A week until Christmas, and school is still in session for me--quite the difference from being free after Thanksgiving as I have been the past couple years. But I already finished all my finals but my Japanese test tomorrow, which hopefully will go smoothly.
All the IES trips are done, so I haven't done much travelling. Mostly I've just been moseying around Nagoya trying to get a fill of my favorite things before I leave. This includes delicious Japanese food, shopping at Oosu Kannon market, going to en-nichi (or good day, a farmer's market-like affair) at the local Buddhist temple Koshoji, and haunting my favorite izakaya with good friends. The other day, since I had free time I rode my bike down to Heiwa Koen, a huge park full of walking trails with a gorgeous view of the Japanese Alps, next to a rolling cemetery. It was a beautiful, clear and sunny day, absolutely perfect for a long bike ride. I enjoy those peaceful times by myself to see the beauty of the place where I am living.
Soon it will be Christmas, and I feel it will be a warm one since the weather is so mild that the leaves are still turning. I'm planning on having a small Christmas with a couple friends from America, my German friend Maria, and Maria's German friends. We're going to make Christmas cookies and eggnog and celebrate until I leave Christmas evening for a night bus to Tokyo where I'll meet my parents.
When my parents come we'll spend two weeks traveling around Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Okinawa. We'll be spending the New Year celebrating in Kyoto! And in Kobe and Okinawa we'll be visiting our past exchange students Miki and Hiro, so we're all really excited to see these old friends! It should be a great way to enjoy Japan as much as possible before returning home in January.
Jaa Mata!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Still working on filling my quota of Japanese things
Hello all! Before this blog, I have gone to Kyoto, Nagoya port, Atsuta Jingu, Nagano, and basically ran around Nagoya. It's been a while since I last wrote, so I'll try to keep explanations short.
Kyoto was fantastic, I am definitely getting my money's worth by doing IES. And DU is paying for all of it! It's a sweet deal. We made hand-painted fans, saw Kinkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera, Nijo-jo Castle, and the bamboo forest at Arashiyama. We also got to speak to a Meiko and Geiko (Japanese words for apprentice geisha and geisha) and ride in a rickshaw around Arashiyama. Pretty stereotypical Kyoto experience, which of course is still fantastic.
Nagoya port was alright, it was rather industrial and didn't have much. We just went there and ate lunch. On the way back, there was a festival going on at Atsuta Jingu (one of Japan's most prominent shrines), so I stopped by there to check it out. An elderly Japanese man saw me when I walked in and said, "Hello! Wait for a second, I'm going to get coffee, then I'll show you around." I was rather surprised, but I'd have to say it's the best tour I've ever received in my life. The man is a retired structural engineer, and he took an hour and a half to explain the religious, structural, and cultural elements of each shrine in the entire Jingu. He also explained the festival, and we got to witness part of a Japanese style wedding. I am so blessed to have gotten such a thorough education there on Japanese cultural elements.
Then my okaasan took me to Kouranke to see the leaves turn for fall (this is called kouyou). My god was it gorgeous. We ate mochi, drank matcha, and basically just enjoyed the gorgeous fall weather.
Nagano is just a fantastically gorgeous place. We went to temples and shrines, I got to dip my feet in a foot-hot spring, then went to my friend's host family's friends (quite far removed) second home right outside the Japanese Alps. There, we had a Japanese-style barbecue (a grate inside a big wood table) and talked late. The next day, we went out walking, then drove to Magome, where there are some of the best views. Nagano reminds me a lot of Western Colorado, but different plants.
As far as school goes, I know I can give a mildly comprehensible presentation in Japanese, and I still absolutely love my classes. I'd have to say compared to DU, I'd much rather take classes at Nanzan. They are very serious about getting you a thorough education, and all my teachers are of the top quality.
Mata ato! Till next time.
Kyoto was fantastic, I am definitely getting my money's worth by doing IES. And DU is paying for all of it! It's a sweet deal. We made hand-painted fans, saw Kinkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera, Nijo-jo Castle, and the bamboo forest at Arashiyama. We also got to speak to a Meiko and Geiko (Japanese words for apprentice geisha and geisha) and ride in a rickshaw around Arashiyama. Pretty stereotypical Kyoto experience, which of course is still fantastic.
Nagoya port was alright, it was rather industrial and didn't have much. We just went there and ate lunch. On the way back, there was a festival going on at Atsuta Jingu (one of Japan's most prominent shrines), so I stopped by there to check it out. An elderly Japanese man saw me when I walked in and said, "Hello! Wait for a second, I'm going to get coffee, then I'll show you around." I was rather surprised, but I'd have to say it's the best tour I've ever received in my life. The man is a retired structural engineer, and he took an hour and a half to explain the religious, structural, and cultural elements of each shrine in the entire Jingu. He also explained the festival, and we got to witness part of a Japanese style wedding. I am so blessed to have gotten such a thorough education there on Japanese cultural elements.
Then my okaasan took me to Kouranke to see the leaves turn for fall (this is called kouyou). My god was it gorgeous. We ate mochi, drank matcha, and basically just enjoyed the gorgeous fall weather.
Nagano is just a fantastically gorgeous place. We went to temples and shrines, I got to dip my feet in a foot-hot spring, then went to my friend's host family's friends (quite far removed) second home right outside the Japanese Alps. There, we had a Japanese-style barbecue (a grate inside a big wood table) and talked late. The next day, we went out walking, then drove to Magome, where there are some of the best views. Nagano reminds me a lot of Western Colorado, but different plants.
As far as school goes, I know I can give a mildly comprehensible presentation in Japanese, and I still absolutely love my classes. I'd have to say compared to DU, I'd much rather take classes at Nanzan. They are very serious about getting you a thorough education, and all my teachers are of the top quality.
Mata ato! Till next time.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Oh the places...
Japan is just bursting with places to visit!
Two weekends ago, IES Abroad took us to visit Takayama, Shirakawa-go, and Gujo Hachiman. These are 3 towns north of Nagoya, closer to the Japanese Alps. Shirakawa-go is known for it's phenomenal snowfall, and the traditional thatch-roof houses built to withstand the cold and snow. Takayama is further North, and famous for it's agriculture (especially miso), Tokugawa-era shogunate administrative house, and--of course--the gorgeous nature surrounding it. And Gujo Hachiman...well...besides the fact that I ate some delicious dango on the street, it is known for "sampuru", the plastic food displays you see in front of a lot of restaurants here. We even had the opportunity to cover vaguely vegetable-looking pieces of plastic in wax (supposedly tempura) ourselves! Not quite sure what I'm going to do with that souvenir yet...
Shirakawa-go
My time in Takayama was quite memorable. This is because I love food, and there is a lot of great food in Takayama. I woke up extra early to wander around town a bit (I looked for places to hike, but we were too close to town...sad...), and stumbled upon the Sunday morning-market, where I bought regional miso (filled with nuts and fruit! It's like a chutney, it is indescribably delicious) and a big bag of apples. Then after our group had breakfast and toured the shogunate house, I went back to the market. I ate so well...a skewer of the regional specialty, Hida beef, barely grilled and served with a cup of hot sake was definitely the winner. It was $8-9 for it, but definitely worth it. I saw candy-makers, shichimi-togarashi-grinders, cloth-weavers, incense-crafters, wood-carvers...Takayama is filled to the brim with handcrafted items.
Shichimi-maker in Takayama
Otherwise, I've been on break! Hooray for fall! Our school holds a festival called Nanzan-sai every autumn where all the school clubs give performances and make street food for 4 straight days! I went for 2 of the days to see my friend dance, eat taiyaki and takoyaki, and generally just hang out with all the Nanzan students :)
Not to mention during my break I've been doing 5-hour karaoke sessions, going to izakaya, and basically taking time off. It's been wonderful! Today since okaasan and I both had a break she decided she could dress me up in a kimono. It took probably 15-20 minutes to put it on me, but I think it fits well, don;t you? Maybe I'll see if I can get a used one and learn to put it on myself :)
Okaasan dressing me up.
The final product.
That's all for now, next up this weekend I go to Kyoto (finally!)...keep in touch :)
Two weekends ago, IES Abroad took us to visit Takayama, Shirakawa-go, and Gujo Hachiman. These are 3 towns north of Nagoya, closer to the Japanese Alps. Shirakawa-go is known for it's phenomenal snowfall, and the traditional thatch-roof houses built to withstand the cold and snow. Takayama is further North, and famous for it's agriculture (especially miso), Tokugawa-era shogunate administrative house, and--of course--the gorgeous nature surrounding it. And Gujo Hachiman...well...besides the fact that I ate some delicious dango on the street, it is known for "sampuru", the plastic food displays you see in front of a lot of restaurants here. We even had the opportunity to cover vaguely vegetable-looking pieces of plastic in wax (supposedly tempura) ourselves! Not quite sure what I'm going to do with that souvenir yet...
Shirakawa-go
My time in Takayama was quite memorable. This is because I love food, and there is a lot of great food in Takayama. I woke up extra early to wander around town a bit (I looked for places to hike, but we were too close to town...sad...), and stumbled upon the Sunday morning-market, where I bought regional miso (filled with nuts and fruit! It's like a chutney, it is indescribably delicious) and a big bag of apples. Then after our group had breakfast and toured the shogunate house, I went back to the market. I ate so well...a skewer of the regional specialty, Hida beef, barely grilled and served with a cup of hot sake was definitely the winner. It was $8-9 for it, but definitely worth it. I saw candy-makers, shichimi-togarashi-grinders, cloth-weavers, incense-crafters, wood-carvers...Takayama is filled to the brim with handcrafted items.
Shichimi-maker in Takayama
Otherwise, I've been on break! Hooray for fall! Our school holds a festival called Nanzan-sai every autumn where all the school clubs give performances and make street food for 4 straight days! I went for 2 of the days to see my friend dance, eat taiyaki and takoyaki, and generally just hang out with all the Nanzan students :)
Not to mention during my break I've been doing 5-hour karaoke sessions, going to izakaya, and basically taking time off. It's been wonderful! Today since okaasan and I both had a break she decided she could dress me up in a kimono. It took probably 15-20 minutes to put it on me, but I think it fits well, don;t you? Maybe I'll see if I can get a used one and learn to put it on myself :)
Okaasan dressing me up.
The final product.
That's all for now, next up this weekend I go to Kyoto (finally!)...keep in touch :)
Monday, October 18, 2010
October is already halfway over??
Hm, since last time I wrote I have
1. Seen the Phantom of the Opera in Japanese
2. Experienced true izakaya-style yakitori dining (this included chicken heart, which is tastier than it sounds)
3. Attempted to understand my host-grandmother's Nagoya-ben (Nagoya dialect)
4. Made homemade pizza for a friend's host family (and getting to play a legit shakuhachi flute!)
5. Made Nicaraguan food for my okaasan
6. Traveled to Ise--location of the Ise-jingu, one of Japan's most prominent Shinto shrines (http://www.google.com/images?num=10&hl=en&q=ise+jingu&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=649)
7. Crossed the entire city of Nagoya on bicycle with my okaasan to see the Nagoya matsuri (Nagoya's 400-year anniversary festival), in which we saw Nagoya castle, a parade with traditional Japanese dances and puppets, the geisha look-alikes parading Oosukannon Buddhist temple, weaving in and out of kimono shops, getting interviewed for an English online news-blog, eating delicious festival food...
8. Saw a Noh play called Hagoromo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagoromo_(play)) with okaasan at the local Buddhist temple. The beginning was Buddhist chants followed by setting fire to a huge stack of wood while the taiko drums and shinobue flutes were played. The sticks people wrote their hopes on were thrown into the fire (in hopes that they'll be answered!), then the play began. I didn't understand it, and nothing much happens on stage but the actors singing to each other to the beat of 2 types of ceremonial drums (not quite sure of the significance of the drums) . Then at the end more hope-sticks are thrown in the fire to taiko and shinobue music. Then we ate delicious octopus, yakisoba, and some sort of shrimp-cracker-egg-mayonnaise thing.
The days are always packed. Japanese classes still continue to provide me with constant homework, and I've been part of the first round of presentations in my other classes, so the load is bigger than usual. But it's all truly interesting, I love all my classes!
Here are some favorite pictures:
1. Seen the Phantom of the Opera in Japanese
2. Experienced true izakaya-style yakitori dining (this included chicken heart, which is tastier than it sounds)
3. Attempted to understand my host-grandmother's Nagoya-ben (Nagoya dialect)
4. Made homemade pizza for a friend's host family (and getting to play a legit shakuhachi flute!)
5. Made Nicaraguan food for my okaasan
6. Traveled to Ise--location of the Ise-jingu, one of Japan's most prominent Shinto shrines (http://www.google.com/images?num=10&hl=en&q=ise+jingu&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=649)
7. Crossed the entire city of Nagoya on bicycle with my okaasan to see the Nagoya matsuri (Nagoya's 400-year anniversary festival), in which we saw Nagoya castle, a parade with traditional Japanese dances and puppets, the geisha look-alikes parading Oosukannon Buddhist temple, weaving in and out of kimono shops, getting interviewed for an English online news-blog, eating delicious festival food...
8. Saw a Noh play called Hagoromo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagoromo_(play)) with okaasan at the local Buddhist temple. The beginning was Buddhist chants followed by setting fire to a huge stack of wood while the taiko drums and shinobue flutes were played. The sticks people wrote their hopes on were thrown into the fire (in hopes that they'll be answered!), then the play began. I didn't understand it, and nothing much happens on stage but the actors singing to each other to the beat of 2 types of ceremonial drums (not quite sure of the significance of the drums) . Then at the end more hope-sticks are thrown in the fire to taiko and shinobue music. Then we ate delicious octopus, yakisoba, and some sort of shrimp-cracker-egg-mayonnaise thing.
The days are always packed. Japanese classes still continue to provide me with constant homework, and I've been part of the first round of presentations in my other classes, so the load is bigger than usual. But it's all truly interesting, I love all my classes!
Here are some favorite pictures:
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Exploring a little
This weekend was time for Katie to play tourist! I am so lucky to have the host-family situation that I do, I was only able to do all of this with the help of my okaasan's family!
Last week, my host sister Hiromi and her husband Tadasuke was visiting from the Numadu area near Shizuoka. That's the area where Mt. Fuji (Fujisan) is. So after we spent the week hanging out together (I made homemade tortillas and huevos rancheros for everybody!), okaasan and I hitched a ride back with them to Shizuoka and we did some sight-seeing on the way there. We first stopped at a huge shrine in Fujioka where I saw the biggest tori (holy gates) and clearest spring waters in my life. Then we went to see a basin where waterfalls gushed from all sides, where we sat at the top of the falls to eat the specialty of the area, yakisoba. In the afternoon, we drove halfway up Mt. Fuji, where we climbed a little bit (not far :P), and marveled at the view of the cloud-tops--so high up that it was almost like looking out from an airplane! Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries for all of this, so you will just have to use your imagination to see this all...
The next day okaasan's sister, sister's daughter, mother, and father all came to visit! Then Tadasuke's mom, dad, grandpa, and younger brother showed up, and they all sat on the living room floor meeting and greeting for a couple of hours...it was rather taxing on my energy, especially since I didn't understand the dialects of the more elderly participants. We all watched Hiromi and Tadasuke's wedding video (they were married in the Great Barrier Reef Chapel in Austrailia!), and headed off to lunch at the harbor. I got to try sea urchin for the first time, which has a flavor that is a cross between plastic and Expo Markers. Needless to say, my okaasan got to finish the rest of my urchin. Afterward, we all went to an outdoor statue museum/garden hybrid and wandered around (goro-goro shita, in Japanese...I love Japanese onomatopoeia words!) for an hour or so before getting ice cream and heading back home. The trip there and back was about 3.5 hours each way, but okaasan and I were so lucky to have rides both way! I only spent $8 the whole time on my museum pass, the rest was a treat from okaasan's family. They are all such sweet people, I'm so lucky to hang out with them!
Monday and Tuesday were just classes, impromptu yoga class with friends, random adventures to Vietnamese food and a (cheap!) izakaya. Today after classes ended I went to ramen with a group of friends from my America as a Foreign Country class--my first time getting ramen in Japan, whodathunkit--then took off on my bike to run around Nagoya. I wound my way to Higashi-Betsuin, a huge Buddhist temple that was built in the 1690. It was rather empty, and the doors to the temple were closed so I couldn't see much of the gold ornaments and tatami mats that are usually inside temples, so I just wandered around the grounds for a while, donating a few yen and paying respects by clapping and bowing. The outside was absolutely gorgeous, I plan on returning on the weekend when it will be open for ceremonies. Next I found a random temple in the area. The temple was of a Southeast Asian style, and its tall towers made it incredibly easy to spot it from the main road. It was really special to be the only visitor walking its grounds, I love the ornate decorations and the scent of tatami in the main rooms. All the pictures of the temples in the blog are of the temple.
Otherwise, I've just been having better conversations with my okaasan now that my Japanese is improving everyday. I love living here. Nagoya is a fantastic city to explore, the more and more I delve into Japanese culture the more I fall in love with it.
Until next time, jaa mata!
Last week, my host sister Hiromi and her husband Tadasuke was visiting from the Numadu area near Shizuoka. That's the area where Mt. Fuji (Fujisan) is. So after we spent the week hanging out together (I made homemade tortillas and huevos rancheros for everybody!), okaasan and I hitched a ride back with them to Shizuoka and we did some sight-seeing on the way there. We first stopped at a huge shrine in Fujioka where I saw the biggest tori (holy gates) and clearest spring waters in my life. Then we went to see a basin where waterfalls gushed from all sides, where we sat at the top of the falls to eat the specialty of the area, yakisoba. In the afternoon, we drove halfway up Mt. Fuji, where we climbed a little bit (not far :P), and marveled at the view of the cloud-tops--so high up that it was almost like looking out from an airplane! Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries for all of this, so you will just have to use your imagination to see this all...
The next day okaasan's sister, sister's daughter, mother, and father all came to visit! Then Tadasuke's mom, dad, grandpa, and younger brother showed up, and they all sat on the living room floor meeting and greeting for a couple of hours...it was rather taxing on my energy, especially since I didn't understand the dialects of the more elderly participants. We all watched Hiromi and Tadasuke's wedding video (they were married in the Great Barrier Reef Chapel in Austrailia!), and headed off to lunch at the harbor. I got to try sea urchin for the first time, which has a flavor that is a cross between plastic and Expo Markers. Needless to say, my okaasan got to finish the rest of my urchin. Afterward, we all went to an outdoor statue museum/garden hybrid and wandered around (goro-goro shita, in Japanese...I love Japanese onomatopoeia words!) for an hour or so before getting ice cream and heading back home. The trip there and back was about 3.5 hours each way, but okaasan and I were so lucky to have rides both way! I only spent $8 the whole time on my museum pass, the rest was a treat from okaasan's family. They are all such sweet people, I'm so lucky to hang out with them!
Monday and Tuesday were just classes, impromptu yoga class with friends, random adventures to Vietnamese food and a (cheap!) izakaya. Today after classes ended I went to ramen with a group of friends from my America as a Foreign Country class--my first time getting ramen in Japan, whodathunkit--then took off on my bike to run around Nagoya. I wound my way to Higashi-Betsuin, a huge Buddhist temple that was built in the 1690. It was rather empty, and the doors to the temple were closed so I couldn't see much of the gold ornaments and tatami mats that are usually inside temples, so I just wandered around the grounds for a while, donating a few yen and paying respects by clapping and bowing. The outside was absolutely gorgeous, I plan on returning on the weekend when it will be open for ceremonies. Next I found a random temple in the area. The temple was of a Southeast Asian style, and its tall towers made it incredibly easy to spot it from the main road. It was really special to be the only visitor walking its grounds, I love the ornate decorations and the scent of tatami in the main rooms. All the pictures of the temples in the blog are of the temple.
Otherwise, I've just been having better conversations with my okaasan now that my Japanese is improving everyday. I love living here. Nagoya is a fantastic city to explore, the more and more I delve into Japanese culture the more I fall in love with it.
Until next time, jaa mata!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Oh yeah, I'm going to school
I'm now two weeks into my regular seminar courses! Since I'm in a lower level of Japanese, I am taking these in English. I doubt I could understand a lick of a teacher talking about if America as a Foreign Country, Political and Social Issues of Japan, or Japanese Religions were taught in Japanese. I am taking a hanga (woodblock printing) course in Japanese, but that requires little interaction between me and my sensei.
I am so extremely excited for my courses! America as a Foreign Country and Political and Social Issues of Japan are with the same professor, a native Japanese man who speaks perfect English teaches it, and the course is half exchange students and half Japanese students who speak English fluently (because they are British and American Studies majors). I've already made a few friends from these classes and they showed me around downtown and did yoga with me :)
The hanga course is so much fun, I've wanted to do hanga since I saw a Yoshitoshi art exibit in California (http://www.google.co.jp/images?q=yoshitoshi&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=ja&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=649). All we've done yet is a woodblock print of our names, but it was still so much fun! We carved out a piece of balsa wood, put a bit of glue and ink on it, and after we rubbed it in we stamped it on a piece of paper. I missed having art class...
Then last, my Japanese Religions class is incredibly interesting. My teacher is an Indian man educated in Britain who is working in Japan, so his perspective is fantastic. The lecture is 2 1/2 hours long once a week, but I am always interested through to the end of class. It's nice learning about these things, especially when I go to temples. You gain a new appreciation for cultural things when you know their history.
Not much else going on for me besides studying! Hopefully I'll be able to update you all more soon :)
I am so extremely excited for my courses! America as a Foreign Country and Political and Social Issues of Japan are with the same professor, a native Japanese man who speaks perfect English teaches it, and the course is half exchange students and half Japanese students who speak English fluently (because they are British and American Studies majors). I've already made a few friends from these classes and they showed me around downtown and did yoga with me :)
The hanga course is so much fun, I've wanted to do hanga since I saw a Yoshitoshi art exibit in California (http://www.google.co.jp/images?q=yoshitoshi&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=ja&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=649). All we've done yet is a woodblock print of our names, but it was still so much fun! We carved out a piece of balsa wood, put a bit of glue and ink on it, and after we rubbed it in we stamped it on a piece of paper. I missed having art class...
Then last, my Japanese Religions class is incredibly interesting. My teacher is an Indian man educated in Britain who is working in Japan, so his perspective is fantastic. The lecture is 2 1/2 hours long once a week, but I am always interested through to the end of class. It's nice learning about these things, especially when I go to temples. You gain a new appreciation for cultural things when you know their history.
Not much else going on for me besides studying! Hopefully I'll be able to update you all more soon :)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Long time no see!
Sorry this took so long to get up! It seems like life took me by storm the past couple weeks. What I am doing is a college education and a vacation all at once.
Since I last wrote, I've begun my Japanese classes! I've had about a week and 2 days of it. I got into 300 level, and it seems like the work there is the level of difficulty that I need.
I've also been running around experiencing Japan! Kazuno has taken me shopping and bought me an adorable skirt, and okaasan took me hiking and bike riding. I've also been cooking with okaasan (logging all the recipes, of course :D), and running around with friends experiencing the area. Me and my friends Taylor, Whitney, and Melody met a girl in the film-making club, Maki, at "coffee hour", which is where exchange students can meet Japanese students. We went to one of those meetings and ran around Nagoya with Maki, Anna (Maki's friend from another school), and Takumi (another film-club student).
Then, this weekend we went to Kanazawa, all the way on the North side of Honshu. It was a busy couple days, and a lot of time in the bus. It's a town both on the outskirts of the Japanese Alps and close to the coast of the Sea of Japan. We wandered through the fish market, made gold leaf boxes, relaxed in the outdoor hot springs, went to a famous garden in the area, and drank matcha tea in a historical district. I got to try black sesame and tofu ice-cream. It all was wonderful. I wish I got to see more of the mountains, though. But me and my friend Chris are going to start hiking on the weekends around Nagoya, so all is well.
Otherwise, I have my final test today to keep me in 300 (which better happen, because 200 is just going over everything I've already learned...) And I got me inkan, hooray! It says Kasurin, or "singing festival bell" :)
Jaa Mata!
Since I last wrote, I've begun my Japanese classes! I've had about a week and 2 days of it. I got into 300 level, and it seems like the work there is the level of difficulty that I need.
I've also been running around experiencing Japan! Kazuno has taken me shopping and bought me an adorable skirt, and okaasan took me hiking and bike riding. I've also been cooking with okaasan (logging all the recipes, of course :D), and running around with friends experiencing the area. Me and my friends Taylor, Whitney, and Melody met a girl in the film-making club, Maki, at "coffee hour", which is where exchange students can meet Japanese students. We went to one of those meetings and ran around Nagoya with Maki, Anna (Maki's friend from another school), and Takumi (another film-club student).
Then, this weekend we went to Kanazawa, all the way on the North side of Honshu. It was a busy couple days, and a lot of time in the bus. It's a town both on the outskirts of the Japanese Alps and close to the coast of the Sea of Japan. We wandered through the fish market, made gold leaf boxes, relaxed in the outdoor hot springs, went to a famous garden in the area, and drank matcha tea in a historical district. I got to try black sesame and tofu ice-cream. It all was wonderful. I wish I got to see more of the mountains, though. But me and my friend Chris are going to start hiking on the weekends around Nagoya, so all is well.
Otherwise, I have my final test today to keep me in 300 (which better happen, because 200 is just going over everything I've already learned...) And I got me inkan, hooray! It says Kasurin, or "singing festival bell" :)
Jaa Mata!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Lotsa Japanese....
Where to start?
Well, took the placement test, though I took the 200-level test. I thought 200-level was actually 200-level, while it turns out that it, in fact, is 100-level. Sooo I felt really stupid afterwards since we had the choice of what test to take, but apparently they'll test and re-test us during the first week of class. Lucky us. At least it means we should be in the right level!
Either way, my okaasan and Kazuno (my ane, or older sister) are great teachers, so I at least have adjusted to hearing and speaking Japanese, though I haven't even gotten to the point of understanding everyday things. This is soon to come, I hope!
Otherwise, the past couple days of orientation before the weekend was just meeting people and going over stuff in our welcome packet. So basically zone-out time, except for when we ordered our inkan for making a bank account. Kazuno helped me come up with name kanji for it, so I shall be--from now on--formally known as 歌須鈴 (Kasurin, pronounced like Kathryn), which basically means singing festival bell. Hooray! Basically, an inkan is the small stone block that has your name carved on the bottom, so you can stamp official documents with it. It's the red mark you see on a lot of asian paintings.
Also, I don't know how I forgot to mention this, but my okaasan got a brand new Panasonic electric bicycle just so we could both ride our bikes places together! It's a pretty sweet ride, cherry red with a little bell in front. It's especially sweet since I was thinking of even buying a bike while I am here! So, after orientation Thursday and Friday I rode my bike around, and went running in the morning Friday. I'd say by now I'm a little acquainted with the area, especially since okaasan, Kazuno, Kazuno's baby Yuno, and I rode the Chikatetsu (subway) around all weekend to go shopping in Sakae and to go to the Thai festival. I'm not used to cities this old, and it seems like there's a little surprise around every corner. Especially memorable was when I ran across a huge graveyard going up a hill and climbed it just in time for seeing sunset over part of Nagoya. I didn't have my camera, sorry :(
being a dork on my bike
My host family is super nice and helpful, and we've definitely been eating well. Obaasan and Obasan (Grandma and aunt) came to visit and brought cake, and ever since we've had it every day between breakfast and lunch! Okaasan made lotus root one day with a sweet sauce that was sooo good--super crunchy. Plus Saturday I made pancakes and eggs over easy with dried cherry cookies for dessert for okaasan, Kazuno, and Kazuno's husband Akashi and they loved it. I think pancakes are universally delicious. Yay for pancakes!
Otherwise, I have discovered nashi, a Japanese pear that's crunchy and big like an apple. It's the greatest thing ever.
Jaa mata!
Well, took the placement test, though I took the 200-level test. I thought 200-level was actually 200-level, while it turns out that it, in fact, is 100-level. Sooo I felt really stupid afterwards since we had the choice of what test to take, but apparently they'll test and re-test us during the first week of class. Lucky us. At least it means we should be in the right level!
Either way, my okaasan and Kazuno (my ane, or older sister) are great teachers, so I at least have adjusted to hearing and speaking Japanese, though I haven't even gotten to the point of understanding everyday things. This is soon to come, I hope!
Otherwise, the past couple days of orientation before the weekend was just meeting people and going over stuff in our welcome packet. So basically zone-out time, except for when we ordered our inkan for making a bank account. Kazuno helped me come up with name kanji for it, so I shall be--from now on--formally known as 歌須鈴 (Kasurin, pronounced like Kathryn), which basically means singing festival bell. Hooray! Basically, an inkan is the small stone block that has your name carved on the bottom, so you can stamp official documents with it. It's the red mark you see on a lot of asian paintings.
Also, I don't know how I forgot to mention this, but my okaasan got a brand new Panasonic electric bicycle just so we could both ride our bikes places together! It's a pretty sweet ride, cherry red with a little bell in front. It's especially sweet since I was thinking of even buying a bike while I am here! So, after orientation Thursday and Friday I rode my bike around, and went running in the morning Friday. I'd say by now I'm a little acquainted with the area, especially since okaasan, Kazuno, Kazuno's baby Yuno, and I rode the Chikatetsu (subway) around all weekend to go shopping in Sakae and to go to the Thai festival. I'm not used to cities this old, and it seems like there's a little surprise around every corner. Especially memorable was when I ran across a huge graveyard going up a hill and climbed it just in time for seeing sunset over part of Nagoya. I didn't have my camera, sorry :(
being a dork on my bike
My host family is super nice and helpful, and we've definitely been eating well. Obaasan and Obasan (Grandma and aunt) came to visit and brought cake, and ever since we've had it every day between breakfast and lunch! Okaasan made lotus root one day with a sweet sauce that was sooo good--super crunchy. Plus Saturday I made pancakes and eggs over easy with dried cherry cookies for dessert for okaasan, Kazuno, and Kazuno's husband Akashi and they loved it. I think pancakes are universally delicious. Yay for pancakes!
Otherwise, I have discovered nashi, a Japanese pear that's crunchy and big like an apple. It's the greatest thing ever.
Jaa mata!
Friday, September 3, 2010
CONTACT INFO
Because I'd love to receive letters and packages (& Skype calls are cheap)!! Peanut butter every now and then would be nice :)
Address:
#509, 74 Yamazoto-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8673, Japan
Phone:
(country code +81) 804-073-5603
Thanks!
Address:
#509, 74 Yamazoto-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8673, Japan
Phone:
(country code +81) 804-073-5603
Thanks!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
日本語をあまりおもいおもいだしていません。。。
That first line means I don't really remember Japanese...
But! I completely lucked out on my host family, though I'll get to that in a moment. We'll do this in an orderly fashion.
When I last left off, we just went to dinner (dipped stuff in raw eggs, surprisingly delicious), then onsen, then passed out.
Went for a run before breakfast and saw a Japanese graveyard, it was gorgeous. Then breakfast, Mika party (Mika like the singer, you gotta know them!), pack, and go! We went to Nanzan University (finally), and were called one by one to our host family members. When I was called, I was instantly greeted by a hug from my host mother, Ryoko! Her daughter, Kazuno, and Kazuno's baby were with her, and they both walked with me to Ryoko's apartment. It's literally across the street from the university, how lucky am I. Some of the others got a 1 hour commute!
My meal with my okaasan
Me n' okaasan!
my room
We dropped off my stuff in my room, and Ryoko (from now on I'll call her Okaasan, because that's what she wants me to call her :) It means mother) sat me down and wrote down the things I will and will not eat. Then we took a taxi to a traditional and exceedingly fancy restaurant, where you sit on the floor and the area below the table is built lower for your feet. We ate the best meal I've had yet here, a smorgasbord of sashimi, kabocha soup, seaweed, custard, you name it. Then we finished with ice cream and ooh was it good. Afterward, we went to register me as an alien resident, which was an adventure in my Japanese skills, but Okaasan was really helpful and helped me fill everything out. Then they took me to the Hyakuken (100 yen or 1 dollar store) where I bought pretty stationary, and afterwards to the grocery store to buy food for dinner. We kept using the subway, so it was good practice, and they were quite patient with my awful Japanese, helping me out when they knew the English words for things. Their English is pretty good, they've travelled a bit in Austrailia, so I'm assuming that helped. When we went home, I put everything away and studied Japanese. My host mom is so warm and my room is so cozy, this place really feels like home!
Tomorrow is the Japanese placement test, wish me luck! Jaa mata :)
But! I completely lucked out on my host family, though I'll get to that in a moment. We'll do this in an orderly fashion.
When I last left off, we just went to dinner (dipped stuff in raw eggs, surprisingly delicious), then onsen, then passed out.
Went for a run before breakfast and saw a Japanese graveyard, it was gorgeous. Then breakfast, Mika party (Mika like the singer, you gotta know them!), pack, and go! We went to Nanzan University (finally), and were called one by one to our host family members. When I was called, I was instantly greeted by a hug from my host mother, Ryoko! Her daughter, Kazuno, and Kazuno's baby were with her, and they both walked with me to Ryoko's apartment. It's literally across the street from the university, how lucky am I. Some of the others got a 1 hour commute!
My meal with my okaasan
Me n' okaasan!
my room
We dropped off my stuff in my room, and Ryoko (from now on I'll call her Okaasan, because that's what she wants me to call her :) It means mother) sat me down and wrote down the things I will and will not eat. Then we took a taxi to a traditional and exceedingly fancy restaurant, where you sit on the floor and the area below the table is built lower for your feet. We ate the best meal I've had yet here, a smorgasbord of sashimi, kabocha soup, seaweed, custard, you name it. Then we finished with ice cream and ooh was it good. Afterward, we went to register me as an alien resident, which was an adventure in my Japanese skills, but Okaasan was really helpful and helped me fill everything out. Then they took me to the Hyakuken (100 yen or 1 dollar store) where I bought pretty stationary, and afterwards to the grocery store to buy food for dinner. We kept using the subway, so it was good practice, and they were quite patient with my awful Japanese, helping me out when they knew the English words for things. Their English is pretty good, they've travelled a bit in Austrailia, so I'm assuming that helped. When we went home, I put everything away and studied Japanese. My host mom is so warm and my room is so cozy, this place really feels like home!
Tomorrow is the Japanese placement test, wish me luck! Jaa mata :)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Japan...whaat?
Hey all!
Sorry I haven't posted for a while, it's because I was packing up and moving to JAPAN!
That's right, 日本, land of wonderful delicious food, toilets that clean you (so you don't have to...?), tatami rooms...you dream it, it is part of the Japanese fairytale.
When I first got here, I didn't do much but go to my super posh hotel room and get a rental phone. The next day, though, I woke up looking for someone to hang out with before breakfast (since it was quite early). No one was around, so I went out for a walk. As I am obviously gaijin (foreign), my new friend Tooru came up and just started speaking English to me! He's a Nagoya native, and started telling me about the area. He showed me around a Buddhist shrine, and then drove me around Nagoya Castle--all before breakfast! My first Japanese meal was quite good, especially the fried noodle/shrimp things and the hojicha (Japanese morning tea). Also, all the people in our IES Abroad group are just really motivated and warm, too. I feel like everyone just wants to be friends right off the bat, there's been none or very little of the awkward "getting-to-know-you" time. We all packed onto a bus to Inuyama, and that is where I have been.
Our traditional Japanese inn (Ryokan) is right off the banks of the Japanese Rhine, and our rooms inside are traditional tatami ones with the rice paper screens, a sitting area, and toilets that will spray your behind (no joke...I don't think I'll try it more than once). We get tea and tea snacks every day :) The first day we did orientation, some Japanese lessons, then had some of free time in which we explored shrines close to where we are staying. We followed this by a super delicious traditional Japanese dinner, a dip in the onsen (Japanese hot spring) that is part of the ryokan, and tea time with the roommates.
The second day, we had Japanese classes in the morning after breakfast. For lunch, we trekked to the nearest conbini (convenience store) to grab lunch. Then we went to Inuyama-Jou (Inuyama castle) to hear about the history and tour it. It is a 400+ year old castle overlooking the Japanese Rhine with simple but beautiful architecture. From there, we watched a impromptu puppet show about a drunken sprite (who changes faces from white to red through a mask hidden in his chest). The puppet-masters even let me play a ridiculously expensive drum and pull the puppet strings! Then we went to a traditional tea ceremony. I was absolutely not able to sit on my feet the whole time, or understand all the instructions. But basically, we washed our hands Buddhist-style, bowed to the guest's sumi-e pictures, then took our seats. Then we were served a little snack, which we ate rather ceremoniously from a pretty piece of paper. Then we watched the tea master make the tea and drank it (3 gulps, then you turn the clean cup over to admire the craftsmanship). We got to make our own cup of tea to serve to the staff...my drinker was ridiculously nice and kept telling me how good it was. Then we toured a history museum and hung out around the ryokan for an hour or so.
For dinner, we all climbed onto traditional Inuyama riverboats and had a huge bentou dinner with lots of fish. Thank god there were little containers to put what we didn't eat away, since that's what I had for lunch today! After we finished, we lit the lamps in the boat's ceiling and went to a resting place where we played Egyptian Rat Slap while the tables were put away in the boat. When we got back on, it was dark out, and we watched the cormorant fisher's boats. They light a huge fire in a cage that is in the front of their boats, and one person keeps 10 or so cormorant birds on leashes while they dive in the water for fish. When a bird catches one, they take the fish from its mouth and put it back in the water. I'm pretty sure we were eating some of the fish they caught. When we returned, we went to the onsen again :)
So basically, I am becoming a tea and onsen addict, and Japan seems to definitely be a dream world. Tomorrow I go to meet my host family, I can't wait to see how that will go down! Mata ne!
Sorry I haven't posted for a while, it's because I was packing up and moving to JAPAN!
That's right, 日本, land of wonderful delicious food, toilets that clean you (so you don't have to...?), tatami rooms...you dream it, it is part of the Japanese fairytale.
When I first got here, I didn't do much but go to my super posh hotel room and get a rental phone. The next day, though, I woke up looking for someone to hang out with before breakfast (since it was quite early). No one was around, so I went out for a walk. As I am obviously gaijin (foreign), my new friend Tooru came up and just started speaking English to me! He's a Nagoya native, and started telling me about the area. He showed me around a Buddhist shrine, and then drove me around Nagoya Castle--all before breakfast! My first Japanese meal was quite good, especially the fried noodle/shrimp things and the hojicha (Japanese morning tea). Also, all the people in our IES Abroad group are just really motivated and warm, too. I feel like everyone just wants to be friends right off the bat, there's been none or very little of the awkward "getting-to-know-you" time. We all packed onto a bus to Inuyama, and that is where I have been.
Our traditional Japanese inn (Ryokan) is right off the banks of the Japanese Rhine, and our rooms inside are traditional tatami ones with the rice paper screens, a sitting area, and toilets that will spray your behind (no joke...I don't think I'll try it more than once). We get tea and tea snacks every day :) The first day we did orientation, some Japanese lessons, then had some of free time in which we explored shrines close to where we are staying. We followed this by a super delicious traditional Japanese dinner, a dip in the onsen (Japanese hot spring) that is part of the ryokan, and tea time with the roommates.
The second day, we had Japanese classes in the morning after breakfast. For lunch, we trekked to the nearest conbini (convenience store) to grab lunch. Then we went to Inuyama-Jou (Inuyama castle) to hear about the history and tour it. It is a 400+ year old castle overlooking the Japanese Rhine with simple but beautiful architecture. From there, we watched a impromptu puppet show about a drunken sprite (who changes faces from white to red through a mask hidden in his chest). The puppet-masters even let me play a ridiculously expensive drum and pull the puppet strings! Then we went to a traditional tea ceremony. I was absolutely not able to sit on my feet the whole time, or understand all the instructions. But basically, we washed our hands Buddhist-style, bowed to the guest's sumi-e pictures, then took our seats. Then we were served a little snack, which we ate rather ceremoniously from a pretty piece of paper. Then we watched the tea master make the tea and drank it (3 gulps, then you turn the clean cup over to admire the craftsmanship). We got to make our own cup of tea to serve to the staff...my drinker was ridiculously nice and kept telling me how good it was. Then we toured a history museum and hung out around the ryokan for an hour or so.
For dinner, we all climbed onto traditional Inuyama riverboats and had a huge bentou dinner with lots of fish. Thank god there were little containers to put what we didn't eat away, since that's what I had for lunch today! After we finished, we lit the lamps in the boat's ceiling and went to a resting place where we played Egyptian Rat Slap while the tables were put away in the boat. When we got back on, it was dark out, and we watched the cormorant fisher's boats. They light a huge fire in a cage that is in the front of their boats, and one person keeps 10 or so cormorant birds on leashes while they dive in the water for fish. When a bird catches one, they take the fish from its mouth and put it back in the water. I'm pretty sure we were eating some of the fish they caught. When we returned, we went to the onsen again :)
So basically, I am becoming a tea and onsen addict, and Japan seems to definitely be a dream world. Tomorrow I go to meet my host family, I can't wait to see how that will go down! Mata ne!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
For your home-cooking pleasure!
(keep in mind that I am just estimating on portions)
Arroz Nicaraguense
-1 small sweet green chile, seeds discarded
-1 sweet onion
-1/2 c. oil
-3 c. rice
-5 c. water
Slice the chile and onion thinly. Put the oil over medium heat in a medium size pot and add the chile and onion. Cook until sizzling and fragrant. Meanwhile, rinse the rice by pouring water over it and discarding the water twice. Add to the oil and cook until the oil is absorbed and the rice begins to turn brown on the bottom of the pot. Then add water and set to low until cooked through. If needed, add more water until rice is al dente.
Ensalada de Cebolla, Tomate, y Zanahoria
-1 large carrot or 2 medium
-1 onions
-1 tomato
-juice of 3 small limes
-salt to taste
Peel and cook carrot in water or steam until soft but not falling apart. Set aside to let cool. Slice onion and tomato into thin rings. When cool, cut the carrot into slices. Add to a bowl with the lime juice and salt and toss. Let sit for about 30 min. and serve.
Maduros
-5 very ripe plantains
-soy oil
Heat 1 inch of oil in a large skillet. Cut off the peels of the plantains. Cut the plantains in two, and then cut each half in three thick parts lengthwise. When oil is hot, add pieces to the pan without over crowding and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and serve hot.
(Variation: for Tajadas Verdes, use green plantains and slice as thinly as possible, like potato chips. Cover in salt when finished.)
Stewed Pork
-pork tenderloin
-5 pieces garlic
-2 onions, divided
-1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
-salt to taste
-1 small sweet green chile, sliced
-1/4 c. oil
Cut pork into medium size pieces and pound with a tenderizer or rock to soften. Smash the garlic, remove peel, and add to a bowl with the pork. Thinly slice the onions, and add half to the pork. Finally, add vinegar and salt to the pork and let marinade for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Start the oil in medium heat in a saucepan and add the remaining onion and chile. When fragrant, add pork and cook until done. Serve with juices.
Tortillas de Maíz
-2 c. corn flour
-water
-plastic bag cut into a large circle
Add enough water to the flour for a soft dough. Knead 1-2 minutes until it holds the form of your fingers when you pick it up. With your fingers, revolve the dough to flatten it. With damp hands, place the dough piece on the piece of plastic bag and press down with the fingers of one hand, using the other to guide the edges into a circle. Cook in a slightly indented pan on both sides until it has black spots and it poofs up with steam.
Tacos del Pescado
-3 filets of white ocean fish
-5 small sweet green chiles, sliced
-2 sweet onions, sliced
-2 Tbs of mustard
-1/4. salsa verde
-1 Tbs bouillon
-3 pieces garlic
-oil for frying
Cut fish into strips. Add all ingredients but oil. Let marinate 20 min. then fry in a skillet. Serve with fresh, crispy tortillas.
Tiste
-1/2 c. fine ground cornmeal
-1/2 c. fresh cocoa powder
-1 Tbs. cinnamon (1 tsp. if fresh)
-sugar, if desired
-water to taste (4 cups?)
-ice
Combine all ingredients in a large container and stir well. Serve in glasses with more ice and a spoon for stirring (sediment falls to the bottom).
Huevos Rancheros
-1 sliced sweet onion
-1/2 c. tomato sauce
-1/2 c. salsa verde
-chile, for spice
-4 fried eggs
-4 fresh thick corn tortillas
Cook onions in oil over medium heat until soft. Add sauce and salsa and chile and cook until warm. Layer the tortillas, followed by the eggs, and the sauce. Serve hot.
Frijoles Molidos
-cooked black beans (about 2 cups)
-4 pieces garlic, minced
-2 small sweet green chiles, chopped fine
-1 sweet onion, chopped fine
-2 Tbs. minced mint
Mash black beans until fairly smooth. Cook garlic, chiles, and onion in oil until fragrant, then add mashed beans and mint. Serve with tomato & onion salad (above) and rice.
Horchata Especial de Isolina
(portions to your liking)
-cocoa powder
-vanilla
-a handful of white rice
-strawberries
-sugar
-cinnamon
-milk
-ice
Let rice sit in water for 15 minutes, then discard the water. Add all ingredients into a blender and pulse till smooth.
Nacatamales
-Fine corn flour
-vinegar
-black pepper, to taste
-4 pieces garlic, minced
-2 onions, chopped
-2 small sweet green chiles, chopped
-2 tomatoes, chopped
-1/2 c. cooked rice
-1/2 c. cooked pulled pork (made with salsa verde, garlic, and vinegar...recipe above)
-1 potato, chopped and cooked
-minced cilantro, to taste
-raisins, 3 per tamale
-Clean banana leaves, 1 per tamale
-string
(all ingredients more or less as you like it)
Mash 1/2 of the garlic, onions, chiles, and tomatoes into almost a liquid. Combine with corn flour and enough vinegar to make a dough that sticks together. Add the rest of the ingredients except for leaves and string. The dough should be substantial and stick together. Put a handful of dough into each banana leaf. To fold, take the leaf's edges on the lengthwise side of the tamale, and fold accordion-style until it touches the dough. Fold the open ends into middle and wrap with string as you would a Christmas present. As long as it stays together securely you're good. Put wrapped tamales into the bottom of a large pot and cover with water. Heat and cook over medium-low heat for 2 hours, turning halfway through. You should smell the tamales when they are ready. Discard water, unwrap, and enjoy!
Arroz Nicaraguense
-1 small sweet green chile, seeds discarded
-1 sweet onion
-1/2 c. oil
-3 c. rice
-5 c. water
Slice the chile and onion thinly. Put the oil over medium heat in a medium size pot and add the chile and onion. Cook until sizzling and fragrant. Meanwhile, rinse the rice by pouring water over it and discarding the water twice. Add to the oil and cook until the oil is absorbed and the rice begins to turn brown on the bottom of the pot. Then add water and set to low until cooked through. If needed, add more water until rice is al dente.
Ensalada de Cebolla, Tomate, y Zanahoria
-1 large carrot or 2 medium
-1 onions
-1 tomato
-juice of 3 small limes
-salt to taste
Peel and cook carrot in water or steam until soft but not falling apart. Set aside to let cool. Slice onion and tomato into thin rings. When cool, cut the carrot into slices. Add to a bowl with the lime juice and salt and toss. Let sit for about 30 min. and serve.
Maduros
-5 very ripe plantains
-soy oil
Heat 1 inch of oil in a large skillet. Cut off the peels of the plantains. Cut the plantains in two, and then cut each half in three thick parts lengthwise. When oil is hot, add pieces to the pan without over crowding and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and serve hot.
(Variation: for Tajadas Verdes, use green plantains and slice as thinly as possible, like potato chips. Cover in salt when finished.)
Stewed Pork
-pork tenderloin
-5 pieces garlic
-2 onions, divided
-1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
-salt to taste
-1 small sweet green chile, sliced
-1/4 c. oil
Cut pork into medium size pieces and pound with a tenderizer or rock to soften. Smash the garlic, remove peel, and add to a bowl with the pork. Thinly slice the onions, and add half to the pork. Finally, add vinegar and salt to the pork and let marinade for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Start the oil in medium heat in a saucepan and add the remaining onion and chile. When fragrant, add pork and cook until done. Serve with juices.
Tortillas de Maíz
-2 c. corn flour
-water
-plastic bag cut into a large circle
Add enough water to the flour for a soft dough. Knead 1-2 minutes until it holds the form of your fingers when you pick it up. With your fingers, revolve the dough to flatten it. With damp hands, place the dough piece on the piece of plastic bag and press down with the fingers of one hand, using the other to guide the edges into a circle. Cook in a slightly indented pan on both sides until it has black spots and it poofs up with steam.
Tacos del Pescado
-3 filets of white ocean fish
-5 small sweet green chiles, sliced
-2 sweet onions, sliced
-2 Tbs of mustard
-1/4. salsa verde
-1 Tbs bouillon
-3 pieces garlic
-oil for frying
Cut fish into strips. Add all ingredients but oil. Let marinate 20 min. then fry in a skillet. Serve with fresh, crispy tortillas.
Tiste
-1/2 c. fine ground cornmeal
-1/2 c. fresh cocoa powder
-1 Tbs. cinnamon (1 tsp. if fresh)
-sugar, if desired
-water to taste (4 cups?)
-ice
Combine all ingredients in a large container and stir well. Serve in glasses with more ice and a spoon for stirring (sediment falls to the bottom).
Huevos Rancheros
-1 sliced sweet onion
-1/2 c. tomato sauce
-1/2 c. salsa verde
-chile, for spice
-4 fried eggs
-4 fresh thick corn tortillas
Cook onions in oil over medium heat until soft. Add sauce and salsa and chile and cook until warm. Layer the tortillas, followed by the eggs, and the sauce. Serve hot.
Frijoles Molidos
-cooked black beans (about 2 cups)
-4 pieces garlic, minced
-2 small sweet green chiles, chopped fine
-1 sweet onion, chopped fine
-2 Tbs. minced mint
Mash black beans until fairly smooth. Cook garlic, chiles, and onion in oil until fragrant, then add mashed beans and mint. Serve with tomato & onion salad (above) and rice.
Horchata Especial de Isolina
(portions to your liking)
-cocoa powder
-vanilla
-a handful of white rice
-strawberries
-sugar
-cinnamon
-milk
-ice
Let rice sit in water for 15 minutes, then discard the water. Add all ingredients into a blender and pulse till smooth.
Nacatamales
-Fine corn flour
-vinegar
-black pepper, to taste
-4 pieces garlic, minced
-2 onions, chopped
-2 small sweet green chiles, chopped
-2 tomatoes, chopped
-1/2 c. cooked rice
-1/2 c. cooked pulled pork (made with salsa verde, garlic, and vinegar...recipe above)
-1 potato, chopped and cooked
-minced cilantro, to taste
-raisins, 3 per tamale
-Clean banana leaves, 1 per tamale
-string
(all ingredients more or less as you like it)
Mash 1/2 of the garlic, onions, chiles, and tomatoes into almost a liquid. Combine with corn flour and enough vinegar to make a dough that sticks together. Add the rest of the ingredients except for leaves and string. The dough should be substantial and stick together. Put a handful of dough into each banana leaf. To fold, take the leaf's edges on the lengthwise side of the tamale, and fold accordion-style until it touches the dough. Fold the open ends into middle and wrap with string as you would a Christmas present. As long as it stays together securely you're good. Put wrapped tamales into the bottom of a large pot and cover with water. Heat and cook over medium-low heat for 2 hours, turning halfway through. You should smell the tamales when they are ready. Discard water, unwrap, and enjoy!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
And for the finale
After a final, long ride on the chicken busses back to Playa Gigante, I spent my last night and day catching up with the family and saying good-bye to Isolina (while procuring her address and recipes for Nacatamales and chocolate horchata). The morning of our departure, our Nicaraguan brother Maximo came to wake us up before he went to school. It was a little disheartening for me since I felt that I didn't say a proper good-bye, but thankfully we left just after he returned from school later in the afternoon. We spent the morning packing and talking with Anner, and then Maria made us a magnificent lunch (of which I have a picture....I'll post it later). We joked around with the family for a while, and when it came time to leave (our friend Omar was driving us), we took multitude of pictures, Maria gave me a beautiful purple necklace, and Maximo gave me his Popoyo Surf Zone bracelet. It started raining just as we began carrying our things to the car, so goodbyes became a little rushed. But the family was emphatic in their goodbyes, and Rufino's eyes were brimming in tears, it nearly tore my heart apart. Stayed the night in Rivas, and on the bus into Costa Rica for the flight, the woman from Leon named Brenda sitting next to me basically adopted me, feeding me, helping me understand the intercom messages, and showing me pictures of her family. And now just sitting at the hostel, eating oatmeal and drinking tea with rosquillos (little crunchy corn, cheese, and butter rings) that Brenda gave me. The trip is at an end, but I certainly have much to chew over, so now that I'm coming home I'm sure different details will come out in my conversations. My next post should be pictures and recipes collected in the trip, stay tuned!
Monday, August 2, 2010
¡Ven arriba!
Hello dear readers! I am back again from my mountain adventures, the last leg of my trip...so bittersweet.
Monica´s and my last day in Granada was spent going to the Masaya marketplace, the lookout at Catarina, and drinks with conversation in town followed by a lovely dinner of watermelon and coleslaw.
And then I waved good-bye to Granada on a train of long bus rides far North to coffee country. Stop number one is Matagalpa, home to guirilas (tasty, thick, steaming corn tortillas filled with cuajada queso) and some sort of thick corn and cream pudding-thing that comes with them. The city itself is just a nice place to walk, with rolling San Francisco-like hills and a pristinely white castle of a main cathedral. I stopped several times for coffee, some of the best cups I´ve had in a while, and read Alice in Wonderland while sipping my treat. Though it was lovely people-watching with overflowing baskets of produce seeming to seep from the corners, the tours into Cerro Negro and coffee plantations were expensive, so it was time to move on.
And so I moved East to Estelí, home of Hospitaje Luna to which I was highly recommended by travel-buddy Brodie. There, I booked my stay at La Perla in the Miraflor reservation further North and bought lots of goods made by the Women´s Group of Estelí. They make their own fair-trade soap, paper, and jewelry, and the woman I stayed with in La Perla, Maribel, is part of the cooperative. But before leaving, I spent an improv-day with Dan from England who I met in Catarina and Margaret the ESL teacher. We rode (and walked for big hills...) to a waterfall in a nearby reservation, and lolled in the freezing water underneath the mists all morning, then got a big lunch and read all afternoon. I moved onto Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I never seem to be able to get into his books. But I regress, we spent the night searching for Nacatamales and pizza, and had wonderful conversation with a Dutch couple about veganism and McDonald´s.
The next morning I awoke to my singing wristwatch at 5am, at which time I hitched a 10 córdoba cab to the bus station for a rather bumpy and upward (which afforded some of the best views in Nicaragua of bearded trees encased by endless ridges of jungled mountains) ride to Puertas Azules. Maribel, my care-taker, had a daughter who was on the same bus, and we walked together to Posada La Perla. We were greeted with a big pancake breakfast and café con leche from Maribel. Since it was Sunday, everyone was just sitting around and talking with family all day. I don´t think my Spanish has ever been so challenged, but Maribel was a great teacher...she helped correct my awful grammar and fed me the right words when I described them. We sat in the kitchen talking about ourselves, our families, organic farming, Nicaraguan life and American life, and even Nicaraguan government and immigration problems in the US. I made oatmeal-raisin cookies for everyone in the afternoon (massively improved by freshly crushed cinnamon, note) and wrote down the recipe and a banana-bread recipe for the family. I hope they make it and remember me :)
On Monday I witnessed tortilla-making from start to finish. They ground the fresh corn, added some water, ground it again, and patted the dough on plastic into perfect patties. They dropped them on a tortilla pan over a fogon (fire-oven) and took them off when there was little black spots and they puffed up with steam. I got to make a couple, but I definitely slowed down the process so I didn´t do too many. Then I got to help milk a cow (again, I was really slow), which was subsequently transformed into my café con leche (if you never experienced this, you must put it on your bucket list). Then I practiced English the daughter, Joli, and Maribel took me to plant some cucumber and chayote seeds. She mixed ash into the soil and planted three in a plot, then showed me how she made hills in the garden to divert the rain. I expressed to her how sad it was that I was just coming to her now, since our project could certainly use her lifelong expertise, but I suppose that´s what the future is for.
I had to hurry off just before noon for 6 hours of bus rides back to Granada so I could make it back to Playa Gigante for last good-byes. Now I enter my final days in Nicaragua.
Monica´s and my last day in Granada was spent going to the Masaya marketplace, the lookout at Catarina, and drinks with conversation in town followed by a lovely dinner of watermelon and coleslaw.
And then I waved good-bye to Granada on a train of long bus rides far North to coffee country. Stop number one is Matagalpa, home to guirilas (tasty, thick, steaming corn tortillas filled with cuajada queso) and some sort of thick corn and cream pudding-thing that comes with them. The city itself is just a nice place to walk, with rolling San Francisco-like hills and a pristinely white castle of a main cathedral. I stopped several times for coffee, some of the best cups I´ve had in a while, and read Alice in Wonderland while sipping my treat. Though it was lovely people-watching with overflowing baskets of produce seeming to seep from the corners, the tours into Cerro Negro and coffee plantations were expensive, so it was time to move on.
And so I moved East to Estelí, home of Hospitaje Luna to which I was highly recommended by travel-buddy Brodie. There, I booked my stay at La Perla in the Miraflor reservation further North and bought lots of goods made by the Women´s Group of Estelí. They make their own fair-trade soap, paper, and jewelry, and the woman I stayed with in La Perla, Maribel, is part of the cooperative. But before leaving, I spent an improv-day with Dan from England who I met in Catarina and Margaret the ESL teacher. We rode (and walked for big hills...) to a waterfall in a nearby reservation, and lolled in the freezing water underneath the mists all morning, then got a big lunch and read all afternoon. I moved onto Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I never seem to be able to get into his books. But I regress, we spent the night searching for Nacatamales and pizza, and had wonderful conversation with a Dutch couple about veganism and McDonald´s.
The next morning I awoke to my singing wristwatch at 5am, at which time I hitched a 10 córdoba cab to the bus station for a rather bumpy and upward (which afforded some of the best views in Nicaragua of bearded trees encased by endless ridges of jungled mountains) ride to Puertas Azules. Maribel, my care-taker, had a daughter who was on the same bus, and we walked together to Posada La Perla. We were greeted with a big pancake breakfast and café con leche from Maribel. Since it was Sunday, everyone was just sitting around and talking with family all day. I don´t think my Spanish has ever been so challenged, but Maribel was a great teacher...she helped correct my awful grammar and fed me the right words when I described them. We sat in the kitchen talking about ourselves, our families, organic farming, Nicaraguan life and American life, and even Nicaraguan government and immigration problems in the US. I made oatmeal-raisin cookies for everyone in the afternoon (massively improved by freshly crushed cinnamon, note) and wrote down the recipe and a banana-bread recipe for the family. I hope they make it and remember me :)
On Monday I witnessed tortilla-making from start to finish. They ground the fresh corn, added some water, ground it again, and patted the dough on plastic into perfect patties. They dropped them on a tortilla pan over a fogon (fire-oven) and took them off when there was little black spots and they puffed up with steam. I got to make a couple, but I definitely slowed down the process so I didn´t do too many. Then I got to help milk a cow (again, I was really slow), which was subsequently transformed into my café con leche (if you never experienced this, you must put it on your bucket list). Then I practiced English the daughter, Joli, and Maribel took me to plant some cucumber and chayote seeds. She mixed ash into the soil and planted three in a plot, then showed me how she made hills in the garden to divert the rain. I expressed to her how sad it was that I was just coming to her now, since our project could certainly use her lifelong expertise, but I suppose that´s what the future is for.
I had to hurry off just before noon for 6 hours of bus rides back to Granada so I could make it back to Playa Gigante for last good-byes. Now I enter my final days in Nicaragua.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
I have a confession to make...
...I am still in Granada. Let me explain!
After I last wrote, travel-buddy Jenny and I completed a guide-book-museum-tour of Granada. Our choices were the Tres Mundos art school inside La Casa de Los Liones near the main plaza, the museum of history in La Iglesia San Fransisco, La Fortaleza La Polvora, and the chocolate museum. We also spent much time in el parque central drinking tiste and chicha, and on the street behind la Plaza de la Independencia drinking iced sangría, or back in the park with a local cigar after dinner. We enjoyed much street food, and even viewed the sunset and bell-toller in the cathedral La Merced. The city-center is colonial, with tiled rooftops scooping into central courtyards stretching into a view of Volcánes Mombacho y Concepción, as well as the hilltop city Catarina. Jenny was due for a flight Tuesday, so we went back to Playa Gigante with all our purchases. Turns out, since Erin, Alex,and John were leaving soon they were heading back to Granada with our newest addition (Monica) to see some sights. As Eliot and Russell were leaving for the Corn Islands soon, at the prospect of staying at the project alone I decided to return to Granada. And here I am still!
But I haven´t just been sitting here on the internet. My new travel-buddy Monica and I went ziplining in a canopy in the base of Mombacho (at a local´s price, since I had a misunderstanding about what a canopy-tour is and thought that $28 per person was outragous for a walk around some trees). The first time was terrifying, the others were fantastically fun. Then we spent the rest of the night eyeing street vendors, and talking before John left for the airport. In the morning we all had breakfast together, and while the girls went to Masaya for the market-place I rented an all-day bicycle and rode uphill for two hours to the lookout at Catarina. Toward the end I got off to walk twice because the hills became so steep, and stopped between Catarina and San Juan de Oriente for a passionfruit refresco...but I made it! Again, a place I cannot explain. I will tell you I cried at the top from the sense of accomplishment and the mind-blowing view of la Laguna de Apollo, Granada, and the Lago de Nicaragua. I met a few travellers at the top, had a lunch of tostones, fried cheese, salad, and beef stew at the overlook, then coasted at top speed all the way down to Granada along huge red cliffs, Volcán Mombacho, fíncas, and mango trees. When I returned, Monica and I climbed the belltower of Catedral de Granada to watch the sunset and see the bells toll. From there we got macuá coctails and returned to the hostel to talk late into the night with a sweet woman and her daughter.
Today, we kayaked through Las Isletas. They are gorgeous, verdant water-pastures with a small Spanish fort on the outskirts of the Lago de Nicaragua. The guide was helpful and sweet, giving us a taste of a lemon-tasting fruit that grows in the water and pointing out rocks that landed in the trees after an insect created an explosion (?? I swear that´s what he said because I asked several times, but perhaps my Spanish isn´t that good. I told him he was lying and he swore it was the truth!). He talked about how life in Nicaragua is difficult now, because for the past four years things have grown more and more expensive. Four years ago, Nicaraguans could purchase 15 units of rice for the same amount that 10 units costs now; two shirts then cost the same as one shirt now; and he says that he does not ally with any party, Sandinista or no, because he observes that those in politics keep promising a better life, but they never work for it. So the best political alliance is none, only work pays for the costs of life. He was eager to hear about what we did for our Playa Gigante project and wished us the best of luck with continuing it in the future. Like most Nicaraguans, he was very patient with my broken Spanish and good-natured. Afterward, we grabbed pupusas and kebabs for lunch, discussed life and religion for hours, then explored town in time to hear the students playing instruments in the music academy and watch a spray-paint artist perform for a crowd. We found the heart of the market-place and bought more than enough for our dinner for 23 córdobas, about a dollar. At the hostel we feasted on steamed corn, sweet tamales, avocado, and leftover rice (after an appetizer of pan de leche) and prepared coleslaw salad for tomorrow´s dinner.
Where shall we adventure from here? Hasta luego!
After I last wrote, travel-buddy Jenny and I completed a guide-book-museum-tour of Granada. Our choices were the Tres Mundos art school inside La Casa de Los Liones near the main plaza, the museum of history in La Iglesia San Fransisco, La Fortaleza La Polvora, and the chocolate museum. We also spent much time in el parque central drinking tiste and chicha, and on the street behind la Plaza de la Independencia drinking iced sangría, or back in the park with a local cigar after dinner. We enjoyed much street food, and even viewed the sunset and bell-toller in the cathedral La Merced. The city-center is colonial, with tiled rooftops scooping into central courtyards stretching into a view of Volcánes Mombacho y Concepción, as well as the hilltop city Catarina. Jenny was due for a flight Tuesday, so we went back to Playa Gigante with all our purchases. Turns out, since Erin, Alex,and John were leaving soon they were heading back to Granada with our newest addition (Monica) to see some sights. As Eliot and Russell were leaving for the Corn Islands soon, at the prospect of staying at the project alone I decided to return to Granada. And here I am still!
But I haven´t just been sitting here on the internet. My new travel-buddy Monica and I went ziplining in a canopy in the base of Mombacho (at a local´s price, since I had a misunderstanding about what a canopy-tour is and thought that $28 per person was outragous for a walk around some trees). The first time was terrifying, the others were fantastically fun. Then we spent the rest of the night eyeing street vendors, and talking before John left for the airport. In the morning we all had breakfast together, and while the girls went to Masaya for the market-place I rented an all-day bicycle and rode uphill for two hours to the lookout at Catarina. Toward the end I got off to walk twice because the hills became so steep, and stopped between Catarina and San Juan de Oriente for a passionfruit refresco...but I made it! Again, a place I cannot explain. I will tell you I cried at the top from the sense of accomplishment and the mind-blowing view of la Laguna de Apollo, Granada, and the Lago de Nicaragua. I met a few travellers at the top, had a lunch of tostones, fried cheese, salad, and beef stew at the overlook, then coasted at top speed all the way down to Granada along huge red cliffs, Volcán Mombacho, fíncas, and mango trees. When I returned, Monica and I climbed the belltower of Catedral de Granada to watch the sunset and see the bells toll. From there we got macuá coctails and returned to the hostel to talk late into the night with a sweet woman and her daughter.
Today, we kayaked through Las Isletas. They are gorgeous, verdant water-pastures with a small Spanish fort on the outskirts of the Lago de Nicaragua. The guide was helpful and sweet, giving us a taste of a lemon-tasting fruit that grows in the water and pointing out rocks that landed in the trees after an insect created an explosion (?? I swear that´s what he said because I asked several times, but perhaps my Spanish isn´t that good. I told him he was lying and he swore it was the truth!). He talked about how life in Nicaragua is difficult now, because for the past four years things have grown more and more expensive. Four years ago, Nicaraguans could purchase 15 units of rice for the same amount that 10 units costs now; two shirts then cost the same as one shirt now; and he says that he does not ally with any party, Sandinista or no, because he observes that those in politics keep promising a better life, but they never work for it. So the best political alliance is none, only work pays for the costs of life. He was eager to hear about what we did for our Playa Gigante project and wished us the best of luck with continuing it in the future. Like most Nicaraguans, he was very patient with my broken Spanish and good-natured. Afterward, we grabbed pupusas and kebabs for lunch, discussed life and religion for hours, then explored town in time to hear the students playing instruments in the music academy and watch a spray-paint artist perform for a crowd. We found the heart of the market-place and bought more than enough for our dinner for 23 córdobas, about a dollar. At the hostel we feasted on steamed corn, sweet tamales, avocado, and leftover rice (after an appetizer of pan de leche) and prepared coleslaw salad for tomorrow´s dinner.
Where shall we adventure from here? Hasta luego!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Hello all! I write this during a brief siesta at the Hostel Oasis in the heart of Granada.
We just arrived here by chicken bus earlier this afternoon, but before I go on about this gorgeous city of Spanish building fronts and colonial churches I must recount these past couple days....
Adventura Dos began (as all our Nicaragua adventures do) in the bus terminal of Rivas, in the heart of the marketplace encased by ceviche stands, street vendors, and miscellenious tiendas. Jenny (my travelling companion) and I wended our way North through a bus to Managua, a relatively expensive taxi to the terminal, another bus for León, and a long walk with a local in love with Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío to the Catedrál in which the aforementioned prodigy is buried. León is Nicaragua´s second largest city, with the third largest church in Latin America--one built, as a gregarious local explained, on the backs of the indigenous of the area during the Spanish colonial period. These indigenous still live near León, but are divided from the city by a street.
The rest of our night in León consisted of tacos, cheese, ice cream, music in the park, galleries of local art, and a couple mojitos at Big Foot hostel. The mojitos were quality; the hostel was not. All things considered, you can´t win all the time.
The following morning we awoke at 5:15 to walk to Quetzaltrekkers, where we threw all our necessities into backpacking packs (mine was rented), hitched a bus to a point on the highway in front of Volcán Tolica, and hiked 6 hours into the sulfuric dust of the crater. There, we set up camp in the grassy knoll beneath the rock fields. Seeing the crater was one of the most awestriking experiences, one that reminds you that you see very little of what goes on in this Earth--especially when you live in the city as I do. We mounted the hill to the crater three times. First, when we arrived and the volcanic pit poured so much smoke that it was impossible to see in the crater or around ourselves. Second, at sunset we could see two more volcanoes as well as a vista of all the farmland stretching to the sea lit up by the gold dusk. The crater itself was clearer, and the circle of its lip and pool of boiling water inside were visible. Third, after dinner when darkness descended, the night was cloudless. Lava churned bright red, lighting up the bottom of the crater. This, dear friends, is indescribable. Pictures and words do not do it justice. But I felt like I was mere feet from the center of the Earth. Afterwards, we all gathered around the fire to roast marshmallows and talk before retiring.
Our guides woke us early to race to the top of the hill overlooking our campsite. I stumbled over rocks steaming with geothermal heat to the precipice containing a vista of a line of volcanoes on the other side of the crater, and stared directly into the rising sun covered by volcanic dust. Afterwards, with a breakfast of toast, guava jam, and oatmeal raisins, we picked up again and descended through farm-fields of maíz y gandules to the highway. All the way up and down the mountain were campesinos and their horses tending to their fíncas. At the bottom was pits of boiling mud, similar in heat and shape to Yellowstone but without the color. We ate at a fantastic Comedor and caught the bus back to León. From there, we exchanged information and said our goodbyes to our travel companions from Germany and LA, and hopped on the busetas (little busses) to Masaya. The one from Managua to Masaya was so packed that I had to hold dearly to the front seat on which my sitting pad was attached, my knees pressed against locals sitting in front of me and my hands falling asleep from exertion. But no matter, I didn´t have to sit that long.
Masaya was simple to navigate, and with a quesillo (corn tortilla with thin cheese, sauteed onions and chiles, and tons of salt and sour cream) in my hand I was immediately endeared to the city. The hosted in the guidebook was unmanned, so we found our own, and washed ourselves thoroughly (by that point we smelled of sweat, sulfur, mildew, and all other manners of odors we may have picked up on the way). I will tell you now, as that was my first backpacking experience, the first night back you sleep better than you ever have before. Our room was quite dark and had a fan, which made it that much better.
The morning consisted of gallo pinto, plantains, queso frito, and café con leche in the central park, then we ventured to the markets. We spent twenty minutes or so perusing the stalls of the gringo market without purchases. So we left and walked five blocks or so to the more local, more tightly packed market...which was wonderland for me! We bought all our kitsch and presents, then sat for tiste and people watching. Lunch was street food--fried yucca, flour donut, and a rice empanada with cabbage salad--before we had to check out of our hotel and catch the next bus to Granada. And here we are, back at the beginning. There is not much to this adventure in Granada besides free coffee and internet (and reading of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, so good!), but more is to come. Hasta!
We just arrived here by chicken bus earlier this afternoon, but before I go on about this gorgeous city of Spanish building fronts and colonial churches I must recount these past couple days....
Adventura Dos began (as all our Nicaragua adventures do) in the bus terminal of Rivas, in the heart of the marketplace encased by ceviche stands, street vendors, and miscellenious tiendas. Jenny (my travelling companion) and I wended our way North through a bus to Managua, a relatively expensive taxi to the terminal, another bus for León, and a long walk with a local in love with Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío to the Catedrál in which the aforementioned prodigy is buried. León is Nicaragua´s second largest city, with the third largest church in Latin America--one built, as a gregarious local explained, on the backs of the indigenous of the area during the Spanish colonial period. These indigenous still live near León, but are divided from the city by a street.
The rest of our night in León consisted of tacos, cheese, ice cream, music in the park, galleries of local art, and a couple mojitos at Big Foot hostel. The mojitos were quality; the hostel was not. All things considered, you can´t win all the time.
The following morning we awoke at 5:15 to walk to Quetzaltrekkers, where we threw all our necessities into backpacking packs (mine was rented), hitched a bus to a point on the highway in front of Volcán Tolica, and hiked 6 hours into the sulfuric dust of the crater. There, we set up camp in the grassy knoll beneath the rock fields. Seeing the crater was one of the most awestriking experiences, one that reminds you that you see very little of what goes on in this Earth--especially when you live in the city as I do. We mounted the hill to the crater three times. First, when we arrived and the volcanic pit poured so much smoke that it was impossible to see in the crater or around ourselves. Second, at sunset we could see two more volcanoes as well as a vista of all the farmland stretching to the sea lit up by the gold dusk. The crater itself was clearer, and the circle of its lip and pool of boiling water inside were visible. Third, after dinner when darkness descended, the night was cloudless. Lava churned bright red, lighting up the bottom of the crater. This, dear friends, is indescribable. Pictures and words do not do it justice. But I felt like I was mere feet from the center of the Earth. Afterwards, we all gathered around the fire to roast marshmallows and talk before retiring.
Our guides woke us early to race to the top of the hill overlooking our campsite. I stumbled over rocks steaming with geothermal heat to the precipice containing a vista of a line of volcanoes on the other side of the crater, and stared directly into the rising sun covered by volcanic dust. Afterwards, with a breakfast of toast, guava jam, and oatmeal raisins, we picked up again and descended through farm-fields of maíz y gandules to the highway. All the way up and down the mountain were campesinos and their horses tending to their fíncas. At the bottom was pits of boiling mud, similar in heat and shape to Yellowstone but without the color. We ate at a fantastic Comedor and caught the bus back to León. From there, we exchanged information and said our goodbyes to our travel companions from Germany and LA, and hopped on the busetas (little busses) to Masaya. The one from Managua to Masaya was so packed that I had to hold dearly to the front seat on which my sitting pad was attached, my knees pressed against locals sitting in front of me and my hands falling asleep from exertion. But no matter, I didn´t have to sit that long.
Masaya was simple to navigate, and with a quesillo (corn tortilla with thin cheese, sauteed onions and chiles, and tons of salt and sour cream) in my hand I was immediately endeared to the city. The hosted in the guidebook was unmanned, so we found our own, and washed ourselves thoroughly (by that point we smelled of sweat, sulfur, mildew, and all other manners of odors we may have picked up on the way). I will tell you now, as that was my first backpacking experience, the first night back you sleep better than you ever have before. Our room was quite dark and had a fan, which made it that much better.
The morning consisted of gallo pinto, plantains, queso frito, and café con leche in the central park, then we ventured to the markets. We spent twenty minutes or so perusing the stalls of the gringo market without purchases. So we left and walked five blocks or so to the more local, more tightly packed market...which was wonderland for me! We bought all our kitsch and presents, then sat for tiste and people watching. Lunch was street food--fried yucca, flour donut, and a rice empanada with cabbage salad--before we had to check out of our hotel and catch the next bus to Granada. And here we are, back at the beginning. There is not much to this adventure in Granada besides free coffee and internet (and reading of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, so good!), but more is to come. Hasta!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Las días de nuestros vidas...
Since I last wrote, our little garden had two community work days! A group of about five Playa Gigante residents came over to see the property, bring home materials for composting at home, and help plant some tamarind and citrus trees on the plot. Otherwise, things on the finca have slowed down quite a bit. Our companion John is still working hard on creating the foundation of his community center, waking up before sunrise to get out and dig out the plot. When he finishes leveling the land the plan is to lay out old tires and fill them with dirt to serve as a sturdy base for a building. For the rest of the garden, the rain is quite plentiful at this time of the year (it's winter here), so no effort needed just yet. In the meantime, our padre de Nicaragua Ruffino took us on an expedition through the jungle behind our homestead to a remote beach. On top of the Pie de Gigante, surrounded by saguaro-like cacti, jungle vines, and butterflies our group could clearly see all the way to Punta Arenas, Costa Rica. From there, Ruffino took us down a creek that leads to an enclave West of the surfing beaches. There, the boys scraped concha snails from the rocks and speared crabs with Ruffino while Jenny and I watched and searched for rocks and shells. When he tired of prying shells with his machete, Ruffino stood on the rock furthest into the sea, in just galoshes and jean shorts, to fish with a kite string and crab legs. He pulled three wonderful, toothy, leopard-spotted and black fish from the water, the last one causing him to loose his balance and drop his watch. When we could not locate it, he let it go with a laugh, remarking that life is more important than any item. Later that day, mi madre de Nicaragua Maria helped me toast and shell cacao seeds, which I ground in a hand-crank and added to homemade chocolate pudding for the family (Maria's favorite!).
The next day, Jenny helped me learn a bit more about past tense in Spanish, and for dinner Russell cooked up a huge batch of pancakes. The family usually doesn't sit at the table with us while we eat our meals, so it was an incredibly special meal. The pancakes took a while to cook (especially since we were flipping them with a spoon), but that gave us a long time to joke with the family about how much John eats or Eliot marrying Ruffino when he tried on his ring. Even though most of the time there is a language barrier between us and the family, we barely felt it that night. We all went to bed remarking on how it was one of the best days we've had at our little homestead by the jungle.
And then today (it's been so long since the last post because electricity was out from here to Rivas for a day...apparently there are two Nicaraguan electricity companies--del Norte y del Sur...thankfully we have solar :P) I awoke at 5:30am to ride our road bike down the path (more like the rocks, puddles, and creeks) to Hotel Brio to help make breakfast with the chef, Isolina. Of course, it was a bit early for the Brio crowd, so we spent most of our time eating her pork tamale (handmade by her mother) and my oatmeal (from a bag), drinking coffee, talking about life, and listening to Mexican music videos. Past that, it was just another day in the life...cooking with Maria, reading, making jewelry out of shells and rocks, then a lovely meal at el Pie de Gigante of bruscetta and hummus...then internet, as a good gringa. Lovely place, lovely people, lovely pastimes; there is nothing bad to say about our Playa Gigante but the mosquito bites which consistently ring my ankles.
The next day, Jenny helped me learn a bit more about past tense in Spanish, and for dinner Russell cooked up a huge batch of pancakes. The family usually doesn't sit at the table with us while we eat our meals, so it was an incredibly special meal. The pancakes took a while to cook (especially since we were flipping them with a spoon), but that gave us a long time to joke with the family about how much John eats or Eliot marrying Ruffino when he tried on his ring. Even though most of the time there is a language barrier between us and the family, we barely felt it that night. We all went to bed remarking on how it was one of the best days we've had at our little homestead by the jungle.
And then today (it's been so long since the last post because electricity was out from here to Rivas for a day...apparently there are two Nicaraguan electricity companies--del Norte y del Sur...thankfully we have solar :P) I awoke at 5:30am to ride our road bike down the path (more like the rocks, puddles, and creeks) to Hotel Brio to help make breakfast with the chef, Isolina. Of course, it was a bit early for the Brio crowd, so we spent most of our time eating her pork tamale (handmade by her mother) and my oatmeal (from a bag), drinking coffee, talking about life, and listening to Mexican music videos. Past that, it was just another day in the life...cooking with Maria, reading, making jewelry out of shells and rocks, then a lovely meal at el Pie de Gigante of bruscetta and hummus...then internet, as a good gringa. Lovely place, lovely people, lovely pastimes; there is nothing bad to say about our Playa Gigante but the mosquito bites which consistently ring my ankles.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The things you do in Ometepe
Climb volcanoes, drink fantastic coffee, eat amazing Italian food, ride bikes, and swim in a lake as warm as a bathtub.
Isla Ometepe is one of those places which I would put on my top ten must-see lists. It is gorgeous, two volcanoes like a postcard of Mt. Fuji (without the bullet train), sweet and helpful people, fantastic food growing in Volcanic soil. Except for the bus system, there was nothing to dislike about Ometepe.
What made it fantastic was the company. Jenny and Heather from my group who accompanied me, of course, but also the people we met in the hostels Finca Magdelena and Finca Ecologica Zopilote. Magdelena was all about the coffee, while Zopilote was-- get this--a huge version of our little Playa Gigante project. It's run by an Italian man named Christiano who makes the best homemade bread, condiments, jewelry, flavored liquors, and pizza. We got to sit down and pick his brain on multiple occasions...plus he was just a kick to talk to! Got a lot of Spanish practice in while I was there. Also, when we went back to Rivas, I had a ball running around the outdoor market striking up conversations in Spanish about Ometepe with the vendors, getting nessesities for the campsite, and buying street food like sweet tamales, ceviche, tamarind refrescos, pupusas, and plantain chips. I love love love Nicaragua.
Isla Ometepe is one of those places which I would put on my top ten must-see lists. It is gorgeous, two volcanoes like a postcard of Mt. Fuji (without the bullet train), sweet and helpful people, fantastic food growing in Volcanic soil. Except for the bus system, there was nothing to dislike about Ometepe.
What made it fantastic was the company. Jenny and Heather from my group who accompanied me, of course, but also the people we met in the hostels Finca Magdelena and Finca Ecologica Zopilote. Magdelena was all about the coffee, while Zopilote was-- get this--a huge version of our little Playa Gigante project. It's run by an Italian man named Christiano who makes the best homemade bread, condiments, jewelry, flavored liquors, and pizza. We got to sit down and pick his brain on multiple occasions...plus he was just a kick to talk to! Got a lot of Spanish practice in while I was there. Also, when we went back to Rivas, I had a ball running around the outdoor market striking up conversations in Spanish about Ometepe with the vendors, getting nessesities for the campsite, and buying street food like sweet tamales, ceviche, tamarind refrescos, pupusas, and plantain chips. I love love love Nicaragua.
Friday, July 2, 2010
gettin 'er done
We finished the pathways to the garden today! This is a big deal since that means tomorrow we plant. And some time from now, delicious vegetables will ensue! Trust me, I will post pictures up as soon as I have them. For now, I am using a borrowed computer.
Otherwise, just cooking and making friends. My Nicaraguan mother Maria teaches me how to make the most amazing food. Today we had a feast of conch ceviche, spiced pork, snail rice, fried sweet plantains, bread, and strawberry kool-aid. We also made a friend with the woman who works in the kitchen at a local hotel, and she's teaching me a lot of Spanish vocabulary. We'll be coming to help her in the kitchen. She's also part of a minor-league baseball team, which we'll be playing with! They certainly love their baseball here. In all, besides all the mosquito bites, all is fantastic. Hasta!
Otherwise, just cooking and making friends. My Nicaraguan mother Maria teaches me how to make the most amazing food. Today we had a feast of conch ceviche, spiced pork, snail rice, fried sweet plantains, bread, and strawberry kool-aid. We also made a friend with the woman who works in the kitchen at a local hotel, and she's teaching me a lot of Spanish vocabulary. We'll be coming to help her in the kitchen. She's also part of a minor-league baseball team, which we'll be playing with! They certainly love their baseball here. In all, besides all the mosquito bites, all is fantastic. Hasta!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Still alive!
My body has now almost recovered from the first week! My legs are certainly a sight to behold with all the mosquito bites and cuts, but my blisters are healed, which means that I may once again hold a machete! Through a wonderful group effort, we all finished clearing the land for the garden. Now we just need to outline the plots and hold a work day with the community for preparing the plots. We've got a lot of great soil (from our vermiculture bins) and a new compost bin which we are filling up as we go along. Otherwise, we've busied ourselved making a brick oven (on which we have cooked dinner these past two nights...I am learning to master Nicaraguan cooking from mi madre Maria, so good!). Learning to wash clothes by hand with an old-school style washboard. It's fun, but I feel I will have a new respect for electric washers and dryers when I return. And showers. We won't even talk about the state of my hair.
Otherwise, still chugging along with my Spanish...my conversations have progressed to Spanglish! Part of this is due to the awesome group I have with me. We speak and teach Spanish to each other. Still loving my little homestead in the jungle, it's a rewarding lifestyle, especially for hippies like me.
Otherwise, still chugging along with my Spanish...my conversations have progressed to Spanglish! Part of this is due to the awesome group I have with me. We speak and teach Spanish to each other. Still loving my little homestead in the jungle, it's a rewarding lifestyle, especially for hippies like me.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Adventura y cumpleanos
Hola all! In my last blog I forgot to mention that I ate iguana. It tastes like very dry chicken. Mmmm.
Anyway, it was our amigo John's birthday today, so we headed with Maximo to Popoyo yesterday to get him some pizza and enjoy the beach after working hard. Got to ride on the back of a truck the whole way in the pouring rain, it was fantastic.
Today...we woke up, had amazing huevos rancheros (sooo stuffed), then headed onto a 5 hour hike back to a bus stop to get back to Playa Gigante. I suffered a bit of sunburn, some scratches, and a nasty cut on my foot, but the views of the Nicaraguan coast....breathtaking. The shale rock and seashells, the tide crashing, and the black volcanic sand totally made the hike. Now I just need to sleep for the night, and hopefully I will be functional tomorrow, the blisters on my hand have healed in time for my legs to be in deep trouble. But it's okay, I'm making up for all the lack of excersize during school.
Anyway, it was our amigo John's birthday today, so we headed with Maximo to Popoyo yesterday to get him some pizza and enjoy the beach after working hard. Got to ride on the back of a truck the whole way in the pouring rain, it was fantastic.
Today...we woke up, had amazing huevos rancheros (sooo stuffed), then headed onto a 5 hour hike back to a bus stop to get back to Playa Gigante. I suffered a bit of sunburn, some scratches, and a nasty cut on my foot, but the views of the Nicaraguan coast....breathtaking. The shale rock and seashells, the tide crashing, and the black volcanic sand totally made the hike. Now I just need to sleep for the night, and hopefully I will be functional tomorrow, the blisters on my hand have healed in time for my legs to be in deep trouble. But it's okay, I'm making up for all the lack of excersize during school.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Gardening with a machete....?
Yes, it's true. My baby has been cutting down a ring of jungle overgrowth in one of our gardens. I spent yesterday hacking down shrubbery with a machete, then venturing into the forest to take down stalks of bamboo, which we cut into smaller pieces and split down the middle. Yes, it is just as much of a workout as it sounds like. I love usng a machete, though, you just grab a stick to protect your legs and hack away. It cuts the weeds like butter. All of this we were taught by our new father, Ruffino and his son Maximo.
Otherwise, we've just been building an oven, a firepit, a flat area for a composting box (which is what the bamboo was for), and extending the vermiculture bin.
For breakfast, we've had the most amazing meals, made by our resident mother, Maria. She uses fresh ingredients for everything, so we always have rice and/or bread, beans, plantains, scrambled eggs, different pork and chicken dishes, salads with tomatoes and onions with lime, and various other delicious things (plus snacks of fruit from the trees on the property like starfruit and coconut). I've been able to help Maria a bit in the afternoon, so I am learning to cook some delicious things :)
Then at night we head down to la playa (the beach) to do swimming and running through the sand (which, when the sweat drips from you like a faucet during the day, feels amazing). The beaches are beautiful, and the waves are huge.
The people here are wonderfully welcoming and nice. Our group has become really tight very quickly. My Spanish is improving exponentially, I get a lot of opportunities to speak with our family and other locals solely in Spanish. They're teaching me lots of vocabulary and basic phrases.
All in all, I am learning so much and loving Nicaragua. This is definitely the kind of stuff I have a passion for.
Otherwise, we've just been building an oven, a firepit, a flat area for a composting box (which is what the bamboo was for), and extending the vermiculture bin.
For breakfast, we've had the most amazing meals, made by our resident mother, Maria. She uses fresh ingredients for everything, so we always have rice and/or bread, beans, plantains, scrambled eggs, different pork and chicken dishes, salads with tomatoes and onions with lime, and various other delicious things (plus snacks of fruit from the trees on the property like starfruit and coconut). I've been able to help Maria a bit in the afternoon, so I am learning to cook some delicious things :)
Then at night we head down to la playa (the beach) to do swimming and running through the sand (which, when the sweat drips from you like a faucet during the day, feels amazing). The beaches are beautiful, and the waves are huge.
The people here are wonderfully welcoming and nice. Our group has become really tight very quickly. My Spanish is improving exponentially, I get a lot of opportunities to speak with our family and other locals solely in Spanish. They're teaching me lots of vocabulary and basic phrases.
All in all, I am learning so much and loving Nicaragua. This is definitely the kind of stuff I have a passion for.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Well, the plane landed
So I am here in Rivas, Nicaragua! We are staying in a gorgeous hostel named Lidia, and in between errands we are getting piña, mangoes, y postres...muy delicioso! My Spanish is already being challenged being here, we´ll see how I hold up. We are fixing to take a taxi into Playa Gigante tomorrow to start the dirty work. For now, though, just enjoying the beautiful (and hot...) Nicaragua sunshine.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Monies!
Hallelujah for scholarships! I just found out that I received another $2,000 from STA Travel and the Foundation for Asia Pacific Education, which brings the grand total to $15,612! God knows I was beginning to wonder if all the scholarship writing I've been doing lately was just practice. Get this--this one requires me to take pictures and blog, ha! So, this will be my Nicaragua blog then, because STA will be my new blogger forum. Now even more people will see me rant on about food! Ha! But I'm sure anyone who takes time to read this blog will follow me to STA, right? Follow the money!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Welcome to KT's Travel Blog! (I'll think of a more creative name later)
As some of you may know, I am very bad about maintaining long-distance communication. So, I'd like to provide an all-encompassing account for you all to follow. Please please please email me with comments and conversations, I don't want this to be a one way thing! I'm at ktehrlich@gmail.com.
THE TRAVEL MENU:
First up: Playa Gigante, Nicaragua. June 21st-August 6th.
DU Geography Professor Matthew Taylor began this as a sister project to his work with DU in Guatemala (http://www.geography.du.edu/taylor/Site/home.html). Basically, this particular trip is a student-led project, and our group will be using DU research grants to create a fully functional and sustainable organic garden and nearby structures. The premise of the project is giving back to the local fishing community by generating produce and income. The locals paid a small fee for ownership of part of the garden, and they are to be an integral part of the formulation of our project and the work we do.
I am not sure how often I will have internet while I am there, but I will take every opportunity to communicate here and on email.
I will also be quite safe. I am with a group of DU students and graduates that I completely trust, and we are not the first group of students to work on this garden. Taylor and volunteer students have been working on this project for nearly a year now. The community knows Taylor and DU, as well as a couple students coming with us, and they are very warm and welcoming.
I expect this to be an immense learning experience for me. I will get to experience hands-on the concepts I have been learning about in classes like Ecology, Feeding the World, and Peacebuilding. I want to be able to incorporate myself into the local culture as much as possible by speaking Spanish and spending time with community residents. I think that is the part I am most excited about. Should be amazing!
Second up: Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan. August 27th-May.
My Junior/Senior year will be spent in--that's right--Japan!
Nanzan University started as a Christian Missionary school, and eventually evolved into a well-known and respected international learning institution (http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/). I will be travelling with the Institute for International Education of Students (IES Abroad). Basically, they connected me with Nanzan and help me organize all my paperwork.
This trip is particularly significant, because ever since my family hosted our first Japanese exchange student I have been in love with the country, and all aspects therein. I don't think there is any place that I have wanted to go as badly as Japan. Serendip had it that my high school taught the only public school Japanese language program in the county, so I of course took advantage of it. I learned under the fantastic guidance of my teachers Scott Harguth and Atsuko Frederick for 4 years. But in college, figuring I would without doubt study abroad in Japan, I learned Chinese and Spanish instead. And traveled many places, none of them Japan. Finally Japan is tangible, and that is in the form of Nanzan University!
I applied to a home-stay option, but I don't hear about that until August. What I do know is I will be taking intensive Japanese courses the whole time. My courses taught in Japanese will include those on Japanese literature, teaching English as a foreign language, and various art courses. My English-taught courses for my International Studies major will be Japanese Economy, Japanese Foreign Policy, Japanese Politics, Political and Social Issues of Japan, Asia and Japan in American Foreign Relations, and Japanese Religions. I want to participate in clubs, language learning partners, and volunteerism as well.
But the food. The foooood. That will certainly be one of my favorites.
Japan will be foodie heaven. You will hear much about food.
Basically as the details roll in I will write about them. Watch my blog!!
Hooray for Google Maps!
THE TRAVEL MENU:
First up: Playa Gigante, Nicaragua. June 21st-August 6th.
DU Geography Professor Matthew Taylor began this as a sister project to his work with DU in Guatemala (http://www.geography.du.edu/taylor/Site/home.html). Basically, this particular trip is a student-led project, and our group will be using DU research grants to create a fully functional and sustainable organic garden and nearby structures. The premise of the project is giving back to the local fishing community by generating produce and income. The locals paid a small fee for ownership of part of the garden, and they are to be an integral part of the formulation of our project and the work we do.
I am not sure how often I will have internet while I am there, but I will take every opportunity to communicate here and on email.
I will also be quite safe. I am with a group of DU students and graduates that I completely trust, and we are not the first group of students to work on this garden. Taylor and volunteer students have been working on this project for nearly a year now. The community knows Taylor and DU, as well as a couple students coming with us, and they are very warm and welcoming.I expect this to be an immense learning experience for me. I will get to experience hands-on the concepts I have been learning about in classes like Ecology, Feeding the World, and Peacebuilding. I want to be able to incorporate myself into the local culture as much as possible by speaking Spanish and spending time with community residents. I think that is the part I am most excited about. Should be amazing!
Second up: Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan. August 27th-May.
My Junior/Senior year will be spent in--that's right--Japan!
Nanzan University started as a Christian Missionary school, and eventually evolved into a well-known and respected international learning institution (http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/). I will be travelling with the Institute for International Education of Students (IES Abroad). Basically, they connected me with Nanzan and help me organize all my paperwork.
This trip is particularly significant, because ever since my family hosted our first Japanese exchange student I have been in love with the country, and all aspects therein. I don't think there is any place that I have wanted to go as badly as Japan. Serendip had it that my high school taught the only public school Japanese language program in the county, so I of course took advantage of it. I learned under the fantastic guidance of my teachers Scott Harguth and Atsuko Frederick for 4 years. But in college, figuring I would without doubt study abroad in Japan, I learned Chinese and Spanish instead. And traveled many places, none of them Japan. Finally Japan is tangible, and that is in the form of Nanzan University!
I applied to a home-stay option, but I don't hear about that until August. What I do know is I will be taking intensive Japanese courses the whole time. My courses taught in Japanese will include those on Japanese literature, teaching English as a foreign language, and various art courses. My English-taught courses for my International Studies major will be Japanese Economy, Japanese Foreign Policy, Japanese Politics, Political and Social Issues of Japan, Asia and Japan in American Foreign Relations, and Japanese Religions. I want to participate in clubs, language learning partners, and volunteerism as well.But the food. The foooood. That will certainly be one of my favorites.Japan will be foodie heaven. You will hear much about food.
Basically as the details roll in I will write about them. Watch my blog!!
Hooray for Google Maps!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Dedicated to my (maybe) last days at DU
As I struggle to write a final paper after being up since 4am, I've realized two things. First, it's really difficult to write on an empty stomach. Second, that Nanzan may be my last undergraduate experience. At the end of next week I hear back about my acceptance to graduate school at the University of Denver. As much as it would be absolutely bomb to finish in 4 years with a Bachelor's and Master's, I'm getting burnt out with bureaucracy, bad food, and close-mindedness which circulates through this school. Although my attempts at changing the food service is like beating my head against the wall, not to mention the stresses of the RA job...I've realized that DU introduced to me some of my best friends and my favorite teachers. AND even though I despise the amount of water we utilize in groundskeeping, I love how gorgeous this campus is. Pros and cons aside, I am incredibly, incredibly privileged to have the education that I do, as well as the friends, family, and mentors which surround me. So even though I may not go to many hockey games, I'm glad I had my time here at DU. Go Pioneers! Or chicken-hawks? Nobody even knows what our mascot is...
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
If you've ever taken a standardized test...
So I've been studying for the Graduate Record Examinations because I'm crazy, right?
And I come across this problem which states "Eliane types twice as fast as Delphine. Delphine charges 50% more per page than Eliane", and it's one of those problems where there are 2 amounts in 2 columns and you choose whether one has more, they are equal, or it's indeterminate. This is supposed to be a logic problem, but really I don't think these Kaplan people know there are different forms of logic. Because when I look at this problem, I think "this is stupid, Eliane types twice as fast, so she should charge 50% than Delphine and Delphine should find another job because she is obviously incompatable with this job. Or else Eliane is supernaturally good at her typing job--the female Flash, maybe?" Nowhere in here do I think, "Yes, plug in the values and solve for amount earned, yes, I'm awesome at this logical math stuff"
AKA to hell with the GRE, I feel like I should write about this in my grad school essay since I'm applying to an economics program, not algebra.
Good music=http://listen.grooveshark.com/
Look up OneRepublic in artists, and listen to their album Waking Up.
And I come across this problem which states "Eliane types twice as fast as Delphine. Delphine charges 50% more per page than Eliane", and it's one of those problems where there are 2 amounts in 2 columns and you choose whether one has more, they are equal, or it's indeterminate. This is supposed to be a logic problem, but really I don't think these Kaplan people know there are different forms of logic. Because when I look at this problem, I think "this is stupid, Eliane types twice as fast, so she should charge 50% than Delphine and Delphine should find another job because she is obviously incompatable with this job. Or else Eliane is supernaturally good at her typing job--the female Flash, maybe?" Nowhere in here do I think, "Yes, plug in the values and solve for amount earned, yes, I'm awesome at this logical math stuff"
AKA to hell with the GRE, I feel like I should write about this in my grad school essay since I'm applying to an economics program, not algebra.
Good music=http://listen.grooveshark.com/
Look up OneRepublic in artists, and listen to their album Waking Up.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
No. 1 - please read this in rainbow
Synesthesia="impairment" in which you see, hear, taste, feel, etc. etc. in shapes and colours, typically. Wikipedia explains it better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia.
Point 1: Wikipedia is just as trustworthy as any other site in the wonderful web - or even the news on the tellie. I.E. do not trust any source you cannot cross-reference, and if you can cross-reference Wikipedia, you should be able to utilize it as a scholarly source. The New York Times is just as arbitrary, anyway.
Point 2: Synesthesia is medically termed a disease. However, this is a matter of perspective (dually). It does not harm the "affected" individual, nor the people around them. Apparently, though, sensing the world in an unconventional manner is something that needs treatment. I vote treatment means not bringing synesthetes to the average persons boring average world: treatment means ridding us of colicky up-tightness and chasing the spectrum these lovely souls behold on a day-to-day basis. Ooooh, we now know the moral of the blog! Hoorah!
Notwithstanding, I would not like to contain myself to philosophical ramblings about hippie things like rainbows, so if you like random then you should be my fan.
So subject number one = today, huzzah. Today is Sunday/Saturday - seeing as I am manning the 1am-7am shift at the front desk of the residence hall I work at, these days are the same to me until I sleep. Which will be at 7am. Moving on...today, I attended illigit "intimate supper-club" hosted by hushDENVER. First, a little background scoop on your author - I am currently drinking loose-leaf tea, as I often do. Some of this tea becomes konbucha, which I make by placing an alien in a flower-vase full of tea and honey. The alien eats the sugar and spits out acetic acid (vinegar-ish) and a little alcohol. Remember the alien in Men in Black that exists on sugar? That alien resides in a vat of tea in my bedroom. Aside from my alien tea (which carries me through my global governance class... caffeine + sugar = interested student), I grow basil on my windowsill. My fridge contains a home-made sourdough culture. I read Michael Pollan religiously; I volunteer with a local farmer-coop called High Plains. I, good reader, am food-infatuated. Foodie, if I may.
With this in mind, my invitation to hushDENVER's event in which I had to receive an email invitation and pay a "donation" in cash for my meal - all because holding dinner parties for profit in secret venues without liquor or space licenses is illegal for half-stupid reasons. Therefore, an invitation to hushDENVER is like an invitation to the Fight Club. The first rule of hushDENVER is never speak about hushDENVER. Badass. (never mind that they have a website and this is why I found out about it...that point is unnecessary to the plot). Fantastic food by Root Down chefs, a posh venue, fellow food-crazed folks, not least a boyfriend who feels the same bliss as I when sipping kabocha soup with lime cream...I am blessed!
So in sum, I would like to commemorate my inauguration to the upper crust of the Denver foodie community. Though not really, because from now on my supping must not exceed what I make in a day's wages. But dreams don't have to match reality, right?
Beyond this, happy daylight savings (the most apparent example of denial and anal-retentiveness in society today), and watch this, it is wonderful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFicqklGuB0
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)