The Remainder of My Second Week (Or, Mostly Adventures in Food)

So after my last post, or possibly just before and I forgot to include it, one of my JTEs came up to me, leans close like she`s got a secret or planning something totally elicit, and says to me, "Mel-sensei, do you like... pasta?"  To quote Gilmore Girls, "Uh, only with my oxygen."  But I didn`t say that, obviously.  That may have come off as rude, and the fine art of sarcasm is lost on the Japanese anyway.  So I responded that I did, and now have an invitation to a "girls` lunch" with a couple of the other teachers to an Italian place somewhere near the school.  Go me!

There was an awful thunderstorm that kept me up, so I spent most of the next day trying to learn to sleep with my eyes open.  Sadly, I am not Gandalf and therefore this did not work.  Instead I spent the day trying to come up with activites and plans that seemed really cool and made sense with the lessons in the book, but without getting overly invested in them in case the JTEs think they won`t work and I have to come up with something else.  So far this includes a game I found called `Typhoon` that I`ve renamed `Tsunami` purely because I like it better, making zoo ads for baby animals (they`re learning about what scientifically makes something cute and being cute as a survival skill, I kid you not), and giving them lyrics for English songs (or songs that were originally English and then translated to Japanese for recording here) that are popular and having them figure out the `message` of the song; `Let It Go` and `Shake It Off` are at the top of my list.
Unrelated bonus: I made it to school without looking at a map! 

Got groceries to make stir fry.  Also decided to treat myself and bought a delicious-looking chocolate melon bread. 

`That looks delicious!` you say.  And the cartoon-y picture on the package (the package I don`t have a prayer of reading, as it doesn`t have hiragana or katakana on it) shows that it`s filled with something that could possibly be chocolate pudding or fudge or something!  Double the awesome!  In the words of the most horrific character in the Harry Potter series, "This. is. a. LIE."  The bread is delicious, sure, and the crunchy, chocolatey sugar coating on the top even more so.  But that stuff in the middle?  Yeah, SO not pudding.  Not even chocolate.  No, no; they decided that it would be an excellent idea to fill this fantabulous bun with RED BEAN PASTE.  Why?!?!?!  I`ve encountered sweet red bean paste (anko) many times in the past, as it`s a staple in traditional Japanese sweets, and I`ve hated it every time.  Which is a shame, because things like taiyaki smell absolutely delicious and make me want one every time I pass by a booth.  (At least there`s still chocolate chip melon bread; less chocolatey, but there`s no hidden awfulness to spoil it.)

Dear Japan,

Please stop ruining otherwise wonderful desserts and snacks with your strange bean-based so-called sweets.  They`re awful, and you`re kind of crushing my dreams.

Love,
Mel

Side note: It may not have mattered even if the package was written in hiragana. Last week I bought a package of chips that was in hiragana, but I wasn`t paying attention, because I just expect NOT to be able to read the package; usually I just take an educated guess based on the picture. I couldn`t quite tell, but there were green flecks on the chips, so I thought they might be sour cream and onion!  Well, it turned out they were wasabi. That`s right, my chips tasted like burning and death.

I did not, however, make the stir fry that night.  I decided it was too hot and it would take too long and I was hungry, so I also picked up a pizza at the grocery store.  I like pizza.  How could you go wrong with pizza?  Well, as many of you have seen on Facebook, apparently you can go wrong with pizza if you`re a Japanese grocery store.  I`m not sure I can identify everything that was on it, but there was definitely corn, broccoli, shrimp, and mayonaise involved.  I kid you not.  It was edible, sure, but I don`t think I`ll be desperate enough to have it again any time soon.

And now I was just informed (mostly in Japanese, but with a little bit of very broken English) that the only two teachers in the room today are leaving for the weekend, so it`ll be me.  By myself.  For the rest of the day.  I think what I`m supposed to do is let them know at the front office when I`m leaving to get the key to lock the teacher`s room door, but I`m not actually sure, so we`ll play it by ear.  I MIGHT sneak out a bit early, just to make sure someone is still IN the office when I want to leave...  Awkward.  Well, that makse sense with the comment I heard from that teacher earlier, which was something to the effect of, "It`s just you, me, and the ALT who doesn`t speak Japanese..."  I wondered where he was going with that.  Now I know.

PS. That was, in fact, what I was supposed to do, except the office man said he would lock the door, so all is good.  And my stir fry was amazing.  I will also be eating leftovers for the next three days.