Won’t you Enjoy Hanami Party with me?

Music: Beat Box- Art of Noise

Early March we were spotted.  We were in our natural surroundings, a bar, behaving normally, drinking.  March 17th we were officially adopted.  New parents: Yukie and Ken-ichi, new ride: a big white SUV, new events: magical mystery tours.

Leah met Yukie one night at a club in Toyama.  They made plans to be best friends and hang out all the time, as most people do when they are drinking and they meet each other at a bar for the first time.  Clearly you should be the best of friends.  I have nicknamed these encounters: best friend One-night stands.  Similar to the well known “one-night stand”, but less awkward and less chance of catching an unwanted virus. 

They didn’t speak for a week or two afterwards (similar to the classic “one-night stand”), but after Leah and I ran into them at a bar one weekend we’ve suddenly (without any notice) been tagged and selected as their new foreign friends. 

It’s a pretty sweet deal actually; we always do amazing things with them, pretty much rendering us Japanese.  They have us over for dinner parties, where they cook us amazing meals and give us amazing things to drink.  They also have this crazy huge white SUV.  This vehicle is good for transporting us to our secret exciting locations.  Example, on one of our dates, we weren’t told where we were going untill we were pretty much there.  It was a fantastic day though.  They took us to this desolate, but beautiful art museum tucked away in the rolling green mountains on the west side of Toyama.   On this road trip we stopped at a “famous” onegiri shop (rice with fish in the middle wrapped with seaweed, pretty much the most delicious snack in the world) as well as this funny little shop on the side of the road where we stopped for some sake. 

New favourite discovery: sake in a can that once you pop the top, it heats up, giving you delicious hot sake for a rainy chilly afternoon car ride.  Ping Pong.  I love you Japan. 

Anyways, our new family is great.  I see a bright future for us, full of road trips in El’ Grando (the vans name), yummy dinners and lots of wine.  Next on the list is a tempura party.  It’s so funny that Yukie and Ken-ichi are just like “you guys are foreigners, and you’re our new friends.   We are taking you here and here and here and we are going to hang out all the time.”  Done.   They also have a sweet friend, who in turn is our new friend, Megumi and a sweet as pie daughter, Aoe, who pops out now and then. 

This weekend marks the true beginning of Spring with the peak of the cherry blossom season.  I can’t explain to you, nor can I capture it in a picture, how wonderful this season is.  It is absolutely mind blowing (this shouldn’t be a surprise, Japan is all around mind blowing).  I spent Sunday on the river with good friends, “hanamiing” it up (hanami = cherry blossom party).  The day was incredible; everyone in Toyama is out and about, walking up and down the river, children were running and chasing one another, babies were sleeping in strollers, shaded  from the sun by the Sakura, couples were holding hands and having picnics, and moms were capturing these moments by photographing their beautiful, well dressed children with the priceless background.

The day was perfect, I almost died of happiness.  You could actually swim in the happiness, it was so amazing; joy was just bouncing around pingponging between people, spreading the joy as far as the eye could see.  Amazing what a blossoming flower can do.  The wonderful day was spent having picnics under the trees talking with anyone and everyone, making new friends with adorable people.  Next to us was a group bar-b-qing wonderful food which they gladly shared with us.  The sun shone all day and we enjoyed beverages late into the night.  The evening ended with some karaoke. 

 

Which do you Like Better, Reading or Writting?

A Groovy Kind of Love- Phil Collins

“…I’m gonna make you a mixed tape. You like Phil Collins?”-Tracey Jordan (Tracey Morgan)

“Do I have two ears and a heart?”-Jack (Alec Baldwin)

I’ve been watching 30 Rock a lot. LOL. My Japanese teacher knew I had arrived to class because she heard me laughing. Yes, I am the loudest laugher in Japan.

In Japan I feel invincible. Unusually high levels of security while walking the streets or drunk biking or even placing purse in random spots while i busy myself with something that probably isn’t worth the risk of having my purse stolen…not that it will happen anyway.

Anxiety levels are up. I blame it on the language barrier. First time buying tampons in Japan… oh god, what absorbancy level are these? Is there surprise meat in that pastry?!

Ego is at its fullest. Everyone wants to be my friend and to look at me.

Anxiety over the deflation of my ego once I return to Canada and I’m back to being the average girl again.

When you don’t have to pay for drinks you get very drunk (at bars). When there is beer and liquor at the convinience store across the street from where you work you get very drunk. When you live down the street from a place that has a liter of wine for 300 yen ($3.00) you get really drunk.

When you are 2% of the population you can say anything you want out loud in public.

When you are 2% of the population you get very bad haircuts. When you find a good hairdresser you have to pay a lot of money for a haircut because he is the only person in your prefecture that speaks English and has experience with something other than thick black hair.

Only Lindzy Humphreys would make friends with the staff at Starbucks. Seriously though, who is cooler than a guy that works at Starbucks, goes to med school, has a car, has style and, when he goes on a trip, he finds it important to mention the Starbucks’ he went to while in another city? Or a girl that has a degree in English and lived in Canada and returned home from Tokyo to work at Starbucks. Nobody (if you are doubting me, don’t forget, they are Japanese.. aha! now i have swayed you!).

Number one thing I am looking forward to having again? Pizza.

Number one thing I am gonna miss? Convinis and all they have to offer the everyday customer.

Number one thing I am not going to miss? Standing in Tampon aisles for 30 minute.

Allergies are at a high. My students know me for my constantly runny nose. I can proudly say I have blown my nose every single day since I moved to Japan. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I can also proudly say that I can sing my ABCs forwards AND backwards.

I can also tell you what I did in one day (ichi-nichi!) in Japanese. It starts with me waking up (okimasu) at nine am (kuji) every morning (mai asa). The rest is just too exciting to blog about.

To Everything There is a Season

Reach for the Sun- The Polyphonic Spree

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but I’m pretty happy here in Japan. Life’s great, the jobs great, the coworkers are great, the city, everything is great. Recently I had my six month review with Amity; this is when you are told that you suck or that you rock. If you rock they will most likely offer to renew your contract. Obviously, I got the new contract in the mail a few days after my meeting with Manager. Part of me wishes I never got it. Not only am I making decisions for something that is six months from now but it was covered with all of these tempting dollar (slash yen) signs. I waited till the very last moment, but eventually I checked the box for “I will not be extending my contract”. I can’t help but remember when I was checking boxes for “yes”, “no” or “maybe” I like you; those were simpler times and didn’t include a $500.00 increase in pay and $1000.00 bonus. Gulp.

Needless to say it was a really tough decision, I really really love my students and working at Amity. The job is awesome and has been slightly life changing for me. The thought of being away from home for another year just seems to long. I considered signing on for an extra six months, but that would mean six months of winter… a cold cold wet winter, just to leave in the spring when everything looks so much more appealing and probably an even harder time to leave. It is really strange to quit doing something that I have a great time doing. While the job is amazing there are some downfalls to working full time. I had this little thought a few weeks ago and it kind of freaked me out. If I am working for 8 hours a day, and sleeping 8 hours a day, that only leaves 8 hours of me time. Eight hours a day to eat, socialize, groom, read, study Japanese, make messes, clean up after my messes, read and run. This is not enough time. My days go by so fast, it’s unbelievable. The weeks go by even faster. Next thing I knew I was seven months into my contract. I feel like I’m working my life away at the young ripe age of 23. I realize that having a job is part of life, but I figure it’s part of adult life, and I don’t feel like being an adult yet. There is so much more to do before settling down.

Luckily I will have an easy transition. I am planning on travelling throughout Asia with my friend Natalie when my contract ends in September. We are going to hit up S. Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and hopefully India… but that one is a little uncertain. Then I am thinking about returning to Japan (this is going to be a painful seperation) just to say one last Matta Ne! (See you!). Maybe. Nothing is written in stone.

All of these decisions and time flying has made me feel crazy. Everything just happens too fast. I havn’t ever really thought about life after Japan except maybe returning to school, but that is just the start. Aaaaa, so many decisions to make, so much to think about.

To make me feel even crazier, work has been super busy. The school year here ends at the end of March. Kids are now on their spring break for a couple of weeks. This means a new year in April, which means I have to write up 90 certificates of completion. We have comments that we can just pick from a list, but I felt so guilty doing that, all (almost all) of these kids worked so hard! This kept me at work for almost 12 hours a day for the last week. All for something that they probably won’t be able to understand…. sigh.

This also means that my work schedule is changing. I am really upset that my favourite class, Kaho, Miyu and Soma, is moving to Leahs schedule. Also I sadly have to say goodbye to some of my Junior high kids; they are going to the school for geniuses and won’t have time for Amity. Waaaaah, saying goodbye.

One last note regarding the season change. When it changes here, it is changed.. there is no going back. At home, March, April and May all have the chances of being cold, snowy, wet, and warm. Nobody here could tell me when the first day of spring is. One day, it was just here. It’s spring when it’s spring. I walked into work two weeks ago on a warm sunny Tuesday and it was unanimous “It’s now spring”. They were right.

How To Ensure a Husband and Avoid Numerous Cats

Music: Just a Girl-No Doubt 

Happy Girls Day everyone. 

Today’s the day; get your princess dolls out, put them on display, and make sure you offer them some food for luck.  Girls day!?  Wow!!  Why don’t we have this in Canada?  I love girls!  I mean, I am one and everything, but we definitely deserve a day.  Don’t we?

As I look more into this Girls day (Hina Matsuri), I find that it’s not the Girl Power, Spice girl listening, I’ll tell you what I want (what I really really want) kind of day.  This festival that goes as far back as the Heian period (794-1185) is celebrated by putting on display Hina-Ningyoo (dolls) which represent the Emperor, the Empress and their people on a staircase like platform.  The dolls are actually not beautiful girly ornaments, but are said to contain evil spirits (probably the same evil spirits that gave you a daughter… blech.. daughters and dowries).  While these dolls are displayed, you offer them certain goodies, sweet rice, cooked rice, shell fish, amazake, diamond shaped sweets and other delicious foods.  These are the foods that dolls that hold the health and happiness to your daughters futures would like to eat.  The food and gifts sit at the foot of the platforms untill March 3rd, when you can eat them.  Apparently by this time, the dolls have had their fill, they are pleased with your offerings, and your daughters will most likely get married and be some other families nuisance.  As long as you make sure you take out this extravagant display every year, forever .  I mean really?  Who decorates an overly flamboyant display year after year, with gifts at the base, just to ensure the pleasing of certain “Gods” .  Oh the Japanese, so naive….

Anyways, isn’t it passé to think that the only hope for a bright future for ones daughters is that they have a husband to take care of them?  Arn’t we over that?  They even serve clams because a clam shell is the perfect couple (which is what every woman needs to find).  Maybe it’s not so bad to hope for a good mate for your daughter; but it becomes a little much for me when the old tradition threatens spinsterhood upon ones daughters if you don’t display and feed these dolls.  I like to think that a woman is viewed as succesful, not because of who she marries, but because of her accomplishments, how happy she is, and how well she treats others.  Furthermore, if she was to remain a single woman, that society and especially her family, would look at the person she is and wouldn’t judge her any differently than a married women.

Today I went to a co-workers house to take part in anti-maiden day.  I’ll say, it was nice to prepare delicious foods (the dolls had their own, we had to make extra for ourselves) and have a mom yelling at us kids from the kitchen to wave the fans, stir the rice, and sprinkle fish eggs and seeweed just so, with the smells torturing your stomach and eating so much that you have to put on the sweatpants and lie down, all on a beautiful spring like day.  Kind of like Easter, or Thanksgiving… but where fish is served, and people jabber on in Japanese.

After spending the day playing Japanese card games and making origami, Eri’s family sent us home with a nice baggy of treats to eat the next day for girls day.  I was so curious about this one bag of coloured rice that I just had to try it.

“Lindzy!  You can’t eat that now.” Natailie scolds me after informing them that it tastes a little like Rice Crispies, “Now you’ll never get married, and you won’t have lots of children.”

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