Uni, not to be confused with ‘Unagi’

Since I fell asleep last night to the whimsical Chandler and ridiculous Phoebe, while attempting to settle into Granny’s Annex, I thought it was only appropriate to open this post with a little love from my favorite show ever.

I owe you all lots of det’s on the weekend adventures and I’ll try to keep it short and sweet since I’m guess most of you probably don’t want to read a novel worth of words which could be summed up in a few sentences with a picture tacked on. Pictures are worth a thousand words anyway right?

Friday afternoon I hung around the office until 5ish so I could get a ride with Ms. ni-nensei (new to the school) and Ms. ichi-nensei (the old 2nd grade teacher, now first grade), but anyway we were on our way to the Welcome Party as to kick off the new year with a bang. Now with a new V.P.- couldn’t be more excited. That’s an understatement. Dinner was served up bento-style (meaning a big lunch box basically). Why do I forget to take pics at crucial learning moments, such as these? Hmm, well, here’s an example:

They are quite large and contain an array of seafoods, veggies, UNI, and much more. Oooh the uni. Remember it?

Yes little sea urchin, I will eat you. But only a few niblets before my mind starts to think about it and I get freaked out. I have made leaps and bounds in my pallet over the last year. I’m now in LOVE with Scallops. Yummmmmm. And I can eat shrimp, crab (I just typed ‘crap’ haha), and an array of fish and sushi alike. I’m quite proud of myself.

After our eats and running into Mr. Chief of Owani (LoVe hIm) I was on my way back ‘home’ (Rach’s for another day) and called it an early night in. No 2nd enkai for me. That’s when things get sloppy- like losing my wallet and singing Man in the Mirror in front of my coworkers. Not pretty.

Ever since the new year kicked off (fiscal year that is- April 1st), so has my new attitude (with the improving temps). Ms. ichi-nensei and myself have become quite the pair. I just love her. Again, the language barrier makes for some comical situations, but all in good fun. Saturday morning she invited me to go with her to look at her husband’s displays for new kitchens. To most of you, or maybe all of you, this would be beyoooooond boring. But for me, an appliance salesman’s daughter. This was music to my ears. The invitation was much appreciated! Her hubby is an architect and his company paired with contractors or something like that- and they had a display room/building of new kitchens for people to come check out.

I am the world’s biggest nerd for getting excited about this kinda stuff! Love it. 😀

After our tour and brief lunch at a soba joint (Soba= buckwheat noodles) I was off to meet up with Melissa for some shopping at Don Don Down on Wednesday’s (yes, the actual name of the store). My guilty pleasure is thrifting goodies from there. Jenny, you’d die and thought you’d gone to heaven. I wish I could send you pieces for your project! However, Japan and America do not have a convenient shipping deal. 😦

At an rate. I found a few goodie’s while Melissa found the cutest coat- for a mere Y500. A steal. I walked away with new flats and this shirt!

We may or may not have stopped at Angelique’s for an epic icecream treat. It was heavenly.

Last minute plans led me to return with Adam and Melissa back up to Aomori for a small Easter Sunday celebration and Resurrection of J.C. Himself.

We hit up an Udon restaurant for lunch and made a trip around the Aomori Coast for some sightseeing and pictures to be taken.

We had great intentions of dying Easter eggs (since it would have been my FIRST TIME) but I opted to hop on the earlier train in preparations for Monday morning at work. Luckily we got in some Mars Hills and had our own little Easter service, via podcast. Oh technology, how I love thee.

My first night at the Annex in the next post. Stay tuned!

~ モリー　(I just figured out how to use my computer to write Japanese. I hope you’re as excited as I am!)

~~~

Phoebe: Now, we can kick anybody’s ass!
Rachel: Yeah!
Ross: After one class? I don’t think so.
Rachel: What? You want to see me self-defend myself? Go over there and pretend you’re a sexual predator! Go on! I dare ya!
Ross: Well, of course you can defend yourself from an attack you know is coming, that’s not enough. Look, I studied karate for a long time, and there’s a concept you should really be familiar with. It’s what the Japanese call unagi.
Rachel: Isn’t that a kind of sushi?
Ross: No, it’s a concept.
Phoebe: Yeah, it is! It is! It’s freshwater eel.
Ross: All right, maybe it means that too.
Rachel: Ooh! I would kill for a salmon skin roll right now.
Ross: Y’know what? Fine! Get attacked! I don’t even care!

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Beer Me.

Ok enough of these weekend hiatuses from me! It’s not like I am so busy that I can’t take the time to post a lil’ somethin’ somethin’. This weekend was no exception! And, I even did fun things to share with all of you!

Friday afternoon, Ms. ni-nensei drove me to my house after work and I threw together a quick travel bag for our trip down to Lake Towada for the night. It was the going away party for the second grade teachers who were leaving at the end of the year- there are 3!!! 😦

After a blustery, snow-filled drive down to the lake, yes- it’s STILL snowing in Aomori, we finally made it to our ryokan (hotel). It was nearing 7p.m. and time for some grub and of course drinks all around. For everyone.

Cutest kid on the planet.

The eats were an array of NEW foods for me to discover and actually ENJOY!

Yes, fish sticks, no not the Cub Foods processed and breaded kind–here we’ve got the real deal. Poke and prod with your chopsticks and avoid the bones, but if you happen to chew a few, don’t worry, they’re really tiny!

Next up, snails of sorts and clams to boot!

I’m not gonna lie, I’m kind of a texturephobe and I can tell you right now I wouldn’t necessarily choose these cuisines as a first choice go-to meal, BUT…I wasn’t completely grossed out either. Baby steps people, baby steps. I can say that a year ago I barely touched ANYTHING that came from the sea. Now, a year later, you’re finding me eating orange mush, also known as Uni (Sea Urchin), mushroom jelly soup with daikon (nameko oroshi), and fish bones. Maybe it was the liquid courage I had assisting me?

After our fair share of beer, Japanese sake, and godknowswhatelse, we hit up the hotel room for more socializing and plenty of snacking. The night was winding down and come 11p.m. it was onsen time. Again, liquid courage will take away any embarrassment of going to a public bath with your coworkers. (Don’t worry boys and girls are separate! Ha)

Bedtime and morning travels through more blizzarding snow. Right now I’m extremely jealous of MN’s record-breaking weather of no snow for the month of March. First time in 130 years, I might add. Aomori has no such record.

~~~~

Saturday’s party went without a single shot (on my camera…or vodka), haha just a little beer for me please and let the celebrating begin. We spent the afternoon at Wanicome Rec Center with the old teachers and new arrivals to our Junior High, as well as the PTA members. Plenty of snacks, with an abundance of fruit, 😀 I was set. As for socializing, the brave parents who know a few words of English were more than eager to strike up a convo, too.

The second grade teachers (love them!) planned on doing another dinner this coming week before they leave for their new schools. They kept telling me how good of a teacher I was and how the kids love me and to not worry about Mr. V.P. They also told him on multiple occasions how great of a person I was (not trying to toot my own horn here, but for those of you who’ve been following for some time know that it’s been far from easy over here). Maybe I was just worrying to much, because at our party Friday night, the teachers leaving said in their farewell speech they wanted to say thank you to me and all of my hard work, but Mr. V.P. said they couldn’t 😦 They told me later that night how much they appreciated me, and that was the best feeling ever!

~~~

Sunday-funday was filled with packing, cleaning, cooking for the week, and watching countless episodes of Friends. I will leave you with this, since I laughed out loud and may have even shed a tear when I heard this:

Ross: You can go, I just have to fill out some forms.
Joey: You, uh, you want me to help you with that?
Ross: Why, does it look like I’m having trouble with my misshapen claw?
Joey: Name? No, I know, “Ross,” but what’s it short for? You know, like Rossle? Rostipher?
Ross: Just Ross.
Joey: Pretty. Okay, date of birth?
Ross: You know my birthday!
Joey: Sure. May… tember…
Ross: October 18th.
Joey: Occupation? Dinosaurs.
Ross: Actually, I’m a paleon…. “Dinosaurs” is fine. The drawing is not.
Joey: Alright, who do you want as your emergency contact?
Ross: Uh, Rachel, I guess.
Joey: Okay. Relationship? Oo boy, this could take a while.

Definitely one of my all-time favorites. That or Ross’s leather pants. Never disappoints.

P.S. I’m failing at my fun.fact.friday. More to come.

~Molly

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