The New Apartment

We have made the big move. We said goodbye to Futako Tamagawa and hello to Futako Shinchi. It was only a ten minute walk across the Tama River but things are very different in our new hood, all in a good way of course. One of the first things we noticed when we moved in was that there are many kinds of vending machines in Kawasaki that they don't have on the other side fo the river in Tokyo. The most popular vending machine in our neighborhood is the fresh egg machine. Every time we head to the station we see at least one or two people getting fresh eggs out of it. Local farmers keep it well-stocked and the fact that they are so fresh means that no refrigeration is required. We cooked some of them up the other day and we very impressed. The other type of vending machine on the Kawasaki side of the river is the beer machine. These used to be ubiquitous on the Tokyo side but naughty gaijin teens (guilty as charged) took advantage of this and soon the authorities got rid of them. The Kawasaki side did not get rid of theirs although they are a bit more complicated than the ones I remember. The machine takes a picture of you (can it tell how old you are that way? still not sure...) and then asks you to put your driver's license into a slot. At first I thought this might be so that they can compare you picture on the license with the picture it just took of you, but I was able to buy an ice-cold asahi with J's license even though the machine took a picture of my face and not her's!

River BBQ

The baseball season is heating up. In fact, today I got hit in the mouth whilst I was pitching to a kid in the cage. I was stunned at first and brushed it off quite easily but it actually caused a pretty fat lip. Anyways, for all of the above reasons, I can't be bothered to write a blog entry right now. So tonight I will take the extreme low road in the blogosphere and mooch off of the not-so-lazily constructed blog of my friend Rachel White. Her and her husband Brad live across the river from us, (the river featured in the picture above and pictures you will soon see) and they actually live quite close to the house we are moving in to (which is also across the river).
http://tokyoterrace.blogspot.com/2009/04/bloody-marys-deviled-eggs-and-little.html

*A note to confused relatives: Enjoy this site by highlighting the text of the webpage above, copying it, and then pasting it in your browser window.

New School Sakura

Last week was our first week in the new school. It is pristinely white and has lots of windows. It will be sad to see the old school go but this new building is very inspiring, kind of like a blank canvass full of possibilities. The administration couldn't have timed the move any better because the sakura were in bloom at the exact time of the move. I was jogging home from baseball practise later on in the week and I stumbled upon a pink river. The sakura blossoms down stream had started to fall into the river and by the time they reached our neighborhood they had become so concentrated that the river was pink! Now there are pink petals in all the gutters on the way to school. Very surreal.

In Search of Rafflesia...and other adventures

Malaysia was a true adventure. J and I really had the best of both worlds there. Gorgeous hotels and great food on one hand and some great experiences with the local people and wilderness on the other. Here are some of the highlights:



We inadvertently caught the bloody tail end of a cock fight on our way through the slums of Sandakan...Only one bird left the ring.....

searched fantastic mountains and valleys for the world's biggest/smelliest flower: (rafflesia)....It uses flies as pollinators so I guess it has to smell funky or it wouldn't be able to breed....


tasted "the hottest" flavor ever in the spicy papaya snack we bought from a street vendor (honestly this mixture of fresh papaya, soy sauce, hot pepper and fish flakes was the hottest thing either of us had ever experienced!)...

Snorkeled on a great beach, although the Chinese people who stood on the coral were really getting on our nerves! I mean, it is pretty obvious that the thing will die if you stand on its food-gathering apparatus guys! If you are reading this blog, 10,000 shames on you!

saw an orangutan in the wild. We had expected many more! At first we thought it was a small child in a suit, but when Justyna smelled it's rafflesia-esque musk she knew it was fo' real!


...and walked through some fabulous rain forest canopies!



The conference was also great. I met up with some history teachers who are compiling their students' interviews with people (mostly grandparents) who had experienced WWII. Most of the teachers I met taught in countries whose children were decendents of WWII victims, so I think that my students (having many Japanese and half-Japanese kids) could contribute to the other side of this compilation, namely the Japanese agressors. First I have to get to WWII in my syllabus, but once I do, I plan to have my kids contribute as their final project. It could be tricky, as many Japanese veterans don't want to "lose face" by admitting their actions, but I think that the reality of the "history" in the students lives could really make the whole concept of history seem much more practicle and real to them. The project also tries to get Universities interested in putting the oral histories we will create in their archives so that could be a real experience as well!

Overall it was wonderful to have a break and the time away really made us appreciate the life we have back in Japan.

The New School

On our way to Malaysia!

Video From Our Fabulous Trip to Malaysia!

Malaysia is truly a paradise! Justyna and I spent most of our time dancing and chiling on the beach. Check out our video from the trip!

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Banjo Debut

The Banjo got its first debut yesterday when a group of teachers from various Tokyo schools got together and played at the opening gala for "Artscape," a high school artwork exhibit. We are called "The Arteests" and we are kind of like "The Talking Heads" meets "The Doobie Brothers." The show went well although I learned two valuable lessons: Lesson #1: I look like a hedgehog when I play the banjo sitting down. Lesson #2: I need a microphone to sing into that is separate from my banjo mic.... Here are the "Arteests" playing a Talking Heads song:


"The Tuks," (seen below): A Country Rock group made up of Brad, Rachel, Jeff, Justyna and I
We were the only group to really get the crowd going!