Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Bergen Community College's ESL

I have taken ESL classes at two schools since September; one is at Montclair State University and the other is at Bergen County Community Action Partnership. Montclair's ESL just finished yesterday and BCCAP's ESL is almost finished. I have to find an ESL school where I'm going to study next year. Since I have to go back to my country once from the end of year to the beginning of February, it's very complicated to find the next school for me to start studying from February, right after I come back here. Some people recommended ESL at Bergen Community College. I didn't know this college's ESL class is near my apartment. The main location of BCC is in Paramus, NJ. I was checking the HP before but I didn't find a short term ESL course there. However, they have an ESL course at another location, in downtown Hackensack, which is a 20 minute walk from my apartment. I went there to find out about next year's ESL in November but they said that they would have it only in December, so I went there again today. They have a class in the morning, afternoon and night. The afternoon class is free of charge if you have a social security number. Fortunately they had the registration test today and I could take it. The test goes on for 3 days until Thursday. Also we had an orientation from a teacher. She gave the orientation using a big projector. It seemed a well organized ESL program.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Inviting friends with Japanese food

We invited some ESL class mates to our apartment. They were from Brazil and Peru. I have been thinking about the menu for 2 weeks since we invited them because they have only tried sushi rolls once and don't know any other Japanese food. Finally I decided on the following menu: Temarizushi ( Fatty tuna & Salmon ), Tonziru, Kaisou & Tofu Salad, Yakitori, Yakinasu, Yakisoba, Snacks and Sake.

Before I make a decision, I had been trying to make sushi rolls with Makisu but I couldn't roll it well, so my Japanese friend adviced me to make Temarizushi. I could make Temarizushi easily and it looks very pretty without any effort. They were trying to pick up sushi rolls with chopsticks. A Brazilian friend came with her son who is 13 years old and he is curious about another country's culture. He was trying to pick up everything with chopsticks. I don't know if they liked Tonziru (Pork Miso Soup) . Yes, they said that it was good but I think they felt Konnyaku and Gobo were very strange food and I don't know how they felt about the taste of bonito soup (Katsuo Dashi) and soybean paste (Miso). Regarding Tofu Salad, I think they were not interested in vegetables. They ate just a little bit and didn't talk about Seaweed & Tofu. Also nobody tried eggplant (Yakinasu). I love this dish but guess that they didn't feel like having it because of the color or my lack of explanation. Anyway I think that they aren't interested in vegetables. The boy seemed to like Yakisoba & Yakitori. I can say that they liked Japanese snacks and sake very much, specially liking "Lotte Chocopai".

Also they had Taiyaki and Green Tea. A Brazilian friend who tried Momijimanju said that she had been thinking that the Anko (bean paste) was sweet potato. A Peruvian friend hesitated to have Taiyaki because of it's shape. She thought it contained fish inside... I felt it was not so easy to serve Japanese food to foreign people who don't know much about Japanese food. Also I have to know how to explain about the dishes in English. Anyway, that was a very good experience for me.

Also a Peruvian friend brought Peruvian food, Papa a la Huancaina, which was very good. I love the dish. It was the first time I tried a homemade one. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the dishes because I was trying to serve dishes right after cooking and was very worried about whether they could eat our food. Anyway they are Latinas so they talked a lot!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Hackensack Supermarket






I call this supermarket Latino Supermarket. This supermarket is a 20 minute walk from my apartment. My Japanese friend and I asked Sra. E to teach us how to make Colombian "Empanada" so today Sra. E and I went to the supermarket to buy ingredients for that. I think that we can buy almost all kinds of food from Latin America here.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Today's Times Square




The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

This is the famous Rockefeller Center's Christmas tree and ice skate rink. If I have a chance, I will visit there at night to see the tree lit.