Giant Cats and No Snow

These pictures have nothing to do with anything else, I just think they're funny. Well, actually they're a little bit sad (I can't imagine that these cats are able to chase mice or do many other typical cat things). Hmm.... well..... they're funny too.

When I first saw them, I thought somebody Photoshopped the pictures, but I checked from different sources and they're real.

Well, I can't say I'm very surprised, but it didn't snow today. It did stay cold all day though, so I think winter is on its way.

Soft Drink Vikings and 65 degrees to snow in one day?

I went skating again this afternoon in beautiful, mid-60 degree weather (that's 18 degrees for the metric readers). I was comfortable wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt. I was very surprised to see the weather report this evening list a possibility of snow tomorrow! Apparently, there's a cold front moving this way, and even though it says there's no chance of snow staying on the ground, if it snows tomorrow it will be very strange after a day that felt more like spring than a month away from winter.

Along with the usual mix of reactions as I was skating I had one new experience. An older gentleman saw me as he was walking on the bike path. He smiled and asked me if it's fun (in Japanese-I was pretty happy that I understood at least that much). I said yes. He asked if it's difficult, and I said that it's a little difficult. After that, his vocabulary was a little too hard for me, but then he told me "ganbaru!" which means "you can do it / keep at it / go for it" depending on the situation.

The picture? Well . . . all-you-can-drink beverage bars are common in "family style" restaurants here. The word frequently used in Japan for buffet is "viking", possibly borrowed into Japanese in a similar way that "smorgasbord" was borrrowed into English. Put the two concepts together, and you have a "soft drink viking"! (No, it has nothing to do with ancient Swedish tribes drinking CocaCola on their raiding trips.) It still makes me smile when I see that sign in the restaurant.

Ginkgo and Gokiburi Update

I found out that ginkgo trees are common in California. (Thanks for the info, Elaine!) They may also be common in Oregon, and I just didn't know what they were before I came to Japan so I didn't notice them. It's kind of interesting that Wikipedia mentions that wild ginkgo trees in their natural environment are rare, and may be limited to one small forest in China--strange.

Well, I kind of forgot about Mr. Buri, the cockroach. But, when I looked in his little plastic prison on Sunday, he was still alive. I mentioned him to my conversation class students in my Sunday morning class (yesterday) and one of the students said that gokiburi hate soap. I was surprised, and to be honest, incredulous (To my students who read this: that's a good word for advanced vocabulary. The dictionary says, "incredulous: unwilling to admit or accept what is offered as true; skeptical".) But since it was so big that I didn't want to smash it, and I didn't have any bug spray, I decided to try some soap. I opened the top of the container a little, and squeezed some dish soap into the box. As soon as it touched Mr. Buri, he started running around the container like crazy and thrashing around. I quickly closed the lid. When I checked a while later, he was dead. I just did a search on the Internet, and several sites list soap as being a good, natural cockroach "poison". Also, if you smash a cockroach, sometimes that spreads its very small eggs, which can still hatch, so one site recommended against that. So, there you have it! (By the way, I threw the box with the late Mr. Buri in the trash; I was certainly not going to use it anymore. If you come to visit my house, you don't have to worry about that...) I think that will be the end of gokiburi discussions for a long time (I hope!)

Koyo

Koyo means "autumn leaves" or "leaves changing color". Today I saw some beautiful ginkgo trees in a park not far from Utsunomiya Eki (train station). I know ginkgo trees are grown in America, but I don't remember ever seeing any there. They are very common here, and obviously are amazing to see in the autumn. When I saw some trees last autumn, I noticed a strange smell when I was near the trees, and was then told that, unfortunately, the fruit that they produce doesn't smell good. That's an understatement. Some people say it smells like rotten butter, and other people say it smells like, . . . well . . . poop. I think the second description is more accurate. But the leaves are so beautiful, I'm willing to hold my nose while I'm enjoying the view.

Pirate Day?

I'm getting a lot of use out of the silly pirate hat I bought at the hyaku yen shop (dollar store)! In some of my classes we've been playing a game called "Treasure Island". The students use maps to hide a treasure and traps, and then try to find their partner's treasure by asking questions. It's good speaking practice, and pretty fun.

The weather has been great-about 70 degrees today with a beautiful, clear blue sky. I went roller skating on the bike path again today. It is getting pretty cold at night now, though.

AAAAAH!!!!!!!

GOKIBURI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If it isn't already very obvious, gokiburi means cockroach.

I was getting ready to make dinner, walked into the kitchen and Mr. Buri was slowly walking across the counter. After jumping about a foot backwards, I regathered my wits, remembered that Mr. Buri would start running VERY fast as soon as he figured out I was not his friend, and grabbed the nearest thing I saw that I could slap on top to capture him. Obviously, from the picture, that was a Ziploc container (that I will no longer be using for food storage).

Oregon doesn't have many cockroaches, so I haven't had much experience with them since I lived for a summer in San Diego. I'm really not happy that I had this experience, but I can't say I'm really surprised. It's the first time that I've actually seen one in this house, but I've heard many stories (and seen a couple of Mr. Buri's brothers or sisters outside by the garbage area). Including legs sticking out (bleah!) he's about the size of my thumb; I've heard they can be much bigger.

Mr. Buri is now trapped in his little plastic prison until I decide what to do with him . . .

Gigs

I have already told some people about this, but it looks like I may be gigging fairly regularly. Shinya met the manager of the local Starbucks, and he invited him to bring "his band" and play in the store ("the band" = Shinya, Eriya, Hisato and me, and maybe some guest vocalists too). Before we even played, the manager was making plans for a coffee tasting event at a couple of the local malls, and realized that he wanted to have music at those events too, so invited us to do that too. So, on November 29th and 30th we're playing at those events and then probably playing at Starbucks in December. At a meeting that the manager was at, he mentioned these plans, and a couple of the managers of other Starbucks are interested in having us in their stores, so we may be kind of busy with music!

On a related note, I tried the new dark cherry mocha from Starbucks tonight; it's good!


You probably already noticed, but I added a clock to my blog so you can see what time it is here; use it just for curiosity or in case you're planning to call me from America, please notice the time here and don't call me at 4:00 AM.

Pepsi . . . YOGURT?!

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything about unusual food items. I think I've found the perfect thing: White Pepsi featuring yogurt flavor!

It basically tasted like . . . well . . . mild Pepsi with a dairy flavor. That may not sound good, but it wasn't actually bad, considering I don't even like Pepsi.


It's a nice day, so I'll go roller skate and drink a White Pepsi (well, maybe not the Pepsi part...)

Lunch-yum!

My salmon sashimi lunch turned out so good, I thought I'd take a picture. I splurged and bought the next grade up from the normal sashimi I usually get at the grocery store, and it was really good!

"Good Times..."

"...and roller skates, roller skates..."

(For those that don't know, that's a line from a disco song by Chic)

I had been thinking about buying roller blades, but had mixed feelings about them before, even after using them quite a bit. When checking prices and information on the internet, I discovered "quadline skates". After checking some more, I decided to try them, and received mine in the mail a few weeks ago (thanks, Jane!). Since they are designed to be used with your own shoes, most of the reviews I read said the key to a comfortable ride was comfortable sneakers. After some experimenting, I decided to buy some hi-top Vans. So, I'm having my 70s flashback (skates) and 80s flashback (Vans) all at the same time. I've used them a few times, and have fun getting exercise and getting surprised looks as I skate by on the bike path. Roller blades aren't real common in Japan, from what I can see, and skates even less so. I've seen more than a couple of people trying not to look like they're looking at me as I go by. The last time I was skating, I passed a group of elementary students walking home from school. I heard one of them exclaim, "Sugoi, ne!" ("Great/cool, huh?!")