Podcasts and Avocados in Japan

The last day of Golden Week vacation is almost over. It's sad, but it's true. In just a few hours I'll be facing a room of overly "genki" little people, excited to be back at school. I suppose it is a wonderful if not remarkable thing that my students love school, but this "love" goes hand in hand with explosive amounts of energy. it'll be somewhat hard to face since after 8 days off of work, Thursday will seem like a "uber Monday."

On a brighter note, we had a wonderful dinner tonight. My wife had bought an avocado not long ago. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to do with it, but I was under strict orders that it had to be part of our dinner tonight. Well, I came across a simple, yet great idea while searching around the "interweb"...trying to figure out what to do with this mysterious piece of fruit.

The answer???

An "avocado BLT"! Yep, that's right! Toasted rye bread (not easy to find in Japan), chicken breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado! I was really surprised, and pleased at how well the avocado went with the sandwich.



I just wanted to show this little fella! While visiting Korea last month, my wife and I picked this up and brought it back. Baekseju...it goes wonderfully with and sort of cooked meat!

Baekseju (sold under the brand name Bek Se Ju; literally "one-hundred-years wine") is a Korean glutinous rice-based fermented alcoholic beverage flavored with a variety of herbs, ginseng most prominent among them. According to some, the name comes from the legend that the healthful herbs in baekseju will help you live to be 100 years old. From wikipedia...



Last night, I went to a live house here in Kobe with my friend Patrick to check out a band called The Musique. They were really good. On our way out of the club we noticed this sign...nuff said!



On another note, I've decided to move forward with a new project. I'm going to start a podcast about life in Japan. I've been thinking it through for a long time, but have decided I'd really like to do it now. I'm in the planning process so I think it will be a few weeks before I have something produced. I've mapped out several topics and will be contacting prospective guests very soon. I also have to spend some time learning the software. In the beginning I think I will be editing with Audacity. I've used it a little in the past, but want my first few shows to sound "decent." That means I'll have to do some practicing. I also plan to do some shows using Skype, but will buy an mp3 recorder sometime soon so I can do in person interviews.

Hope you'll be listening once I get things off the ground.