Yuba-sen, Pepsi Skittles and Atomic Bombs

This is a meal we ate in Kyoto made of Yuba, which is the skin that forms when you boil soy milk. It was delicious!! A bit sweet and a nice soft texture. The sauces they serve it with were interesting. I crave it now that I am away.

Mikel and I were taking a break at a Starbucks in a Jusco (large shopping building-- kind of like a mall). Mikel is posing so I can take a photo of the lady behind him in the yellow. She has fluorescent hair extensions. They were amazing! At this Starbucks (which looks the same as in the US) we were kind of celebrities. The young man who was working at the counter kept waving at us afterward when we were walking around the building. It was really fun.

Anyway, I guess Wednesday is my blog day lately. At work, when I am not teaching, I have been in a researching frenzy, finding art residencies that I want to attend, and getting organized around how and when to apply. I have a list and a marked calendar to keep me on track.

Mikel and I decided that we will stay here through next May, just enough time to get what we want out of our experience and also to be driven crazy by what we struggle with (i.e. our jobs) Residencies are the light at the end of the tunnel for me.

Two interesting things about this week:

First, I gave Skittles to my students as souvenirs for my trip to the US. We did a taste test. None of my students had tried them before as they don't exist in Japan (except at foreign food marts). It was hard for them to guess some of the flavors as they have grown up with slightly different popular flavors and their color associations. The most interesting guess was green. One student guessed cola, specifically Pepsi. At first I giggled at the answer, as it was kind of funny and random, but then I tried a green Skittle and was blown away at the observation. Try one! They taste more like Pepsi than lime!

Second, I taught a class yesterday based on a new chapter in the text book. It's about WWII and specifically about the dropping of the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I never thought I would be standing in front of Japanese teenagers, explaining why the bombs were dropped by my country. The feeling was heavy. The more I think about it, the more it seems to be one of the most important moments in my experience here.