08.09.2012 - everyone has off days, right?

Friday:

Went to Hombu for two hours.
first class was the beginners class from 7-8 taught by Waka Sensei
second class was a regular class from 8-9 taught by Irie Sensei

both were very good, good amount of time too.

Managed to finally post the stuff home, took me aaaages though because of the size of the package to my family. They wanted the weight of each individual item. In grams, which I don't even understand to begin with.
Anyway, only made harder by the fact that the girl helping me spoke very little English, but she was really nice and helped me guess the weight of stuff and I liked her for it.
But yeah, took me a solid 30 minutes in the office to post two packages and 5 postcards.

Mail is really cheap here though! I mailed my family a box about the same size as the one they mailed me but it cost me maybe half as much.

Went to work for the afternoon/evening and on the way back to my house I just grabbed some readymade stuff from Olympic because I didn't feel like cooking.

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Saturday

Ugh, today so far sucks.
Woke up at 4.30 after a horrible night of sleep, only to realise I could have slept for another whole hour, maybe even hour and a half. I just had today and Tuesday's times mixed up, since they're both mornings and at the same school.

But yeah, slept so badly. I've been sleeping ok here, I mean, I still wake up a lot but I've just been so tired that I've been passing out.

Then I went to work and it was just really frustrating. I felt like I was doing a bad job explaining things, and in the class with the youngest kids I ended up telling them to do it not how my boss does it, but how my home dojo does it.
I just felt like a bad teacher.

Then I did an hour of weapons, where Cesar is doing on the demonstrating on me, just because he knows I will be at every class, even though he knows I don't really understand what's going on.
Managed to make a total fool of myself. I, repeatedly, screwed the the simple thing we'd all just been practicing and was just generally mortified.

then I came home, found a letter from my mother in the post box, and made myself some gyoza which together, so far, have been the highlight of my day.
I just bought them from the store, but even cooking stuff like that is hard since I can't read the directions. These had 3 little pictures and a ton of words, but obviously the photos were all I got.
I did a pretty damn good job in my opinion.

 

 

Then I tried to take a nap for a bit, but couldn't sleep and then when I did fall asleep it was restless.

My throat's a bit sore too, I think it's from constantly being in air conditioned environments. Because it's so hot here everywhere is freezing.
I think even just having the dehumidifier on in my room is making it worse, but I'd just die without it. So oh well.

I might go for a walk, maybe to Shinjuku Central Park. It's like a half hour walk away.
But I think I just need to leave the house for a bit.

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Well, went for a walk for like two blocks before I just felt like crying and came back here and took a shower.
Which luckily made me feel better, so I decided to go walk around Shibuya and take some night photos. Turned out tonight was Fashion's Night Out here in Tokyo, which I was absolutely not dressed for let me tell you. I would have worn something much more snazzy if I'd know.

Anyway, walked around for about an hour, went in a few good shops that I'll definitely go back to at some point.

Came home and skyped with mum, she gave me some seriously good advice, because that's what she does. It was just what I needed though, made me feel less crazy and more just… normal I guess.

Now I'm going to bed, even though I get to sleep in until 6 tomorrow .
(that is the worst sentence I've ever had to write.)

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Have a pleasant day, all!

03.09.2012 - this includes some deep thoughts on moving.

Hey guys,

Slept in again. Partially because I felt like it and partially because I need to get money to pay my September fee for the dojo, so.

This morning I went to Nissin Delitcatessen again, which is the first time I've just got on a normal errand here. I had to switch trains and everything!
I felt pretty awesome, plus it means I now have lettuce, tortillas, black beans, dairy-free bread, granola, and sheep milk feta.
You pretty much can't buy those things anywhere else, so I love that place.

I'm just killing a few minutes until I need to start getting ready for work, I'm just going on my own today for the first time. I've been to the school twice now & I have directions so I should be fine, but it's still nerve wracking because I reeeally don't want to fuck up.

I was just sitting here and had the urge to write a few thoughts on home/moving that I've had over the pack few days. And since this is what I do, I'm sharing them with you.

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-I won’t ever pretend I don’t like my parents, or that I’m too cool for them.
They’re two of my best friends and I miss them insanely. Of course they’ll get on my nerves sometimes when I go home, but I will never say I don't them, or they’re trying to ruin my life(how 14 does that sound?), or that they have anything but my best interests at heart.

The same goes for Magnus. Of course he an annoy me or we can fight but he's still the best brother in the world.

———

- I also won’t talk shit about Nova Scotia.
Was my whole time there great? no.
Did my early teenage years blow because of bullying and no one talking to me? yes.

But I miss it. I’d created a life for myself without even noticing it because I was too busy saying I hated it. I miss people, I miss the fresh air, I miss being by the ocean, I miss how few people there are.
Not to say I don’t like Tokyo, I do. Truly. But it's not home.
And I didn't even think of Nova Scotia as home until I came here.

———

- Nothing is too much or too scary for me to do.
As scary and sometimes not great this last little but has been, I’ve proved to myself (once again) that I can be victorious over anything I want.
It’s hard, I’m not saying it’s not. I don’t speak the language, I don’t know anyone, I’m having to be trained for my job while also preforming it, I don’t know my way around… there are a thousand difficult things.
But I’m ok.
My anxiety is under control (my number 1 fear about moving was that my anxiety/depression would spiral into something worse than it's ever been.), I'm starting to understand the train system, I'm managing to feed myself fine. All really great things.

———

that’s it, just a few thoughts.

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Skyped with Shane for a bit, got ready for work, then off I went!

Today was the first day I actually just went by myself, it was a bit scary. I was all 'I know where I'm going blah blah blah nothing can go wrong hahahaha'
First my clock at gotten behind sometimes between this morning and 2. So I was running like 10 minutes late.
Then I got confused outside Shibuya Station which cost me another few minutes.
I did actually get to work on time, but on time for me means I'm 10 minutes late. So stressful.

I have to be back at the same school by 6.45 tomorrow morning, so I better figure it out then.

But work was fine, slowly getting the hang of things.
And on the way back to the station I walked around a few shops, got a few more presents for people I like, managed to leave my photo and suica (train/metro/bus) card in a shop's fitting room, only to have to walk 7 blocks back to get it.
I was not on top of today after I got some from the store this morning.

But I'm home now and I'm going to make myself a proper dinner for the first time in ages.

romaine lettuce, cooked black beans, and what are basically japanese chicken nuggets.
except they're breading in fancy things and taste a bit like soy sauce & ginger, so I deem them real food.

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I most likely won't be updating this for a few days, I'm just going to be working or very busy.
Tomorrow I work 6.45 - 8.30, then do my English hour with Keiko from 1-2, and then work again from 2.45 to 5.30
Not much time for adventures there.

We'll see.

12.06.2012 - vegan thai coconut soup recipe

I made a vegan thai coconut soup a few days ago and posted a photo on facebook and the overwhelming response was people asking for the recipe.

here's the final product, with a garnish of chopped cilantro leaves.

You'll need

• large thick bottomed pot.
• working stove.
• 2 tablespoons of an neutral oil. I used sunflower, but canola or vegetable would be fine as well.
• about 10 medium sized carrots (about a pound, if you prefer) chopped into 1 inch pieces.
• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, peeled. You want each piece to be about 2 centimeters, so they may mean leaving them whole.
• 3 or 4 lemongrass stalks. If they're dried, soak them in warm water for about 20 minutes before you use them.
• Ginger, peeled. Enough to give you roughly 10 quarter sized pieces. 
• a handful of cilantro. Pull the leaves off and save for garnish, the stems will be used as well, so keep them.
• two cans of coconut milk (this included the coconut butter than generally is at the top)
• 2 cups of water.
• a heaping pinch of salt.
• about the same amount of cayenne pepper.  

• Add the oil in your pot over a high heat. Let it get hot.
• Add the garlic, ginger, and lemongrass in the pot until the garlic is slightly browned. About 5 minutes.
• Add the carrots, salt, and cayenne. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes.
• Add the coconut milk, water, and cilantro stems.
• Bring to a boil.
• Turn the heat down to medium-low & cook until the carrots are completely tender. This took me exactly 15 minutes. 
• Fish out the cilantro stems. If I make it again I may also remove the lemongrass at this point, I wanted the flavour but there were definitely fibers in the finished soup which I didn't much care for.
• Using an immersion blender, blend however much you'd like. I did it very well, so it was 100% creamy and smooth. But I think it would also be really nice with some chunks of carrot left.
• Garnish with cilantro.

• Enjoy!  

I think that replacing with carrot with pumpkin or squash would also be wonderful, depends on how you feel. 




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I got this recipe from How To Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mart Bittman.
I did tweak it a bit, but the base if from that.
And it's an amazing cookbook, one of my favourites, so I advise having it in your house!