Sagoi, ne?

So, now I'm at 3 months in and (although I have been terrible at documenting on this blog as of late) I still love Japan. It stills feels like an adventure, even on weekends like this when I stay in. I have truly fantastic friends, and aside from some "but I don't wannnnnna go to work" - type grumpiness on occasion, I am happy here. It makes me feel like I can be happy anywhere, honestly, and do it independently. It's a great feeling. I've only been here 3 months and I feel like I've grown up so much. My friend and I are always talking about how our attitudes here are best represented by a common Japanese phrase: "shoganai" which roughly translates into "whattya gonna do?" or "it can't be helped". That's kind how I am here. If I fuck up and make a fool of myself, I may have freaked out in the past, but now I just sort of let it roll off of my shoulders. It's really that simple.

So, being inspired by Gail's blog post about growing up in Katsutadai and loving Japan, I've concocted a list of things that anyone can do to ensure a 6 week toughening of the skin. Proven 100% effective:

- fall on your ass the first time you use a traditional Japanese style toilet (TMI, but I've since gotten quite used to the squatty bastards).
- be giggled at by young children who watch you struggle to order something totally simple like yakisoba or edamame (this happened a lot in the past).
- Have yakuza overhear you asking a friend about them in English, only to realize that the words "Japanese Mafia" are words that they are familiar with. Not frightening at all, just embarrassing Especially when they hear you and exclaim "JAPANESE MAFIAAAHH?"
- stumble over your first teaching lessons and hear students direct general derogatory remarks to their fellow classmates (ex: "baka sensei")
- have your t & a groped and referred to constantly by your students (kids are crazy obsessed with "oppai" [boobs] here, especially if you're particularly well-endowed).
- get lost constantly, although the effects of this are minor, as there is ALWAYS a kind and willing Japanese person who will not only point you in the right direction, but walk you there.

All this may sound terrible and embarrassing, but all of these things that happened to me in the first few weeks I was here have completely changed how negative or positive I am towards a situation. It's kind of like a less extreme fight or flight...you either run away with your head held in shame, or you laugh it off move on. Again, who knew being content with yourself was really that simple.

I know I will never be a sharp executive type who works 60 hours a week (I don't really want to be that person, honestly), because I am always seeking change and adventure. When I think of the future, I think of going to grad school for Graphic design, yes, but I also see travelling and backpacking and living abroad as much as possible. I've just let go of all the rules I SHOULD be following to live up to an ideal that isn't me. I'm going on and on about all this change and inspiration, I know, but it's good feeling.

So, self-motivational speeches aside, I did some pretty cool things last week. I went to Kyoto for two days, to Nikko on a day trip with Naz and Vaughn, and to Narita on the Emperor's birthday with Naz and Courtney.

Narita-san.

Probably the best moment ever captured. In Nikko (can you believe those leaves? amazing!)

In Higashiyama in Kyoto (you can spot Kiyomizu temple and some lovely mountains in the background).

These trips were magical. And the end of the third trip, my picture taking abilities sort of went to shit because everything was so beautiful, it all just looked like a postcard. Nature here is, well, extraordinarily beautiful and dreamlike. God I will miss it when I leave. Although if I know myself, I'll be back many, many times in my life. Who knows, maybe I'll stay longer or come back with Blake after he gets his degree.

Something cool happened in Kyoto that is worth mentioning. I met a British woman in Kyoto at the Golden Pavilion temple (she was probably 70 or so) who was a retired English teacher taking a 3 week long trip through Japan on her own. She had a son who lived in Shanghai and had taught English in the Southern Himalayas (where the Dalai Lama lives) for 3 years. She had been everywhere. I felt so young and inexperienced whilst talking to her. But it was also really inspiring because she wasn't exactly a spring chicken and was still doing so much, on top of all the cool things she had done already. I wondered how the woman had time to have kids, honestly. I want to be like that woman. Adventuring this piece up until the day I croak. It's gonna happen.

Melody will be here in less than 2 months! So excited!

ななころびやおき。

So yesterday I spent my first day as a bumblebee. This will continue on Monday and throughout the week for our Halloween parties...actually, it was pretty fun. I have this one reallllllly bad class of four boys who act up any chance they get, but with no actual lessons yesterday, we just played games and shot paper airplanes at each other. They definitely won that game. Unless of course you consider winning equivalent to cowering behind the table and attempting to defend myself in vain...in which case, I kicked their asses. It was fun actually...next week I can go back to really disliking that class.

My Japanese is improving, and I can actually read now! wow! I'm no longer totally illiterate! I'm still desperately trying to work on a few other things, such as shedding some pounds (which is happening but it's happening slowly)...and also trying to hone my photography skills. I think about buying manual film cameras a lot...and a DSLR. But enough about that.

My life has been so busy and amazing. Every spare moment off I grab by the horns and do things, with the exception of right now in which I'm enjoying a rare Saturday holiday off from work. When I start to talk about my life I sometimes draw a blank...why is that? Shit is happening all the time, everyday. Life is extraordinary and interesting right now, and I think that sometimes it's hard to put that into the right words. In short, I am becoming more and more myself everyday.

Lots of events coming up in the following week: possibly Kamakura tomorrow, as well as Kyoto on Thursday/Friday I think. And Melody comes to Japan in only 2 short months! I'm thinking I'll take her to Hakone to see Mt. Fuji at some point, and of course my favorite neighborhoods in Tokyo, which I should mention....Shimokitazawa, Koenji, and Kichijoji. These areas are not the big and brightly lit areas of Tokyo such as Shinjuku and Shibuya...they have these little vintage shops and pedestrian only streets that really remind you of where you are and how people live. Also, because all these areas are fairly young and trendy, they make for some excellent people watching...even if you're not into fashion, it's hard not to notice how well-dressed people are here.
Kichijoji contains a park which I love dearly, and every time I think of it I want to hop on a train and go there immediately. In fact, maybe I'll do so. Shimokitazawa is the coolest place in Tokyo, I think, and absolutely packed with things to do along narrow and traditional little roads. All of this is so difficult to explain, really. You just need to be here.

I have been thinking about the outdoors a lot and really want to go camping here. On my days off, I mostly just want to walk around a park or be near nature...which is actually quite easy to do, even in Tokyo. I think that is what makes Tokyo such an amazing city: the duality of new and traditional, of industrial and organic. It's all here and in perfect balance.

There are so many places to go and see for me still, and Nathalie got me thinking a bit more of this Trans-Siberian/Mongolian railway adventure that's been in the back of my head for awhile. I mean, when else am I going to do all of this exploring? Carpe diem, I say. A lot to think about there.

It's getting better all the time.

How to plan adventures, part 1

So my Blakeless is on his way to Kentucky. I miss it so much. I haven't been to Louisville in over a year, which is weird to me. I don't think Louisville is the right place for me to live job-wise, but I really miss my people there. And my family and friends nearby as well...and how damn cheap the rent is there.

So! I've been doing some planning this afternoon. After this wondrous stint in Japan, Blake and I have been discussing where we want to relocate to in the near future, depending on school options, how much money we can save, etc. We both really like DC, but we know we won't be there long term. We've mostly entertained the idea of moving to Chicago, as originally planned, but Blake suggested to me that we take a road trip of all the great midwest/east coast cities that we could live in. We'd both love to live in Portland, but know that it's just too far away to live long term. Sure it's a cool city, but I'd like to be somewhere where I not only have some connections, but am within visiting distance of my family and friends. Home is where the heart is, and all that. So, I think a two week road trip is in order shortly after I come back from Japan next August.

Here's some places we're thinking of visiting and potentially moving to:

1. Chicago, Illinois (duh)
2. Brooklyn, NYC - I always wanted to live in NY when I was younger and lately I've been thinking about it again. Expensive and less crime than DC (which isn't all THAT bad, really), and of course there's no shortage of fun things to do and people to meet.
3. Minneapolis, MN - to be honest, it's really too damn cold here for me to consider moving there, but we'll include it in our road trip to see the city and pay a visit to Douglas.
4. Pittsburgh, PA - Philly is also a possible option here. Never been, so we'll just have to see.
5. Baltimore, MD - not too far from where we live now, but seems like a pretty cool city.
6. Milwaukee, WI - close to Chicago, and the more I read about this city, the neater it looks. Worth a gander, anyway.
7. Providence, RI - sort of random, but seems nice
8. Boston, MA - seems like a cool city, but full of assholes. Then again, so is NY and that's #2 on the list. So is DC, and we live there. Again, I've never been there, so maybe that's a hasty judgement.

So I'm still researching and adding to the list. Austin, TX is also a place Blake and I have though of going to, so maybe we'll visit. It's too far away to live though. And despite Austin being a super rad city, I just don't know if I can bring myself to live in Texas. Ug. The Carolinas are an option too, but I'm not sure. Any suggestions? Chicago is really looking the most likely at this point, honestly, but who doesn't love an exploratory road trip?

Anyway, in other news, I've had a pretty lax weekend here in Japan. Probably going to knit a little today, do some cleaning, and walk around Sakura a bit. Tomorrow my classes are being videotaped so my school can observe and comment on how I'm doing. Yikes.

Maybe later I'll have some knitting pics to post for the first time in forever. This blog is called frankenskein, after all. Give me US city suggestions!

the ego has landed

Do you ever get a little wistful for days of yore when you were totally angsty, depressed all the time, and heartbroken? I do. Well, not the feeling I had during those days because well...it wasn't fun. But sometimes I hear a bittersweet song that I used to listen to when I was mopey, and the nostalgia isn't sad, it's happy to me now. Mostly because it reminds me how much I have grown since I was 20 or so (and younger) and it reminds me of my capability to feel, even if it was stupid. Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes" and "Satellite of Love" send me into a whirlwind of nostalgic emotion when I hear them. I wonder how I cared so much about dumb boys and dumb situations back then. I'm sure you all can relate on some level.

So I'm totally on a Velvet Underground/ Lou Reed kick again. I used to call them my 2nd favorite band when I was younger, but I haven't really listened to them in awhile. It's been too long. My music tastes as of late have all been older music. Maybe it's because Japan's aesthetic can either seem incredibly old (like, Edo period) or very 1980s. Seriously. The buildings and colors and everything just make me think I'm in the 80s. Sans the power-perms and Jerry-curl, of course. It rules.

Anyway. Just this second, I felt a teensy little earthquake. I've lost count of the ones I've experienced so far, and I've only been here for 5 weeks. I guess there have been about 4-5? I can kinda see how the Japanese get used to them, as they seem to happening atleast every week. Typhoons have been hitting us here recently too. What is this crazy place I'm in?

One of my adult students brought in a gift for me today. It's actually kind of perfect.

I almost teared up when he gave it to me and said "Here is a souvenir from my trip to Osaka." Now, I know it's just a small thing to do, especially in a country when giving small gifts like this is customary, but I still think it's really cool that this 19 year old kid was walking around on his vacay and thought "Hey, I'll get this for my English teacher." Such a nice thing to do. And there's even a cat on it.

As far as events, I've been doing a lot. Last week I hung out with Nathalie a bunch, met a cool dude in Tokyo named Vaughn, and got drunk with Nathalie and my boss at Daruma, my local izakaya. And went to a Brazilian festival in Yoyogi. I'm thinking I'll go back to Yoyogi sometime soon, during the day. This Sunday I actually have to work, as it is one out of the three weeks per year that I have a six day workweek. boo.

With that said, life is still amazing, and I wonder how long my adventure will last. I have no idea what is in my future, and have no concrete plans. It's unlike me, but it's refreshing. I used to live my life in the past, and then in recent years I was always thinking about my future and ignoring the past. Now I'm somewhere in between, living all of it day by day, and it's fantastic.

yes!: I've lost about 11.5 lbs since I've been here. My clothes are starting to feel bigger. I like shrinking.

no!: patiently awaiting September 28th, when I start getting paid on the regular. Going into Tokyo as often as I do dwindles the funds!

When a problem comes along...

Japan just gets more and more fantastic to me as time passes. I kinda feel like I'm out of the honeymoon phase, I'm not oohing and ahhing at everything I see so the initial fascination has worn off. Now I feel like I'm getting to know the underbelly a bit, and meeting lots of people (and hopefully lots more) and absorbing myself in the culture. Although, since I live 40 minutes or so outside Tokyo and not actually in it, I still find myself pretty impressed each time I go to a new area there. The bright lights, the energy, the masses of people....I'm crazy about it. And I still have soooo much to see!

Saturday night was the most fun I've had in awhile, and I sort of want a version of that night to continue a LOT in my remaining time here. I went out with Nathalie again, which I really must say, is so cool and so much fun to hang out with. It's amazing that we met essentially by chance and that we originate from two different continents and yet I kinda feel like we have a lot in common. She has a great accent. Coming from a Japan transplant from DC but transplanted there from Kentucky, I love hearing accents and am always quite fascinated by them. I am told that my Kentucky accent is very slight, but other expats I've met have told me that they hear an inkling of a southern accent in my voice, which I kinda like. Accents are fun, I guess I always rejected developing a southern accent for fear of being lumped into groups of rednecks with such strong KY accents, so I only have a slight tinge of one (that's no insult to my beloved Kentucky, of course!). For example, I tend to say "aye" when I say "I", but that's about all I got.

Anyway, the night was fun. Very fun. We met up with some other gaijin GEOS teachers and went to an izakaya in Shibuya. Nathalie and I tried to catch the remaining dregs of the Samba festival in Asakusa, but unfortunately there were none to be found. So, after some beers at a small izakaya, we went to an all night karaoke place that lets you sing for five hours with unlimited drinks (there's a word for unlimited drinks in Japanese that Nathalie told me, but I can't remember it!) for ¥3,000, which is a damn good deal to me. We sang some Beatles, Bob Dylan, Queen, you name it. And even some Japanese ballads which I of course couldn't sing because I don't read Kana/Kanji, but I enjoyed hearing Rachel and Jason sing them. I put my best David Bowie British accent on to sing Space Oddity, which I'm sure I mucked up. And I sang Dion and the Belmonts' Runaround Sue, and rocked it. I'm glad I didn't get video of me singing this, because then it would taint the image I have of myself as an oldies karaoke GODDESS. I want to keep that delusion intact, please!

Especially since I have a reputation to uphold. You see, I come from a family who really likes to sing and reallllllly likes karaoke. My dad actually owned a karaoke machine when we were growing up and I cannot count the times that my siblings and I sang the golden oldies together with my dad. It makes me a little homesick actually, because my pipes are best utilized when they are sung in harmony with my older sister (who can wail with the best of them) and my father (who had a voice like Elvis), and my mother and younger sister and brother (when he's not scoffing at the idea of singing in public), who have amazing voices as well. I'm insisting on a family karaoke night when I return. Seriously. I miss it.

I did get a video of Nathalie and I singing frantically to Bohemian Rhapsody, which was amazing. Again, I was so impressed with my skills at the time, but after watching the video I realized just how drunk I was and how recording drunk karaoke (at least of MY singing) should be against the law. I even had an embarrassing moment when I decided to choose to sing Devo's Whip It, (why, drunk Cecilia, why?) which was amusing. I was looking for a better Devo song, but for some reason decided to land on the one that has been in a thousand TV commercials and worn out all to hell. Eh, who cares! I'm still a golden god in my head.

Enough about that! My work is pretty fun so far. I have one nightmare class on Mondays, but aside from that, I really like it. I feel so productive at the end of the day and ready for anything. I'm hoping to go to Narita to see the temple and to hit up a couple bars on Sunday with my neighbor Courtney, and maybe do something fun in Tokyo again on Saturday night. Shit, I kinda want to go into Tokyo again on Wednesday night, as I have Thursdays off, but if I can't get anyone to stay out with me I may have to brave it on my own and try to communicate poorly in Japanese to some young and drunk locals. Yes. Life is happening.

Sagoi: drinking, friends, Tokyo, everything.

Warui: seriously, nothing. Except missing my people back home, as usual.

Hey! You cut me off mid-Funk!

I have been Freaks and Geeks obsessed lately. Mostly because before I had internet at my place, it and the handful of movies I brought were the only thing I had to watch while falling asleep. But now I have the internet, which opens my options up a lot. Freaks is still being played all the time, but now I can watch The Office too.

Anyway, I got back from Osaka last...Thursday? Has it been a week already? It's weird to think that I've already been here almost 3 weeks. It's going by waaaay too fast. Anyway, on my last day in Osaka, I walked around an awesome street called Dotonbori. It was the kind of little pedestrian-only street that you come to Japan to see: very crowded and absolutely jam-packed with things that make a little alarm in your head go off that says SENSORY OVERLOAD. It was great.

I have found that this is a bad combo: Can't read kanji/kana + very busy city in Japan + hungry. Although, it can't be avoided if you're walking around all day. Eventually, ya gotta eat. But, you look around and there are places everywhere, but you have no idea what to choose. On every street corner you see ramen shops with men slurping down their noodles and sitting elbow-to-elbow. Or little intimate izakayas that have the mandatory Japanese sustenance of beer, rice, and fish. And most places have no English in sight. I remember seeing a restaurant that said "English-friendly" on its doors, and I thought to myself "pssh, I'm not going to let a little language barrier get in the way of me absorbing the culture, I want to eat with other Japanese people!" But it's kind of a no-win situation. In busy areas like Dotonbori, you either step into a place lousy with other Gaijin (which isn't necessarily bad, mind you) or you walk into the kind of restaurant that most are in Japan and stumble all over yourself because you can't read/speak Japanese. It's an interesting conundrum. And pretty good inspiration to keep cracking down on my Japanese lessons.

Anyway, I was wondering around aimlessly when I decided that I wanted some good sushi. I wandered into a restaurant that specialized in such and a very friendly woman spoke to me in half Japanese/half English, which was nice. I love the usual reaction when I tell Japanese people that I'm DC...they usually say something about Barack Obama followed by "yes we can!" I love it.

So I had my sushi fix and I didn't feel nervous in this restaurant at all because the staff was so friendly to me. And I'm getting pretty used to be a lone Expat wandering around Japan.

After Dotonbori I went back to the Kita area where my hotel was and stopped at the Umeda Sky Garden. It's basically two huge buildings joined together with a circular observation deck at the top. It was night when I got there, and quite lovely. The elevator was a bit scary though. Needless to say, I wasn't entirely comfortable riding in the glass elevator (which basically felt like you were soaring up on thin air) in a earthquake-plagued country, but I lived to talk about it, so all was good.

The next morning I tried to get a ticket for the bus back home, but all was booked except the most expensive bus tickets, which I think kind of defeats the purpose of taking the bus. So, I decided to splurge a little bit and take the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Not much more money and about 5 hours faster. Oh, and an amazing view...annnnd a trolley that comes down the aisle with snacks/drinks. With the scenery and the speed of the train, it felt a little like riding on the Hogwarts Express. I'm such a nerd. I even got to see Kyoto, Nagoya and Yokohama from the train, which was cool.
I also went into Tokyo on Saturday even though I had come down with a pretty nasty cold. Still kind of getting over it. I got tired more quickly being sick and all, so I didn't stay long. Just long enough to see Ikebukuro and Nekobukuro/Tokyu Hands. Tokyu Hands is a pretty amazing store for art supplies and such, but everything is kinda overpriced. Nekobukuro was on the top floor and it was pretty neat. Cats everywhere! Constance went there when she came to Tokyo, and I'm glad I went because I'm missing my three little furry babies back home.


Anyways, in other news, I've had 3 days of teaching so far. I like it pretty well, although I hate being so slow at planning lessons. My favorite classes are the adults, hands down. You can just talk to them, and they pay attention and prepare. I even had a high school class on Wednesday evening, and it was really fun. The male student's name was Akira. Always a good sign. The only thing I messed up on was an adult class earlier in the afternoon in which I absolutely loved the students, but they asked me to speak more slowly next time at the end of class. I guess I got a little excited talking to them, and spoke too quickly. Oh well. At least they told me.

On Saturday night I'm hoping to attend my first fireworks festival in Yachiyo, and then I'm going into Tokyo on Sunday with Nathalie most likely. Sunday is the last day that the big Gundam in Odaiba is going to be there for a few months, so I need to see it ASAP. I'll definitely have a bunch of pictures to post come Sunday night!

Well I'm off to bed at a decent hour for once. Gotta long day ahead tomorrow.

Geez Louize, two posts, one day?

But with good reason!

I went out into Osaka earlier and had a great day...marked several things off my list of must see things while in Japan.

Ok so first I headed to Kaiyuken, Osaka's aquarium and the biggest in Japan. Ok, so yeah, I know everyone has been to aquariums in the States and all, but this one was different! All kind sof creatures that I've never seen before and flawlessly laid out (at the end I wanted more instead of wanting to collapse like one usually does at the end of trekking through a long ass zoo/aquarium). The facilities housing the creatures were masssssssive. No teeny tiny cages, but huge and massive tanks so the fishies can swim happier. Although I guess the more eco-friendly thing to do would be to leave them in the water...but then I couldn't have spent 2000 yen and have pictures to show, right? Anyway, enough of that. On to pictures!
The exterior...and it's only half of it! The rest is to the right.

This is a fucking whale shark...it was huuuuuge. like 20 feet long. I've never seen a shark this big up close. And it bumped the glass RIGHT at me. It wanted to eat me. Maybe it thought I looked tastier than the Asians around me...I'm definitely meatier, so I can't say I blame him.

The biggest type of crab in the world, the Spider Crab. Ewwww. This thing grossed me out.
Sloth!

These made me tear up a bit (anyone who knows Blake knows how much he loves Sea Otters). They were on their back and cleaning themselves the whole time! And they were huge! They reminded me of Myoshi. I couldn't really get a good picture because the damn things moved around so fast.
Thousands upon thousands of sardines.

Octopus! Gross looking, but tasty.

This lizard/gator thing freaked me out. It was so still, just floating at the surface. I half suspected a Gremlins moment to happen and it to jump out at me.

This dolphin was doing flips and shit. Show-off.

And that's all I'll subject you to. But it was awesome. Anyone who comes anywhere near Osaka has to see this aquarium. At times it felt like I was underwater with all these things...which really weirded me out.

So today I also got to eat three things that were on my list. The traditional Japanese breakfast of cold fish, miso soup, and rice that I mentioned earlier, takoyaki (little pieces of octopus fried up into balls), and okinomiyaki. The takoyaki was good, although a little too dough-y and soft for my taste. The okinomiyaki was phenomonal. I went to a restaurant in the bay area after seeing the aquarium and lo and behold, the dreaded table-top griddles. I began to get worried because I had no fucking idea how to cook okinomiyaki by myself, so after I ordered, I asked the waitress to show me how to do it. Apparently, in this restaurant they do it for you right at your table. After she told me that, I felt a bit sheepish for asking, but oh well. Anyway, pictures!

First of all, I always had the impression that okinomiyaki was pancake-y...you know, with flour. Maybe in some places they are, but here they're just made with a boat load of cabbage and an egg to hold it all together. And a meat of your choice. My choice was squid. So here it is fresh on the griddle.

Flipped over...

And voila! Soup's on! The stuff on top is Japanese mayo and a barbeque type sauce. I know, it sounds like a gross combo to me too, but I dunno, somehow it worked. It tasted excellent.

I've come to notice just how much Japanese people eat. Especially young people, like around my age. Most of the time I look around and one person is eating atleast twice as much as me. They can put it down, but I have no idea where it goes. I guess the abundance of walking/exercise and genetics doesn't hurt in their case.

Boss: Osaka. And I just checked my pedometer, and I've walked 14,396 steps today (that's like, 7.5 miles I think)! I'm getting used to it and feeling better too. I've gone over my 10,000 steps a day goal since I started wearing the pedometer. Thank god for my tennis shoes.

Un-boss: First real pangs of homesick-ness today. I guess I've never gone on vacation by myself. I'm so used to my siblings and my mom and usually Blake or a friend coming along. It was really weird. I miss everyone so much. :(