Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Lonely in Cyberspace

Where`d everybody go?

Monday, June 26, 2006

Still In Japan

Some of the great sites...

Trains in the night as they seem to glide through the sky and all you can see is the interior lights through the windows. Like some wonderful electric snake.

Green trees. I mean, really green.

Did I mention the fountain of youth? You can`t actually see it, but I`m sure it`s here, dispersed in the atmosphere. (Actually, the humidity here, uncomfortable as it is, does wonders for the skin. My skin got softer within a week of being here. I`m sure it`s why the Japanese look so young.)

Sunsets through the smog (surprisingly beautiful, though no comparison to a prairie sunset. And yes, I`m biased.)

The butterflies. Big, bold, beautiful.

My nephews` smiles. They`re so cute!!

There`s so much more. I`ll blog about it if I can recall it all.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Off the top of my head

There are various random things that I see around here that I think I should blog about. I don`t write them down, so I don`t always remember them. But I`ll see how many I can come up with.

You know you`re in a safe country when....
the security guys who service the campus atm`s WALK up to the machine, and only one bothers to keep "watch" (with his back to potential danger!) while the other gets the cash. They could drive their armoured vehicle up to the machines (other service vehicles drive past them), but they don`t seem to have one!! But they dress like a S.W.A.T team. I guess if you look scary you`re safe around here. Except on a bicycle.

Ummmm.....I guess that`s all I can come up with.

I am trying to plan a trip to the place I formerly lived, to see old friends, but it`s come down to getting up there for a couple of weekends, since I couldn`t extend my ticket. It`s kind of tricky getting that far in one evening, which I`d like to do after work on a Friday, but I will find a way. At least one of the weekends is a long one.

So I`m down to thinking in terms of going home. I`m starting to plan my shopping to pick up the things I wanted to take home with me, and I have to do report cards at work, and a final report on my semester, and I`m trying to get to see the people I came to see. The count down is on. Just 3 weeks ago I was musing how fast my first 4 weeks had gone, and that in only 2 weeks I`d be counting down the last 4 weeks. Now I`m down to just over 3 weeks left (of work. I have one more than that in the country). Anyway, the days are going fast, boring or not.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Bored

I`m bored. Bored, bored, bored. And there are probably a million interesting things to do. But I`m also broke. So maybe after I get paid tomorrow I can stir up a little more fun.

I keep thinking I should blog about Japan, but the thought of it bores me.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Pics

One or two of you, or maybe the same person twice, said you were looking forward to seeing pics. That is actually one of the big differences between this visit and my last, I`m not taking pics. Not many, anyway. Last time I was actually snap happy. But if you`re interested in seeing Japan, I can show you the 7 year old pics. They`re mostly of historical stuff, so are actually still up to date. Pics from this time will be mostly of friends and family, and maybe the occasional sight that strikes my fancy. Like the field of cabbages outside my apartment. I`ve never seen a field of cabbages before. I`m going to snap it. Anyone want to see my pic of the field of cabbages? You can come to my house and enjoy some fresh green tea while you gaze at the cabbage picture. Sounds like a great night, eh?

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Perfect

Today has been a perfect day. I got to see some sites I`ve been meaning to see and spend time with an old friend. One of my students from the first time I was in Japan, the only one I`ve kept in touch with, came to see me today. We went to see the local museum and park that I`ve been meaning to get to. I really liked it. It really gave me a feel for what old Japan was like. I walked along a highway that is hundreds of years old. Except for some old houses, I`m sure it barely resembles its old self. Then I was in a 200 year old hotel. Very rare in this country of wooden houses. It`s now a museum. Went to the zoo, which is in a great park. It was a cool day. Enjoyed chatting with an old friend, and just relaxed and had fun. Then we did the dollar store tour. They`ve got some good dollar stores here. Anyway, she has to work tomorrow, so she`s gone home. I`ll go into Nagoya to see family tomorrow. Today marks the half way mark of my time here. I can hardly believe it. I more or less still feel like I`m settling in.

The rainy season is supposed to be starting this week. From here on in it should get humid and hot. I just hope it doesn`t get too bad. We`ll see.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

More Japanisms

Words that DO NOT belong together.


WashAmuse and Shower Toilet





I am taking my life into my hands biking around here, and that`s on the sidewalks!! Everyone bikes there, but some of the sidewalks are sooooooo narrow. The teens just about knock me over. I`m going to start staring them down. A nasty looking foreign chick should easily scare the bravado out of `em. Thing is, I see them coming, and I get scared. I`m just not as used to brushing past people and keeping my balance as they are.

OK, lurkers, today`s your day. If you`ve been dropping in to visit and have never commented, stand up and be counted. I`m just curious as to who might be out there.

Have a great day.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Tokyo

Went to Tokyo. Enjoyed it. Stayed in a nice little hotel in a Japanese style room. Slept on a tatami floor. Don`t have any tatami in my apartment, so I`m glad I got to see the stuff again. I love it (it`s a flooring made of woven straw or reeds or something. very aromatic). Stayed near the majorly touristy Sensoji Shrine in Asakusa (remember it, Stacey?). Nice place to walk around. Just spent my time walking and looking with my sister. Saw a Louis Vitton store in Harajuku! Never been so close to luxury before. Didn`t go in. I`m neither that rich nor that interested. The high light actually was meeting a friend of mine before my sister arrived. Haven`t seen this friend in 7 years. She took me to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which traces Tokyo`s history back 500 years (to when it was called Edo). I LOVED it. Diana`s friend showed us around by car. Thought that would be interesting, but it turns out Tokyo`s just a place like any else, lots of concrete and shabby buildings, and all the interesting places look the same on foot or from a car window. I think I`ve just done enought touristy things in Japan that nothing is really novel any more. Maybe that`s normal, but Japan is the only travel experience I really have, and I`m used to the feeling of high adventure I used to associate with it. But I guess that was a feeling more attached to circumstance than location, `cause I can`t seem to find it now. Too bad. Adventure is fun.

Fortunately, I actually like Japan and Japanese people, so even if the sense of high adventure is gone, I`ll enjoy being here. I guess I`ll just focus more on catching up with old friends than site seeing.

One more hi-lite. In our wandering, my sister and I came across this little store full of beautiful boxes with silk designs worked into them. The were expensive, but so beautiful I had to buy myself a little one. I`d buy a lot more if I could. Anyway, you can see it when I get home.

atto de ne

Friday, June 02, 2006

Chicken Pox

It`s been 3 weeks since I was exposed to THE POX by my nephew. My parents and I both think I`ve never had them, though my brother did. And maybe my sister. So if I haven`t had them before, and I don`t have them now, I think I can conclude that I`m naturally immune. Yeah. At least I didn`t get them here. I was really scared I might. If I have to get the pox, fine, but not when I`ve got limited time to enjoy Japan and I`m far away from anyone who could care for me!

I`ve only been here a month, and I am running out of things to blog about. I keep thinking about what interesting tidbit I could share. But the fact is, life is life where ever you live it. Once one gets over culture shock and the novelty of a place, you just get down to the rythm of life. My rythm is get out of bed on Monday, check the weather, read, get ready for work, go to work, spend the day prepping lessons, talk to students, wonder if anyone thinks I`m dressed inappropriately, compare my wardrobe to the other female professors, decide if I`m eating ethnic (a sandwich) or local cuisine for lunch, go home, find a way to kill a couple of hours before bed so I don`t have to sit too long in my rabbit hutch apartment, then go to bed early so I`ll have had a good night`s sleep before my jerk neighbor [I`m sure he`s really very nice, but I`m annoyed] starts stomping around at 4:30am, or before the sun wakes me (at about the same time). Then I repeat that until Friday night, when I hop on a train after work and head for John or Diana`s place. This weekend I`m going to shake up the routine with a trip to Tokyo, and I`ll be going to more places on other weekends. But the weekdays in Japan ain`t so exciting, unless I take a bike ride that leads to a cool discovery. Thank goodness I like my students. They're fun.

But at least I`m enjoying it, for the most part. My days and weeks are busy and enjoyable enough that they`re flying by. That`s way better than hating where I`m at and having time drag.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

me again

I give up. I try. Really, I do. Tried again tonight. But the plain fact is all y`all won`t be getting individual emails. I can only type a couple before it seems my time is running out. I`d like to connect with each one of you, say hi, and I`ll keep trying to do a few here and there, but this blog is going to be your best bet for news about me. I just can`t afford the computer time. Nor do I want to spend all my free time here in front of a computer.

Discovered a wonderful new thing yesterday, Brazilian bbq. WOW. If there`s one near you, get to it now. If not, grab the closest Brazilian and beg him to get into the restaurant biz. WONDERFUL. Unless you`re a vegan or a cow. I even ate, and enjoyed, the chicken hearts. And I`m not a giblet eating type of chick. Tried a Moroccan restaurant a few weeks ago. Also WONDERFUL. Got to go to Morocco.
The Japanese food, on the other hand, I`m finding kind of boring. The Coke`s OK;)

Going to Tokyo on Saturday. Couldn`t get my ticket extended, so I`ll be coming home July 21, as originally planned. Won`t be going to Okinawa, as it would cost about $800 to get there. I can get cheaper tickets from here to London!