Aqua karate is for old ladies....

...old ladies who are ninjas!

So here's the scoop. Katie and I have been trying to go to the aqua karate class at our gym for about a month now. Several things have stood in our way: public holidays, notices written in japanese and, well, crapness. Tonight was the night though, so down we trotted and were even on time. Katie had mentioned that she'd seen a load of retired women walking up and down a swimming lane about the time of said class. Could that perchance be the karate? Maybe, but where were the high kicking ninja antics we'd been imagining? There must be another class.

It became apparent after we were joined in the designated lane by no less than six over sixtys that not only was this the right class, but we were probably engaging in something strictly reserved for the old or infirm. Much walking up and down of the lanes followed, with punching, kicking etc etc, and to begin with I thought it was all a bit half arsed. It was only during the first of my triple punch/kick combos that it dawned on me that I was frickin knackered, and moreover, the ninja grandmas were not. The class ended quickly and before we knew what was happening we appeared to have started another class involving long tubular floats and a lot of balancing (or, in my case, not). Before we knew it the instructor had changed and we were being given dumbells that you fill up with water for added resistence. More walking and shennanigans with said dumbells. Then instructor guy (who had been cracking us up with his efforts give the instructions in English, despite our assurances that nihongo was fine and good for us) says "three minute break and then massage". We crack up. They crack up. Everyone cracks up. These guys are well funny! Three minutes later, it became evident that massage is in fact a very real part of water aerobics here...

The moral of the story? Don't cuss out the old dears walking lengths of the swimming pool, they're hard as nails.

Don't worry its solar powered...

Had two of my favourite students this afternoon and as they're both chatty and up for a laugh and as I'd spent a good part of last night watching Lost (love it, love it) I decided to focus a lesson on the 'if you were stranded on a desert island' dilemma. After a little while of the 'what ifs' and the 'maybes' I shifted gear to the question, "if you could take five things to a desert island, what would you take?".

A few moments of comtemplative silence followed. Cue student A: "I'd take a digital camera". Why? "Because I can take loads of photos and when I get rescued I can open a gallery in New York". Very entrepeneurial. But, I point out, what happens when the batteries run out, and more to the point, how are you going to print the photos? Good point. A few more moments of silence. "I'd have sun energy". What, I ask, you mean solar power? "Yes, Yes! Solar Power!". I'll let this one go, I think and swiftly ask student B. Student B has upto now been deep in thought. Cue lightbulb above head. "I'd take a rice cooker". A rice cooker? But how will you plug it in? A huge grin "Solar Power!". Don't you need rice for a rice cooker? No problem, it seems that rice plants are easily grown. D'oh.

I can only conclude that my students have no shortage of imagination but would certainly suffer greatly from a technology shortage if ever stranded on the preverbial island.

I know i'm slack, but my attention was on the sushi...

So, i think we can all conclude that my consistency at posting on this blog is not particularly great and indeed shows a rather worrying level of commitment. Reprimand over.

If you want to catch up on some cultural craziness and translation quirks, I'm sure you've checked out Jon's website. If you haven't, you should. It's better than mine...

Right then. I've spent a happy couple of weeks settling into work, being overwhelmed and simultaneously very excited by the strangeness of everything Japanese and other stuff. Now I have my gym membership, a Japanese teacher and shampoo that tames my frizzy mop I'm happy to wax lyrical a little. So I will.

I've been having a great time pottering about trying to make food. Best sushi eff-fah (said in welsh accent to highlight this fact) on Friday. If you're so inclined, here's what you do:

Cook a cup of Japanese short grain rice (weight when uncooked) - it's gotta be Japanese, otherwise its not glutenous enough and will be, quite frankly, shit. When its done leave it to cool and add about half a cup of sushi dressing which you make thus: a cup of sushi vinegar, 2 tbsp caster sugar and 2tbsp mirin. Heat it until the sugar dissolves and let it cool. Fold in the dressing to the rice and leave it until its warm/cool-ish. Lovely. Then get your nori sheets and rolling mat. For the innards I used prawns (sauteed in ginger), a rockety-mizuna-y leaf that i've yet to identify, some shiso leaves (seem to be a cross between mint and basil and shaped like stinging nettles) and some wasabi. Keep a tap running your fingers wet and spread a thin layer of rice over 4/5 of the nori. Put a very thin line of wasabi 1/3 of the way up. Then put a few ro-zuna (?) leaves, shredded shiso and chopped up prawn. Roll it tightly and seal the edges with a bit of water. Chop into 8 pieces with a sharp knife (run it under water in between slices to stop it sticking. Job's a goodun'.