Japan

My favorite shop

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One of my favorite bands in the ’80s was The Style Council. One of their exquisite albums was Our Favourite Shop. What is your favorite shop? Mine is a Japanese no-brand shop called Muji. (How is that for a roundabout intro?)

My university friend Theo introduced me to the Style Council in the 80s and to Muji during a visit to London in the 90s. Theo, ever on the avant-garde, piqued my interest in their products, which I now enjoy.

A couple of decades later, Muji finally opened a couple of shops in Madrid!

The usual gateway product for Muji is its stationery: pens, notebooks, markers, etc. But I soon embraced most of their product line: clothing, home and kitchen products, snacks, and even furniture!

Their clothes follow the traditional Japanese template: perfect cut, rich proportions—no slim cuts here—quality materials: cotton, linen, wool, and no logos!!

But wait, aren’t you a minimalist? Asks the keen readers of this blog. You know that I try to be a minimalist, so I avoid buying clothes (or anything else) on a whim and buy only when needed, but I am not a radical minimalist, more of a practical one. So yes, I try to be very mindful of my purchases. I hope my mindful shopping habits resonate with you and inspire your own minimalist journey.

Anyway, there you have it. If you have not shopped at Muji before, I recommend starting with their stationery. You are welcome.

Tokio Ramen, my obsession with noodles

/ antonioyrocinante / 1 Comment

One of the recurring topics of this blog is food. I have written about paella, American breakfasts, sushi, pizza, and now noodles. Noodles in all their great Asian versions have been a relatively recent discovery for me, but I love them.

This is a bit embarrassing, but it might have been my old friend Theo who took me to Wagamama’s in London in the 90s, not the most authentic experience, but enough to get me hooked!

The beauty of noodles is that a bowl of noodles is a full meal in one serving. You have soup, noodles, some proteins, some veggies, and a perfect meal.

Boynton Beach has a few great noodle venues, with Tokio Ramen being right down the street from me, so I go with some regularity. It is run by an older, cute Japanese couple who also sell some Japanese candy and sodas. But the star is noodles. They come in different broths, with different proteins, eggs, pork, etc., paired with a Japanese beer, you have the perfect meal. The place is simple, nothing fancy, but it does not need bells and whistles, it has phenomenal ramen, which is really all you need! It is reasonably priced and did I mention they have Japanese beer?

If, like me, you are a noodle aficionado, you must see the great Japanese film Tampopo about a ramen joint in Tokyo!

What is your favorite type of noodles? And your favorite noodle restaurant?

Shameless self promotion / Job search Fall 2016

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Ah yes, that time again when one has to start thinking of finding a job. Since this will be (Insha’Allah) my last (academic) year at UNC. I have to start thinking of what I will be doing come September of 2016…

One of the few things I am certain of is that I am passionate about teaching, especially my language, my culture, my literature. I am hopeful that someone somewhere will need a Spanish teacher with over ten years teaching experience and a PhD in Spanish Literature for next year.

Narrowing down my job options, I would love to be the coordinator of an American university’s study abroad program in Spain – ideally in Spain, near my family. But I know I will thrive teaching at a small liberal arts college or at a secondary school where I can also be a “dorm parent” and coach, what they call in the business a “triple threat”.

Where? You ask. Well I must confess I have fallen in love with the South – who wouldn’t? and I do love the East coast, its history, culture, and relative proximity to Europe. But I would love to explore new grounds: Asia, Korea or Japan, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, and of course old Europe, make me an offer!!

Experience? In my first job I was in charge of training / coaching / herding? the summer interns that came to Grantham Mayo and Van Otterloo in Boston. From then on in the late 80s I have always enjoyed the training and mentoring part of my jobs. During my stint as a stockbroker in Madrid since I was not doing much in the teaching/coaching/mentoring realm I volunteered to teach English at the Colegio de Huerfanos de la Guardia Civil in Madrid  As a sales manager I was in charge of team training and later as consultant I would do the same around Latin America. Once I had my own company from ´94 to ´04 I loved all the training that happened for new employees. We even organized yearly retreats with a coach to help us improve. In 2005 I started my professional teaching career teaching at public schools, private schools and at UNC for the last three years.

They say in Spain “el movimiento se demuestra andando” (something like movement is proven by walking) so here are a couple of videos of me trying to teach. One at Walnut Hill, the oldest private arts school in the US and my first semester at UNC. In case you are really interested I have also included my abridged CV, feel free to ask for any more info!!

Antonio Balsón CV Academic -abridged-