“Look out for monkey.”
These were the first words spoken to me as I entered the teacher’s room at Shisui E.S. this morning. I kid you not.
After I received such an ominous warning from a group of 2nd & 3rd grade teachers, my coordinator at the school quickly approached to explain. A monkey had been spotted on the school grounds earlier that morning, but had escaped capture and his (her?) location was now unknown. This monkey is believed to have been the same one spotted in nearby cities of Ozu and Kikuyo.
Now, before you start to think that this is a common occurrence and that Kyushu is overrun with wild monkeys, let me assure you that is not true. Many of my co-workers were quick to tell me that this was the first time a monkey has ever been spotted in the town. There are some wild monkeys around Mt. Aso; indeed, that is where this monkey is believed to have originated; but they very rarely leave that uninhabited area.
Needless to say, this monkey is considered to be very dangerous. While about a team of 8 men roam the grounds with various monkey catching equipment, (I have not actually seen the equipment, but I envision some kind of rod with a banana hanging off the end by a piece of string) outside activities are being strictly monitored and recess is restricted to the gymnasium. Classes are being let out about ten minutes early (perhaps to throw the monkey off his schedule) and teachers are organizing groups to walk the children home. Advisory flyers are also being distributed with such helpful hints as:
1) Do not offer the monkey any food. - "Here monkey, monkey. I've got a tasty banana for you!"
2) Do not eat while standing. – I don’t really think this has anything to do with the monkey, rather the teachers are just trying to sneak in a bit of good manners. While they took the time, I wish they had added a bit about chewing with your mouth closed, but they didn’t ask me for my opinion.
3) Do not look the monkey in the eyes. – I’m having a hard time looking anyone in the eyes while they talk so earnestly about monkey safety.
Well, school’s out and the monkey is still on the loose. I kind of hope he (she) can evade capture and liven up someone else’s school day tomorrow.
Album currently playing on my IPOD – The Decemberists’ 2006 album, The Crane Wife.
- Jenny
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
There is No Escape
I’m sure that it will come as little surprise to most of you when I say that this is the time of year I wish I was back in the States. I really wish I could spend the season with my family and friends. However, I will admit that I was looking forward to the absence of one aspect of the Christmas season in America – the music.
That’s right, I confess. I don’t like Christmas music. And now that you’ve discovered you have been reading the thoughts and observations of a veritable monster, I’ll try to assuage your horror a little and clarify that I really just don’t like commercial Christmas music. The Pussycat Dolls, Alice Cooper, and John Waters may have some… interesting perspectives on the meaning of Christmas, but I’m okay with never, ever hearing them. Does the Barenaked Ladies’ Christmas album really fill a niche that the market was lacking?
And I’ve got nothing against the more traditional music of the season, but I have no desire to listen to Faith Hill, Celine Dion, or Brian McKnight’s musical stylings (acrobatics) applied to them. In fact, I don’t even want to listen to artists that I do like sing Christmas music - Johnny Cash, Roberta Flack, Frank Sinatra - I’m talking to you. Why do artists feel like they have to do a holiday album to complete their discography? The minor offenders who only contribute a song or two to a compilation disc (U2, Annie Lennox) must bear their guilt as well, though I suppose it can be mitigated if the album is for charity.
Now we come to the Bing Crosby / Rosemary Clooney genre of Christmas music. This is tolerable, though not necessarily my favorite. To be honest, I really only want to hear Crosby crooning “White Christmas” if I’m watching the movie.
Well, now that I have thoroughly appalled you with my dislike of Christmas music, I should explain why I have confessed my deep, dark secret. As I was saying, I was really looking forward to the absence of Christmas music here in Japan, especially the obnoxious commercial holiday music most restaurants and stores play. Given the fact that I have worked in restaurants and retail stores for most of the last 12 years, the untold trauma I have suffered… So, you can only imagine my horror when, a few weeks ago, I was walking through the home center store to purchase a space heater (Have I mentioned that central heating seems to be verboten here in Japan?), and over the speakers I hear a muzak version of Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” Oh, the humanity! I now live in fear. I know it is only a matter of time before I’m assaulted with Mariah Carey belting out “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
But I do have some appreciation for holiday music, I promise. Here are a few albums that always find their way into my playlist during the season.
1. Tchaikovsky’ s 1892 The Nutcracker: Narada Artists; 1990
2. Handel’s 1741 Messiah: The Academy of Ancient Music, directed by Christopher Hogwood; 1991
3. December: George Winston; 1990
See? There is hope for me yet.
But, since I can’t be with my family during the holidays, I’m turning to my old comforts to remind me of home –
Recent DVD viewing – Normally, around this time of the time, I get the yen to watch Citizen Kane, the greatest movie ever made. Yeah, I know, I’m such a film geek. But since I don’t have it here with me, I've settled for Touch of Evil. The screenplay isn’t that good, but the direction and cinematography is masterful and Orson Welles is, as always, absolutely brilliant.
Current reading material – Ernest Hemingway’s The Complete Short Stories: The Finca – Vigia Edition. If I were stranded on a deserted isle and could only have one book, this would be it. I will never get tired of these stories and each time I read them, I discover something new. “Big Two-Hearted River: Parts 1 & 2” are my favorites, though each and every story touches something in me.
Album currently playing on my IPOD – The Beatles’ 1966 Revolver. From the startling opening chords of “Taxman” to the beautiful melancholy of “For No One” to the wonderfully child-like “Yellow Submarine,” I am enrapt in warm comfort.
- Jenny
That’s right, I confess. I don’t like Christmas music. And now that you’ve discovered you have been reading the thoughts and observations of a veritable monster, I’ll try to assuage your horror a little and clarify that I really just don’t like commercial Christmas music. The Pussycat Dolls, Alice Cooper, and John Waters may have some… interesting perspectives on the meaning of Christmas, but I’m okay with never, ever hearing them. Does the Barenaked Ladies’ Christmas album really fill a niche that the market was lacking?
And I’ve got nothing against the more traditional music of the season, but I have no desire to listen to Faith Hill, Celine Dion, or Brian McKnight’s musical stylings (acrobatics) applied to them. In fact, I don’t even want to listen to artists that I do like sing Christmas music - Johnny Cash, Roberta Flack, Frank Sinatra - I’m talking to you. Why do artists feel like they have to do a holiday album to complete their discography? The minor offenders who only contribute a song or two to a compilation disc (U2, Annie Lennox) must bear their guilt as well, though I suppose it can be mitigated if the album is for charity.
Now we come to the Bing Crosby / Rosemary Clooney genre of Christmas music. This is tolerable, though not necessarily my favorite. To be honest, I really only want to hear Crosby crooning “White Christmas” if I’m watching the movie.
Well, now that I have thoroughly appalled you with my dislike of Christmas music, I should explain why I have confessed my deep, dark secret. As I was saying, I was really looking forward to the absence of Christmas music here in Japan, especially the obnoxious commercial holiday music most restaurants and stores play. Given the fact that I have worked in restaurants and retail stores for most of the last 12 years, the untold trauma I have suffered… So, you can only imagine my horror when, a few weeks ago, I was walking through the home center store to purchase a space heater (Have I mentioned that central heating seems to be verboten here in Japan?), and over the speakers I hear a muzak version of Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” Oh, the humanity! I now live in fear. I know it is only a matter of time before I’m assaulted with Mariah Carey belting out “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
But I do have some appreciation for holiday music, I promise. Here are a few albums that always find their way into my playlist during the season.
1. Tchaikovsky’ s 1892 The Nutcracker: Narada Artists; 1990
2. Handel’s 1741 Messiah: The Academy of Ancient Music, directed by Christopher Hogwood; 1991
3. December: George Winston; 1990
See? There is hope for me yet.
But, since I can’t be with my family during the holidays, I’m turning to my old comforts to remind me of home –
Recent DVD viewing – Normally, around this time of the time, I get the yen to watch Citizen Kane, the greatest movie ever made. Yeah, I know, I’m such a film geek. But since I don’t have it here with me, I've settled for Touch of Evil. The screenplay isn’t that good, but the direction and cinematography is masterful and Orson Welles is, as always, absolutely brilliant.
Current reading material – Ernest Hemingway’s The Complete Short Stories: The Finca – Vigia Edition. If I were stranded on a deserted isle and could only have one book, this would be it. I will never get tired of these stories and each time I read them, I discover something new. “Big Two-Hearted River: Parts 1 & 2” are my favorites, though each and every story touches something in me.
Album currently playing on my IPOD – The Beatles’ 1966 Revolver. From the startling opening chords of “Taxman” to the beautiful melancholy of “For No One” to the wonderfully child-like “Yellow Submarine,” I am enrapt in warm comfort.
- Jenny
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Thanksgiving in Japan
Happy Holidays! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday with their loved ones.
My Thanksgiving passed fairly uneventfully and without most of the traditional food stuffs. I don’t know how available turkey is in the rest of Japan, but here in Kumamoto, it has to be special ordered. Pumpkin pie was also absent. Though the Japanese eat a lot of pumpkin, it’s really only used in savory dishes. The idea of pumpkin as dessert strikes many Japanese as odd. And though I do prefer Japanese savory pumpkin to the sweet route Americans take, many traditional Japanese desserts are made out of rice paste with beans, so I don’t really think they have any room to talk. Sweet potatoes were to be found on many dinner tables, including my own, but it’s not the mushy orange dish covered in burnt marshmallows that I think of when I think of sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes in Japan are more yellowy-white and are usually boiled in soups.
Japanese do celebrate Thanksgiving in their own way, however. Japanese Labor Thanksgiving is observed on November 24th to celebrate the rice harvest. It’s not quite as big a holiday as American Thanksgiving, but they do make steamed glutinous rice dumplings. I know, sounds delicious. These dumplings had a place in many of my school meals during the past week and though I wouldn’t say I am a fan, they’re not as unappetizing as they sound. Often they are filled with anko - a sweet bean paste and much more delicious than it has any right to be considering it is sweet bean paste - and served as a dessert. They can be savory, however, and filled with minced meat or veggies.
Though I didn’t do anything special on Thanksgiving, I did join some fellow English teachers the following night for dinner and drinks. I introduced them to a Mexican restaurant downtown that serves delicious, authentic Mexican food. One of the other teachers, a guy named Bobby from Hawaii, and I had to laugh at the way the tortilla chips were served in a very small bowl, about the size of a coffee cup at a trendy coffee shop like Central Perk, when we were both used to getting big baskets full of chips at Mexican restaurants in the States.
After dinner, the other teachers introduced me to a German restaurant that is known perhaps as well for their extensive beer menu as they are for their food. I think we’re planning to have dinner there next month.
Just as I was finishing up this post, Ricky Martin’s Livin' La Vida Loca came on the radio here in the teachers’ room. Except, it isn’t Ricky Martin and it isn’t Spanish. I have to admit that I despise the song, but there is something incredibly funny about hearing it in Japanese.
Album Currently Playing on my IPOD – 1990 The Narada Nutcracker – in spirit of the season.
- Jenny
My Thanksgiving passed fairly uneventfully and without most of the traditional food stuffs. I don’t know how available turkey is in the rest of Japan, but here in Kumamoto, it has to be special ordered. Pumpkin pie was also absent. Though the Japanese eat a lot of pumpkin, it’s really only used in savory dishes. The idea of pumpkin as dessert strikes many Japanese as odd. And though I do prefer Japanese savory pumpkin to the sweet route Americans take, many traditional Japanese desserts are made out of rice paste with beans, so I don’t really think they have any room to talk. Sweet potatoes were to be found on many dinner tables, including my own, but it’s not the mushy orange dish covered in burnt marshmallows that I think of when I think of sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes in Japan are more yellowy-white and are usually boiled in soups.
Japanese do celebrate Thanksgiving in their own way, however. Japanese Labor Thanksgiving is observed on November 24th to celebrate the rice harvest. It’s not quite as big a holiday as American Thanksgiving, but they do make steamed glutinous rice dumplings. I know, sounds delicious. These dumplings had a place in many of my school meals during the past week and though I wouldn’t say I am a fan, they’re not as unappetizing as they sound. Often they are filled with anko - a sweet bean paste and much more delicious than it has any right to be considering it is sweet bean paste - and served as a dessert. They can be savory, however, and filled with minced meat or veggies.
Though I didn’t do anything special on Thanksgiving, I did join some fellow English teachers the following night for dinner and drinks. I introduced them to a Mexican restaurant downtown that serves delicious, authentic Mexican food. One of the other teachers, a guy named Bobby from Hawaii, and I had to laugh at the way the tortilla chips were served in a very small bowl, about the size of a coffee cup at a trendy coffee shop like Central Perk, when we were both used to getting big baskets full of chips at Mexican restaurants in the States.
After dinner, the other teachers introduced me to a German restaurant that is known perhaps as well for their extensive beer menu as they are for their food. I think we’re planning to have dinner there next month.
Just as I was finishing up this post, Ricky Martin’s Livin' La Vida Loca came on the radio here in the teachers’ room. Except, it isn’t Ricky Martin and it isn’t Spanish. I have to admit that I despise the song, but there is something incredibly funny about hearing it in Japanese.
Album Currently Playing on my IPOD – 1990 The Narada Nutcracker – in spirit of the season.
- Jenny
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