brit's bubble

2006-11-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

well well well, there has been some slacking and serious ball dropping here but im back and since the last update, ive had cousins visit, parents visit, we climbed mount fuji (awesome, not at all the torture i thought but 15 overnight hours of challenge none the less), two more visits to my loves, erin and laine in gifu, good bye parties galore, and then poof im back, a canadian resident once again. and it was touch and go for awhile- a little bit of upset, other bits of happy, relief, back to sad but a relaxing month of gainful unemployment and now im a christmas gift basket elf, hating the fact i have to work, but loving my job. and now that im settling in, im also wondering how excited i really am to be moving to vancouver to pursue my so called dream of becoming a chocolatier. but i have a job all lined up, an apartment lining up and a friend there already so it won't be moving to a whole new place and starting new yet again. and im sure once i get there, i'll be happy as grass beside grass. smiling happy, thats what. but anyway, not the point. the point is im going to try not to be a neglectful mother with this puppy and i'll put up some pictures just to entice myself to continue...

surrounded by mountains and friends, i became happy feelings

2006-08-01T03:28:00.000-07:00

This whole time living in mishima, i was all up on my high horse thinking it was such a beautiful place, believing no other city could compare. Well, it is a beautiful city, and i love it, but i went to visit erin and laine in seki, gifu, and it certainly gave my city a run for its money. Its a tiny city, a touch more quaint and surrounded everywhere by beautiful mountains and beautiful skies (although that could have just been good timing). i really didnt want to leave, and not only because im sick of living without my best friends.
after arriving at night on friday, we hit up the closest izakaya and then took the party to their apartment. and it was like a real apartment- full size fridge and everything. i nearly pooped my pants when i saw that. here is a little haiku i wrote for the the feeling i had upon seeing such a rare commodity:
i laid eyes on the big fridge
jealousy took me
i want to take it back home

not bad for my second one ever, huh? hehe
the next day we day-tripped into gifu to see the two hour firework display that was stunning and gorgeous and the festival was full of yukata-clad people and lined with food stands. we had edamame, a baked potato, candied mini apples and octopus balls. not too be confused with octopus testicles, because thats not at all what they are. mostly theyre like puffed up breaded octopus. kind of.
the next day we went to the washi (handmade paper) museum and it was all so beautiful and then we got to make our own paper. it was so rad. and much less time consuming and expensive than i thought it would be. i was thoroughly impressed and now i have my own piece of paper made by my own hands. wonderful!

the neglectful blogger

2006-07-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

alright, so i know ive been slacking pretty hard with this thing, but there has just been far too much fun to be had. between a crazy weekend in tokyo (sorry, melissa has all those pictures), spanish night at colin and claudia's, picnic at the beach (which i only went to for about an hour, but hey), and just general fun i just haven't had the time or inclination. but last week erin and laine came down for a visit and i got some good pictures. needless to say there was partying and friend love to spare. during their visit there was sake, beer, walks, cameras, games, partying, good eating, purikura and oh so much good feeling to be shared. but too much to share here. so here are a few pictures. enjoy!

Dear Andrew Bell

2006-06-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this here because there's really no way to contact you. I heard you got in a car accident. I heard youre comatose and i heard you have 12 months to live. it doesn't seem real and maybe that's why im not as upset as i thought id be. i couldnt even cry. but i do get flashes of your face and then it fades out, like the light of a camera or something.
we went to high school together and we worked together. you were floor, and i was prep and we took lunch together sometimes and i had a huge crush on you, but you knew that. i think you were too cool for me. we hung out once or twice.
i dont know what you wanted out of life and i dont know if you got it, but i hope you were happy. you were a happy, smiley person when i knew you. man, this is sad. i dont really know what to say. maybe its stupid to hope that youll recover, but its happened before hasnt it?
i went for a long walk by the river last night, thinking of you until finally i ran out of thoughts and i wasn't as sad. or maybe it was shocked.
anyway, this is for you andrew, but you'll never read it.

2006-05-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

the sun is shining, the garden is growing and life is just...nice. so nice. melissa, matt and i decided to go in a portable gas burner together and have weekly dinner parties. our first dinner party came after a day at an onsen park (what other country has a park dedicated solely to different kinds of baths?) it was a fantastic day of soaking in coffee baths, red wine baths, charcoal baths, etc. plus of course the water slide and the cave-like baths underneath that looked like a disco. it was just one big sigh of happiness. then we came home and our nabe party began. nabe is basically a 'whatever you want' soup- roger knows how good this is. made with soy milk, water, soy sauce and miso, you add vegetables and meat (if youre not veggie- tofu if you are) and noodles as you go along, making it a long, enjoyable process. most of the foods here are like that- theres isnt the rush. its little-by-little eating and goes well with good conversation, a card game or a movie.
our next dinner party was 'tempura night', last saturday. we ended up with an insane amount of food were still frantically trying to eat before it turns. it was a nice night of talking, drinking beer, and plopping any of the pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, tofu, asparagus, five types of mushrooms, peppers, shiso leaves, etc. into the hot oil. we had planned on tempura-ing bananas and apples for dessert but we were all oiled out by then and just ate them fresh.
next is the gyoza challenge (challenge because were going to make it with tofu instead of meat and who knows how that will turn out). wish us luck!

the motanai movement

2006-05-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

i learned this word, motanai, a couple of months ago and fell in love with it. it's like a kind of 'don't waste' motto and i realize i've been somewhat obsessed with this concept since coming here. i've been crazy about trying to appreciate this country and my experience here, so that when i'm not doing it have this horrible guilty feeling because i'm only here for so long. i should be soaking in japan through my pores. well, it's bloody exhausting, this appreciation business. I do appreciate, but i need to relax my focus a bit. i'm mostly just doing normal living and i have to accept that. there. that feels better.
this all came about, this realization, when i came home early from vacation and have been spending my days just relaxing instead of taking day trips and seeing all i could see in this time off from work. i had planned on going to yokohama, maybe even take my first trip into tokyo. i was semi-excited about these ideas. my first day off i did some gardening and then when one of my tools broke, i called it a day and took the train into gotemba for a couple of hours.
the thing is, that i'm happier just sitting in the dirt out back, ripping out the rampant weeds, reading my book, taking long baths, watching movies and just doing crafty things. basically, doing things of no real importance except for what i place on them. but isn't that what vacation is all about? doing things you want to do? relaxing? so what if i'm not seeing different places here. i've travelled. i've seen places. and i'll see more. but right now im finding my happiness right where i am, and i think that's more important.
before, my conception of 'motanai' was running around and experiencing all i could experience. that or feeling guilt for not doing that. i've changed my outlook. it now means to me that i shouldn't be wasting my happiness. do what makes me happy. sure im in japan. but ill experience it the way i want to. afterall, its just living isnt it? i'm motanai-ing my life.

the visual before the story

2006-05-03T04:58:00.000-07:00

the first picture is just hilarious, if possibly offensive to some. this would be rob, feeling rather insignificant next to the almighty buddha. but look how pleased the buddha is! hehe
the next picture is of fuji-san (look, no wires! something that is virtually impossible to capture from my normal viewpoint. a definate bonus when it comes to picture taking and overall appreciation.)
the third picture is of the Narusawa taisha we discovered while on a little walk after we first arrived. it was tucked away in this tiny street and up on a hill.
then, on that same tiny, behind-everything street is an old lady working the field (fields here are measured in tatami sizes as opposed to acres. probably because theyre so small, but still, the numbers must get pretty high). i don't see many old ladies working the fields in mishima, because there arent many fields, but i do see the women, who are recognizable because they are bent at a 90 degree angle, thus making them child-size. its really quite sad.
then theres the opening to the ice caves, directly followed by rob, sam (a british guy we met there, whos trying to put ice down my shirt) and me. the blocks there look like they were imported. hmm... then of course, the ICE. hehe.

the golden week drag

2006-05-03T04:31:00.000-07:00

So maybe i built this place up too much or maybe i wasn't as open minded as i should have been, but i was so, so excited to go to this place in yamanashi-ken for golden week. it was all organic and they had horse back riding and the ice caves were within walking distance and they built treehouses and had breadbaking and...and...it just wasn't like that really. the horse back riding wasn't a part of their place. the breadbaking wasn't until the summer or something. i was paying 3,000yen a night to sleep in a tiny room with rob where there was just enough room for both of us and our bags at the foot of the futon and we had to shut the door at all times because we were right next to the indoor port-o-potty that, based on the smell, must have been in use and unchanged or untouched since this place opened five years ago. the cafe didn't even have any cozy chairs. and i could have built that treehouse when i was in high school. okay, maybe im being too hard on the place. its run by hippies. i get that. but still, i mean, theyre running a business, no? so i left early. i mean, it was alright, but i wasn't gonna stay longer than i did and im much happier back in mishima, working on my garden and just not working.
there were perks, though, and im glad i went.
perk #1: the onsen. oh god, the onsen. it was fantastic. so many different kinds of baths and it was just gorgeous. i was debating staying just to keep going there. fantastic. truly.
perk #2: the ice caves. they weren't very big and didn't take very long to get through, but i loved them. i don't think ive ever been in a real cave before and it was awesome.
perk #3: the hike rob and i took up the mountain behind us, then down the other side of it to lake saiko (one of fuji's five lakes) and then back up and back down again. good god im out of shape, but it felt good. once it was done that is. hehe...
perk #4: the view of mt. fuji. okay, sure, i see it everyday the weather is clear in mishima, but, well, we were closer. so it looked even better. plus, you can never get tired of something so beautiful or monumental. well, i dont think so anyway.
perk #5: just getting out so it felt like a vacation. that was nice.
there you go. five perks. and thats not bad. plus im thinking of going to yokohama and stroll around china town. today i went to gotemba to hit up the outlet malls for some cheap summer work clothes. but everything was so insanely expensive because the stores were all fancy (the cheapest thing was the gap, and it reminded me of mike. hi mike. i miss you.) and it reminded me a lot of canada's wonderland except without the rides and, you konw, shopping instead. hard to explain.
and i started working weeding the garden below me but after two hours only a tiny patch was done because im trying to be really good about it and actually get the roots and its just choked with green. its crazy down there and i wish i hadnt procrastinated so much. gah. hehe. anyway, the moral of this story is that iwas disappointed but im still appreciating my golden week.

Home...?

2006-05-02T02:53:00.000-07:00

I just came home from vacation. early. and sure, ill probably be bored stiff come thursday but i needed to come home because:
1) there was a large, cool, yet oppressive hippy vibe about the place and it was just not as great as i thought it would be and
2) i missed home
and by home i mean my little box in midori-cho. it has definately become home to me, complete with all those home feelings. while i was away i kept thinking of my plants and if they needed watering and if they had grown. and i wondered if musashi, my newt was happy or if he had climbed out and had become an escape artist-turned-wanderer, probably to his demise. and then theres my fish. and just my place in general. i love it so much. its the cozy place that makes me feel happy and comfortable and relaxed. i have life in here and that life has become my friend. it's a strange feeling craving a home that is temporary. all i know is that i will be so sad to leave it when that time comes months from now. i'll be leaving my home to go to another home. but what one is more real? what one is more my home?
they are both my home in different ways of course. canada home holds my family, my friends, and everything im used to and am familiar with. but this home is just...mine. ive never had a home that was just mine, all mine. as much as i miss things sometimes, i do love my space and it does make me feel happy.

p.s.-the plants have grown. they do need watering. musashi did not escape and seems happy. he keeps eating his skin though and i dont know what that means. my fish are hurting though with what seems like a variety of diseases that makes me feel yucky (they probably dont feel so hot either)and i cant understand what went wrong in only three days...

the kept woman

2006-04-28T03:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know what kind of vibes i've been giving off in classes recently but it must be the 'invite me out please' ones cuz thats what has been happening with a bunch of my students. not completely accurate, cuz as horrible as this sounds, i don't necessarily want to hang out with my students outside of work. And it probably is horrible, cuz they're being really nice and paying for really nice meals but it really does just feel like work a lot of the time. cuz that's what my work is: talking to people. which is probably why ive beome the hermit i am. but anyway. i went out this week with one of my new students, mr. ono, to this really great sushi restaurant and i actually didnt mind this one because he actually has interesting things to say.
among the adults, hes one of my favourite, so it was a fun night but it left me feeling a little like a kept woman. i mean, the man has been taking lessons for 10 years and refuses to have a male teacher. he takes them out in his fancy car to a great restaurant, orders dish after dish, drink after drink and gets a little flirty after awhile. and all i have to do is sit there, talk english and be impressed. so....i dont know. is this wrong?

my very first earthquake

2006-04-22T02:36:00.000-07:00

My very first earthquake was initially confusing, giving way to frightening and then mild excitement cuz, you know, its my very first earthquake. it happened at 3 am(i thought it was 5 but everyones saying 'no no, it was 3' so sure, whatever, 3 am. anyway, i was dreaming away about helping one of my kiddies put together the letter Z with one of our foam alphabets when the dream starting shaking, which of course made me wake up. i opened my eyes, trying to register what was going on. maybe because the night before it had been so windy, so my confusion manifested in wondering why or how i could feel like the wind. like i was inside it. like i was part of it. an interesting thought, really, but maybe not so strange considering i was in a smoothly progressing dream land.
finally i realized i wasnt in the wind, but that the apartment building was shaking. not knowing what to do and still in the process of waking up, i just lay there and felt it shake and i heard a bang in my bathroom and then it stopped and i rolled onto my side and thought about it for awhile, telling myself it was okay to go to sleep because it was just a little earthquake and it wasnt just building up to something big and after awhile i fell back asleep.
i woke up the next morning to the most beautiful clear blue sky and wondered if it was a dream but i found my shampoo bottle had fallen into the tub and that was the cause of the bathroom bang. nope, not a dream. apparently it was a 3 pointer (7 is big. above 5 and its danger zone.) and weve felt 2 tremors since. my first earthquake.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3950315.stm

ichi-go daifuku cooking class

2006-04-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

I've become a class person and i love it. not only do you learn things, but you improve your japanese too! well, ive been loving my mochi and raving about in my classes when i run out of things to say (oh god help me in those awkward silences! hehe), so one of my students brought in a flyer on making your own mochi sweets. so my boss helped me sign up for teh class and after my saturday classes this morning, i was off! it turned out i was the only student, which was a little strange, but fun. it was all pretty easy, my teacher was cute and helpful and it was ten bucks well spent.
on thursday, melissa and i are going to take tofu burger class!

Sakura Season (the moment weve all been waiting for...)

2006-03-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

Waking up this morning, slightly hungover, slightly stale and completely lazy but with a fighting spirit, i crawled out of bed, decided that i had to keep my promise to myself that i would see the sakura blossoms and drink amazake at the taisha. once doing that, i could do absolutely nothing with my day before going to my first aikido lesson tonight, and not feel even a twitch of guilt. My students have all been raving about the blossoms at the taisha (temple) and ive been looking forward to seeing the blossoms since i arrived in September, but i do remember that lesson i learned going to see the ume blossoms (theyre beautiful, but they are just flowers!) and my students have raved about other not -so-exciting things before. So although looking forward to this easy experience, i wasn't expecting much.
hordes of people had the same plans (not surprising) i realized as the sidewalk gathered people like a magnet gathers staples. oh boy, here we go again, another one of my pigheaded, touristy endeavors, i thought. but, what is this....? could it be, oh my god, it really is all worth it! its gorgeous and everyone is completely right to be caught up and carried away on the Sakura Hope Highway. i couldnt believe the blossoms choking the sky above me, walling in the walkway, peeking over the pond. Pink! white! Everywhere! and suddenly the crowds didnt look so crowded compared to the flower filled air around me. stalls lined the walkway too with wonderful food: taco yaki, candied strawberries, yaki soba, chocolate covered bananas, okonomiyake, hot dogs, crispy fried soba sticks and french fries.
i went picture crazy, walked around, got upset when i was reprimanded for walkin and eating my soba sticks (everyone else was walking and eating! racist. racist i say!), weaved through the countless stalls of beautiful pottery, ammended that old lesson learned (now it's that yes, flowers are just flowers but sometimes they can be magic too), sat down for some delicious okonomiyake and watched the pond and the flowers as they teased the pond with a near touch, always coming up short on the breeze. as wonderful as it all felt, its times like these that make me wish i had someone here to share this with. and we could take pictures of each other too, so people could see i really am here and when im old and senile, i can see it again too, because im going to want to do that.
walking home i guess i was still entranced by the magic of the flowers and found a bush with possibly the perfect specimen of a big pink flower. or maybe i was just in blossom love land.

the sprout that could

2006-03-24T22:11:00.000-08:00

So this blog is basically turning into the ten tops reasons im a geek, but fuck it, i AM a geek. hehe. anyway, i went to class this morning, checking each pot carefully for any hint of green (its a week today since i planted the veggies and herbs,and im getting ansy) but nothing. sigh. but after only 2 hours at work i came back home and while i was bringing my futon in from outside, i spied with my little eye a SPROUT!!! it was so exciting, melissa came over to see and then i called erin and woke her up with my exciting news, which is really only exciting to me. but thank you erin, youre my girl.
soon all those planters and more behind my camera angle will be overloaded by green yummythings. hopefully. hehe.

the moments in between

2006-03-17T23:37:00.000-08:00

i thought the days of procrastination were over with at the end of school but i was sorely mistaken. i think its a hobby, actually, or maybe it just goes with studying because im sitting here, watching the dripping of drops and the rustle of leaves outside my window, eating trail mix, which i cant seem to stop doing, when i should be learning more hiragana. sigh. maybe its just a rainy day thing. a couple of nights ago i was awoken by the haru ichiban (spring gale) that damn near blew the building over and tore the bamboo out of the earth. i couldnt go back to sleep because of the windchime outside and my irrational fear of the wind (i never knew this fear existed in me, but i guess you learn something new every day) but finally i got up, went outside and took down the wind chime for the night. and it became peaceful. the wind blew, but less strong and the sky was clear and the moon was shining and the air was even a little warm. i was alone on my balcony, in my building, in mishima, in japan, in the world and it felt nice. it felt not alone.

available upon request

2006-03-14T03:20:00.000-08:00

this is my rendition of elli, but keep in mind that the boy choices for dolls are limited and i haven't seen a picture since your face transplant, so it's the best i could do. enjoy! hehe. oh, and a picture of my apartment building. cute, huh?

the birthday bubble

2006-03-14T03:06:00.000-08:00

well, well, i'm 24 and pushing that quarter century mark. hehe. i really didn't expect much for my birthday this year but of course, it's when you least expect it that things just work out nicely, isn't it? melissa and rob took me out to dinner on friday and then after work on saturday, todd drove rob, ryosuke (my old student, robs new student), his little brother, so and i to the s-pulse soccer game in shimizu. it was so much fun and i've decided to become a soccer fan. i've also decided that soccer playes are little babies cuz they would stop the game every 5 minutes it seemed just cuz a player fell down. at one point they even brought out a stretcher but it turned out the guy just got sacked so although painful, he didn't actually need a stretcher. there was a lot of rolling around and grabbing the injury though. don't these guys wear cups? honestly. hehe.
and just when i thought i had milked all the birthday generosity out of everyone, todd and rob took me out for another birthday dinner and a couple drinks. anyway, it was a great day and i even stumbled home to have a message of my parents singing happy birthday to me on the answering machine- a birthday tradition that im keeping for whenever i need some cheering up! so thank you everyone for making this birthday a fun one. oh, 24, here i come!

my geeky obsession

2006-03-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

alright, im a big geek, i know but this is way too much fun! its like barbie for adult weirdos with way too much time on their hands. so far ive done erin (sister), me (im conveniently in front of a persimmon tree- enough students loaded me down with that yummy fruit to make this so appropriate. hehe) and erin (pseudo sister) and i cant stop! i really need to get a life but before then im determined to create an anime doll for every person ive ever known. haha. any requests? just say the word and youve got yourself an anime version of yourself! and erin, you cut your hair and have so far refused to present a picture, so this is my best guestimate. ya? no?

the happy home bubble

2006-03-04T01:55:00.000-08:00

i don't know if it's that the weather is so wonderful lately or it's my new home or what, but i've been so effing happy lately. i'm one of those people you see walking down the street with a goofy smile and you wonder what made them so happy. life man. hehe. anyway, my new home. the first two pictures were taken from my doorway, then there's the view from my balcony, looking out the window from my bed (it's dark, i know, but can you see the bamboo in the window? i love being able to only see green from my window. beats the hell out of a factory!) and then from the kitchen sink-my bed and makeshift closet. ooh it all makes me so happy. my cozy, happy bubble. the only bad thing is that i want o stay here all the time.
today i went for a walk though and had a picnic by the river because it's a beautiful day and i've got the whole thing to spend as i please. ah, the freedom! it was definately one of those gaijin-show days and it seemed everybody i passed found a thrill in saying 'hello' to the foreigner, practicing their english theyre probably paying far too much for. i had big plans for just sitting by the river reading and writing letters but i couldn't take much more of being stared at by all the sunday walkers so finally i came back to be a recluse in my place. the windows are open,the sun is shining, the river below is gurgling and the bamboo beside me is a-ruslting. ahhhh......

ume in atami

2006-03-03T05:04:00.000-08:00

Plum blossoms. what can i say, im such a tourist and often wonder why once i get myself into these touristy things. like going to see plum blossoms for example. sure, theyre pretty. sure, im glad i got to see them. sure, it was nice spending some time with rob and getting to know him more. but honestly, they are just flowers after all and it would have been more meaningful had we not had to wade through a mob of other like-minded tourists hoping to find magic in the flowers, like us, and then rush right home to meet at the school for robs going away party.
i can confidently say that i learned two things that day. 1) i hate ume-boshi (pickled plums). never will i submit my taste buds to that sensation again, unless its thrown haphazardly into a glass of sake and im too embarassed to tell whoever did it that it makes me want to wretch. and
2) i love flowers but after all, they are just flowers.
i am also completely confident that as soon as cherry blossom season hits, ill forget all about number two and do some other random touristy thing. but who am i to deny my nature? hehe.

daruma makes everything right. so he says...

2006-03-03T04:47:00.000-08:00

Daruma is an ancient figure that now lives in myth but apparently was a monk that sat so long on his heels that his legs fell off and is now depicted as a sort of ball with a face and empty eyes. the eyes are empty because you buy one of these puppies, make a wish and colour in the left eye. once the wish comes true, you colour in the right one and he is complete. i learned all this from kaycee at the daruma festival that her students took us to in fuji. it was my first festival and although there were no rides, there was tonnes of awesome festival food- some different from ours, like taco-yaki (octopus puff ball thingies. yum!), yaki-soba (yummy noodles), okonomiyaki(like a vegetable pancake), dango (mochi and sauce), manchu (a little cake filled with bean paste) etc., and some like our festival food, like cotton candy, popcorn, fries, and candy apples (they go the extra miles and make candy grapes, strawberries, etc. why dont we do this?)
come to think of it, there wasnt much more than food at this festival except for a small shopping square where just about every booth was the same- daruma of every shape and size! we also paid a visit to the temple where people crowded around what i like to call the incense hut and this time there was 'special' incense that was supposed to heal whatever body part you wafted the smoke towards. oh by the way, that stuff for sale is whale. thats right- whale. now i admit, i've gotten quite into all the stuff normally considered by westerners to be pretty disgusting but whale? im pretty sure thats beyond disgusting, im pretty sure its pushing the wrong factor.

ode to my first apartment

2006-03-03T04:32:00.000-08:00

okay so this just may be an ode to all the things i left out actually so i can squeeze some more pictures in cuz i know thats the most interesting really. so in terms of where i used to live, well, it did the trick in terms of living and i did come to like it. it wasn't so bad really, despite the fact that i was pratically peeing in my kitchen, which could easily be mistaken for a closet without a door and it was kind of a dorm room rather than an actual apartment. but it was my first place and how could i not like that? it was okay by me. plus i had a fantastic view of mt.fuji when he happened to not be hiding in the smog or clouds from my front door.
so, i included a picture of that, plus one of my pet newt musashi (a famous and fierce samurai) in the midst of one of his unsuccessful escape attempts. unfortunately they werent all unsuccessful and i woke up twice to him trying to cuddle which was a really shocking and unappealing way to wake up, no matter how much i love the little guy.
also a picture of fuji-san on one of my walks to the store across a rice paddy. and one of my adventures in chocolate.

roger in japan

2006-03-03T04:13:00.000-08:00

and then roger came and i was the happy camper im used to being and japan ressumed its sparkle of earlier months. the poor guy was starved of sleep and clean laundry but the first thing we did was go out for an okonomiyake lunch and then i left him in my apartment while i went to work until 9:30, at which point i ran home, got changed and then he, kaycee, melissa and i all went out to ryoba, the local izakaya, for dinner and some drinks. i made him eat fried shrimpies (full little shrimp i mean), but the little brats kept piercing our mouths with their cripsy fried antennae. ouch. haha. the next day for my lunch time, i took him to a fancy sushi restaurant overlooking a garden that looked pretty sad, but im sure it perks up in the spring.
on saturday, kaycee, roger and i went to Kamakura, about an hour's train ride to see a massive buddha which really just reminded me of maddi and kenzie and how one time i told them that i was sitting like buddha and it just stuck. anyway, the buddha. ya, its big. impressive, but touristy, as is just about everything else it seems and then we walked back to the station along the beach and i know i live next to the ocean but it's a fact that constantly slips my mind so when we started looking for shells and i found washed up mini-conch shells and starfish, i was completely surprised. sometimes it just looks like a lake, what can i say?
the next day todd, his wife matsume, and baby mana took kaycee, roger and i sightseeing and it was MUCH better. first we went to some beautifu falls (ya, touristy though) and then to the oceanside (this time a beautiful view, impossible to mistake it for a lake) for a seafood lunch. but this was all just biding time for the ONSEN (hot spring) which turned out to be quite the adventure. it was a mixed onsen, which meant both men and women overlooking the ocean and there was some initial confusion because in normal onsens, there are change rooms and scrubby washing areas but there was none of that here. you just went down these steps and bam, naked people, hot springs and ocean. being the only women, and foreigners at that, kaycee and i felt a little awkward at first, especially since you go naked but soon you're in the water and it all goes away. we did feel something wasnt quite right, though, and it wasn't until we were climbing back up the stairs, clothed at this point, that todd pointed out a sign that said women should wear towels. no wonder we felt weird! ah the silly mistakes the foreigners make. hehe.
anyway, the rest of the week we mostly just chilled out, ate some food, had a nabe party and then he left and i was sad. for about two days he took a lot of my enthousiasm and happiness with him but then i bounced back because i had to start packing up my apartment to move into my new one. distraction is sometimes the cure to unhappiness. or the band-aid anyway.

at the start of the new year

2006-03-03T04:00:00.000-08:00

...Well, coming back from any vacation, especially a rad one like hakuba was such a downer and i was certainly not looking forward to starting work in less than a week and even less thrilled by the prospect of celebrating my own sad little christmas by myself. i did however. the morning after i got back i sat alone in my cold little box and opened the two cards and one package i had recieved which made me cry because they meant so much to me and because i just felt sad and alone. that night cheered me up though, when kaycee, her visting sister breckany, melissa, matt and i gathered for our own christmas. instead of getting really great gifts (although some were thown in), we decided to opt for quantity just so we could prolong the opening process. it was pretty great actually, and one of those times when you expect so little but end up so happy.
once work began, i cheered up a bit, and the prospect of having roger come soon, my spirits definately began to lift and one night i convinced kaycee (i had to get her sufficiently liquored up first though- oh her morals! hehe) that the greatest idea in the world would be to pay a visit to the big wood statue in front of the ladies' clinic that happened to bare a subtle resemblance to precisely what it specialized in, and then play in it. so drink and play we did and goodness it was fun. i recommend it to everyone. truely. hehe.

the hakuba bubble

2006-02-27T04:45:00.000-08:00

Hakuba, oh hakuba, you were so good, you deserve your own bubble. i can't even believe we made it there with all the crap we brought with us. around christmas time, there are discount tickets for the local trains and we promptly snatched them up so although the trip was crazy-long and smashed with transfers, we saved a whole lot of money! we did run into a problem closer to our destination- our last transfer into hakuba was cancelled due to too much snow and ice on the tracks, which bode well for our skiing plans, but not at all for convenience sake (haha, reading over this, i automatically read sake, like the drink, not the word). As it turns out, we lucked out and JR paid for an 8,000 Yen taxi in!
When we arrived, Hide and Nao, the couple that ran the hostel announced that they just got married that day! The next day was Christmas and our first day on the slopes; a beautiful, clear day and the best day skiing i had all trip. That night, in celebration of the newlyweds, we all had a nabe party and a lot to drink and matt, melissa and i ended up taking an after dinner stroll that resulted in the discovery of my new favourite sport- pole jumping. the snow was so high and fluffy that it was taller than my head and i decided to be the guinea pig in climbing the telephone pole on the corner and then jumping straight back. It was so fun and i probably had the best run, as it got all packed down after. i went later with some of the ossies i hung out with and again i had to be the first. babies. hehe.
i only went skiing twice after that cuz i just kept getting worse and worse and my cheap, used ski boots were becoming more and more uncomfortable. i was hoping to pay a visit to the jigokudani monkeys (the ones in the hot springs) but by mid week, i came home from a walk to see melissa had acquired a cast. so instead i chilled out with her by the fire, under the kotatsu, watching movies and reading until the boys came home from skiing, at which point i had to rid myself of the cabin fever i was feeling by going straight to the bar downstairs each night to socialize and learn the didgereedoo. i want one by the way. theyre awesome.
by new years, i had gotten to know rob, the bartender (and now co-worker at kiddy), so that rob, a little nervous of the new years rush, asked if i could help him out behind the bar in exchange for free drinks. but of course. will work for beer. it was actually pretty slow to begin with so by the time the crowd emerged, i was definately feeling the drink and i don't know how much help i actually was. after 'work' had settled down, i roasted marshmellows with adam, one of the shovellers and spent that night and into the morning watching ghostbusters at the other hostel, half-sleeping for a couple hours and then making waffles for the people at the hostel. a new years to remember. anuary second the bubble began its flotational descent as we took the train back, but it didn't burst because we still had our actual christmas to celebrate once we got back and work wasn't until the next week. a couple days yet!

the downward spiral of december

2006-02-27T04:28:00.000-08:00

And here's where the shimmer began to dull and that pesky thing called culture shock began to settle instead. poo. December was really no fun for me. I missed home, i was cold (I hadn't turned on my heat until the last week of December for some reason. that was just me being stupid and energy-conscience/cheap but made a big dent on the happy-o-meter as a result) and to top it all off, it was parent observation week somewhere in there which was just shit for the nerves, really, cuz all i could see was frowning mothers and misbehaving students, not to mention an absurd amount of second guessing every in-class decision. i have to admit, i was wanting to leave most of the time, if not actually planning on it.
Small things that kept me happy:

1)Kaycee and her endless good advice, comforting company, reassuring words and delicious food.
2)the path behind Kaycee's (now my) apartment where I spent a lot of time reading, watching ducks play and writing in my journal
3) the light at the end of the tunnel that was our christmas/new years vacation in hakuba...

but of course...KANUKI!

2006-02-27T04:12:00.000-08:00

I nearly forgot my favourite thing about November: Mt. Kanuki climbing! Or, well, hiking if you wanna be a jerk about it. Kaycee and i went just about every weekend in November and December (or at least I think we did. i really do have the memory of a goldfish. hehe)
If the weather was feeling nice or if we were feeling gengki enough, we'd do the 20 minute bike ride to kanuki and hike our way up, camera and tea laden, snack-packed and top-bound. mostly we just took a lot of snack and picture breaks. it wasn't all that hard, as much as i'd like to lie and say it was. i think the thing that made it the hardest was always the tea we insisted on buying at the 7-11 that was 2 litres and heavy, but refreshing and for some reason we found endless entertainment in the fact that you can buy huge jugs of cold green tea, complete with easy-carrying handle! you probably had to be there...
we loved these days so much that in one of my obasan classes, i proclaimed that kaycee and i had plans to hike all 7 mountains that made up the numazu alps, to which my students exclaimed 'eeeehhhhhh!' that, by the way, means 'you're ridiculous for that thought, but I'm too polite to say anything in actual words.' hehe. well, they were right, and we were slightly disappointed BUT got our fill of excitement when we stumbled across an ino-shi shi (wild boar- so named because to get rid of them you say 'shi shi!')!

november's happenings

2006-02-27T03:49:00.000-08:00

I really shouldn't be making this months after it all began because i don't remember a lot of what happened and it makes it difficult. In November, i was still sparkling with happiness and love for this place, without much home-missing going on. I was still getting used to my classes but pretty much in the groove. The same student that is the cutest, nicest little old kimono teacher invited me to another kimono function. It wasn't a show like the last one, but more for buyers, so there was fabric hanging everywhere and half-sewn kimonos and there was just enough time for other really nice ladies to take me in the back and dress me up in full geisha attire and then parade me around the hall while people clapped as i passed. i'd like to say i really enjoyed the attention but it felt so weird, plus the wig kept shifting. There will be no pictures, though, because 1) i forgot my camera and 2) i discovered that foreginers just do not suit the look. at all. pretty frightening actually. hehe. could just be me though. eek!
Melissa, her boyfriend Matt and i also took a day trip to Hakone, which is a popular place to see some beautiful autumn leaves and about an hour's train ride. It was a little chilly and insanely busy, with lines like canada's wonderland. all for leaves! i'd say these people are crazy, but i was right there standing in lines with them. so i guess that doesn't make them less crazy, but me more crazy.
Along with seeing some red leaves (it actually wasn't all it was built up to be, by the way), we took a pirate boat across Lake Ashi while enjoying our picnic, and then desperately tried to find the cedar forest that was on the map. but despite there being a map, asking the locals and some other tourists, and even playing match-the-kanji on unhelpful signs and posted maps, it still completely alluded us. we decided to hug some trees along the way anyway. it was a fun day out, if mostly for the company! so moral of the story: autumn leaves are beautiful, sure, but maybe not worth waiting in lines for 2 hours. don't listen to the crazies that try to convince you otherwise. they're wrong. (smile)

the october sparkle

2006-02-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

I spent October, my first month here, meeting people, getting my teaching jacket on, and walking around the streets of Mishima with fairy dust in my eyes, loving everything about life in japan.
one weekend i went to a kimono show with my student. the next day there was a barbecue at senbon, the numazu beach.
the weekend after that was halloween. i transformed into a fairy and melissa, as a cat, and i went to the bar in numazu (getting many strange looks on the subway in the meantime because despite having halloween decorations in the store windows, no one in japan actually celebrates it). also a fun night. oh, october sparkled.

the bubble that begins it all

2006-02-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

This bubble begins at the end of september of last year when i moved my life from canada to japan in order to save money and learn about a different country, but it just so happens im learning more about myself than anything else. maybe because when youre in a bubble, looking out, you're looking at the outside world, but you also cant help but see your own reflection.
I began my japanese adventure by visiting christian, who lives in himeji (about a 3-hour train ride on the shink). we took advantage of our time by enjoying a splendid juxtaposition of quality time; soaking up peaceful moments in and around the Himeji castle and throwing ourselves into baseball fan-crazy Osaka and japanese beer and sake. it was nice spending time.
I didnt realize at the time how big a decision all this was, or I maybe i knew, but didnt quite know, you know? I left behind the year of post-graduate living where i learned what it was like to get to know your parents as more than just parents, of getting to know the most beautiful little girls i've ever known and loved (where i also got a preview into what it might be like to be a parent. like a trial run if there happens to be a race), of rediscovering friends from home and staying with friends from school and of discovering what kind of career will make me happy, and hopefully money. I left all this for a different experience, one entirely new and, i'm finding, entirely necessary and invaluable.