feeding seagulls

small shrine in Funabashi Higashi

Pointless old video in the olde style

as above... we spent Christmas outside. We found a weird path through some fields surrounded by the city of Funabashi-higashi.

Hello Hillary

Ode to Hill

In order of appearance:
Phil
Jude
Ethan
Jason
Tomo
Keri
Sarah's finger

Also, Phil and I had the exact same score at the end of that game...

Paella/Tequilla

So passed our first day of what has been come to be known as 'Christmas Week.' A day filled with cardmaking and clockwatching, a desperate countdown to the start of our winter break beginning in less than a week. Which brings us to the paella/tequilla aspect of this entry. Uhmm. I decided to be reminiscent (sp.) and try to make paella like I had in Spain not too long ago (maybe....5 years?) Well, sans the seafood so Phil would partake, of course. I had a lot of fun cooking it but the process was most definately lubricated by a few shots of Tequila. Those who know me well are aware that I'm not what we call in Belize a 'rum-soak' aka a drinker. Phil and I are such cheap dates now that one tiny bottle of tequila reposada is way enough to make us forget the terrible and truelly scarring effects of the christmas songs we've been forced to listen to.

In other news, I got locked out of the apartment last night, mostly my fault. I always lose my keys anyway. Phil and I went different ways after Aikido. He went to play shogi and I studied at the coffee shop and then headed home. I realized I was locked out once I got back to our front door...promptly tried all the windows, jumped the fence in our backyard, jiggled locks, etc., to no avail. I ended up just hanging with another teacher, Ethan, who lives across the way - until Phil came back. I studied more Japanese there. I finally figured out what 'hentai' literally means. hen= strange and the suffix -tai means to want something. So, literally, 'to want the strange' makes sense I guess...

Okay, 'Ima, netai deshyo!' Now I wanna go to sleep. Oyasumi nasai....goodnight

Post Aikido, Post Indian Food, Post Coffee Shop

Phil and have been spending almost all our free time together. Our 'dayoff' schedules have been super synched since we got to Japan. Recently though, we've been spending a lot more 'not attached at the hip' time apart. For example, on Sunday night we have our regular Aikido practice together. Afterwards, instead of padding back to the train station together, heading home and watching a movie afterwards we've been going our own ways. Phil has been meeting up with his friend Masato to play Shogi and other such games of exotic endeavor, while I have been cramming some Japanese vocab in a coffee shop.

Last night, after Phil took off to meet with Masato, I decided to eat some Indian food at our usual restuarant before I hit the coffee shop. Business was slow that night, so I was one of three lone diners. The restaurant is run by a big Indian family: the uncle makes the naan, the father makes the curries, the niece is the waitress, the nephew is the cashier - you get the picture. The restaurant is called 'Gandhi' after you-know-who. There was a map of India, so I was inspired to strike up a conversation with the young girl who was gathering up my dishes after an yummyforthetummy bowl of saag paneer. Her English was very low level, her Japanese was a bit higher so we ended up having a short conversation about India in a combo of English/Japanese/Hindi - mostly her speaking the Hindi of course and me guessing and asking follow up questions in Japanese or English. She was a really nice girl but pretty shy. As I was paying up, the nephew asked me if I had ever been to India. We started talking and before I knew it, people started to come out of the woodwork of the little establishment. Phil and I had been there quiet a few times in the past to eat a delicious but eneventful meal. I had never seen any of these people. There were kids and mothers and well...the whole family came out to talk to me. We talked for about 30 minutes just standing around the tables, still using our potluck of languages. I asked them about India and what life in Japan is like for them. They are having a very hard time adjusting to the culture here since it is such a huge contrast with life in India. Japanese people are very friendly, wonderful people but are notoriously shy - even to the point of running away from foreigners(I've heard). So they miss their talkative neighbors and neighborhood gossip and feeling like a part of something they belong to. I guess you can say I could at least relate to them a little. I was most impressed by their kids who where being raised trilingual. Hindi, Japanese and English is a brainful for a five year old kid.

I think I'll be heading back there next week since they said they would be happy to teach me a little Hindi - which I have the distinct impression will be useful to me...plus the food is oh sooooo good.

I jaunted off to the coffee shop feeling quiet high spirited as it were. (that sentence makes me feel like I'm writing a British romance novel or something.) My usual squishy couch seat was taken, so I sat at one of the long bars to hunker down and soak in some hirigana. There were five seats and I sat in the one second from the end. A family of four came in looking for a spot. I obliged them by scooting over to the end seat which I was avoiding because it had a burntout overhead light and made for some difficult reading. Right away, they started chatting to me - the grandmother and mother cooing at me because I was apparently so darn 'kawai' (cute). Once I overcame my fear that they would tie me to their cellphones and force me into dangly servitude, I had a fabulous conversation with them. (people here are crazzzzy about little cellphone decorations) Mostly with the daughter 'Kina' but with many interjections from Grandpa, Grandma and Mother. I had so much fun chatting it up with them and practicing my Japanese. I was pretty surprised that I didn't really need to resort to English...I can't say my grammar was GREAT but...I had a great time.

So, maybe this is a really boring post? I'm not sure but I had a really exciting night so here it is. After so much struggle communicating for so long, feeling like I was getting nowhere - last night is really what I needed. If there is any moral to this tale then it might be that if you think you are lonely in a sea of people it's only because it's the way you want to be.

Ja matta,
sarah.

Okonomiyaki Part 1

disclaimer: Phil and I were really zoned out...super tired so if we seem like retards, well: we were sleepy retards.

Okonomiyaki Part 2

Okonomiyaki Part 3

Okonomiyaki Part 4

Okonomiyaki Part 5

verbatum

We should talk about how you and I are finally making some (Japanese) friends here, that aren't freaky stalkers. And that I've been hanging out with a Japanese lady named Kyoko. And that I had a lesson with a young guy who spent some time in Canada and I found out that he liked shogi (Japanese chess) and took initiative to introduce you two. And being able to hang out with Japanese people is really helpfull for learning Japanese and in the last 3weeks mine has really improved and you can learn how to say usefull things like, Blood of a Pervert! (chikan no chi).

Are you seriously taking dictation? ok I'll continue for a little bit.

I have decided that Phil takes no, well very little intrest in my personal grooming choices, he refuses to tell me if I would make a good redhead he just says "it would be hard work to make you not look good" but hair dyeing is hard work so that is not a good answer, especially in Japan cuz they like wash your hair three times, and dry cut it, and wet cut it, anyway if you see the way the women are here you woulld feel a little intimidated by their high standards of grooming.

(makes fun of the typos as she checks over my shoulder)

what else was going on? the last couple of days of work have gone by really quickly. I have a couple of days that I really enjoy. I have classes that I really enjoy, the students are really pleasent and it's not like pulling teeth . We have a Christmas break coming up, we kinda suck at planning it's too bad that it's really cold everywhere except Belize and other tropical countries . There is a conflict between saving money, and just wanting to travel and go to India for two weeks. Thats what I hate about money, money's so ******* annoying, you can delete the explitives please. money takes the fun out of every thing if I didn't have to worry about *******money I would just jump on a plane and go. I wouldnt have to worry about that I can't get a job or a visa or pay my rent , you want these things; a nice couch that pleases you. Sometimes you feel you want a nice couch to sit your *** on rather than a plane ticket to take you somehwere.

I think the problem for me is I just have a Pilsbury Doughboy of fantasies rolling around in my head. Everytime I have this great idea that I want to live out, like moving to Mexico, I can just hear him going "whowho" tickling his fancy or whatever but it isn't practical. I feel guilty cuz I feel like I'm whining, whining about having to grow up and its not like I dont want to grow up and its not like the majority of the world hasn't had to make sacrifices and put their dreams on a back shelf but....


PS

(Also, I am a wicked good typist) "No you're not"

Sarah hates this weather

It's fall, the leaves are turning, the moles are digging (wait what? more to follow), and Sarah is complaining about how A) we aren't in the tropics and how B) she might want to live in Boston. I have told her that the two dont work together, but whatever. Other than that we have been jogging ( or in japanese "jogging-gu shimas") about 5or6 Kilometers from our apartment to a park then around the park 6times, stretching, doing pushups, pullups, etc. in the park then walking home to cool down. This morning (that is tomorrow morning for you folks, I suppose) we noticed a strange pile of dirt by the base of the tree that we always stop at. Then it moved. I said it was a Mole as I have seen a lot of their tunnels in cartoons, and they look just like this one did. We thought that was cool. Also we hooked up our TV (terebi) to the apt complex's antenna and now are watching Japanese timetraveling murder mysteries, in bed. I kid you not.

awesome, I have updated before the new year. hope to again soon, no adventures.

Philip

Prodigal

A Conversation:

Telephone ring ring ring

Chris GOL Fusion services this is Chris how may I help you?

Philip Hi, um my interent isn't working

Chris well I dont see any problems here

Philip Okay... but it's been off for two weeks

Chris No, it's on. (secretly flips a switch)

Philip Yup, it sure is, thanks so much for your help.

Click

pics of things that are not relevant to our adventures in Japan

I just thought i would share some of the pictures i've been taking. They're not meant as final images, just notes to myself. I don't know why they are mostly of plants and bugs. I think I might start using my hassie again sometime soon. It's been on an extended vacation on my bookshelf. I have been simply enjoying taking silly little pictures of things and I don't envy those who have to take themselves seriously right now... I think my favorite one is the picture of the twin daisies. I've never seen something like that before. well. here they are.

long absence but....

sorry, but life is just the same thing. no reason to post about adventures when there aren't any to be had.

we have been trying to name a cartoon watermellon. we are thinking "Linus" but suggestions are welcome.

P

summer break woooooooo

no classes for 10days, super. we have been going to Ueno park to see the zoo and museums and stuff. also to watch the street performers and whatever. the only problem is the weather, when you step outside the heat hits you like a hammer, like a wet, soggy hammer, a hammer that then clings to your body like a cicada clings to a tree (which they are doing, by the way), and that clinging cicada liquid hammer drains all the energy from you like some kind of vampire.


so just to recap, summer in japan is; a moist, insectine, vampiric, simple tool. go it? ok.



other things, we are both learning to play guitar, for amusement purposes, and we managed to buy a printer that doesn't work with osx it is not fun trying to return when you dont speak the language. how do you say "incompatible" in japanese? anyone?

thats it for now, sorry for the long silence. philip

We're Genki, how about you?

In the past week or so, we have had a typhoon (the size of the gulf of mexico i've been told) and a major earthquake (several people died) but let me give those of you who are worrying a more detailed description.

the typhoon, hmmm where to start... if you have never been in one, i can sum it up for you with this one word rain. rain Rain, RAIN, rainrainrainrain. but that was about it, just a lot of rain, big deal. sometimes the rain was so light it would drift upwards in the breeze.


The earthquake goes like this. it's 10am i start to feel queesy, the building shakes "oh" i continue to use the internet. it is monday but the day of the sea (posidon anyone?) and we are off of work, sarah is sleeping still. there are small tremors the entire rest of the day, that is how we know it is a big one.

6.8 which is pretty darn big if you are a nuclear power plant sitting on the fault line.... but it was only some major problems that lead to minor disruptions. nothing we noticed in this area.



but we are genki (fine, good, well) so dont worry. Philip

Philosophy

So this past Sunday was the Tokyo international bookfair, we picked up some rather good books on the cheap, which includes various philosophical works (Derrida's Positions, an overview of western philosophy by some Englishman, and some more Schopenhaur) as per my new obsession. But I also picked up a Pratchett novel that I hadn't read The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, based on an older obsession, This led me to read a short story of Pratchett's found online "Death and the Philosopher" which more or less leads me to this quote and leaves me feeling a bit silly, a bit stupid, and mainly overjoyed

"LET ME PUT FORWARD ANOTHER SUGGESTION: THAT YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A LUCKY SPECIES OF APE THAT IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITIES OF CREATION VIA A LANGUAGE THAT EVOLVED IN ORDER TO TELL ONE ANOTHER WHERE THE RIPE FRUIT WAS?"


Try taking this as a compliment, really. Anyway, when your life begins to revolve around language, or a few in particular not for actuall use but as a hypothetical object set to be transfered between parties, wait what the hell am I talking about it is two in the morning. Also are coney and bunny from the same root word?

Trivia the name coney island, is a slur (derogatory discriptor?) on people who went there and engaged in rabbit like activities. Well known for its salad bars yes?


pip pip hooray!

Garden in Japan=======+

A 'before' picture of our backyard

After a week of intensive work...too bad you can't see the row of lavendar plants under the window, oh well.

My Kimono airing out in the breeze.

varriety ours

It's important to keep doing things that are interesting, it forces your brain to work.


Sarah is making a garden.

we are making music.


But I seem to be in the "internets are shiney" phase of being reconnected to the world; spending far to much time reading comics and the what's happening to paris hilton now, er the news, and of course watching people dance with dogs on you tube.


media are powerfull tools almost always wasted, what does your browser history look like?

odd tidbits

This is the story of how we got our second keyboard; the first story may come later, if ever.

It's the middle of June and we decide to spend our first day off apart to pursue our own ends, me in the little home studio setup I've got going and Sarah walking around with her camera. She didn't get very far. At the end of our block, it turns out, is a little used store which attracted Sarah like a overworked metaphor attracts a hack writer. This store is full of old clothes, junk and whatnots all for very cheap (actually it's a little hard to tell if the place is a store or just the first floor of some lady's house). and so I get an e-mail or c-mail (what you might call a text message) from sarah telling me to come check out some stuff, OK music is going well enough but its breaktime anyhow... I walk down the block and, well, the little old ladies had Sarah cornered fussing over her and laughing and chatting on; these were the type of ladies who if you weren't careful would have you very well fed, stuffed in a couch between them and about to meet an eligible type about your age, who is shy but endearing and loves his or her aunt/great aunt/ cousin's uncle's sister the type can be found in all countries and in all languages. Sorry, back to the story. They had her cornered, just two of them, one setting up an old casio keyboard the other rummaging through boxes looking for a power cable and firing rapid questions at her husband/brother/nephew (?). but Sarah could not have escaped if she tried, the greatest illusionist of the 19th centuary couldn't have gotten out of there until they were finished with him. Once the keyboard was set up, and yes I was trapped at this point as well, one of the women proceeded to play us a little tune of 4bars length for the next five or six minutes, and then insisted that sarah play as well. Once Sarah bent over to play the woman began to pretend to polish her backside, she then turned to me laughing and slapped my chest so hard I moved back at least a foot, her next move was to actually hug Sarah around the waist (for playing the same tune? thanks Hill for teaching it to us) and giggle. Finally we were allowed to pay for our things and after another few minutes allowed to leave with them, Sarah's wandering only having gone a block physically but spiritually she had truely arrived.


That's it for now, I may edit this into so kind of sensical progression but I doubt it. Philip

Minnowing - a pretty word to hear yourself say.

Today I began to gain my voice.
In truth I began to lose it...but isn't that somewhat glass is half empty? Now I'm having narcissistic episodes, showing symptoms of an even deeper disease. I love the sound of my new voice. Singing, speaking out of turn- and unnecessarily, I'm a puppet animated by a strangers voice. There's a keen awareness of disconnection between my physical and psychological self. Have you ever cut yourself with a sharp knife, leaving a flap of flesh grinning in your direction? I always go through this weird progression of thoughts:

1. That grisle can no longer be identified as ME and I must remove it from my thinking, feeling, living body.
2. What if that happless skin flap is every bit as ME as it gets?
3. Maybe if I stick it back where it belongs the two ME's will reconcile somehow?

After your instincts inform your approach as to how to deal with that piece of YOU-ness dangling off/on you, the only thing left to consider is the object-ness of one's body. Look at your hands, don't move and just look at them. Try not to feel any sensation but the weight of them. Aren't they heavy?

-S

"you should post baby"

How fun is it to teach with a sore throat. Illness aside, Sarah and I have been having quite a time here in Japan, from; teaching where we get to sing childhood favorite songs and do the hokey pokey and then in the next hour discuss international politics or abortion, to studying kendo which involves hitting old guys in armor on the head while shouting "men", and of course exciting excursions into the world of recycling (where you seperate glass from plastic every alternate thursday unless it has rained, and so forth), into the Japanese rainy season (where I am to understand we have not yet learned the true meaning of mold) and of course trial and error grocery shopping (it's laundry soap, it's not rice). Another thing about being here is I have started to notice the way I write, can you believe that this is only the third sentence, what a rambler. okokokokokokok, ok; the most widespread word in the world, the second being cocacola, I don't know what the third is but I imagine it to be McDonnalds or Disney related if it isn't then maybe some henous thing spawned by the technological revolution like "pwned" but that might be a few years down the line. should it be the typological revolution? As for personal time, I am reading Schopenhaur thanks to the interest of one of my students, and it's quite a bit of fun even if he takes a paragraph to say a sentence worth of material, its still an improvement on Kant's 40pages per idea, but maybe that is just the German language. Sarah has been reading various stories and neither of us have made a reasonable start at learning Japanese, even what little we know is hard to utilize after spending most of the day making sure that as much of what is spoken is in English. Warning this post is really boring dont read it, Ha, can't say I didn't warn ya.

An Anne Frank moment

I've been reading quiet a bit since we've settle down. Not the 2.3 books Phil reads a day but a decent amount. Mostly Japanese authors, Soseki Natsume and Haruki Murakami, hands down some of the best reading I've ever done. The day before last, I finished my last book of theirs and had to resort to the MIL library reserve. Last. Last. Last. So I'm reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Why such punishment, I don't know. It is like some kind of torture to read it and, like a squirming child trying to resist her spoonful of medicine, I read dutifully. If you've ever read the book, you can sympathize with me but I'm not sure why you would. The book makes me paranoid. Not just that I'm waiting for Anne to be taken away by her inevitable destiny but that her destiny was not a figment of some authors vivid imagination but instead a ...boulder lodged in the throat of humanity. Every turned paged leads me to the question: Why am I so damn lucky? I try to find a logical answer but I can't. Like a pachinko player who's bound to strike either gold or bankruptsy - I crank the handle on another day somewhat absent mindedly and hope for the best with waxy eyes and warm thoughts.

Last night, Phil came down with a fever. I think I was fretting more than a little over him, dosing him with potent ginger tea, two advils, cold compresses and the Sakura City brochure as a fan to cool him down. I was having a paranoia attack over his body, fanning frantically. I'm sure this overreaction was due to Ms. Frank. Phil's fever was a kind of tragedy about to unfurl around me and I was a young girl holed up in a dark room awaiting something terrible. Except that if I was more like her, I would lean over the body of my apparently dying boyfriend to look out the window and say something like..."My, what grand weather!" And by no means do I mean (mean. mean. mean.) to belittle Anne Frank's spirit with my earlier comment but instead only intend to highlight my own tendency towards pessimism. And what do I have to be pessimistic about in light of my life? Really, I should be spanked.

When I woke this morning to find Phil's fever broken I couldn't help but think: Lucky, Lucky me.

time passes irrelevantly...

I'm not sure what that means. Anyway, here we are again, back on the digital lifeline. Hmmm, it's a little awkward after so much time to know where to start this update. A lot has happened, probably most of it is ...small, in the scope of things but a little adds up to a lot, as they say. Like two old friends who have a lot to relate but don't know where to begin, I say hello. I'm bad at chronology, mostly because my memory is so damn bad and I tend to focus on the relatively minute and unprofound things...like getting haircuts in Japan...I guess I'll start with something small. Like haircuts in Japan.

I got my hair cut for the second time today. No, what I mean is...Today was the second time I had my hair cut in Japan. Starting out pretty deep, huh? Hold on for the ride, you may fall asleep at the wheel. The name of the place I went to is called 'Sweet.' Yes, Sweet Hair Salon. I showed up without an appointment the first time I went (come to think of it, i've never made an appointment) and with a lot of gesturing, pointing, miming scissors hacking at my head, I managed to convince them to take me on. Now a lot of you might be thinking, okay, so now that you're in the chair and the guy with the scissors is poised, no big deal, read a magazine. That just it. Not being able to explain anything to your artiste du coiffure whatever, french not my forte neither japanese, etc personal hair hacker makes for an excercise in releasing control. I know this sounds so retarded, in fact, I think I may regret that this is the first thing I write about after weeks of no input but on my fingers tap. I just had to trust the guy, smile, nod and try not to worry too much about this superficial thing that I have tied like a cement block to the concept of my identity. Hair. Hair. Hair. Falls to the tiled floor in whirling clouds as 'Hiroshi' expertly drags his blades through my locks with a permanent and tiny smile plastered to his face. What is going through his mind, anyway? His smile freaks me out a little but I can't help but smile too. A tiny plastered smile. We don't say a word to eachother. He massages my scalp with a minty, invigorating oil, seemingly thrilled to do a little dance around me and tousle my hair. I'm not sure why this is so amusing to me. Maybe it's because he does it so damn lovingly. Like my hair is the most important and precious comodity he's ever had the pleasure to play with. Before I'm released from the chair I'me given a neck and shoulder rub, shiatsu style. The way he smackes the top of my head with his palms reminds me of Kendo and that all his hard work is going to be wrapped up under a sweaty 'Men' helmet in but a few hours. He gestures to me that I may rise from the seat by bowing about five times and ushering me to the counter. I'm more than willing to shell out thirty bucks.

Hmm...so how's my hair look, you may be wondering? It's fine, just fine. Not perfect by any means but lovingly crafted by a Japanese man called Hiroshi who, for all the world, loves to cut hair.

up to date updates

look at that the second update in as many days, this might be a trend (or maybe i am just suuuuuuuuuuper happy about having the interweb again)


first up i found out how to get to the english language version of this site, so posting is les of remembering where the correct buttons for things are and more actually trying to detail information about our lives. second here is a short tour of our apatrment a view from the kitchen of our bedroom, living room and then into the kitchen, there is a little more to see but it is little more to see, so deal.






so that strange pyrmid shaped thing is our kotatsu table which has a blanket that goes under the table top and an electric air heater to keep your legs and feet warm. this has been taken down now that the warmer times are upon us, but kinda neat anyhow.

it has been a while since we were posting so there are a lot of things that we are used to now, and a few stories that may go untold, if you have questions about anything just leave a comment and i will do my best to make up an complex story that will be less interesting than the truth (so you don't burst a blood vessal)

back and so forth

Well, that took to long. The thing about Japan is that if you are sent something important you have to "honko" er stamp er sign for it, even when it would fit through the mailslot on your door. so anyway we have the internet now, finally. work has been going relatively well, an eikaiwa is basicly a chance for japanese people to interact with native english speakers, for kids its playtime in english and for adults it isn't to dissimilar. as for personal things, sarah and i are studying aikido again as well as kendo both twice and only on the weekends. main list of concerns now is how long we have been out of contact and the other was actually getting the internet, of course now that we have it (as of 11:15am on Friday the 8th of June) the next hurdle is the tendency for our browser to put us in the japanese language version of any site we try to get to, this one for instance. but we will persevevere par server and all that.


also last week we were in an earthquake, my first it was about a 3 or 4 and i thought it was kids playing in a classroom upstairs until it kept going, and i saw the looks on my adult students faces. a strange feeling, not scary, and it was over before i had time to really think much of it.

more soon, really this time. philip

radio silence

we are in deep cover everybody, thus explains our radio silence.

no internet for a few weeks and what I am on now is kindly being lent. we tried to go to a net cafe but the keyboard was katakana/romanji so it was to perplexing to navigate. we are well enough, if overworked and underfed at the moment, but first pay period coming up will help nicely and then this week we are going to get back into the martial arts and I may check out the local igo parlor. spread our triumphant return amongst friends, and hopefully I or Sarah will give a more complete update soon.



cheers and chin up.

Astronauts and Photobooths

So...some random pics taken with a crappy disposable camera and in a 'Miss Doll' Photobooth.
Ethan is our new friend and fellow teacher, yeay!

The Earthquke

For those of you who asked, thank you for your concern, but our area was not in anyway touched. The only suffering caused was mental and can be demonstrated by this example conversation.

Setup: Philip has turned on the TV after getting back to the hotel room and is watching the news even though he doesn't understand a word of it

Sarah: what's that? what happened to that building
Philip: I don't know it looks in bad shape though
Sarah: was it a storm it was pretty nasty out today...
Philip: an earthquake maybe?
Sarah: yeah look at the street, oh no, did you feel anything today
Philip: no...?
Sarah: turn it off before I start thinking that we will be in an earthquake every ten seconds

but no blood no foul.

other things worth noting

a list of words I did not know the meaning of

polite
friendly
customer service
fresh seafood
fashonable
short skirt
clean
mass transit (I mean MASSIVE)
low ceiling
discrimination (people with tattoo's are not allowed in most bath houses)
Sarah ( means "plate" in Japanese)

on thursday we will move into our apartment in nishishizu a few mins from the shizu train station, er, if you know where you are going that is....




some phrases that might have been usefull. ( I will work on a translation and edit this post if enough people are really interested. )

is this the subway to...?

it is? I didn't recognize it.

because i can't smell the urine.

is something the matter?

that man is homeless?

but he is better dressed than I am.

no keep your change, thank you.

The search for our new home...

Today Phil and I went to Nishishizu, one stop away on the train from our hotel, to try and locate our new apartment. Mimi, who works for MIL, had given us the address the day we arrived in Japan. Since today was our last free day before training, we figured we would try to locate it and gather our bearings. Simple, right?

Riiiiight.

So, Phil is pointing to where we THOUGHT we had to go.



It's a good few inches away from where we actually had to be. We wandered around confidently (in the completely wrong direction) and found a grocery store and a cool second hand shop where I found an awesome old roland piano...didn't get it but I'm hoping I can once we are in the apartment...anyhow.

Along the way, we accosted unsuspecting passersby and used our poor language skills upon them. In the last of a few desperate attempts, we met a very kind older gentleman who not only offered to help us find the apartment but also walked us to it - a good fifteen minute march (and I mean, MARCH - that guy walked fast!) We had a somewhat meager but good conversation along the way there. We found out that he has been an amateur photographer for over ten years and that he went to the states a few years back to photograph at some military bases. After we were delivered to our apartment, we met one of MIL's teachers (Matt) who is staying in our future apartment. He was kind enough to show us around, despite the fact that we were completely unexpected or invited. After having stayed in a hotel for the last week, Phil and I are very ready to move in to a more permanent place.

We'll send pictures, I guess...once we're settled in.

Oh, did I mention it was raining?

Google knows where we are...

WOW. WOW...

We're here, we're really, really here. I guess that seems obvious to everyone else but since our touchdown in Japan I've been poking Phil in the ribs, grinning and saying: "Phil...we're totally in Japan, how weird is THAT?"

As I'm sure Phil will mention, our flight on Japan Air to Narita blew all other flights I have ever taken out of the water. It would prove to be only a miniscule forshadowing of the kind of treatment and service that is typical in Japan.

There's so much to say, I'm not sure I can relay it in any logical order. I fancy I will throw a few thoughts around.

Our first meal in Japan was pizza. Yes, pizza - and it was amazing. After arriving in Yukarigaoka, two train stops up from MIL's main location in Katsutadai, we settled into our hotel ( Hotel Wishton Yukari) and were starving. We dumped our bags and then wandered around (mostly bewildered) to try to find a place to eat. Ordering involved a lot of pointing and the waitress seemed pretty weirded out that we each wanted to eat a whole pizza...either that or we were impressing her with our barbaric table manners, not sure which; maybe both?

After inhaling dinner, we returned to our teeny weeny hotel room, laid our heads down on our teeny pillows and slept.
Okay, focus..focus...hmmm, there are just so many thoughts and pictures flashing in my mind's eye right now.

There are not nearly as many 'gaijin' (foreigners) here as I initially imagined. When we were walking around on the street, I feel like I was playing 'slug-a-gaijin' or something. Not nearly enough volkswagons here for the original version of that game.




Funny thing is, when we come across one, Phil and I tend to cringe a little and look away. Phil says there are two kinds of tourists: The ones who are relieved to see other Americans and the ones who are just plain old embarrassed. (No offense, YA'LLLLLLLLL.....)


OKAY, OKAY, I HAVE A CONFESSION...THIS BLOG ENTRY IS A COMPILATION OF RANDOM THOUGHTS OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS...also, I am insane.



Phil and I are loving it here. There is amazement and wonder around every corner. We have already experienced so much + we're loving the language barrier. We've already learned a decent amount in the little time we've been here. The funny thing is though that all the other languages I've had experience with are popping into my head while I'm trying to speak Japanese. Spanish is driving me INSANE. It somehow sounds a lot like Japanese to me and it's got my brain in a rubix cube.
I mean...here's a tiny example:

Engrrrrish: Where is Tokyo station?

Japanese: Tokyo eki, doko des ka?

Spanish: Estacion de Tokyo, donde esta? ( Okay, you probably wouldn't arrange that sentence like that in spanish but i'm trying to make a point, Hai?)

So I've been thinking about the spanish equivalent for pretty much everything I've been trying to learn in japanese. Wouldn't it be ironic if somehow I learned more spanish here than I ever did in Central America?

Hmm, what else to say. Oh yes. Message to all my guy friends who are currently NOT in Japan: you're missing out. There are so many unbelievably hot chicks here. That said: I feel at least a little like a big boned amazonian burrowing toad, well...mostly when I'm shopping for clothes. I think I'm an XL here. GODZILLLLLA, rarrrr.

Speaking of shopping, Phil and I spontaneously ventured to Tokyo yesterday. It took us about twice the time it should have to get there since we were trying to figure out the train and subway routes. It's not really so bad at all. Well, definately confusing at first but I think by the end of the day we were getting the hang of it. Once in Central Tokyo, we wandered around in a massive shopping center. There was a massive book store that took up a few floors of the building where we managed to find an english-japanese and a japanese-english dictionary: very exciting for us.

Oh, that reminds me... we were checking out at the cashiers when phil reached into his bag and ripped open a scab he had on his knuckle and then started to pour blood all over the counter and floor. The poor girl at the counter couldn't figure out why Phil wasn't just putting his money in the little money tray on the counter. She finally looked over the counter (by this time I'm JUST catching on to what is happening since i was at another register) and saw blood running down his fingers. She quickly snatched up some first aid stuff and had phil disinfected and bandaged in minutes. We felt really bad because there was a lot of blood and well...the Japanese seem pretty keen on hygiene. I could only imagine that after we left they called in the biological hazard cleanup crew. (Picture that scene in ET with all the people in the slinky tubes and suits...)

Afterwards we had lunch in a great little place under the train tracks. The food was so good. In fact, everything we've eaten so far has been amazing. I have never eaten such good food in my entire life. I've never seen Phil eat so slowly! Hill, you know what I'm talking about...

After eating, we decided to go to Shibuya (on a Saturday afternoon, no less). For those of you who may not know, Shibuya is one of THE hippest youth oriented shopping districts in all Japan, possibly the world too. Remember that scene in 'lost in translation' where she's crossing the street with the umbrella in front of the building that is basically a giant tv? That's in Shibuya. I've never experienced anything like that place in my entire life - so amazing. We found a used clothing store in an alley and I bought an absolutely beautiful kimono for $25, it was such a great find. I'll have to post a pic of it soon. One thing is for sure, there is no way anyone could possibly be bored here, even if they tried.

Oh, by the way, I'm leaving out lots and lots and lots. There's no way to encompass it all: Disclaimer.

I'm going to stop for now and hope that my thoughts become at least a little more coherent. There has been so little time to reflect at all, I feel less like a poet and more like a drooling word muncher. So that's it for now, until next time...sayonara.

Savannah to Nyack part 2

The storm, if you were anywhere in its path you know what I am talking about and if you weren't, um, there was some rain. Anyhow, our course led us to two cities and should have led us around them, but compounding our discomfort with driving our ungainly "gentle-ride van" with the wonderful super weather conditions, and what you get is the Sarah driving through downtown Baltimore and downtown D.C. in the pouring rain with very limited visablity (although the height of our truck seemed to remedy her inabilty to see stoplights) while i desperately try to read signs and maps and get us back to the main road.

After that the rest of the trip was a breeze, and we arrived in Nyack safely and with much more stuff than my parents had bargined for. for those of you who don't know Nyack is a small village in the suburbs of NYC about an hour away by car, it used to be the trading post from the city to the wild unknown but those days are long gone.

So while we were in the New York area we figured that we would investigate the New York Aikikai, and so we hopped on a bus and a subway until we were there. Low and behold it was Aikido, not all that different from what you see on tapes or what we did in Savannah, but different enough, just personal differences mainly but decidedly less martial of an art than the ACoS and I think we will be hard pressed to find any that compare. But we did get to take two classes under Donovan Waite Sensei and had a short talk with him before they started. The mats were nice and hard but maybe a little slippery, although different training surfaces should be helpful, I suppose.

Anyhow I just wanted to finish this up since WE ARE IN JAPAN NOW, and it seems silly to have this much backlog of posts.

-philip

From Savannah to Nyack

As you should know Sarah and I are moving to Japan to teach, but that is what happens next. First we had to leave Savannah.

We did not get out of town smoothly when we moved, in our great big truck, instead we had a few fits to our start; one of which involved cutting of a SCAD bus and being pulled over by the police right before the enterence to 16. The next minor calimity was due to the time of our leaving which was rush hour and I know that might not seem like a big deal but we were only just getting out of the city making our big break and moving on and being then stuck nearby in traffic while never having taken the monster of a vehicle we were in onto a highway, 45mins later we were on 95 smoothest sailing so far we make it into South Carolina with little incident but by then night was stedily falling and Sarah was begining to feel ill, from the bouncing and mind racking stress of hauling this unwieldy beheemoth through rush our traffic and the pains of leaving our home and friends behind (or so we thought) and we made it just barely outside of Georgia at all, more of a Symbol of our leaving than a practical start to the journey. Our place of rest for the night was a truck stop and infact was inside the cargo portion of our truck, which was set up nice and cozy for this very purpose with a made bed and everything. It turned out that our first night as ex-Savannians was not to pass peacefully into the next day, instead we wake up in the pitchblack of our closed up truck to find that Sarah's stomach was upset by more than our bumpy and uneven trip, she was sick, and we were not able to exticate ourselves from our moblie quarters as quickly as her stomach with the help of her esophagus was able to rid its self of contents which up untill that moment I would have found inoffensive. Luck is a wonderfull thing it comes in many forms; good, bad, blind, dumb and many others I am sure but what kind prompted us to have some plasitc bags well within the quick reach of Sarah's nimble fingers I am at a loss to say, but with its help and quick thinking on her part that incident did not go nearly as poorly as it could have. The next morning she was feeling a bit better and we were determined to start, as we climbed out of the back we noticed to our chagrin that the words which we noticed with humor on the side of our vehicle now made sense, "Gentle-Ride Van" it said, and from the moment we picked it up, through our pulling over ready for sleep at 7pm the night before we had thought of its size and unwieldy nature as contrary to those words, but there we were next to a long line of MASSIVE TRUCKS feeling a bit silly for having parked there and well aware from that point that we were in a van, and a gentle one at that.

Our second day passed mostly without incident untill we caught up with the storm. A lot could be said about that storm, that it had killed several children in the atlanta area already, or how it had decided like most travelers of the east coast to follow interstate 95, and like many tourits would take its time and see the sights. It was in Baltimore that we caught up to it.

stay tuned for the next installment, also hopefully sarah will add pictures to this -phil