Re-Energizing My Life

For the upcoming Re-Energize Your Life program, I have been preparing for the detox, which starts with a fast from Sunday evening to Monday evening, by clearing my fridge of all the cooked, processed food that doesn’t keep.  That doesn’t mean I am throwing away food!  I simply have minimized my purchases to the point where there’s only the amount necessary for the next week’s meals.

For the last two mornings, I’ve also been doing some reading about fasting and conscious eating, the latter in an article by Yogi Amrit Desai for the Kripalu Self-Help Guide.  A couple of quotations that I like or that resonate with me include, “The ultimate answer [to finding which foods are just right for us] is to learn to rely on our inner body wisdom or prana for guidance,” and “Eating vegetables is eating sunshine.”

During the next few weeks, I want to rediscover a natural hunger that’s not based on habits and to stop using eating as way to cope with fatigue and stress.  I also believe that, as I cleanse myself inwardly, clearing my external environment of excess clutter is an important part of the process.

Bring Adam (and Kris and Allison) to Sapporo!

Vote Now!

Happy Halloween!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The photos are from Halloween Hat Contests in my classes over the past three years.

2nd Place Melon

As soon as they gently pushed me into the middle of the street where we had been dancing, I knew it was going to happen again. I was dismayed but pleased at the same time.

Four years ago, when I had joined in the neighborhood bon odori [dancing] for a short time, I had been urged by some members of the neighborhood group to dance during the last 5 minutes or so. Then I learned that there were prizes, and I was surprised to be awarded with the 3rd prize, which included a carton of shoyu [soy sauce] and a pineapple. I was never quite sure what the criteria were for winning, although a lot of people dressed in costume, generally as simple as a wig or a mask, although the girl who won first place was simply wearing a pretty dress but a noticeably good dancer.

Anyway, I accepted the prizes, and a neighbor's husband graciously carried the carton of 6 large bottles of shoyu for 4 blocks to my apartment. Since one of those bottles would last me almost a year, I gave the others to friends. I later learned that the president of the company that made the shoyu is also a neighbor!

This year I was able to join in the dancing again and, in fact, since the weather was cooler than usual, danced continuously for some 45 minutes. The dance is fairly simple with movements so repetitious that I was soon doing them automatically. After dancing like that for quite some time, one can go into a kind of trance-like state, although meditative might be a better word. What I enjoyed about it the most was young and old all engaged in an activity together. I felt so connected with all the people dancing. For some reason, little kids kept joining the line in front of me (for only a short time), and that was especially delightful.

In the end, I won again! This time it was 2nd prize, a Hokkaido muskmelon. I still have no idea why I won - except that I was one of the few NJs (non-Japanese) participating.

You Gotta Music

My head is still reeling two days after one of the most delightful performances I’ve had during the three years I’ve been singing with Sapporo Symphony Chorus. Akira-san is an absolute delight with his enthusiastic conducting - so dynamic compared with most of the staid conductors we work with - and his love of music, especially when performing for children.

His songs, too, convey so many messages for children, including that “sayonara” is not an end but a beginning. One, entitled “Yugata [Evening] Quintet,” is used for his theme song on public TV. “You gotta music” is not actually poor English but a pun on “yugata,” so it means “evening music.”

Since it took me nearly 25 hours to learn the meaning of and memorize the 5 songs we performed, while listening to them every day on my iPod while I was walking and riding the subway or bus, the tunes are firmly imbedded in my brain. Because of that, and the help of numbers of friends who helped me understand not just the words but the underlying meaning of what we were singing, I thoroughly enjoyed the two performances.

We were encouraged to move naturally with the music, and I’ve never seen the chorus loosen up so much. Of course, standing just a few feet away from the audience (although we’re usually behind the orchestra on risers or even up in the balcony near the organ, this time we were right at the front of the stage) and having the accompaniment of children running around and crying or shouting made the atmosphere extraordinarily different from what we’re used to when we perform classical music.

The program was oriented towards children as well, opening up to an cartoon illustration of

an orchestra with all the instruments labeled. I heard that, after the concert, members of the Sapporo Symphony were in the lobby with their instruments, allowing children to touch and explore them - sticking their heads inside the tuba or watching in awe at how far a trombone could slide.

However, it was Akira-san himself who made it so much fun for everyone. His love of music was so apparent and so contagious that everyone felt like singing and playing! (I’m sure this is true even of the members of the orchestra, although their faces were so solemn compared with those of the young people in the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra with whom we performed last month.)

During rehearsal, Akira-san really helped us to get a feel of the music with his gestures and expressions as well as his words. In one song, for example, he wanted the suspense sustained throughout the piece until it reached the conclusion, and he illustrated with Tony’s song from West Side Story: “Could be . . . who knows? . . .”

On the day of the concert, we had about 2 hours between the 1:30 and 4:30 performances, and I was feeling so tired around 3:30 that I thought I’d never make it through the second time without forgetting the words. However, once on stage, I was totally energized by the music, the enthusiastic audience, and, of course, Akira-san himself.

By the time we performed the encore, Matsuken Samba II, a unique piece with Japanese words by Ken Mastudaira, all the singers were totally into it, as can be seen in the photo. OLÉ!

During his speech, Akira-san told us that he feels a true affinity with us and, for me, the feeling is mutual. I truly hope to have the opportunity to perform with him again. The world needs more musicians like him who have such a positive effect on all those around him.

Postlude: One of my private students took her nephew to the concert and, of course, enjoyed it. Since I had told her that I wasn't able to memorize the first encore and was only going to mouth the words, she told me that her nephew was checking my mouth closely with opera glasses during the encore and couldn't tell that I wasn't actually singing the words. Guess I'm pretty good at faking it!

Rise Again!

More to come soon on my extraordinary experience in singing in Mahler's Symphony #2 with the Pacific Music Festival orchestra conducted by the superb Maestro Christoph Eschenbach, the festival's former artistic director (1991, 1993-98).

We performed at both Kitara Concert Hall and Sapporo Art Park.

Adam's Positive Attitude

Not only does he have the charisma, the voice, the stage presence, and the whole “package” that makes for a superstar. He's also humble, gracious, courteous, respectful, genuine - rare qualities that I hope he keeps as he continues on his journey to megastardom!

Want more American Idol videos? Click here.

Adam Talks about What's Next

This guy not only has everything it takes to be a superstar - the voice, the looks, the stage presence, the creativity.  He also has enormous poise, respect for others, and, above all, real class.  I can't wait to buy his recordings, albums, and - some day - a ticket to his concert.

Preview of Retirement Days

The way I spent my afternoon and evening is how I'd like to live when I'm retired (if ever).  I went with friends from my international women's group to the Sapporo Modern Art Museum to see a Yuzo Saeki Retrospective (oil paintings from 1923-1928 by a Japanese artist who lived in Paris).  Then we had a delicious Italian dinner at Tanto Travoletta.  Finally, I got home in time to watch the “rat pack” performances on American Idol.  This kind of leisure time is rare, but I'm hoping it's a preview of days to come.

Gratitude During Ups and Downs

UP - My weight was down another pound this morning.

DOWN - ADAM LAMBERT LOST (although he's still going to be the biggest superstar ever to come out of American Idol)!

UP - Today was an incredibly warm, gorgeous day - like July in mid-May.

DOWN - I'm supposed to send out a bulk mailing about our language teachers' conference this Sunday, and my Mail hasn't been working right since Monday.  I made an appointment at the Apple store with the Mac Genius at lunchtime, thinking I could get it fixed, but they couldn't so I left my computer at the store while I went to teach my afternoon class.

UP - I got a ticket to the Simon and Garfunkel (who are actually coming to Sapporo) concert in July.

DOWN - I got on the subway going the wrong way and had to backtrack.

UP - I got to my afternoon class (Enjoy English! which I inherited from a colleague) just in time and it was delightful, as always.

DOWN - The Mac Geniuses still hadn't figured out the problem with my Mail and, in fact, now it's worse because I've lost all the rules I had for sorting messages into folders.

DOWN - I didn't get my afternoon nap and have my usual no-nap migraine-like headache.

UP - I don't have the flu, which has resulted in schools getting closed in other parts of Japan.

Simon on Susan

I appreciate Simon's candor and also the fact that he really is impressed by Susan Boyle.

Piers Morgan on “Unconventional” Contestants

I love the part where Piers says he got through customs by saying he was a friend of Susan Boyle's!

Occupations of Parents of Japanese University Students

It's really interesting to me the different kind of work that my students' parents do. In some cases, I'm fairly certain that the student may be the first in the family to attend university.

I've made a list, exactly as they were written on the students' information forms. Since the students are from various universities and I've included no names, I haven't compromised anyone's privacy.

My father is a office worker. My mother is a homemaker.

My father is engineer. My father is working on telephone company.

My father is office worker. My mother is Yakult lady.

My house is cleaning shop.

My mother is a nerse.

My father is the Ground Self-Defense Forse.

My father is a professor of biology.

My father is teacher. My mother's job is part time.

My mother work in hospital as nursing assistant.

My father is a taxi driver. My mother is a hotel worker.

My father is carpenter.

My parents work each other. NTT. Seikyo.

My father is Tochikaokutsyosashi.

My father is a hight school teacher. My mother is midwife.

My mother:s workshop is Kanpo drugstore.

My father works in Sapporo city ward office. My mother is a housewife.

My father is driver.

My father is a official civil.My father and my mother work Hotel in Furano.

My father work factory.

My father works at city hall. My mother is homeworker.

My father is a car engineer.

My father is a bussinessman.

My father is a public employee. My mother is a librarian.

My father's work is covering buildings and stations with tiles. My mother is home keeper.

My father is a doctor. My mother was a nurse.

My parents's job is agriculture.

My father is an architect. My mother was kindergarten teacher.

Parents manage to jazz bar.

My father is a junior high school teacher. My mother was a elementary school teacher.

My father is a veterinarian. My mother was a nusery school teacher.

My father manage gardening shop. My mother teach mathematics for school child.

My father is cook.

My father works in factory. My mother works a part time job.

My mother is office worker.

My father works in bank.

My father is a lab technician.

My father sells car. My mother is housewife.

My father is plumber.

My father makes cakes. My mother and sister work for hospital.

My father has his own soba restaurant. My mother is good at cooking, too.

My father is a carpenter. My mother works in a factory which makes clothes.

My parents own outdoor school. This shool is teaching outdoor sports and outdoor life, for example, canoeing, rafting, etc.

My father is a taxi driver. My sister is a nurse.

My father is an architect. My mother is full-time housewife.

My father job is peace keep of Japan. My mother is homekeeping.

My father sales office computer.

My father is a official. My mother is sado teacher.

My parents are drunker, always drinking. My eldely brother is gambler.

My father was a headmaster of a junior high school. He is sick and receiving treatment and resting at home. My mother is a housewife.

My father is a fireman. My mother works part-time.

My mother is long-distance bus tiket publisher, and my older sister is insurance saleswoman.

My father is a bus driver. My mother works in an office.

My father is a public official. He works for a hospital. My mother is a dancing instructor.

My father is a teacher of elementary school. My mother works part-time at a supermarket.

My father manages a shoes store with my mother.

My father is a head of kindergarten. My other is a housewife.

My father is a vice-principal.

My father is postman. My mother work at kingdum teacher.

My parents are both junior high school teachers.

My mother is a kindergarten teacher and works almost every day.

My father is an instructor at a driving school. My mother is a cosmetician in a cosmetic company.

My father works at the bank. My mother is a housewife.

My father is electrical engineer. My mother is homemaker.

Uncle Jay Sings about 2008

A hilarious rendition of news events of 2008 set to Christmas carols and popular songs:

For more episodes “helping small minds understand big news,” check out Uncle Jay Explains the News.

New Year's Resolutions (The Onion)

Think you can keep any of these resolutions?

Check out other humorous “news” stories at The Onion.

Smoothie Move

It all started with my first visit to Costco, which opened not long ago in Sapporo. Imagine, if you will, a store with spacious aisles, spacious shopping carts, and huge piles of cheaply-priced items that can't be found in one's local supermarket. Well, I suppose for most Americans, that doesn't take much imagination, but it's extremely rare in Sapporo.

I went with a friend who has a membership, and filled up his basket with cheese and corn bread mix and Perrier. (Of course, I paid.) I also found a huge bag of mixed frozen fruit (mangoes, papaya, pineapple, and strawberries) that I could barely squeeze into my freezer.

Of course, then I wanted to make smoothies. I’ve missed them so much, although they’ve just started getting popular in Japan. So I just had to buy a juicer. Juicers have also only recently gotten popular in Japan, so I was surprised at the variety I had to choose from, but got a fairly inexpensive, standard model, which is actually a simple blender.

I figured making a smoothie would be a cinch - just throw in some frozen fruit and a bit of low-fat yogurt, and mix. Well, it tasted all right, but it wasn't smooth!

Later I tried one that included a cup of vanilla soy milk, a cup and a half of the frozen fruit, and a half a banana. The texture and sweetness were for that were just about right.

Also, I figured out that it works better to put the milk in first and the pieces of fruit in one at a time. I knew there was some reason for the cylinder in the middle with the hole in the cover! I'm kind of a slow learner when it comes to anything involving ”cooking.“

There are some recipes in Japanese that came with the juicer, and I suppose I could check those out. I notice they have Chinese characters for something like “angle ice,” which I think means ice cubes, although frozen fruit seems to do quite well. Eventually I might add some sort of nutritious powder or the like so that the smoothie could even be considered a meal.

Advice or RECIPES for smoothies are welcome!

On Not Coming Full Circle

Today I was asked if I would teach a course for elementary school English teachers. I declined.

In my 30+ years of teaching, I've had students from the ages of 11 to 78, but I've never taught children. I have neither the experience nor the expertise to teach children, much less to teach others how to teach children. I could not, in good conscious, agree to teach such a course.

Ironically, my very first major in college was elementary education. That lasted a little over a year. As much as I love children, I couldn't get into the courses, which seemed rather petty to me. I easily got seduced (almost literally) by the Head of the English Department into majoring in English, a major that I later discovered (and was warned by my father) would get me nowhere when I started looking for jobs.

I toyed with majoring in Psychology - and would still like to get a degree in counseling, if I could - but the Psychology Department at my college was pathetic. I'm not sure, for example, that they were familiar with Carl Rogers and Client-Centered Therapy. It was all still Freud and Jung.

I would also have loved to major in Theatre, and took as many courses in the field that I could, but my tuition was being paid by my father, who considered Theatre an even less practical major than English. I defied him later by going on to graduate school and getting an M.A. in Theatre on my own (and with the help of a full-tuition scholarship). It turn out, of course, that my father was right. In fact, neither English nor theatre ever led directly to jobs.

I ended up taking courses in alternative education and finally getting licensed to teach English for senior high, then junior high. That eventually led to my teaching in Japan, where I wasn't able to teach in public junior or senior high schools, so ended up teaching adults, then university.

And, now, at one of the universities where I teach, I've been requested to teach elementary school education. It's so ironic that my earliest major would have been the one to prepare me the best for teaching such a course. But I never would have had the opportunity to teach such a course had I not ended up teaching university-level English.

What really bothers me is that, now that the Ministry of Education has decided English will be required for elementary school children in Japan, universities are scrambling to find instructors to teach courses for future elementary school teachers. Notice that I didn't say qualified instructors. I have been asked, and I'm far from qualified - even with over 30 years experience teaching English and at least 10 years teaching methodology.

No doubt someone will accept the position (and other such positions in universities all over Japan). Are most of those people going to have the qualifications? I have my doubts, and I have even stronger doubts that teaching English in elementary schools in Japan is going to improve the level of English in this country. Not when it's being implemented in such a haphazard way.

If I had continued as an elementary education major, I might have gone on to become an elementary school teacher and, possibly, supervisor. I might even have ended up teaching elementary education. However, I probably would never have come to Japan. So I would have been fully qualified to teach the class that I turned down today, but I wouldn't have been here to be asked!

There's an Erection?

I wore a red, white, and blue scarf with stars and stripes to school today.  However, when I asked my students why I was wearing the scarf, with the hint that it was connected to something happening in the U.S., I had to wait a long time for their guesses.

"Thanksgiving?"

"Independence Day?"

That I was also wearing my "Jed Bartlet for President" sweatshirt apparently didn't help.

At least none of my students answered Halloween!  They all know that was last week.

I wonder how many university students in Japan have no idea there's a presidential election going on in the U.S. today.  At least my students know.

Jokes My Cats Don't Get

I frequently tell my cats jokes. However, they don't seem to get them. I mean, they never laugh or even respond with a groan. Here are a couple of examples, which you may have heard in another context.

“You're funny, but looks don't count.”

“You make a better door than window.”


“Mommy's going to the store, and she'll be back before you can say, 'Jack Robinson'.”


“Mommy has to go to work.  Somebody in this family has to put food on the floor.”


“It's good for you.  It'll put hair on your chest!”


“Did you ever hear about the cat that cried 'Wolf!'?”

Feel free to let me know of any other jokes you think my cats might not enjoy!

Michiko

About 3 hours ago, I learned that another of my private students passed away. I have lost two students in less than a month to cancer.

Michiko Nakamura was two years younger than I and so full of life. She was always cheerful and optimistic, brightening the classroom with her wit and vitality. As I write this, I can hear her voice entertaining us with one of her delightful stories. It's so hard to believe that I'll never see or hear her again.

A few months ago, Michiko began complaining of asthma and wore a face mask to class every week. Her voice was becoming hoarse, and she didn't seem to be improving. Suddenly I got a package from her returning a DVD she had borrowed (she loved movies and had seen just about every movie that I mentioned). Attached was a note saying that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. I thought I must be reading it wrong.

She went to Tokyo where she was receiving treatment at most likely one of the best hospitals in the country. Only a few weeks ago, she was showing signs of improvement and fully expected to return to Sapporo this month. We were all looking forward to being reunited. Then her condition worsened, her lungs filling with fluid.

The birthday ecard I sent her last week was never opened.

Unlike the student who passed away last month, Michiko's wake and funeral will be held in Tokyo where her daughter lives, so I won't be able to attend. However, our class will be having its own memorial time for her during our regular class time on Thursday. Because she and the other three students have been together for so long, the only way I can describe it is that it's going to feel out of balance without her.