Monday Stroll and a Hamburger Roll

On Monday morning we headed out for a walk around a different part of town since we didn’t have to start work until 5pm. We originally set out to walk around the bay to see if we could spot some Navy ships but after we took a wrong turn we ended up walking on the other side of the Navy base instead. On our way to the base I saw my favorite car again so this time I took a picture of it. It is called a Nissan March, this is the one that I described as a larger VW Bug.




We followed the main state road until we reached the entrance of the US Navy base. We are still a little surprised that American civilians are not allowed to visit the base. We wish they would just let us in to the supermarket and the restaurants even if just for one hour.

Across the street from the base entrance stands a Heart shaped clock. The clock stands as an “expression of a desire for [the] Avenue to become a passage with gentleness of a heart to heart contact”. It was clear to us that we were nearby the base when most people walking around were Americans (mostly white males).

From the main state road we made a right and continued down another street (seen above). This road curved back toward downtown, so we continued in this direction to return home. We had heard from a couple of students that somewhere along this road we’d be able to find traditional American food. Since we left home around lunchtime with only a couple of donuts in our stomachs, we were looking forward to some good ole’ American food. We spotted a little place across the street called “The Log Kit”, although looked more like a log cabin. Considering the menu, we figured that was the place the students had told us about. The menu outside “The Log Kit” showed pictures of burgers, hotdogs, fries (even chili cheese ones), tacos and burritos. The place was a cute little ‘wild west’ themed restaurant with all kinds of American paraphernalia. Can you see the cowboy hat in the picture?

Nick was craving a burger so he went for the “USA burger” and I ordered a “Cilantro Brasil burrito” (not basil but ‘Brasil’). What makes this a “true” American place is their portions. In Japan portions are small enough where you feel satisfied but not stuffed. This also applies to drinks as well. Refills are not customary and the cups are much smaller than we are used to. However this place had ‘normal’ size cups and even carried an XL cup. When we received our order, we smiled pretty big and were shocked to see the size of our food. Nick’s burger would be HUGE even by American standards (you'll see below that it's almost as big as Nick's big head). I couldn’t help myself from taking a picture as he took a big bite off his gi-normous burger. Nick compared it to a Whopper because it had lots of ketchup, mayo and mustard…..which made it super messy. My burrito was delicious although it didn’t taste very Mexican it was still pretty good.



After stuffing ourselves at lunch we decided to head back home to get ready for work. We basically made a big circle around the city and ended up at a familiar place. Do you remember the Albuquerque bridge (from the snow flurries’ day)? Now you can see it with clear blue skies behind it….a much better day to be walking outside.

It was getting close to the time for us to go to work so we continued home to get ready. I brought the camera to work and took a couple of random pictures to show you a little bit more of our office. Below is our big teacher’s room. This is where we go in between classes to fill out the students’ files and sometimes eat our lunch. We hear it is one of the biggest ones in Nova which is nice because we each get our own space. The window looks down at the kilometer long arcade where all the shops and restaurants are.



Here is Nick looking at a student’s file to decide which lesson to teach that day. The binders inside the file cabinet are the different “books” we use for the different levels. The manila folders are all the students’ files and above that is the message board where the daily schedule is posted. I took a picture of our Monday schedule (our short 5 lesson day) although I don’t know if you’ll be able to read it! Basically it shows you the name of the student (s) and what level they are. Based on that information you grab the appropriate book and look at their file to see which lessons they have not taken yet and choose one of those for that day. This process usually takes no more than 5 minutes and then you have 10 minutes to practice that particular lesson….or just talk to the other teachers.

After work we walked by the Mister Donut shop we visit quite frequently. Although we didn’t go buy donuts (because we already had a dozen at home) I took a picture to show you guys what it looked like. I’ve talked about it enough, so Mister Donut has earned a picture on the site.