he folks are in town!! Well, not my folks, but Lee's. But we're all like family anyways. It was great to see them, and strangely more comfortable when they were around. Well, for me anyways. Lee might have been pulling his hair out. Haha.  He got them set up at their hotel etc etc, and also helped them with their bags and boxes of stuff. One of which was filled with goodies from back home!! And Lee's mom makes awesome cookies and trail mix!


Among the things that they brough were some hard to get ingreedaments from home, and we had a Hawaiian Dinner night!! Itsuki came up from Tokyo and helped with the cooking, amid the cries of "this kitchen is soooo small" from Lee's mom. But all the food came out great. Some of the things we make when we are craving Hawaiian food are poke (poh-keh or poh-kee) which is like a flavored Hawaiian sashimi, and kalua pork (a smoked pig dish). So of course we made that. Another thing that we can make here in Japan is Chicken Long rice, but the long rice (basically clear noodles) isnt sold here so we usually substitute it with other stuff. But Lee's mom brought up the real stuff so we could make an authentic Chicken Long Rice.Yum. Lee's mom also brought up steamed taro leaves which she made into Chicken Luau (looh-ow), a coconut flavored chicken stew like dish. The winner tho was the poi (the Hawaiian starch equivallent) made from taro root, which they brought up in frozen packs from Hawaii. Back home its usually pretty expensive and forget about finding it in Japan. Macchi came over after work and we all sat down for some ono Hawaiian grinds.
           
The next day Lee took his parents around and his dad bought a new PSP! Hahaha. They have this great "game" called Talkman which is a multi language phrase book, which teaches you several languages, as well as works as a mini translator (I think).  After they got back home he opened up his new toy!

The day after Lee left with his folks for China!!! And I uh....went to work....

It was great to have Lee's folks up to visit. They're welcome back any time!!!

chool is back in session and Im back to teachin. A lot of the kids are energetic and hyped up to study English, which is cool. But I also sympathize with the kids who are tired out from playing all summer and still adjusting to having to get up early and study an stuff like that. Although I did kinda have a summer vacation, I worked most of it (cause I need tha money).  (T-T) Although I did get to go out on a couple of mini trips. One of them was to the Ghibli Studio Museum!

For those not familiar with Ghibli, its like the Japanese Disney. Films like Nausica of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky Laputa, and Totoro are Ghibli Studio films. Then again, its also very unlike Disney in that the films are usually pretty deep or have rather serious themes like: Learning to change yourself and take action rather than being swept up and fading away into a world where life has lost much of its meaning (Spirited Away), or The damage that arises from humanity in its struggle to expand and develope,  destroying nature and all its spirits and creatures rather than living in a peaceful coexistance (Princess Mononoke). Yikes!

So anyways, the Ghibli Museum. Its so popular that you can not buy tickets at the door. You have to reserve tickets a month in advance. But its really cheap. Only about 10 bucks for admission. Its not like a museum where you walk in and just stroll around looking at paintings on the wall. Its a 3 story structure made of several buildings that were designed (on the outside) in the same style as the buildings that show up in many of the Ghibli films. The inside is divided into rooms where you can experience the various aspects of the Ghibli world.

Macchi and I set of early on a train to Tokyo. We got to Kichijoji where we waited at the Totoro bus stop and boarded the Totoro bus. At the entrance you recieve a museum map and a free admission ticket to a mini movie theatre where you can see short films that you can only watch by visiting the museum. Films like the Mei and the Kitten Bus ( Mei to Koneko Basu) which is a spin off of the Cat Bus (Neko Basu) from Totoro. There is only one film that they show on any given day, so the only way to see another film is to go an visit the museum again. The show we saw was called The Day I Bought a Star (Hoshi o Katta Hi).

There is a room where you learn about how animation and animating works. The only junk (hawaiian term for 'bad') thing is that you can't take pictures in the museum. There are cafes, lounges, gift shops, a library/book store, and also a room with a big plush Cat Bus! That you can actually touch, climb into, and climb on to!  But its like the play land at McDonalds where only kids can enter. Unless no one is looking...

If you take a set of spiral stairs to the rooftop, there is a re-creation of one of the Soldier Robots from Castle in the Sky. As well as one of the Glyph stones that make the castle float. All that for under ten bucks. Definitely worth the trip.

By the way, there is a new film out by Ghibli Studio called Tales of Ged (Gedo Senki) based on the books Tales from Earthsea. There are 5 or 6 books in the Earthsea series, and the movie is based (loosely) on the 3rd and 4th books. There was also a SciFi Channel mini series based (extremely loosely) on the 1st and 2nd books. Gedo Senki is kind of complicated to watch, especially in all Japanese. I wonder if theyll come out with the English version?

k. I finally got a system down, no thanks to the ppl at Xanga who havent responded to any of my help mails...

Since the new updates seem to be un-Mac friendly, I still dont have any of the Premium Member editing options. I was thinking of cancelling my Xanga cause I didnt want to be payin for somethin I wasnt getting right. But I found a way! Upload my pictures on to Photobucket and then whenever I am within use of a Windows PC I jus get online and edit my Xanga from there. See! Simple!

Not!!!

Well, its better than having to re-learn how to make a new blog on myspace anyways.

So heres just some pics of stuff that I havent been able to put up till now. Enjoy =)

My baby. Got me safely thru another vicious season of boarding. Good job.

The 2nd graders playing BAND INSTRUMENTS!!! It was the farewell song they did for me. Little geniuses they are. And sooooo cute!! Jus wanna put them in my pocket and take em home.

Here's a bunch of us cruisin under the cherry trees this spring. After that tt was all windy and rainy, and all the blossoms had fallen from the trees within a couple days. We picked the last sunny day to go.

My host mom and host bro in Kobe when I went down to visit them over Golden Week (week where a whole bunch of holidays happen to converge into a mini one week vacation)! They are doin great.

Playing 1st Duck Duck Goose with my 1st graders. They dont have that game in Japan, so I thot Id internationalize and teach that game.

There's a lamb. Yes...a lamb.

And we went to pick strawberries towards the end of spring, right before the start of summer. They were big and juicy!!!

Hope you liked tha pics. Im back!!! (its jus kind of a pain to update my blog now tho....)

(><)

Ok then, since I still cant upload pics or make my blog all fancy, how about another Mecha Kantan Ryouri (Super Easy Cooking). I luuuuuv food. And livin by myself in Japan I had to cook or starve. For those also living on your own and dont have much cooking experience, I got a buncha delicious meals that you can cook up without having stuff like 11 special herbs and spices in your kitchen. Like my friend Richard for example. The only thing in his fridge is a bottle of burbon and a water gun (dont ask). This is cooking made easy, even for Richard.

Hmmm, what should we make today??? Rat steaks...boiled boots...elementary kids stew! Darn little kids have too much energy on a Monday mornin. Need to start slappin some kids around! But thinking of food always makes me happy, so on to the recipe.

Pupus (poo-pooz) might sound gross, but its the Hawaiian word for finger foods or appetizers.

Simple Spinach Rolls

You need:

          Flour Tortillas (you know, burrito wrappings)

          Half cup of Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing (French Dressing if your in Japan)

          Bacon bits

          1 bunch spinach

          Salt and pepper

(optional)

          garlic powder

          mayonnaise 3 Tablespoons

1. Wash then boil spinach for about 3-5 minutes. Strain (or place on paper towel to get rid of water).

2. Cut up spinach.

3. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl (optional ingredients if you have them). Add as much bacon bits as you like, same with the salt and pepper.

4. Spread mixture thinly on tortillas should make about 3 or 4 rolls. Or 1 roll if you have a gigantic tortilla!

5. Roll tortillas as tight as possible.

(optional step) Wrap each individual tortilla roll in plastic wrap and place in fridge till ready to eat.

6. Cut each roll into bite size pieces and eat!

Note: If you wanna be fancy about it, you can make the first bite size cut diagonal. The second horizontal, and then alternate between diagonal and horizontal. You know, like when you cut a spring roll diagonally in half and you get that wedge shape. Then when you place them on a plate they come out looking like one of those spiked bamboo booby traps!!

Anyways, prep and everything this takes about 15-20 minutes to make. Great party food. Or at least you can feed it to your cat...