Bon Appétit

A quiet start to the new term: just a handful of lessons so far. Everything’s still going fairly smoothly at present although payday can’t come soon enough. Looking forward to a picnic on Saturday afternoon, a dinner date in the evening and minigolf / BBQ recreation day with Kenji’s company next weekend; also Martin should be coming over from Cambodia to say hello in a few weeks’ time which will be cool.
Got a day in the week after next teaching at a school for kids with special needs (autism, Downs’ Syndrome, physical handicaps) which will be pretty interesting; unlike anything I’ve done so far. They want me to teach how to cook an English breakfast (‘Fry this, fry this, fry this, burn that, fry this; milk and five sugars ta love’), as well as do a speech to the whole school on the UK and do some musical games with them – it promises to be a pretty action-packed day. Slightly daunting as I haven’t done any music- or cooking-based lessons before; one can but try however and who knows? It might even turn out fun with a bit of luck.
Last few days of the summer holiday were spent exploring a few local spots I hadn’t made it to before; the aquarium was alright if unspectacular - a couple of features you wouldn’t get in the UK though: a fishtank into which kids are encouraged to stick their hands and annoy the fish, and another in the floor which you can walk in, presumably causing several fish to get stomped on every day and several kids to require therapy. Only in Japan, man. The coast in Iwate is the real (only?) draw for tourists though, lots of spectacular cliffs topped by gravity-defying greenery; driving down the coastal Route 45 from my house you can take in a series of them. Only few proper beaches although the one at Jodogahama is pretty lovely. Some quite picturesque little fishing ports as well. Photos on Facebook under ‘Post-Tokyo Holiday Pics’.
Another late-holiday highlight: the meal Kenji took us for at a local restaurant featuring the local delicacy of sea snail, served flambé… once the flames had died down we had to use a tuning-fork-like device to extract the – massive – snail, which I can say with confidence was the least appetising item I have ever stuck in my mouth and, truth be told, didn’t exactly rock the palate either, but at least it wasn’t one of the other local specialities of octopus served so fresh it’s still twitching and looking you in the eye or, even fresher, fish dissected live on your plate for your eating pleasure (other ALTs have witnessed, cried and chucked up at this in the past I’m told). We may well be going again in the near future, something to look forward to Marts! The rest of the meal was actually pretty stunning but there’s no doubt which course will live longest in the memory…
And on that note, it’s lunch. Take care, bye for now.