Welcome Party

On Friday October 23, we had a welcome party for the new ALT and a surprise birthday party for one of the English teachers. The party was held at a restaurant called Danpo (暖歩), which means warm walk. The food was really good, and it was Japanese style (washoku 和食). Naturally, it was all you can drink as well. I don't think I've been to a party (飲み会 or 宴会) in Japan that didn't have all you can drink. 

There were many courses of food, this is the salmon egg and marscapone canapé. Before this we had, baked tofu. Note that it is decorated with momiji, or Japanese maple. Since it is autumn, the maple leaves will change colour, so they are popular fall imagery and decorations.

 This is a Yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit) and tofu soup. It was very yummy.

Before this dish, we had sashimi. This is an assortment of grilled things. On the left there is tsukune, or chicken balls, and the thing with the holes in it is lotus root (renkon, れんこん). In the middle is sawara, a Japanese white fish (it is apparently Spanish Mackerel). On the right is grilled kabocha, or Japanese pumpkin. I love Japanese pumpkin so much. It's so good. They are green on the outside and orange inside. The plate was decorated with more momiji leaves and sweet potato cut into maple leaf shapes. After this course, there was pickles, miso soup, and rice. There is always soooo much food at these events. 

There was dessert included with the meal, it was pumpkin pudding, persimmon slices, and carrot cake (not in the way we know it though). However since it was one teacher's birthday, I ordered a cake. This is it. We surprised him with it at the end. 

It says "emoringo kun".

The birthday boy.

That night was kind of freaky, because a man with a knife was seen around the city. At school, there were a lot of police. A warning was issued to watch out for a man in a black suit and helmet carrying a knife. Apparently there wasn't any danger though, he had tried to rob a convenience store but ran away when the staff called the police. When we first heard about it, we thought it might be a crazy guy stabbing random people... But I don't think anyone was hurt.

Updates

What have I been doing recently? Just the usual... Baking, playing futsal, teaching English and continuing my mastery of the Japanese medical system.

On thanksgiving weekend, I baked an apple tarte with the usual ladies. It was a perfect project for that weekend, as it was thanksgiving. Apples are now in season, but it doesn't make them any more affordable. I miss Canadian apples!

The recipe was a little strange in that it called for panko, which means bread crumbs, and it was topped with apricot jelly. Japanese recipes do weird things. For the tarte, we made a crust, and then layered it with fresh bread crumbs, then we layered apples on top of that. The apples were mixed with sugar and cinnamon, which gave the tarte a nice flavour. The finishing touch was raisins, and then it was baked. After baking, the apples were brushed with apricot jelly. It was delicious.

In Japan we also have the Monday off, just like in Canada, except that holiday is called 体育の日, or physical education day. So on thanksgiving Monday I tried to bake a flour-less pumpkin loaf, but it was more pumpkin mush than anything. It was perfectly tasty, but it just didn't look good. Good thing I don't care about how food looks!

The next weekend, I had my third league game with my futsal team. I was unsure whether I'd be able to play, but I could! However, I played goal for half the game. It was a throwback to my youth! I like playing, but it sure is stressful! Luckily, I had a shut out. I played the second half on the field, and I didn't manage to score, but I did set up goals. We won that game 9-1.

Guess which one is me... I didn't realize how much of a giant I am! Ugh!

This is our team meeting before the game. I don't think our uniforms could be any uglier...

Of course, I'm still doing my usual thing, teaching. This month was a little fun in that I got to meet future students and give them a sample class. Every year, junior high students interested in the foreign language department at school come and learn about it. They listen to speeches by students in the program, as well as our exchange students and then they get to try two sample classes. One of those is with me. The other class is an online listening and learning program. In my class, we made hand turkeys, since it was thanksgiving, and the students made up an introduction for their hand turkey. Then they wrote what they were grateful  for, again, in honour of thanksgiving. The students seemed to enjoy it, which is good, because pressure is high for that day. The teachers and principals are always anxious, because if the day doesn't go well, then not many students will apply for the program and the school will be ranked lower.

Also, last week a former exchange student visited from Sweden. She came to see her class, but it was a surprise, so I had to help organize it. The students were all really surprised, and it was a wonderful reunion for them :)

And of course, I continue to see the doctor every two weeks regarding my herniated disc. Both the doctor and the physio say my pain is not a result of the hernia. Whatever. The pain has significantly improved and I can play sports without too much discomfort, so I'm happy. I'm perfectly happy to stop this nonsense and get over this part of the year... All bad things seem to happen from August to December... Every year. It's quite an incredible coincidence, or not.

Nagano Soccer Tournament - October 3-4, 2015

October has arrived, and with it, the East Japan ALT Soccer Tournament in Sugadaira, in Nagano prefecture. This year, Saitama did not have the enthusiasm of previous years, so we didn't send a team, just two players: me and another girl.

We went because there was a girls' team that needed more players. I didn't really want to go with my injuries, but I sucked it up, swallowed some painkillers and was off. Our team consisted of two from Saitama, two from Yamanashi, two from Tokyo, and lastly, two from Gifu. I didn't know anyone, not even the other girl from Saitama. 

In past tournaments, I have always gone up on Friday night, but this year, I headed up Saturday morning. I hopped on the Shinkansen to Ueda station and got off with plenty of time to catch my bus. First I went to the wrong exit, then after figuring out the problem I went to the other exit just in time to miss the bus. The bus schedule posted online was wrong and the bus departed earlier than expected. I missed it. Luckily I was able to get a ride with two of my team mates. They picked me up and it was nice to chat with them a bit. While I was waiting, an old man came up to me and started talking to me... I understood most of what he said, which I consider an achievement, since  old man Japanese is notoriously hard to understand, even for native speakers.

There were only three teams in the girls' tournament, so our matches didn't start until 2 pm. We lost our first match against Niigata 2-1. We were still getting used to each other. We had another match right after, against Gunma. They were quite good, but we managed to tie them 2-2. Unfortunately two girls were injured in the process. Our team was half experienced and half beginners. The injured players were experienced :( 

After our matches, it was time to go to the hotel, shower, go into the hot spring, and eat. After dinner and hot springs there was a dance party. I did my best to represent Saitama at the event. In any case, everyone remembered me the next day. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know.

On Sunday, we had to play the first match, it was cold and every one was tired. We managed to win 3-0 against Niigata. I even got a goal! 

In our second match, we lost 2-0 against Gunma. It was a little frustrating... At that point, we were second place, so we had to play one more game to decide the champion. Our competitor was Gunma and they beat us again, 2-0. In the last game people weren't running and we lost  another experienced player. I scored a goal though... On my own goal. Whoops!

So we ended up second place... Again. Not too bad. As usual, no one knew the rules and the reffing was ridiculous. 

The results. We were GifuTamaNashi. A delightful play on words. 

The points before the final game.

The park! Sania park is gorgeous and it has real grass. This is a full field, but the girls only played on half-size fields.

GifuTamaNashi - 2nd place :)

Our prize. 24 cans of grapefruit chu-hi, which is kind of like a cooler. The alcohol content is 6%.

Sunset from a car.

On the way back, I caught a ride with a Tokyo team. I made some good connections there, so I know we'll  be able to join forces next year. For the record, driving is much cheaper than Shinkansen, but much slower... However, it was a great chance to make some friends and get some good Japanese conversation practice :)