Getting warmer

Last weekend I climbed the local mountain, Hinoyama, and took a few pictures of the view.





I also made a brief shopping trip to Kokura
Kokura Castle. What you can't see here is that right now it's having renovations and looks really horrible with netting hanging all over it. I hope they have it back to normal come cherry blossom time!

and I bought this:
It has been inspiring me to try lots of new recipes this week.

This is vegan imitation eel, made from wakame (kelp-type seaweed), yuba (tofu curd), and shitake mushrooms wrapped in nori and grilled.
The finished product with enoki mushrooms and carrots over rice:



Spring Changes:
I found out that with the start of the new school year (which begins in April) I will be swapping one of my junior high schools with another one. I was both happy and sad to hear this because the school I'm getting will be closer to my apartment than any of my other schools, within easy walking distance, but the school I'll be leaving has really nice students who can be crazy at times but are really eager to practice their English and are not at all shy. And though it's one of my longest commutes, the bus ride has really nice views of Kamon Strait with the sun rising over it in the morning (and the commute to all my other schools is mostly yucky urbanness with lots of wires everywhere). The change in schools is very typical of the Japanese school system; teachers (as well as office workers) are always changing jobs this time of year. I found out about this change about 3 weeks ago, which is much more warning than most of the teachers get about changing schools or changing the grade they teach. Most of them find out only 2 weeks or so beforehand if they will be transferred to another school, and what grade they will be teaching. This must be pretty stressful when you are wanting to prepare your lesson plans for the coming year, but I guess it also keeps anyone from getting bored or frustrated from having the same position too long. I remember being really shocked last year to come back to my BOE after being away over Spring Vacation to find half the members of my office gone and replaced by new people!


Kamon Wharf