The Fam stays in Kobe for the work week

  Kobe, Japan
Monday, March 17, 2008

KOBE (March 17-19th)

firing up our kobe beef

With the Japanese school year wrapping up this week, I had to go into school Monday- Wednesday to teach my final classes. I arranged for volunteer guides to take the family around while I was at work.

dining for kobe beef

On their first day they trucked around Kobe, exploring the harbor, Chinatown, and the cable cars up the mountain. I met them that night and we had a taste of Kobe beef- complete with digestive tablets for dessert (never seen that back in Wisconsin...)

romantic photo shoot

Day two involved a trip to the Earthquake museum and then a visit to a local farm out in the country. Mom and Dad were pretty amazed with the automatic milking system, and astounded by the 7+ dollar liters of milk. That evening we met up after I finished work, and we went to explore the harbor at night.

a stick too few?

We went inside Kobe Tower, much to mom's delight, and visited a fryery (kushi-katsu in Japanese) where we picked out random meats and vegetables, coated them in batter, and fried them up in the huge vat on our table. Dad and Alana were pretty scared by the smell when they entered the restaurant, but they ended up thoroughly enjoying the experience.

posing with class

On the 3rd day Mom and Dad went off to explore Himeji Castle in the rain, and Alana came with me to school. The vice principal introduced her as my "younger" sister in the morning staff room, and all the teachers gasped in surprise. We watched one of my JTEs teach a class, where the students just happened to be singing THRILLER as their warm up. Next she was put to work hanging up endless travel posters that my 2nd year students had made.

alana loves cow tongue

Then she helped me to team-teach my final class at the school, which involved playing a game about the United States. Alana informed me that I have an accent when I teach my students, (When I teach class, I have to speak in really clear and concise English) which made me realize not that I teach with an accent- but that I have an accent when I speak normally. I've spent the past year trying to deny the fact that I have an accent, but if I'm speaking differently when I teach my students- perhaps the Midwestern dialect isn't as straightforward and clear as I'd like to believe. Wednesday night for dinner we went out for yakiniku (meat on a grill.) This was one of my family's favorite foods in Japan.