Come Away with Me

Narao once more

I'm not sure if you fill the same way too but the 2 things I find myself always lacking whenever I travel are sleep and vegetables. And even the ever meat-loving boyfriend attested to this sentiment and so when we finally made it back to the island, we were contented to feast on lotsa vegetables in all our meals. Much as I enjoy trying out new food and eating at new places, nothing beats good old healthy homecooked food don't you agree?


Like the last visit, Alvin would stay at home during the day while I was at work. It was a good timing after all, that he had to sit for some work related papers in early June and thus had some study to do. So that was how he spent most of his free time in the afternoon while home alone. Some evenings we would have dinner at home before going for walks around the small neighbourhood, other days we'd be at someone's place for meals or some other activities.



That evening, we were invited to eat bento and view cherry blossom, a favorite spring pastime among the Japanese, with Tamami sensei and her husband Matsumura san. Though a little small, this is one of the very few pictures I took with the Matsumuras and I really like this particular one under the sakura tree.

Tamami sensei speaks amazingly good English and teaches with me during my once a week elementary school visits. We've come to build a very good rapport with each other, both in class and outside. Besides my Narao papa and mama, I really enjoy spending time with the Matsumuras too. Every Friday without fail, we would go swimming together at the local indoor pool, followed by the weekly grocery shopping session at the nearby supermarket before heading back to their place for dinner.



Left: Tamami sensei posing with the Singaporean yusheng. I got mom to help me buy and Alvin to bring over just so that we could share with them our most popular Singaporean style raw fish salad. Right: Bentos (packed lunch/dinner) prepared by Tamami sensei. They looked mouth-watering don't they? Very colorful and nicely packed and I can assure you they tasted much better than many of those bentos you get outside.

I think I've said it somewhere before but I will say it once more. Tamami sensei is a fantastic cook! All the dinner invitations at her place has sparked my interest and enthusiasm in picking up Japanese cooking. I would help out whenever she's preparing meals and thus learnt many things from her this way. We enjoy our time in the kitchen together; she is ever so enthusiastic to share with me new recipes and methods of preparing food and have me try whatever foodstuff I've never eat before. She is also eager to learn more about the dishes that we have at home. Thanks to her I am now able to understand and use some of the once unfamiliar ingredients in Japanese cooking.

So anyway, we were supposed to tuck into Tamami sensei's wonderful bento while appreciating the beauty of the sakuras. However the erratic weather that week was too cold for any picnic and so we had a change of plans and adjourned to to Tamami sensei's mother's house instead. The kind lady entertained us during dinner by playing her favorite musical instrument, the koto (箏), a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument (it's similar to the Chinese guzheng).

I've never known my boyfriend to possess the faintest skill nor talent for any musical instrument thus far but on that day he was taught how to play the tune of the traditional Japanese song 'Sakura' from the bubbly old lady :P

Alvin saying farewell and posing with his new koto teacher outside her flower shop. Do you want to make a guess how old she actually is? I couldn't really believe it when I first found out that she is actually 75! Can you???

The morning we were to leave for Fukuoka for Alvin to catch his flight back to Singapore, we went over to our neighbour next door to bade them farewell. Kawasaki sensei, my favorite boy Taro and her newborn baby girl Sakurako are now living in Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture as a result of her husband's relocation.



In Fukuoka, we had the rare chance of meeting up with Liyan, a good pal of mine from university days and her boyfriend Erik, who had incidentally came to Japan for a trip. She contacted me and we arranged to have dinner together.

It was definitely a good feeling to be in familiar company and speaking free flow Singlish once again that night!

posted by テレサ @ 7:40 AM