The End of the Salad Days?
I've got 1 more thing to say sayonara to. In fact one of the reasons I haven't posted in so long is that I'm a little embarrassed about it. But here it is, I have officially stopped my vegetarian ways. Well not completely, but I can't really call myself a 90% vegetarian. That would be like the people who still eat chicken and fish calling themselves vegetarians. It's been a good run of about 10 years but I'm afraid I've crossed the finish line.
Why have I put one foot into the dark side you may ask? Well, it mainly boils down to a home issue. Yukiko does most of the cooking and she loves to eat meat and seafood so she has been really sacrificing something important to her just to keep me happy. The other thing is is that she recently quit smoking. Partly, I hope, because of my nagging. Well now it's my turn to step up to the plate. So there it is.
My first official meat product was a chicken sandwich courtesy of KFC and I have to report that it was pretty bad. Maybe KFC isn't the best way to go for those trying to reintegrate themselves somewhat into the man-eat-dog world we live in. I was a little worried about any gastrointestinal issues that could rise to the surface after my extended hiatus away from chicken but it was business as usual afterwards. I did enjoy a chicken salad that Yukiko made at home though so I guess there's still hope for me yet.
In other news, I finished off my 2nd term of my linguistics course. My official grades are not in yet but I looks like I did very well. Only 1 more year to go before I get my grubby hands on that masters degree. Then the world will be my oyster bwah ha ha.
Just 2 more days of high school classes to go and then I start my glorious 2 month vacation. Did I mention it is a paid vacation? With a bonus? What the bonus is for I'm not exactly sure. I doubt it would be for sitting at home relaxing under my air conditioner... but it could be.
What else has been happening lately? Hmm, a few weekends ago Yukiko joined me in Tokushima for the weekend. On the Saturday night we were invited to a private birthday party at a local nightclub for Ingrid's birthday party. Ingrid is a really interesting woman with a great story. She's originally from the Philippines but she moved to Tokushima and married the local Yakuza boss. They seperated but he set her up with a 'Snack', a small karaoke bar. Because she speaks English fluently her snack has become one of the local hotspots for foreigners living in Tokushima. We saw some great karaoke duets and Yukiko & I will try to come up with a good performance for our next outing.
Ingrid and Norm (of Big Brothers sandwich fame) sing a duet
Gardening status update. Well the peas just shrivelled up and died. The radishes did about as well as they did the last time. Which means I got a few small red nubs to eat but not much more. I don't get it. My neighbour's weeds are thriving without him lifting a finger. What am I doing wrong? However, we do have a mystery shrub, that we didn't plant, that is getting just huge. It is very jungle like. It is flowering now and looks good but we may have to 'deal with it' afterwards as it is just dominating our little garden.
Even though my Japanese classes ended last month I still keep in touch with the teacher. She invited a group of us for an outing in Kyoto. A friend of Tomita Sensei was able to organize a tour of 西本願寺, Nishi Honganji temple which is close to Kyoto station. It's one of the biggest temple complexes in Kyoto. What was special about this tour is that the temple is currently undergoing renovations and is closed to the public until next year. So we got to see some of the work being done, pieces being painted, the roof being re-tiled, etc. It was very impressive to see how much work is being put into reusing as much of the original materials as is possible.
Our group checks out the work being done.
That is one big roof. By the way, I just asked Cliff and Dan to be there for scale issues. The dumb poses were their ideas.
1 of the beautiful gardens on the grounds. I wonder if they've got radishes?
This dancing stage somehow got into the background of my shot of our tourguide's head. Sorry about that.
Now here's the traditional Japan, but it's closed to the public.
Touching up the paint job on one of the temple's pillars.
Tomita Sensei temporarily leaves her body in order to find a 'beer restaurant' that is open.
Why have I put one foot into the dark side you may ask? Well, it mainly boils down to a home issue. Yukiko does most of the cooking and she loves to eat meat and seafood so she has been really sacrificing something important to her just to keep me happy. The other thing is is that she recently quit smoking. Partly, I hope, because of my nagging. Well now it's my turn to step up to the plate. So there it is.
My first official meat product was a chicken sandwich courtesy of KFC and I have to report that it was pretty bad. Maybe KFC isn't the best way to go for those trying to reintegrate themselves somewhat into the man-eat-dog world we live in. I was a little worried about any gastrointestinal issues that could rise to the surface after my extended hiatus away from chicken but it was business as usual afterwards. I did enjoy a chicken salad that Yukiko made at home though so I guess there's still hope for me yet.
In other news, I finished off my 2nd term of my linguistics course. My official grades are not in yet but I looks like I did very well. Only 1 more year to go before I get my grubby hands on that masters degree. Then the world will be my oyster bwah ha ha.
Just 2 more days of high school classes to go and then I start my glorious 2 month vacation. Did I mention it is a paid vacation? With a bonus? What the bonus is for I'm not exactly sure. I doubt it would be for sitting at home relaxing under my air conditioner... but it could be.
What else has been happening lately? Hmm, a few weekends ago Yukiko joined me in Tokushima for the weekend. On the Saturday night we were invited to a private birthday party at a local nightclub for Ingrid's birthday party. Ingrid is a really interesting woman with a great story. She's originally from the Philippines but she moved to Tokushima and married the local Yakuza boss. They seperated but he set her up with a 'Snack', a small karaoke bar. Because she speaks English fluently her snack has become one of the local hotspots for foreigners living in Tokushima. We saw some great karaoke duets and Yukiko & I will try to come up with a good performance for our next outing.
Ingrid and Norm (of Big Brothers sandwich fame) sing a duetGardening status update. Well the peas just shrivelled up and died. The radishes did about as well as they did the last time. Which means I got a few small red nubs to eat but not much more. I don't get it. My neighbour's weeds are thriving without him lifting a finger. What am I doing wrong? However, we do have a mystery shrub, that we didn't plant, that is getting just huge. It is very jungle like. It is flowering now and looks good but we may have to 'deal with it' afterwards as it is just dominating our little garden.
Even though my Japanese classes ended last month I still keep in touch with the teacher. She invited a group of us for an outing in Kyoto. A friend of Tomita Sensei was able to organize a tour of 西本願寺, Nishi Honganji temple which is close to Kyoto station. It's one of the biggest temple complexes in Kyoto. What was special about this tour is that the temple is currently undergoing renovations and is closed to the public until next year. So we got to see some of the work being done, pieces being painted, the roof being re-tiled, etc. It was very impressive to see how much work is being put into reusing as much of the original materials as is possible.
Our group checks out the work being done.
That is one big roof. By the way, I just asked Cliff and Dan to be there for scale issues. The dumb poses were their ideas.
1 of the beautiful gardens on the grounds. I wonder if they've got radishes?
This dancing stage somehow got into the background of my shot of our tourguide's head. Sorry about that.
Now here's the traditional Japan, but it's closed to the public.
Touching up the paint job on one of the temple's pillars.
Tomita Sensei temporarily leaves her body in order to find a 'beer restaurant' that is open.
posted by Jason at 9:15 PM
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