hi, i'm jenn

yesterday we decided to go out (read: “Jenn your dad says we’re going out”). first we went to ginambo. there i played some kendama. it took awhile, but with mama-san’s coaching i caught the ball.

  

mama-san wasn’t the only one coaching. kendall was trying to help eric have a date with a girl. quite amusing to watch. you can see a picture of the two of them team emailing her…

the rest of the night was pretty fun. hit up albert’s diablo, fiesta and then to osaka-te for okonomiyaki and grilled squid. okonomiyaki is definitely one of the greatest after bar foods – i think it comes second only to poutine.
  
in the last picture kendall is posing for my mom (and his girlfriend). heh.
tonight i’m taking full advantage of the couch and tv and space and heater.

yesterday kendall was missing so we decided to go downtown to play again. i spent 2 hours in the 100 yen store and thoroughly enjoyed myself. i think that there should be a show on TLC that has you redecorate rooms only using what you can find at the 100 Yen shop. i especially got a kick out of the hello kitty gift bags that have designer like looks to them.

    

anyway, while we were there jess snapped some awesome pictures of the lanterns. i am keeping all my lantern pictures in an album in case you’re curious.

    

on Wednesday we got an assignment. we were given money, and told to go to the Starbucks downtown and sit and observe customers and staff for an hour. we weren’t to talk to each other. well, that was fun. and first chad and i hit up a kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi place that was 100yen a plate (less than $1). there were definitely some interesting things going around the belt. pictures below.
afterwards, i had a drink from starbucks that cost more than my lunch at the sushi place – a marshmellow mocha – and did my homework like the good student i am. we still haven’t done any debrief so i’ll let you know when i find out what the point of that was.

actually, let’s make this a contest: whoever can correctly guess *why* we had to sit and observe in starbucks for an hour wins a prize!

    

I took a bunch of pics of Nachan’s place before I moved out. They’re all in this album if you’re curious. Here are a few of the room where we slept and the kitchen.

   

nagasaki has a famous lantern festival to coincide with the Lunar new year. it’s primarily in China town, but there are lanterns hanging all over the downtown shopping arcade. My favourite are the lanterns that were made by school kids in all sorts of figures and shapes. There’s even a float that runs along the streetcar tracks starting in the afternoon while the festival is running…

Anyway, the festival runs from January 29, and so on Sunday, after I returned to Nachan’s care, we went to dinner with Aya-chan and Pan-chan at Monk Project — the restaraunt owned by the woman whose daughters I teach at Seido. I had their speciality champon. It was great.



Then we walked over to china town. First we walked through the town and had a bit of fun.



Then to the main site of the festival. There were all sorts of lit up statues. It was really beautiful.




There was even a huge sculpture made of dishes.

My favourite was the cleanup crew. Especially the guy using a thin roll of scotch tape to pick up the tiny pieces that the sweepers didn’t catch.

I bought a Momo (Peach) Castella cause it was really pretty. I took a picture with the stall owner who clearly thought I was insane.


Me, Nachan and Miki shared it on Monday night. Watching Nachan butcher it was slightly traumatic, but delicious it was.



The festival runs until the 12th, so hopefully I’ll get back there before it’s over. Momore Momo please!

On Saturday I went to lunch at mama’s Fry Pan with Nachan. There we met up with Rie and her two adorable children – Misaki and Hiroki. They adolpted me for the weekend. We had a great time.
Our first stop was the game centre. Misaki has this game called Rabi Berry that she’s obsessed with. it appears every girl between the age of 4 and 12 is. I’ll post more on that later. But essentially, it’s like DDR with your hand and only one button. But first, you need to dress the characters by scanning cards. She won’t dance unless her attractiveness meter hits a certain level. Now, each card represents either a hairstyle, dress, shoes, hair colour etc. Any every time you play you get another card. So the kids there are all lined up with their binders of cards.

The to Yamada Denki – a big electronics store. The kids were SO excited when they found that there were EnTamas in stock (here is a good English site that talks about them). Apparently they’ve been sold out for, like, ever and they have been waiting to find them. so of course, the kids picked their favourite colours and got in line to buy one.


Yes, I’m also holding one in the picture. Never one to pass up an opportunity to have a new toy, I got one too. Sure, I can’t read the mail or menu options, but I’ll manage. But man, are they more complex than I remember. These guys have to go to school. They have jobs. They get married and have babies. They die and the next generation lives on. And you buy them things online with money you earn working or at the game centre.
So back to my day. After we got some massages (I so love massage chairs) and played on the balance machines or whatever they’re called we departed yamada denki.



Then all of us, accompanied by the sounds of beeping tamas, made our way to Agri – a farm area near the city. We saw horses and Totoro.


For dinner Rie made a FEAST! We had Sukyaki (mmmmmm) and Sashimi (mmmmm) and Scallops (mmmmmm). Have I mentioned I love japanese food?


Then off to bed. On Sunday we had a great breakie, played with our Tamas on their planets a little bit more.

Then, on Misaki’s request, it was time for more Rabu Barie. We had to wait for a half hour in line. Well, she waited while Hiroki and I went to buy a magazine about EnTamas. I couldn’t believe how many kids were waiting to play this game!


After misaki’s turn we headed to lunch at a local Takoyaki shop.


The afternoon was spent in an Onsen in an area called Obama with their family friends. I was so happy!
What an awesome weekend!

i’ve been looking for wool in Nagasaki. I hadn’t been able to find any, and people I asked don’t knit and couldn’t help me. but saturday as nachan and i walked down Naka-dori to lunch, I noticed one! it was filled with old ladies and wool!
so i dragged nachan inside to pick out wool for a belated birthday gift (I am making her a hat). of course, since i’m just starting, a new weight of wool meant new needles- both round ones and double pointed. let me tell you, my charades rock.
here is the label on the wool:

Wow! I didn’t know this yarn had wild animal taste. You can get likely fur touch on easy knitting by bold needle.

Anyway, knitting without a pattern is proving more difficult than originally anticipated. I’m on my fourth attempt right now. Good thing I can knit during meetings!

I am a homeless Canadian. For a number of different reasons, Nachan couldn’t keep me for February so I moved out of there this morning. I was supposed to move in with a family today, but they’re all sick with the Flu. So in the meanwhile, Kendall is my host dad. Here is a picture of us dancing.

I’ve moved into the spare room at his place which is next door to the office. So tomorrow we have to be here at 9. I will wake up at 9. In the meantime, Dad doesn’t cook, so we’re off to Shu’s cafe. While I’ve never tasted any of Shu’s food, he claims to be quite profficient in the kitchen…
More about the weekend to follow!

Nachan is an Esthe (japanese for Esthetician). She is also an instructor, and teaches students how to give facials and hand massages etc. Last night I was their willing “victim” as they practiced their technique. I think Nachan is an excellent teacher!

so i’m here working on curriculum and materials development for english teaching in japan. among other things we’re working on a language DVD. for part of the DVD they want us to look like certain characters. so i am being Anpanman. I got to do arts and crafts, and my costume turned out pretty well:

amanda wore her costume around nagasaki. she is brave:

Later in the day we had to film a scene in a taxi. So Eric, Jess and Amanda got to walk around Nagasaki in their costumes. Here are some fun pictures of them.

They had adoring fans on buses, and school children were delighted!

Hopefully next time I’ll get to shoot outside too 😉