School Lunch

Today, I saw them dishing out the lunches and asked for them to not give me the vegetables, so I wouldn’t have to not eat them and have everyone laugh at me while I threw it away at the end of lunch. I was excited, today’s lunch looked edible! Miso soup, big bowl of white rice, fried something. Yesterday’s trauma of hunk of squid, pickled vegetables mixed with overcooked carrots, and slime laden stew, made me think that this was alright. So I start eating my rice, a little soup, take a bite of the fried mystery. And then, I start to wonder what it is I’m eating, so I ask a passing teacher “kore wa nan desuka?” (What is this?) and he says something in Japanese, and then, with a smile “whale” and I say “WHALE?!” and he looks at another teacher, who gives a confirming nod, and repeats “whale.”

In the file of limited things people know about Japan, right next to sushi, tense textbook relations with China, Hiroshima, robots and geishas sits the controversial issue of whale meat. I remember learning about how Japan gets around whaling rules by hunting under the guise of research, and how they like feeding whale to school children so they can get the taste for it and keep it in their diet because it is a part of their heritage. I always thought this was more or less limited to select areas, and never thought it would come across my lunch tray. My little town does not have a history of whaling, as it is surrounded by mountains and a good 45 minute-1 hour drive, by express highway through the mountains, to the Himeji harbour, which I somehow don’t think has a strong history of whaling.

I ate a piece, I’ll admit. I was curious but then I quickly had enough and threw the rest away. It tasted fine—likely because it was coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried (everything tastes better fried, we know this) so arguments for wanting kids to get the taste for whale falls apart when it tastes and more like fried chicken with a chewier texture than anything else.

I'm sorry whales.

Parents in Japan Photos

My mom thinks I'm a winner

Today I went to Ochidani elementary school. After just barely making the bus I had to catch, I arrived to find out that no... I didn't have to teach any lessons today. To fill my time I made hiragana and katakana flashcards, along with some kanji and huddled by the stove to keep my figers from freezing.

Happily, 5th period was some sort of parents/grandparents day event? I wasn't sure why, but there were no classes and instead the kids played a game called Karuta. It's a game where you have a set of cards with pictures and a hiragana on it, and then another set where someone reads a sentence that starts with a specific hiragana. The players have to slap the card first, and the person with the most cards in the end wins. If it was in English, you'd have the alphabet printed on cards on a table with pictures on it, and some one would say something like "Betty bee brings butter to Ben" and you'd have to be the first one to hit the B card which would have an illustration of a bee bringing butter.

I was put with the 1st and 2nd grade kids, and I didnt do as miserably as I feared. I could have done quite miserably though, especially when you take into consideration that they had the advantages of using their alphabet, and they understood the alliterative descriptions of what was on the card. In one game I was destroyed by a mom and a grandmother who were also playing with us (Grandmother: 20 cards!) with my measly 5 cards, but I was better than the kid to my right who only had 4. We played 2 more games and then I was just the loser, but with a few more cards every time. I'm learning the alphabet... I have poorer comprehension of it than a 2nd grader. ouch.

Today's Lessons:

Have you ever been abroad? Traveling to foreign countries is fun. Many Japanese travel abroad every year. There are many purposes for visiting other countries like seeing famous places, enjoying food, and meeting people. The best way to know another country is to go out and meet the people there.
Many foreign people are visiting Japan, too. Sometimes groups of students come and visit schools. For example, one hundred and twelve foreign students visited schools in Yamanashi in April 2006. Forty-five students visited in May, and a hundred and sixty-four came the next month. In July, two hundred and seventy-four foreign students came.

A Bali Story: Ahh stupid tourists!

On my last day in Bali, we had booked a “glass bottom boat, snorkel, Turtle Island” adventure, each segment to take about 1hr per event. Advertised for $20 each, we got it down to $8 (but don’t tell Mary, who offered it for $10 and who we said we’d go with, but she wasn’t there when we wanted to book…). After dancing the night away at Kuta’s foreigner bar, Bounty, we woke up early, applied our sunscreen, raring to go. Our driver was on time, and after about at 20-minute drive we arrived at the beach.

There, it was suggested by the helpful staff that we buy a Kodak underwater disposable camera for $30. (!) We declined (a very wise decision in the end). We were distributed our flippers, masks, and a loaf of bread to lure the fish, climbed into a glass bottom boat and were off. After motoring out a short way, we stopped by some murky mixed up water: our snorkeling destination! Having donned our snorkel apparel, jumped in, and looked at the murky water… we saw murky water and pieces of bread. No fish. This lasted maybe 15-20 minutes.Back into the boat, we managed to get one photo of us in our snorkel gear, and then passed the gear on to another boat. (for another group of lucky snorkelers)

Then it was off to Turtle Island! Which was.. not an island. It was blatant animal rights violations: turtles in dirty water, a snake in a wooden box, a bat in a basket/cage, an iguana thrown into a box, monkeys with chains around their waists. We all felt really dirty for even being there, and while I really wanted to help those animals out, I sincerely doubted that the donations box would use the money to feed the animals as it claimed. We quickly left. Back in the glass bottom boat, back to the initial beach, and then back to the hotel. All in less than 2 hours.

In fairness, we did get what we signed up for. We went in a glass bottom boat. We snorkeled. We went to Turtle Island. Nowhere did it say we would see fish, that Turtle Island was in fact, an island. Maybe not the wisest $8 I’ve ever spent, but at least I didn’t pay $20.

I didn't take any digital photos, too depressing.