"You can forget your lunch but never your umbrella." ~A Fukui saying

Wednesday, 28 December 2011

Christmas Cookies

親のクリスマスツリー。下にプレゼントが置いてある。

クリスマスの昼食。
感謝祭の食事と変わらないけど、
僕は感謝祭の日にいなかったからこんな料理にした。
七面鳥、じゃが芋(マッシュポテト)、小パン、クランベリー等。

母親の知り合いが作ってくれたクリスマス・クッキー

クリスマスに「ジンジャーブレッドマン」と言うクッキーは大人気だ。
今年妹は「ジンジャー(生姜)・ブレッド(パン)・マン(男)」じゃなくて、
「ジンジャーブレッドオタク」を作った。
This year my sister made a "Ginger Bread Urkel"

Sunday, 25 December 2011

シカゴ風ピザ


クリスマスの食事じゃないけどアメリカに帰ったら、すぐこれを食べた。シカゴ風のピザは普通のピザよりとてもデカイ。中にチーズ等いっぱい入っている。"Deep Dish"(深い皿)で呼ばれる。

Saturday, 24 September 2011

小京都革命: Revolution in Little Kyoto

サイクリングは趣味で、たまに福井市の近くの「小京都」で呼ばれる大野市へ行く。日本にいくつかの「小京都」はあると思うけど、大野市は自分の気に入りの田舎のお出掛けだ。自転車で山や田んぼを眺めながら落ち着く。

One of my hobbies is cycling, and I sometimes like to go to a town near Fukui City called Ono, which is also sometimes called "Little Kyoto" (Its temples and traditions are reminiscent of Kyoto according to some people). I think there are any number of "Little Kyoto" towns in Japan, but Ono is a personal favorite countryside getaway for me. Admiring the mountains and fields from a bicycle is very calming.

長年大野に住んでいる外国から来た友達は普通あまり町を出ないけど今年のお盆休みに仲間が一人も大野にいなかった。ということは、小京都は無防備になった。戦争戦略ゲームが好きな俺様はこんな機会を絶対に逃さないから、すぐ旅の準備をして大野を征服しに行った。
国、町等を征服するには旗が必要だからそれを準備した。下の写真は俺様の栄光の勝利の証拠だ。

Friends of mine from overseas who have lived in Ono for a long time usually don't leave town much, but this year during vacation time in August not one person remained there. This means that Little Kyoto was left defenseless. As a fan of war strategy games, I simply could not pass up this opportunity. I quickly prepared for my journey and set out to conquer Ono.
When conquering a country or a town, flags are necessary, so I prepared one. The pictures below are evidence of my glorious victory.

小京都は俺様のものじゃ!

これから大野に行く時ここで泊まる。
From now on when I visit Ono, I'm staying here.

俺様のお清水
My pure spring water

俺様の国際的に有名な半熟味付け煮玉子(越前大野駅の近くのラーメン屋さん)
My internationally renowned seasoned soft-boiled eggs (from a ramen place near the Ono JR station)

この寺町の写真をよく見たら、征服の道具が見える。
If you look closely at this picture of the temple district, you can see the instrument of my conquest.

俺様の里芋。
My satoimo fields.

俺様の山。俺様のお米。
My mountains. My rice.

俺様の不思議な橋。
My mysterious bridge.

俺様の置き忘れられた建設機器。
My misplaced construction equipment.

忙しい一日を終えて、この山葡萄で出来たワインを飲んでリラックスした。
After a hard day, I relaxed with wine made from these mountain grapes.

新しい帝王を祝う花火。
Fireworks to celebrate the new sovereign.

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

My New Job

最近転職した。今の職場は昔お城だったけど、今ただのビルだ。
僕の机は最上階にある。普段の仕事は下の絵の通りだよ。
”Some plumber” = 「配管工」っていう意味。

This is my new job. The location used to be a castle, but now it's just a building.
My desk is on the top floor.

Sunday, 12 June 2011

Red Monster

Last night around midnight I heard a strange noise out the back window.
Wondering what could be going on I leaned out and listened carefully.

My neighbor has a Tickle-Me-Elmo.

Thursday, 7 April 2011

It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you

Hello, family.
Hello, friends.
I'm still alive, and, no, don't worry, I'm not glowing in the dark.

I'd like to thank my parents for being very calm and encouraging over the past month.
Other ALTs were not put at ease by family screaming for them to come home.
I'm glad to say that I have sensible support and trust at home.
That actually makes me want to go back and visit a lot more than incessant, harried phone calls ever could.

This weekend some friends and acquaintances of mine are running in a 5k marathon to raise money for the red cross and orphans in the disaster area. Actually, ALTs around the country will all be running at the same time. The neat thing about it is that the portions for the orphans will be managed by Smile Kids Japan, a charity group founded here in Fukui by people I know.

If you'd like to help you can donate with a credit card or paypal account directly.
Each runner has a set goal to raise, but I only know the website for one of them: http://www.justgiving.com/ohannasaurus/
She's really close to her goal, but even if she reaches it, don't hesitate to toss some change into her account for the relief effort.


As for me, I'll be in front of Fukui Station with a group of local musicians singing Johnny Cash and other various old tunes that keep me popular with the over-50 crowd. Our donation box will be for the relief effort, of course, but you can't give to that online.

Sunday, 13 February 2011

Sunday, 16 January 2011

2 AM This Morning

It snowed a lot last night. This is the view from my flat at 2 AM.
This is what things looked like in the morning.
This is what I was looking at a little more than a week ago. I'll post more about that later.