Okay, I took a long hiatus, and I don't really have an excuse. I've been busy, but hey aren't we all. So, I thought I'd finally sit my butt down and post some pictures for you all.
I'll start with pics from my and Kristin's trip to Kyoto in June. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to be back there, it really felt like I never left at all. The people of Kyoto are so friendly (in stark contrast to people of Niigata, who are all very shy), and of course the temples, shrines, gardens and homes are like the photos found in fine Japan-themed coffee table books. I definitely have to go back at least once before I leave Japan for good.
We stayed in an excellent hostel right in Gion, which is exactly where we wanted to be. The study abroad program we both participated in three years ago took place in nearly the same location, so that's where all the natsukashii (nostalgic) places are. The hostel owner was a cool, young Japanese guy with a proper Austrailian accent who really liked to have a good time. One night he went out with us to an izakaya (like a restaurant) and a bar that we often frequented back in our college days. Another night, he invited three of his friends over and we all had a takoyaki (octopus balls) party. When I go back I will definitely plan to stay with him again.
And now for the best part:
Yasaka Jinja!!!! 超〜懐かしい
Omikuji (fortunes) at Yasaka Jinja
Beautiful Maruyama Koen. I have SO many good memories of this place.
The famous cherry tree in Maruyama.
Chillin'
The path to the Yoshimizu! Again, tons of memories (this is where we stayed on our study abroad trip).
Again, the Yoshimizu.
The entrance gate to Kiyomizu dera (temple).
I will always be in love with Japanese design.
The three-tiered pagoda at Kiyomizu.
Hand/mouth washing station #1. Interestingly, there were multiple places to wash throughout the temple. Perhaps the farther you go in, the more you have to wash?
A much cooler washing station. The proper way to wash is as follows: You take the ladle in your left hand and pour water on your right hand. Then switch hands, and with your right, pour water onto your left. Then you put a bit of water in your right hand and wash your mouth, being sure to spit OUTSIDE of the water trough. Finally, the remaining water in the ladle is poured down the handle to clean it, before it's returned to its place.
Definitely the coolest washing station of all. Here, each waterfall represents a different wish. One brings good luck in finances, one good luck in love relationships, and the other intelligence.
Another part of Kiyomizu.
A lovely garden in the temple.
The sun sets on Kiyomizu-dera.
Some adorable puppies that Kristin and I spied from the street. Just because they're cute.
I am alive! I apologize to those few people who still check this thing (is anybody out there?) for not writing in so long. Truth is, as my Grandfather used to say, I've been busier than a one-eyed cat watchin' two mouse holes. But busy in a good way. In June my favorite lady Kristin came to visit, and we went to all of our "natsukashii" places in Kyoto, then spent a dreary, mostly not fun day in rainy Osaka. I also had the pleasure of showing her around my current home, Murakami. You should ask her yourself, but I think she liked it.
Then, I stayed at the home of one of my English conversation students for 3 weeks. Her name is Hiroko Suzuki, and she is the most amazing cook ever (well, at least she is tied with my real mom and my Japanese mom, Masami). Her husband is also a really nice guy. He barely speaks when he's not drinking, but luckily every night he gets toasted on an ample amount of sake, so we ended up having some pretty interesting conversations. It was great Japanese practice for me.
Next I went home, which was the highlight of my Summer. I can't express how good it felt to see my family and friends again, to eat a burrito the size of my head while indulging in as many free refills as I like, and to be able to read EVERYTHING around me. Holy crap, I can read this entire menu, and moreover I know what every dish is! Talk about refreshing. The trip was entirely too short, and I apologize to those of you who I didnt get to see. I'll be back at Christmas to be in my other favorite lady's wedding, so hopefully I'll see you all then :)
A week after I returned to Japan, I went to Tokyo to attend Japanese school and basically just take a nice long holiday. Nice thing is, my Board of Education let me take "training leave" for it, so I didn't have to use a bit of my paid vacation. It was a lot of fun to be in the city, which couldn't be more opposite from where I live now. I got to experience all the "city" things I've never done before in one of the biggest cities in the world (is it the biggest? I don't even know...) Taking the packed train for 40 minutes every day to school, shopping in all the famous Tokyo stores and malls, staying out at a club until 5 am -- things that are not an option out here in the extreme inaka. I also did a homestay there with a really cool family in Asakusa. My host father, Yosuke, is the stage manager for Ayumi Hamasaki, and last year was the SM for EXILE. I know this means nothing to you gaijin readers, but it's basically the equivalent of being the SM for say, Britney Spears and N'sync. My host mom, Yumi, used to be a sound engineer, so she met Yosuke through work. They have an adorable 2 year old daughter named Mai who I completely fell in love with. She called me "oneichan" which means big sister. The whole family was great about making me feel at home, and again, it was great Japanese practice.
Now I'm back in Murakami. Classes have started and I'm back to the same old same old, though it's really nice to be back. I'm not a city girl, and I was ready to get back to the rice fields, sea and mountains. Also, after the whirlwind of this summer, it will be nice to settle back into a routine.
I think I'll do a seperate photos post, where I'll just string all my pictures in one big post and maybe (if you're lucky and I'm bored) I'll put captions with them. I wouldn't look for that until next week, though.
Back to celebrity gossip blogs, the guardian.co.uk and my other various distractions for boring work days. I love my job!
I went shopping for pants for work yesterday, because I hate all of my work clothes. I found some pretty nice ones that fit well and cost only 30 bucks. Said pants are a size LL. In Japan, I am a big girl. Definitely a first time experience.
Two weeks ago I had the awesome opportunity to go to Thailand at but a moment's notice with my buddy Keisuke. I went from not expecting to go anywhere for Golden Week, to deciding I'd jet over to Bangkok for a few days, literally about 2 weeks before I left -- which is coooool. Hopefully I'm rich one day and can do that sort of thing all the time.
Thailand is beautiful in practically every way. Its tropical, so outside of Bangkok everything is green and lush. Every aspect of the city itself was completely unplanned, so it spreads in every direction, including up, like the yeast on an overgrown agar plate (sorry for the nerdy science reference). I loved the unplanned verve of the city, it made every corner, even the dirtiest most secret ones, seem full of life.
As usual, I'm gonna let the pictures do most of the talking, cause I suck at that anyways.
95% of the population of Thailand is Buddhist. As such, there are a lot of temples, and for each temple theres a giant Buddha. Its sort of insane. This is the first temple we visited, Wat Arun. Tons of stray cats apparently call the temple home, and the monks even feed them.
Thai architecture is extremely different from Japanese architecture. In Japan, clean lines and earth tones rule. In Thailand, its as if a crayola box vomited on everything. In a good way.
Me and Keisuke, actin' a fool.
Monks in training sitting next to us, whose tranquility balanced out our shenanigans. Wat Pho is the oldest and largest Buddhist temple in Bangkok. It is home to more Buddha images than any other Bangkok temple and it shelters the largest Buddha in Thailand, the Reclining Buddha. Buddha in the reclining position is said to represent the Buddha's transition to Nirvana.
Buddha toes.
Next up, the Grand Palace.
The interior walls were covered in insanely detailed murals that according to our tour guide are repainted every year.
Repainting. I wonder how many times they have painted that exact wall?
Our tour guide, named Ramin. The tour was for Japanese, so the trip ended up being insanely good Japanese practice for me since no one immediately around me spoke English.
This is a Buddha in the prayer area at Wat Pho. Worshipers can purchase gold leaf sheets to attach to the Buddhas image while praying. I guess making the Buddha more gold increases the chances of your prayer being answered?
Crazy detail.
That day we went to the most amazing Thai buffet in a fancy restaurant in Bangkok. I haven't stuffed myself like that in a long time.
Yes, I have now ridden an elephant!
That trunk must be heavy...
This is Wat Mahathat, at Ayutthaya, about an hour outside of Bangkok. Ayutthaya was a kingdom that existed around 1350, and apparently it rivaled European cities such as Paris in size and wealth. It fell to the Burmese in the 18th century.
Of course, the famous Buddha head, overgrown by a fig tree. This image is revered because it is said the Buddha was sitting under a tree when he reached Nirvana.
After a meal of Thai-style shabu-shabu, we went back to Ayutthaya to see it lit up at night.
In a boat on our way to the floating market, also about an hour out of Bangkok.
Another giant Buddha we saw along the way. I'm telling you, they're everywhere.
The night market. Ahhhhhhh. This is a market that is open until 12pm every night. They have everything, but specifically they have hippie dresses as far as the eye can see. In my heaven, there will be a beach, and some mountains, and the Bangkok night market right in between.
On the last day I went to a spa and had a THREE HOUR SPA TREATMENT for about 100 dollars. I got the works, they bathed me, gave me a Thai massage, did a facial treatment, manicure, pedicure, and washed my hair. I would go back to Thailand just for the massages, any day.
I'm not a huge fan of nail art, but my nails were AWESOME after she was done: Tropical flowers are definitely the best kind...
Thailand is beautiful. I'm definitely going back and next time I'm hitting the beach. The end.
Ahhhh. It's good to be home. Honestly coming back into modern first-world civilization has been a bit jarring, but I'm adjusting quickly. For those of you who may be lost, I just spent the last two weeks in the country of Papua New Guinea, quite literally in the middle of nowhere in the jungle (and on the beach). The purpose of the trip was to see firsthand the building of an elementary school that we funded with money raised from performing the musical. I'm not sure I can yet sum up the experience into words, I'm still digesting a lot of what I saw and did. I can say though that it was a pretty eye-opening experience. I can also say I will never again take indoor plumbing for granted.
So, I'll give you all a photo tour.
Getting to and from PNG is a chore. I took a 1 hour train to Niigata, where we took a bus to Tokyo, which took about 5ish hours. We then hopped on a plane for about 7 hours to Port Moresby, the capital. Then we hopped on another plane to Lae, only about a 1 hour flight. Upon arriving at the Lae airport, we had a little mini welcome ceremony.
And here we are exhausted and looking pretty darn wrecked, but happy:
We then piled onto the van you see in the pic and drove 45 minutes to our hotel for that night. All together I was in transit for over 24 hours.
After napping for about 3 hours, our guides took us to a mini sort of zoo in Lae, which was pretty cool. We got to see some cool animals in their natural habitats:
We also got to hold a black python. Look, ma! Look what I found!
We ate a picnic lunch of sandwiches at the zoo, and included in the lunch was a variety of fruit, including these wonders, known to the people as "Rumberton." You peel the outside spikey skin and then use your teeth to scrape/suck off the inside fleshy goodness from a rather large seed.
I must say, PNG has ruined fruit for me forever. A banana that has ripened on the tree is in a completely different universe from the crap that the grocery store tells us is "bananas." I stuffed myself the entire two weeks with fresh pineapple, mango, guava, starfruit, rumberton, coconut and oranges.
This is a female cassowary, which is an emu-like bird native to PNG.
And the creature no PNG zoo can go without -- an outrageously giant croc. This one was nearly 20 ft long. The zoo keeper stuck a stick in the cage to rile the animal, and I must say it was pretty impressive.
You've been warned:
The zoo also had a lot of nice birds, including some awesome talking cockatoos.
The next day we got up bright and early and took a 6 hour boat ride down the coast to our final destination, the villiage of Saigara in the Waria Valley. We took two boats with an outboard motor, one for us and one for our stuff. This is a photo I took of the other boat. One of my favorite guys, Sam, has his hands up.
A beautiful place for a rest stop:
We stopped and had another picnic lunch on a small island. It was crazy beautiful. Tsuneo, our one Japanese team member is pictured below (this was his 5th year going to PNG).
My hair, towards the end of the journey was almost as epic as the journey itself.
Then, we were given a proper Saigara welcome:
With of course a lot of dancing:
The elementary school kids for whom we built the school:
The flowers and butterflies of PNG are like something out of dream.
Fiona, chillin' with the kids.
This is Yahwehjah, aka Yahweh. Isn't she beautiful?
And my homeboy, Kamowah.
We had quite a bit of downtime in Saigara, so we did a lot of goofing off. Here is Fiona, of the Shetland Isles, in rare form.
And because I simply must share this with the world, her Louie Armstrong impression.
We went to see the mobile lumber mill one day, which was pretty interesting. Mobile mills are more ecologically friendly, as they don't require clearing large portions of forest to build a stationary mill and they allow you to choose which tree you'll use and then fell it in which ever direction is least damaging to the forest around it.
Me and Yahweh, and the mill site.
Sam and a view of the Waria river.
Deep into the heart of darkness:
Maybe dark isn't the right word.
On our trek back from the mill, we got a little thirsty. Sam turns to the young man beside him (maybe 17 or 18 years old?) and suggests he get some coconuts for us. He then scales a 40 foot coconut tree and knocks a bunch of coconuts down. This took him less than 3 minutes.
A big spider next to the river. From back legs to front legs he measures about 7 inches. He is also smaller than the huntsman spider I got to know quite well, who liked to chill in the girl's outhouse.
One of the many giant grasshoppers that were everywhere.
One day we went down to the villiage in Saigara and watched the ladies make grass skirts and the woven bags that EVERYONE in PNG carries called "Billems." Here are the ladies making the skirts:
Useful feet:
Making yellow dye for the skirts.
Adorable children.
Can't have too many pictures of those.
Coconuts.
Dancing in the night.
Cool stick bug.
Definitely cool.
After a week in Saigara we went to Bau village, which was right on the beach. We of course were welcomed again with bright costumes and dancing.
This is the guest house we stayed in at Bau. All open air, so we sleep under mosquito nets.
Possibly my favorite picture, because it sums up Bau so well.
Hermit crabs where EVERYWHERE on the beaches. I loooooved the things, so I was always picking them up and toting 'em around with me.
One day at Bau we took the boat to a small satellite island and went snorkeling in the reefs and had a picnic lunch. Snorkeling was definitely my favorite part, and I plan on investing on a snorkel and flippers in the near future and doing it as much as possible.
The island: Little man dressed up to greet us to the island (one or two families have houses on the island).
Me all war-painted up (its mud that was put on my face by an old native when we arrived).
The island was definitely my favorite place.
The next day we presented school supplies to the children at a school near Bau. They in turn presented us with gifts of beads and billems.
This is one of their teachers, explaining one of the rituals.
We also paid a visit to the school at Toyare, where the team built the classroom pictured below last year. We brought school supplies and were treated to a dance.
On the last day (Thursday) we went back to Saigara for the dedication of the beautiful classroom we built!
Singing the Papua New Guinea national anthem. Notice the Japanese flag also flying!
Uniformed cuties.
Our farewell from Saigara celebration. More beautiful dances.
And the final goodbye from Bau.
Everything is still kind of a blur at this point, and I am currently still running on 3 hours of sleep I got Friday night and a 2 hour nap I took today (it is now Sunday, almost 8PM), so I apologize for the short explanations and lack of eloquence. All I can say right now is that the entire experience completely blew me away, and that the beauty of the country and the kindness of the people there is something that can never forget. It feels really good to make the world a better place. :-)
I've got a crapload of stuff to upload, which I am going to attempt to do all this week. First, I'll share with you how freaking gorgeous it is where I live. Even though it rains/snows a lot, that doesn't at all subtract from the beauty.
First off are some pictures I took around Christmas of last year. No snow yet...
The silver building is "Paru Parku" (Pal Park), which is where I teach my eikaiwa class (adult English conversation class).
Next up is a pond in Kamihayashi called 大池 (Ohike). In winter, a buttload of swans from Siberia descend on the Murakami area. They particularly like this pond, and they've learned that its the spot to get a free meal -- on weekends the place is packed with people toting bags of bread.
Again, so those pictures were all taken around Christmastime. A mere 3 or 4 weeks later, however, someone flipped the switch:
And holy crap, did it snow...
大池 again, this time with snow.
Cooooooooooooome and geeeeeeeeeeeeet iiiiiiiiiiit.
I think this is what the person who invented the word "cluster@#$%" had in mind...
Probably my favorite thing about where I live is that I am equally far from the mountains (pictured earlier) as I am from the beach. Takes me 10 minutes or less by car to be at the Japan Sea, 20 or so to be in the mountains on my snowboard.
日本海 aka the Japan Sea. The tetrapods are used in many places throughout Japan to prevent erosion.
Awashima, a little island off the Murakami coast.
Another lovely shot of the Murakami sunset. You can never have too many of those.
So, I will finish this post by saying you all should come and see it for yourself, cause these pictures really don't do it justice.
As I stated in a previous post (oh, over a month ago now) I went to Tokyo for New Years. Now, New Years in Japan is a GIANT deal. Its the biggest holiday in Japan (kinda like Christmas in the States), and so theres a lot going on at this time of year. Strangely enough, however, Tokyo is much emptier at this time of year than normal. This is because Japanese people go home (wherever home is) to spend New Years with their families, which means there is a mass exodus out of Tokyo. So imagine these pictures 10 times more crowded, then you've got Tokyo.
We started off by checking into our capsule hotel in Shinjuku. Capsule hotels are a Japan-only phenomenon. Check out my sweet capsule:
Basically its just enough room to lay down comfortably. Theres a big communal shower/bath/sauna (I of course stayed in a ladies only place), and you get a locker to keep your things in. It was a cool experience, and I'm glad I did it, but I'm not sure I would again. Although, it was crazy cheap (about 40 dollars a night, which is super cheap in the heart of Shinjuku).
Next, we were starving, so we (Richie, Troy, Steve and I) stopped for some sushi. Put me on the record as saying Niigata sushi blows Tokyo sushi out of the water. That's right, I said it.
Later we did some exploring in Shinjuku, and found a little shinto shrine tucked away in a back alley. That's one of the things I love about Tokyo. One minute you're surrounded by lights, noise and hostess clubs, and the next you're in a quiet spot looking at an ancient shrine or temple. Its really cool to see such opposites coexist.
Foxes are the messengers of the gods, so this shrine had multiple fox statues. The thing tied to his ear is an omikuji, or a fortune. Everyone at the New Year pays for a little omikuji, which will tell you what your luck will be like in money, work, family, love -- everything. After you read your fortune, you can either take it with you, or leave it at the shrine in the hopes that the gods will either make your fortune come true (if you got a good fortune) or keep it from coming true (if you got a bad fortune).
Omikuji close-up.
We then headed off to the famous Shibuya to check out the busiest intersection in the world. It doesn't look so busy here again because Tokyo is sort of empty (by comparison) at the New Year. Still a cool sight to see.
We ran into this dog and it's old man in Shibuya. The dog's name is Love (Ra-bu in engrish), and as you can see it could RIDE A FREAKING BICYCLE. The dude would hold out some food and the dog would pedal up to get it. Someone get this dog an agent.
Day 2 got started a little late, especially since I somehow managed to lose my bra between my locker and the shower that morning (the only one I brought). So I made a morning trek to the local skivvy shop to get something new. Let me just say now that Japanese bras suck. They are all really cutesy (covered in lace, ribbons, beads -- not my style) and retardedly padded. I found something that would work at least for the next couple of days, but that ended up rubbing me raw in a few places. I cant wait to go back home to shop so I can find clothes that will actually fit me.
After wandering randomly for a bit we headed to Meiji Jingu, which is possibly the most famous shrine in Japan. At the new year literally 100's of thousands (if not millions) of people stream through this shrine to do something called hatsumoude, or the first shrine visit of the new year. Meiji jingu is not the only place to do this. Any shrine will do. But Meiji is probably the most popular. At the shrine, people basically pray that the next year will be a good one, and they give donations to the gods. These donations can be in any amount, but 5 yen and 50 yen coins are especially good luck. Theres a special area fenced off, and people throw their coins/bills there, where the monks make the rounds and pick up the dough. I literally saw more than a few 1 man yen bills, which is roughly equal to 100 dollars, so some people really fork it out.
Here Richie celebrates Shinto. These are the torii at the entrance to the shrine.
And here is the front entrance gate. Notice the pictures of the mice next to the radishes. This is the year of the mouse (its mouse in Japan, not rat), so you see mice everywhere.
Before you enter the gates shown above, you have to wash your hands and your mouth in a fountain nearby to cleanse yourself. you wash your hands first, then your mouth (by putting a little water in your mouth and spitting it out), then you clean off the handle of the cup thingy by running the remaining water down the handle. There's a lot of ritual here.
A nice pic of Steve, Troy and I in front of the main building at Meiji. In front of this building is where everyone throws their money.
This is the awesome view upon exiting Meiji Jingu. So, you have to walk a little ways into the woods (about 5-10 minutes) to get in and out of the shrine. While you're there, you can't see the city at all, and its easy to forget you're right in the middle of Tokyo. I really like how in this picture you can see the giant skyscraper through the traditional torii.
Later that evening we had shabu shabu back in Shinjuku. Shabu shabu is this brilliant Japanese food that basically involves boiling veggies, meat and seafood at your table, dipping it in sauce and chowing down. It doesn't sound thrilling, but trust me, it is. Below is proof of just how thrilling:
After hopping around the city to quite a few places, we ended up at a famous club in Roppongi, called "Gas Panic". Roppongi is the only place to go in Tokyo on New Year's Eve, cause as Tokyo is pretty empty, thats where ALL the foreigners go. And oh my gosh, it was indeed a ridiculous sea of gaijin. Had there been a fire in this club, we all would have died. No question about it.
Here Steve rocks the afro and the finest white-man dance I've ever witnessed.
And here I am, shakin' my thang. Dancing is funnnnn.
For the most part, I didn't take pictures for the rest of the trip, but we mostly did a lot of sitting around on our butt/eating delicious Tokyo grub/going shopping in Harajuku. Yes, that's right, it rocked. Best. New Year. Ever.
Omikuji (fortunes) at Yasaka Jinja
Beautiful Maruyama Koen. I have SO many good memories of this place.
The famous cherry tree in Maruyama.
Chillin'
The path to the Yoshimizu! Again, tons of memories (this is where we stayed on our study abroad trip).
Again, the Yoshimizu.
The entrance gate to Kiyomizu dera (temple).
I will always be in love with Japanese design.
The three-tiered pagoda at Kiyomizu.
Hand/mouth washing station #1. Interestingly, there were multiple places to wash throughout the temple. Perhaps the farther you go in, the more you have to wash?
A much cooler washing station. The proper way to wash is as follows: You take the ladle in your left hand and pour water on your right hand. Then switch hands, and with your right, pour water onto your left. Then you put a bit of water in your right hand and wash your mouth, being sure to spit OUTSIDE of the water trough. Finally, the remaining water in the ladle is poured down the handle to clean it, before it's returned to its place. 
Definitely the coolest washing station of all. Here, each waterfall represents a different wish. One brings good luck in finances, one good luck in love relationships, and the other intelligence. 
Another part of Kiyomizu.
A lovely garden in the temple.
The sun sets on Kiyomizu-dera.
Some adorable puppies that Kristin and I spied from the street. Just because they're cute.
