I have a feeling.

[aide]

I don't know what it is. Dissatisfaction maybe. Mee goreng didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I bought fresh noodles on sale yesterday but I think they needed to be boiled first because they ended up just sticking together in a doughy lump. :/ The flavour was fine; I loved the burst of sourness of the tomato. I'll be eating left-overs for dinner tomorrow.

My recipe book is awesome. :D I want to try making chawan mushi so badly! I need to get a couple mushi cups so I can try. It's kind of a lot of work though but I want to get the most out of my steamer pot. I will want to take it back to Canada with me because a) there's nothing wrong with it and b) I'll only have to buy a new one when I get there so why not just spend a little to ship it home. Authentic Japanese steamer pot! Or something.

I've noticed my brain has been straying more to "when I leave Japan". Which is still a vague approximation of "next Spring" at best. I am putting more thought into what I'm going to do with myself when I get back and I wonder if I'll really feel satisfied with my life. When I was younger and growing up in Singapore I remember thinking, "If only I was in Canada, I could do/see/buy x, y, z" but then when the time came for us to leave, it felt like back pedalling. Canada is somewhere I'll always be able to go back to (pending funds) and I know it; it's familiar and I'll be able to fit in right away. But going back there... it kind of feels like a downgrade. I didn't really know that's how I felt until just now, I haven't been able to put a label on that. I don't feel that way about Vancouver so much, but definitely about Brampton. I'm actually looking forward to moving "home" and living with my parents again... even if it does mean having to live in one of the seven circles of hell for a few months.

I'm only thinking as far ahead as finishing my B.Ed which, if all goes accordingly, will be 2011. What am I going to do then? I'll be 26. As if that has any meaning or bearing on anything at all.

Picture of the day: Brown Sugar Choco Mushi Pan ♥  Holy crap this picture is huuuuge. o_o;;

I can't get Inoue Joe's "PJ Anthem" out of my head.

Now on the subject of work: I gave the firsties a quiz today about the last chapter of the book (Whale Rider) and basically they just had to copy the answers out of the book.  It was mostly to see if they understood the question. 

1. Why did Paikea's grandfather want a boy?
Because, "Only a boy can lead the village."

That's what most kids wrote and I told them that you don't put a comma after because.  

3. What did Paikea believe?
She believed, "Even a girl can lead the village."

Then they asked me why there's a comma after believed but not because and I couldn't think of an answer that they would understand.  I explained that in the 3rd question you could replace believed with said and it still means the same thing and you need a comma in that case.  And you know who's speaking.  The textbook doesn't specify who is talking (or if it's even a spoken line) for the first question but there's no comma anyway so I don't know why they were putting one in.  

Which is more correct?

Because only a boy can lead the village.  or  Because "Only a boy can lead the village."   I told one class if you use quotations, capitalize the first letter of the speech but don't if there aren't any.  And we never use a comma after because unless you are inserting something else and that's way beyond their level.  That's technical native speaker grammar now.  Anyway, it kind of stumped me because I didn't know what best to tell them other than, "Just because."  I think I've gone and confused myself even more now.

Comments

[oviparous.livejournal.com]

i think just tell them 'just because'. it's fine XD

i used to tell my kids when they asked me questions that would take a 1500-word essay to answer, "This is not something I want to hear now, let's focus on the lesson."

haaaaa bad teacher

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

Haah yeah that's my answer half the time. I told Kaneko sensei that the textbook was wrong too. The question was What is your favourite of all the seasons? And the textbook answer said "It's spring. / Spring is." We don't ever answer "It's spring" to that question. I think we would just say 1 word or "I like spring the best."

[oviparous.livejournal.com]

And the textbook answer said "It's spring. / Spring is."

hahahahahahhahahahaa i'm sorry it kinda made me laugh when i saw 'spring is'

[oviparous.livejournal.com]

oh and you cooked mee goreng!!!

what noodles did you use? the oily yellow kind? you need to rinse them in cold/room-temp water until the water stops turning yellow, then you boil them. if you used other noodles then i'm not sure ^_^

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

I had one packed of the oily ones and the others were raw and floured and probably most definitely needed to be cooked first. I just soaked them in hot water and then ended up with a big lump...

[oviparous.livejournal.com]

oh. dear. 囧

well, i believe that with your cooking skillz you will be able to solve this ;)

[trivialaffair.livejournal.com]

yummmmm i feel like you're always cooking such yummy food :DDDD

hahaha "just because" would work XP

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

I try. XD It doesn't work out sometimes; I'm not perfect.