Over Here

2007-04-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

So it goes.

2007-03-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

2007-03-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

2007-03-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

2007-02-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

$3 movies! Take that, $17 movies in Japan.

2007-01-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

2007-01-11T18:17:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

I received a scanner for Christmas, so I am now able to share with you this picture...

That is one sneaky looking Santa.

a neeeeew caaaaaar! (to me)

2006-12-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

The fanciest car I've ever had (not that it had much competition): 2003 ice blue hyundai accent. I didn't ask for the spoiler and tinted windows, but now that I realize how super fast they allow me to travel, I couldn't do without them.

2006-12-08T00:57:00.000-08:00

In case anyone was wondering, I have not been in Vienna since August, despite the appearance of this site. I have finally uploaded all my trip photos, not because anyone’s still reading, but for a sense of closure. So if you happen upon this page and desire to see endless pictures of buildings and bodies of water interspersed with plates of food and a couple cows, check out the link.

If you’re looking to hear about new adventures, those are on hold at the moment, so please come back at a later date. If I wrote now I would be limited to stories of chasing raccoons off the deck and driving to the grocery store.

Until then, I think I’ll post the occasional photo, in order to amuse myself.

2006-08-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

The Symphony
I've decided to live in Czesky Krumlov. I'm sure no more perfect place exists. Please come visit me. We'll have this for breakfast.And I'll defend you from bears.

Vienna highlights

2006-07-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

Spacey airport in Abu Dhabi...
So that I don´t want to spend a fortune at internet cafes, I´ll try and post some highlights from each place... Apple Strudel!
Klimt and Schiele in every museum!
Nice buildings!

Tonight we´re off to watch the opera on a screen outside surrounded by a food festival. Tomorrow is Czesky Krumlov...

2006-07-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

There you have it! As you can see, after a few hectic and sleepless days, I have officially left Japan. I arrived in Taipei at 9:30 this morning, and will depart for Vienna at 9:30 pm. I was planning on leaving the airport to do some sightseeing, but since it takes a while to get to the city, and because I could hardly see straight when I got here, I decided to park it at the airport. Woo! Actually I think it's just what I needed. The airport is quiet and comfortable and has some nice cafes. Not to mention free internet! And the most gloriously smooth rolly carts I have ever experienced, in all my travels. I can hang on to it with only my pinky finger and it dances along beside me.

So it's too bad I don't get to see Taiwan, but I've learned many things about it just from spending time in the airport. For example, they enjoy tea and Bon Jovi. (I got to listen to his greatest hits while I napped on some chairs.)

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to post anything else from the last month of action in Japan. It's a shame too, because it was a good month. An overwhelming one, but a good one.

I will try to put up some pictures once in a while from the road when I have the chance, though posts may be sparse. For the record, here's a brief itinerary:

Vienna, Prague, Teplice, Krakow, Tatras Mountains, Bratislava, Budapest, Croatia, Slovenia, Scotland, Italy, New York, HOME.

I feel like the luckiest person on the planet right now.

Leave me comments. It will make me happy.

Ciao!

2006-07-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

I will try to post a smattering of photos of the events of the Last Days. It will probably be random and unsatisfying. Random end of days event number one:

KIMONO WEARING!!

My favorite ladies decided they wanted to play dress up and took me to a photo studio to get these pictures, usually intended to be used as arranged marriage promo photos. Fingers crossed!

This is the one that's supposed to score me a mate.

Or perhaps this one? Check out the umbrella wielding prowess, fellas!

I was carefully put into place and told to freeze.

Half the preparation time was alotted to getting my hair into this pseudo-beehive. The hair ladies spend the entire hour wondering loudly to each other why a foreigner was planning to get outfitted in a kimono. Notice Tomiko peeking in the corner.

Next came the several layers of undergarments

Tomiko wrestles me into my kimono. Her massive skills are evident in this impressive bow.

I had a marriage offer by cellphone as soon as I was suited up.

My Laydeez. They put me in front so my head looks gigantic. Guys like big heads, right?

2006-07-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

This is it. It’s 12:06 am, July 16th, and after two years, I’m leaving Japan in ten days.

It’s hitting like they said culture shock would but never did. Dizzy waves of awe and confusion and excitement and sadness and resignation punch me in the face at unexpected intervals.

I find it dangerous to use such numbering systems; if I had counted out the last 100 days, each would have been spent mourning what was to come without experiencing every day. I'll try to remember this as I enjoy these last ones with the people who have meant so much to me for the most recent significant chunk of my life.

I can’t summarize what it feels like to be leaving this life. But it was good. Ahhh, it was good.

2006-06-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

“I rabu him, I rabu him, I rabu him, and weah he goes I forrow, I forrow, I forrow…”

Before I came to Japan, I figured that I would encounter some study of calligraphy. Maybe a little tea ceremony. I might even learn a traditional instrument or become a ninja.

I did not think I would join a gospel choir.

Gospel music seems to be gaining popularity in Japan, although I use the term “gospel” quite loosely. In the case of my choir it is defined as: “Any song performed in Sister Act I or II, or perhaps another movie with nuns (Sound of Music).” Or by Ken Hirai. (The most soulful singer in the country. And by soulful I mean soul crushingly bland). In two years we exhausted the Sister Act Catalogue, and so were forced to look elsewhere. I remember struggling with the question, “Which is more gospel, ‘Climb Every Mountain,’ or ‘My Way?’” I had trouble linking Frank Sinatra in any way to gospel music, so I went with the nuns.

Even if it hadn’t been for the soundtrack, I would have felt like I was living the Japanese version of the movie, featuring half tone deaf rhythm-less housewives rather than church ladies. Complete with the batty soprano who seems to sing three octaves above anyone else and the alto who loudly steamrollers over the music. Instead of Whoopi, we have a showboat of a too tight pants wearing choir leader who believes that we are only there to be her backup singers, so she gives herself solos on nearly every song, and lets us carry on with our business without the mildest suggestion.

Last weekend’s concert was the culmination of months of practice, and I was not disappointed. It was two hours of pure comedy. It’s difficult to describe the humor of a group of people so thoroughly missing the mark of gospel music, but I nearly peed myself laughing during some portions.

The high point was probably the featured high school soloist for “Oh Happy Day.” You remember the movie. The kid starts out dejected and meek and pathetic. She nailed this. But then, with Whoopi by his side, movie kid throws off his robe and goes all crazy good running up and down the scales. Instead, high school girl instantly awed us with her horrible-ness. Standing behind her with the choir, I had the best seat in the house, since I was able to witness the various levels of masked horror in the audience. “Do you think she’s terminally ill, and they’ve been forced to let her sing?” one man (probably) asked.

Then there was the “hip hop” dance routine featuring some other high schoolers set to a pitiful rendition of “Oh Champs Elysees,” which I can’t even get into. Two more ill-fitting elements I have never seen.

All that being said, I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with these delightful people, and as I watch crazy soprano’s joyful face as she sings, I know they are fulfilled by this strange brand of gospel music they have created. For which I have nothing but admiration.

The only time we ever all clapped at the same time, and it was caught on film! Hallelujah.

(The only photos I have are the blurry prints from when the newpaper came to interview us, hence these artsy shots including my fingers.)

Crazy Soprano is second from the right in the front row. Can't you just feel her explosive happiness?

2006-06-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

So much to update! Too bad my computer can't take the heat that's sneaking up on Japan, and any time I ask it to do anything remotely strenuous, like post pictures or watch Daily Show clips, the fan starts whirring a million miles an hour, and then I hear

BEEEEEEP.....BEEEEEP.....BEEEEP...... (as in, this computer will self destruct into tiny shards in 3...2...1...)

I've thought about putting it in the freezer. Unwise? Help me out computer folk.

2006-06-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

In addition to my ninja skills, I also recently learned the art of rice planting. The season has come when the fields are flooded, making temporary oceans in the hills. One of my favorite sights in Japan.
The flooding is not to help the rice grow (rice can grow in anything), but to keep other non-rice vegetation from growing. Farmer Guy explains the proper way to shove seeds in the mud. Try and find Keitorin sensei at the back of the pack...
This back breaking work is best left to children.
I even made the Fukui newspaper! "Foreign labor threatens Japanese farmers..." Or something like that.

Krazy Kar Rally

2006-06-01T03:45:00.000-07:00

Fact: if you stay in Japan long enough, you will become a ninja.

It happened to us last month when we attacked the south of Fukui for a second time, this time more successfully than we did as pirates. (Evidence for ninjas in the controversial "if pirates and ninjas fought, who would win" debate.)

This time around, our method was slow determination and thoroughness. And though we were the last team to reach the finish line, we... DUH DUH DUHHHHH.... won the trophy! That's right! The glory is ours! Ninjas forever!!!

Team Ninja. We decided to adopt Spice Girl-like titles, so here we have: Red Ninja, Fashion Ninja, Katsudon Ninja, Craft Ninja, Snow Ninja, and Gentleman Ninja. We're dorks.

The original gang. Note the plus two-ness of above team. Yuki's driving skills and Hudson's... redness... certainly helped lead us to victory.

Hudson battles Chris with his homemade nunchucks. Chris tries to intimidate Hudson with his homemade... nevermind.

A rare photo of Craft Ninja before I escape back into the shadows.

The A-Team.
Bag of flour baby, a required participant in all rally photos, even the ones involving swimming.

Natto challenge. Piece o'cake. Yoga Ninja.
Probably my favorite team costume. The Super Captains of the Universe, or something like that.

Power Rangers at the conbini.

Victory!

2006-05-29T02:26:00.000-07:00

...he..he...hellooo? Anybody still out there...?

After a shamefully long absence from blogland (due to preparation for and trip to America), I suspect that any previous watchers of this page have given up. Nonetheless, I will continue, for my own sake, if nothing else.

Fortunately, (...not), I left my camera in the aforementioned America, so until I get it back, I have some time to update this thing and highlight the exciting events which I neglected before.

If you leave me a comment, I'll give you a cookie.

2006-04-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

The setting on my camera makes these pictures look like they're in drunk-o-vision, which in everyone's case but mine is pretty accurate.
Kim teaches Minoru to whistle with his fingers.
Big talker Kim was hesitant to grab the mic.
Mom, though, had few reservations.
Kim's forte was really dancing.
A rousing duet of Rose Garden. Or something.

2006-04-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

It's so nature-y!

2006-04-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

Shall we gather at the river...

Watch out for rhinos.

2006-04-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

More fun at the castle.

2006-04-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

The Puppet Show, with my favorite ladies in town. Nabe: a pot of boiled tastiness.

2006-04-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

This could be my favorite picture from the trip to Nara. It reinforces my image of the swarms of deer there as slightly mangy, mentally impaired, and ready to start a deer rebellion against the tourists at any moment.
Aren't they terrifying?
This one gets fresh with Tania.
Seconds after this photo was taken the poor man was mauled by this gang of deer, which was finally beaten off by his umbrella wielding wife and daughter.
I'm coming for you.....

2006-04-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

The Big Buddha's house in Nara.
Fuzzy Buddha.
Apparently it's good luck to squeeze yourself through this hole in the post.
Reunion with Shampy.

2006-04-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

When your buttocks need a lift...

Kim looks satisfied after her breakfast of salad, yakisoba, and steamed bread with miso sludge.

2006-04-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

Things they were a bloomin' in Kyoto.
This is a famous tree.
Feasting beneath the trees.

2006-04-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Last week I was asked to do some actual work, which really wore me out after such a long stint of mental vegetation, and meant far less time to update my pictures. So now I'm going to spill a big huge pile of Mom and Kim Visit photos and mostly let them speak for themselves. Kiyomizudera + cherry blossoms = nice.
Mom thinks so too.
She's so happy she kisses Tania's ear.
Lil' Kim.

fushimi inari shrine

2006-04-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to one of the most photogenic places on the planet. Here are some very delayed pictures of the grande Tour de Japon. The only outdoor garbage basket in the entire prefecture of Kyoto.

2006-04-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

Kim gets friendly with the canine statues that guard the shrine.
And pays for it.

2006-04-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Mom and Kim bought enough pottery to set the table of a small army.
Frozen ice cream treats: melon and green tea

2006-04-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

As if he wasn't charming enough already, I just found this on the internet...

Who/What is Domo-kun?

DOMO is a strange creature born from an egg. One day he fell into Usajii's house, the old rabbit likes TV. After that he began to love watching TV. He is gentle and strong. When he is in a bad mood, he breaks wind.

Favorite food: Seasoned beef with potatoes
Disliked food: Apple (There seems a deep mystery in his DNA)
Favorite talent [band]: MAX and The guitar wolf

Kyoto by night

2006-04-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends! Mom and Kim just descended upon Japan, so again, I'm going to be a terrible emailer this week. Today though, since I have to be at work anyway, I'm going to be a posting fool and throw down the rest of Hannah and Phil's visit.

Tojimbo

2006-04-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Oshima

2006-04-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hiking up to the haunted island near Tojimbo. We didn't see any ghosts, but I did fall down once. Maybe they tripped me. Or maybe it was really muddy.
Safe and sound back in the car.

Softo creamu

2006-04-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Besides taking excellent photos of Domo-kun, the goal of our trip became finding new and tasty flavors of soft cream. Winner: sweet potato. Mmmmm.
Loser: squid ink. No joke.

Storming the castle

2006-04-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

Meet Domo-kun

2006-04-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

Domo-kun is the mascot for NHK, the major TV station here. Can you guess what he is? That's right, he's a TV! With fangs! Best. Character. Ever.So from here on out, the trip pretty much turns into a big Domo-kun photo shoot. I predict already that you will get tired of his sweet brown face in all my pictures, but I don't care, because I love him.
Snow at Eiheiji temple.

"That's a lot of snow, isn't it Domo-kun?"

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh." (This is how I imagine he responds to everything.)

Domo-kun-o-rama

2006-04-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

Bamboo doll at the bamboo village.
Bamboo Domo-kun. So photogenic.
Domo-kun likes pizza.
And hamsters.

Mr.Roboto, featuring Domo-kun and the Domettes

2006-04-01T07:05:00.000-08:00

I have no idea who these people are, or how they got into my apartment.

Dino-rama

2006-04-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

Did you know that 80% of Japan's dinosaurs were found in Fukui? You probably did, because this is the first thing I told everyone about my prefecture when I found out where I was going. I like dinosaurs. A lot.
The Fukuisaurus!
When the security guards weren't looking, we decided to examine Hannah's wedding ring under this snazzy camera meant for examining rocks and fossils. We discovered it was made of fiberglass. Just kidding.
Escalated entrance to the museum.

Big Buddha

2006-04-01T06:52:00.000-08:00

Echizen Daibutsu. Largest buddha in Japan. Or third largest. Or largest seated buddha. Or was largest buddha for a week until they built a bigger one somewhere else. Or something. I really can't remember.

2006-03-28T20:27:00.000-08:00

I'll soon be there with snow
I'll wash my hair with snow
And with a spade of snow
I'll built a man that's made of snow

(quick, name that movie)

That's right. It's snowing again. On March 29th. A lot.

2006-03-28T04:44:00.000-08:00

Hannah's first udon.
Check this out. This is the EXACT yellow polyester suit that I purchased from the Olympia Goodwill store in 9th grade. The one that Hannah and Elisha and I fought over when we saw it (we were thrift store style pioneers). Imagine my shock when I found it in this trendy second hand goods boutique in Kyoto. For all I know this could actually be MY yellow suit, since I'm pretty sure it made it back to the thrift store after high school.
This hat surprisingly not from the second hand store. Was in the clearance pile though. I think this should be Phil's head shot if he ever decides to go into theater.

Yuhara Ryokan

2006-03-28T04:05:00.000-08:00

We managed to do an admirable amount of sightseeing our first day, but by dinner time we were starving, tired, and probably still traumatized by the encounter with Pervy on the bus, so we headed to our ryokan (traditional Japanese guesthouse) to reload.

After getting off at the appropriate bus stop, our place was nowhere to be seen. No problem, I had the phone number. Unfortunately the kind woman who answered refused to speak Japanese, and instead preferred a garbled mashing of syllables that was most definitely not English either.

"Smoru reebah [small river]? Sjooowlbulssuhfhwlsigaba smoru reebah? Bajiwjoslaiiebne there is smoru reebah. Parking lot? Jiwasobkwivoaoooowiiba smoru reebah you see?"

After about 8 minutes of this I was ready to drown myself in the "smoru reebah," if only I could find it.

Maybe sensing this, she finally said "Shiwaoslbbbooosowalarabu you stay I come." When at last the tiny lady came hobbling down the street, I think we all had thoughts that maybe she was taking us to her living room to sleep on the floor with her 17 cats, but after leading us through a maze of small back streets (pointing: "See? Smoru reebah..." Oh, of course...) we found our nice, spacious, lovely ryokan.

Phil traverses the smoru reebah.
Our huge room, with complimentary tea and cake snacks.Again with the tallness.
Freaky photo of me in my pj's.
"Shobuorlorrrossienbeiwasahai goodbye!"

Kiyomizudera

2006-03-28T03:38:00.000-08:00

All right, raise your hand if you want to see more pictures of Hannah and Phil's visit.

Good answer. Here we go. (Warning: no naked men in upcoming posts. Sorry.)

Ginkakuji

2006-03-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hannah and Phil kept being reminded by low doorways that they are tall.
Ginkakuji is famous for its rocks.
And its moss.

2006-03-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

Oh for the love of...

This is the view we woke up to on Monday morning. Luckily we had our visit to Kyoto scheduled for the next three days, so we managed to flee the upcoming snowstorm. Good thing, because we were dumped with another 40 cm. Check Lewis' site for what we missed out on.
It reached Holy Crap levels of coldness the day we left.
Seriously cold.
When we arrived in Kyoto it was snowing a little, but impossibly sunny at the same time. Very charming. We hopped on the city bus for a day of culture-o-rama.

It was from this bus, within an hour of arriving, that we saw our first cultural exhibit: Man With No Pants.

And by no pants I mean no anything. Being the lucky passenger in the window seat, I was first to notice Mr. Pants-less, driving the car directly beside us. I know that I probably gave him the reaction he was looking for when I exploded with horrified laughter, but HE WAS WEARING NO PANTS. "Surely he is just late to work, and has decided to change his pants... and, accompanying undergarments...because he...spilled his coffee..." I thought to myself in shock. Until I glanced again, as at a car accident, and noticed that he was... performing an inappropriate action, let's say. I lost it at this point. Thank god his lane was soon forced to turn, and he could no longer slowly follow alongside the bus as he had been doing.

Overall a good introduction to historical Kyoto and the shy, reserved, and above all, polite people of Japan.

2006-03-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

Last week was one of the worst weeks of weather I've ever seen in Fukui. I am from WASHINGTON STATE, and have a reputation of loving the rain, but this was nasty. As a result, we spent a lot of our time exploring the cultural centers that are the malls of Japan. Luckily they had a budget set aside for funny English t-shirts.Phil decided early on to document every piece of food that entered his mouth while in Japan. I'll spare you the pictures of toast.
Omurice. Not exactly considered a traditional Japanese dish, but one of my favorite restaurant meals. Phil is blown away by Hannah's okonomiyaki (grilled cabbage pancake) stirring prowess.End of day 1, and Phil settles into his blanket pile.

They're heeeere...

2006-03-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

The buddies have arrived.

So if I'm bad about responding to emails this week, it's because I'm towing these guys around Japan.

Bye!

Skate-o

2006-03-10T06:02:00.000-08:00

Like the rest of Japan, we caught the ice skating fever and decided to test our skills last weekend. Results: Canadians took the gold, Japan got silver, Americans bronze by default, and Singapore... ah, poor Singapore. Canadian skating pro Lee acts as a portable railing for Japan (Akiko) and Singapore (Sandy). The place was crawling with little kids in yellow helmets. Dan is deathly afraid of small people in helmets, but we locked him in anyway. He got over it. It was while dodging one of these little roadblocks that I was gracefully planted flat on my back. Either that or Lee pushed me down. I can't remember which. Tania comes in for one of her signature spins (the only way she can stop).Tania and Dan perfect their pairs routine, set to the music of New Kids on the Block.Then Dan blatantly disobeys the rules (see below).

baby mohawks

2006-03-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

Few things delight me more than Japanese baby mohawks. Please enjoy while I work on updating other current events. My coworker at city hall invited me over to see their Hina Matsuri (girl's festival) display. This is sort of like setting up a Christmas tree for us, with lots of pieces that have been passed down over the years.

2006-03-02T21:31:00.000-08:00

Crazy Old Guy Questions of the Day (pretty tame this time):

"Why do American women get mad when you ask their age?" Well...
"Do you have a boyfriend in America?" Nope.
"That's strange isn't it." Er...
"Is there something wrong with you?" Um...
"Are you sure you're not lying?" I'm sure.
"Do you have cherry blossoms in America?" Yep.
"What? Are you sure?" Uh huh.

Believe it or not that conversation wasted about 45 minutes. Waa hoooo! Only an hour and a half left to go...

(I wish I had a photo to go with this post, but that's a can of worms I'm not ready to open yet. "Why do you want my photo? What will you do with it? Do you have digital cameras in America?")

2006-03-02T17:08:00.000-08:00

Uh, if anyone cares, there's a new post about Wellington if you scroll down down down below Sagicho. Don't know why I can't put it up here. Annoying.

2006-03-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'm bored I'm bored I'm bored I'm bored I'm boooooooooooooooooorrrred.

I swear, during the weeks that I'm running like a maniac to different schools every day I DREAM of this downtime at my desk at city hall. When the day of rest finally arrives, I relish my freedom for approximately 37 minutes, gleefully checking emails and recent news.

It's minute 38 where my eyes start to glaze over, and the kerosene heat waves begin to permeate and slowly melt my brain. No amount of coffee or tea can bring me out of this coma. I take frequent trips to the icy cold bathroom to rid myself of the nose water which still pours from my head in obnoxiously copious amounts, but these jolts of freezing air only make the dizzying heat of the office worse when I return.

My only hope for revival is those occasional bursts of harassment from Crazy Old Guy, the bossman of the department next to mine who likes to ask random and insane questions about America, and lecture me on the awfulness of the English education system in Japan in crazy fast and colloquial old man Japanese. I saw him leave the office this morning wearing a helmet, so I can only assume that he's out fighting bears or saving avalanche victims or something, and I am left alone in my stupor.

Happy Mardi Gras!

2006-02-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

We celebrated early this year at a party the weekend before last (although to be honest this is the first year that mardi gras has ever entered my consciousness).

We're gangstas. Or something.

Nothing says mardi gras like a... white leotard.
Cheese!
Don't worry, Dan does not support cannibalism- that's a lemon chu-hai he's drinking.

Sagicho: Festival of burning

2006-02-27T05:42:00.000-08:00

No culture is complete without a festival where they burn piles of stuff. Not quite as cool as the giant straw cat monster burning festival I saw in Italy where flaming piles of hay were falling into the crowd, but pretty good.

Those ain't mallows. That's mochi-- gummy balls of rice paste-- the taste of which resembles nothing even remotely food-like. Despite the 10 foot sticks you still had to get close enough to melt your face off in order to cook the stupid things.

Dan and me.

Tania and Dan.

Taiko guy.

Dancin' in the street. The best part was when we were coerced into dancing and banging sticks together with these kids in front of the taiko stage for a good half an hour in the rain. I saw thousands of novely photos of dancing foreigners being taken.

2006-02-23T05:17:00.000-08:00

I love this country.

Tonight I got abducted in the street by a Japanese lady. I was just starting to feel hungry for the first time in about a week, and getting tired of soup from a packet. Since my car has a flat tire, I decided to venture out on my bike to get some quality conbini food instead. Four days is a long time to spend alone in bed, I’ve discovered, and I was feeling quite restless in my quarantined state.

So when someone behind me in the street yelled “Keitorin-san!” I whipped around hopefully. It was a lady I’d met before at city hall, who had kindly invited me to a party at her big mountainside house. It’s sort of the equivalent of having dinner at the farm back home—lots of homegrown vegetables, traditional recipes, and a nice old-smelling house.

When I saw her this time, she didn’t say, long time no see, or, how have you been, just, what are you doing right now? You should come to my house. I think she saw my desperation. So we loaded my bike into her car, picked up a cake, and went home. I helped with preparations, ten other people showed up, and we had another amazing dinner party, with some of the most giving, open, genuine people I’ve ever met. This is what I’ll miss most about Japan.

Episode 11: Wellington

2006-02-21T14:28:00.000-08:00

All right. Maybe it seems silly to still be talking about my trip at this point. Get on with it! you’re all shouting. Check it out, we don’t even care anymore! I know. I know. But it’s a matter of principle at this point. Here it comes, the big finish!

It’s going to be sort of anticlimactic though, because at this stage of our travels, Tania had fallen headlong into a nasty cold, and had also tripped and slammed into some guy at a bar, severely twisting her foot (à la mom) . As she limped around sniffling, I too could feel the first hints of sickness, as was to be expected with the two of us living in such close quarters. (This was January 2nd, officially the last day I can remember not having a runny nose. Today is March 2nd. That's two really snotty months. Sorry I keep talking about snot.)

This meant that most of our visit to the north island went something like this:

“Mmm, that’s pretty.”
“Mm.”
“Wanna sit down?”
“Mm kay.”
“Maybe we should eat something.”
“Mmm. Soup?”
“Mm.”

Despite this, we still managed to have a good time, and see some pretty stuff.

After our last night in Nelson, our gracious hosts drove us to the ferry (thanks again guys!) for the journey to Wellington. This was a much more classy (and expensive) deal than the Seattle ferry that I'm used to. It had something like 5 restaurants and a casino.

Pretty water.Pretty building. She's Italian. In New Zealand. It's funny.
We had heard that Wellington was windy, but we found that it was really really windy.
Really really really windy.

2006-02-21T04:24:00.000-08:00

I should have seen it coming. It was only a matter of time. I’ve got… duh duh duh… The Influenza. (The non-bird variety).

It’s surprising that a country so fond of abbreviating words in the most nonsensical ways (remocon = remote control, eacon = air conditioner, conbini = convenience store, jipan = jeans pants-?) hasn’t figured out how to shorten influenza to flu. So that there’s always talk of half the school having “The Influenza,” and I imagine the medieval body wagons rolling in.

So here I am, camped out in bed, armed with Kleenex, beverages, and all kinds of medicine. I even have this prosthetic hand so that I can control my heater without getting out of bed.

This is what my temperature felt like yesterday. Actually, it was an impressive 102.38 at the doctor's office.

On a lighter note, the sun’s out in full force today, and it’s nice to be able to sit and watch piles of snow melt from the rooftops.

AND, now I have little else to do besides read my book and update this thing. Watch me go!

2006-02-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve started out calm enough...

Then things got crazy.

Rockin' new years eve in Christchurch.

The next day was an all day drive back up to Nelson, where we would spend one last night. It was time to say goodbye to the South Island. And its cows.

2006-02-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

This is Lyttelton, a quiet seaside town outside of Christchurch. Also a possible future settling place of me. Package of...
Fish and chips! (Tania's first.)
Can of ketchup.

2006-02-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

The standard photo for all college admissions pamphlets.

Actually this collection of buildings which used to be a university now houses a bunch of great galleries and shops and studios.

2006-02-09T00:50:00.000-08:00

Christchurch Art Gallery. Very nice place.

When I walked in here, they said "We can tell that you studied art in college, maybe even in Italy, and you seem to be American... how exotic... would you like a job?"

I graciously accepted, and told them I'd be back soon to assume my new position.

Episode 10: Christchurch

2006-02-06T06:08:00.000-08:00

a.k.a. future home town of me.

Ok, I've been back a month now, time to power through and finish the reportage on this trip.

I don’t have so many interesting stories about Christchurch, other than that I decided I should live there.

Most of my Christchurch photos are of buildings. (If you don't like buildings, skip this post.)

Like this one. Here's another one. One more.This one's at night.How about a sculpture?

Here are some guys playing chess in the square.

It was in this square that we were accosted one night by a couple of well meaning evangelical youths (was this not to be expected in a place called Christchurch?) who advised us to turn away from our lives of drunkenness and lust, after which we asked them for directions to a bar called Sammy's. They politely, if not sadly, led us there, and we enjoyed some fantastic jazz music (drunkenly and lustily).

Moonlighting

2006-02-05T01:31:00.000-08:00

(Temporary sidetrack: will resume NZ trip soon)

As many of you have probably heard, though an elementary school teacher by day, I have discovered the lucrative career of part time singing by night and weekends. This career has manifested itself in a number of ways, including wedding singing (more on that later) and most recently, singing with Kubo-san’s band.

This is Kubo-san. (He doesn't usually dress as a priest. More on that later too. Maybe.) One of the top five characters I've met in Japan. Catch phrase: "Son of a BITCH."

We've performed together many times now. Highlights include playing the "Ono Rich Man Party," ie. an annual gathering of the 100 or so most powerful men and women in town-- company heads, mayor, government officials, etc.-- in a very drunken state (the officials, not us), playing in our favorite bar, and performing for guests in the lobby of a local hotel. That's right, I'm now officially a lounge singer.

Yesterday we did the Ono Yuki Matsuri (snow festival). Our set list is rather... eclectic.

Yesterday's run down was:

It's Too Late

Country Roads (my cold was still lingering, so this featured lyrics like "...West Virgidia, Bountain Bobba...take be hobe...coudtry roads..." They didn't seem to notice.)

Paper Moon

Desperado

Stand By Me

Amazing Grace (our peppy encore piece)

When I heard we'd be playing at the snow festival, I asked where exactly in town we would be.

"Aaah, we play in... to-ra-ku."

"Toraku? Toraku... toraku... track? We're playing on a track? Like at a park or something?"

"No no... to-ra-ku... vroom vroom... (steering wheel motions)..."

"Truck? We're playing in a truck?"

"Hai hai hai."

Since I had no idea what to expect, and imagined us driving around town playing from the back of a pick up, the actual truck was quite spacious, and stationary too.

Kubo-san brings us some fortification...

Little communion type cups of sake, to keep us warm in the -5 degree cold (celsius- that's 23 degrees fahrenheit, folks).

This is me rollin' in the dough.

Despite this serious cash flow, Kubo-san apparently can't afford matches, and must light his cigarettes on available space heaters.

It's not working.
The best part of these performances is always the practice sessions in Kubo-san's practice shack. This is a building composed primarily of tin foil, I think, with a busted window and an ancient space heater which we all crowd around and heat our cans of coffee on during breaks.

Most recent photo of practice shack.

Kubo-san and Hitomi

Hideo (keyboards), Hitomi (drums), and Keitorin

I'm so lucky to get to play with these guys, and I can't describe how much I'll miss it, and them, when I go.

and now for a commercial break...

2006-01-31T04:15:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure that using kid friendly pill shaped action figures to entice drug buyers is not considered kosher back home.

But why else do you think I bought them? It wasn't just for the toys; I actually do have a cold, a pretty nasty one, and I couldn't have asked for a more instructive display:

Snot (called hana mizu, or nose water, in Japanese) + pills = happy.

Bring on the happy.

en route to Christchurch

2006-01-27T06:19:00.000-08:00

After conquering Fox Glacier and claiming it in the name of North America (we decided to share), we parked our rubbery legs in a nice hostel in Hokitika. (Pronounced by us, "Hokitikitikitookitikita.")

Church in Hokitika.

The next day we headed due east to Christchurch, where we were to spend New Years Eve.

It was on this leg, after all those winding roads, that we finally hit a long straight stretch. At which point I may or may not have taken advantage of this by speeding a little (shown here in this dramatic reenactment).

After which point I may or may not have been pulled over by a sneaky policeman around a bend who may or may not have caught this incident on a super sneaky overhead camera. To my credit, I was only going 5 kph over the acceptable limit, which is like what, 3.2 mph? Plus I’m pretty sure it was while I was passing one of those annoying camper vans. Anyway, before you start hyperventilating (mom), I was later advised by a completely un-sneaky policeman to flee the country without paying the fine. What a magnificent place. Although this may interfere with my plans to emigrate there. They might be less willing to accept a fugitive from the law. Dang it. I knew I should have showed him my Japanese license instead. They would never have been able to track down a Miss “ケイトリンハンセン.”

Episode 9: Glacier climbing

2006-01-24T22:37:00.000-08:00

Here's the part where we get adventurous. After Queenstown we booked it up the West Coast to Fox Glacier, strapped on our spiky shoes, grabbed some sticks, and went climbing. We were so living on the edge. See?

"Extreme risk to life." "Verboten."

Our tour guide casually led us under the rope past this sign, and we were off.

We must take the ring to Mordor...

It is mine...!
Success!

more Queenstown

2006-01-24T05:53:00.000-08:00

View from gondola.

The closest we came to an adventure activity in Queenstown was walking up a really steep hill, but next time, this is me.

"I hate cats. Go away. You're stupid and gross."

"But I loooooove you...."

"Wait what are you doing...? Get off of me."

Sunset from the hostel.

I was so blown away by the beauty that I couldn’t help but start moshing.

So long, Queenstown.

Episode 8: Queenstown

2006-01-18T06:09:00.000-08:00

A cheesery!
Swanky cheese sampler plate.

Big fruit in Cromwell.

Queenstown! A touristy but beautiful city, and the "adventure capitol of New Zealand." Or so the brochures for overpriced adventure activities kept telling us.

Lake Wakatipu.

Thai food!

Episode 7: Lake Tekapo, Twizel

2006-01-18T05:37:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to our three new whale friends and headed down to Christchurch to spend the night on our way to Queenstown. If it weren’t for the kindness of a few crazy friendly older ladies, we’d probably still be stuck in a place called Dommet, a town in between the two, population: 12, from the looks of it. This was not our fault. There is no way that we could have guessed that not a single gas station on the east coast of New Zealand would be open. I don’t care if it was the day after Christmas.

So needle on E, passing closed gas station after closed gas station, we spotted a fading backpackers sign and decided to pull in and ask if they knew of a miracle station within the next few miles. We almost didn’t go in- the place didn’t exactly look like an established hostel, more like somebody’s house, and if we’d seen the preview for that new Hostel movie, we’d have probably taken our chances with E (and ended up stranded gassless on a curve, watching our car get smashed to pieces).

Good thing we decided to poke around the back. The three white haired ladies didn’t look at all surprised to see us, and before asking us why we were there invited us to sit down to some steaks, salad, and beer. Gramma tells us they were just sitting down to their “ginnies,” and to have a seat. Not wanting to impose, we say “oh, that’s really nice, actually we were just wondering if you know of a nearby gas station that might be open..?” They laughed at us. A lot. “You must be f***ing joking.” “Er…um…no, actually…” “Where did you want to go?” “Christchurch?” “Oh you MUST be f***ing joking. Sit down and eat.” (It’s so great when cute old ladies swear.)

Anyway, they had enough gas at the house to fill half a tank, which the manliest of the three ran out and did without letting us move from our chairs, while we snacked on home grown olives. She told us that we wouldn’t have made it up the next hill let alone to the next town on what was left in that tank. A bunch of funny conversations and about a bucket of olives later, we were on our way. Just one of many examples of the tremendous hospitality of New Zealanders.

Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo.

Lake Tekapo was the location of perhaps the best meal of the trip: tomato and garlic hummus on warm crusty bread with cucumbers and cheese half gooed from being in the hot car. Mmmmmmmmm……

Stunning. My Lord of the Rings location guidebook (...um, not that I bought a Lord of the Rings location guidebook...what kind of dork would that make me?) tells me that the milky turquoise color is derived from glacial rock suspended in the water. Neat. After Tekapo we stopped at Lake Pukaki. I don't have a picture, I just wanted to say Pukaki.

New Zealand's tallest peak- view of Mt. Cook from the road.

Next stop was a gorgeous B&B in Twizel, owned by friends of our kiwi friend Ben who also works in Fukui. Twizel, as i'm sure most of you know, was the filming location of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields at Ered Nimrais. (No?)

You can't tell from the picture, but that's Mt. Cook smack in front of our private porch attached to our classy room. The place was swarming with sheep when we got there. It was tough not to settle in and stay there all week. Especially after we woke up to a giant bacon and omelette and tea and toast breakfast.

It sure beats hostels.

Episode 6: Whale watching

2006-01-17T03:56:00.000-08:00

The next bit of excitement was whale watching in Kaikoura. Before I complain, let me say first that I thoroughly enjoyed this excursion—both the watching of the whales, and the thrillingly choppy boat ride out to whale territory. However, before they load you onto the boat, they crowd all 100 or so passengers into a little theater and show you a video filled with dolphins doing tricks, 12 varieties of whales, rare birds, and I think I saw a unicorn. It’s not until you’re actually on the boat that they mention that the average number of whales spotted on these trips is two. Also, the whales in season were sperm whales, probably the least acrobatic of the whale family. Still, we saw three whales (above average!), and learned why sperm whales are called sperm whales (their heads have a huge cavity filled with oil, possibly used as a flotation/anti-flotation device as the oil solidifies or melts depending on water temperature, and old-timey whale killer people thought it was sperm).

We saw a whole lot of this...

And not so much of this...

And certainly none of this.

Episode 5: The hills are alive...

2006-01-16T03:57:00.000-08:00

"Ooooooh Heaven is a place on earth..."

I had to force myself to stop taking pictures of the surreally beautiful countryside, because there's no way my camera could do it justice. The trip involved a lot of driving, which I thought might get tiresome, but turned out to be the highlight-- definitely the best way to see New Zealand. We constantly had to pull over to gawk at the hills, lakes, rivers, forests, and ravines so that we didn't drive right into them. The roads were incredibly twisty, and there was a tendency to get stuck behind annoying camper vans, but the weather was perfect, the speed limit was 100kph, and we had snacks. Could it get any better than this?

Episode 4: Christmas

2006-01-15T05:26:00.000-08:00

We woke up Christmas morning to a pile of presents and an AMAZING bacon egg strawberry toast and champagne breakfast. Can't beat that. You'll have to take my word for it, because the pictures of the feast are POOF! gone.

Arm full of baby.

We took a special trip to visit the sheep on Christmas day. People aren't kidding about the sheep. They're sprinkled on the hills like jimmies on a sunday. Except for smelly.

At the last count, there were about 4 million people vs. 40 million sheep. I found an interesting article about sheep burps while researching this statistic. You can check it out here...

>burps

Surprisingly they ran away from us when we came at them with cameras.

Bailey thinks this is funny.

Probably the most memorable part of Christmas day was the Christmas after party, a.k.a. the frat party I never went to in college, hosted by a troupe of Mark's rugby buddies at the rugby buddy house. Even more so than the Hasselhoff kayak and the breakfast pictures, I deeply mourn the loss of these photos. Never have I seen so many beer bottles in such a condensed area. Or such a brawny guy in a santa suit (shirtless, with coat hanging open) arm wrestling a string of equally brawny guys. Nothing says Christmas like drinking games and arm wrestling. These images will hopefully live on in my memory forever. We had a great time... thanks guys!

The day after Christmas we were off, efficiently fueled and rested up for our grand tour de south island via Angela's luxury sedan, generously on loan. So we said goodbye to the fam, packed our car full of salt and vinegar chips and exotic candy, and hit the road. (Not our actual car)

Episode 3: Expeditions around Nelson

2006-01-15T03:43:00.000-08:00

Sea kayaking in Abel Tasman National park

My first time in the non-inflatable variety. We boarded the mighty "Hasselhoff" (yes, or kayak was named Hasselhoff; photographic proof no longer exists) only to be forced to turn back in the face of an unexpected windstorm. What was supposed to be a pleasant nature tour from one island to another turned out to be a bicep smashing (bicep? tricep? quadricep? who knows- until that moment I wasn't aware that my arms contained any of those things) test of endurance. After about 20 horrible minutes of this, our not so Hasselhoffian tour guide finally decided to turn us around and let us shoot back in the direction of the wind and get water taxied to the finish line. At this point we were free to paddle around and look and seals and penguins and funny birds eating flat fish. It was nice.

Tania was born for that neoprene skirt.

Drive through wine country: Marlborough region.

We thought about taking a bicycle tour through the wineries because it sounded so charming, but then we realized that 1) it was really really hot and our scalps would have melted off, and 2) we had a perfectly good car. Scalps in tact, we very much enjoyed our trip.

Since my knowledge of wine on a scale of 1-10 is about a 2, and Tania's is probably a -4, we pretty much tried not to talk when we went into these places. We also wore flouncy scarves and hip sunglasses to up the sophistication factor. Sometimes Tania would bust out a "...so do you ship internationally?" for a good filler question. As if she couldn't wait to scour the stores for Such and Such wine as soon as she got back to Toronto. I don't think we were too convincing, but most people we met were incredibly friendly (probably charmed by our North American accents).

Episode 2: Home Sweet Home

2006-01-15T02:26:00.000-08:00

By the time we made it to Nelson, it was a huge relief to be greeted at the airport by familiar faces, and have a nice home to crash in. Here's the whole gang.

Our gracious and lovely hosts, Angela and Shirley.

Me and Bailey Bean.

The Amazing Race: New Zealand Edition

2006-01-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

Episode 1: The Adventure Begins

I’m baaaaaaaaack.

As you can see, I wasn’t able to find the internet access I had hoped for while I was gone, so I have a lot of catching up to do. It’s hard to believe that the trip ended only a few days ago, just as it was impossible then to imagine that I would be returning to the white mass I’m seeing outside now. I wish I could have written when things were more fresh in my mind, but since many details are now rolled into one big New Zealand chunk, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. (Regrettably, a portion of the photos from the first leg of The Amazing Race: New Zealand Edition were lost due to a technical malfunction, ie. bonehead move on my part. Luckily, Tania’s little blue digicam captured much of the same footage. I hereby give her photographic credit for some of the following pictures.)

The first phase of the trip began with a death defying escape from the snow banks of Fukui, as our hero Akiko bravely delivered us to the bus terminal when all the trains were down. There was some genuine concern that the busses would stop running too, but they powered through and we made it to Nagoya, where we were staying in a hotel in order to catch an early flight the next day. Our troubles weren’t over yet though.

Despite the fact that Nagoya had a little over three inches of snow on the ground, compared with Ono’s three meters, the city, unaccustomed to any snow at all, didn’t know what to do with itself. After four hours sleep, first we found that the busses to the airport had been cancelled. This meant we needed to get to the train station, which meant we needed to take a taxi. But of course the taxis were nowhere to be seen, because what kind of crazy person would drive around in three inches of snow? Which meant we were making the 45+ minute trek to the train station with our luggage through piles of slushy muck that had been thrown from the road to the sidewalks, worrying that we’d miss our flight.

Obviously we didn’t, and about 30 hours and 4 airports later, we finally landed in Nelson.

We were still in the race! Find out next time if we get eliminated...

30 minute flight to Nelson from Wellington. Kind of windy.

Bailey runs out to greet us. He's quite advanced for a 5 month old.

Snowmageddon

2005-12-14T05:52:00.000-08:00

Let it snow let it snow let it... all right, KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!

If I had written this two days ago as I had planned, I would have talked about sitting in front of my giant window for hours with my mouth hanging open in wonder. The snow had been coming down for four days straight in whirling sheets, and off and on for about a week before that. This is bigger than anything many of my Japanese friends here have seen in their lifetimes. Most people were already fed up because of the amount of shovelling they had to do, but my amazement hadn't morphed into frustration yet, because what I was seeing was too awe inspiring.

If I had written yesterday, I would have gone on about the gorgeous sun break we experienced, which though it didn't manage to melt much, provided a much needed reprieve in order for people to shovel their hearts out, and drive several rounds of dump trucks loaded with snow to the few open spaces left in town. Many people had stayed home from work and school, an extreme rarity in these parts, and everyone was out in the street, smiling and chatting, climbing on roofs to knock off piles of snow that had reached over 6 feet (just as bad an idea as it sounds).

However, I'm not writing this two days ago. I'm not writing it yesterday. I'm writing it today. With a fresh couple feet of snow on the ground, and the inches coming down by the minute. With the trains to the airport stopped in their tracks. As I am melting in the subtropical heat of the office breathing air laced with kerosene. Enough!

View from my window: still in the early stages- note the small amount of snow on the roofs

Beautiful, right?

This is when driving conditions were still good!

Aforementioned sun break. See that snow almost touching my balcony? I'm on the second floor. Yeah.

My parking lot.

My car seen through walls of snow. This was after it had been unshoveled countless times.

Everyone helps out. Even the three year olds.

Oh boy.

Shock and awe.

Testing testing...

2005-12-14T05:13:00.000-08:00

Up until now, I've resisted the urge to make one of these things, but I've finally caved to the fact that it's just easier and more informative than sending mass emails. And some topics warrant a little more explanation than I can give on the photo site. Plus you can click on the pictures here and make them huge! Go on, try it out!

It seemed like a good idea since life is sort of full of photogenic excitement right now, namely snowstorms and an upcoming trip to New Zealand. I could even update it on the road! Or I could get there and find that they don't have the internet yet. We'll see.

For the time being, these posts may be sporadic and less than chronological. Less than thrilling also. Now that you know the risks, please enjoy...