Life's Little Pleasures

Summer is in full swing, with only a few occasional rainy days interrupting the warm sunshine, that is supposedly so precious in these parts. The rain was something to be expected. It is June, after all, which they call the rainy month here. So be it, it's not as bad as the Mexican monsoon. When it doesn't rain, however, everybody is complaining about how hot it is, which makes me think with a slight worry about the coming winter. Because the heat is really not that bad. Somewhere around 30°C, which is very bearable. In fact, if you ask me, it is the perfect weather! And if this is "hot", how cold does it have to get for people to complain? Cause complain they will, it's in their nature. But being used to milder climates, I might reach that point way sooner than they... We'll see. But right now that seems like a distant dream to me anyway. Seeing the covered snow-blowers in people's garages, while cruising past on my bike, wiping the sweat off my forehead gives me a feeling of absurdity. Nevertheless, they are an obvious foreshadow of things to come.

Starting out my entry with a discourse about the weather makes one wonder what I'd been up to all this time. Not much, I have to admit as I sift through my memories of the set routines I have become comfortable with. teaching is getting easier and more fun, as I am getting to know my students better and better. Also, the official side of it, that is lesson plans and progress sheets, which used to be a pain, almost fill out themselves. All I need to do is hold the pen. The kids are still fun to teach, you can also see that they have become comfortable with their teacher... sometimes a bit too comfortable. Being a bit rowdy is permissible of course, as long as it doesn't keep them from learning. When it does, though, I have to act tough and restore order, maybe even threaten them that they won't get a sticker at the end of the lesson.

That usually works, as it is my signature and a funny sticker of their choice that keeps track of their attendance. When they have collected thirty, ten, or even five, they can trade them in for a little gift: maybe a cool eraser, funny looking stationary, or maybe a pencil case. They love it. So much so, that some of them have resulted to a dishonest way of obtaining them. I'd heard of cases like this before, but the other day it happened to me: I noticed how the present sheet of a little student of mine was almost full.... even though I knew I hadn't been teaching her for so long. A closer look at her sheet revealed that she had placed stickers from previous present sheets with scotch-tape into the empty spaces, along with a fake date and MY FORGED SIGNATURE. I couldn't believe it! It was well forged too. And she is just six years old!!! In fifteen years she might be working for government intelligence, or maybe against it if she's really good.

As far as my free time goes, I am still trying to make the most of it, even though the famous tourist attractions of the area seem to have been covered. So on weekends I like to just go on bike rides, and get an immediate impression of our beautiful valley. It is really not that big. Going up to Hotaka, where the wasabi farm is, takes maybe two hours, Matsumoto only one. Along the way there are nice looking orchards and vineyards, fields and rice paddies, where you can see farmers spraying vast amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Ugh, how disillusioning! On one hand Japanese people are scared of the low quality, "poison" food that the US is trying to export to them, on the other they are all about chemistry themselves. I have yet to find an organic farm here. So what can you do, but become self subsistent?

I have decided that the first step of growing my own food should be something easy, yet delicious. So I set up a flower-box outside my window with a few plants of basil, and two tomato ones. Surpassing my expectations, they started growing like there is no tomorrow. For the past few weeks I've been harvesting a bunch of basil every week, to satisfy my craving for pesto. The recipe is part improvised, part inspired by ideas from the internet. In a small hand-mortar I grind garlic, walnuts, a bit of salt, olive oil (extra virgin), Parmesan cheese, and of course my own lovely basil. However, by now the amount of basil is so great, that I will start making pesto for others, possibly with a food-processor. Also, I have heard that there is a store that sells real pine-nuts, which got me excited. Fellow teachers have expressed their interests, and even my boss, Nagahara-san, asked me if I could make some for her... So next week we'll have a pasta-pesto session. (Yeah!)

The tomatoes are growing well too, though they are still green. As it seems, there'll be way more of them too than I'd expected. To top off this list of home-made culinary delights, I have started making my own yogurt. It is easier than you'd think. All you need is milk... and yogurt. That's the live cultures of bacteria that had been passed on through generations and generations... of bacteria -- or who knows, maybe even people. I got my first yogurt from my colleague Yanik, who has received it from Kaori, the teacher who took us to the tea ceremony. The sample he gave me was not bigger than an ice-cube. I put it in a carton of fresh milk, covered it with a towel, and let it sit at room temperature for 36 hours. Voila, a liter of milk became a liter of yogurt. I poured it into my ice-cube tray for further projects, and ate the rest with fruit and granola. Right now I am making my fourth batch. Not only does it reduce the cost of my groceries, but it tastes a whole lot better. Not to mention that it is "pure"... well, as pure as the milk at least. Never mind. I still like it.