Free Time in Japan

Most of my time these past 3-4 months have been spent teaching full time at a private English school. This post is about some of the other things going on in my free time. Most of these photos are from Facebook. I wanted to have them all in one place on my blog.

I've been teaching seniors at a monthly conversation class in Tachikawa. They are so much fun to work with and eager to improve. 

 

We look like giants compared to our students. Old Japanese people are short. The lady in front of me is 87 years old. 

I accompanied Derek on one of his pre-dawn hikes up Mt Takao. We had the place to ourselves.

A few holiday parties. 

And of course I played Santa Clause. 

Summer Party

I attended a summer party at the Yu's last weekend. There was a lot of Chinese dishes to sample. I even made a version of my salsa--no jalapenos in Japan that I can find.

Gyoza making

The finished product

They told me that fermented eggs are sliced up with dental floss to avoid it sticking to a knife.

A fermented egg, tofu, and green onion salad. I was seriously skeeved out by the eggs, but they weren't bad.

Pig ear and cucumber salad. I've had pig's ear a number of ways, and none of them have been good. 

Grilles cow tongue and other meats

This was my first encounter with bitter melon. I find it hard to believe that ANYONE can enjoy the taste of that vegetable. Vile stuff. The slices of clam were good though.

Broiled fish

Watching a firework show that went on for over an hour!

Packed Nishi-Hachioji train station after.