Dead computer and noodle lunch

It has been a while since I updated the old blog here � I have been so busy... ha (that's a joke).  It has been a little slow around here the last few weeks, both at school and in the outside school life. There have been a few staff parties with the teachers, but other than that Tessa and I have been laying low till we go to CAMBODIA!  I am pretty excited � we leave on Saturday and are in Cambodia for about 10 days.  Then we fly to Taiwan, and are going to celebrate new years in Taipei with x million! other people at "one of the worlds biggest new years parties."

I have wanted to put some pictures on here, but Tessa's laptop has been out of commission for about 3 weeks. It has been a bit of a process trying to deal with Dell in a few different countries and languages, but I think it is all sorted, and after we get back from our trip (if all goes as planned) we should have a functioning computer again.

As I write this I am currently enjoying, what I feel is an overlooked piece of Japanese cuisine � the instant noodle bowl!  They have similar things in Canada but definitely not the same.  It is like 2 minute noodles/ichiban/instant ramen, whatever you want to call it but better.  They come in bowls, and there is about 800 different noodle and flavour combinations all for under 2 bucks.  And they are delicious.  Aside from the deliciousness and price, their popularity is buoyed by their convenience.  Every workplace in Japan has an electric kettle like contraption that keeps water at 98 degrees at all times. So when you want noodles or (tea) you can make it right now!  You are never more than 4 minutes (that's the longest it takes for the water to cook the noodles) away from a delicious bowl of noodles.  

Unfortunately these noodles are not quite the perfect food that I am making them out to be � they have stigma!  While, I was enjoying a "yaki soba" style noodle bowl at lunch the other day, one of my co workers informed me that "normal people, don't eat noodle bowls."  After working on the translation a bit with one of the English teachers, we decided that a better interpretation of what she said was "generally only poor people eat noodle bowls." The stigma does not ruin it for me � I am happy to eat outside of my income bracket, especially considering that "normal people" in Japan all seem to eat rice and pickled radishes for lunch.