Barber

A first time for everything I say and today was the first time for me to visit a barber in Japan. For 3000 Yen (approximately 18 Euro at the time of writing) I received:

• A nice clean haircut (people that know me will probably know what it looks like)
• A hairwash
  
• A neck and shoulder massage
  
• A shave

Not a bad deal I think. And to be honest... If I had the funds this guy could shave my face every day of the week. Much more relaxing than shaving with a safety blade in the morning. So if you feel like contributing to a good cause... Feel free to donate to my shave fund. ^^

Proficiat Liesbeth

Van harte gefeleciteerd vanwege Kazumi en mij voor het met succes voltooien van alweer een jaartje aan de hogeschool. In het Japans: おめでとうございます (omedetou gozaimasu). Geniet van de verdiende vakantie enne...

probeer Nikita niet ten onder te laten gaan (^.-)

Om af te sluiten een paar kiekjes van vandaag.

トリックアート美術館

For those wondering how to read the title of this post. It's "torikku aato bijutsukan" or in English "A museum displaying trick art". The museum is called "La Ghirlanda 美術館" and they display paintings with an interesting 3D feeling to them. Kazumi and I visited this museum a month ago (I know... I'm a slow poster). Here are some of the more interesting pictures we took that day.

The wedding rings

Long overdue, but here they are (click on the images to get larger versions):





As you can see 2 simple rings. They are made of the alloy Pt900 (platinum). Hopefully made for life. ^^

Back to the nineties with YouTube

Japanese television being what is is (not very interesting) I spend a lot of time watching YouTube (Yay for internet connection with no download or upload volume limits). Have been watching a lot of 90's video clips (rave music ftw). Here are some examples for you to enjoy:

RMB - Spring


Dune - Can't Stop Raving

Job Hunt

Last week I was contacted by a person from Huckleberry English School (after sending out several letters to many different schools to apply for a job). They are looking for an English teacher in Asahikawa. After meeting with this person from Huckleberry it became clear to me that it is not really a school, but a company that introduces students to teachers for a fee (much like the website findateacher.net). After consulting with Kazumi I decided to take the offer. Today I'll meet up with my first prospective student. Let's hope it works out well.

edit: Things worked out well. Starting next week I'll be teaching English to my first student. Let's hope many more will follow.

Home Cooking

Today I'll tell a little bit about my home cooking. You may already know or perhaps not, but I do like cooking. At the moment it's Kazumi that goes out working all day long, so I usually prepare the evening dinner.

I do have some limited cooking experience from my time in Leuven, but cooking here in Japan is a little bit more challenging. "Why?" you might ask yourself. Well...

Firstly the Japanese diet is quite a bit different from our Belgian one. And of course I'm most familiar with Belgian dishes. As a consequence I've mainly prepared western food so far. Like for example spaghetti, beef stew, ... Luckily these were appreciated by Kazumi. Problem with cooking western style food is the cost though. Often ingredients are needed that are not so typical for Japan and hence they are pricy.

Another problem I have to deal with is the limited kitchen infrastructure: a very small fridge and only a single cooking plate. Not very practical, but you get used to it.

Today I prepared a Japanese dinner for a change. 「つくねとかぼちゃの煮もの」and「小松菜のひたし」. Or in English "A cooked dish of chicken meatloaf and Japanese pumpkin" and "Vegetable side dish with rape".Of course both are complemented by a bowl of rice. I have to admit it was a pretty tasty meal.

Yesterday we had sushi with a variety of side dishes. All prepared by Kazumi who still is not very confident about her cooking.