Sometime during senior year my roommate had a week of 'mantra' searching. She decided at some point that she needed a cheer in her head to keep her going and remind her of what was important in life. In the midst of her full out search she would send me snippets of things she'd found, one of which i sort of took on as my own. "May i be filled with loving kindness. May i be at peace." So it sounds kind of lame, but its done me well this last year or so.
But now i'm in search of a new mantra. Something to embody my life in Japan and after college and to brace me for the ever shifting road ahead. Something along the lines of 'Change is a good thing," or "to everything, turn turn turn, there is a season..." Well you get the idea. Thus i have been avoiding writing this past week as i attempt to write a new, optimistic, life-embodying mantra for myself. Unfortunately i have failed, and tonight i realized that i am officially mantra-less.
But here is what i do have: Life is all about change. I am six months out of college already. Six months!!! And i am living in Japan. Everyday is a challenge and most days i can meet the challenge and see everyday as fun and adventerous too. And next year, i wont be here anymore, i will face another change, and where it will take me (or more importantly, how i will pay for it!) i dont know. But i know that i am lucky because throughout college and now in the months after college I have buttresses all around me (okay, cut me some slack, i am studying for the GRE). At home i have a family who never cease to help me, care about me, love me, surprise me, support me, and send me packages from home :) I have friends throughout the world now who listen to my stories, who laugh with me and cry with me, and who never judge me (even when i admit that my top two favorite Christmas albums are Amy Grant's Home for Christmas and Hanson's Snowed In). And in Japan i may not have dozens of hands to hold, and may find the lack of hugs shocking, but i have a few wonderful souls who touch my life and help me to get through every day and to do the little everyday things.
So really, with or without a mantra about the changes in life (like the metamorphosis of a caterpiller...) i just want to say thanks and i love you.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Rediscovering Kyoto - or how i remembered the amazingness of having a Lonely Planet guidebook by your side.
I was lucky enough to spend a killer long weekend in Otsu and Kyoto. I say long weekend because even though i wasn't blessed with one of the bi-weekly holidays (this coming week we have Thursday off for Labor/Thanksgiving Day) i did spend Thursday and Friday in meetings in Otsu that felt more like an extended holiday than anything else.
But Friday after the meetings broke up i high-tailed it out of Otsu to hit Kyoto and meet up with Pants and co. Now to beging the meeting i was to meet her cousin Peter for a drink based on the following description, "Peter has longish hair and glasses and will look a little scruffy." I was unaware of his age, skin color, hair color, height, weight, etc and hoped desperately that her description of me would include more than "Emily will be the girl with brown hair drinking a gin and tonic." Luckily after some trial and error, more involved with me being late and Peter getting lost than our innaccurate physical descriptions, i finally met the prodigal cousin and enjoyed a leisurely Happy Hour before meeting Pants, Philip and David for Indian and wine by the river.
Pants, Phil, David, and Peter
We continued our in depth discovery of Kyoto by climbing up the twelve floors to the top of Kyoto station (turned out they shut down the escalators at night) to enjoy the view and some seasonal apple chu-hi. Then we meandered the streets of Southwest Kyoto with a map not known for its immense detail in order to find our stellar hostel. When we finally arrived after midnight there was already a party in full swing, complete with more free chu-hi and instant japanese friends. Like the junior high school teacher i am i suggested playing the name game, which may have gone over better if there weren't dozens of guests already asleep in the hostel :)
Saturday morning we awoke to toast, instand coffe, and MI:2 in Japanese. Yes. We began marching around the streets in our PJs to find the neighborhood sento, or bath (because of course the hostel didn't have its own shower facilities) only to discover its not open in the morning. We decided ignore our own offensive odors and head out for site seeing, after stocking up on coffee and pastries.
not a good pic but my only group shot
Through the cool November mists we arrived at Fushimi-Inari Temple, a site famous for the pathway of torii that winds 4 km up a hillside. It was absolutely gorgeous - a peaceful forrested mountain embracing the calm and spirituality of the temple. Amidst the cool day and autumn leaves i could even drown out the ever-present babble coming from the direction of David and Phil. Most definately a location on my "must see" list for visitors and somewhere i hope to return.
Plus, many Japanese families were there to have their children blessed in celebration of Shichi-go-san, a coming of age holiday for seven, five and three year olds (literally translated shichi-go-san means 7-5-3). The kids were so adorable, most decked out in traditional robes and a few boys in full suits (though with shorts instead of pants). My new phrase: they're so cute it hurts.
At this point even though we were exhausted we just hadn't had enough of high quality Kyoto fun. We headed north, back into the heart of the city to check out the changing colors in the park surrounding the Imperial Palace. Just as the cool gave way to actual rain we found one of the covered shopping arcades and caffeinated ourselves just enough to survive some shopping. After that it was time for my departure and another night of fun for my visiting friends.
Me and Pants, reliving our nap in the park
In the end, I'm thrilled to remember what Kyoto offers that i so frequently forget - more than foreign food and good bars, its full of places to go, and nooks and crannies to discover further, and continues to be a destination for new and old friends to come together and have fun.
But Friday after the meetings broke up i high-tailed it out of Otsu to hit Kyoto and meet up with Pants and co. Now to beging the meeting i was to meet her cousin Peter for a drink based on the following description, "Peter has longish hair and glasses and will look a little scruffy." I was unaware of his age, skin color, hair color, height, weight, etc and hoped desperately that her description of me would include more than "Emily will be the girl with brown hair drinking a gin and tonic." Luckily after some trial and error, more involved with me being late and Peter getting lost than our innaccurate physical descriptions, i finally met the prodigal cousin and enjoyed a leisurely Happy Hour before meeting Pants, Philip and David for Indian and wine by the river.
Pants, Phil, David, and Peter
We continued our in depth discovery of Kyoto by climbing up the twelve floors to the top of Kyoto station (turned out they shut down the escalators at night) to enjoy the view and some seasonal apple chu-hi. Then we meandered the streets of Southwest Kyoto with a map not known for its immense detail in order to find our stellar hostel. When we finally arrived after midnight there was already a party in full swing, complete with more free chu-hi and instant japanese friends. Like the junior high school teacher i am i suggested playing the name game, which may have gone over better if there weren't dozens of guests already asleep in the hostel :)
Saturday morning we awoke to toast, instand coffe, and MI:2 in Japanese. Yes. We began marching around the streets in our PJs to find the neighborhood sento, or bath (because of course the hostel didn't have its own shower facilities) only to discover its not open in the morning. We decided ignore our own offensive odors and head out for site seeing, after stocking up on coffee and pastries.
not a good pic but my only group shot
Through the cool November mists we arrived at Fushimi-Inari Temple, a site famous for the pathway of torii that winds 4 km up a hillside. It was absolutely gorgeous - a peaceful forrested mountain embracing the calm and spirituality of the temple. Amidst the cool day and autumn leaves i could even drown out the ever-present babble coming from the direction of David and Phil. Most definately a location on my "must see" list for visitors and somewhere i hope to return.
Plus, many Japanese families were there to have their children blessed in celebration of Shichi-go-san, a coming of age holiday for seven, five and three year olds (literally translated shichi-go-san means 7-5-3). The kids were so adorable, most decked out in traditional robes and a few boys in full suits (though with shorts instead of pants). My new phrase: they're so cute it hurts.
At this point even though we were exhausted we just hadn't had enough of high quality Kyoto fun. We headed north, back into the heart of the city to check out the changing colors in the park surrounding the Imperial Palace. Just as the cool gave way to actual rain we found one of the covered shopping arcades and caffeinated ourselves just enough to survive some shopping. After that it was time for my departure and another night of fun for my visiting friends.
Me and Pants, reliving our nap in the park
In the end, I'm thrilled to remember what Kyoto offers that i so frequently forget - more than foreign food and good bars, its full of places to go, and nooks and crannies to discover further, and continues to be a destination for new and old friends to come together and have fun.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Midterm Political Fallout - or how you can't even escape US political stupidity halfway around the world.
Just back from a phenomenal evening at my J-Gparents. I was picked up by Yoshiko and arrived to the scent of sweet onions and chicken. I hate to admit it, but i've discovered that i inevitably love gpa's cooking more than gma's. Maybe its her responsibility toward health and lowering their cholestorol or his kindred love of onions, but once i realized he was behind the stove I hurriedly rushed to the kitchen. He let me 'help' by beating eggs (with chopsticks, something i still find funny), a completely foreign concept in the their house where we can't even clear the table without Yoshiko (gma) chiming in with "now i'm in my sixties, i dont need any help. When i'm in my seventies, then you'll help." She seems to define her life in decades.
After gpa left for his evening social dancing class we switched from green to herbal tea, put away the nuts and broke out the chocolate and really indulged, hitting the bilingual button on the remote and listening to English language news. A long discussiong ensued, winding between the tragedy of a tornado in Hokaido, Yoshiko's memories of US soldiers stationed in Nagasaki-ken, education in Japan, and more. And of course the news was dominated by reports of the midterm elections (and still a few notes about Kerry's month old comment and Bush's recent 'comma' analogy) opening up a new and very infrequently discussed issue - Politics.
Largely politics in Japan don't exist the way we think of them in the States. Its not the politics of issues and economics and international relations and war and trade and domestic policy and welfare and religion and education. Its the politics of relationships. When i asked Yoshiko the main difference between the leading party (LDP) and the top opposition party (the DP. Note, the only difference is that the ruling party is the Liberal Democratic Pary while the opposition is just the Democratic Pary) she said it was all in relationships. that actually the reason one party had ruled in Japan for so long (basically since the second world war) is because no one can really tell the difference between the two parties or other parties that crop up. In both parties there are liberals and conservatives in fairly equal balance, and the only real issue is power - the power of relationships and the power utilized by the current leader. Because Prime Minister Abe is a 'hardliner' and very conservative the DFL is getting a conservative reputation, but as soon as Abe is out of the hot seat, it will change.
In the midst of discovering some realities of Japanese politics i was reminded of the realities of American politics. Even here, halfway around the world, US politics dominate the evening news (and both in English and Japanese). Even the midterm elections which seem less influential on the international sphere or at least less inflammatory and publicized, are still on the news two days later. And Yoshiko, my 65 year old japanese psuedo grandmother knows who won the gubernatorial election in Florida, Rumsfeld resigned as Secretary of Defense, and that the House was re-taken by the Democrats. I'm not even sure my actual American grandmother knows all that. And there is something shockingly unfair in realizing how much attention the rest of the world pays to what happens in the US. Do we deserve either the attention or the scrutiny (okay, i'm not one to fault the US, so yeah we probably do deserve it)? Is it fair that with one election the rest of the world is already concerned, perhaps more than many americans, with the election two years down the road? Yoshiko doesn't fault me for my liberal ways, even though she's admitted that things are better for Japan with a Republican White House.
But in the end, fair or not, the conversation makes me feel lucky. Lucky to have the experience of politics (at least in theory) as ideas and ideals. Lucky to have the freedom to vote and attempt to elect the most intelligent and qualified leaders. Lucky to have friends even in this far away country who understand, are interested in, and discuss such issues with me. Lucky that I will return to the land ruled by a man who called a war he started "a comma in history" to do my damndest to make sure our next leader is less asinine than he.
After gpa left for his evening social dancing class we switched from green to herbal tea, put away the nuts and broke out the chocolate and really indulged, hitting the bilingual button on the remote and listening to English language news. A long discussiong ensued, winding between the tragedy of a tornado in Hokaido, Yoshiko's memories of US soldiers stationed in Nagasaki-ken, education in Japan, and more. And of course the news was dominated by reports of the midterm elections (and still a few notes about Kerry's month old comment and Bush's recent 'comma' analogy) opening up a new and very infrequently discussed issue - Politics.
Largely politics in Japan don't exist the way we think of them in the States. Its not the politics of issues and economics and international relations and war and trade and domestic policy and welfare and religion and education. Its the politics of relationships. When i asked Yoshiko the main difference between the leading party (LDP) and the top opposition party (the DP. Note, the only difference is that the ruling party is the Liberal Democratic Pary while the opposition is just the Democratic Pary) she said it was all in relationships. that actually the reason one party had ruled in Japan for so long (basically since the second world war) is because no one can really tell the difference between the two parties or other parties that crop up. In both parties there are liberals and conservatives in fairly equal balance, and the only real issue is power - the power of relationships and the power utilized by the current leader. Because Prime Minister Abe is a 'hardliner' and very conservative the DFL is getting a conservative reputation, but as soon as Abe is out of the hot seat, it will change.
In the midst of discovering some realities of Japanese politics i was reminded of the realities of American politics. Even here, halfway around the world, US politics dominate the evening news (and both in English and Japanese). Even the midterm elections which seem less influential on the international sphere or at least less inflammatory and publicized, are still on the news two days later. And Yoshiko, my 65 year old japanese psuedo grandmother knows who won the gubernatorial election in Florida, Rumsfeld resigned as Secretary of Defense, and that the House was re-taken by the Democrats. I'm not even sure my actual American grandmother knows all that. And there is something shockingly unfair in realizing how much attention the rest of the world pays to what happens in the US. Do we deserve either the attention or the scrutiny (okay, i'm not one to fault the US, so yeah we probably do deserve it)? Is it fair that with one election the rest of the world is already concerned, perhaps more than many americans, with the election two years down the road? Yoshiko doesn't fault me for my liberal ways, even though she's admitted that things are better for Japan with a Republican White House.
But in the end, fair or not, the conversation makes me feel lucky. Lucky to have the experience of politics (at least in theory) as ideas and ideals. Lucky to have the freedom to vote and attempt to elect the most intelligent and qualified leaders. Lucky to have friends even in this far away country who understand, are interested in, and discuss such issues with me. Lucky that I will return to the land ruled by a man who called a war he started "a comma in history" to do my damndest to make sure our next leader is less asinine than he.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Two Oles burning up Mie-ken or Em and Pants in Japan part san
So this weekend i celebrated "Culture Day" by visiting Pants in Mie-ken. This three-day weekend proved itself to well timed and quite enjoyable. Friday we hit up a tabehodai/nomihodai (all you can eat/all you can drink) restaurant with the other JETs around Tsu before enjoying a few hours of karaoke above a hyaku-en store.
all the food!
Other Tsu JETS - Kalli, Molly and Chito
classic train photo... kalli really has the japanese peace sign thing down.
Marina, Tiffany, and Pants in our tiny karaoke room.
Shawn and Lolly. No clue whats with the scarf.
and finally my only saturday shot. Its amazing that we even got up the energy to leave Pants' house, but after lunch with her J-mummy we made it to Yokkaichi for some shopping and Thai food. And while we wandered around we needed a place to store the heavier belongings that we brought to enjoy at David's later. Thank God for train station lockers.
Catching up
Here are some photos from Halloween games in school
and from a gathering on actual Halloween - enjoying candy and company at Candice's adorable apartment:
Louisa - a brit who lives in Hikone
Candice and Nick... he was an epileptic pipe bomber.
and of course, lots and lots of candy.
and from a gathering on actual Halloween - enjoying candy and company at Candice's adorable apartment:
Louisa - a brit who lives in Hikone
Candice and Nick... he was an epileptic pipe bomber.
and of course, lots and lots of candy.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
To Everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn... or how i finally noticed time flying
I can't believe its really November. I'm beginning to experience the first expressions of a chilly fall here in Shiga. I am drinking tea and eating Chicken Wildrice soup. I'm wearing leg warmers. I desperately wished i'd thought of wearing a jacket on my bike ride to work today. I bought a new 100 Yen store scarf.
In other news, I actually worked for 4 straight hours (taught 4 classes) today, and am looking forward to 5 tomorrow! The kids finally figured out that witches and ghosts aren't all you can be for Halloween - you can dress up as Sensei's too, and they picked some good ones. I'm preparing Thanksgiving decorations, which makes me sad for the Holidays to come but thrilled at the possibility of eating thanksgiving dinner with friends here, meeting Molly in India for Christmas and New Years, snow and the Sapporro Snow Festival in February and much more.
Tonight i'm going to Shannon's to watch the tape of Grey's Anatomy her parents have been dutifully recording for her. I have no idea if we'll maintain self control and watch only the first episode, or go for the whole tape. Its a four day week so tomorrow i can usher in the weekend. Friday i'm going to Pants' for a fun-filled weekend of karaoke, eating, drinking wine, shopping, meeting her Mie friends, and whatever else fabulous we come up with. Things are looking good.
In other news, I actually worked for 4 straight hours (taught 4 classes) today, and am looking forward to 5 tomorrow! The kids finally figured out that witches and ghosts aren't all you can be for Halloween - you can dress up as Sensei's too, and they picked some good ones. I'm preparing Thanksgiving decorations, which makes me sad for the Holidays to come but thrilled at the possibility of eating thanksgiving dinner with friends here, meeting Molly in India for Christmas and New Years, snow and the Sapporro Snow Festival in February and much more.
Tonight i'm going to Shannon's to watch the tape of Grey's Anatomy her parents have been dutifully recording for her. I have no idea if we'll maintain self control and watch only the first episode, or go for the whole tape. Its a four day week so tomorrow i can usher in the weekend. Friday i'm going to Pants' for a fun-filled weekend of karaoke, eating, drinking wine, shopping, meeting her Mie friends, and whatever else fabulous we come up with. Things are looking good.
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