Monday to Friday...

I sit at my desks.

This school year, I have fewer classes and more club responsibilities- technically. But sometimes, fun things happen.

Last Friday, a few of us went to the German House to see the exhibition of Werner Schaarmann, a German photographer.

I was glad to not have to sit in the teachers' room since I had a very short night and was obsessed by Stupeur et Tremblements. I am not yet reduced to replacing toilet paper rolls...but it would certainly be more interesting than some aspects of my job (like writing about my 'reading history').And like Amelie Nothomb, I find the bathroom a nice place to hide...

Il va sans dire que la defenestration imaginaire du 2eme etage de mon lycee ne serai pas aussi delivrante que celle du 44eme...

Un an de plus ici. がんばります。

Learning Japanese

I am trying to learn Japanese but I haven't found a single textbook I enjoy learning with! So I have more or less given up learning in a traditional way and concentrate on listening to my colleagues speaking all day. Recently, I have started watching more Japanese movies...I can't say I understand everything, but I understand enough words to follow the stories.

I watched Kamome Diner tonight (with English subtitles!). It's the story of 3 Japanese women who end up working together in a small Diner in Helsinki. They are convinced Japanese food is the best in the world and that Finnish people will rush in to try onigiri (rice ball). The movie is a bit slow at times, but I enjoyed it all the same. Maybe also because I am hoping to move to Finland next year...

Naruto is famous for....

All towns and cities in Japan are famous for something. Don't ask me why!

I have been thinking about my hometown, Querrien, there really isn't anything unique about it...but I am sure a Japanese tourism office could find the winning formula!

Here are a few things Naruto is famous for:

its whirlpools;

wakame (sea weed)...

Naruto Kintoki (sweet potato that taste more like chestnut)

Otsuka Museum (pay €25 to see 3000 reproductions- not one painting is real!!!)

And last but not least, Naruto is famous for being the first place in Asia where Beethoven's 9th Symphony was played! Naruto had a German POW camp at the end of the 1st world war and somehow, German prisoners managed to get enough instruments to play it...

New Neighbours

The bell rang at 8h45 yesterday (Saturday)morning...Joy! It was a young woman offering me a big box of tissue. Although I repeated 'iranai' many times, she wouldn't let me not take it. Then she excused herself profusedly for waking me up so early and making noise.

I only put two and two together when I looked at the box and realised what was happening in the car park. Now, if you were working for a moving company and about to make a little bit of noise outside someone's apartment, would you make sure you'd wake the entire building up by ringing their bells to offer them a box of tissue? Please say NO!

Later that evening, my new neighbours followed the Japanese custom of new comers and came around with a small gift. I'd try to do the same when I moved in two years ago, but didn't find anyone at home. Anyways, here is what I received...

五月病 gogatsu byou

(May desease/la maladie du mois de mai)

One of my colleague told me that this is like what foreigners feel around xmas time when they aren't with their family. But I think there is more to it and that foreigners who have lived in Japan for a while are likely to suffer from it in May too!

In Japan, a lot of things seem to change in April: new fiscal year, school year, staff, etc. So when things don't run so smoothly and you let stress build up for weeks, in May, you end up suffering from some form of 'adjustement disorder'. I guess it didn't hit me until the end of May..and I am still finding it tough to get motivated for work. Rokugatsu byou or lazyness on my part?

too many dishes

You might wonder why I chose to call my blog 'too many dishes'.

 In Asia, we tend to use a lot of small plates for different side dishes, pickles, etc

...so when I have friends over for dinner, it sometimes looks like this:

which means my sink very quickly looks like that ^^

 

But that's not all! The first time I went to a restaurant with my colleagues in August 2007, I got really confused because people were saying my name all the time although they didn't seem to be talking to me nor about me. It turned out this chinese character '皿' means plate or dish and is read [ sa ra]. 

Since then, I often introduce myself to Japanese people that way:

'My name is Sarah. I like cooking and eating. Remember me as 皿.'

where I live (3)

Si vous avez un peu de temps et que vous voulez comprendre la societe dans laquelle j'evolue en ce moment, je vous recommende de voir le film Okuribito (Departures) qui a recu un oscar l'annee derniere. Le sujet du film est un peu particulier, mais les relations entre les personages sont tres realistes.

Pour avoir une meilleur idee de ce que c'est de travailler dans une ecole au fin fond de la campagne Japonaise, je vous recommende le livre Botchan de Natsume Soseki. C'est un classique Japonais, ecrit en 1905. Le personage principale Botchan est un jeune prof originaire de Tokyo et envoye sur l'ile de Shikoku pour enseigner les maths. Il raconte son experience dans le village et a l'ecole. C'est un peu particulier, mais mis a part quelque details, mon experience et celle d'autres assistants de langue ici est TRES similaire a son recit. 100 plus tard! 100ans!

La ou je vis (2)

Have you heard of Tadao Ando 安藤忠雄? Probably not, but he has built museums, places of worship and apartment complexes around the world. If you want to know more about him and his work, check this page www.designboom.com/eng/interview/ando.html

T.A. about his work "In all my works, light is an important controlling factor, I create enclosed spaces mainly by means of thick concrete walls. The primary reason is to create a place for the individual, a zone for oneself within society. When the external factors of a city's environment require the wall to be without openings, the interior must be especially full and satisfying." 

I happen to live in one of his building ^^!

       

La ou je vis/Where I live

 I live on the island of Shikoku, about 1h30 from Kobe (by bus).

I am in Naruto city, Tokushima prefecture.

team teaching manzai style

A few months ago, one of my colleague told me that working with me was like doing manzai. 

I'm a language assistant so most of my job consists in team teaching English classes with a Japanese teacher of English (JTE). It can be fun, frustrating, a waste of time, amazing, boring ...every teacher (I currently work with 11 JTEs) and every class (25 ) reacts differently so it requires a lot of adaptation.

When that teacher compared our working relationship to that of manzai comedians, I thought it was hilarious but I had forgotten all about it until I saw a manzai show on TV today ^^.

Manzai (漫才) is a style of stand-up comedy in Japan, which usually involves two performers—a straight man (tsukkomi) and a funny man(boke)—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings, double-talk, puns and other verbal gags.

 I wonder if I am the boke or the tsukkomi...

ChewyChocChipsCookies

La meilleure recette de cookies/ the best cookie recipe

ingredients:

-250g farine/flour

-170g beurre/butter

-300g sucre/sugar

-1 oeuf/egg

-1 jaune d'oeuf/egg yolk

-1/2  c-a-c de sel /tsp salt

-1/2 c-a-c de bicarbonate de soda/tsp baking soda

-1 c-a-c d'extrait de vanille/ tsp vanilla extract

-200g de pepites de chocolat/chocolate chips

(1) Melanger le beurre mou et le sucre. Ajouter l'extrait de vanille et les oeufs.

Mix the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla extract and eggs.

(2) Tamiser la farine, ajouter le sel et le bicarbonate de soda. Bien melanger et ajouter les pepites de chocolat.

Sift the flour, add the salt and baking soda. Mix well and add the chocolate chips.

(3) Garder la pate au frigo pendant 10min et prechauffer le four a 165c.

 Keep the dough in the fridge for 10min and preheat the oven at 165c.

(4) Former les cookies et cuire environ 15min.

Form cookies and bake for about 15min.

Bon appetit!

Bienvenue/Welcome/Willkommen/Yokoso

tattadaaa! 

Je me suis enfin decidee a ecrire un blog! Ca fait presque 2ans que j'habite au Japon- le temps passe vite!- et que mon quotidien est rempli de choses etranges et farfelues que je ne remarque meme plus...Je vais tenter ici de vous decrire ce qu'est ma vie au fin fond de la brousse Japonaise!

- et partager mes recettes preferes

I am finally getting my own blog! I have been in Japan for almost 2years- time flies by!- and my daily life is full of weird and funny things that I hardly even notice anymore...I'll try to give you an impression of what life is like in rural Japan!

- and share my favourite recipes

Tanoshinde kudasai ^^ Let's enjoy together!