Today I am starting a new leg of a travel and teaching journey. This time, I will be without Robert—my husband, partner in crime and this blog’s master.
“Why am I moving to Cairo by myself?”
Long story short, we both received job offers we couldn’t refuse. Unfortunately, they were on different continents. I received mine first and we were all set to jet off when Robert’s opportunity came along. We did some agonizing and back and forth and landed on this decision.
I will be teaching high school English at an international school in Cairo, Egypt. Robert will be a technology manager for a company in Oregon. We are both really excited to pursue our new ventures and have a chance to “try out” two entirely different lifestyles. We’ll evaluate as we go and decide what works best in the long run… or try something else!
I am cautious, but not scared to move to the most populous Arab country as a white, Western woman. When we told others we were moving to Japan, we received a variety of warnings about the Yakuza (mob), sexual harassment on the train, train/traffic accidents, you name it, from people who had never been to Japan, but only seen things on the news or the internet. Thankfully, we were not scared off and our experience living in Japan was amazing! Japan was the safest I have ever felt anywhere. I knew that I was spoiled and that whenever we left to travel or return to the U.S., I would have to get my guard back up.
Similarly, many people have warned me about Cairo. And yes, there is probably more reason to worry than with Japan. I will have to be more aware of where I’m going and who is around me. I will have to think about my appearance and being modest (not a new concept for me—many Asian countries like Japan are quite modest in dress especially in religious sites and I had quite a learning experience about dress in India). From where I stand, these things are not deal breakers. I’m not scared of the Islamic religion or Muslim people. I have read all of the travel alerts and I have done my research. I have asked advice from my new co-workers and people who have visited or lived in Egypt. Instead of giving into fear, I decided to go and form my own opinion.
I realize that I have the privilege to make the decision to live anywhere I want. And I have the privilege as an American citizen to leave whenever I want. Those statements aren’t true for most of the rest of the world.
I forgot this was supposed to be a long story short! Stay tuned on the blog as I try to make sense of a whole new world (a favorite karaoke song), more information about my school and its students, my local wanderings and travels, photos of pyramids and felucca rides down the Nile, food and coffee reviews (!!!) and Robert’s visits and impressions.
Have you ever been to Egypt? Do you think I should be worried? Why or why not? Head to the comments sectionbelow to take part in the conversation!
Being a lifelong Spanish student and teacher, I had always heard about the Basílica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and I certainly had an idea of Gaudí’s life works and contributions to Barcelona. But, as we’ve been on the road a couple of weeks and seen many cathedrals, including St. Peter’s in the Vatican and Notre Dame in Paris, we were coming into Barcelona a little wary of touring yet another church. How good could it be, we wondered.
On a rainy Thursday, we purchased our tickets online and set off. Neither of us had looked at pictures online or had any idea what to expect. In retrospect, I’m glad because pictures (including ours) don’t do it justice.
Coming out of the metro, the cathedral was behind us. The first glimpse was…wow, immense, where the hell are we? Is this really our life right now? (A question asked frequently in the last few weeks). I’ve heard the towers described as “bony” and “melting ice cream cones” and both seem somehow appropriate. It was drizzling when we arrived, which I think helped with the crowds. We walked right through the reserved online tickets entrance. So far, so great!
After taking in the exterior facade, we walked through the ornate doorway. I was instantly transfixed. The white, scalloped columns extending upwards (towards Heaven?) first caught my eye. And the play with color and light. Gaudí was not afraid of color; my kind of man. The inside is so special. Like a dream.
To the right, is Christ on a cross, suspended under a lighted halo of an “umbrella.” To one side is Mary and the other, Joseph. The three comprise the Holy/Sacred Family, also known as the Sagrada Familia.
A little bit into our audio tour, we stopped to take in the main altar, which includes the aforementioned trio. I found a quiet place nestled in a column facing the front. The organ music. The light. The color. The shapes. The height. It was just too much. I burst into tears. Happy tears. There are places in the world that remind you how small we are, how fragile life is and how unimportant our problems really are. I was so moved.
We spent about four hours in the church and I could have spent more. We stayed until closing when everyone had left and just took in the silence. Finally, about 20 minutes after six, we were ushered out. We took a brief detour to the crypt of the church, which was still open to the public. This is where Mass is held for Catholic Church goers and it includes the tomb of Antoni Gaudí.
I can’t wait to come back in 2026, when the exterior construction of the church will be finished. Though the inside is the real treasure.
Looking toward the main altar.Looking up at the unfinished tower above the main altar.The sunlight shines through the various colors of stained glass creates a prism inside the cathedral. Gaudi made sure light would play a major role in the design of La Sagrada Familia.The columns holding up the roof were designed to look like trees with the ceiling decor resembling palm fronds.Stained glass on the left side of the cathedral.The cathedral is still a work in progress, as it has been since 1882. The stained glass has yet to be installed on the circular windows beside the altar.Outside, the neo-gothic cathedral reflects in the windows of the modern souvenir shop.
More Photo of the Day posts from our January-March 2016 trip to Europe
I wanted to remember my experience returning to the U.S. after a year away and with a group of Japanese students.
Every year, our university subsidizes a trip for all freshmen in our English communication program to visit Willamette University in Salem, OR for five days. We call it “American Culture Tour.” Willamette University is the sister university to our school and where our students go to study abroad. This year, about 200 students, 10 teachers and a handful of admins made the trek across eight time zones and back.
Click on any photo for a larger view and full caption. More of the story below.
Drinks from Archive Coffee & Bar in Salem
Oh, Safeway.
American pizza
“Big” hamburgers
Willamette Star Trees
Basketball inside Sparks Center.
Picnicking during the farewell BBQ.
Patriotic face painting for sports day.
Ed’s group during sports day
Home for a week…Willamette dormitory.
A tour of Portland food: Hair of the Dog’s Blue Dot Double IPA; vegetarian tacos at Robo Taco; no Portland trip is complete without a stop at Voodoo Doughnuts, coming soon to Tokyo!
A never-ending selection of English-language books at Salem Public Library
Starbucks in the U.S. is a lot sweeter than in Japan… this photo featuring some secret menu drinks like Cotton Candy Frappuccinno.
A taste of home back in Japan: Oregon beer, refried black beans, Stumptown Coffee, Oregon wine and Costco-sized peanut butter to name a few
Safeway is so cool!
Cool Willamette shirts from the bookstore.
My group at Portland International Airport experiencing the new PDX Carpet
Students at the Bush Park gazebo in Salem, OR. A nice 360 moment as we were married here in 2007.
American Culture Tour
Squirrels were very “kawaii” according to students.
The “chicken” fountain at Willamette’s campus.
Campus was beautiful.
Lunch at Goudy featuring “American salad.” The salad bar was pretty good!
Making s’mores for the first time!
Enjoying Salem’s nature.
Go, team! We had a closing ceremony to end the trip.
My mom, me and my sister.
Archive Coffee & Bar in Salem
Shopping in Portland. Love that shirt!
Carnitas and a giant quesadilla. Que rico!
Cool Pikachu shirt at Hot Topic!
Las tortilleras hard at work.
Before we set off, we had a series of classes to teach our students what to anticipate when traveling. We covered everything from packing, customs/security, airport plans, etc. Most students had never left Japan before and it was their first trip abroad or to the U.S. We placed a lot of emphasis on packing comfortable clothes and shoes. Americans dress a lot more casually than the Japanese. A couple of my ladies still brought their platform heels!
The airport experience was really smooth. My students were very well behaved and accepted my authority when I asked them to do something. Only one student accidentally brought a pen/X-ACTO knife combo through security, which was confiscated. In Japan (and most other countries I have traveled to), it’s not necessary to take off your shoes going through security!
The only thing out of my control happened in the airport going through customs. We had lined up when alarms and sirens started going off. Students’ phones started beeping with emergency notifications. And then the ground started to shake. We had a pretty major earthquake—actually in our home prefecture of Saitama—but we were about two hours away at the airport in Narita. A couple of the students started to freak out while myself and another teacher (Cassie, you rock!) just froze and looked at each other like, “What the hell is happening?” I have to say, we did great. But, my nerves were frayed after that. Being responsible for 17 lives in a natural disaster? No, thanks.
I think the students were excited about being in an airplane—watching movies and eating the food, ordering beverages, etc., although they were instructed not to order alcohol! We left Tokyo at 5 p.m. on Monday and arrived in Portland around 1 p.m. on Monday. Going through American customs took forever because all 200 kids were in the foreign passport line. And some of the customs agents were pills. Even I got stopped and asked for my American ID in addition to my passport.
Students and staff from Willamette met us at the airport, which was a nice greeting. My group had two Willamette students who stayed with us that week and arranged activities for my students when I wasn’t holding class.
We arrived on campus and students got their dormitory room keys and unpacked. We had a boxed lunch in the courtyard. We had beautiful weather that week! In fact, the Willamette campus was so gorgeous. Flowers blooming. The sun was out. The grass was green. The students were impressed by the “nature” and squirrels on campus and in the parks.
Speaking of lunch, is everything is bigger in America? When my students returned from their weeklong trip to Oregon last year and reported that the “food is big,” I thought, “Eh, whatever. American food is not that big in size.”
But, this year, I discovered they were right. Mea culpa. American people are bigger. The cars (trucks) are gigantic. And yes, the food portions are pretty big. At least from the perspective of the Japanese diet. Our lunch that day had a big sandwich, a bag of chips, a side of hummus, a pear and a brownie. It was awesome! But no way did anyone finish it all.
We had been awake for who knows how many hours at this point. I wish I had written down what times I actually slept. I was on a crazy schedule. I would try to sleep at midnight, but be wide awake. And if I fell asleep, I would nap and wake up at 3 a.m. ready to go. I actually slept through my alarm the first day, but I made it to class only 4 minutes after 9 a.m.
Each day, we held class in the morning for three hours. The first day, I took my students to a coffee shop, which was great because I slept through breakfast! Mmmm… Oregon definitely has great coffee. Sorry, Japan! I had an Americano and a Marionberry-basil scone. My students mostly ordered cocoa, but it was great to see them trying to read the menu and order and give the correct amount of money. I stayed out of the way and let them figure it out! A couple of students in the group emerged as leaders and helped out their peers. I had students ranging in sections (based on skill level) from three to 14 (of 15 total).
We also walked along Salem’s riverfront and saw the carousel. We popped into Salem Center mall and browsed through some stores. “Bik shi” or Victoria’s Secret was popular among the girls and everyone seemed to like Hot Topic. The second day, we went to the Salem Public Library—which I love—and we read some children’s books and Japanese manga (comics) translated into English. It was fun and somewhat academic.
One of the students chose a picture book that detailed a Japanese woman’s time in an internment camp in Oregon during World War II. The student didn’t really understand; that was a difficult one to explain. After the library, we walked to get some Dutch Bros coffee and hung out at Bush Park.
Overall, the trip was pretty relaxed. The Willamette students took care of a lot of evening activities so that I could see my family.
It was fun to see my mom and sister. My mom hauled me around town as I browsed through Trader Joe’s, Fred Meyer and Costco. She even brought me my favorite cake from the Market of Choice in Corvallis!
My sister and her boyfriend accompanied us one of the days that we took the students to Portland. The culinary highlight of that day for me was Stumptown’s cold brew coffee. Oh so good. I want another one. Please drink one for me, Cascadians. My sister and her gentleman friend were awesome and served as the navigators for that day.
My students LOVED shopping and thought the prices (even the prices at Pioneer Place) were cheaper than Japan. Favorite stores included Nike, Kitson, Forever 21 and the Made in Oregon store. Oh, and students were in love with the Safeway near campus. The worst Safeway in Salem probably. Oh well. Maybe it’s like how Robert and I were excited about going to grocery stores when we first came to Japan.
Our groups had lunch at the food cart pod downtown. One of my students said “It’s world food.” I guess she was right—Korean, Thai, Greek, Mexican, Polish, Chinese, even Japanese. But I think students mostly tried American food: “big” hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs. Some had burritos or tacos, but overall, I don’t think they were into Mexican food. One of the nights, the Willamette student leaders took them to a taqueria and most Japanese students ordered fish and chips or hamburgers. Ha. When my students say they had Mexican food, I always ask, “was it spicy?” And they always say, “yes.” It makes me giggle. I love spicy food so I am a fish out of water in Japan.
My mom took my sister and I to my favorite Mexican restaurant in Salem: La Hacienda. It’s the best because they make their own flour tortillas. Along with a Negra Modelo, that was as good as I remember. I also went to Robo Taco in northeast Portland and ordered some “pork” and “sausage” tacos, which I doused in habanero salsa. YES. And +1 for vegetarian food options.
I’ll also add that in addition to amazing coffee and awesome Mexican food, Oregon has the best beer. Nobody else makes beer like Cascadians. It has color! It has hops! It has depth! Flavor! I die! It was fun shopping around and finding beers on Robert’s wish list. I also enjoyed a hoppy pint at Hair of the Dog and some sours to change it up at Cascade Brewing (on a night off! I was not on duty or in charge of any lives 🙂 ).
My other observations:
Portland really IS weird. I could do without randos begging our students for money while in line at VooDoo or screaming and ranting about restraining orders and gun permits in front of the courthouse. I’m glad that last one didn’t erupt in violence.
It’s hard to go from Tokyo back to Portland. 13 million people vs. 600,000. I do love pockets of Portland and I’m sure we’ll end up living there, but…there’s no comparison.
Americans are rude (but not as rude as Europeans) when compared to super-polite Japanese people. I witnessed Salemites arguing about parking spots, who was in line first and inconsequential things like that. That would never happen in Japan. The Japanese apologize and say excuse me even when they’ve done nothing wrong.
Overall, I had a really great time bonding with my students and seeing them use English in a real world setting. I got to see some of my students from last year who were studying abroad at Willamette. And I got to spend more time with some of my co-workers who went on the trip. Win, win, win. Thanks, ‘Merica.
Sampling local food, the cooking classes, street food and fresh fruit and vegetable markets were probably the highlight of our trip to India and Nepal. Check out Indian food part 1 here.
In India, our travel group attended a cooking class in a small town called Orchha. Our host spent an evening teaching us how to make some of her favorite dishes. These included masala chai, roasted eggplant, potatoes and spinach, yogurt sauce, rice pilaf, and chapati bread.
In Kathmandu, Nepal, we spent an afternoon with a Nepalese couple that runs a cooking class in a home setting. We were the only two people in the group so it was nice to be able to ask a lot of questions and do every part of the cooking—from prepping to eating! We made tea, momo dumplings, lentil soup, vegetable curry, rice, mustard greens, fry bread and rice pudding.
In both of these settings, women finally took center stage as leaders—in the kitchen. Neither of the women finished their schooling. Each had incredible stories of arranged marriage, financial hardships, raising children and becoming ‘discovered’ by tour leaders who encouraged them to make a living by showcasing their country’s food to tourists.
The meal today comes with a side of social commentary. Skip ahead to the recipes if you’re not interested. While these women make money with little to no education, most women do not. They depend on their husbands. The scales are so unbalanced in favor toward men in this society and its economy, that it’s hard to stomach.
The message I heard was, “All women can do is cook and have kids so if they can make money at the same time, why not?” Yes, women should have the ability to choose. If a woman has culinary talent and she has a desire have kids, that’s great. But if that’s her ONLY choice and she was robbed of an opportunity to further her education, which may provide her some other options, that’s nothing to be proud of.
I will also add that women do ALL of the cooking in this society. Men, when questioned, expressed no interest. Why bother when my woman does it? The women cook. Men eat first. Then, whatever is left over, the women and children eat. In Nepal, the man came to sit and eat with us while his wife cleaned the kitchen.
In most of the urban city centers, there was a noticeable lack of women. I felt eerily outnumbered at times. Where are all of the women? At home, where they belong? In the Delhi Metro, women are assigned to ride in a separate car. This is similar to Japan and I understand the reason—to avoid sexual harassment. (Side note: I’ve never had a problem in Japan, or India for that matter. Maybe because I’m white and traveling with a big ol’ man to protect me.) Anyway, the separate car is not my issue. The issue is out of the whole entire train, just one car is for women and it was barely full at rush hour while the men in our group were packed shoulder to shoulder in their car. Where are all of the women in the middle of the workday?
India, instead of viewing women (half of your population) as a deficit, find a way to see them as an asset. Both genders working=everyone wins. The International Monetary Fund is working on an initiative to equalize pay for men and women. It states India needs, “… to boost presently low female labor force participation.” Source.
I understand that’s my privilege as a white, educated, Western woman to have these ideas and that not everyone agrees. I don’t pretend to know everything and I don’t want to make light of these women’s accomplishments. Changes are made slowly within the norms of each society. At least the men in both of these situations have some realization that their wife has earning power. Small steps for womankind.
I’ll get back to the food. Below is my adaptation of Vandana Dubey’s recipes of Aloo Palak and chapati.
Potatoes, spinach and spices served with whole wheat chapati flatbread.
Aloo Palak (Potatoes and Spinach) Serves 2-4 people
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 fresh chiles, chopped finely
1 lb. fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 lb. – 3/4 lb. raw potatoes, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1-4 – 1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp coriander powder (you can substitute cumin powder)
Directions
Step 1: Steam or boil the diced potatoes for about 5-7 minutes. You want them pretty done—firm, but not falling apart. Like you’re making potato salad. Set these aside.
Step 2: Heat oil in a large sauté pan and then add cumin seeds, garlic and chilies. (We don’t have fresh chiles in Japan so I used dry ones that I let hang out in some boiling water for a few minutes.) Fry for 1-2 minutes on medium high heat. Don’t let your garlic burn…you are infusing the oil with flavor here.
Step 3: Add your potatoes and the salt, turmeric, chili powder and coriander/cumin. Stir and incorporate all of the spices.
Step 4: Add the chopped spinach and toss about. You just want to wilt the spinach here for a couple of minutes. Don’t overcook.
Step 5: Turn off the stove. Enjoy! Serve with rice or chapati. We also had some raita, or yogurt, to take the edge off the spice.
Note: You can adjust the chiles and chili powder to your liking. Same with the salt.
Chapati Makes 8 chapati
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt (1/16 tsp)
Directions:
Sift flour onto a flat plate and add salt.
Sprinkle water onto flour and knead into a smooth dough.
Make golf ball sized balls, flatten by hand then roll into thin pancake, coating in extra flour to keep from sticking.
Fry chapati on a flat, unoiled frying pan for about a minute on each side, then place bread directly on gas flame until it begins to puff up. Repeat on other side.
Below is a video of Viktoria making chapati with Vandana.
Every locale has its signature drink, which usually signals a preference for coffee or tea. In Portland, Oregon, it might be Stumptown drip or espresso coffee. In Australia, we drank cappuccinos with every meal. In Japan, it’s green tea or matcha—ground green tea that is blended with water and sometimes milk and sugar (matcha latte). We had fun watching matcha being ground in Kyoto. There are so many types of green tea to count, and I’d like to try them all. The antioxidants in green tea have been attributed to the long lives of Japanese people.
Starting the morning off with a few cups of Masala Chai.
In India and Nepal, THE drink is undoubtedly masala chai (the wiki read is fascinating). The spicy, sweet drink quickly became a favorite among our group members. However, not all masala chai is created equal. It became a game to rate each cup and declare whether it was the best we’ve had. In Nepal, masala chai is a little weaker…more similar to milk tea. Milk tea is also popular here in Japan and it’s, you guessed it, (black) tea with milk and sugar.
If you’ve had a chai latte from Starbucks, you have an idea of the flavor of masala chai. In India, the milk is brewed with the tea, instead of adding it later. You can also get some Chai tea bags and add some milk, but it’s not the same.
We had masala chai on the street, in restaurants and in people’s homes. While we were in the city of Orchha, India, we had an opportunity to meet a woman who taught us some traditional recipes.
Vandana Dubey strains the chai tea from the spices and loose leaf tea.
Below is my adaptation of Vandana Dubey’s Indian spiced tea. This drink has “warming” spices: best drank in the winter.
Masala Chai Yield about 2 cups
1 cinnamon stick
6 pieces of whole clove
6 green cardamom pods
6 black peppercorns
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 Tbsp. black loose-leaf tea
3 Tbsp. white sugar
2 cups water
1 cup milk (any kind)
pinch of garam masala, optional
Step 1: Lightly crush the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns. The best way is probably a mortar and pestle, but who has one? I break the cinnamon stick into small pieces and place into a medium saucepan. Then, I throw in the cloves, cardamom and peppercorns. I use the back of a wooden spoon or a potato masher (use what you got) just to break ’em open.
Step 2: Grate the ginger into the pot.
Step 3: Throw in the black tea and sugar.
Step 4: Add the water and bring to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes. It’s going to smell amazing.
Step 5: Add your milk. If you can heat the milk beforehand, that’s best, but if not, add your cold milk and bring it back to a boil. Then, bring down to a simmer for about 2-3 minutes.
Step 6: Get your cup(s) ready and find a fine strainer. Strain the liquid from the solids.
Step 7: Add a pinch of garam masala if you like and enjoy!
Notes:
Ginger is the main flavor here. We didn’t have any one day and it tasted all wrong.
I also didn’t have a cinnamon stick for one batch. Ground cinnamon is not a good replacement. Powdered versions of any of the spices don’t suffice.
If you don’t want to go out and buy all the spices, you can still make a good batch with just ground fresh ginger and a cinnamon stick.
If you’re unsure about how much sugar you’ll prefer, you can leave it out here and add as you like to the final product. You can also leave out the sugar and add sweetened condensed milk at the end.
If the tea is too “spicy” for you, add more hot water or milk to dilute.
Garam masala is a powdered blend of most of the spices in the recipe: peppercorn, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, etc. If your grocery store has bulk spices, buy a tiny bit of it to try.
Let us know if you try the recipe and how you “make it your own.” What is the signature drink where you live?
As we planned our trip to India, we had a vague semblance that we were going home to our (vegetarian, spice-loving) people. We knew that the cow was sacred in Hinduism and that McDonald’s in India didn’t have hamburgers. We liked the Indian food we had in the states and in Japan well enough (Japan has a surprising number of Indian and Nepalese restaurants).
Cascadian Bob’s plate on our sailboat journey on the Ganges. From top: aloo, saag paneer, dal, spicy chutney, beets and carrots and chapati. One of the boats held a cook and food supplies for our overnight journey.
But I would have never guessed how incredibly amazing and flavorful actual Indian food is. We never got sick of it, even after three meals a day for 10 days. Nepal (seven days) had similar food to India, but with a little less spice and pizzazz, in our opinion. Quick note on spice: even though we asked for it, we never had really spicy (as in, ‘this is so spicy, I am going to die!’) food in India (or Nepal or Thailand). I think it’s because the locals thought we couldn’t handle it. Shame!
A Thali meal is a selection of many different dishes. It’s served on a steel tray with separate small bowls. It’s fun to order and try a variety of things. It usually includes a rice dish, dal, vegetable curry, roti, chutney or pickle, papad and a dessert like the rice pudding pictured here.
As we were traveling, I was reading books about India. One of which is called “Climbing the Mango Trees” by Madhur Jaffrey. This book hit me at the right time in our travels. The author describes her childhood in India through the lens of the food her family ate. She intertwines food with history, describing the influences of Persian or Muslim dishes on the traditional Indian or Hindu ones. She also accounts a home economics test of cooking bland English (British) porridge.
Every time she mentioned a dish, I thought, “Hey, I just ate that!” She gave a historical, firsthand account of her memory of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the tensions in India about British interference (my word, not her’s), whether the country should split into Hindu and Muslim nations (which, unfortunately, it later did in the Partition, creating Pakistan in 1947) and Gandhi’s funeral. When we visited Nehru’s home in Allahabad, we got to see where many of these historical deliberations were made, including Gandhi’s office.
Now, back to the food! While reading the book and menus in restaurants, I started making notes about what the names of the dishes meant. I was familiar with a few of the Hindi words, but I decided to make a handy guide for the next time we’re in an Indian restaurant and I blank on what “aloo mattar” is. 🙂
An example of a typical Indian restaurant menu. Main dishes are from 110 ($1.75) to 180 ($2.90) rupees. Some Indian people we met claimed that foreigners were charged tourist prices. Even if we were “overpaying,” we sure didn’t mind! We could both order a main dish, bread, drinks and maybe a dessert for about $5 to $10 a meal.
I’ll explain more about our cooking classes and share a few recipes in part 2 of this post.
Vegetables—There were many fresh vegetable stands on the street. Potatoes are used a lot, along with garlic, onions and chili peppers. Our cooking host said that if her children wanted a dish with peas, they had to shuck them the night before (no frozen peas here!). We also saw mustard greens with their yellow flowers growing in Nepali fields; we later ate this seasonal green in a Nepali cooking class.
Aloo—potato
Mattar—peas
Saag—spinach or another leafy vegetable like mustard or Collard greens
Palak—spinach. Check out my recipe for Aloo Palak.
Gobhi—cauliflower
Baingan/baigan—eggplant
Chutney—refers to a sauce or fresh, chopped salsa of vegetables or fruit. This was not like a sweet jam, as we’ve previously had chutneys. More like a chimichurri or pico de gallo.
Robert ordered this Mukthaj Curry with naan. The curry had paneer cheese and peas in a sauce with fresh ginger, onions and green peppers.
Legumes—Cheap and filling! We had a great variety of dal dishes, spiced in many ways.
Channa/chole—chickpeas
Dal—can refer to any legume (bean, pea or lentil). There are many types of dal, such as black, green, red, yellow, mung, etc. It can also mean lentil soup as we found out in Nepal.
Masala—means spiced
Dairy—We saw a lot of dairy used in Indian cooking. Milk was boiled in a huge pot and sold on the street. Yogurt, cream, butter and paneer is made fresh daily.
Ghee—clarified butter. Used in place of oil when cooking and in desserts. You can buy it already made, but our cooking class instructor said she made her own.
Raita—yogurt sauce, can be flavored in many ways, but we usually had it plain.
Meat—Most of the castes in India are vegetarian, but a few are not. They eat chicken, fish, wild boar and mutton. The Nepalese eat buffalo (which bears relation to the cow), but the Indians do not.
Keema—ground meat, usually lamb
Mutton—can refer to goat or lamb/sheep.
Grains—The base for every meal. The rice was flavorful (I’m not a rice fan), but we especially liked trying the different types of bread. The only kind we had tried previously was naan. Now, roti is our favorite! And stuffed paratha. And masala dosa. And pakori. Yum!
Roti/chapati—wheat flatbread. Unleavened. Just flour, water and salt.
Naan—yeasty, bubbly, teardrop-shaped bread cooked in a tandoor oven.
Papadum/papad—thin, crispy cracker usually served as an appetizer or with beer. Or as part of a Thali meal!
Paratha—flatbread like a pancake. Sometimes stuffed with aloo (potato) or vegetables.
Basmati rice—very long grain rice. This is an expensive type of rice and reserved for special occasions.
Biryani—main rice dish with vegetables and/or meat and spices. Can be served with raita.
Pulao—(rice) pilaf. A Persian influence.
Tandoori—style of food or bread that is dry cooked in clay pot/oven. This style of cooking became mainstream in India (and eventually all over the world) after the Partition when Hindus who moved to India from what is now Pakistan brought their tandoor ovens with them.
Poori/puri—deep-fried puffed bread. We had this for breakfast with curry.
We ordered some basic Indian dishes for breakfast. Breakfast is not a big meal. Top is poori bhaji, fry bread and curry. On the bottom is stuffed paratha with spicy pickled vegetables.
Samosa—deep-fried dumplings stuffed with potatoes, peas and cumin spices.
Pakori—fried vegetable fritters with chickpea flour.
These fried vegetable pakori and chutney hit the spot after a long day of sightseeing!
Kofta—deep-fried vegetable dumpling, usually in a brown gravy or cashew-based sauce.
Dosa—very thin crepe that can be filled with spices, dal, and/or paneer. A South Indian specialty.
On the left is a dosa ordered from a restaurant. This one is a thin, rice pancake filled with paneer and chiles. On the right is a dosa being prepared by a street vendor.
Chaat—savory snack.
Momo—steamed dumpling from Nepal.
Sweets—Many of the sweets were dairy based—condensed milk, milk, ghee. Usually not too sweet. Barfi sounds terrible, but it’s so heavenly. Heaven must be made of milk, don’t you think?
Barfi—similar to fudge; made with condensed milk, sugar and nuts. Usually has gold leaf on top. The pistachio ones were soo good.
We bought this box of sweets, including pistachio barfi, on our first day in Delhi.
Halwa/halva—can be made with flour or nuts. Commonly made with ground sesame seeds (tahini) and sugar. I grew up in a Russian household eating this as a dessert.
Carrot halwa—a pudding made with grated carrot, cashew and sugar. I might have to make it at home!
Street sweets. On the bottom left is jalebi, the pretzel-shaped donut. On the right, halwa is shaped and decorated. Pieces of halwa are shaved off and sold by the gram.
Jalebis—squiggly pretzel-shaped donut soaked in sugar syrup. It’s a popular street food.
Lassi—yogurt drink. Can be plain or flavored with fruit, nuts or spices. We were encouraged to sample flavors that were in season because fresh fruit puree would be added instead of flavored syrup.
We visited Blue Lassi, a specialty shop making fancy lassis in Varanasi. From top: banana, saffron pistachio and papaya pomegranate flavors.
Gulab jamun—Round balls are made from milk, fried, then soaked in a simple syrup.
Fennel seeds and rock sugar—an after-meal breath freshener and digestion aid. Try it!
Masala Chai (my recipe here)—spiced tea with milk and sugar. The spices are black peppercorns, green cardamom, ginger and cinnamon. We call it chai in the states, but Indian chai has much stronger spices. And deliciously so!
We enjoyed some Masala Chai in terra cotta cups along with some cakes at a bus stop.
Writing this post made me hungry! What’s your favorite Indian dish?
Working with young people, I have a chance to hear about some of the “exciting” first rites of passage into adulthood. Students getting their driver’s licenses or first jobs. First forays into drinking, smoking, sex. Forming opinions. Rebellion. Normal teen stuff.
Each culture has its own definitions of the not-so-fine line between childhood and adulthood. But, in the U.S., there’s no official ceremony surrounding it. The closest thing we have is perhaps a “Sweet Sixteen” or the 18th birthday. Latino cultures have the “Quinceañera” for young women at 15 years of age. In Japan, there is a public holiday on the second Monday of January, which is deemed “Coming of Age Day” (Seijin no hi).
In Japan, the legal age of adulthood is 20—for voting, drinking and smoking. For about a year, I’ve been hearing about the preparations for this day from some of our sophomore students at the university. And finally, it was here. My Facebook feed was suddenly flooded with loads of young women in beautiful kimonos and ornate hairstyles.
Japan really is a curious mix of the old and the new. To see young women transformed from their jeans and t-shirts to feminine visions from a past era was fascinating.
I asked a few students to share the significance of this day. Maybe it’s similar to asking an 18-year-old in the states why all of a sudden they can now vote, join the military or get a tattoo. “It’s a tradition,” they say. “We’re now considered adults based on our age.”
The Coming of Age ceremony usually takes place the weekend before or around the official public holiday. Young people who turned 20 after April 2 of the previous year or 19-year-olds who will turn 20 before April 1 of the current year take part in the ceremony. Students traveled across Japan to go home for this occasion.
Akie presents a close up of her ornate hair and ‘furisode’ kimono.
Women usually go to a shop about a year in advance to be fitted for their “furisode” kimono with all of its intricacies. It’s similar to how women choose a wedding gown. It’s a chance to put your stamp of creativity and stand out in the sea of beauties. The family plays a large role and it’s not a cheap endeavor with kimonos costing in the thousands of dollars (many borrow or rent). Young women wake up early—about 6 a.m.—and go to a special salon that does hair and makeup. There is also someone who helps with fitting the furisode.
At around noon, students join their former junior high school classmates in a public hall for the ceremony. From what I understand, there are many speeches and formalities. Most of the men wear suits and a few wear the men’s version of the kimono, which is called a hakama.
Masaaki posing in his eye-catching hakama.
I taught Masaaki when he studied abroad in Oregon (he has now returned to Japan). His appearance stood out to me as he was one of the few who chose to rent a hakama for this day. He said three people had to help him dress in the kimono. “After I wore the kimono, I ate special lunch with my relatives gathered,” Masaaki said.
And after the ceremony? Students have a reunion with their classmates. And, then the parties! And rowdiness! “I had second and third parties. I enjoyed until next morning ‘cause we were legally able to drink alcohol!” Masaaki said.
Shuta (back row, third from left) and his friends celebrate becoming adults.
Shuta is a student at the university. He just turned 20 in October and he traveled two hours by plane to get to his hometown of Isahaya in Nagasaki Prefecture. He wore a suit for his ceremony and he said he didn’t have enough time to rent a kimono. In October, when some of the other students surprised him for his birthday in our class, he said a few words about the significance of 20 and how he must be a man now and take schoolwork and his future seriously.
But when I ask some of my students if they feel like an adult now that they have gone through the ceremony, most of them say not really. Are they ready to vote and form opinions and explore all of the fun and not-so-fun rites of adulthood? Maybe not. And that’s OK. There’s no hurry to grow up.
Saki (left) traveled to her hometown of Kitamoto for the ceremony and class reunion. She turned 20 in November 2014.
Robert and I love traditions. And we go all out. Instead of focusing on Christmas activities this year, we set our sights on Japanese New Year traditions. We were in luck because Japan is steeped in traditions and we were on a mission to try them all. Here is our journey into 2015, Year of the Sheep!
Decorations
Sometime in early December, we started noticing that our local grocery stores started to put up these odd displays. What do round plastic disks, mandarin oranges, bamboo, straw, rope and pine branches have in common? They are parts of a shrine or decoration that is put out in the home to honor the gods. First, the “kagami-mochi” is two round rice cakes, usually with a real or plastic mandarin orange on top. This is part of a shrine placed inside the home. I asked a student if you’re supposed to eat these rice cakes and I guess the answer is no!
Clockwise from left: Large kadomatsu by Tokyo International University; Shimekazari wreaths; Kagami-mochi with sheep
Next, “kadomatsu” is made of three, large bamboo sticks and pine branches and are put in the front of the house. These are to house the spirit until January 7; after which they are burned to release the spirit. Last, the “shimekazari” is a straw and rope decoration that is hung on the door to protect from evil spirits.
We did not put up any of these in our home, but it was fun to walk around our neighborhood and notice the varying ways our neighbors practiced this tradition.
Postcards
We also started noticing that while there were some Christmas card displays, they were largely outnumbered by stacks of postcards with 2015 and its Chinese zodiac sign, the sheep. “Nengajo” are cards you send to loved ones wishing them Happy New Year. We decided to send a handful to relatives and those who sent us a Christmas card. The Japanese Post works overtime to ensure that the cards are delivered on January 1.
Clockwise from upper-left: Our nengajo; tempura and sushi stamps; a selection of nengajo at the local store; our local mailman hard at work
The postcards have lottery numbers on them. The winners are announced in mid-January and include prizes like washers, dryers and TV sets. Maybe a Cascadian Abroad reader will be a winner?
New Year’s Eve Variety Show
New Year’s Eve (NYE) is called “omisoka,” which means the last day of the month. We started our NYE by watching a famous talent show, “Kōhaku Uta Gassen,” on a public broadcasting channel called NHK. It’s a great honor for entertainers to be invited to perform on this show. It’s similar to Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, or whatever the current iteration is.
The 65th Kohaku Uta Gassen on NHK
I thought the show was really entertaining. It’s a Who’s Who of Japanese actors and musicians. We spotted our favorite soap opera (the show is called “Massan”) actor, who happens to be an American. We saw some mascots like Funassyi and Jinbanyan (orange and white cat). We tried to avoid getting the Japanese version of “Let It Go” stuck in our head.
Soba Noodles
New Year’s soba and vegetable tempura in Kawagoe
After watching a little TV, we headed out to Kawagoe in search of a meal. “Toshikoshi soba” is a traditional meal eaten around midnight to ward off evil spirits before the New Year. We found a lovely restaurant that made its own buckwheat noodles near the shrine we were planning to visit. I’ve heard that sometimes the soba is one long noodle and sometimes it is in smaller pieces. We were given a little pot filled with the water the soba was cooked in to drink at the end of the meal. And hot tea and sake to warm up. Delicious! Oiishi!
First Temple Visit
“Hatsumode” is the year’s first visit to the shrine/temple. We thought about going to Tokyo, which has many large, famous shrines and temples. But with Tokyo NYE crowds projected in the millions, we thought it would be better to see what locals were up to!
Clockwise from left: Us at Kita-in; Daruma dolls for sale; nearby Senba Tōshō-gū Shrine
We walked to two local shrines, Naritasan Kawagoebetsuin and Kita-in, alternating our time between both. We stood in line at the former to ring the bell at midnight. The latter was bigger and had many festival food and vendors of good luck charms and “Daruma” dolls.
After midnight, the crowds started to multiply and line up to say the first prayer of the year.
Ringing the Bell
“Joya no Kane” are purification bells. If one listens to or rings the bell 108 times, evil desires may be destroyed. It can’t hurt, right? Shortly, before midnight we climbed the bell tower and each rung the bell. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences in Japan so far. We were the only white people and, while I was nervous that we would be thrown out as nonbelievers, no one seemed perturbed by us participating in their religious traditions.
A joint effort to ring in 2015 at Naka-in Temple. Photo credit to Minnesotan Lindsay.
Before midnight, we heard a group count down “shi, san, ni, ichi” (four, three, two, one) and a few “Happy New Year” exclamations in English. The main temple bells started to ring. It was a subdued, but happy reaction.
We ran into friends at another temple later in the morning and rang the bell again with them. Doubling the purification of our evil thoughts, perhaps?
Money Envelopes
It’s a custom to give children money as a present for the New Year, called “otoshidama.” Similar to the Chinese custom you may have heard of, children are given money in a small envelope that can be red or decorated with designs appealing to children.
I asked some of my college-aged students whether they would still receive money and the answer was a resounding, YES! As long as a “child” is enrolled in college, they still receive money from parents and relatives. Popular amounts for children range from about $10 to $50 and for teenagers, upwards to $100.
We have a handful of small children living in our apartment complex so we decided to give “otoshidama” a try. No harm in fostering good will with neighbors, right? We presented the children with their envelopes (our name is written on the back so they know who it is from). I think our neighbors were shocked and embarrassed, which is a normal reaction to anything we do.
Lucky Grab Bags
Fukubukuro from the bakery of the local grocery store
Otoshidama money can be saved for serious ventures or spent in stores promising New Year’s deals and grab bags called “fukubukuro.” Shopping is a popular Japanese hobby so we weren’t surprised by this tradition. And anything to jump start the economy, right? We decided to “grab” this bag in our local bakery filled with a cute blanket, a huge loaf of bread and some sweet breads. It was about $9.
Mochi Rice Cakes
“Zōni” is a traditional soup eaten for the New Year that has blocks of “mochi” rice cakes floating in it. We purchased a huge bag of mochi, which are small square blocks of rice flour. They are as hard as a brick and look like soap. We noticed long ago that our toaster oven has a mochi setting so in they went. You wouldn’t think so, but after a few minutes, they emerge as melty, chewy little cakes. They can also be cooked over a grill.
Mochi grilling in the middle of the festivities at Kita-in
These rice cakes are so popular in the New Year festivities that sometimes people choke on them. Every year, a warning is issued, especially to the elderly. Chew your mochi carefully, y’all. There’s nothing really to compare mochi to in the states. It’s like a gooey, melty block of carbs. Yum!
Oh, how fun. Thanks for a great New Year, Japan.
Cascadian Abroad :45—Omisoka
Watch the video below for footage from the NHK New Year’s special and the ringing of the bells at Naritasan Kawagoebetsuin.
Supeingo is “Spanish” in katakana, which is the set of Japanese characters for foreign words. To my untrained ear, it sounds like “spango.”
As a former Spanish teacher, I’m always on the lookout for Spanish words and phrases. A part of me is still in “I have to tell my students about this” mode. Even in Japan! I have found many examples of a Latin presence in this part of the world. A family registering with city hall. A young woman in Japanese class. Several of my students are Latino. I find these glimpses familiar, more so than overhearing Americans on a crowded street in Tokyo.
Last week, I had the chance to sit in on a beginning Spanish class at the university. I can’t remember whether I was invited, or (probably more likely) I invited myself. Several students mentioned taking Spanish class and I was intrigued at an opportunity to compare it to my own experience teaching.
I arrived with the two students. The seats were assigned, but a seat near them was open. While we waited for the professor, I asked one of the students why he decided to take Spanish, and after crowd sourcing for a bit, he came back with the answer that most of the students thought it was an easy class. Ha. I have heard that before.
The professor walked in to a class of about 30. My students introduced me in Japanese and she conversed with me for a bit in Spanish. That was probably the first time I communicated well with a Japanese person in a foreign language. Maybe some day that language will be Japanese. If she was feeling any emotion at my surprise sit in, she didn’t show it. I admit, I tried contacting her in advance but had no luck. What bad manners! But, here we were.
Going over subject pronouns in supeingo class
A flurry of conversation in Japanese. Understandably so as I taught my own students a foreign language in their native language.
The students were passed out a quiz. I grabbed one. It was on beginning vocabulary—teacher, student, etc.—and how to make nouns plural based on number and gender. Ah, this I knew! I was going to ace this quiz. Except for the Japanese prompts. Afterwards, she called on students to give answers and she wrote them on the board. Students corrected their own quiz.
The professor called on me to answer a question. I told her in Spanish that I couldn’t read Japanese but I thought the answer was x or y. My student leaned over and whispered that she told me I was wrong. She only wanted to hear x as the answer. How mortifying! That was a good lesson for me in how my current Japanese students probably feel. They might know the answer, but they have no idea what I’m asking.
After the quiz, students orally reported their score to the teacher. Again, I quietly asked my student about that. What’s to stop a student from calling out a higher score? He said, “She trusts us and we trust her.” This would never fly in the U.S. Also, again, interesting to me my own students’ reactions when I either ask them to grade a neighboring student’s paper or I just take the paper when the quiz is over. They may be used to grading their own and doing so honestly? What a concept.
More Japanese. A video on Toledo, Spain appeared. I was interested because I spent some time in Toledo in college. I could get the gist of the video because I knew the context. That was basically the theme of the class for me. Even though it was conducted in Japanese, I could understand what she was teaching. It actually helped me learn some Japanese vocabulary. It was a fun, brain teaser. My mind was fried by the end of the two hours.
I thanked the teacher as I left and we had a mini conversation about Toledo. I asked her if she had ever seen it in person and then proceeded to thank her/apologize for my presence.
The next day, we went to a Celebration of the Americas/Cinco de Mayo festival in Tokyo. Again, a lot of cross-lingual communication. I had fun talking to some of the food vendors asking them to describe what they were serving. There was food from Colombia, Peru and Spain. Not the most authentic in the world, but I’ll take what I can get!
At some point, a young Latina translated a Japanese menu into Spanish for me so that was exciting. Yes, exciting! I got a high out of feeling understood and an exchange where both parties communicated with each other!
I look forward to my next encounter with supeingo.
People have asked, Why did you move to Japan? Where are you? What are you doing?
We have been here for a month and I have taught for about a week, so I feel I can now answer such questions as a true expert. 😉
Why did we move to Japan?
From the beginning: Traveling has always been a passion of mine. I got the bug in college with month-long study abroad classes in Spain and Russia. I studied abroad for a semester in San Juan, Costa Rica. Robert and I have traveled to Mexico several times, exploring areas off the beaten path.
After I got my master’s in teaching, it was always my desire to teach abroad. But I was hired at a local school district and got swept up in a series of jobs teaching Spanish for four years. I wouldn’t change this experience for anything, mostly because of the relationships that I formed with my students. They are among my favorite people on Earth!
But, I felt like I hit the ceiling in my school district. I worked part-time and had been laid off twice previously. Year to year, there was no certainty. There was also a lack of professional development and leadership in my building.
So I reluctantly left teaching for a job as a trainer for the government, teaching adult abuse investigators throughout the state. This job paid twice as much as I made teaching. (Did I mention yet how underfunded public school educators are?) Again, I am happy that I was hired and I became proficient in the job. But still, this wasn’t the right fit for me. I applaud the people that I met who do this difficult work.
Lesson learned: high salary does not equal satisfaction. But, I have a master’s degree—couldn’t I have both salary and a position working with students?
In October, I heard about a few openings through a program at Willamette University that sends educators to a Japanese university to teach English. I had thought about applying for the position the previous year, but I was reluctant. After all, I didn’t speak Japanese and I knew nothing of the Far East.
Long story short, I took a leap of faith. I’ll never forget the phone call I got on November 30 informing me that I was hired. A chance to revisit a dream not yet forgotten!
What are you doing?
Before going to Japan, I started teaching in January at Tokyo International University of America (TIUA). TIUA is a part of Willamette University. Students from the university where I am teaching now in Japan come to Willamette to study abroad for a year.
Some of my students at TIUA. I’m in there somewhere!
At TIUA, I joined a cohort of other teachers that now has 10 members. We are the second group to be hired and we have signed contracts for two years. We join a group of 10 teachers who have already been in Japan for a year. The university is hiring four more teachers this September.
Teaching at Willamette was my first foray into the world of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). When my family came to the US, I was thrown (I think the technical term is “mainstreamed”) into public school long before there were English as a Second Language (ESL) programs so I know firsthand how difficult it can be to navigate the English language.
When I told people I was going to teach English, I think the response I got implied, “oh, just English? I know so-and-so who taught English in such and such. It was easy.” Um, no. I think most Americans (and all people really, no matter the country of origin) are ethnocentric and think their native language is easy and don’t know the difficulties learning a foreign language past taking Spanish for two years in high school umpteen years ago. More about this in a later post.
In late March, Robert and I moved to Japan and I now teach at Tokyo International University (TIU), a private university in Kawagoe, Japan. My position is called Global Teaching Fellow (GTF) in the School of Language Communication, Department of English Communication.
The GTFs on an advertisement on the train from Kawagoe. I am on the top row, second to last.
I teach six classes and their names are extensive, but mostly they focus on the following skills: reading, writing, speaking and/or listening in English. The students are divided into sections based on their TOEIC score. The TOEIC and the TOEFL are tests that measure students’ English proficiency, each with a slightly different focus.
I am teaching sections 5 and 12 of the freshman classes and 4 and 8 of the sophomores; a mix of beginner and intermediate students (well, mostly beginners—more on that later!). My class sizes are between nine to 12 students each. I have a total of 41 students. A huge feat considering I’d have these kinds of numbers in just one class in public school.
My weekly schedule
I work from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. most days and usually some preparation on Sunday. I have never had six “preps” before (six separate classes to lesson plan for) so this has been a huge lesson for me in staying organized. It is hectic most days, but I like staying busy and productive. I teach on the fifth floor of our building (our offices and the English Plaza are on the second floor). I am also very happy and thankful to be in the same classroom for all of my classes.
My classroom
In my schedule, I have weekly time assignments in the English Lounge. This is a modern, newly renovated area on our floor where students come and practice using English. They can play games, order coffee, check out books, etc.
Oregon Cafe and English Plaza
For speaking class, students are required to sign up for 10 sessions in the English Plaza per semester. I check to see which students have signed up to speak with me and then we have conversations on topics ranging from their hobbies, travel time on the train (most students commute between 30 minutes to two hours one way to school) and their favorite member of One Direction or J-pop (Japanese pop music) artist.
Where are you?
We live in Kawagoe, Japan. It’s about 30 minutes train ride north from Tokyo. The prefecture (district/county) is Saitama. Kawagoe is the Sister City of Salem, Oregon. I have about a 15-20 minute walk to work. I love my commute. I don’t miss our 90-minute daily commute at all! I think we live in the perfect location. Close enough, but far away enough from both work and Tokyo.
Kawagoe is a college town. There are advertisements for the university on most of the trains, including one with all of our pictures. The GTF program is under the Global Teaching Institute, which also includes the TIUA study abroad program at Willamette University.
Moving here has been difficult and quite a roller coaster. But I am excited to have the chance to teach again—in a university setting no less!
Please let me know if you have any questions and I’ll be sure to address it in a future post.
