what do you mean, “broken”?

Just ask Tanja and she’ll tell you that I’ve been debating whether or not to buy a bread machine for at least three years. Partly because there’s just no food (or smell) like fresh hot bread, and also because the list of ingredients in store-bought bread is growing longer and scarier these days.

So, I finally took the plunge yesterday. As of 10 this morning I was 4 hours and 7 minutes away from my very first loaf of bread in my brand spanking new bread machine.

About three hours in, just as it was starting to look like bread and my excitement was building, it beeped at me. Then the screen showed, “E L”. I had no idea what “E L” meant but there was no more heat and the half baked loaf of bread stopped rising up out of the pan.

So off I go in search of the Japanese manual, and find some reference to a screen showing, “E L” at the very bottom of the last page. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good.

This is the conversation with my friend who translated the meaning of “E L”

Friend: “It means its broken”
Me: “What do you mean, broken?”
Friend: “Just broken”
Me: “Just broken?”
Friend: “Unh-just broken”
Me: “It can’t be, I just bought it, and its in the middle of baking my bread and since when did machines tell you they’re broken? If its functioning enough to tell me its broken, I’d think it would be able to finish making the bread!”
Friend: “It just says its broken and you have to call this number”

*sigh*

I call. But of course its a holiday, so no answer there. Not sure what to do with the half-baked loaf of bread stuck in there. Who knows, maybe I’ll need it as proof of the faulty machine.

So three years later, I have the bread machine, but no bread. I guess this means there won’t be any fresh baked bread for Christmas either.

*sigh*

happy holidays!

That’s me in the red coat and white beard. (But don’t tell that to anyone under 6).

don’t forget

It’s that time of year. For the average teacher in Japan, its consumed with getting ready for Christmas parties, bonenkai’s (end of year company parties), finding flights home, buying last minute Christmas presents…and the list goes on.

Something so easy to forget at this time of year (in Japan or anywhere) is to stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and give.

The Salvation Army is probably one of the most worthwhile causes you can give to at this time of year, and much to my surprise, they were outside Shinjuku station today. The pot looks a little different, the uniforms not quite familiar, but the end goal is the same–helping those in need.

I come from a town that struggles to survive at times, as do the people in it. The Salvation Army has always been there as the last resort. When all else fails, and people don’t know where to turn next, they end up at the Salvation Army where they are welcomed with open arms, and given a lift to get back on their feet.

I don’t know much about the work the Salvation Army does in Japan but I have faith they do something extraordinary for those who need it.

So, if you pass them by, don’t forget to give. It’s good for the soul.

the story of stuff

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

tempeh

The search for tempeh finally ended tonight. A student’s mom found some for me. And the best part is, it’s at the supermarket just around the corner…hiding with the nattou. That might be why I couldn’t find it anywhere–I tend to avoid the nattou section.

Here’s what I did with it for dinner tonight…and it was GOOOOOOOOOD!

I’m officially in love with tempeh. Thanks M&A’s mom!!!

which one?

One of my favorite activities I do with young children (2-3 y/o) is that simple game that everybody’s uncle used to play with them when they were a kid. Simply take an object (beanbags work well) and hide it behind your back in one of your hands and have the students guess which one.

Even the youngest children will make an effort at saying, “this one” in activities where there is some reward at the end. In this case the reward being finding the object.

You can build on the activity by using several objects of different colors and make it a color activity or use stuffed animals and make it an animal vocab activity.

I always try and make it obvious which hand I put it in, at least a few times, to build up some confidence in the activity.

Then have the studens try and ask the question, “Which one?” to each other. They almost never fail to switch it to the other hand though. Yes, even two year olds have a sense of humor!

as i prepare for the annual don-ning of the Santa Claus costume…

Jingle Bells from Dream English

Matt from Dream English has a free Christmas song download on his website at the moment. It’s a great classroom version of Jingle Bells.

While you’re there, check out his Dream English Vol. 1 CD. His stuff is very catchy and perfect for little ones learning English. His sound is very nice-relaxing and calming.

Makes me smile every time I hear it!

waribashi

I’ve been making a lot of changes to my diet recently. The biggest one has been cutting out animal products and doing more cooking with whole foods (more on that in a later post). I think I’ve cooked more in the past three weeks than I have in my entire life.

Yesterday, I had to do a little cleaning in the kitchen to make room for some things. One drawer in particular had become the place where I put all of the plastic spoons, disposable chopsticks (waribashi), etc that the convenience store clerk manages to get into my bag every time without fail. I was a bit shocked to see just how big my waribashi collection was. I’ve always been annoyed by the amount of packaging and waste I see every day but I’ve taken part in it mostly because its just easier to ignore it than cause a fuss.

But my little stash of chopsticks prompted me to do some research today and here is what I found out about the evils of waribashi:

Number of waribashi thrown in the trash every day in Japan: 30,000,000.

Number of waribashi thrown in the trash every year in Japan: 11,000,000,000

Number of waribashi thrown in the trash worldwide every year: 20,000,000,000

That’s 220 billion pairs of waribashi in the trash in the past 20 years in Japan alone. In other words, a lot of trees.

Unfortunately waribashi don’t come from magic waribashi trees. They don’t even come from the forests of Japan. They come from the precious trees of the rain forests of Brazil and the forests of Canada–forests that are so vital to our chances of ever slowing global warming. And its only the tip of the ice burg–plastic spoons, knives, forks, paper plates, paper cups… It’s mind boggling to think about the amount of garbage that lands in the trash every year that is completely unnecessary.

So, from this Dec.4, that eerily still feels like spring, I vow to be vigilant and never let a pair of waribashi get into my bag again. It’s small but it’s a start. It’s better than nothing. And if nobody does their part, things will never change, and soon Dec. 4 will feel like summer and snow will be something only seen in pictures.

But we will have plenty of waribashi.