nicoleelocin

i am currently typing this while freezing my butt off in a cold basement of a friend of someone that works in the office i now work in. the non-profit tries to set people up with a couch to crash on during training, but usually it’s with someone that works in the office. there is a big training session in boston right now, so there aren’t many couches available at the moment. i’m trying to work out a place (or a few places) of people i know, or at least a friend of one of my friends. it’s less awkward if we have friends in common.

that’s all i’m going to say about my current situation. i need a few days to get through all these weird unknowns.

i want to briefly mention that i love richmond and i’m so glad i got to spend a week there. it was perfect timing, with bizarre market, watermelon festival, olympics, and best friends day weekend. there were live music and dance nights both friday and saturday night. i couldn’t believe it. the two things i was deprived of the most in japan, i got to do in the same night, two nights in a row. amazing.

i don’t have much time at all to write anything, so this is going to be short. hopefully i’ll get to post something again soon. my life is going to be crazy busy for a while with this new job, so i’ll do what i can to keep everyone up to date with what’s going on.

although it was wonderful spending time with my family, five nights at my grandparents’ and one night at my mom’s seemed like weeks. i only saw one friend until i got to richmond. at my mom’s i was still waking up at the crack of dawn. i was able to view my first sunrise from this side of the world.

finally, the moment came and i was on my way to richmond. my mom dropped me off at sticky rice where i got to indulge in tofu bites and a few tater tots. thus began my tour of restaurants and cafes of richmond. seriously, my friends and i spend a lot of our time enjoying food and drink. my brief appearance at sticky rice was followed up with a short hang out at kelsey and noel’s. kelsey’s mom was wrapping up a week in richmond. she and kelsey are so similar. we went our separate ways for dinner, i was on a mission to consume a vegan caesar salad from ipanema and NOTHING was going to get in my way. my dinner dates were sean, kira, jenny, and matt. following dinner was a trip to zach nelson and blair’s place for an olympic opening ceremony party. don’t worry, yes, there were “olympic” events being performed by the party-goers…in the grassy median on monument avenue. my night continues on with a trip down to cafe gutenberg to see liana with kelsey, her mom, and two of kelsey’s friends. i thought my energy was waning and that i wouldn’t make it much longer, but i was wrong. ipanema was next on the social calendar. after a couple glasses of wine, angie surprised me with a slice of pear blueberry pie!!!!! to top off the night, we all went to a party at our old house on pine st. it was a bit weird to be there. it was even weirder to peak into the house and see decorations still up from parties we threw a year and a half ago. there was a party for liana that included a pinata and a cardboard cutout of fabio (don’t ask). fabio was still there, and so was a decoration of liana’s face with streamers around it. bizarre.

saturday. woke up early. met up with gary and went to ellwoods for breakfast. i haven’t seen him in a long time but we still had just as engaging of conversations as we usually do. i noticed one thing though…we are destined to remain just friends, but it is great to still have a good friendship with an ex-boyfriend.

i finally got my hair cut! i’ve been waiting to get a trim until i got to richmond. i only cut my hair once in japan, so it’s gotten so long. i think people were shocked when they saw me. right after i left the salon i headed to one of richmond’s best markets, the bizarre market. this particular saturday was a tribute to a local guy that lost his life a little over a year ago, johnny z. an organization called art 180 created a mural on the side of joe’s inn as a dedication to him. art 180 students were painting, my friends were selling their artistic creations, music was being played, lime-aid was being served, and i saw so many of my wonderful friends.

i had a late lunch with lovely miss emily and angie at crossroads. they have delicious vegan egg salad, and vegan tuna salad. i was impressed! they also have a separate trash can for disposing of the plastic to go cups many people get. i try to always get a “for here” cup, and this place rewards you for that with a pretty sizable discount on the drink. now they just need to get some fair trade coffee in there and they’ll be even higher on my favorites in richmond list.

tim and mary came over briefly and i got to meet their little son, morris. a-freakin-dorable! following that, where did i go for dinner that night??? back to ipanema for a vegan caesar salad. i couldn’t help it. me, liana, angie, julia, and mindie ate dinner and dessert and then ended up sitting there for over three hours. if i planned on doing anything else that night it didn’t happen. we all split a slice of vegan orange creamsicle cake. so rich and delicious, but there’s no way in hell i could finish a slice by myself. i’m stoked on all the options i can choose from though. like i said, my friends and i like to spend most of our time enjoying food together.

being in a country for a year where breakfast consists of rice and miso soup, i forgot what “brunch” meant. kelsey, katia, and i were planning on doing brunch on sunday. i woke up at seven because my body clock still hadn’t adjusted, and was getting antsy around nine. i started sending text messages to all relevant parties then. around ten i called kelsey and she said she needed to sleep more, and mentioned something about one o’clock. one o’clock??? oh yeah, brunch here on the weekends happens pretty late because people attempt to sleep late. i forgot all about that concept. i’ve been on a breakfast, lunch, dinner schedule for a year. as soon as the rest of the ladies got up we headed to crossroads to get some iced coffee. it was a time filler, but a nice walk. when we finally arrived at harrison street coffee shop i didn’t get brunch food, but rather the barbecue tofu sandwich. damn it was delicious! i’ve been waiting to eat that sandwich for a year!

in case i didn’t get enough of markets and crowds on saturday, sunday’s watermelon festival in carytown did me in. on our way there i developed the worst possible cramps ever. they caused the heat and crowds to be unbearable. after about half an hour we left. the rest of the evening we watched the olympics and ate dinner at little mexico. again, food.

other points of interest for the week so far:
-monday lunch at vietnam 1 with kelsey, katia, gianna, catherine, liana, and julia. (they have a delicious bbq tofu and vermicelli bowl)
-tuesday was my birthday! i turned 28. ate brunch with justin and catherine at 821 (although they were out of almost all of their vegan breakfast options, at least they still had vegan sausage)
-had an impromptu vegan light-fare potluck at liana, catherine, and julia’s place. julia baked german chocolate and strawberry shortcake vegan cupcakes. holy shit they were amazing. i turned 28. that’s right. 28.
-watched the olympics everyday. i’m hooked. especially gymnastics and swimming. the athletes are blowing my mind. i’m glad everyone else in this house is just as obsessed as i am.
-after all the food and sugar from the potluck, julia, liana, and i didn’t wake up until 11:30am!
-went in to talk to amy about getting my tattoo colored in tomorrow. i guess that means that as of tomorrow it will be finished finally. color! i’m getting squeezed in since i don’t have much time here. i leave saturday afternoon.

i just realized i need to post an update about my job situation. next time.

also, i wrote this post at about 2am, so if it’s missing some points of interest, or the wording sucks, oh well. leave comments to fill in the missing events.

landing at dulles was surreal. the view from the plane displayed groups and groups of planned neighborhoods with box-style houses in slightly curved roads in a pattern that is intended to not look so laid out, yet when seen from an airplane is painfully obvious, were in abundance. welcome home!

i’m going to use this post to state a few observations i’ve had since i’ve been home. i don’t have much time to write posts at the moment, but i’ll do what i can.

-i am not used to the air conditioning anymore. a full year of no central a/c or heat has changed my sensitivity. i’ve been freezing since i got in my grandparents’ car. the car, their house, using the wi-fi at panera (my fingers started to go numb!), at my mom’s house, everywhere. i never thought i’d say this, but i think i prefer fans, or at least a/c on higher temperature settings. this is a bit ridiculous.

-jetlag is kicking my butt. my body clock is so messed up. even now, friday, a week since i got home, i can’t stay up very late and i’m waking up at crazy early hours, like 2:30am, 4:30am, or 6 at the latest.

-i haven’t eaten regular peanut butter in about a year, except for once when i thought it was just a really funky brand. i’ve been eating natural peanut butter for over a year now. i tried a spoonful of skippy the other day and it was absolutely disgusting. i am shocked at how bad i think it is. natural peanut butter (and banana!) is the way to go.

-a couple of things i’ve been seeing everywhere: cops and hummers. cops everywhere pulling people over. hummers in abundance on the streets. i probably saw less than five cops on the roads the entire year i was in japan. i did see a hummer or two while there, but the sheer number i’ve seen in a week here is blowing my mind. honestly people. at one home near where my grandparents live, there were TWO hummers in the driveway!!! wtf???

-i’ve been home for a week and have only seen one friend so far. john kam. this past week i’ve been in manassas at my grandparents’ house, so it’s been a bit low-key. john kam came to save the day on tuesday and treated me to dinner and beer and fun conversation. love you buddy!

-oh how i’ve missed outdoor and sidewalk seating! i love that so many places here have that option. many times in japan my friends and i would talk about how nice it would be to be able to go get some food or coffee and sit outside. also, since the a/c is pumping so hardcore out here, i’m stoked about getting to sit outside.

**i hope this post doesn’t seem to negative. i’m definitely going to experience reverse culture-shock, and i’ll need to get it out. i’ll try to keep it in check, but just warning everyone. it doesn’t mean that i dislike the u.s.a. i am definitely happy to be home at the moment.

what a better way to spend my last week in japan than with my friend catherine! she flew in friday and immediately took a shinkansen bullet train up to my prefecture. we met in ichinoseki, where my friend cory lived. friday was also her birthday so we went out a couple drinks. jet lag is insane from that flight so we headed back to cory’s to get some sleep. cory was in the process of clearing out his apartment, as i was, so his place looked like a tornado hit it. there was another earthquake the day before but nothing was broken because it was already all over the floor. haha

after my last time getting to eat at aozzora, the wonderful fair trade café and shop, we headed out to see some temples. a staple for visitors is hiraizumi, which is a town overflowing with temples. we went to motsuji and the one in the side of the mountain (i always forget the name), AND went to genbikei to get the “flying dango.” we put our money in the basket, hit the wooden block, then watched the guy pull it all the way up over the gorge. a few minutes later the basket came zooming back down with two orders of dango (one was a present!) and four cups of green tea.

while catherine was in iwate we ate at all my favorite places: ebisu sushi, sobe’s café (macrobiotic vegan restaurant), mos burger (i’ll miss that kinpira rice burger), and as i said before, aozzora. we didn’t just stuff our faces though; we did a lot of running the roads. i was trying to finish the moving process and had to make about five back and forth trips to hanamaki/kitakami. i don’t usually drive that much, so it was exhausting. finally, i was done. the apartment was cleared out and cleaned and we said, “sayonara nishiwaga,” and headed to hanamaki late monday night to stay at amanda’s.

me and elvis (ebisu sushi):

my empty apartment:

i was sleep deprived those couple of days from having a million things to do, plus exhausted from all the driving. my last day in iwate wasn’t any different. we got up early to head to tanko honda to drop my car off. i leased my car so didn’t have to worry about selling it. my supervisor met us there and dropped us off at the train station. hashimoto-sensei was so nice and helpful all year. i will definitely miss him.

the train trip down to nikko took alllllllllllllllll day. we were using the seishun 18 kippu, which allowed us only use of the slower jr trains, not the shinkansen. all things running smoothly, we should have left at nine and arrived in nikko at five. unfortunately, the day started out with delays. due to the earthquake, the trains were running at slower speeds. we ended up not getting there until nine! we took advantage of the fact that you can drink in public in japan. we started getting beers at each of the last few stops and starting the party train. it made the long day that much more fun. we probably weren’t considered the most lady-like drinking our big cans of asahi super dry and yebisu, but who the hell cares.

nikko is beautiful! it is a small city covered in lush green trees. there are waterfalls, lakes, temples, and delicious fried and steamed red bean treats! we stayed at nikko park lodge, which had a “zen set” vegan traditional japanese dinner. how exciting that i didn’t have to go anywhere to enjoy delicious vegan food! usually there is quite a bit of time consumed walking around searching for vegan food in japan. we lucked out. we only got one full day in nikko, but we packed in everything we could. we met a french family and i struggled through trying to remember french and not talk to them in japanese. what a mélange!

kegon falls:

zen set:

sweet potato red bean treat:

fried red bean treat:

sake!

guess what i did…i sent my passport home in a box of stuff. yep. stupid! i realized it when i was packing up my suitcases, getting them ready to ship to the airport. woops. that meant that we had to leave nikko after breakfast to get to tokyo early so i could pay a visit to the embassy. after being told we had to sit in the direct sunlight rather than the shade two feet away, getting a lecture from the passport office employee, and spending $100 bucks for an emergency passport, i was told to come back the next day to pick it up. fun. i quickly packed away those thoughts and catherine and i headed to the hostel to meet up with tesni!

as a trio, we headed out into the streets of tokyo. we aren’t a crazy party group, and we don’t really know where the hot spots are since we live so far away, but we have fun together regardless. we ate dinner at pure café…good food, but expensive. we tried to find a bar to go and went to a place called “the pink cow,” or something like that. it is a nice concept, artist collaborations and occasional music performances, but the other customers were a bit annoying (i could use a more negative term here, but i won’t).

the next day started early. we headed to the tsukiji fish market at about five in the morning. what was i expecting? i suppose i thought it would just be a bunch of vendors simply displaying and selling their sea offerings. what i experienced instead was a fish slaughterhouse. it was horrible. some fish was still alive, flapping around and being killed on site. knives, blood, blood, cut up fish as big as carcasses. i felt my stomach turning and tears attempting to burst out. i tried to not say anything because catherine works in a sushi restaurant and was really interested in seeing the behind the scenes action. i’m glad i went. it reiterated being vegan. it reiterated that i don’t want to participate in an industry of over-fishing which is contributing to sea-life degradation.

a much-needed nap followed the fish market. we would not have made it very far into the day without one. lunch consisted of the fun funky okonomiyaki place in harajuku. the lunch deal was amazing! tesni and i got it without egg so we combined our two flavors to make one big pancake. we stuff our faces. then it was off to the embassy for me and shopping in harajuku for tesni and catherine. the rest of the day was just wandering around looking for gifts, doing puri-kura, drinking espresso, and eating at nataraj, a delicious vegetarian indian restaurant. we got our free drink from the hostel, sake for catherine and i, and called it a night after that.

saturday, august 2^{nd, was the final sayonara to japan. catherine and i said goodbye to tesni and headed to the airport. our flight times were pretty close together but unfortunately, we weren’t on the same flight. i went to claim my bags and moved about ten pounds of stuff to my backpack to avoid the “heavy bag” fee. i was successful! no fee! however, my back was killing me. northwest was a disappointment. they didn’t have the tv screens in the back of the seat, so i had to strain to see the screen. and what was up with playing a french movie with subtitles on a flight from japan to the u.s.??}

my grandparents came to pick me up and took me to get some food. my first meal back in the states was the three crunchy vegetarian tacos from chipotle. nice! welcome home nicole!

ms. nicole became ms. waterworks on my last day at nishiwaga high school. i had one class in the morning, then the closing ceremony events started. the first part was my farewell ceremony. i don’t like being put at the center of attention like that, and maybe it’s because it brings out more emotions that i wasn’t expecting. the ceremony started with me sitting on the only chair onstage while my principal gave a speech for me. it was nice, but didn’t trigger the tears. then i had to read my speech. it was in japanese, so the emotional connection wasn’t as intense…until i got to the special note wrote just for the students. i encouraged them to follow their dreams and told them about our english saying, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” many times students in rural japan have their futures set very early with little wiggle room. when i realized which part of the speech i was at i felt the sting begin. the speech was followed by a speech given by the student body president, in english, and mentioned a few memorable moments of my year. another student gave me a large bouquet of flowers, and i was still trying to fight the tears although my skin started to heat up. next up was a couple of the traditional japanese cheers they do, led by a couple second year students. i was still standing on stage, all by myself, with every member of the school looking at me. i was fanning myself with my folded up speech because i was so hot from the impending waterfall sitting just behind the surface. it broke loose when they did the school song with the taiko drums. that is my favorite thing! the first time i heard them use the drum and do the school song i got goosebumps. then end of my ceremony was silly, but i later learned that all schools do it…the students make a human archway and i had to walk through them. luckily one girl handed me a pack of tissues while i was making my way. i was a mess. i stayed in the teachers’ room for a bit to compose myself. bah! unexpected tear jerker.

this student, yuu, had a backpack with american money on it, and a sex pistols pin…i love her!

the last actual day i made appearances at school was so much fun. catherine was with me and caught the send-off on camera…i’ve got to get that photo. all the students crowded the hallway to get hugs, wave, and say goodbye. the teachers and students stayed outside and waved while we left. so sweet. i didn’t cry this time, luckily.

i neeeeeed to update this before my going any further into the last week i’m in japan. catherine just arrived last night so that will have to be an entirely separate post.

three day weekends are the best. last weekend was lovely and long, yet sad due to more goodbyes. saturday i had three big things on the agenda, but they were all stretched out, causing large gaps of reading time. i started my day leaving yuda pretty early to head to the fair trade shop in hanamaki to pick up all the gifts i’d chosen for the teachers at my school. i tend to be in there for an hour whenever i go, and saturday was no exception. when it comes to gifts, many people just buy whatever they see that “giftable,” but i can’t do that. it just seems hypocritical to me, for me. i am an advocate of fair trade, so why not use this opportunity to tell a few other people about it? there was a little card put in the wrapping of each thing of fair trade cookies, coffee, dried fruit, tea, and handkerchiefs. in the form of my gift, it also encompassed something about me.

that evening i met up with lauren for the last time (until we see each other again sometime in the future, somewhere). we ate dinner at the ramen shop everyone loves, and that i love since i can eat the rice and bean sprouts dish. and it wouldn’t come full circle hanging out with lauren unless we did purikura and went to mr. donut. (don’t judge me!) saying goodbye didn’t hit me then, and still hasn’t hit me. same with all the other friends that i won’t see for a long time. i’m going to really miss lauren. she is always so much fun!

sunday, i’m pretty sure i laid around and read all day long. yup, that’s what i did. i am NOT going to take this big ass book back home with me. so close to being finished!!!

oh la la, monday was a freeeeeeeee day. i got to spend some quality time with harue. we attempted to sightsee around nishiwaga, but that was messed up do to earthquake damage to roads and mountainsides, and what we thought would be walking paths ended up being hiking routes. we were wearing shorts and short-sleeves. there was a sign not too far on the path that said “bear habitat,” so we didn’t make it too far. if i had long pants and sleeves on, a hat, and some sort of protection against bears i might, might, have continued. it just wasn’t in the cards. we ended up going to her farm instead. harue and her family are dairy farmers. they milk their own cows and don’t mass produce, so i’m not bothered by it. we rode on a tractor to say hello to her mom and dad, and i learned how a bail of hay is collected, rolled, and wrapped. top it all off, i got hooked up with two packages of homemade natural strawberry jam!

at this point i should talk about my last day at school, buuuuuuuut, i’ll wait.

my vice principal trying to get into the lotus yoga pose.
we were talking about sitting seiza and how it hurts my knees,
so he tried to do this:

this week at school we’ve been watching a movie (at my suggestion!). i tried to get something newer, with johnny depp, but “charlie and the chocolate factory” was only in japanese. the video store in yuda has a pathetic selection, so we ended up getting “e.t.” it’s a pretty long movie so for the last three classes of oral communication we’ll be watching the movie and giving out passport prizes. i didn’t feel like doing actual lesson plans and actually teaching the last week and a half. it’s a treat for all parties involved!

i shipped a box of winter clothes home the other day. unlike the u.s., japan still offers surface shipping. it takes longer but it’s much cheaper. the problem is the box that i packed all my winter stuff in was too big for the post office to ship. the beauty of service in japan is they WILL help you, no matter if you’re in a department store, coffee shop, post office, or grocery store. they found another box, cut it down to fit the requirements, then helped me unpack my oversized box and repack it into the new box. they proceeded to wrap they sucker in their own tape. that’s service! i was at the post office for an hour though. goodness gracious.

wednesday all teachers and students were suppose to have daikyu, which is a special day off since they went to the baseball game this past sunday. i thought i’d be there all alone so i wore a really short-sleeved shirt. of course half the students and teachers came to school though. that’s just how they are. woops. it’s cool though. i’m not being totally carefree about showing it, but i’m not too worried if it’s seen anymore. i’m more discreet when there’s an actual school day.

wednesday evening i went to hanamaki after school to take my vented kerosene heater to amanda’s. we ran a bunch of errands, had dinner, then said our goodbyes. she’s been my best friend in iwate and has really helped me build on my confidence and be more carefree. i will miss her dearly. she’s from virginia, so it is very likely we will see each other again in the future.

enkais mean sake:

oh enkais, how i will miss you so. the place we always go has perfected the art of making me vegan japanese enkai food. last night was my farewell party. there were other things thrown in the mix, but i was the focus. i gave a speech that my vice principal translated into japanese for me to read, they presented me with a yukata, my principal and supervisor gave speeches for me, and we ate and drank a lot. my supervisor’s speech was actually in both japanese and english, so i could actually understand it (unlike most of the other speeches that night). he said he remembers when i told him my nickname, niko, means “two small objects” in japanese. he then told me that niko-niko is a japanese onomatopoeia that means “smile-smile,” which is more appropriate. awww, i’m going to admit, when he was giving his speech, i did have to fight back tearing up. he’s been a wonderful help to me. he was a great supervisor and team-teacher.

vegan enkai food!

yup, although it was a school night, there was still a ni-jikai, which is the after-party. it is always at a place called “crown,” which is a karaoke bar. i have never done a song with them because it’s quite different than going with my friends that love to get crazy and all sing the songs together.  they really sing, so i never wanted to. i was tipsy enough, so i just went with it. they all seem to know “the carpenters,” so i agreed to do “superstar” since i know it from “juno.” it wasn’t as horrible as i thought it would be. one of the teachers in my building walked me back home. it was a really fun night.

in good news, my supervisor called another secondhand shop and they agreed to come out to yuda to pick up my stuff! the first place said no, so i was a bit worried.  also, asuka-sensei is going to move into the apartment when i leave so she wants to keep the refrigerator, washing machine, and shelf above the the washer. ahh, finally someone agrees to take stuff!

this weekend is a three-day holiday! woohoo!

subconsciously i am the girl from the renoir painting that m. dufayel can’t seem to paint, from “Le déjeuner des canotiers,” in amelie:

my life is anything but boring and uneventful. can you keep up with what my future plans are? because i sure can’t.  there has been some new developments in the wonderful world of work. remember when i said i never heard back from the other job about a second interview? surprise! they finally emailed me. it seems that they didn’t have an opening for an interview in a location office close to virginia for the month of july. that works out though because i’m in JAPAN and can’t do an in-person interview in JAPAN. since i’ll be coming back at the beginning of august i’m going to do an interview then, in d.c. this completely spilled an entire proverbial cup of coffee all over my planner for the month of august. this particular job pays more than double the one i have already accepted. have you met me? you know how in debt i am from school…and ehheem, credit cards. i called the lady at the first job and explained that i need to look for a job that pays better. she said she was disappointed because she was really looking forward to working with me. i asked if it would be okay to contact her in august to see if the position was still available and she said yes! voila, i didn’t burn any bridges. she said she understood because it was really really low pay. she also said the position would more than likely still be available since it was difficult to find high-quality candidates (who were willing to work for such low pay, i think). this other job, that i have to believe i’m worthy of getting, could place me in a number of great cities. i have to be geographically flexible to put me in better standing for getting the job, but any of the locations will be great since they’re in big cities. i gave preferences, such as san fran, portland, seattle, denver, nyc, d.c., and virginia (new office, not sure which city it’s in). i don’t think i could actually make the decision myself amongst those places, so they’ll just have to do it and surprise me. i’d be happy in any of them.  okay, so back to the interview…it will be in early august. if (when!) i get the job i have to start training for two weeks in boston in the middle of august. during this training is when i find out which city i’m going to. good lord! that is so late to find out where i’ll be in september. like i said, my life keeps you (and me…and my family) guessing. i’ll keep everyone posted, duh. the bad thing is that i don’t know when i will get to see friends and family. i can’t plan anything. i will do my best to make everything work and see everyone i can.

jackie handling that grill like it’s her job:

last weekend i went to taneichi (northeast iwate) for daniel and amanda’s joint birthday party. the party was bbq style at the beach. there are little covered picnic areas there and a really nice big beach. we grilled (gluten meat and veggie kabobs for me!), drank, played with fireworks, listened to music, and enjoyed the last few hours we would see many of the people there for a long time, or ever again. the party started around 5 or 6 and went until the sun came up. it was a nice night with the breeze from the beach and good company. that party was more like the sayonara party than the one the week before. after we walked back to dan and emma’s house, we crashed slumber party style. i will miss that about japan. i love how you can turn a normal japanese apartment into a place that sleeps about 10-15 people. futons and tatami floors are the best things ever. the next day we all woke up fairly early and went down to the beach for some lounging. it was a bit chilly due to the wind but very sunny. we chilled (and got pretty damn sunburned) for a while then headed to morioka for a final dinner together. more final goodbyes were sadly exchanged, then i drove home in silence because my mp3 player’s battery had died. it gave me about an hour and a half to reflect on the weekend, and my time in japan. reflections will come more in depth in another post.

lauren is casting a spell on us with her sparkler:

we love doing speeches in japan. here’s the birthday duo doing speeches:

slumber party, japanese house style:

moving on, this week has been the iwate high school baseball tournament. i didn’t go to the game sunday because i was in taneichi. we won, so on to the next round. monday we arrived at school at 7am to find out it was rained out, so postponed until the next day. tuesday, arrived at 7am again and headed to ichinoseki. we got slaughtered. it was really sad. the baseball players were crying. for the 3rd year students it was the last game they’ll probably ever play. losing meant retirement. my jte told me that the high school tournment for all of japan is held in osaka every year and if a little boy plays baseball, he dreams of playing in that stadium in high school. for the 3rd year students yesterday meant they’ll never get another chance to play there. oh so sad to see them cry.

asuka-sensei is trying to protect her skin from the sun:

those towels are multi-purpose: wipe sweat, block their black hair from getting too hot in the sun, and cheering props!

this never gets old:

segawa-sensei, the wonderful woman that is taking over the recycling program at school when i leave, told me the school is going to present me with a yukata as a going away gift! oooohhh i’m excited and so happy. that is the nicest gift! she asked me what color i wanted and i told her to please choose one they think best suits me. i bought a yukata when i first got here, made one with the students, and will be the owner of three yukatas when i get this one! they’re also giving me a pretty new fan to go with it. i already have an obi and the shoes so they’re not going to get those. oooooooooohhhhhhh japan souvenirs. wonderful!

life is good.

this past weekend was what you might call “sentimental” for a number of reasons.

1. i felt sentimental for my exercise bike and tv. i’ve been regularly working out 4-6 times each week. i used my exercise bike for 50 minute stretches, and used the tv for yoga and pilates dvds i couldn’t get to play on my computer. both my exercise related items went to live at their new homes saturday, the bike at korey’s, and the tv at the secondhand shop. i downloaded some yoga and pilates videos so hopefully i will keep up my workout schedule.

2. sentimental because we had the “sayonara party” saturday night. there were cabins in the mountains, lots of people, lots of alcohol, grills, and good times! there were superlatives given out. i actually won two of them. i feel kind of silly for the first one, ‘best dressed,” but as i stated in the caption of the photo of my awards, at least i have laminated assurance that my thousands in debt that went to paying for my fashion degree weren’t wasted. haha the second award i’m stoked on. i do NOT feel silly about getting “most likely to change the world (one kid at a time)!” the end of that party, when people were leaving the next morning, meant actual forreal goodbyes. since iwate is so large, friends are spread out very far. i will not see at least half of the people again that went to the sayonara party. luckily there is a big birthday bbq on the beach up north this coming weekend, so that will be the next round of goodbyes. i’ve had a lot of fun this year and made such great friends. but remember, it’s see you later somewhere else in this world, not goodbye for good.

3. sunday, a bit hungover, due to intense dehydration from the disgusting humid heatwave that dominated the sayonara party, i didn’t feel like doing much except lay on my couch and watch movies. i decided to watch “lost in translation.” i watched it once three months after arriving and thought it was so funny, a made me laugh at all the things that sofia coppola emphasized about the culture. this time, after being here 11 months, it took it to a whole new level. i understood a lot of what was being said by the director of the suntory commercial when it was translated to only a couple words. the japanese comprehension blew me away! not only that, but it really made me come to grips with the fact that yes, i am going to miss japan.  i am going to miss much more about it than i thought i would. that will have to be another post. certain movies are good for causing that feeling, like amelie and my time in paris. i’ve had many good and bad times here in japan, but whenever you live somewhere for an extended period of time, it becomes part of you. i wonder if i’ll be able to use a fork at all when i go home. i’m pretty hooked on chopsticks.

we recently had our taikusai, two days of sports competition. we have two classes for each grade level (it’s a small school) and they competed against each other in various combinations for two full days. think elementary school field day meets high school. it was fun for the most part. i don’t like many sports though so when i was forced to head out to the softball field, regardless of the fact that i DID NOT SIGN UP FOR SOFTBALL, i wasn’t too happy. they tried to make me play basketball too, but i put my foot down. i did sign up for badminton, which i love, so that was okay. i would have played that all day long if they’d have let me, but alas, i am a teacher and we only got to play a tiny bit. i did however use this opportunity to make the grand debut of my tattoo to the school. it was a day i had to wear gym clothes, so that meant a t-shirt. i was NOT going to be hot like teachers’ sports day last september. it was fine. the students loved it, of course, but not a single teacher said a word. that could have been bad, or good. but the second day it peeped out too. i think after living here for eleven months it’s okay to let them know about it. i’m obviously not a criminal and i’m leaving soon. what a weight off my shoulders! now i feel so much more free and i don’t mind if it shows while walking around my town or my apartment building. it has helped my mood about warmer weather tremendously. to add a little note though…it’s july 1st and not that hot here! i am very very happy at the moment to be living in the mountains of northern japan. i hate humidity and heat, so this is great! sorry to everyone dealing with 90+ temps in virginia.

i finished my yukata. it’s not a fancy one, but i didn’t want it to be. i want to wear it as a house robe when it’s hot and i don’t want to wear any other clothes. plus, I MADE IT, so it’s a nice memory from japan.

my apartment now contains about half the stuff it did before. i really jumped on starting the process of getting rid of stuff. i have to clear out my entire apartment. it’s not as easy to get rid of belongings, especially electronic things, which is good, and better for the environment since people can’t just throw stuff in the trash, but i can’t just drop a box of stuff off at a thrift store. they have to look through it and approve. if they don’t take it, there is a service where i will have to PAY to dispose. fun. but i’m on my way to emptying my apartment. i’m a bit concerned that there won’t be anything to sleep on or even a refrigerator to put food in when catherine comes to visit. (yes, you have to get rid of things like refrigerators and washing machines since they don’t just come with the apartment!)

i have been reflecting on my life here in japan and some of the amazing things that have come of it. since i’ve been living alone in a quiet, nothing to do mountain town, i have learned to cook for myself, get into the habit of making my lunch everyday, eating three meals a day and a small snack or two, sleep at least seven hours each night, and exercise about four times per week. these are all extremely good habits to have and they’ve finally become “normal” in my life. now when i return home and go back to an erratic schedule i believe i will still be able to maintain these good healthy habits.

in the vein of the daily show, here is your moment of zen. al gore being a homeboy, as seen on ecorazzi via thedirty.com.