January 29, 2016

Friday - Good weather

A good day.

I woke up early this morning.  I got up and decided to spend the rest of my sleep time on the couch.  Unfortunately, I slept and didn’t really wake up properly until 10!  Oops.  

I did have a busy morning once I got started.  I made the bed, got dressed for my workout and then of course F called to say he was coming home for lunch.  I put the kettle on for him and then washed the sweet potatoes and put them in the slow cooker while he was here.

After he left, I moved the couch and did a workout.  I also put some clothes in the wash.  My workout was great, I may not do another one until Monday or the week after, so I needed to get it done.

I spent a couple of hours at my computer today finishing up the cull of my women’s group.  I removed members who hadn’t renewed, sent them a cheery note to say please come back some day, and then had a very late lunch.  I had some of the leftover pulled pork.  It was yummy!

F called me to say he was done work.  He offered to go to the grocery store to get food for our dinner, so I let him.  We had planned to have a nabe.  I had also bought a salad so we could have that too.  And the sweet potatoes.  

When F came home I had the nabe ready for him, so he just had to put the food in.  He made us a nice vegetable, tofu and chicken nabe.  I have a problem with his soup base, however.  I don’t think it tastes very good at all.  It has no taste to me!  However, the nabe was fine, the salad was good and we completely forgot about the sweet potatoes until it was too late.  They are in the fridge.  They’ll keep.  

F did the dishes too tonight, bless him, and then we settled in for a bit of TV.  I watched Castle and worked on my crochet.  I’m making a small scarf to match the hat I made a couple of years ago.  It’s coming along nicely.  

I contacted the former student I plan to visit with when I’m in Sendai next week and did a few things on my computer.  And, that’s about it. You are up to speed!


I didn’t go out, and I am hoping that I can go out tomorrow a bit.  We might see a movie, and do a little shopping, I’m not sure.  Come back a bit later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

4 comments:

Fabian said...

Hello,

Thank you for your daily insights into your Japanese life. It is really interesting and entertaining.

I have one question - and please don't take it as an offense or criticism, it's plain interest. You write in your blog's headline that you came to Japan in order to teach English. Yet, reading some of your posts gives me the impression that you work as a housewife now, rather than as an English teacher?!

Is there a reason why you quit and isn't it a bit monotonous that way? I was just wondering because you say "I did have a busy morning" but actually the activities you then mention - making the bed and getting dressed - sound more or less like an obvious daily activity to me.

Are you still teaching English? If so, do you enjoy it? If no, why did you stop?

In every case, thank you very much for your blog posts and have a nice weekend!

Cheers,
Fabian

Helen said...

Hi Fabian, thanks for your comments.

I did come over as an English Instructor, and worked in a big Eikaiwa (conversation school) until they closed in my city in 2005. Since I was already married and not willing to leave my husband to keep working for that company, I left that job. I started my own English school and kept it going for quite a few years, but ever since the earthquake, interest in English or the world outside Japan has been decreasing here. I had to close my school a couple of years ago because I didn't have the number of students I needed to keep it going.

My busy mornings are a bit of a joke really. Some days I do quite a few different things, other days not so much. I don't always write the things I do on the blog because it is boring!

I did enjoy teaching English, but I don't have anywhere to teach it now. I also don't have any students!

Hope that answers most of your questions. I hope you have a good weekend too!

Fabian said...

Thank you so much for your comprehensive and swift response. It is very interesting.

When the earthquake happened, I was working in a company in Shizuoka where my job was to promote local organic products for the international market. It is probably quite obvious that the international audience steered clear of Japanese products after the nuclear fallout (be it appropriately or not), leaving the Japanese export market for foods in a shambles.

Yet, reading that also the Japanese apparently lost their interest in other markets - and in learning English - surprised me. Do you think this is because the international market did not appear as an attractive business opportunity anymore and therefore people zeroed in on the demostic market? Or why do you think Japanese were not so much interested in learning English anymore?

Despite the challenges the Japanese obviously faced back home, I do see more good reasons to still learn English than you could shake a stick at...

I would appreciate to learn about your point of view.

Cheers,
Fabian

Helen said...

Hmm. I think that up here in Tohoku especially, it was too difficult to find the money for extras like English lessons after the quake. It might be okay for children, but for adults...it wasn't a necessity.

The present government of Japan is also not really interested in promoting openness to the world. For all of Japan's supposed welcoming the world for the Olympics they take one step forward and it seems like one big step back all the time!

I also see many reasons to learn English, but I'm not Japanese! I think that Japanese people have the mindset that English is for tests and until the way it is taught is changed, English isn't going to get better in Japan.

Thanks for visiting my blog!