I can feel my life slowly trickling away

It's a beautiful, breezy day today. The sun is shining, the air is warm but not too hot, and I am sitting in my apartment studying for the stupid GRE. I could be doing any number of awesome things right now. I could be running, or riding my bike around town, or reading at the beach, or taking advantage of this three day weekend to see some sights, but instead I'm trying to remember how to compare fractions. Remember fractions? I seem to recall learning about them back in seventh grade or prior. For the past two weeks, I have stayed at home reading through this book. I've canceled plans with friends and avoided any type of fun because I am thinking about my future. When I begin to feel stressed about things like fractions, I calm myself by saying, "Don't worry, it's just your future." My life has somehow become a fun-suck. But even now I'm wasting precious study time. The wind is blowing and the air smells nice, like grass and trees and ocean, or at least that's what I'm imagining from my sad and fun-less desk.

New Pictures!

I've posted new pictures to my Flickr account, just check under 'Japan pictures.' Unfortunately, Flickr will only let me load about ten every month so I can only put a few up at a time. Stupid Flickr. Always leaves me wanting more.

Typhoon Number 12

Typhoon number 12 is passing over Japan. In truth, it has completely missed Toyooka, though it has managed to blow all kinds of rain our way. I have seen drizzle-y rain, pellet-like rain, soft-ish rain, and angry, agressive rain. The angry, agressive rain is the most prevalent type and it will rage for hours on end. Right now it is dropping away outside, filling our sports field with puddles the size of Lake Union and reminding me of life in Seattle. When I walk to school in the morning, my neighbors look at my bare-head in horror. I stare right back at them and want to say, "You think this is bad? I'm from Seattle, bitches! I was born for this. I use rainclouds as my damn pillows." Unfortunately, the only part I know how to say in Japanese is 'I'm from Seattle' and, anyway, it's probably best that I keep these thoughts to myself. Secretly, I love Typhoon Number 12 and don't want it to heave it's last on us. For some reason, the rain makes me feel at home and I'm glad of that.

Ailey's car goes to the beach

I took my car on a trip to Kumihama beach yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, so I took this picture with my super-awesome Japanese cell phone. It's small, but look at how NOT pixel-y it is! Please note how small the car is. When I drive it, I have to sit in the back seat.

Driving in Japan

The paperwork was signed, the money was handed over, and I took the receipt in my sweaty, shaking hand.

"Okay, okay," I thought. "It's not that different. No big deal. Look right, turn left. Remember look right, turn left. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe."

I turned the key and the tiny Daihatsu roared (well, more like meowed) to life. "Hey," the American leasing agent yelled, "Remember that we drive on the LEFT side of the road here!"

I reached for the blinker and the wiper blades began squeaking across the windshield. I tried for the brake and accidentally hit the gas. And that is when I knew - I was going to die.

Do you feel like a voyeur?

At Eryn's request, here are a few pictures of where I spend my late nights, my early mornings, and free moments in between. Welcome to my house! But, please, take off your shoes before entering:

Indoor shoes wait to be slipped on.

Yes, I really am this tall. Either that, or my doorjambs really are this short.

My kitchen/living/sleeping space. There is another room, but this one has the air-conditioner.

Notice the space-saving sink on top of the toilet reservoir.

The outside of my wee house.

And there you have it. Please feel free to pull up a futon anytime. There's always rooms for a few more!

Oh, sweet air-conditioning

Right now, I'm sitting in the teachers' lounge at my school. I do this every day - come in a little before 9 AM, cruise the internet, attempt to study Japanese, attempt to prepare for the GRE, cruise the internet some more, then leave at around noon to eat lunch, nap, and find other creative ways to fill the rest of my day, which usually includes some kind of excuse to catch the train into the city and drink a Mocha Blast. School starts at the end of next week and, from that time, I'm sure I'll be fairly busy. I've already committed to teaching an adult conversation class on Monday nights, as well as Japanese lessons on Wednesdays, and salsa lessons on Friday nights. 'Salsa lessons in Japan?!' you might say. Yes, salsa lessons in Japan, and I am as baffled as you.

After work yesterday, I wasted away my afternoon in a local internet cafe (We don't have a grocery store, but we DO have an internet cafe. Priorities?). I spent almost four hours talking to Ritchie via webcam and e-mailing with a travel agent to plan various trips and further mentally escape the life abroad. When I finally left, my eyes were burning with all of the gratuitous internet-surfing that I had done. I even found time to read Perez Hilton and find out just how far behind the news I actually am. Depressing. This might be the driving force behind me paying for internet at my house. Also depressing.

Tonight I'm catching a train to the next town over, Takeno, to take part in the festivities for Bon Odori. My friend Colin lives there and is helping his community set-up for the festival so my friends and I volunteered ourselves, as well. It should be an interesting time with fireworks galore. And hopefully street vendor food. And vending machine beer. All of these added together equal a satisfying Wednesday night for me in Tajima.

Well, I really should get some 'studying' done. And by 'studying' I mean that I'm going to study perezhilton.com to find out what's REALLY going on in my absence. Who needs Japanese?! Who needs graduate school?! Celebrity gossip is what matters in this world!!!

Until next time . . .

The missing blogs!!!

Okay, so there were only two really awesome, unpublished blogs. Apparently I haven't been working as hard as I thought I was, but there you have it - my thoughts, fears, moans, and tears from the past two weeks. All wrapped up in two new posts.

Genki Foreigners 8/6/06

It’s Sunday night and I just got back from a long run through the rice fields and mountains. As I was jogging along, an endangered white crane flew out of the rice field next to me and winged off into the trees. Cicadas were chirping, the sun was setting behind the hills, and I thought to myself, “Damn, me, I love Japan.”

Strangely enough, this was about one hour after I had been sitting in my apartment thinking, “Damn, me, I really hate Japan.”

Ah, the life of a foreigner in a strange country. The language is new, the people all look the same but nothing like YOU, and you bump your head on the doorjamb every time you leave the room. One week into my journey here, I can definitely say that it’s been a roller-coaster ride of emotions – not all good, but definitely not all bad.

There are a lot of things I absolutely hate about Japan:

1. The mosquitoes. I’m beginning to look like a leper with all of the bites up and down my legs. I will soon be assigned to a village even smaller than the one I’m currently living in. Eventually I’ll probably find out that it’s a leper’s colony and I’ll die there. It will be sad, but not unexpected.

2. The humidity. People in Texas complain about the humidity, but people in Texas have things like swimming pools and cars and abundant air conditioning. People in Japan have semi-warm tap water, poor insulation, and their own two feet to get them around. I’m sweating just thinking about it.

3. The distance. What can I say? I miss my friends, my family, and my boyfriend. I love Seattle and always will. That hasn’t changed just because I’m in a foreign country.

4. The language. Okay, this could be misinterpreted. In no way do I hate the Japanese language, I just hate that I don’t speak it. However, it’s to my advantage that I’m the only foreigner and English speaker in my village because I’ll be forced to learn in order to survive. My mom claims that I have an ear for languages, but I think it’s just a desperate will to live.

There are also a lot of things that I absolutely love about Japan:

1. The Shinkansen!!! Two words – bullet train. Does America have one (and, no, the mini train at Billy McHale’s doesn’t count)? The answer is no. America also doesn’t have electric toilet seats that are heated, make nature sounds to cover your body noises, and clean your bum with a gentle spray of misting water.

2. The friendly people. The people in my town are so friendly; I don’t even know how to describe it. Already I have a ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ who live across the street and look out for me. I can’t walk to the post office without someone trying to speak with me. Everyone has been awesome and so appreciated by the lonely American girl who’s far from home and doesn’t speak a word of Japanese.

3. The mountains, the ocean, the overall beauty.

4. The food. I don’t care how much you love Blue C Sushi, the sushi here is better. So is the bento, the teriyaki (this could be a lie because I haven’t tried it), the Sapporo, and the rice. Yeah, that’s right, even the rice is better here.

Overall, though, the best part about my trip so far has been The Challenge. I was looking for a challenge when I left Seattle and I have definitely found it here. The past seven days have been so difficult and stressful and rewarding and exciting that I can’t ever regret my decision to leave my life behind and come here for a year. No matter how much I cry, mope, or complain, I am still the genki foreigner and I am here to have an awesome time. So to that I say, Ganbatte!

Village life - 8/3/06

I arrived in my village two days ago. After a full day of traveling on buses, bullet trains, and kurumas (cars) I found myself in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by mountains and river. I’m a fifteen minute walk from the Japanese Sea – or the Inland Sea for those of you who are more Korean minded – and a fifteen minute walk in any other direction to rice fields and trees. If I’m looking for humidity I don’t have to walk anywhere because here it is! Everywhere I go, it’s there.

I’ve spent my first couple of days here watching Japanese television, exploring the village and local Shinto shrines, and generally stumbling my way through life. When at a loss yesterday for what to eat for lunch, I went to a local café where the menu was only in Japanese and without pictures! The waitress and I awkwardly stared at each other for about five minutes before I pointed at the woman’s food across the way and said, “That!” So that is what I got and it was delicious. I consider it a successful interaction.

I have also spent a lot of time with my landlord’s family who has adopted me as a sort of freakish, unintelligible, gaijin child. On my first night here, they took me to see the fireworks in town and then to a sushi dinner. The restaurant had a conveyor belt like Blue C Sushi (or, as Ritchie said, “Blue C Sushi was like the restaurant that you went to”) and offered such fair as bacon sushi and weird-purple-vegetable sushi. Afterward, we walked around a street fair where I fished for goldfish. I had several unsuccessful attempts and the woman manning the booth finally scooped six fish into a plastic bag for me to take home – most of the fish died overnight and I flushed the rest down the toilet. I’m convinced that the death of my fish isn’t a bad omen.

The Mystery of the Starbucks Coffee Press (far from home)

On Wednesday night, the teachers at my school and I celebrated my arrival here. We played Grand Golf, the female teachers went to the hot-springs, we barbequed, and we drank lots of local beer and imported Carlos Rossi wine. The festivities took place on a mountaintop about an hour away from Toyooka, the closest city of any size in this area. The mountain, Cannabe (easy to remember, as the name reminds me of Cannabis), is very popular with Japanese tourists, but little known to outsiders. The ski slopes are small and unchallenging, the hot springs are isolated, and the views are nothing in comparison to larger mountains. So, once again, I was the only blonde, green-eyed person in sight.

The alcohol tolerance level in Japan is zero, so the majority of the teachers were unable/incapable of driving the long distance back to their homes that night. We ended up staying in the small inn that catered our barbeque. It was a quiet, nondescript place, run by a local family. The floors were slanty, the mattresses were sunken, and I didn't step out on the deck for fear of losing my life. But it was comfortable and convenient, so I happily curled up in my western-style bed for a heavy night of sleep.

The next morning, as I was having a breakfast of cold omelette with ketchup and watery rice, I took a moment to look around and noticed something very surprising. There, in a glass-fronted chest, tucked among the tea-kettles, glasses, and ceramic cups, was a Starbucks coffee press. A Starbucks coffee press, all the way on top of that isolated mountain!

I couldn't help but wonder how it had gotten there. Of course, there are Starbucks in Japan, but none in Toyooka and many people don't even know what it is. Did some worldly Japanese person bring the press with them in the hopes of having a savory brew the next morning and leave it behind? Or did it come from further away - an American tourist far from home, perhaps, or an adventurous traveler just passing through?

I don't know why I'm thinking so much about that Starbucks coffee press, but it has crossed my mind several times in the past few days. Maybe because it looked as out of place as I have often felt in the past two weeks. Maybe because it reminded me of home in the middle of my totally foreign surroundings. In any case, I wish that I had nabbed it because I could really use that in my town. Though finding the actual coffee would be a challenge.

I have some really great blogs!

Unfortunately, theyre all on my home computer which isnt hooked up to the internet. I would burn them to a CD and bring them to work to upload, but the disc drive on my computer doesnt seem to be working. Damn. Thus, my friends, you will need to sit tight for just a while longer. Then you can bask in the abudance of my blog posts and pictures.

Ailey, you might be saying, Why dont you just write a blog post from your work computer? To that I respond, My friend, my work computer doesnt have apostrophes and the font keeps changing into Japanese script. This is something that I dont wish to subject anyone to, much less myself.

So, please, believe me when I say that I have some really great blogs! And you will be seeing them very soon (I hope).

Tokyo: Day 1

I arrived in Tokyo last night, travel weary and numb. After being ushered through customs, the baggage claim, and onto a bus, I got to the hotel where I somehow resisted the urge to fall into bed and sleep away the night. It was only 8:30 PM in Tokyo time and past experience has taught me to stay awake as long as possible. Deny the urge to sleep! Instead, I met up with some other JETs in the hotel lobby and we meandered out of the hotel and into the balmy Tokyo night. We found a noodle house where you pay for your selection at an automated teller before eating and sat down to a dinner of chicken cutlet over rice, miso soup, and cabbage salad - the chicken cutlet didn't look, or taste, like you'd expect. Welcome to a foreign country.

Anyway, I woke up at 6:30 this morning with a desire to explore, so I roused my already-awake roommate and we wandered the streets. This morning I found: three Starbucks, a homeless village in the park, thousands of pedestrians, and some interesting vending machines.

Now it's time for snore-ientation (what an awesome play on words!). Hopefully I'm lucid enough this evening to see a little more of the city before I head out and become too cheap to spend money and too afraid to ride buses or trains.

Vancouver, BC

It's 8:00 AM on a Saturday morning and you might ask what I am doing up so early. Well, I'm going to Vancouver! Right now I'm waiting for Kelli to pick me up along with Jess, Maggie, and Denise and we are going to spend a girly weekend in BC shopping, eating, and going-out. Also (and this is the best of all) we're going to the Vancouver aquarium - I can't wait to see the beluga whales. Damn, I'm such a nerd. Anyway, I can't seem to locate my camera, so I'll have to contrive a way to steal pictures from everyone else to post here. Maybe I'll also try to get some poutine when I'm up there. French fries with cheese and gravy is hard to come by south of the border. I think Kelli's here, so I have to go. Fingers crossed for no searches at the border!

Two weeks to JET!!!

It is officially my last day of work and two weeks until I leave for Japan. Where has the time gone? I remember getting my acceptance letter three months ago and thinking that I had eons to prepare . . . I'm really excited to get to Tokyo and wake up in the morning with the realization that I am somewhere new. I love the way traffic sounds in new cities - for some reason the sirens are always different and car horns are always a little louder. Heat feels hotter and smells are more powerful. It's hard to describe, but there's something extremely vibrant and energetic about enveloping yourself in a new culture - I obviously love this feeling. I'm also scared - I don't know Japanese, I don't know much about where I'll be going, I'm leaving behind my family and friends and my boyfriend . . . Sometimes I wish I could flip to the end and find out what happens (but that would be cheating). Anyway, wish me luck. In 45 minutes, my last day of work will be over and the true countdown will begin.

My blog is growing mold

I think that I've left my blog unattended for too long. I've been so busy lately trying to get everything taken care of before the big move to Japan that I've neglected my little ego-based web project. I leave in a little less than three weeks - crazy! So far I have NOT: sold my car, packed my apartment, signed the necessary paperwork, learned Japanese, kissed my Mom goodbye, or piled anything on my bedroom floor. In fact, this might be the only list I have made on the subject. I am totally and completely underprepared and totally and completely stressed-out about it. Wish me luck! I leave for Texas in one week and only have one more week following my return to get everything taken care of.

This said, I'm told I'll have copious free time in Japan, so I'll be updating my blog hourly and checking it obsessively for comments. Let this be a warning to you.

Gross

I was walking to the bank during lunch today and two guys in their late twenties/early thirties pulled up alongside me. "Hey!" one yelled. "How does a guy like me get a girl like you?!"

Gross.

Tip number one, guys: Leave the female pedestrians alone.

A successful trip (AKA no deaths)!

On Friday night, Ritchie and I left straight from work to meet up with Eryn, Breen, and Ryan south of Chehalis. We stopped along the way for dinner, gas, and firewood (twice) and were too late to meet them and caravan to the campsite, so we decided to risk it on our own. Five hours after departing from Redmond, we made it to the national forest east of White Pass. We were greeted by two dogs, three drunk climbers, and an elk spine (thanks to Noah). The tent was ready so we drank a few beers and settled in for a night of no rest (the tent was pitched on a hill) in preparation for a long day of climbing.

Ailey belays Ritchie

Ailey climbs the 5.8 on the crags after Eryn's lead

Eryn led this 5.10 and completely dominated it.

Ritchie was feeling feisty and decided to climb the same route twice.

Overall, it was a great trip. I'm still sore in my shoulders and back, which I THINK is the hallmark of a good time. I'm lucky to have such an awesome sister and brother-in-law - it works out well for me that they are into adventure (and have all the equipment for it). It's also lucky for me that Ritchie is willing to join me for a weekend of dirt, sweat, precipices, and no showers or toilets. Good times to be had by all!

Rock-climbing this weekend!

I'm going rock-climbing this weekend! This is all very exciting. Ritchie and I are going to REI tonight to pick-up our shoes and other necessary implements. We're meeting Eryn, Noah, and Brian tomorrow evening and then driving out to the campsite for a weekend of hanging off ropes and clinging desperately to rock faces. I have to say that, though I really like rock-climbing, I'm not particularly good at it. In fact, it kind of scares me. I don't know what happens when I'm suspended twenty feet off the ground with a rope, a knot, and a belay device, but my hands start sweating in a way that no chalk bag will fix and my heart starts beating like a Jamaican on a steel drum. I just KNOW that the person will drop me and I will die. This is a given. I'm looking forward to sharing this experience with Ritchie who is a nice guy and probably doesn't want me to die. If I survive the weekend, maybe we'll even be able to laugh about me crying on the rock and refusing to unclench my fingers. But in the meantime, I'm saying my prayers.

It doesn't look as high as it feels.

My legs are shaking in this picture.

I look happy here, but I'm actually near tears.

P.S. My friend just randomly told me about an acquaintance who died in a freak climbing accident. Awesome.

An awesome weekend away:

It rained a little . . .

But we were protected from floods (and well hydrated).

Actually, it kind of rained a lot.

But there was dancing!

And badminton (SUCH a shortage of shuttlecocks)!

It was really quite tiring.



But a great weekend overall! We danced, played in the sun (when it was around), and saw a great concert at the Gorge. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for being generous enough to hand your cabin over to ten kids!