Pictures and Ramblings

Aaron really enjoys taking pictures of things he finds interesting wherever we go, so you have him to thank for these shots. We went to Monbetsu yesterday for some shopping. On our way home, we drove up above the village and took these pictures from an overlook. The one posted here is pretty much the entire village. By clicking the link, you can see a shot just a little to the right of the village, showing the valley we live in.

I’ll try and describe some of the things show in the first photo. The round building with the dome on top is the Komu, otherwise known around this house as the ‘wooden playground’ featured in a previous post. To the right of the dome you can see a glass roof that reaches up towards the sky, and that is the Atomu, or the play area with all the wooden balls. The building with the glass ‘pyramid’ on top is the hotel. If you look carefully on the left side of the picture, you can see a building with a small tower-like structure. It is near the edge and not much is behind it. This red-brick building is the village office building and our house is directly across the street from it. Here's the other photo: Valley Shot

Now for the shopping pictures. The first one is mostly packaged veggies and some items which I’m afraid I cannot identify for you. The prices are written in red and are usually per package. So, for example, the carroty looking stuff at the top on the left side is 208 yen for the package. Misc. Food

Here we have some sort of fish. There are so many different kinds of sea food, I can’t even begin to try and guess what each one is. Fish

I apologize for the blurry picture, but, as usual, decided to include it anyway. Aaron says these are sardines. They have been skewered through the mouth and gills, presumably to make it easier to cook them on a grill or broiler. Sardines

For 580 yen, you can treat yourself to one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of some very large snails. Need I say more?? Snails

Here’s looking at you! Gotta love the fish eyes! I think this is a collection of fish bits for soup or something. Something I won’t be eating, that is. Fish Eye

Salmon roe, probably from Alaska. Spendy stuff, those salmon eggs. If you look at the label, you can see that the price is about 580 yen for 100 grams. I don’t know if the fish eggs on the bottom are the same, as the price is several hundred yen cheaper. Most meat here is priced per 100 grams. Salmon Eggs

Squid and octopus. Mmmmmm. Two of the first foods I learned how to say in Japanese (‘inka’ and ‘taco’). So I could avoid them, of course. Inka, Taco

This grocery store, as do many of the larger ones, has a nice selection of prepared foods for customers to purchase. These plates are variations on little rice pouches. Well, at least the plate in the foreground is. That shrimp, wrapped in nori (dried seaweed), is setting on top of a fried pouch of rice. I think the other items in the back ground may be similar. Can you spot the one topped with salmon roe? Deli Food

These are tempura fried veggies and shrimp, complete with tails and eyes. I went to (another) party this week to welcome a new middle school teacher. One of the items at dinner was huge shrimp. They had been boiled, but still had their heads and tails on. I told the teachers next to me that it I didn’t really like it when my food looked at me. However, I persevered, and, with a little assistance, managed to eat one. Without the head and tail, thank goodness. You can never be sure what foods they eat with the head/tail, and which ones they don’t. Tempura

This last shot doesn’t need any explaining, I guess. Sushi. I can’t tell if it is sashimi (uncooked) or not. Judging by the low price, I would say that the fish in it is cooked. 530 yen is less than $5.00. Sushi

It seems that every few days, the boys pick up another Japanese word. “Genki” is a word often heard on children’s programs. Literally, it translates to “lively”. Ridge finally asked me what it meant, so I told him. Later that day, he was running circles around the house, from one room to another. As his little bare feet pounded into the floor in a fair imitation of a cattle stamped, he yelled, “Look, Mommy! I’m genki!” Holt now giggles whenever Aaron calls him, “my little onigiri”. Onigiri is a ball of rice, usually wrapped up with a little nori and sometimes filled with a little tuna, salmon, or other meat. It’s like a cheap version of sushi, and is the Japanese equivalent of a sandwich. We call Holt an onigiri because he is always, always, covered with rice. We have to make our rice sticky so we can eat it with chopsticks, so it easily sticks to small children, as well. Not that we always eat with chopsticks. Sometimes we do. Once you get the hang of them, they are darn useful. For example, when cooking bacon (though you wouldn’t think of it as bacon – it’s cut differently and uncured), we usually use chopsticks to stir and pick things up. Anyway, the other day in the car, they were playing with each other, saying, ‘kawaii’ over and over again. What was really funny is that they were saying it in exactly the same way that they hear it all the time. I think they know what it means – cute/pretty. Needless to say, the boys get a lot of attention from anyone who is female, and even some men. Holt totally knows that people think he is cute. People will smile at him and say ‘konnichiwa’ and he just beams his cutest smile up at them. Shortly thereafter, the gushing begins.

I think both boys have been changing a lot lately. Holt can pretty much dress himself. Kind of. Ridge helps out every night after dinner. If he is misbehaving, I can threaten him with not being allowed to help wash dishes. Believe me, I am treasuring every moment of being able to use taking away a chore as punishment. He also wipes the table off after dinner and has become very interested in learning to fold his clothes. How lucky am I?? They really seemed to have settled in well here, and Ridge is anxiously awaiting entry into pre-school. It’s very rewarding to see them happily playing outside, with each other and sometimes with the children on the street. I never have to remind them to take their shoes off when walking on tatami or into a building where we have to take our shoes off. Ridge is really fast with taking them off and putting them back on, too. When we use a restroom in public, in a building where shoes are removed, toilet shoes are used. The always slip them right on as if they had been doing it all their lives. Ridge is trying very hard to learn to use chopsticks and eats just about anything I put in front of him. As far as I can tell, they are happy here.

I have finally started trying in earnest to learn more Japanese. Everyone I work with now knows, and it has become a little bit of a joke. It’s okay, though. I can’t say it enough times that everyone here is very kind and generous. I am determined to move beyond, ‘watashi wa Michelle desu’ (I am Michelle). Problem is, I keep sticking in Spanish. So, in my head, I’ll think of trying to say I’m feeling good. What tries to come out is “yo soy genki”. Yo soy – Spanish for I am; Genki – Japanese. It’s a little confusing. At the party the other night, the teachers I was sitting next to were teasing me and trying to get me to list every Japanese word I know. I’m proud to say that I know enough that I couldn’t list them all. For now, I’ll say konbanwa (good evening), and wrap up this post.