Fighting the study abroad weight gain

Ask anyone who has gone travelling or studied abroad for any length of time and I bet they'd confirm they put on weight. Well, moreso for women perhaps, as a lot of the male exchange students here complain about losing weight (no gym and lack of cooking skills perhaps?). I put on a fair few kilo's on my first exchange here in 2009, which surprises many as Japanese food is seen as very pure, fresh and healthy. This is true for traditional Japanese cuisine, but western-style Japanese food is another story altogether!

Right now I am sitting in front a TV program all about Japanese bread. The two hosts have gone from store to store in downtown Osaka showcasing the ever popular deep fried curry pockets, bean jam filled hotdog buns, and strawberry and creme sandwiches. I am faced with the aroma of hot custard filled scrolls and chocolate crossaints every day on my walk to uni from the train station. Did I mention on averyage such 'breads' as they call all baked goods are only 150yen ($2)!

The Japanese would also have to be the biggest "souvenir" giving people in the world! I witness this most through my host mother, who is given 'Thank you' gifts such as boxes of gourmet chocolate chips, mini caramel puddings or slices of deep fried pork from her students parents and neighbourhood friends who have either just come back from a trip away, or are giving the gift in return for a gift they received from her! She spent a lot of our recent trip to Hokkaido writing lists of who she had to get souvenirs for and then trying to fit them in our suitcases. The following photo is a classic! After we had managed to fit everything in our suitcases, Mama then proceeded to buy the few remaining this at the airport! Yes all the bags are ours.

These souvenirs are all local sweets and savories. Therefore it is VERY hard to avoid being offered snacks and treats almost everyday here. Even if I am not being offered as such, I face the internal battle of saying no to what we have laying around the house! As a result I came back from Australia last month prepared. I brought back with me packets of Chia seeds, LSA meal, rye mountain bread and other bits and pieces. While this isn't going to make the snacks disappear, being organised like this in my breakfast and lunch options, keeps me motivated to stay good and clean for the rest of the day! Here is what I've been enjoying lately:

My new favourite breaky! Scott would fall over if I asked him to try it haha.
Yoghurt, LSA meal, chia seeds, cinnamon...and whatever tickles my fancey that day. Today was baked apple and a little aussie Capilano honey!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this lunch:
Japanese omlette with a bit of cottage cheese and tuscan spices on a bed of greens (lettuce, rocket or spinach), with tahini sauce and some quince paste in rye mountain bread. So filling and makes me smile:)

Peanut butter and sultana carrot sticks

Couldn't get this image to rotate but this is a standard dinner in this household:
 Grilled fish, greens and a soupy dish (this one was cabbage with tofu cakes). (oh I usually skip the white rice cos it just leads to me eating more white rice..and then some more:P)

Tonight we are having my all time favourite dinner here which is the Japnese Hot-Pot! Photos to come.

Back on the blogging horse

OK I'm back. I don't know exactly what had me away for so long as I was really enjoying it, but have a few ideas. I think blogging must be a form of escape and pleasure during my study-intense uni weeks. Only with assessment and mock exam questions piling up, do I get the desire to browse through my favourite blogs, which in return motivates me to write something of my own.

The past two months have been summer holiday in Japan so no class work (and I seemed to just forget the fact that I still have my JLPT exam in December). I spent three weeks in Australia visiting my boyfriend, friends and family, which gave me new found motivation for getting back into the last five months of my time in Japan. Then Dad, Jill and brother Dom were here for a week and we hiked a little through Nagano and Gifu Prefectures, as well as seeing the best of Osaka city life.

Water fall on one of the 9km hikes. The other hikers were pretty surprised!

Then having two whole months pass without a post, nothing seemed worthy enough of being THE comeback post haha. Everything seemed too random and out of the blue. Then on my jog today (post to come) I figured I just needed to get straight back into it as I do enjoy it and for now it is for me. It doesn't matter that I don't have strong 'blogging goals' and 'intended audiences' but that this is a good way for me to feel balanced and connected while living in another family's home in another hemisphere.

Host mum on our holiday trip to Hokkaido

So get keen for some snippets of my time in Japan (whoever you are). I'm getting big on study, exercise and healthy eating, and hope to check out a few more kooky and cool places around town in these last ... FOUR months!

English for kids

Today was hot and humid so I wasn't really keen for too much dancing and jumping around in today's english conversation class. My six adorable students also seemed a little flat...

SO WE MADE BISCUITS FACES!!!!!

And ofcourse to make this seem appropriate to the paying parents it was all in the english vocab we had learnt so far :)

So if they wanted a different coloured icing sugar they would say, for example, "yellow please".

They named the parts of the face as they were making them..."eyes", "ears" etc.

We made "angry" faces and "happy" faces.

While making the faces we sang "The months of the year" and the "What do you want to drink?" song...

I often had to raise my voice with "sit down please!" or "stop hitting her!" haha

This bright girl learnt to say "Can I make one more please?" as she was super speedy!!!

All in all it went really well...I might always allocate the last half of class to some kind of fun activity like this. While flashcards, board games, and 'Simon says' is fun and teaches them a lot, due to the energy shortage after the fukushima tsunami, this summer is gonna be a shocker! Any ideas for a cool, relaxing activity for kids? Fruit kebabs!

The last eel dinner

My hostmother came home this week with a big batch of glazed eel dramatically announcing it will  be the last eel we ever eat as export from the US is tightens.

A popular article in the national newspaper 'Asahi Shimbun' stated, "Following Europe's lead, the United States is moving toward regulating the international trade of eel under the Washington Convention, which is aimed at protecting endangered species". Also claiming that the Japanese are responsible for up to 70% of the worlds eel consumption. See full article here.

That morning on all the morning tv shows, tv hosts were eating eel in all sorts of ways, celebrating the soon to disappear big part of Japanese culture.

Mama prepared a lovely eel on rice dish for the family Sunday night while papa was home. Served with miso soup and egg tofu. Eel is a little too oily and strong tasting for me, but I savoured every moment:)

The below photo is not the result from Sunday's dinner, but I thought I should share what Mama must put up with when our fun happy family BBQ's end. Well, they finish for Papa and the boys at forks down...can't say the same for mama:p



Discover Osaka- Bar for cheap drinks

 Welcome to Shinsaibashi. The downtown shopping, clubbing, and bar hub of Osaka.

I must admit I do not have much experience with this area but every time I visit, I swear to myself that I have to get out here and discover more, more often! Last night a visiting mate from Australia and I went searching for a few popular 'gaijin bars' (gaijin=foreigner, so basically Brittish or Irish pubs etc where all the expats go to play). The atmosphere is always a lot more casual, and friendly, and not as creepy as the bars aimed at the Japanese (more like hostess bars for the exhausted business men). This is one we came across:

WHAT: Bar Moonwalk

Like many places, it is a chain bar found in a few locations around Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. http://www.barmoonwalk.jp/index.html

WHERE: Osaka Centre Building 2F, West Shinsaibashi.

(Hidden behind a very plain dark wooden door, no windows <<and the only sign was this, hanging off to the side)

COST: Very cheap. All drinks 210yen (inc sneaky tax). Repeat: ALL DRINKS 210yen!! There is also a table charge of 420yen, but after a few drinks you well and truly make up for that as one drink from most other places start at 400yen at happy hour!

ATMOSPHERE: We got a bit of a shock when we walked in at how the dead the place was, with just a group of three french guys sitting at the bar. But it was only 8.30pm! So no judgements made. The tiny bar felt cozy and was decorated to look like some kind of european pub. Seating options were the bar, high tables for two, and a set of couches.

Bad lighting, apologies.



DRINK: OMG the drinks menu was amazing! It ranged from your typical cosmopolitans, sex on the beach, japanese slipper etc, to lychee yoghurt vodka, and choc mint milks. Each drink took me WAY to long to choose but i eventually decided on:



1. CHINA BLUE - Grapefruit juice, Lychee liquor, and

Blue Curacao liquor.  It was light and refreshing.



2. Salty Dog - Vodka and grapefruit juice served in a glass with a salty rim. A lot more simple than the first one obviously, and the salt was too much for me, but now I know!



3. Jungle Fantasy. Not entirely sure, but it was a banana, yoghurt cocktail of some sort. 

I was afraid the yoghurt would be a bad mix after all the previous drinks,

but it was actually very light and tangy. I would get this one again!



VERDICT: While it was dark and quiet, I still rate this place high due to the price and variety in drinks. Matt and I had fun drinking and chatting, so I can imagine it being really great with a group of friends. And again, it was early and I am sure would have picked up like I hear it does after 11.30, or moreso on a Saturday night.

Speaking of time! I had checked that my last train was 12:13am but for some unknown reason it had already stopped by the time I got there at 11.40. People were running through the station, so I assumed everyone too was needing to find an alternative route home, an option which was also reaching its expiry. I hassled a few train staff to tell me where I needed to go to get home, who told me to run for platform two, get off at the next stop, run for a different station, get a train to the city and then change to my local one which I may also have to run for. This was ridiculous. I was scared. If too slow, I would have to find somewhere to stay the night in the city (Internet cafes: an amazing option I will explain in a future post!).

My amazing host mum picked me up at the local station (my host sister also happened to be on the same train!) and I was in bed by 1.30. Today: ASSIGNMENTS!!!!

ROOFTOP LOVE

Another rooftop BBQ here in Japan with the hostfamily. This really is what summer is about for this family. Great food, wine, silly photos and just kicking back and relaxing before the start of another crazy week!

I made chicken meatballs!

500g minced chicken
1 egg

1 crushed garlic clove

half small diced capsicum
parsley
handful of corn kernels
half cup fresh bread crumbs
salt & pepper to taste
(pretty much anything in the fridge I thought I could get away with)

rolled in dried bread crumbs and fried in a little oil.

We were all given these huge pork and herb sausages..
Delicious, but I snuck half back to the serving dish (holding off for the cake)

Often in Japan the 'birthday cake' is an assortment of small cakes. They always look so fancy.



"Happy Birthday Hiroka"



I'm still here!

This is just a post to get my toes back in the blogging world again. It has been two weeks!
I've been super busy with uni, sleepovers at new friend's places and working on assignments into the night...oh and watching episodes of Offspring and Sex & the City (don't ask how they found a way into my "super busy" schedule..:P).

Last night was a roof top BBQ of a friend, Lisa, who is an English teacher at the highschool I did exchange at back in '09. It was so great mingling with a bunch of expats from Switzerland, Canada and the US, hearing their stories on what living as a foreigner in Japan for 20+ years is like.

Lisa's has a lot of japanese friends over too who I really enjoyed having slighty drunken japanese coversations with! (A robust and jolly American woman had us all on Margeritas!).

Some photos from early into the evening.



This lady is head of communications at a french pharmaceutical company. I had a lot to ask her:)



BBQs slightly smaller than Aussie ones...;)

Japanese style summer pj's i believe.