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.

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!

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.

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.

The Nearest Bagel Shop

From the top, clock wise direction ; Garlic, Everything, Poppy Seed, Blueberry Bagel
I knew a bagel shop near my apartment from their advertisement in our post. It was on Passaic Street where I pass through frequently by car. However I didn't notice it until I saw the advertisement because the shop was so small. Today I tried it. Since I went there in the morning, the bagels were hot! They were not so chewy but elastic and moist!

Colombia Bakery

My Colombian classmate, Sra. E and I, always go to Colombian bakery to take a coffee and "Pan de Bono" during our 15 minute break from ESL class. Pan de Bono is a typical Colombian bakery item made with yucca flour, cornmeal and cheese. This is simple bread and makes me feel like eating it again.

(This picture was taken in October)

Colombia Bakery

on Main street, Hackensack, NJ

American Gangster

I went to see the movie "American Gangster". Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe star in the film. This movie is based on a true story. This is about an African-American gangster, Frank Lucas(Denzel Washington), who establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in 1970s Harlem, Manhattan. You can feel NYC and the world of gangsters in the 1970s. It's worth seeing it.

Black Friday at Macy's

Macy's at Garden State Plaza opened at 7:00 am. A lot of people were waiting in front of Macy's' entrance before the opening. When the store opened, the crowd cheered! Macy's had special discounted items called Morning Specials. Otherwise there wasn't a big difference from usual one day sales. I guess that things will be discounted day by day after Thanksgiving until Christmas.

Regarding Best Buy, it was crazy. Some people were waiting from 3:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day even though the store opened at 6:00 am on the next day.

Black Friday!

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States. Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November so Black Friday was today, November 23rd. Retaillers are closed on Thanksgiving so Black Friday is the first shopping day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employers give the day off the same as Thanksgiving Day. Many retailers open very early on Black Friday at 4 or 5 pm! We checked that Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in NY started at midnight and has a big discount, so we left home 11 pm and drove in order to get there at midnight. On our way to the outlet place, we were getting into some heavy traffic. We thought that it was caused by cars which were going home for Thanksgiving. However, every car was going in the same direction as ours. They were all going to the outlet!!! When we arrived near the highway exit to Woodbury Common, it was 00:30 am. We could see from the highway that their parking lots were full and a lot of cars were stuck in traffic before the highway exit. We thought that we might have to wait in the car until dawn to enter the outlet and even though we could enter the outlet, we would not be able to buy anything in the crowd. Then we gave up and made a U-turn to go home. Returning home, we saw a long, long traffic jam over 10 miles!!!

Thanksgiving Day

The fourth Thursday of November is Thanksgiving. There is a special holiday for Americans. Families get together on the day and have a big dinner. They eat turkey, corn, stuffing, beans, sweet potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce. Traditional desserts are apple pie and pumpkin pie...

I recommend Boston Market for Thanksgiving dinner. My American friend invited me to Boston

Market for Thanksgiving dinner 2 years ago, then I knew that we can get almost all the food for Thanksgiving there. It's a very simple and easy way to have dinner there. Above all the food is very good!

Boston Market is a chain of American fast-food restaurants specializing in rotisserie chicken, turkey, meatloaf and roasted sirloin. Also they have a variety of side dishes. Also, we can buy their chilled food at supermarkets. I always have chilled food in the refrigerator.

Nori at Bloomfield, NJ

New Jersey has a good sushi restaurant. We had lunch at Nori in Bloomfield, NJ. We ordered a roll combo and chirashi. They were served beautifully and the fish was fresh. The Shari (sushi rice) was especially very good! It's rare. The working staff seemed to be Korean. The interior was a mix of Japanese and Korean. However the food was really Japanese.

Snow

When I woke up, it was snowing! It slightly snowed yesterday but it snowed strongly in this morning.

Macy's

Macy's had one of their biggest one day sales in a year. Macy's has a one day sale on each holiday. Today's sale seems a big sale before Thanksgiving. It opened at 8:00 am! We woke up earlier than usual and went there at 8:10 am. Surprisingly, there were already a lot of cars in the parking lot and people coming into Macy's one after another.

Polo Ralph Lauren

This is the show window of Polo Ralph Lauren's flagship shop on Madison Ave. in Manhattan. "Polo Ralph Lauren" is written in Japanese Katakana letters. Japanese words were also written on sweaters. I don't feel this cool though...

Knitty City in Manhattan

I found the knitting shop, Knitty City, in Manhattan. Since my friend knits, I stopped by there. As you can see from this picture, there were a lot of people in the shop. Knitting in NYC seems alive and well.

Krispy Kreme at Penn Station

There are two Krispy Kreme in Manhattan. This is one of them at Penn Station. There is no waiting line like Krispy Kreme in Japan...

Statue of Liberty

Today I went to see her.

Sarabeth's At the Whitney

There is Sarabeth's restaurant at Whitney museum in Manhattan. Sarabeth's is famous for Sarabeth's fruit jam. It's location is in the basement of the Museum and also we have to go there through the museum's entrance and down the stairs. So it's not easy to find the restaurant. It's great spot to take a lunch. Even in the basement, the sailing is high and we can see the sky through glass wall. Their food never let you dawn.

The Village Halloween Parade

This is the video of the Halloween Parade in the West Village of Manhattan. The Parade started at 7 pm. I arrived there at 6 pm but there were already a lot of people on both sides of the parade route. I was fourth in line from the street so I could only see the big floats. However, since I started to go back to the station earlier than the other people, I could see a lot of people with Halloween costumes going to the parade or to a party. It was really fun to see them closely.

↓After the parade

Wetzel's Pretzels!

I love Wetzel's Pretzels. Every time I go to Garden State Plaza I eat the pretzels at this store.

They bake pretzels at the store so we can eat fresh baked ones. I tried other pretzel shops in the mall, but Wetzel's Pretzels are the best. I always see this woman making pretzels with gusto. The above picture is a cinnamon pretzel with cream.

Neighborhood's Halloween decorations

I took a picture of my neighborhood's Halloween decorations. Some of them are really scary.

Presentation

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　↑IFC Center (Movie theater at West Village)

Each student has to do 20-30 minutes presentation about something related to the United States. I talked about the American health care organization, HMO. I found the movie theater which was still playing Michel Moore's latest documentary movie about HMO ”Sicko” and I could see it even at the beginning of October. The movie had been playing at most theaters in the United States since June until August. I made a presentation based on this movie. I had just heard before that the medical costs in the US are very high. I didn't know the US doesn't have universal health care like Japan and other developing countries. 50 million people are living without health insurance and 250 million people have it. 18,000 Americans die every year simply because they are not insured. Also, I knew from this movie how the American HMO system constantly betrays the insured 250 million American people. HMOs are kind of private insurance companies, so they maximise profits and minimise expenses. They are always trying to refuse to pay insurance coverage for whatever reason. Then, many Americans go bankrupt or die for not being able to pay the medical costs. If you are not insured, the average medical cost is USD7,000. Ambulances cost over USD600. An operation for appendicitis costs USD20,000. After my presentation, we had a discussion time. One student who has been living for 6 years in the US told us that she doesn't have health insurance and she had to pay USD7,000 for her operation for heart disease. Hearing this, I discovered how high American medical costs are and it's very difficult to pay them without insurance coverage. The other day, in the Manhattan subway, I saw a person who was writing a denial letter for insurance coverage on the form with the letter head of CIGNA, which is one of the biggest HMOs. It seemed the movie was a real story.

Friendly's at Route 46

I like Friendly's. I feel the interior and menu are really traditional style American. Also, the food is good and the waitresses are speedy. Friendly's was opened as Friendly's Ice Cream shop in 1935 and has a lot of restaurants in the US. It's like a prototype of a Family restaurant. However, it's suprising to imagine Americans have been eating hamburgers and there have been these types of restaurant since before the World War II.

Hank's Franks in Lodi, NJ

We found a good hot dog stand on route 46, NJ. As we said that this was the first time we had visited the stand, the man, maybe he is the owner, kindly explained to us about the toppings for hot dogs. We can choose the toppings; mustard, cheese, hot chilli, hot onions, sour onions, fresh onions, sweet sauce, etc. We ordered hot chilli, hot onions and cheese. They use sausage and rolls. I think this was the first time I had Sabrett's sausage and rolls. The sausage was juicy and light and the roll was soft. The toppings were very good. The hot chilli was especially good! I felt this stand represented America. Checking this stand through Internet, I knew that the stand was established in 1959 and is still run by the same family!

Hank's Franks
210 US Highway 46 E, Lodi, NJ
(973) 473-8589

ESL of BCCAP

The ESL class of BCCAP started today. It's a beginner's class as I wrote on Oct. 6th. The students were 12, 8 from central and south America, one from Iran, one from China and two from Japan including me. The woman next to me was from Colombia. I was wondering when to tell them I understand some Spanish. Fortunately, the teacher asked me what languages I speak so I confessed that I studied Spanish before. Some people turned to me but they seemed not to be surprised. Then I talked to the woman next to me in Spanish and she started talking in Spanish. I sometimes feel that Spanish speakers don't have any special reaction when they know I know some words of Spanish.It's like American people. The common thing between them is people who speak popular languages. Otherwise I had an enjoyable time in the class because of my Spanish even though it is very poor. Since the woman next to me,Sra . E, has far sight, I could help her a lot and talk with her in Spanish and English. Then she took an Ecuadorian girl and me home by car. I think I could be a friend of Sra. E and the girl. They are nice and frank. My Spanish used to not be so useful as today.

ESL of Bergen County Community Action Partnership (BCCAP)

I took BCCAP's ESL test on August 17th and have been waiting for their letter to inform me of the class schedule. The letter finally arrived last Friday, October 6th. Looking at the letter, my level is 2&3, Monday and Wednesday morning. Otherwise I have already started to study at another ESL school on the same schedule, so I had to change the schedule and telephone them. They said that they can't change the day class to a night class because they have already more than 30 people in the night class. Normally the maximum is 25 people. So I asked them if I could change to a lower class on Tuesday and Thursday morning. They said the lower one is beginner's level and it would be awful for me because it start with "How are you?" Otherwise I didn't have any option and thought that I will learn something from the class even it is for beginners and decided to study in the beginner's class.

Brooklyn Walking ブルックリンを散歩

I went to Brooklyn and took a walk today. This was my first time to visit Blooklyn. I got off the sabway at Jay Street Borough Hall station. Walking up to the ground, I was surprised at a lot of people coming and going around the station. I didn't know how urban Brooklyn was . The place was the center of downtown Brooklyn. Since I went there only with a simple walking guide which I printed from an internet web site, I couldn't tell where I was exactly. Fortunately, I found a Barns&Noble Book Store and found a nice guide book called "NFT (Not For Tourist Guide)". I think this is good for tourists too. This shows each map of the neighborhoods and detailed information, for example landmarks which are good for finding sightseeing spots, bagel stores, supermarkets, restaurants and even farmer's market information.


Blooklyn Heights Promenade

Blooklyn Heights

I walked to the Dumbo area to visit the Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park. Otherwise checking in more detail after my trip I found that the place where I went was a different park which doesn't have a name... From this park I could see Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge but from the Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park only one bridge can be seen because the park is between Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge...



Then I went to Brooklyn Heights Promenade from where I could see the East side of Manhattan beyond the East River. Then I walked downtown to Fulton Street. I saw many more black people and I felt Brooklyn's atmosphere was a little bit easygoing.


Fulton Street Market, downtown Brooklyn