Day 80 in Japan - Fish, milk and vegemite

Today I taught a few 40 people classes at Akashi Kita, and it was a totally different vibe to the normal  - the boys were showing off for the girls waaay more than normal, everyone was excited that this lesson was different, and there were 3 teachers in the room at once. It was a loud and fun lesson. It's weird seeing the experienced teachers different teaching styles coming together in a class - each of my classes have different personalities based on the way the teachers handle the students, and the big combined classes are like the weird cooking experiments that Sam sometimes conducts - putting together two things that I would never have thought to combine, and seeing if what results worked or if we are going to eat toast for dinner. Somehwere along the line I think I mixed up my metaphor too much there.

Speech contest practise - I am so proud of my two girls from Akashi Kita! They have practised so hard, and now have their whole speeches memorised. They are starting to put intonation and correct pauses into their 5 minute long speeches, and I am really amazed at how well they perform them. I don't think that there is any way that I would be able to remember that much text in English, let alone in a second language. They are wonderful and clever, and I am really impressed by them.

The view from the ESS room after school - that's the brass band who have
walked up to the hill above the school, and spaced themselves perfectly along
the lake to practise their instruments. 

Speaking of cooking experiments (as I did earlier), I tried to recreate a favourite meal of ours tonight for dinner with the fairly meagre contents of our kitchen. I made tuna mornay with no chicken stock or parsley, so to flavour the meal, I put in vegemite, magic salt (MSG, fake veggie chunks and salt), salt, pepper, other bits and pieces. It turned out surprisingly well. It's amazing that the odd combinations of flavours that we sometimes have to come up with when we need to substitute ingredient either don't affect the taste of foods too  much, or sometimes improve the flavour a little. Although I don't think I'll get into the habit of swapping out chicken stock for vegemite any time soon...

Today's experiment... success!

After the successful experiment, and a little gloating, I went for a jog again tonight. While it's definitely easier now that it's not as hot, I find it difficult to time getting in some exercise now that it gets dark earlier. If I go before dinner, then dinner rarely happens, but if I eat first my stomach hurts and feels sick. Can't win. Tonight's jog was a big loop around the area, and I found new roads that I didn't know existed again. It's nice to know that there is still so much detail in the area to explore.

Food Highlight of the Day: Delicately vegemite-flavoured tuna mornay a la Brianna.