ARGHHHHHH!!!
I can't believe how stupid I was! I got my lesson plan for Friday a week ago and looked at it numerous times but didn't notice until 11pm tonight that they scheduled me for a 6th period class when I'm supposed to leave right after lunch tomorrow!!! (All of the Towada BOE ALTs are heading off to Aomori for the JET Leavers' Party.)
@_@
I can't believe I screwed up so badly! I was even looking at the lesson plan at school today and still didn't clue in! What an idiot... Now I've got to gear myself up for apologizing profusely tomorrow...
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
"You are what you eat"
Inspired by the Good Magazine Picture Show "You Are What You Eat", this is a picture of my fridge after going grocery shopping today:
English Assistant Language Teacher | Semi-Rural Northern Japan | 1-Person Household | Often skips meals | 2009
(The caption is also modeled after the article.)
So far I think I'm doing a decent job of buying local/domestic.
Top Shelf (left to right):
- Akita Prefecture milk (one of the prefectures directly below Aomori)
- bottle of Towada Tare sauce (one of our specialties!)
- lemon/peach/mango tea made in Miyagi Prefecture (Tohoku Region--i.e. the same region as Aomori Prefecture!).
Middle Shelf (left to right):
- Iwate Prefecture (the other prefecture directly below Aomori) tofu--in Ziploc container
- Yamagata Prefecture (again Tohoku Region) white peach jelly
- Chinese chestnuts (whoops! see note below)
- (Danone) Bio aloe yogurt made in Gunma (northern part of the Kanto region, at least)
- Meiji aloe yogurt (behind the Bio) made in Tokyo (a little further south)-- no aloe flavour available in the Bio brand today
[Note on the chestnuts: I was tricked/confused because there's Chuugoku Region (includes Hiroshima Prefecture) in Japan, but Chuugoku is also the Japanese name for China. Since the product was certified organic by the Japan Agricultural Standards (JAS), I thought maybe the chestnuts were from the Chugoku Region. But after a little research, I found out that there are indeed organic chestnuts from China certified by JAS, so... ^^;; Surely there must be Japanese chestnuts available somewhere?! But at least China is closer than America (previously purchased almonds).]
Fruit/Veggie "Drawer" (left to right):
- Aomori Prefecture (from Sannohe to be precise!) cherries
- Towada mini-tomatoes
- Aomori Prefecture carrots--behind tomatoes
- Ibaraki Prefecture (again, northern part of Kanto Region) green peppers
- Towada cucumbers
After grocery shopping, I decided I was hungry enough to put a little more effort than usual into making (note, not "cooking") dinner. So I went through the extra effort of peeling a carrot, scooping the seeds out of a green pepper, and putting some soy sauce and bonito on tofu for a bit of protein--not to mention, variation!
With the bonito, I guess my dinner was pescatarian* rather than vegetarian, but it's not like I'm trying to become vegetarian anyway. I'm simply too lazy to cook meat. =P
(*With pescatarianism people eat seafood but not meats like chicken, beef, pork, etc. Since Japanese people usually make a distinction between meat and fish, if you tell them you're vegetarian, chances are they'll think you're pescatarian and serve you fish instead of beef/chicken/pork, etc.!)
Anyway, one thing I've realized about trying to eat more local produce/products is that it increases your grocery shopping time because you have to stop and read labels for everything! And since my Japanese geography is terrible, I was even pulling out my JET diary and looking at the map of Japan to choose brands made in prefectures closer to Aomori!
If I have time one day, I think I should go to the Michinoku Eki and see if there's a bigger selection of local (Towada) produce/foods there. There's also a fruit/veggie store just down the street from me and a produce stand right outside the Taisozuka... Right now I usually go to the Jusco because it has convenient hours (open 'til 11pm), and offers a point program (using WAON), but I really should at least check out the smaller, neighbourhood shops sometime.
English Assistant Language Teacher | Semi-Rural Northern Japan | 1-Person Household | Often skips meals | 2009
(The caption is also modeled after the article.)
So far I think I'm doing a decent job of buying local/domestic.
Top Shelf (left to right):
- Akita Prefecture milk (one of the prefectures directly below Aomori)
- bottle of Towada Tare sauce (one of our specialties!)
- lemon/peach/mango tea made in Miyagi Prefecture (Tohoku Region--i.e. the same region as Aomori Prefecture!).
Middle Shelf (left to right):
- Iwate Prefecture (the other prefecture directly below Aomori) tofu--in Ziploc container
- Yamagata Prefecture (again Tohoku Region) white peach jelly
- Chinese chestnuts (whoops! see note below)
- (Danone) Bio aloe yogurt made in Gunma (northern part of the Kanto region, at least)
- Meiji aloe yogurt (behind the Bio) made in Tokyo (a little further south)-- no aloe flavour available in the Bio brand today
[Note on the chestnuts: I was tricked/confused because there's Chuugoku Region (includes Hiroshima Prefecture) in Japan, but Chuugoku is also the Japanese name for China. Since the product was certified organic by the Japan Agricultural Standards (JAS), I thought maybe the chestnuts were from the Chugoku Region. But after a little research, I found out that there are indeed organic chestnuts from China certified by JAS, so... ^^;; Surely there must be Japanese chestnuts available somewhere?! But at least China is closer than America (previously purchased almonds).]
Fruit/Veggie "Drawer" (left to right):
- Aomori Prefecture (from Sannohe to be precise!) cherries
- Towada mini-tomatoes
- Aomori Prefecture carrots--behind tomatoes
- Ibaraki Prefecture (again, northern part of Kanto Region) green peppers
- Towada cucumbers
After grocery shopping, I decided I was hungry enough to put a little more effort than usual into making (note, not "cooking") dinner. So I went through the extra effort of peeling a carrot, scooping the seeds out of a green pepper, and putting some soy sauce and bonito on tofu for a bit of protein--not to mention, variation!With the bonito, I guess my dinner was pescatarian* rather than vegetarian, but it's not like I'm trying to become vegetarian anyway. I'm simply too lazy to cook meat. =P
(*With pescatarianism people eat seafood but not meats like chicken, beef, pork, etc. Since Japanese people usually make a distinction between meat and fish, if you tell them you're vegetarian, chances are they'll think you're pescatarian and serve you fish instead of beef/chicken/pork, etc.!)
Anyway, one thing I've realized about trying to eat more local produce/products is that it increases your grocery shopping time because you have to stop and read labels for everything! And since my Japanese geography is terrible, I was even pulling out my JET diary and looking at the map of Japan to choose brands made in prefectures closer to Aomori!
If I have time one day, I think I should go to the Michinoku Eki and see if there's a bigger selection of local (Towada) produce/foods there. There's also a fruit/veggie store just down the street from me and a produce stand right outside the Taisozuka... Right now I usually go to the Jusco because it has convenient hours (open 'til 11pm), and offers a point program (using WAON), but I really should at least check out the smaller, neighbourhood shops sometime.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Going green...
Lately in an effort to be more ecologically/environmentally friendly (or "eco" as they call it in Japan), I've been making minor changes to my shopping habits.
When purchasing produce, for example, I've been trying to purchase local Towada stuff as my first choice (even if it's slightly more expensive) and domestic as my second choice. The only thing I haven't been able to give up is bananas (from the Philippines).
I'm also trying to avoid purchasing beverages in PET (plastic) bottles; instead, I'm going for stuff in Tetra Paks. Recently, it's been mostly ice tea--lemon, peach, and/or mango. Of course, the best thing I could do is to stick with water, but I'll have to wean myself off gradually.
Another thing I'm attempting to wean myself off of is pre-prepared/packaged foods. Instead of buying the super market bentos, I'm trying to "cook" more meals for myself. Of course, since I'm a poor cook at best and lazy to boot, this has resulted in my having more uncooked dinners.
Inspired by Joeie and Hotaru no Hikaru (v5 ch27), I've discovered that cucumber, broccoli, and tomatoes make for a fairly substantial dinner. Sometimes I add a plum, some strawberries or cherries for dessert as well. For protein, if I have time during the week, I might hard boil a bunch of eggs and have one with the raw veggies. For dairy, I've been eating a lot of Danone Bio (Activia in Canada, I think) aloe yogurt. Unfortunately it only comes in the individual (80g cup) size, and not the large containers, so it's a bit more packaging than I like...
I figure I get more than enough carbs from school lunch (obviously only on weekdays) and breakfast (how would I survive without my Multi-Grain Cheerios?!), so I don't really bother with any for dinner.
Another diet change--although it's not really an "eco" thing-- is that I'm making an effort to cut down on my snack--chocolate, cookies, chips, etc.--intake as well. At first I wanted to go with roasted almonds as a healthy snack to satisfy any savoury food cravings, but then I realized that they (the almonds) are all from America. So now I'm trying to find a domestic healthy savoury snack. (Found dried eggplant...chips(?) in the Towada Jusco today, but as much as I love eggplant, I wasn't brave enough to test them out...) I think for sweets, I can probably be satisfied with fruits. I also discovered locally made banana chocolate chip muffins I can treat myself with once in a while. ^_^
Of course, I'm still going to be eating less than healthy stuff--my monthly cone from Baskin Robbins, for one--but I'm trying to be a bit healthier/more balanced in my eating. Part of what sparked the change is that I was looking at the reports from my past two annual physicals (all city employees have to have them) and I realized that although most of the not so great things--weight, blood pressure, etc.--had gone down in the second one, my cholesterol level had actually gone up. My dad's heart surgery made me realize that I really need to be more careful about cholesterol.
I know I should also be exercising , but I haven't been able to overcome my laziness for that yet. ^^;;
Anyway, another reason for my recent attempts at diet change is that I've been reading a lot of online magazines like Green Living (Canadian), Ode (Dutch) and Good (American) that make me want to do more to make the world a better place. I'd like to think that the changes to my purchasing/eating habits are making a positive impact, no matter how small the effect may actually be.
Along the same lines, I've recently been participating in some campaigns:
- Better the World: Make money for a select charity just by surfing the web!
- One Million Acts of Green: A project that originated from CBC's The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos and has now gone global! Sign up to perform "an act of green" to see how much a small action can reduce your annual carbon footprint.
- Free Rice: Each correct answer to a multiple choice English vocabulary question earns a donation of 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.
And through Better the World I've discovered an awesome online bookstore: Better World Books. Each purchase you make contributes to global literacy, and you can also help save the environment by purchasing used books and/or carbon offsets for shipping from the site as well. The prices are quite competitive, and shipping is only $3.97 worldwide.
Unfortunately, I can't say that the international shipping is particularly fast: my order was supposedly shipped on June 2nd, but I still haven't received it! (In the meantime, something I ordered from RightStuf--also based in the US--was shipped on June 9th and arrived this past Tuesday, June 23rd.) But so long as I *do* get my books (I'm rather worried that they've been "lost in transit") I'd say it's worth the wait to be making a contribution to literacy and also saving money simply by doing something I'd be doing anyway (i.e. buying books).
I can't imagine making a wholesale life(style) change like Brenda, for example, but I want to try to live more conscientiously, doing the small things I can to make a difference--like using a powerbar and unplugging electronics/appliances when they're not in use; or setting my A/C temp higher in the summer and my heater temp lower in the winter.
When purchasing produce, for example, I've been trying to purchase local Towada stuff as my first choice (even if it's slightly more expensive) and domestic as my second choice. The only thing I haven't been able to give up is bananas (from the Philippines).
I'm also trying to avoid purchasing beverages in PET (plastic) bottles; instead, I'm going for stuff in Tetra Paks. Recently, it's been mostly ice tea--lemon, peach, and/or mango. Of course, the best thing I could do is to stick with water, but I'll have to wean myself off gradually.
Another thing I'm attempting to wean myself off of is pre-prepared/packaged foods. Instead of buying the super market bentos, I'm trying to "cook" more meals for myself. Of course, since I'm a poor cook at best and lazy to boot, this has resulted in my having more uncooked dinners.
Inspired by Joeie and Hotaru no Hikaru (v5 ch27), I've discovered that cucumber, broccoli, and tomatoes make for a fairly substantial dinner. Sometimes I add a plum, some strawberries or cherries for dessert as well. For protein, if I have time during the week, I might hard boil a bunch of eggs and have one with the raw veggies. For dairy, I've been eating a lot of Danone Bio (Activia in Canada, I think) aloe yogurt. Unfortunately it only comes in the individual (80g cup) size, and not the large containers, so it's a bit more packaging than I like...I figure I get more than enough carbs from school lunch (obviously only on weekdays) and breakfast (how would I survive without my Multi-Grain Cheerios?!), so I don't really bother with any for dinner.
Another diet change--although it's not really an "eco" thing-- is that I'm making an effort to cut down on my snack--chocolate, cookies, chips, etc.--intake as well. At first I wanted to go with roasted almonds as a healthy snack to satisfy any savoury food cravings, but then I realized that they (the almonds) are all from America. So now I'm trying to find a domestic healthy savoury snack. (Found dried eggplant...chips(?) in the Towada Jusco today, but as much as I love eggplant, I wasn't brave enough to test them out...) I think for sweets, I can probably be satisfied with fruits. I also discovered locally made banana chocolate chip muffins I can treat myself with once in a while. ^_^
Of course, I'm still going to be eating less than healthy stuff--my monthly cone from Baskin Robbins, for one--but I'm trying to be a bit healthier/more balanced in my eating. Part of what sparked the change is that I was looking at the reports from my past two annual physicals (all city employees have to have them) and I realized that although most of the not so great things--weight, blood pressure, etc.--had gone down in the second one, my cholesterol level had actually gone up. My dad's heart surgery made me realize that I really need to be more careful about cholesterol.
I know I should also be exercising , but I haven't been able to overcome my laziness for that yet. ^^;;
Anyway, another reason for my recent attempts at diet change is that I've been reading a lot of online magazines like Green Living (Canadian), Ode (Dutch) and Good (American) that make me want to do more to make the world a better place. I'd like to think that the changes to my purchasing/eating habits are making a positive impact, no matter how small the effect may actually be.
Along the same lines, I've recently been participating in some campaigns:
- Better the World: Make money for a select charity just by surfing the web!
- One Million Acts of Green: A project that originated from CBC's The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos and has now gone global! Sign up to perform "an act of green" to see how much a small action can reduce your annual carbon footprint.
- Free Rice: Each correct answer to a multiple choice English vocabulary question earns a donation of 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.
And through Better the World I've discovered an awesome online bookstore: Better World Books. Each purchase you make contributes to global literacy, and you can also help save the environment by purchasing used books and/or carbon offsets for shipping from the site as well. The prices are quite competitive, and shipping is only $3.97 worldwide.
Unfortunately, I can't say that the international shipping is particularly fast: my order was supposedly shipped on June 2nd, but I still haven't received it! (In the meantime, something I ordered from RightStuf--also based in the US--was shipped on June 9th and arrived this past Tuesday, June 23rd.) But so long as I *do* get my books (I'm rather worried that they've been "lost in transit") I'd say it's worth the wait to be making a contribution to literacy and also saving money simply by doing something I'd be doing anyway (i.e. buying books).
I can't imagine making a wholesale life(style) change like Brenda, for example, but I want to try to live more conscientiously, doing the small things I can to make a difference--like using a powerbar and unplugging electronics/appliances when they're not in use; or setting my A/C temp higher in the summer and my heater temp lower in the winter.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Things I (will) miss
The official start of my third (and final) year working in Towada is in 6 weeks. Hard to believe I've only got a little over 13 months left living in Japan.
Lately I've been thinking a fair bit about all the small things I will miss, as well as all the small things I miss now and am looking forward to having again when I go back home.
Things I miss (now):
Things I will miss (back in Canada):
Lately I've been thinking a fair bit about all the small things I will miss, as well as all the small things I miss now and am looking forward to having again when I go back home.
Things I miss (now):
- Libraries! Other than cleaning up my room (not to mention dealing with all the stuff I've left in various other parts of the house), I expect to spend a lot of my time after I get back reading! On average I think I've only been able to read one new book per month since moving to Japan!!
- Breakfast restaurants!! Every once in a while I get a craving for eggs benedict...
- Steak: Japan does have steak, but it's either too thin or too fatty (since Japanese people tend to like their beef marbled...)
- Interac: It still seems strange to me that a society as high tech as Japan is still a mostly cash-based society
- Canadian food labels: Canadian food labels really give a lot of information; plus I miss seeing labels in English and French! (Quite odd, actually, considering that I only really read the English...)
- Oven: Baking ~150 cookies every Christmas and Valentine's Day is ridiculously time consuming when all you've got is a toaster oven that can fit about 9 cookies at one time
- FoodTV: Good Eats, Unwrapped, Ace of Cakes, Iron Chef... Even though I can't cook for the life of me, I enjoy watching others who can!
- 680 News: I am so hopelessly clueless when it comes to what's going on (in Japan and the world) since I'm too lazy to check online news sites or to watch the news on TV
Things I will miss (back in Canada):
- Eneos: I love my local Eneos gas station. It's pretty much the only place I get gas in Towada, and I've done most of my car maintenance (various fluid changes, tire changes, shaken, etc.) there as well. After my car accident, some of the staff even asked about the change in car!
- Portion sizing: Japanese restaurant portion sizing is SO much more reasonable than in Canada (or America).
- Kit Kat: It's probably better for my teeth and weight, but I'm definitely going to miss trying out all the seasonal and regional Kit Kat flavours!
- Baskin Robbins: Again, I'm going to miss the new monthly flavours!
- Festivals: Toronto does have various festivals, but it's not the same as having local festivals where students from your school(s) perform and it seems like everyone in the nearby area comes out! And of course, I'll miss the takoyaki, yam fries, and other festival street food!
- Tsutaya: No more 100 yen and half price rentals that allow me to check out all sorts of Japanese movies. Actually, I'm going to miss easy access to Japanese movies and dramas period
- Used stores: It particularly sucks that I won't be able to pick up an entire series of manga in one large discounted set anymore. And I'll have to go back to ordering movies new from CDJapan and most likely getting hit with customs' taxes...
- All-inclusive prices: Having the tax included on the sticker price and not having to pay tips in restaurants!
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