I knew from home. It spilled in my backpack and left a big oil stain… Officially angry with Thai food at the moment.

June 27th, Day 90:
Woke up to a thunderstorm this morning. The weather this time of year is a bit unpredictable. I made oyakodon from scratch for dinner! It’s pretty simple in theory, but it didn’t taste anything like my mom’s… I can’t even explain how much I miss my mom’s cooking… and baking… sigh. I also just miss being able to call her about random cooking questions in the moment. For example, the recipe didn’t tell me when to add the mushrooms and I wanted to call my mom to ask when she adds her mushrooms, but I don’t think she’d appreciate a call at 2 in the morning regarding shiitake mushrooms. I guess it’s just me and Google.