I know. Once again I have missed my self-imposed weekend blogging deadline. I'm not sure if I have any good excuses. I'm not even sure if I have any good reasons, except that by the time I found myself sitting in front of my computer last night (Sunday), it was 10pm, I couldn't remember where the weekend had gone, and I was too tired to sound even semi-coherent.
And even though I'm not entirely convinced I won't sound semi-coherent even now, I'll do my best to chronicle my past week.
Thanksgiving Re-Cap
I talked with my mom this past week. She said to me "Your last blog was great, but I want to hear about your Thanksgiving!". Fair enough.
As you may recall, on Saturday (11/19) we invited over a lovely bunch of Bob's fellow professors and co-workers from Ritsumeikan, with the aim to share some early Thanksgiving cheer.
I started cooking at 9am on Saturday. I tore bread for stuffing, peeled and soaked potatoes for mashing and yamming, diced onions, cleaned and marinated chicken for grilling. By 1pm we had brought down Patrick's desk to serve as a table extension, and both the regular table and the desk were set and ready to go. By 2pm the stuffing was being rotated into our newly purchased oven (purchased the night before--just in time to make stuffing properly, not in time to order a turkey). By 3pm the chicken was grilling and the potatoes were mashing. By 4pm people were arriving.
In addition to my grilled chicken, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, apple cobbler, sodas, juice and rolls, people brought salad, chirashi sushi, stew, a variety of bottles of sake and wine, pumpkin pastries, ice cream and cheesecake. Clearly, no one went away hungry.
It turned out to be a wonderful and relaxing time. People gradually made themselves at home, easing into serving themselves seconds and pouring themselves drinks. One of Bob's co-workers had brought her 9 year old granddaughter who spoke no English. Not to worry however! Our 3 cats were uncharacteristically social and charming as they let her pet them, chase them, throw balls for them and take endless digital pictures of them on her cell phone camera.
By the time the last people left around 9pm, the refrigerator was full of leftovers, the dishes were done and my feet were toast.
**On the REAL Thanksgiving, we did a Facetime video call with Bob's family, who were just sitting down to eat. The next day we talked to my mom on Skype. While we didn't manage to have turkey, we did manage to visit with family--which beats turkey any day.
The Colors of Autumn
The leaves are finally changing color in Kyoto. Interspersed with the longer-lasting green leafed trees and evergreens are trees that seem to be burning with bright reds, brilliant oranges and eye-watering yellows. Every time I live in Japan I am astounded that leaves can change to these unbelievable colors.
This last Saturday Bob and I met a group of Ritusmeikan Students, and took a tram (called the "Randen Train") to Arashiyama, a city about a 30 minute train ride from our area of Kyoto. Arashiyama is one of the many sought after fall leaf viewing areas here, so there were, predictably, thousands of people enjoying the sights along with us.
Some of Bob's students seemed to be having trouble equating him as professor with him as married guy, but no matter. The mood was festive and relaxed (indeed, sometimes too relaxed for Bob's comfort, as the students kept stopping, and stopping and stopping to take pictures or eat snacks).
Arashiyama was gorgeous. We walked through temple gardens where the trees seemed to be jostling each other to show off their colors. Dark red maples, bright yellow ginkos (watch out for the smelly fermenting dropped ginko fruits beneath your feet!). Some maples had leaves so dark red they were purple. Other trees were flaming orange. It was like an extremely slow-moving fireworks display.
Towards the end we walked through a dim tunnel made up of tall densely grown bamboo. The sensation was eerie and peaceful at the same time, the chilly fall air around us as the silent bamboo towered overhead, leaving just a strip of blue sky visible.
Soon after that Bob and I bid our goodbyes to the students, and ducked into a small udon shop to warm up. Bob had a bowl of rice donburi while I had a bowl of udon. Then it was the crowded tram ride back to the tiny station near Ryoanji, and a long, chilly bike ride home.
Lasagne? Yes I can!
I've been hungry for Lasagne for a few weeks now. I began trying to satisfy this urge by first seeking out lasagne noodles. Once I located these, putting together the tomato sauce, shredded cheese, ground beef and spices was easy as pie.
Ricotta cheese, however, was a bigger problem. Ricotta cheese is not a common staple here. The ricotta I DID manage to find was so expensive that I actually started to feel a little less hungry for lasagne.
However, I did find cottage cheese, which is a good substitute for Ricotta in a pinch (and I would call this a pinch, wouldn't you?). For my purposes it was perfect, since the consistency of this cottage cheese was more like ricotta than the wee little curdy cottage cheese at home.
And with some mixing and gooping and smearing, and with the miraculous new oven on my side, we ended up eating Lasagne for dinner tonight. Aya declared it 'delicious'. Patrick, never a big casserole eater, opted for rice and mini burger patties. Bob didn't say much, but he did have 3 helpings, which, in my book, speaks for itself.
So, the tally so far is: tortillas, empanadas, taco spices, semi-effective approximation of ranch dressing, salsa and now lasagne. Next up: Mac and cheese. Have oven, will bake.
Occupying my mind...still
You know, it is really all too easy to fall back into our little complacent way of life after something disturbing happens. Disturbing things disturb us, and I think a part of us yearns for things to simplify again, even if the way things were wasn't especially good for us.
It is especially easy for this to happen when one is living, say, thousands of miles away from home in, say, Japan.
However, all this week I have been keeping up on the situation at UC Davis. I have read the descriptions of the meetings. I have watched the Youtube videos. I have read the articles that lay the blame at the feet of the chancellor/the regents/the police department/DHS/congress and the president. And these articles, for the most part, were thoughtfully and intelligently written, and gave me much food for thought.
But in the end, living here in Japan, I can't really tell where the truth is. I'm pretty sure few people back at home can really say where to lay the blame. Upon whose head to heap the guilt and punishment.
Here is what I do know.
Things back at home are not working well.
Something has broken in the big machine and with each turning gear everything breaks just a little more.
And there are two kinds of people with this machine.
There are the people who stick their hands inside the machine every day, trying to work with it and fix it. Most of the time they aren't all that successful.
Then there are the people who sit on top of the machine. They have lots of power and money, and never have to stick their hands into those gears, never have to work on the machine themselves. They never have to get their hands dirty, seldom have to sacrifice to keep the machine running.
Sadly enough, they can't even hear the gears grinding, much less the yelling of the people who are being ground up inside it.
And this is what all the protests are about: people inside the machine, yelling for help. And, the people sitting on top of the machine, either unable, or unwilling, to hear them.
I, for one, don't have the answers. I don't have any answers.
But I think we have to ask ourselves this: what will happen if the people inside the machine stop yelling?
Is silence really the answer?
Or, in a version of the immortal words of Fernando, "Is it better to look good or to feel good?"
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment