Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Recycling Mania


 


I am a big recycler, I think it's extremely important to be aware of what you throw away and to try to limit what is left to rot and decompose in landfills which for a lot of things takes years, decades or longer. So I was excited that Kamiyama has a very strict recycling program, but I hadn't bargained on the effort it would entail. It felt great to actively separate everything but my oh my did we have a lot of bags laying about.

It started with composting. I was so excited as I've never done it. We had 6 bins in front on the houses, big green buggers. But one had a cracked lid that allowed flies in so we basically had a maggot farm. You could hear them from above and looking inside was a lesson in humility. There were creatures big and small, of different colors, and they broke down our food waste with vigor and velocity! The gross-out factor was pretty high. As was the fascination, the whole thing roiled and moved and actually thumped.

For the rest, we had bags for PET bottles, other plastic, paper, burnables, unburnables, cans, and glass. Cartons had to rinsed, cut open and flattened and tied together with special string. Baby diapers were separate as well but I didn't have the courage or strength to remove the feces so that shit literally stayed in there which was oh so anarchic of me. (Sorry Green Valley, hope you didn't get into any trouble.)

Keiko told me stories of the trash collectors leaving bags behind with notes saying things like "we didn't take your glass bag because you put a plastic bottle in it." Basically, sort it out and don't do it again or you will be fined. And since you have to put your name on all your bags, if you do it incorrectly they know exactly who committed the offenses. In this way, it's actually quite efficient, but I've never before had fear of trash offenses! A whole new intimidation factor.

Literally, everything had its rightful colored bag and had to be rinsed. (Let's not even go into the water used doing this.) There was more than a few occasions that I had to ask Keiko what to do with certain things, like rubber bands (which are fondly wrapped around a surprising amount of things), holding it between my fingers feeling like a moron. Also, the preservation packets of little chemical balls that are in most dry goods in Japan. And tie straps. And thumb tacks that have metal and plastic. I've never even thought about these little insignificant things before, and suddenly I was stumped about how to throw them away. It became a running joke, "what do I do with this?"

By the end, I was actually looking forward to not doing it so intensely anymore, it really took up more time in my day (and space in the house) than I ever would've anticipated and I came away struggling within myself: it was satisfying but irksome, how very odd for something I feel quite passionately about. I will always recycle paper, glass, batteries and now plastic (thanks gemeente Amsterdam for the new plastic container outside my grocery store) but until I live in a home that allows for 10 garbage cans with stench absorbers, that's all I can muster. And I'm ok with that.

Becky would bring Mani out to play and he loved sniffing around the compost bins, naturally Hopper followed. (And we always had to be on the lookout for snakes and Scolopendra centipedes!)



Monday, February 24, 2014

My Future Olympian

So we watched a ton of Olympics. I just love love love it, the chance to show the world the mastery of skill and the possibility of it all paying off and winning a medal for your country. What a feeling it must be! And although I disagree with Russia's LGBT policy, I simply felt it does a disservice to all the athletes and their hard work to boycott the games. So we watched everyday, playing it during meals and throughout the day, all the sports, and talking about it.

Hopper was obviously impressed and decided to start his training. All on his own, he did this last week and has been practicing every day and now has 3 different starting stances. My future Olympic ice skater!



Saturday, February 22, 2014

Hopper & the First Day of Preschool



Hopper officially started Dikkie Dik voor- (pre) school this week. The group is 16 kids and somewhat multinational and his good buddy Viggo is there. In fact, he was the reason we decided on this particular school, they were fast friends at the creche so it was an easy decision. And it turns out Viggo was also really excited Hopper was joining in, he talked about it to his parents and the teachers. And watching them play from moment one was just the sweetest. Toddlers can be so fussy but good friendships can be easy and instantaneous.

We decided to take advantage of the government's willingness for kids from non-Dutch speaking families to have free schooling, with the concentration that they get language skills before going to real school at age 4. Hopper's Dutch really picked up the last month, but being in Japan for those 3 months certainly stunted his progress in that arena. There is of course is no worry, but Nik and I agreed that he could benefit from the daily Dutch exposure and get used to a slightly more controlled environment.

The class meets Monday to Thursday from 9-12 noon. The facilities are great, lots of toys, books, a fully equipped kiddy kitchen, and a big wooden castle with a slide. The kids get to choose what to do in a day, it's still just basically a playgroup. There are only 2 differences. One is that toys stay in their designated areas so they learn organization, and the teachers engage them by talking about what they're doing. They also spend some time sitting in a circle, waiting to be called to take a seat, and talk about different things depending on if it's someone's birthday or the seasons or just to sing songs.

So Hopper is super excited and wakes up talking about it and I'm so super duper proud that he's enjoying it and getting along with the other kids and being a good opruimer. (cleaner upper) The teachers have already said that he's melding in well and the city controller who visits once or twice a month said he's smart and observant and enjoys himself.

My biggest concern now is how I'm going to handle our new schedule. Now I'm responsible for lunch and naps and only get a couple hours in the morning to get things done. So we'll see how sane this mama is in a couple months.

                                                                      - - -

We went to get Hopper his first school bag and at the shop he picked the girly-est My Pretty Pony lavender, this was after the salesman referred to him as 'her'. And since we get that nearly everyday, I dissuaded him by offering a more Lightening McQueen-red color. (I had to clandestinely call Nik from the store and conspire to change his mind.) I felt a little bad, since I wanted him to pick out his own bag, but to be out and about with a lavender bag is only begging for more 'daughter' comments and let's face it, in a year and a half he won't want it anyway.









3 musketeers, was 4th birthday of girl on right so it's her last day


this is darling Viggo! he loves this "king" dress and wears it every day (on&off 20 times)



Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Food Porn

It would be hard to talk about Japan without going on and on about the food, the mouthwatering broths, the fantastic fast food conveyor belt sushi, the plethora of perfect noodles, and all the amazing umami flavors coaxed out of ingredients used in a way only the Japanese do. We certainly ate well.

In Kamiyama there are only about 7 or 8 restaurants: "the diner", the hotel restaurant, the Korean BBQ, the farmers' market, and the curry cafe were the usual haunts for us. Of course they all had Japanese names but were hard to remember and tell apart in conversation so we renamed them thusly (much to the confusion of our new friends). At each of these places they had specialties that were as good the 10th time we went as the first.

The diner made everything fresh for the day, udon noodles in broth hot or cold, specialties varying from marinated fish to sushi to tempura, "family chicken" (which was rice with egg, chicken and veggies), and ramen to name a few. This place was walking distance from our house so we ate there a lot, and for less than it would cost to go to Mac-y D's or cook at home. The lady who runs it was always being sweet with Hopper, giving him his own cup of ice and little treats to take home. (We found this experience to be the same in other places we frequented, little treats for Hopper.)

...I've done this post differently from others, the text is interspersed with photos to break it up so there's more to read after the photos...

Korean BBQ with Nik, Susken, Manus, Keiko & Sayaka and our entertainment for the evening, Hopper!

Korean BBQ, bimbimbop (sp?)
they would give us fruit for Hopper

"The Diner"

Hopper loved soba noodles and broth
farmers' market ice cream


we had special occasions here, we called it "the place where they do okonomiyaki on thursdays". There was always so much food you'd leave unbuttoning your pants, fried rice, sushi, marinated local specialties, noodles, on and on...

Suskens' goodbye dinner
the view from the hotel restaurant

hotel restaurant did lovely set menu's, Hopper loved the rainbow trout. This was after the exhibition opening.

hotel restaurant, also where the onsen is so we could combine the 2 great experiences
Korean BBQ place in Ishi, dynomite!!!


In Ishi there was a fast food sushi place that was fun, conveyor-belt style with self service screens to order things off the menu. It was a delight after we figured out how to use it and realized not to steel other people's orders. But I'm sure if you ask Hopper he'll tell you the best restaurant was in You Me shopping center and had the shinkansen. When the orders would come out, a shinkansen train with a flat bed delivered it to the table. And with all the booths in a row, it was a back and forth enjoyment for Mr. Train. (Oh, and for some reason the guy loves tempura shrimp tails, crunches it up and asks for more.)




Ominami-san, who runs the Green Valley company that puts on the residency, invited the artists and families to his favorite sushi place. If you've seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi then you have an idea of the concept. It was one guy, 10 seats, and you sit at the bar and eat what he makes. What a treat to eat everything in order, at the perfect temperature, with the perfect flavoring, all at the timing he sees fit, with the smoothest saki one could hope to throw down. True story, my shrimp was so fresh that 15 minutes after I ate it, the remaining tail thrashed around on the table. I was both relieved and disappointed that I didn't see it. (Hopper needed to have a moment outside to get out some toddler energy.)





Manus, Ominami-san, Nik; Sayaka, Susken, me & Hopper 
chef came out to say goodbye


During the last week of our stay, oysters came into season so Keiko put together a plan to visit a special restaurant where she warned us not to wear our good clothes and bring some beers and condiments. She had been quite nonchalant about it and during the 90 min drive we were wondering just how much this would be worth the drive... Our minds were properly blown, this place was truly like no other.

You pull into a very dark dirt road jettying out near the ocean with nothing else around. There were work trucks parked near random mounds of dirt and a fluorescent lit building up a small hill. It smelled of brine and decay and the aromas of cooking. Outside was a massive skip full of empty shells and inside were tanks of various kinds of crustaceans just waiting to be consumed with vigor. There were about 6 or 7 huge tables with massive teppanyaki-style hot plates and huge metal lids that were operated with small crane motors to raise and lower them. We ordered a batch of oysters which were brought to the table in a massive crate and dumped and spread on the table. The lid was lowered, and the cooking began. And when at last the lid was raised, we ate what was probably health violating amounts of oysters with soy and horse radish, spring onion and sudachi lime, mayonaise, dashi, lemon, tabasco. On and on. Batch after batch, shucking and making a mess and surprising our selves with how many oysters one can consume. It was so not glamorous but like no other restaurant experience I've ever had. 

parking


by the shovel full

Yu lending moral support