Gadgets, Guzen and Good Eats

Gadgets:
Today I went to Shiz after work to find out about getting an iPhone. I've been thinking about it for ages, but never has the incentive been greater to switch from Docomo to Softbank. Travis and Pin both have Softbank and they have a White Plan which allows free calls to between members before 9pm, a rarity in Japan, so it would already be worth it for me. Now however, they just began a campaign where it's free with a two-year contract.

I told Travis and he gave me a scare when it seemed like he would get one before me, which pushed me past my anxiety about talking to them in Japanese. It was easier than I expected and they were surprisingly friendly and not pushy about getting me to stay with Docomo. When I said I wanted to switch to Softbank, the customer service rep nodded knowingly and guessed, iPhone?

All I needed was to show them my gaijin card, they typed some info in, and printed off a slip of paper for me to show Softbank. Turns out, I could keep the same number though I do have to change emails, and I could continue to use my phone until I got my new contract set up. Pretty sweet.

I went to Softbank, but it was a bust b/c I didn't have my gaijin card and bank passbook AND passport AND hanko (personal seal). So I've got to go back when I have all of that with me, but it doesn't seem too difficult.

Guzen:
I didn't go alone though. I had company, Chaz aka @GuzenMediaJapan on Twitter. It was funny how I met him. He was a first for me. We began following one another on Twitter because we were both Shizuoka ALTs and had messaged a bit, but nothing significant.

Then last November, while I was attending a skit contest at a nearby university, one of the ALTs there that I didn't recognize came up to me and asked, "Hey, do you teach in Kambara?" "Uh, yes..." "Are you on Twitter?" Again, "Uh, yes..." "Oh, I'm Chaz! Guzen?" "Oh, hi! Nice to finally meet you in person!" All the while thinking, Wow my first real-life Twitter meet-up. This is kinda cool. And really nerdy.

Anyway, after that, we had exchanged keitai emails and messaged a bit more frequently, but still nothing too big. Today though, none of my usual Zu (Shimizu) Crew could meet up for dinner, and on a whim, I asked him if he was free this evening. He was, so we met up and got acquainted in person.

Good Eats:
Stacey ended up opting out of soccer so she caught up with us at the Thai restaurant (the REAL Thai place). At first, I didn't know what to tell her about Chaz, or what he'd be like, but we all ended up having a good time. Apparently he was friends with a bunch of Filipinos back in VA, and LOVES Hawaii so we had those two things in common with him. Plus, he regaled us with stories from his 13 years of teaching in Japan, another shared bond. It was impressive to see how confident he is in himself and his goals as an English teacher. Maybe if I stayed another 10 years, I might be a bit like that. Not much to say about dinner despite the title though, other than it was excellent as always and now I'm nearly unpleasantly full.

The one thing I realized after the evening though: I've been spending a lot of time with the same people, the same friends. Not that I don't love them, or hanging out with them or Travis, but for the last 2 months, I've ONLY been out with them. I haven't really seen my other friends. Not other ALTs, not my J-friends. I've got to fix that. So maybe the last G in my title should be 'Goals' instead.

Missing You

Pin likes to tease me about growing up in Seattle and wonders how I'm still alive, because "doesn't everyone kill themselves in the winter?" This year, I spend most of my time with friends from the warm, sunny places of the US: California, Florida, Hawaii. It was with not unreasonable envy that I looked over their photos from Christmas break and saw sunny, clear blue skies, while I sat stuck indoors because of a foot or more of snow. But that was freak cold weather, at least for Seattle.

The last few weeks though have presented me with the cold, gray, overcast/rainy days that I come to expect from the winter season. The days I was familiar with. The ones of my childhood.

Today was another such day. It assailed me with an overpowering sense of homesickness. Or maybe not homesickness as much as Pat-sickness. I was looking through my photos and I saw some from Christmas '07 and then ones from this past Christmas. I can't believe how quickly the time between them passed. All those missed months, moments, memories...

I know that it's my choice to stay out here, and that it will continue to remain my choice to stay away, but sometimes it sucks. It sucks that my best friend is half the world away and that I talk to him infrequently at best. It sucks that he isn't here to see all the things that make up my life in Japan, or meet the people that populate it. That we can't go out for a cup of coffee or a drink as our ritual and share our troubles with life and love.

But, ever-the-optimist, I search for the silver lining, no matter how elusive it is, especially in clouds as slate-grey as the ones outside. I have hope that our friendship is stronger than the accumulated experiences we share; that we remain connected despite the distance; that we are more than the sum of our parts.

I guess that's the answer to Pin's question. What else would it be but Hope?

Spring Break and the PI

No, PI does NOT stand for Private Investigator. PI stands for the Philippine Islands, i.e. the archipelago southwest of Japan, the archipelago that I currently inhabit. It is also my ancestral home, my birthplace, my homeland. It is the place of my dreams, not memories, because I was too young to form any that remain. It's an odd thing...to see photos of yourself in a place and have no recollection of it or having ever been there. You have to take others' word. You take it on hearsay.

Pin suggested that Katy, Stacey, Brian, he and I go somewhere for spring break. One of the possibilities being the PI. I think that I've either been underestimating or just not realizing how much of an effect going to the PI might have on me. Honestly, it wasn't until Pin mentioned it last night that I remembered that it WOULD be my first time back...and I might not be ready to do that with a group of friends. I think I've been so focused on how my mom and family would react, that I didn't bother to think about how I would.

I think I would feel, and even though I know that he and the rest of them would tell me that I don't have to feel thus, responsible for everyone. Not just responsible because I can understand what people say when they're not speaking in English, but responsible for making sure everyone has a good time, because it IS my country. I don't know if I'm ready for that, especially never having been there since I left. I'd feel as much a stranger as they would, but I'd feel obligated not to be.

The Value of No Planning

I think I'm starting to feel old, as my crazy acts get spaced farther and farther apart. I remember in my first year heading off to Tokyo, clubbing all night and doing it again the next one, simply on a whim. That same year, Albert and I took a midnight walk across the bridge to Fuji, two towns away. Last night (and a girl from Australia) reminded me of how fun it is to be impetuous.

For the last week and a half, my former Australian exchange student, Jessica, has been staying at my house. She was the exchange student in my first year and she and I got along and managed to keep in touch since then. She arrived with her friend Kay last Monday, and though Kay went back last Saturday, Jessica's still here as my temporary roommate until the end of the month. Despite being 7 years younger than me, we get along well and it's fun having another person in the house. Back to last night...

I had come home from work amazed that it was Thursday yet again, and wanted to spend a quiet evening indoors due to the rainy weather outside. I was planning on making soup for dinner, watching a movie and catching up on the sleep that I seem to be constantly missing these days. Things didn't go according to plans, to say the least.

First, though I had laid out my ingredients for the soup I was going to make, I kept getting distracted by entering into conversations with Jessica about people at Ihara, friends and friendships, and differences between Japan and Western countries. Eventually, I got to the point where I didn't want to make the soup after all and was contemplating busting out one of the instant Korean ramen packs that I had purchased at Kaldi over the weekend.

Jess brings up sakura-ebi (the tiny cherry blossom-colored shrimp that my little town is famous for) and how she wanted to eat it. I mention wanting unagi (grilled eel) because of passing by the unagi restaurant the other day and seeing the bentos (boxed lunches) that the teachers had ordered yesterday from the place.

We decide to see if we can get them to deliver to the house, since they have both sakura-ebi and unagi, but since I didn't have their number or didn't remember their name, we embark on an online search for the restaurant. Somehow, we manage to find it and miraculously, they have a website. We spend some time looking at the menu and trying to make out the items listed. Finally, we call the place, but they don't deliver at that time. However, they ARE open for another 40 minutes. I suggest the possibility of taking a cab and we run with it. I call a cab, change in a whirlwind 5 minutes and we're out the door and on our way.

We were the only two people in the place, but we paid no attention and enjoyed the deeply satisfying meal. We left the place realizing how close it was to Shin-Kambara station and that we could've saved ourselves the cab-ride and just trained it, but such is hindsight. We begin walking back to the eki, feeling full and accomplished, but I spy the sign for 696 Cowboys and point it out to Jessica.

I had told her about it a little: it's the only bar in Kambara, cowboy-themed (yes, I did say that: COWBOY-themed), and owned by a friend of a friend who loves Elvis. She wanted to check it out, so we head in. She falls in love with it and we decide to get a couple drinks. The drinks multiplied and before I know it, Yan (the owner, who is a professional caricaturist) has done caricatures of the both of us, and managed to get me up on stage to sing "Born to be Wild" and "Country Roads" with him, the waiter (who plays drums apparently) and some other customer on bass.


We headed home on last train. Jessica's decided that she's going to make it her regular haunt while she's in town and I'm definitely planning on coming back again. Sometimes, spontaneity pays off.

Settling

So it's been over a week since I've been back, and I think I finally FEEL back.

Seattle was fun though slightly disappointing because of being snowed in for 2 out of the 3 weeks I was home. The weather has not been kind to me in the last month. But the pictures of a white Christmas were nice, and I did catch up on a lot of movies and American TV. Plus, I got to spend a lot of time with my neice Kyla, which is all too precious of a commodity these days. My dad seemed all right and about the same, though my mom seemed to imply otherwise in some comments, along with the ever-present desire that I come back to Seattle.

The thing is, it's not going to happen. While I liked seeing my friends and family, being back there only made me realize how much I want to be in Japan. Partly because I love having a place of my own, partly because I love living abroad, and most importantly because I LOVE living in Japan.

While I was home, I met up with Ryan, an ALT from Gunma that I met briefly in Tokyo for a friend's birthday celebration consisting of a night of clubbing and post-dancing Italian food, and my boy Branden. I guess because both of them are of Japanese descent, their ties to Japan are much stronger than mine, yet I find it odd that I'm the one that's stayed and is staying here for longer. Neither of them has much desire to travel or live in other places. I on the other hand, continue to want to go anywhere, everywhere. Hmm, that's proving a rarer quality in people that I'd previously thought.

My Make-Believe Roommate

So I have a friend named Pin, likely the only Pin I will ever meet or know in my life.

I met him about 2 years ago in Shimizu, while I was at the Docomo store with Albert trying to get my keitai (cell phone). For the first year and a half, our relationship mainly consisted of hanging out and seeing each other through various friends with whom we were closer. Prompted by his transferring to Fujinomiya to take over for another friend who was returning to the states, we began getting dinners together in Kambara, which was on his way home from school.

Since then, we have dinner together at least once a week, freely stay at one another's apartments, both with and without the other one present, and text one another on a near daily basis. It is a rare, and slightly unsettling, week when we don't see one another.

It has taken a while, but he's opened up to me a lot. Not necessarily about everything, but I don't expect that. I've long since realized that he is rather stoic, despite also being acutely sensitive. I'm used to laying things all out there, but I know that when he doesn't, it's not a reflection on me, just that he feels there are some things that need to be said, and others that don't.

We've half-joked about becoming roommates...Lately, as he's considering the possibility of staying in Japan for another year, he's taken to checking out 'perfect apartments' for us. Main requirements being: good location, big kitchen (since we both like to cook and EAT), bedrooms on opposite ends (so that we can 'bang for days without the other one knowing'), and enough space to entertain friends. He even texted me the other day about what a typical Sunday might consist of.

Gee, starting to sound like he's either my gay friend or my boyfriend. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he's neither. I guess it's enough that he's one of my adopted older brothers. Someone that I know I can count on to go out for a drink or to buy me one when I need it.

Life in a Fishbowl

Lately I've been spending a lot of time with the BOE crew and I'm starting to see some of the critiques of BOE ALTs for myself. Not that I don't love the friends that I've made, and being able to spend more time with a solid group of people. It's just that, because the group is so small, it is both insular and insulated from the majority of the JET community. All of the dramas and melodramas play out on a much smaller, more tense stage.

Sometimes, it's nice to get away; I take advantage of my position as a kencho JET and hang out with other ALT friends. But sometimes, even that's not enough, because I still end up with ALTs. That's when I appreciate having made Japanese friends early on and continuously while I've lived in Shizuoka.

It's nice to forget all the issues, and just have a good time with friends. You lose yourself in another language. Which is what I did last Friday: after dinner with some ALTs, I went off to karaoke with two of my Shimizu J-boy friends, up until first train.

Which led to another fun experience when, while at the train station, two of my students saw me with them on their way to school. How they could be going to school while the moon was still up on a Saturday morning, I don't understand, but we had a good laugh about it when they asked me about it in class this week.

Robo-vision

Yuna and I met in Shizuoka for lunch yesterday. It's a bit strange to have a strong online relationship with someone despite having several mutual friends, so we both welcomed the opportunity to get to know one another better.

Yuna is an interesting individual, and unlike many of the Japanese friends I've made. Maybe it's her age and being married, though maybe it also has something to do with the situation with her mom. She gives me the impression that she's had to defend herself from other peoples' scrutiny: about her decision to take care of her and about giving up her plans to go abroad. She's like red wine: sharp, deep, mysterious. She doesn't yield things up to novices easily. You have to know how to read her to fully appreciate her.

After lunch we walked back toward Shizuoka station and she proceeded to take pictures of me. I remember vividly the look in her eyes as we walked around the station. Her focus was visible on her face. I told her I wanted to be able to go into her head and see through her eyes. As an artist, as someone accustomed to sizing up a situation, she must look at the world in a completely different way than other people. I think it looks something like how robots see, like Terminator or Robocop: all geometric shapes laid over the real world, ratios, measurements. And yet, also an appraisal of beauty.

Only in the last couple of years have I picked up a thing or two about photography and composition and design. This ability to make the world look a certain way is fascinating and empowering. It's about control. Yet I shy away a bit. I guess that's my natural inclination to be the power behind the throne, never actually sitting in it.

I think she's drawn to it.

I think I like that about her.

America’s Angry Inch: Retroactive Post

Prompted by my visit to Chika's home in Tsushima for the first time this weekend, I had a revelation about yet another difference between Japanese and American culture. It started like this (it started like that, it started with a wiffle ball bat, so....no, j/k).

Actually, Chika first showed me her short films from when she was in the US. It's really inspiring to see a friend sharing their talent with you. I hope to see more of her work someday, when she gets back to it. One in particular stuck with me: her final film titled 'the diary'. It was about a boy whom you're led to think is crazy since he believes in a Pink-cloud Monster and an ominous Black Cloud that takes away his love. In the end however, he takes control of his life and decides that it is what he wants it to be, that he is the person that he chooses to be and is re-united with his beloved.

After this, Chika put on Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a movie that I've seen parts of when I was younger and that I've known about since childhood, but haven't ever watched. It was surprisingly one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in a while. Basically, it's about an East German tansgender rock star and her trials in love.

Later in the evening, we got back from the Tsushima matsuri and headed to Tsutaya for a couple of movies. While trying to choose movies, we got into discussing why Japanese peoples' taste in movies differs so greatly from American tastes. Chika said that most Japanese people don't understand her movies because they're very 'American'. I tried to figure out what that meant...I knew that they were different, but in what ways exactly?

I think that it has to do with identity. American movies focus on so many different '-isms': sexism, racism, classism, etc...Why is that? Because we seek to define ourselves. Hedwig was a perfect example of this. As individuals we plumb what we are not, in order to find what we are. I think that this is inextricably connected to our identity as Americans. We don't have one. We have many. We're allowed to have many. This is one of America's greatest strengths, but this is also why we have so much uncertainty in our lives. We don't know what we're supposed to be, because society tells us we can be anything, that we are everything.

Japanese movies on the other hand, and most Asian movies, tend to be very sentimental, full of drama and emotions and love, etc...Something most Americans find a bit overdone, but which makes sense when you think about how they lack this need to define themselves. Eastern countries have such an extended history, a history that provides so many rules about what people should do and how they should behave. It's something that you have to be here to really experience how fundamental this is to its citizens. Japanese people are JAPANESE. This embodies many things, and I don't mean to say that there aren't some black sheep in the bunch, but when it comes down to it, if you're Japanese, that's what you are. It permeates your individual identity so thoroughly, it doesn't really occur to them that it could be different.

This unconscious awareness is something we sorely lack as Americans. Our nation is so young, by international standards, and we're not a mono-culture. We pride and prize our pluralism, our multi-culturalism, our salad bowl of a country. That's one thing I've learned after living abroad for so long: neither is right or wrong, better or worse, they're simply just...different.

I say Hello, You say Goodbye: Retroactive Post

Leaving right before the end of the term has thrown my schedule off completely. I'm finally getting back into the swing of things and with that has come the realization that many of my good friends are leaving.

I'm having to make plans to see people before they go, and realizing that they're going to be the last times that I will see them, maybe for years, maybe forever. It's leaving me a bit shell-shocked. Granted, the experience of last year has prepared me a bit more, and I feel genuinely happy for my friends that have decided to move on. I know that they're doing it for so many good reasons and that they feel like they've gotten what they wanted or can out of Japan.

It's interesting when I compare that to my own feelings about this country, this job, this life, and feel completely the opposite. I've decided to stay because of that reason exactly. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get my fill. Well, I've got another year to find out.

Summer in the City: Retroactive Post

Wow, I can't believe that I finally get to spend some summertime in the city of my childhood, after deploring how I only get to visit it at the worst time of the year, weather-wise. Unfortunately, I guess I should've checked the weather forecast before I headed out here, since it was cold and showering when I got in a couple of days ago...rain, in Seattle...Go figure. I think what surprised me was less that it was showering, because it's been showering on and off in Shiz for the last month, but that it's COLD here. That and I was coming from Gunma, where, at 5,000ft about sea level, the daytime was clear, blue and quite sunny.

Tonight was the first time I got to go out into the city since I've been back, and of course, who did I go with, but my partner in crime Patrick. We headed over to Bahama Breeze in Southcenter after he got off work in the evening and had a Caribbean dinner of habanero-spiced chicken wings and filet mignon for me and Jerk-rubbed chicken breast for Pat. It was SOOO good to have food that was flavorful, spicy and fruity in a way that you can only find in tropical island cuisine. That and the authentic mojito I had along with dinner was a perfect start to a cool summer evening.

We then drove up to our favorite late-night cafe, the B&O. I've made it a point to stop off there every time I'm in town. This time we had kahlua-spiked mochas and I indulged in some chocolate-y, liquered mousse for dessert. The rest of the time, we spent catching up about what's been going on in each of our lives, and some of the people in them. For me, Travis of course, as well as Luther, JTEs and other ALT friends.

I told Pat that Seattle's best feature and what I love and miss most about it is that, when I go back, it's not like Luther going back to Minnesota: I'm not just met with white people. I go to Seattle and I see, especially coming from southern Seattle, people of all different ethnicities and nationalities. I see people of black, Asian, Latin American, Native American descent, mixed in with all the Caucasians, not to mention all the people that are halfs, quarters, etc... it's great to see so many people of different cultural backgrounds in the same place.

I've forgotten that everywhere is not like Japan. You don't just have a homogenous society in which everyone else that's not Japanese is just a 'gaijin', foreigner. But like I also told Patrick, while I love Seattle still and would love to live here, I don't want to live in America, and unfortunately living in Seattle would constitute living in America, which is something that I'm not prepared to do yet.

Pat and I talked about all the traveling we might be doing over the next year and in the future: him coming out to visit me in Japan; going to the PI with Chris and Char, though later talking about the possibility of going to the UK instead; Huong and him moving out to Spain or somewhere in Europe; Travis and I eventually following suit in France, and maybe at some later stage, going across the Atlantic and checking out life in the Big Apple.

I'm not yet 25, and I know that I have so much more of my life ahead of me, but the thought of cutting my time short in Japan, cutting the life that encourages me to stay young and (maybe a bit irresponsible) un-rooted and free, in turn cuts me to the core.

I think I've realized one thing over the last couple of days that's made me take a look at why I've been so determined to keep my being in town a secret: not only do I not want to get into the details about my dad with people, but I don't want to be place myself in the situation where I'm with people that won't understand me making comparisons between Japan and America, between Shizuoka and Seattle. In some ways, maybe that's why I don't talk to my sister as much over the last couple of visits. Maybe I'm starting to realize that what annoys me about Americans in Japan saying they want certain things in Japan the way that they would get them if they were in America, might be the way that I talk about Japan while I'm here.

I think I'll make more of a point to be quieter about them. Though the big difference is that, I know that if I had a choice I would go back. I'd head back to Japan in a split-second and that's what ultimately makes me different from the people that complain that it's not like that where they're from, but continue to stay.

Facebook: Retroactive Post

This year is now, officially, the Facebook Year. And yes, while I know that it can be sometimes inane and annoying, the last 7 or 8 months that I've been on it have allowed me to keep in contact with people that I likely wouldn't have, and to restore it with people with whom I've lost touch. I've reconnected with one friend whom I haven't spoken to for nearly a decade, and another for about half of that. Not only that, but it has genuinely allowed me to make new friends, something which myspace severely lacks, due to the number of guys that use it as a dating trough. Hard to believe that we once used to live in a world without Facebook. And at least today, I'm glad it's around.

Done, Done, and Done!: Retroactive Post

So, in case you didn't know, this last weekend (yesterday to be specific), I went PARA-GLIDING!

It was honestly one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I think I liked it better than sky-diving because, while you get more of a rush from the latter, the former really allows you the time to appreciate that you are in the air.

I have been wanting to go out on Asagiri Kogen, this plain on Mt. Fuji for a while, but it would've been too difficult for my friends from Hama to get there, so instead I went over to their side and stayed at a new friend's for the weekend. The place we went to was super-small, so we had to break up our group of 6 girls into 3 one day, and 3 the next. Of the girls that went the first day, only one of them managed to get airborne, since the wind was so weak, and one of them chickened out.

My friend and I opted to go together on Sunday, and our third also ended up not being able to go, so it was just the two of us. We were worried that the wind wouldn't be any good and that we had just wasted our time, but after waiting for a sole paraglider to arrive, we were on our bumpy way up the mountain.We climb up the last 30 feet to the launch area and two of them start getting into their jumpsuits and setting out a parachute.

One of the guys comes up to us and asks us who's going first. My friend offers me the first go. I decide even though I'm starting to freak out, I'm going to suck it up and do it, so I consent. He plops a harness and helmet on me, and then proceeds to tell me that we're going to strap in, run down the mountain, and then get airborne at a certain spot. That was when it started to sink in that I was going to do it. My heart started racing.

The guy who was going it alone went first. He strapped in, faced upwards toward the mountain, ran backwards a bit and then quickly flipped around and then all of a sudden, was in the air. It surprised me how easily it happened. I also wondered how we were going to do the same maneuver with two people, since just running down the mountain strapped to someone else seemed complicated enough, much less having to turn around quickly.

However, they started to lay out our parachute (much bigger for a tandem flight) and then we were soon buckled in and facing down the mountain. The other guy stood in front of us, face to face with me, and he was the one that ran down the mountain backwards, making sure that the parachute caught the wind, and then got out of the way while we continued to run down the yama for a few more feet. And as easily as it looked watching the other guy, the solid ground fell away from our feet to be replaced by nothing other than air.

It was breath-taking and all I could do was stare in wonder all around me. I don't think it hit me until I saw birds flying past and I realized that I have never, ever experienced anything like it in the world. We were up at apparently 800 meters, and in the air for 20 or 30 minutes. We landed down at the landing site, but as I was trying to un-strap myself, we were suddenly pulled backward and rolling on the ground. I didn't know what happened, until we stopped getting pulled back and I realized that the wind had caught the parachute and dragged us backward. Still, I didn't get too roughed up.

I'm really glad that I went first. I'm proud of the fact that I didn't get too scared about doing it. My only hesitation about doing it again is that I got really motion-sick after a while in the air. But I am still thinking about going up on Fuji-san later this spring.

Even if I don't, it's still another thing to cross off of my list of crazy things to do and try before I die. I've been doing a pretty good job of racking things up in recent years: sky-diving for my 21st, white-water rafting twice, eating tons of unusual food, including horse sashimi and blow-fish. I'm hopefully going to add some food-related things like eating fried grasshoppers and raw baby octopus with the tentacles still functioning while I'm in Korea next week. And now I know what I'm doing for my 30th birthday: HALO jumping (ie High-Altitude Sky-diving). I know sounds crazy, but what the hell right? I've only got one life, so I might as well make it worth it.

Mid-Winter Blues: Retroactive Post

Maybe it's something about the snow, or the cold, or wanting to stay in and revel in the warmth...but winter, a real winter, seems to bring out an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and the need to reminisce, and of course following that line of thinking in time and inevitably wondering about the future. Leaving Sapporo yesterday morning, I was struck by that sense of natsukashii (nostalgia) as we made our way via train of course, from Sapporo station to Chitose airport. Looking out over land, trees, houses, cars, everything until the horizon, covered in snow, I couldn't help but remember the only other time in my life when I spent a winter like that.

It was when I was interning at the legislature and living down in Olympia. It was my first time living away from my family, and I was renting a room out of this woman's house, along with two other UW Asian girls, Sunny and Mary. Our landlady was awesome, our rent was really cheap and she pretty much let us have the run of the house. Sunny and Mary were great roommates, we got along on pretty much everything including a requisite love of good cheese, though they did force me from the kitchen the mornings that they made their tuna-fish sandwiches...

My family helped me move my stuff down earlier in the day, and then Sunny arrived in the afternoon. We had a fun time trekking to the capitol in our landlady's sons' old-school snow pants, as we were petite Asian girls and they were tall, tall boys. Mary arrived the next day and by then, there was lots of snow already on the ground. I remember our mornings checking how our outfits looked with one another and trading clothes or shoes when necessary. I also remember staying up late into the night with them making frosting and cookies from scratch to make heart-shaped cookie sandwiches to give out to people all over the campus for Valentine's Day.

I miss them and I miss that time in my life and this then led me to thinking about other people that I miss. Staying up with the girls to make cookies reminds me of staying up with Albert one night to make lumpia or something for one of our classes last year. And trekking to the capitol reminds me of trekking with him over the bridge to Fuji city in the middle of a winter night and getting midnight ramen. Traveling with Travis made me miss traveling with Sean-kun and his seemingly endless knowledge of Japanese festivals and souvenirs. Walking around Akihabara and going to Mexican for dinner last night reminded me of doing the same thing with Sean, nearly a year ago. Some bands were playing music up on one of the giant snow sculpture stages in Odori Park, and two of them sang songs that Brian from Hawaii used to sing at karaoke.

Remembering all these people that have gone before, and realizing that I'll have to say goodbye to even more this summer is beginning to be really hard. The people that I hang out with most frequently, Rebecca, Pin and the Shimiz crew, Louise, Amir and the Numazu peeps, are all going. Even Travis is still unsure about whether he's going to be here for another year, and if he is, where he'll be and what that might mean for us. He could move even farther away than he already is. He could stay and maybe miserable for another year and the continuous long-distance travel could start to put a strain on our relationship.

But, I decided to re-contract knowing that all of that might be a possibility, that our relationship could end depending on our separate decisions. And I guess that's what it all comes down to and what Pin had to remind me of after Albert and Sean left: They made the decision to go back for their own reasons and ultimately they're happier, and as their friend, I should be happy for them. So, I'll gaman and try, though I can't promise I won't shed a few tears along the way.

The one silver lining in all of this, well apart from getting to live in Japan for one more year and seeing my 15HR graduate, is that if all of my gaijin friends leave, I'll probably hang out with my Japanese friends more and hopefully improve my Japanese. So we'll see.

Staying in Japan: Retroactive Post

All right all you good peeps,

I'm staying in Japan for another year. But only one more. Which means that you have between now and August 2009 to get out here if you want to visit me, see what my life is like and how crazy Japan is. All are definitely welcome, and starting April this year, I'll have an extra room for any visitors. So, give it some thought, save up some cash for the plane ticket, and let me know where and when you want to go, and I'll work on it from my end.
Hope you're well, wherever in this crazy world you are.

Much love,
Sarah-chan

Houseguests: Retroactive Post

So, I've realized that I kinda suck at playing tourguide, but luckily, my friends are forgiving and we still managed to have fun this weekend, despite crappy weather, getting a bit lost, getting on the wrong train and bus and missing the last buses. Anyway, this past weekend, Chika came from Nagoya and Branden, a fellow Seattle JET, came from Chiba-ken to visit me.

They both got in late Friday night, we stayed up catching up and begining L'Auberge Espagnole. I made breakfast on Saturday and introduced them to Albert, then we headed out to Shizuoka to go to Nihondaira. Unfortunately, it started to rain, and then we missed the bus, so we stopped to check out the new Parco (a department store) that just opened, ran into some of my students and then caught the next bus. Unfortunately, we soon realized that that bus was not only the last bus going TO Nihondaira, but it was the last one coming FROM it as well. So, we had to get off the bus at the next train station and go to Shimizu instead.

We barely caught the shuttle to Dream Plaza and spent the afternoon hanging out there, then met up with Sean and Rebecca for yaki-niku at this restaurant next to the station. This is of course followed by drinks at the Hippy Shake, where they got to meet the infamous Taka-san and have a couple tequila shots with him. We catch the last train back to Shin-Kambara, pick up a bottle of tequila at Max-Valu and continue with the shots back at my house, since they insisted that I must drink more. Albert joins us drunken fools until we all pass out while watching more L'Auberge Espagnole.

Sunday, I manage to wake up and make another breakfast and then Chika, Branden and I head over to Okitsu to check out Seikenji (a Buddhist temple). It was really different being there because it was one of the first temples that I had been to where there was no one else there, so it felt more like a temple than other ones that I've been to. There weren't a ton of tourists snapping pictures or kids running all over the place. It felt serene. After that, we tried to go to other temples but most of them close around 5, so instead we went to Kenkoland, which is an onsen, like Utopia in Nagoya, which I've described in an earlier blog. It was really relaxing with all of the different baths and massage chairs, and I even managed to get them to try the fish that eat the dead skin on your feet! Then we headed home and fell asleep.

Monday, I headed in to work, and then showed Branden and Chika around my school in the morning. Afterwards, I took the afternoon off and we went to the seawall to look at Fuji-san and the water. We took the train to Kusanagi and had lunch at this cute restaurant out on the veranda in the sun. Branden headed home and Chika took the train to Shimizu once again, and caught a bus to Miho. Miho is a black sand beach, that is the site of a pine tree in a famous Japanese folktale, Hagaromo no matsu, and managed to get a pretty good view of Fuji-san from there as well. We mostly just chilled out on the beach and then headed back to Kusanagi station where we parted ways.

All in all, an excellent weekend with the company of two good friends here in Japan. They reminded me that there are tons of cool things to see in my area, if I just look for them off the beaten path. So, to Branden and Chika, ??????????!????????! HOUSEGUESTS ALBUM

My Love City: Retroactive Post

God, I love being in Nagoya. I came here yesterday right from work and the minute that I got onto the platform at Nagoya station, I could feel this overwhelming sense of relief pass through my body. Like this is where I belong. It's like that every time I go back. I thought that that would be how I felt when I went back to Seattle this Christmas break, but I didn't. I guess that reinforces my recent realization that Seattle no longer feels like home. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still love that city and being with my friends and family is awesome, but it's no longer the same. I don't see it with the same eyes anymore. It just makes it easier to decide to move to Europe after this.

Anyway, I came out here because I wanted to see Chika before she heads out to Europe tomorrow morning for a month, but I now, I feel like I wish I hadn't, because it shows me just how much I love being here. Everything is familar in the way that Seattle is, but it's also still very foreign. Add to that that not only is one of my best friends here, but my aunt and uncle. Tonight, we had dinner and were drinking together with some of their friends, and it felt just like hanging out with my own friends at my house. I really love my Tita Elvie and Otosan. It almost makes me regret signing my contract for another year. I wish I could spend more time here than just a couple days at a time. I would give anything to be able to live in this city for another few months.

*Sigh* Oh well, the world changes and you've just got to roll with the punches, right? Here's to the future...

Procrastinator: Retroactive Post

So, it's currently 2:39AM in Japan, and I haven't started packing for my flight back home to Seattle tomorrow afternoon. While my flight doesn't technically leave til 3, I start my day of train-riding at 9 tomorrow morning, which means my last 6 hours left in Japan will be spent trying to clean my house and pack for two weeks. Yay for me.

I don't quite know how I feel about heading home. It didn't hit me until I sent Clifton off to his own flight today, that in about 24 hours, I was going to be in Seattle. I came back into my house and just sat down to try to deal with that. Of course I'm excited to see my family and friends, and to be able to be in the city that I love and grew up in. Not only that, but one of my best friends is going to come with me and I can introduce her to life in the Pacific Northwest. It was having a friend over (Clifton, you're great) that made me realize how much I miss having friends that I related to over more than just the fact that we were all in Japan at the same time. I want to share Japan and this incredibly unique experience with all of you. But we don't always get what we want...

I think that what worries me more is the thought of coming back to this after two weeks. I left work today not really finding that much closure, probably since I was leaving early, before school was offiicially out for winter vacation, but also because I know that it will be crazy to come back the day before school starts up again. Maybe I should have left an extra day to readjust, because if there's ever a time that I'm likely to need readjusting, it'll be then. Readjusting to Shin-kambara after Nagoya or Tokyo is hard enough, readjusting to it after Seattle will be killer. I dunno, maybe I'm just rambling or whining or both, or maybe I should get more sleep, but here are my thoughts on going back right now. Make of it what you will.