Time flies when you're lazy

Merry Christmas to all of you in Canada. Hope your day is going well and that Santa brought you everything you wanted. Christmas is a little different here. It's more of a lovers day, somewhat like Valentines Day. They still decorate and play the music in the shopping malls, but no one gets the day off and most children think Santa is a merchandising mascot. Most people don't even know the purpose of celebrating Christmas, in fact I saw the greatest of all Christmas decorations gone wrong just the other day in a department store. They had a large Santa Clause nailed to a cross, big smile on his face and a sign reading Happy Merry Christmas. Yikes!

I thought there had been a lot of time between my last two posts, but when people start asking if you're still alive, I guess it's time to update. We are indeed still alive. And the reason it's been so long since the last post has nothing to do with the fact that we haven't been doing anything. It does however have everything to do with the fact that I am lazy and kept putting off organizing and uploading all of our photos. I realize that it is possible to post a blog without new photos, but I always feel like I am cheating you out of sharing the view. We have actually done several things in the last three months but I will not dump them on you all at the same time. That would require an hour of reading and viewing at the computer and quite frankly it's Christmas season and no one has the time or patience for that.

Lets start with October. A couple of weeks before Halloween, in honour of Colleen's big 3-0, we decided to take our first trip to Kobe. It's only about 30 minutes from the apartment by train, but so are many cities around here. Kobe is well known for many things, some of which are edible, others are just for looking at. Here is a short breakdown.

Kobe pudding: A slightly expensive dessert, that can be purchased in many shops in Kobe and in other cities, but always with the label "Kobe Pudding". To an experienced baker like me it is simply Creme Caramel.

Kobe beef: If you thought steak was expensive where you live you haven't seen this beef. A few thin (3-4mm) strips of this very fatty, heavily marbled beef at your average grocery store will set you back about $30 Canadian. Rumor has it that the cows are beer fed and massaged to produce the tenderest, most flavorful beef money can buy. Makes me wish I was a Kobe cow.

Chinatown: Kobe has one of the biggest Chinatowns in Japan. I am not well versed in the Chinese districts in other areas of Japan so I am not sure whether this fact is valid. I only go on rumor and heresy. We saw it. It's big.

Kobe Earthquake Museum: Not so much a museum as an outdoor display of photos and facts about the enormous earthquake that struck the area in 1995, crippling the harbor area and destroying many buildings and overpasses. It was one of the biggest on record. I think. They have kept some of the damaged area intact so visitors can look at it and go "Holy crap!".

There are many other things to see and eat in Kobe but the weather was lousy the day we went so our outdoor time was limited. We have been back a couple of times since the first trip but didn't take any more photos, seeing as one trip was a repeat of what we had already done and seen, but with my parents (read all about it in an upcoming blog). The other trip was a visit to Costco. Yes that's right. Costco in Japan. I was already feeling closer to home on that trip seeing as Kobe is a more westernized city and many people comment on how, in some areas, in resembles Toronto. When we walked into Costco? I was home. Almost everything was in English, the products were all American, and in glorious jumbo sizes. The prices weren't too bad either and the jumbo Costco muffins brought a little tear of familiarity to my eye. Also in true Costco fashion, every ten steps there was food to be sampled. Yeehaw! Or as they say in Japan "Godzilla!"

Anyhow that's enough for this week, if you want to check out all of our Kobe pics click here. Stay tuned for the New Years edition of the blog where I will extol the virtues of our 4 day trip to the sub-tropical island of Okinawa.

Until then Happy Holidays! Love Carl.

Oh yeah one more thing, here's a picture of my private students with all of the swag my parents brought for them from Canada. I present to you Koyuki, Kento and Ryo.