U.S. Day Two!

This morning Megan woke me up at 7 in her nice cool dark room with the fan in the window and we chatted on her bed until she had to finish getting ready to leave for work. I ate blueberries for breakfast and after that made macaroni and cheese, my first thing I cooked in the U.S.! Then I watched a few minutes of American TV and realized I'd forgotten about all those crazy Judge shows, lol. Then I meant to study Japanese or unpack but instead fell asleep on the couch for two hours.Megan came home and woke me up and I was a crab. I shouldn't've fallen asleep. We drove to West Bend to get my debit card from my sister cause I need it to rent a car. We drove past soooooo much green, corn fields and tractors and the Dodge County fairgrounds and all my old stompin grounds.... And how strange to see Manda again, the first time in 3 years, and yet it was like no time had passed at all. She was working though so she just had time to show me the pictures of Caleb she had in her wallet and give me my mail and we left and drove all the way back to Madison using her Prius's GPS system. I like driving in cars. I like road trips.Then we stopped at the second gas station of the day, oh I forgot, the one we stopped at in the morning, okay wait it was after noon, there was this cute Japanese guy in line behind us at Subway and I was super aware of him but I NEVER WOULD HAVE EVEN NOTICED HIM before, I'm certain of that, lol. Then we walked over to Target for like 5 minutes while her little Marty's pizza was cooking. Then we went to the airport to try to rent a car with the debit card but this time the problem was that they didn't have any cars. I was really tired again tonight though so it's probably best I couldn't drive yet and just pay attention to Meggie driving. THEN WE WENT TO WHOLE FOODS!!!! Oh my god, I'd been dreaming about that for months. I'm definitely gonna go back there again before I leave, but for tonight here's what I bought to last me through the weekend:
Silk vanilla soymilk
Silk chocolate soymilk
a granny smith apple
guacamole and tortilla chips
cornbread
StonyField Farm vanilla yogurt
unscented body soap

Then we came home, Ryo called, I read through the little Whole Foods recipe magazine while Megan took a shower, we ordered Chinese food and were gonna watch a porn movie or the Da Vinci code but I'm not really interested in seeing either and Megan got tired so now she's reading a fat book called 'The Hour I First Believed' and we're gonna turn in.
I saw a robin today too. I'm really glad I got to go to Whole Foods but it scares me how much money I'm probably gonna wanna spend there, lol.

U.S. Day One!

I've been awake for the last 28 hours.I couldn't sleep on the plane. It was too cramped and uncomfortable. I should've invested in a neck pillow.I'm going to have to relearn how to relax. Everything is so casual here. On the plane, the casualness of the flight attendant saying, "Water? Anybody want some water?" Was America always this casual? For the past two years it's been "Excuse me, but would you care for some water by chance, honorable customer?" Outside the plane's window, beautiful clouds, lakes, rivers... and me, the only one looking out at them. It looked like a crisp cold winter's morning out there. Were we so far north that the sun just doesn't shine much there? Is that what that gentle light was that reminded me of being the only one up on early snowy, frosty mornings? Or the sleepy safe comfortable happy waking up to say goodbye to Ja as he left for work, yawning and watching him scrape ice off his windshield in the dark quiet. Or peaceful mornings at hotel front desks, making coffee before the phones'd start ringing.My voice sounds foreign when I interact with clerks in English. My hand goes up to my face to say no, I don't need the receipt.. I admire the young, cool, casual black male workers at the airport with their smooth walk and good smell, exclaiming at the condition of situations or how somebody messed up, just talking so relaxed about their work or their day. They seem safe, funny, friendly. I feel at ease.

We ate onion rings at Culver's and the unhealthy food choices scare me. I have to watch what I say because everyone understands my English here.

At the car rental place Megan says, "That clerk's cute" and I don't see it. Driving home I say "Wow, did you see that Asian guy back there?" "No," she says. Lol.

I am in awe of the field of grass and clover outside my friend's apartment. It's wide, wide open and quieter here. Megan says I should live in the U.S. and I feel my heart jump at the suggestion.

I shouldn't underestimate the importance and necessity of doing new things. It's good for me. My personality, my self, needs it.

A Vacation From Japan

Next week I'm going to the U.S. for a couple few weeks.

I've been keeping myself pretty busy with making appointments and reservations, looking into hotels and currency exchange, getting driving directions. I've got ear plugs and eye shades for the plane and a giant pile of Japanese paraphernalia for omiyage. And I've managed to convince my boss that I'm really not coming to work for a few weeks so he really does need to find someone to cover for me.

But it's unreal that I'm going. Cause really when I fly to Japan or the U.S., the thing I'm struck by is how they aren't just different countries, they're different planets. I'm going to another planet I haven't visited in 2 years. I wonder what has changed? Have I?

I have days where I like living in Japan, but unfortunately because of being burnt out teaching English or because of not liking the vast majority of Japanese people I meet, I have a lot of days where I wonder if going back to the U.S. wouldn't be a good idea. So while I'm there I need to ask myself if I think I'd be happier there, and if so, start making some changes. That's scary.

Passport.
Tickets.
Notebook with directions/appointments written in it.
Money. IDs.
Camera.

Wide open eyes and mind so I can see clearly what I need to do from here.

安全で安心な旅でありますように。 I hope it's a safe trip.
全て必要なもの・ことが覚えていられますように。 I hope I can remember everything I need to do.
日本語を忘れませんように。 I hope I don't forget my Japanese.

Kamakura, Tokyo, Yokohama

Have you ever felt so happy that it just made you sad? Because you realize it's out of your control whether the thing that is making you happy will continue or not. You realize in liking that thing, you are setting yourself up to feel awful when it's taken away. I don't remember feeling this way before when a good thing would come into my life. It's such a strange new feeling, to see this way in which I've been changed.


I'd never been much north of Nagoya but I had the chance to spend a couple days in Kamakura, Yokohama and Tokyo last weekend for the first time. I'd been wondering if I'd ever get to Tokyo before I left Japan, and lots of people had recommended I visit Yokohama, and I'm really really glad I finally was able to do both.

On Thursday I took the shinkansen to Kamakura. I spent two nights at a beautiful family's house that continually made me cry for reminding me of what it's like to have a family and a home. The mom made tons of special food because she knew I couldn't eat meat... so we had homemade pickles and umeshu and ebi furai and steamed broccoli, carrots and potatoes... I even tried an oyster.

On Friday I went to Kamakura see the Daibutsu, hydrangea at Hasa-dera and 八幡宮 (Hachiman-gu).

Friday night I went to Tokyo. For a couple of hours. :) I only saw a bit of Shinjuku and walked through Tokyo station.

On Saturday I went to Yokohama and saw the port, the famous Yokohama skyline and ate lunch in Chinatown. Then I took the shinkansen back to Nagoya and got home as the sun was setting.

Here are some of the beautiful shots from the big adventure.The ones toward the end, of a port, are Yokohama, from either side of the bay. It was so beautiful and I can't wait to go back to see what it looks like at night.

We prayed at so many shrines and made wishes, even at a Chinese shrine in Chinatown. Then the night I got back it'd rained and the ground was slippery and I almost got hit by a taxi on my bike just in front of Nagoya station. He didn't stop at the crosswalk and my brakes locked up and I flew to the ground just before the street, ending up with just road rash on both my palms, a scrape on my knee and an even more-bent-out-of-shape-than-before bike basket. I imagined I was okay because of all that praying after so long, lol.

Only 3 days!!... It wasn't enough. I'd like to take pictures in Tokyo all day, explore the shrines by myself, remember to buy omiyage, eat lots more new food... I'll go again one day.

Fun Things でいっぱい

Today I went to the house of a prior student who's been studying massage for the last 6 months or so and she gave me a massage. Wow. It was great.

First she gave me some tea and I munched on shrimp crackers I bought at the convenience store at the train station cause I hadn't eaten lunch, and we caught up since I haven't seen her in a couple of months.

Then she had me soak my feet in this styrofoam foot bath thing while sitting on a sofa staring out the window, and she played quiet classical music and covered my legs with a towel and gave me a 抱きまくら, a super soft long bear pillow to hang onto and love while my feet were feelin' all nice. :) It felt really nice how she'd prepared and thought about everything like that. I guess she may've gotten some suggestions at massage school. But you know, some people do that stuff and some people just don't think about things like that.

Man, I love getting massages. Seriously. This was my 3rd real one in my whole life, and my second in Japan. She was really good and attentive and professional. She said she thought I was more sensitive than the other people she's given massages to because it was tickly to me when she was massaging my arms and toes. She was putting her whole body into it and sweating and I could hear her breathing and I thought what great exercise it is to give someone a massage. Ahh that was nice.

After I was all lubed up with jojoba oil (hohoba in Japanese) we had more tea and a green tea flavored little sweet thing and then she checked my Japanese homework for class this week and drove me back to Zengo station.

Then I met a coworker in Sakae and we played frisbee and I had a basil and shrimp sandwich from Doutour. Did you know that Japan doesn't have frisbee? I guess it's cause they don't have the space to have people be playing something like that. Just like how nobody whistles here, cause walls of houses are thin and it'd just annoy everybody. And did you also know that some of the Doutour's in Sakae actually have entire non-smoking FLOORS? What a concept! I wish other cafes here would catch on to that since it doesn't look like they're gonna go totally non-smoking anytime soon.

Then we went to United Colors of Benetton and tried on fancy clothes while the shop clerks tried to practice their English on us. I really hate it when they do that but my coworker friend doesn't speak Japanese so she always smiles and humors them. Then I waited outside the Apple store for her for an hour and people-watched, which was nice. It was dusk then, my favorite time of day.

When I was sitting out there watching people walk by, I realized that I don't like the way about 98% of Japanese people dress. And about 85% of the guys look totally gay. I'd had these thoughts before, but I always thought my eyes were just drawn to the badly-dressed or gay-looking people but that I wasn't including the normal people. But I was looking at every single person who passed by this time, cause I was just sitting on a bench. Maybe there's just an unusually large number of badly-dressed people and gay men who walk around in Yabacho. So instead of 98% of Japanese people I guess I should say 98% of Japanese people in Nagoya in Yabacho.

Then we biked around ringing our bells and said goodnight American guy-style. You know, where it's like a handshake that turns into a half-hug? Sometimes we spontaneously try out different physical greetings like that. The french-style kiss on each side of the cheek didn't go very well last time. French style kiss, lol, ummm, not a french kiss, er... you see what's happening to my English?

Tomorrow if nobody sketches out we're going to the beach again and then I'll eat lunch with another old student of mine I haven't seen in a while, then I have to come home and finish cleaning my house for a friend who's coming from Kamakura to see me the next day. Then if it doesn't rain this week we're going to Nagashima Spaland and Tokyo and Yokohama. Tokyo! I've never been to Tokyo!! Holy crap, it's so exciting I can't let myself think about it too much or it'll be Halloween 1992 all over again, where I got so excited about trick-or-treating that I made myself sick and ended up not even being able to go.

また夏が来た Summertime has come again

Ahh summer.
One thing that means to me is watermelon. Lots and lots of watermelon. Watermelon slices, watermelon balls in fruit salad, watermelon with salt and pepper, watermelon for dinner and nothing else. I can remember carrying giant ones out of the store with my mom, $2.99. Those were the days.

Fruit in Japan is another story, though, and I can't quite figure out why. It's not cause it's an island country and it costs more to have stuff imported and stuff, cause I buy dirt cheap pumpkin from Mexico, we have relatively cheap kiwis and avocados from... Uhhh I should pay more attention to the labels.

Japanese people give fruit as gifts a lot, so that's part of the reason I guess, to make it more expensive. Like, the melons in the stores have bows on them and can cost up to $100. That's not a typo. For a regular old melon.

Anyway, today at the store I bought a whole pineapple for $2, and a little section of a watermelon for $3 and made a fruit bowl, lol. Yum! I couldn't wait till going back to the U.S. for watermelon and I'm glad I didn't.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of standing in your hot kitchen with the doors open and fans blowing, bare feet, in shorts and a tank top, no bra, totally relaxed, and burying your face in cool, sweet, gushy watermelon, feeling the sticky juice run down your chin and elbows and all over the floor, hahaha.

It's summer in Japan. How bout where you are?

日本の漫才大好き

I've been watching a lot of Japanese comedy skits lately. They are sooooo funny, much funnier than any American comedian I've ever seen, as far as I remember. It could just be happiness and pride at being able to understand the majority of what they're saying. Of course, being able to see the scene helps a lot. When it's all just stand-up like most of American comedy, it's much harder to grasp what's going on.The last one has English subs so if you check out any of them, look at that one to get an idea of what the content's like. Man I love this stuff.

Most of Japanese comedians are guys but I'm gonna try to find more good female ones too.

One side-effect of watching this stuff is I start talking like them. Today in Sakae I was biking behind this other guy just c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g along and under my breath I said 「おせーよ、オマエ...」 automatically. 笑 Hooray! I don't care if Japanese guys say it's not cute to talk like that, I'm learning, lol :)