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New Zenrinkan Blog!

Come check out the Zenrinkan Current Events blog, it's finally up and running!  We have lots of interesting things to look at and discuss!  This Thursday, the topic is "Bias in the Media".  Come join us!

~Alicia

June Corn Dolly

This month the corn dolly class tried their hand at hanging baskets. It is a difficult technique as the shape must gradually get wider and wider from a point to make a cone and keeping the sides an equal length is very tricky.  There were a lot of false starts, but eventually everyone got it!

May Cooking

Today in cooking we made a Scottish sweet called macaroons.  Maybe many of you know the French macaroon made from meringue, but these are a pastry made with almond powder.  Inside there is a spongy almond center with jam inside.  We made two types, one with a pastry lid and the other with a cherry on top.

Nuno Zori

Today with the sign language circle we made some Japanese cloth slippers.  They were so fun to make and even though it took a lot of concentration, it was certainly worth it.  I have been wearing them around the house and they are so comfortable.

I made a website about how to make them, so if you haven't tried before, give it a go!

Day Trip

All the staff from Zenrinkan had our annual day trip today.  We all met at Hachimangu shrine and were lead around a selection of local temples and places of interest by Ms Murai.   We learnt many interesting facts and saw some little hidden away places, before filling up our water bottles at a local spring.  

After eating lunch at Stella Monte, we took a tour of the local sake factory and learnt about how they hand make some of Iwate's famous alcohol.  Sadly the factory is only in business over the winter months, but still the smell of fermenting rice and the sight of the huge tanks and bottling machines was a wonderful experience.

May Corn Dolly

Over two sessions, the corn dolly class members completed their most difficult project so far.  They made praying angels.  The dress is a very difficult technique, but all the students managed it without too many problems.

In the first two hour session, they made the wings, arms and head.  Then they spent the second two hours making the dress.

A Day of Culture

This week A-sensei' mother is in Japan, so they spent a day at Zenrinkan trying out some Japanese culture.

First they tried their hand at Japanese calligraphy and after learning the basic strokes had a go at writing their name in Japanese characters.  After an hours practice Mrs F wrote a beautiful piece on some patterned, fan shaped paper which was put into a frame. 

Then we were off downstairs to be fitted up in kimonos ready for tea ceremony.  Of the 15 guests, about half were dressed in kimono.  We ate a lunch box of rice, fish and vegetables before taking tea made by three different people, two from the Edo house style of tea making and one from the Omote house.  All the guests tried the "hoshi no mukashi" macha tea and enjoyed three different types of Japanese sweets, including a cherry blossom flavoured steamed bun with bean paste inside.

Mini exhibit

This semester seven students have been regularly coming to my corn dolly class.  It has been so fun teaching them about this traditional English craft.  I have been so impressed with how much they have all improved.  Over ten weeks the students learnt all the basic techniques and this week we made the final project.  All the students tried to make something different and used the skills they had learnt to try to make it all by themselves.  The result was some amazing, detailed and beautiful projects.

The final projects on display in Zenrinkan

We shall be continuing the class once a month from April, so please come and have a try!

Hairmake Graduation

Today we went to the Hairmake College graduation ceremony and party.  It was amazing to see all our students dressed up in beautiful kimonos.  We also had a chance to wear a kimono.  It was our first time to wear one, so it was very exciting.  I never knew it was so complicated to put on!  We also went to Defi hair salon to have our hair put up.  It was a very exciting day.

What do you think?  Do we look beautiful?

In the morning we went to the ceremony (but we were almost late because we forgot where it was!  hahaha).  Then in the afternoon there was a party at a hotel.  There was lots of good food and drink, but our obi were very tight, so it was hard to eat or drink much :(  There were also many exciting stage shows by the students and teachers.  Of course everyone was crying.

We are looking forward to meet all the new students next year!

Kids' Festival 2009

Today we had the fifth annual Kids' Festival.

It opened with the announcement of the winners of the poster competition. The first prize went to Kyoko who got 1000yen to use in Toys-R-Us. The two runners up were Shunpei and Nozomi who each got 500yen.

The main event and was opened by Sota and Takumi and we then got to see 13 wonderful performances ranging from singing to plays and even a quiz. Everyone tried really hard and we were very impressed how well everyone remembered their lines.

Well done to all those who took place and thank you to all of you who came. We look forward to seeing what next year will bring.

January Cooking Class

Even with a blizzard blowing outside, a handful of brave ladies made it to Zenrinkan to make this month's recipe; Lancashire Hot Pot.

This food is perfect for the winter months as it is hot and full of vegetables. The base is a stew made from lamb, peas, carrots and corn. Today we actually used beef instead as it is a more popular meat. I think this is one of the best things about English cooking, that it is very flexible. This was proved by Mrs A. who as we were eating thought of more and more ingenious ways to develop it; cheese on top, pasta inside, putting the whole thing in a sandwich, and deep frying it in crepe parcels!!

Corn Dolly Making

One of Zenrinkan's teachers, Nicola, introduced the British craft of making corn dollies today.

Many years ago in Pagan England, people believed in many different gods, similar to the Japanese Shinto belief. One of these gods was believed to live in the wheat, so when it was cut down at harvest time, it became homeless, so the people made corn dollies for it to live in over the winter. The shape of the corn dolly varied by region.

The corn dolly we made today is a simple version called a "countryman's favour" and has no connection to religion. This came from the custom of men making a heart shaped favour for ladies when they were walking in the countryside. If the lady was wearing her present the next time he saw her, it meant the love was reciprocated.

Among the members were three elementary school students who all said they had a nice time.

Sign Language Christmas Event

Today the sign language group took a trip to a day care center in Aoyama. Our audience was a very attentive bunch of about 30 pensioners.

We began with all the members of the group singing and signing some Christmas songs along side some old favourites such as "Zou san" and "Inu no Omawari san". Mrs A performed three more complicated enka songs by herself and we read a story called "The Rainbow Zebra". A big hit was singing "Furusato" and everyone joined in with the signing and singing.

Mince pies!

Mince pies are a traditional British Christmas sweet.  The name means ミンチパイ, but there is no meat inside the pies.  Instead there is fruit and spices and brandy.

Every Christmas we eat them and children often leave a Mince Pie for Santa (or Father Christmas as he is known in England) on New Year's Eve before they go to bed.

This year Nicola cooked and sold over 200 Mince Pies at Zenrinkan, so everyone was able to try a taste of a British Christmas.

English Speech Contest

Today we had the pleasure of watching the Iwate Elementary School English Speech Contest.  There were as many as 40 participants, 6 of whom where from Zenrinkan.  

There were three sections.  The first was for kindergarden and elementary 1st to 3rd grade students and was a short memorization about the changing colours in autumn.  The second section was a longer memorization piece for the older students.  They recited a story many of you may know, "Freddie the Leaf".  Then the third section was free composition.

During the break, the students performed a dance routine to entertain the audience.

Out of the six Zenrinkan students, 3 were awarded prizes, but everyone tried their best and gave wonderful speeches.  Well done to all those who took part!

Christmas Party

Today we had the annual Zenrinkan Christmas party.  About 40 guests gathered in the large hall and were treated to an evening of good food and entertainment.

The evening kicked off with an introduction to the British custom of Christmas crackers and everyone got a chance to pull one and put on their hat and enjoy an English joke (although some explanation was needed sometimes!).

Next the guests enjoyed a snack while being serenaded by the niko group.  As always, Hiroko provided a wonderful meal, this time of an assortment of cakes.  Her famous stollen was of course delicious.  The sign language group taught everyone how to sign "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Silent Night" in sign language.  We were happy to see everyone pick it up straight away!

As the meal came to an end, the "let's sing" group treated us to some Christmas carols and the Tuesday Reading Class had everyone take part in a few games.  First we had to close our eyes and sit down when we thought 30 seconds had passed.  Then we had to try to create a one meter length by tearing paper into a long strip.  The most accurate person got a prize!!  It was amazing to see some people were able to get one meter exactly.

The English staff did a reading with mime performance of "The Night Before Christmas".  Alicia's amazing PowerPoint presentation skills and Santa performance were by far and away the hit of the evening!

Finally Alicia led everyone in a sing along of three traditional Christmas carols. On the tables were various castanettes and noise makers and a pianist joined in too to finish the evening off in musical style.

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year!!!

Halloween Classes

It is almost Halloween, so this week has seem some very spookey classes! The children have been learning about ghosts and goblins and other gruesom Halloween words.

As a Halloween creepy craft, the children prepared Marshmallow Frankensteins. They dipped marshmallows in green food colouring, then used melted chocolate to make the hair and mouth, and stuck candy eyes on using the chocolate. It was then finished off with some pretzel bolts.

English Cooking

Over the last few months we have continued the English cooking classes.

In August we made Eve's pudding. The dish is like a sponge cake with apples baked into it. The name comes from Eve in the Bible who couldn't resist the lovely sweet apples. This time we made it with the traditional apple, but we can prepare it with many different types of fruit. Of course we prepared a custard sauce to go on top.

In September we made chicken crumble. This is a savoury version of the sweet dish that is famous across England and America. The base is a chicken and vegetable stew and then it is topped with breadcrumbs, oats and cheese and baked in the oven.

In October we tried our hands at two dishes. We made the sweet crumble that August's cooking is based on. It is traditionally made with apples or peaches, but we also tried a pear one this time and everyone could have a bite of three flavours. While it was baking in the oven, we made a sponge pudding. This normally takes several hours to steam, so this time we cheated and made a microwave version that cooks in 4 minutes! Again, as well as the traditional raisin and cherry versions, we also prepared a chocolate one. We then made a vanilla sauce to top it off.

The Lammers are in Japan!

This year has seen many former staff come back to visit Zenrinkan, including the Lammers family.

It is 60 years this year since they first set foot in Japan, so they came back to Japan to celebrate. The Lammers came to Japan as missionaries and worked at the old Zenrinkan for many years as language teachers.

It is wonderful to see so many familiar faces coming through the Zenrinkan doors.