Reflections on conference travel to Tokyo

I just made a very short conference trip to Tokyo - well, technically speaking I still am in Tokyo as I am writing on 'Narita Express' train, but will be uploading this when I am back in the States. So before I forget, I just want to write down some of the things that happened during the trip.

First, about flying on the day before Thanksgiving Day. I flew to Detroit (short flight arriving around noon on Wednesday) and then to Narita (long flight arriving around 4pm on Thursday). The flight to Detroit was full of joy - most of the people on the plane were headed home for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a huuuge family day in the States, and flying the day before almost automatically means they're going home. I sensed even the pilot might be - he was soooo hyper, and he announced "Happy Turkey Day!" three times in the less-than-two-hours flight. It was really full of joy and anticipation. In comparison, the flight from Detroit to Narita was gloomy. The flight was then to continue to Beijing, China, so the passengers were bound to Japan, China, or somewhere else connecting in Tokyo. There was no mension of Thanksgiving on the announcement, and the flight attendants seem to be rather detached and routine-like - I thought it was the sacrifice they made that made that atmosphere - they were working on the plane right at the time their family were getting together for Thanksgiving Dinner.. poor thing. Thanksgiving really is a big family day - like New Year's Day in Japan.

Second, about the utility of the Internet. This time the location of the conference didn't seem to be very convenient from where I stayed - the nearest station is on a different line, and so it involved two transits. Then the day before I left I was surfing on the web and found there was a bus connecting the site and the station on the train line! Yes!! I don't need the two transits, it'd even cost less, and the bus stop is right in front of the conference site! There was another incident when I was coming back this morning. I was planning on connecting from Shinkansen (the bullet train) to Narita Express in Tokyo, and then my dad told me that he had heard that the transfer at Tokyo station was rather far - Shinkansen and Narita Express were the farthest ends of the Tokyo station requiring 'standard' person's 14 minutes walk. I asked my family what a standard person is like and my brother sarcastically said it'd be a person with standard age and standard sex and standardly able ;-] Well, I had a large suitcase, one medium-sized but heavy bag, and a backpack with a laptop and didn't feel I could walk as fast as a standard person, whatever that is. The internet is the place to go ... I keyword searched "Shinkansen to Narita Express transfer Tokyo Station" and the reputation was right. And then it was recommended that people change at Shinagawa Station as the station is smaller and the transfer is not too far. Immediately I searched for Shinagawa connections, made notes, and headed to the station with my dad's help with the luggage. Successfully changed tickets to Shinagawa transit, and the transit was not too bad (even though the security guards I asked the direction for guided me in an opposite direction! Darn it!). It had to be fine - I still had time to buy a lunchbox. Viva Internet :-D

Third, about the presentation. It was a co-presentation of a case study of implementing new approach of teaching. I was one of the three presenters, and although we had communicated via emails, we couldn't sit and talk until the day of the presentation. The 30 minutes before the presentation was worth many hours. We ran through and then rushed to the room we were to present. And to our happy surprise and excitement, there were a crowd (am I exaggerating? maybe? but at least 10 people) around the door waiting to get into the room. The room we were assigned to had a capacity of 20, and there were people standing at the back and even outside the door!! The presentation was too short to discuss theoretical or problematic issues, but I was glad that it reached the kind of crowd we wanted to reach.

Lastly, meeting friends and family. Especially a lot of classmates from my former institution where I did my master's. Some people had not been in contact for two years or more, and it was fantastic to get to talk to them again and learn what they were doing now. Some were pursuing doctorate degrees at various institutions, others were working at various places. New environments, new challenges, new discoveries, and new hopes. Listening to other people's life stories was inspiring. I was so proud of all my people I studied together - they're my asset. I really have to make extra efforts to keep in touch.

Well, so many things in less than a week. Also I still don't know what time zone my body thinks it lives in. I wake up at interesting time every day, but I am still totally functional during the day with help of coffee, so I guess I might be accumulating fatigue deeper inside my body. I was told that I am to sleep on the flight to the east and to keep awake on the flight to the west to avoid as much effect of jetlag as possible. So I had coffee and soda with caffaine to stay awake most of my flight to Japan (13 hours), and that wasn't too difficult as it was the middle of the semester and I had lots to do for school like listening to the tapes (recordings of classroom for course project data) and reading articles I'm writing a course paper on, as well as watching movies (latter half of 'Underdog' and a whole of 'Hairspray' - I liked both of them a lot). I don't know if the strategy worked. While in Japan I woke up at 1am and 4am nevertheless. The flight back is to the east, so I should sleep according to the teaching, but I'm not sure if I should really do that. Maybe I'll just stay up and do all the work, and when I'm home I'll just go to sleep. I guess once I'm home and sleep well I'll be fine... 5 minutes to the airport now. I'll start packing up then!

First snow of the season

前から、天気予報では雪がちらつくかも、というのを何度か言ってて
一度も降らなかったので信用していなかったのですが・・・
降りました。今朝は。ほんとうに。

昨日の天気予報で、今朝早くから午前中は雪がちらつくかも、
でも積もるほどではなく、昼まで寝ていたら雪が降ったことも
分からないくらいでしょう、と言ってたんです。

今朝私が７時前に起きたときも雪の気配はなかったのですが
７時すぎたらパラパラと降り始めたんですね。
テラスがうっすら白くなっていると思ったら雪が舞ってました。
７時半ごろには雪の勢いがまして、粒もだんだん大きくなって。
私が７時４５分過ぎに家を出る頃にはちゃんと降ってました。

防水のダウンコートのフードの下にニット帽を着込んで
歩いている分にはぜんぜん寒くなかったんだけど、
バス停で待っているあいだ、足下がけっこう冷たかったです。

とつぜんの雪で準備のできていなかった車があったのか
事故があったらしく、ちょっと渋滞。
しかもゆっくり運転する車があって、全体的にスピードが落ちてる。
バスもいつもの倍くらいかかって大学につきました。

今ちょうど昼くらいですが、温度が上がって、雨になりました。
もう道の雪は水になっているし、今夜は冷え込まないそうなので
明日の旅行には、私に直接的な影響はなさそうですが、
今日の天気を見て感謝祭の旅行を明日に延期した人がいるんだとか。
空港が混んでいないといいですね。

Buttercup squash!

Buttercup squash is the squash closest to Japanese kabocha.
And that is what I eat when I forget to do grocery shopping and go short of vegetables!
Well, it had to be eaten ... it had a bruise that I hadn't noticed and was starting to go bad.

So today, I cut up a squash half into bite size - for steaming.
About a quarter was cut into slices for sautéing.
And the quarter that's left was cut into small sticks that I'll cook in miso soup.

My landlord told me that squash is used for traditional Thankgiving meal.
The squash is cut up, steamed or baked and caramelized with brown sugar or maple syrup!
Hmmm sounds sweet. A desert dish!

The bite size ones are now steamed and are waiting to go in the fridge - will be my vegetable source for the next three days before the trip.
And the sauté ones are nicely sautéed and very appetizing (still half left).

I can't believe this whole buttercup squash was just a dollar!
Next year I have to buy more at the vegetable stand :-)

South East Asian food adventure

The food markets I can walk to are either convenience stores (attached to a gas station) or international markets owned by South (East) Asian owners (one Vietnamese and the other I think Indian?). Supermarkets are not in walking distance, so I go to supermarkets only once or twice a month and supplement with smaller international markets that has green onions (青ねぎ), Japanese radish (大根), and Chinese cabbage (白菜).

So the other day I had a craving for ramen ('Chinese noodle' evolved into original dish in Japan) and as there's no ramen restaurant around here (the nearest would be in Boston, almost 2 hours drive away...), I went to one of the international markets. I expected to buy 'Top Ramen' (generic U.S. instant ramen in a bag less than 15 cents in Hawaii) or 'Sapporo Ramen' (close to Japan taste but costs about 50 cents in Hawaii), but what I saw in the mart were many kinds of Vietnamese and Thai noodle bags. Well, basically everything is in foreign language other than one line description like "Artificial Spicy Pork Flavor." So reading the photos and that one line I selected a few bags, and today's lunch was one of them. I should have known better, but I bought this hoping it'd be mildly spicy. And it was extra spicy(>o<), just with the basic soup powder without the additional spice bag or oil bag that came in the bag. I should go for non-spicy rice noodle next time...

These international markets also proud a large selection of frozen fish. There're some fish packs directly imported from Japan (frozen dried さんま, frozen dried さば etc.), but are rather pricey. As they are often on sale (these probably don't move much due to the price), I buy them too, but what're really affordable there are with foreign language description again. So with just my intuition as my guide, I bought this pack of fish called "yellow stripe trevally," product of Vietnam. I had no idea what the fish was, so I did google search (the dictionaries didn't help me). It is called "Salay Salay" in the Philippines, and more widely "yellowstripe scad." With another search for a Japanese name, it was "ホソヒラアジ." Now I know this is a kind of aji. I also found that it has lots of small rib bones, and as these fish I bought are small, I will fry it so I can eat crispy bones. Without Internet I'd be totally lost!

このごろ私のお腹によく入っているもの

といえば、煮物。

前にグラタンもどきにしたかぼちゃがいまいちで
オレンジ色のSugar pumpkinは味が淡白で繊維が多いから
水分を飛ばさないで味を足すには、やっぱり煮物かなあ、と。
先週、傷みはじめていたかぼちゃを甘辛く煮たら、なかなかいけました！

ふっくふくジューシーにできたので、気をよくして
かぼちゃの煮汁を再利用して、大根を煮てみたら
けっこう苦い大根だったんだけれど、甘い煮汁でなんとかいけました。
う～ん、胃にききそう。

それで、今日もまたその煮汁の残りを再利用してかぼちゃ煮。
今日は緑色の頭みたいな格好のButtercup squash。
緑の皮にオレンジの果肉という、日本のと同じパターンで味も似てるらしい。
味的にも、外側がオレンジのSugar pumpkinよりしっかりしておいしい。
他のものを料理して、弱火にかけていたのを忘れたんだけど、
気づいたらとろける直前まで煮込んであって、口の中でとろけます～。
大根の煮汁で煮たくせに甘い！このかぼちゃ、けっこう甘いらしい。

煮物って意外と簡単ですね。
野菜を切って鍋に入れて、ひたひたの煮汁を入れてフタをして、
あとは火にかけておくだけ。
煮汁も（今回はオリジナル１回、リサイクル２回）使いまわせるし。
ニューイングランドの冬は煮物で乗り切りましょう！？

（追記）
写真を足しました。
左がうわさの（？）Buttercup squash。日本のかぼちゃよりも頭でっかちな気がします。
右はButtercup squashを１口大に切って蒸したもの。薄しょうゆ味で煮てもいいけど、何の味もなしで蒸したのも、ほんのり甘くておいしいで～す。

紅葉もそろそろ終わり

温度的にもすっかり冬っぽくなっちゃったのですが、早めに紅葉を始めた木は、見た目にも冬。。。
もうほとんど「はげ」な木もあります。

葉っぱが青いまま落ちてしまった木も結構あって、なんだか残念です。

あとは紅葉の遅かった木が、いっせいに黄色くなって、それはきれいです。
その黄色がだんだん赤くなったりしているのもグラデーションがなかなか見ものです。









もうこれからはどんどん落ちていくんだろうなあ。
雪が降るまで、景色は寂しくなるいっぽうみたいです。

ハンプシャー大学

とうとう本当に冬の始まりです（だと思ってます）。

朝、窓のカーテンを開けると、向かいの家の屋根が氷で白くなってたり
足元の芝生はもとより、紅葉の落ち葉に霜がついていたり
吐く息はとっくに真っ白です。
木の葉もいっせいに黄色くなって落ち始めたりしました。
とはいえ、昼間はお日様が出て、気温が上がるので、
凍りついた水溜りとかは見てないですねぇ。

先日は私がクラスにいる間（夜）に、みぞれが降ったらしいです。
もう夜に雨が降ったら雪になっておかしくない気温です。
まだしばらくは雨の予報がないみたいですが。
そろそろ、本気で、耳当てを買いに行かなくてはいけませんね。

そんな中、今日はハンプシャー大学に行ってきました。
夜、クラスと関係のある著名な先生のレクチャーがあって、
これは聞き逃せない！ということで。
ハンプシャー大学はアマーストの南部にある小さな私立大学で
スミス大学のあるノーサンプトンからもUMassのアマーストからも
バスで３０分くらい。

スミス大学で教える日だったので、スミスの図書館で時間をつぶして
ノーサンプトンからまっすぐハンプシャー大学行きのバスに乗りました。
いつもと違うバスルートで、ずっと田舎の道を走っていくので、
車窓からの景色が、すごくきれいでした。
ちょうど日が沈む時間で、色の変わっていく空に林の影がうつるの。

ハンプシャー大学は林と牧場に囲まれた小さな大学で、
かわいかったです。もうちょっと暖房が効いていてもよかったんだけど・・・
学生さんたちもいい感じで、道に迷ったら親切に教えてくれました。

夏から冬！

になったという感じです。
ここのところ、最高気温が１０℃代前半、最低気温が０℃くらいというパターン。
平均的な１１月の気候だそうです。
とはいえ、変てこりんに暖かかった１０月のあとなので
きゅうっと寒くなった感じです。

今日は冷たい雨が降ったのですが、そのあと温度が下がったので
家まで送ってくれたクラスメートの車には氷が付いていました。
冬ですね～。

今年の紅葉は変で、なんだか、とっても、まばら。
霜が降りちゃってるのに、まだ緑の木なんかもあって
このまま紅葉せずに枯れるか落ちるかしちゃうのかも。
例年はもっときれいな紅葉なんだそうです～

外を歩く人もダウンやウールのコート、手袋にマフラー、帽子などが増えてます。
私の家の部屋もそれなりに暖くて、過ごすのには困らないのですが、
最近は図書館で勉強するのにはまっています。

必要最小限のものしか持っていないから気が散らないのか、
周りに勉強している人がいるのがいい刺激になるのか、
なんだか集中できるんです。
今日はこれをやるぞ！というのを持っていくと結構すすむので気持ちがいいです。
その分、家に帰ったらぐったりしていて、もう寝よう、となるのですが。

しかも、冬の図書館は暖かいんです。
ハワイでは夏の図書館は冷房の効きすぎで寒くて長居できなかったのですが
暖房の効きすぎはセーターなどを脱げば調整ができるので、平気☆
ボトルなどふたつきの飲み物を持ち込んでOKなのも助かります。

さあ、学期末まで賞味あと１ヶ月。
UMassの図書館とSmithの図書館に入りびたる日々が続きそうです。