Today was the first real "teaching" experience I have had so far. And totally unsurprisingly, I stuffed it up a little, but still had a really great time. I was pretty unprepared for getting up and going first to get all the students talking, and trying to run activities that someone else wrote made it all a bit awkward. Ah well, next time will be a bit better. After I was done with my bit, I could get to the business of enjoying the rest of the day, and I have to admit that it was lame but totally fun to play all the little games and do the activities that the other had prepared. We did Pub Quizzes, made commercials for random props, played Jeopardy and even had an auction in English (which was very convincingly MC'd by a Canadian). My English teacher supervisor bought me what she very sweetly thought was a Western-style lunch - sandwiches and a hotdog. Pretty funny stuff, when everyone else there had their beautiful bento boxes. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for the whole thing, so I have no permanent records of Rob dressing up as a lady (once wasn't enough, so he came back for a second crack).
I took some photos to show off our local supermarket. Max Valu (pronounced Mackusu Baroo) is just around the corner from us - a 1 minute walk, I think. We are really lucky to be so close to a reasonably cheap place to buy food, because with no mode of transport other than bicycles and feet, shopping could get pretty difficult if we had to trundle a long way.
But thankfully, you can see the giant pink signs above almost from our house. They have a bakery right inside the front door (the first time I walked in was the exact moment I'd be fine for a year in Japan), heaps of OK-priced meats, pre-prepared fried foods (karaage, tempura stuff), sushi and salads, veggies that are decently-priced and expensive fruit. And alcohol like you wouldn't believe! There are three aisles of the supermarket devoted entirely to beers, wines, pre-mixed drinks, shochu (whole aisle alone), sakes, and whiskeys. 
The prices are from about 120 yen (AUD$1.50) for a 375 mL can of beer, up to about 4000 yen (AUD$55) for a large bottle of whiskey. And by large, I do mean large. 4 L large, as pictured! You can get the same size of shochu for a bit less (it has lower % alcohol), and a new liver is about 500,000 yen. There are plenty of interesting Japanese snacks that you can eat with your alcohol as well. Sam and I haven't tried them yet, but "Nuts and Fish" sounds so delicious that I don't know how much longer I'll be able to resist.
When you are done loading up your funny cart trolley, you take everything to the checkout, where the attendant person scans everything and talks constantly to you while you look bewildered until they eventually give you the final price. I think they say the name of everything they scan as they are scanning it, and maybe the price or any specials or something, but for all I know they may be saying horrible things about my Mum or reciting Japanese poetry. I actually really enjoy it now, but I was a bit scared that I had some role in the process at first. Now I know that I can just sit back and enjoy the ride, I like the running commentary and even catch a few words here and there (which are rarely insulting to you, Mum). When you give them the money, they stick it in a machine that does all the change automatically for you, which they then count out in a really careful, practised way for you, then give you your own plastic bags and you move to the side to bag up your groceries.
Generally, the aftermath tends to be Sam and I getting home and going "Wait, we bought WHAT now?", but that's all part of the beauty of the supermarket. We probably shop here at least once every 2-3 days, because we have no real food storage area in our house, and because it's still new and exciting for us to see face masks and miso paste, and to marvel over how much a perfect peach costs.
Food Highlight of the Day: Cold soba noodles - I really like soba and I love eating things cold, so the cold summer that you can eat in summer here is great for me. "Soba" are thin buckwheat noodles, which you can buy pre-prepared with a dipping sauce (no idea whats in it - soy-based stuff that you put wasabi and spring onions in) to make everything more delicious.
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