it’s funny, one minute you step off a plane in this new place with nothing but a suitcase, and the next, you look around and find yourself surrounded by people you love enough to call them your family.

music: kate nash- mouthwash

So fujirock was by far my most memorable experience in japan.  It was completely surreal and euphoric. My overnight busride there was more pleasant than expected. I had a blanket, pillow, hello kitty eye mask and sigur ros on my ipod, i was set. I slept most of the way, a light constant waking up sleep, but sleep nontheless, so i was decently bright eyed and excited when i arrived in shinagawa, tokyo at 6am. I caught the proper connections of trains to yuzawa flawlessly and i was pretty impressed with myself. The shinkansen from ueno to yuzawa was a double decker, i had never seen that before, and it was completely packed to the point where even the stairwells to each level was packed. i stood in front of the bathroom walkway for the hour and a half ride, which made for an uncomfortable trip to say the least. But my spirits were high and i was running on pure excitement. I brushed my teeth and changed into fresh clothes in the shinkansen bathroom, and i was good to go.

I arrived at Yuzawa about a half hour before lindzy and leah arrived. Ashleigh had come the night before for the preparty events.  Lindzy and Leah met up with me at the convini where we had a little delay, waiting for our paycheque’s to go through to take out money for the weekend as there were no ATMS on site of the festival and then trudged to the massive lineup for the free shuttle bus provided for festival atendees from yuzawa station to naeba ski resort. The buses were plenty but not plenty enough, which had me cursing japan’s usual extreme efficiency which seemed to be lacking here (although there’s really not much more they could do to make it move any faster, i know). Anyways, we finally reached the front of the line and boarded the bus and made the 45 minute trek to the festival site. Along the way were banners over the road alerting us to how much longer we had until we were at fujirock, which just added to the excitement.  We arrived at the park and got our 3-day festival and camping wristbands and then we were off to the campsite to find a spot for our tents.

Lukily, leah and lindzy were able to score me a one person tent to go along with their 2-person, so we were golden. But alas, not so much in location. All the level-grounded spots on the “campsite”… basically, a gold course where we were to set up our tents on any patch of grass available, were taken, and so we were forced to set up camp on a small hill where we were angled like this: /. we were to sleep in the position of backslashes, yes. BUT we were there and we were happy. Ashleigh found us and we set out to begin our weekend of awesome.

First up was the Presidents of the United States of America, I mean, who even know they still existed, but they did, and rocking out to them singing Peaches, with lyrics changed from peaches to momo’s which is peaches in japanese, was absolutely the most perfect way to kick off the weekend. After the presidents we journeyed over to another stage area to see Jamie Lidell who was so incredible and we danced at 2pm like we’ve never danced at 2pm before.  After that we headed to see Spoon, we caught out favorite songs and then went to check out Kate Nash. Now i personally had never heard here before but ashleigh insisted that we’d love her, so we went along and i was blown away. She’s this great little english girl who plays the piano and has a fantastic voice and looks like someone we probably would have hung out with at guelph, and she totally stole our hearts. The clouds opened and a bit of rain spat through during her set, but we were hot and we were dancing, and the music was fantastic, and it was just so perfect.

After Kate Nash, we were ready to hit the big ones and we prepared ourselves to go watch bloc party. Bloc party was great, as expected and we sang and danced our hearts out in the light rain, which stopped during their set. After bloc party, i split from the three girls to go see the vines who were pretty terrible i must say, and then i checked out kasabian who really impressed me. The crowd was REALLY into them which made it more fun. After kasabian was my bloody valentine, which was as epic and i expected it to be. they were so… LOUD. apparently they are one of the loudest rock bands in history and are banned from playing certain places because of how loud they are. They hadnt played a show in 14 years, and this massive wall of sound, enclosed in the mountains with millions of people watching, in this huge field in japan… it was breathtaking. somehow, between songs, the girls were able to find me and we watched more of the set together.

We then grabbed some dinner and got ready for our allnight dance-a-thon, first checking out DJ Mehdi. We fought our way to the front of the venue to absolutely dance like it was going out of style. great DJ and amazing times, and after was another epic performance, grandmaster flash, who DJ’d well over two hours into the morning. I mean, really, dancing to grandmaster flash spinning nirvana’s smells like teen spirit at 3:30am. How can anything top that?

We managed to drag ourselves to our tents in the wee hours of the morning and caught a couple hours of sleep until our tents transformed into stifling hot ovens of death, when we pulled our blankets out, found shade beneath trees and caught another few hours of sleep outside. We got up and got ourselves some breakfast and flipped the bird to showering because we were camping at a festival, and dammit we were roughing it. There weren’t a ton of bands we really needed to catch that day so we were able to focus on just walking around and enjoying the festival. Really, japan goes all out with these things. The walkway to my one favorite stage area, the field of heaven, is this boardwalk through the woods, at one point you come to a bunch of disco balls hanging from trees, and then finally you reach an entire road made of discoballs leading through the woods, it’s so magical and incredible and i dont know who the hell came up with that idea, but it was brilliant. There were trees with giant blowup eyeballs perched inside them, and a walkway from one stage to another through a path through the forest had enormous white inflatable stars that floated up in the trees along the way. The field of heaven stage was covered in vines. There are little mini stages in the middle of the woods where you sit between trees and bushes to catch bands. It was just so surreal.

Anywho, we hung out by the river a bit and band wise we caught the courteeners, who we had never heard and caught by chance, but weren’t too bad, tricky who was pretty cool, underworld who may take the cake as my favourite act of the weekend. Underworld sure can put on a show. The crowd was SO into it, and they had these giant inflatable tube things that lit up and moved, and then during Born Slippy, their hit from train spotting they released hundreds of huge inflatable white balls into the audience. It was by far, the coolest thing i had ever seen. THe balls bounced around the audience for the remainder of the set, and it never got old. i mean, we’ve all seen beach balls tossed around at concerts, but there were HUNDREDS of these, and they were Huge and all white. it was magical.

After underworld we danced around to princess superstar and when the crystal palace venue was too packed to get in to see gogol bordello at 3am we called it a night. again, a few hours of sleep until suffocating in our sweltering heat buckets, we slept outside a bit again and then woke up and hosed ourselves off in good old fashion camping style showering. May i also make a note of the fact that pretty much all drinks at this festival were 500 yen, which is like 5 bucks. Wine, sangria, margharitas, mimosas, vodka redbulls, pints of beer, it was fantastic.  anyways. On this day, our last, we caught jakob dylan, which made me happy because he sounds so much like his dad, and it kind of went with the presidents of the united states of america throwback at the beginning of the festival, and it was chilled out and we sat in the grass and ashleigh made bracelets and it was sweet. It started to rain. hard. very hard. and cold. we ran to our tents to find mine absolutely soaked through and all my things lying  in a puddle, but i salvaged my rain poncho and we headed back out to make the most of the situation. We caught ben folds who was obviously great and catchy and talented, and then went to see the go team who were absolutely fantastic and full of energy and stage presence and even though the venue was flooded to our ankles, we had a damn good time. on our way to the breeders on a stop to get some whiskey to warm up our insides were advised by a sweet englishman that this particular bar served up a tasty mix of rum and hot chai tea that he recommended to beat the cold, and so we did. we talked to him and his group of friends for a while as we huddled around sipping our hot drinks and they bought us another few rounds and then we went to watch the breeders who were obviously great. We were by now in mud up to our knees and my black flip flops were no longer and looked more like i was wearing brown boots, but we trudged on to catch CSS who were fun. We then caught a late set by rodrigo y gabriela who were another show stealer for me. They are a guy and a girl duo, on only acoustic guitars who make the most incredible latin instrumental music and she plays the drums with her guitar and its just outstanding. They were seriously so amazing. it had stopped raining but we were muddy as all hell and cold. The other girls headed to an ensen and i had to turn around when i saw the sign for no tattoos, which is usual for ensens. I sat outside grumpy and cold, and when the other girls came out they convinced me that i could at least just go into the showers and wash off as long as i didnt go into the actual ensen, so i did so, and was very happy i did because i was able to scrape off the layers of mud that had encrusted my skin and warm up a little. my tent was still flooded so the four of us huddled together in lindzy and leah’s 2 person tent, but i was lacking a pillow and blanket because they were enjoying the giant puddle on my tent’s floor, so it really made for a comfortable and warm sleep :/

We awoke at 6am to more rain pounding on our tents and convinced ourselves to just get up and take down our tents in the rain and get it over with and head home. So we did and caught the shuttle back to the station. We were all muddy and wet again and tired but we were happy and still high from the amazing weekend we had. We went out separate ways home and i was so happy but so sad to arrive at my apartment. Although the last night was somewhat miserable, the entire weekend was one of the most amazing memories i’ve ever made. Dancing in the middle of the mountains with thousands and thousands of people to some amazing bands. it was something so uniquely japan, something i could only experience here. I’m so in love with this country.

i leave on the overnight bus tonight after work to head to fujirock! words cannot express my excitement! expect an extremely detailed recap of my weekend’s adventures upon my return. love you all!

music: amy winehouse- will you still love me tomorrow

one of the most fun days i have had in japan was spent at nagoya dome watching a baseball game between the nagoya dragons and the tokyo giants.

A very big group of us went together, pushing 30+ amity/aeon teachers and students. We had the cheap seats near the top, which cost about 1500 Yen, which is like 15 bucks, and allowed us to be as rowdy and ridiculous as possible. The beer and sake was everflowing, despite the game’s 2 pm start time and noisemaking is a crucial part of japanese baseball games, and so, we were the perfect crowd for such an event.

It’s interesting, when it is a team’s turn up to bat, the fans of the other team are generally quiet while the fans of the batting team perform choreographed song and dance. Noisemaking is a necessity. Two small bats attached by a piece of string, sporting the team of choice’s name and mascot, are banged together through the songs and chants. Each player has his own song and everyone knows the words (other than us gaijin’s who are just happy to make lots of noise and bang things together). Anyways, its completely hilarious and so well organized in japanese-fashion and its pretty much the most fun i’ve ever experienced at a baseball game. I love baseball games, ive always loved going to baseball games, but this took it to a whole other level. I couldnt stop smiling the whole game. The energy was contagious. Fans all around you turned around to high five you after a good play, snacks were passed around. That was one of my most favourite days ive spent here.

on a side note, the dragons lost, but that’s besides the point.

baseball, frizzy hair and sake? CHECK

the dome of awesomeness.

music: owen- one of these days

One of the things I’m most thankful for, in my relocation in a strange land, is the rekindling of my relationship with my first love, books. For four years i spent hour after hour pouring through book after book, reading upwards of 5 books a week for classes (the perils of an english literature student) but only those books I was told to read, nothing of my own preference. Reading became a chore, a job, a necessity, but not a necessity like breathing or water, but one that you know you have to do but don’t really want to, like exercising and eating vegetables. I was not longer reading for the love of reading, or even reading things i loved, but reading because i had to, because my professors told me to. After reading thousands and thousands of pages during the week, my summers were no longer spent reading, like i did when i was young- going to the library with stacks and stacks of books, my heart exploding with excitement to pour over each and every one of them as quickly as i could, anxious to fill my brain with wonderful words and stories and move on to the next. No, that stopped.

When i moved here, i started to crave the english word. And thus i re-started my love affair with books. Its a completely different experience, reading things you want to read, things you’ve always wanted to read but never had the time to. I can’t get enough of books. I spend my entire lunch hour pent up in my classroom with the door closed mindlessly munching on my lunch and completely engrossed in whatever book is my boyfriend for the week. I spend my free time between classes hiding my novels underneath textbooks like kids did with their comic books inside textbooks.

I just finished pride and prejudice. Me, a literature major, has never ever read jane austen. As a lover of classic literature i absolutely ate it up. I have made a vow to myself to read all of austen’s work. I’ve developed an obsession with coupland and hornby and i even read harry potter for the first time. I am presently reading kerouac’s on the road, which, again, shockingly i’ve never read. For someone who spent her entire academic career reading, i’m not well read at all. So one of the many reasons i’m thankful for my experience in japan, here’s another one. I’m very greatful for this opportunity to rekindle one of the most important relationships ive ever had in my life. That of myself and literature.

About a month ago i climbed a mountain. a real japanese mountain named Gozaisho. all 1212 m of it. It was the worst experience of my life. I somehow thought a hiking trip would be a good idea when i was invited along with a group of friends, unaware that hiking meant hiking up a gigantic mountain. It was extremely difficult. torturous. it took me over 4 hours. Susannah and i were separated from the rest of the group, and then I told Susannah to head on without me. I wanted to go at my own pace. I wanted to stop when i wanted to stop, to go as slow or fast as i wished, and its a lot of pressure when you’re climbing with someone. And i mean literally climbing. Ok we werent harnessed in or anything to that extent of rock climbing but you were climbing up huge rock steps, pulling yourself up, with tree branches and gripping onto rocks and walking through streams and huge steep dirt hills. it was intense. when you’re by yourself doing something like that, you reflect. you reflect on what a stupid idea hiking was and how much you hate that decision. Every clearing you see ahead makes your heart do a little jump, only to have it sink back down to the bottom of the mountain when you realize that clearing was just a little spot where the trees dont cover the sky and you still cant see the top of the mountain.

You start thinking about the worst possible things that could happen, like what if you got stung by a bee, and who knows if you’re allergic to bees because you’ve never been stung before, how long would it take for another hiker to come along and find you puffed up on the ground hyperventilating, or what if you twisted your ankle on one of the rocks that became slipperier and slipperier the higher you got, the mistier it got and then you had to hike the rest of the mountain in excruciating pain. or what if something even worse happened, like you broke your leg and a bone was protruding through the skin, would someone be able to call an ambulance to have you airlifted out of there, or what? Or what if i saw a snake??? i would have to run, but i could barely walk up the goddamn thing, let alone run….

these are all the things that cross your mind while climbing a gigantic mountain, alone in japan. so my advice to you is this: DONT DO IT. it is a mistake.

once i got to the top, finally, not only was i a) sick from overworking myself and b) i couldnt see anything in front of me because we were so high up we were IN A CLOUD so i could not bask in what i’d just accomplished by checking out the beautiful view over the edge because i couldnt even see my hand in front of my face through all the mist. So it wasnt even worth it.

i’m proud of myself, i mean, its an accomplishment, and i’m shocked i finished it, but god, it was terrible. But at least i can pat me on the back and call myself a champ.

Music: bedoin soundclash- 12:59 lullaby

I spent a weekend in osaka about a month ago with lindzy, ashleigh, kat, leah, leah’s boyfriend and ashleigh’s friend gordon. It was a really good time for sure, I didnt get to experience much of what osaka had to offer though. Lindz and ashleigh had already been there, so i guess they werent too keen on going to the aquarium or any of those things, which is cool. I mean, we got a solid day of shopping done when i arrived, which is definitely what i wanted to do, and what you do in osaka, so i’m not complaining whatsoever. i also bought the hottest lime green and black purse that i have ever laid my eyes on, so the weekend was a complete success indeed, i’m just saying i’d like to go back. hit up something stupid like the takoyaki museum (takoyaki are delicious deep fried balls with pieces of octopus on them covered in delicious bbq sort of sauce and mayonaise and it’s absolutely incredible tasting, and what osaka is known for) i did eat takoyaki while there, but it was at a chain izakaya that we also have in okazaki, so i dont know how authentically osaka takoyaki it was. nor did i eat okanomiyaki which are like japan style pancakes made with cabbage and that sauce and deliciousness. anyways. i want to go back for sure, lukily beth does too so i will have a partner in crime. I only spent one night in osaka and we went to karaoke (nomiho dai, all you can drink) which is always a win win situation, and then we scoured the streets for somewhere to dance, which is apparently difficult to find anywhere in japan on a sunday as i’ve learned from most experiences. i mean, they exist, they are just very difficult to find and not always happening. you can find places to drink and hang out, dont get me wrong, bars and pubs are a plenty, but dance parties, not so much. so anyways, we found somewhere with about 10 people inside and terrible music but we made the most of it.

the next day, kat, who is an architecture major, really wanted to see this famous church, called the church of light designed by a famous japanese architect, so we missioned out to find it and of course it ended up being close so we couldnt go inside, but we were able to peer in the windows and experience the outside of the church. it was absolutely beautiful and strange. the walls are all made of concrete but the walls are positioned in this really interesting angles in order to allow the light to shine through the church in certain ways. its incredible. im glad we got to see it. After the church we went on, what was by far the scariest experience of my life, a freefall ride, like dropzone, down the side of a skyscraper. so the premise was like dropzone except about a bajillion feet higher and 9 bajillion times faster. it was terrifying. you are also pretty much outside, like i said, down the side of a skyscraper. the ride lasted about 2 seconds but i lost my voice from screaming, that’s how hard i was screaming. I think i was shaking for about 4 hours afterwards.

The weekend after the same group of us headed out to tokyo. I went right from work and met up with susannah on the shinkansen where we had our shinkansen bathroom makeovers into tokyo night-suitable outfits and obviously get our train chu-hi on. i met up with ashleigh and kat and then we met up with gordon and their other friend kyle and headed to one of kyle’s friends’ apartment in roppongi. roppongi is like the super stylish nightclub, shopping area of tokyo. we then headed to a bar called muse which played your usual top 40 and had 6 dollar stellas, but we made the most of it and had quite a successful evening if i do say so myself. we obviously had to stay out until 5, when the subways start running again and then headed back to our hostel for a good 4 hour sleep until we had to check out, and then ashleigh and kat had to take kat back to the airport to go home. I met up with adrik, susannah and our friend katsuya who lives in tokyo, they had stayed at a different hotel, so we went out for some all you can eat pizza, obviously japan style pizza with things like corn and tuna and mayo on it… i cant wait for real pizza, you have no idea.

after this that group was heading to the ramen museum, which i wasnt really interested in, and ashleigh was still at the airport, so i headed to harajuku to take a nice midafternoon nap in yoyogi park in the sunshine. Yoyogi park is awesome, its right by harajuku station, which is where all the harajuku girls hang out, and they were a plenty that day. its really interesting. i’d feel like a tool taking pictures of them, but i tooooootally wanted to. the worst was when i saw to foreign westerner girls standing around there dressed like harajuku girls. it looked ridiculous. you basically just cant do that unless you’re japanese. it just doesnt seem right. gwen stefani can do whatever the hell she wants because she’s gwen stefani, but if you’re a butchy girl from Milwaukee or something who probably reads way too many comics and learned japanese from watching anime, then you can’t pull it off. im sorry. ok, end rant.

anyways, yoyogi park, yes, its this huge park that has actual GRASS (this is a rareity in parks in japan, where park means concrete, maybe some rocks and some swings a bench and thats about it) and tons of really eccentric people. you have the group of rockabillies dancing around to blaring 50s jams in leather pants despite the heat. there’s the group of hippies further in the park playing their drums and dancing barefoot. there’s tons of food stands and street performers. its just wonderful. so i found a nice spot under a tree, took out my book but fell asleep about .5 seconds after laying down and had a good 2 hour nap. then i met up with ashleigh and we did a little shopping, ate some subway, (yes japan has subway, and its waaaaay better than at home, shrimp and avocado wrap=HEAVEN) then we met up with gordon and kyle again and found ourselves back in roppongi at a club entitled “BLACK” where we danced the night away until the wee hours. we met a big group of friends and we all went out for some breakfast, by now it was about 9am and ashleigh and i, who didnt have a hotel booked for the night, knowing we would be out until check out time anyways, so we had left our baggage in lockers at tokyo station. so we grabbed some breakfast and then went out separate ways home to sleep on the trains. it was a crazy and wonderful weekend. as all weekends in tokyo are. I love tokyo, i do, but I think i’ve done tokyo enough. its fun and insane, but it sucks the money out of you, and there’s still other places i’d really like to see. If i go back to tokyo, it will be either to a) go to tokyo disney or b) to go to womb, the most famous club in the world pretty much. it’s the club they always film movies at when they film in japan and its apparently just absolutely amazing, so i feel like it’d be terrible of me to leave japan without having been there once. But i guess we shall see.

OK that’s enough for tonight. more to come soon.

love.

xo

i just found this saved in my drafts but i never published it on my blog. now i figure, why the hell not. i miss writing.

i wonder if you’re alone.
at the same time i know it really doesn’t matter, does it?
you’re there and I’m here but we drift in and out of each other like ghosts.
we’re poor, lost souls, you and me.
lost souls and lost causes, prone to heart ache and one after anothers.
we’re searching for something we once had, close like an arm around the waist beneath the blankets on the couch.
ignored, unmentioned while diane keaton and woody allen cleverly bicker on the television.
it was always there, sliding between our fingers and wrapping around our necks.
we just ignored it and continued looking for who-the-hell-knows-what,
whatever came next.
but it never left.
it was always there, and it still is.
i’m a million miles away but still i’m everwhere.
I’m in all those songs nobody else pays attention to.
im in record sleeves and certain lyrics.
I’m in movie quotes and storylines.
I’m in every thread of all the brown sweaters you own.
Im in the grains of salt on your hashbrowns during a 2am breakfast at an all-night truck-stop diner.
I’m the grinds that find their way into your morning cup of coffee.
I’m in every bottle of red wine you drink alone.
…You know you’re in every drop of mine.

i just finished reading douglas coupland’s eleanor rigby and it’s one of the best books i’ve read in my life.

anyways, i keep falling further and further behind in my life updates, so i’m going to try to do a bit of catching up now.

so where i last left off, was the beginning of may, the end of okinawa, and therefore the start of kyoko’s wedding.

the day after i returned was her wedding day, so my coworker hisae came and picked me up bright and early, and her, another coworker kimina and i all went to the wedding together. my manager, who’s last day at okazaki was a week before, was there looking very adorable in a kimono. anyways, the wedding was held at this big hall/chapel/really fancy built for wedding type deal. it was very very beautiful and the day was gorgeous. everyone sort of stands around drinking orange juice and coffee and such and waits for the ceremony to start. the ceremony was helf in a chapel, very much like those at home. The priest was an older american man who did the ceremony mainly in english with a bit of japanese. the ceremony was pretty much the same as that at home. Kyoko looked absolutely stunning, her dress was gorgeous, and her husband wore a sort of traditional style japanese robe. after the ceremony we were all ushered outside to throw flower petals and blow bubbles at the new husband and wife as they ascended the hall stairs. after that the guests were all given plastic bags. i was confused and thought perhaps we were to now pick up the rose petals we had just scattered? but no, keyoko and tetsuyuki (her now husband) climbed back up to the stairs and perched themselves at the balcony where they then proceeded to pelt the crowd with candy, bags of chips and stuffed animals, which we were to catch in aforementioned plastic bags. it was terrifying. i managed to snag a couple goodies though. Right after that the bride threw her bouquet (which i didnt catch) and the groom threw his own bouquet, which was made of brocolli. this was a sort of joke thing, but there is no garter belt toss in japanese weddings. after this the guests were then lead to a hall for a delicious multi-course lunch. between courses, speeches were given by the boss’ of both kyoko and tetsuyuki as well as a couple close friends. The food was absolutely delicious, ranging from sashimi salad, to steak and brie and other fancy looking delicacies. alcohol is served immediately, despite the fact that it was not even noon.

This reception is quite the ordeal. it is extremely showy, with intense slide shoes and even movies made and the bride and groom coming out in costume and acting out scenes. it was quite the production. One of Kyoko’s cousin’s is in a J-pop group that is pretty big here in japan, named the Pure Boys so he of course sang a song, and then all us guests filmed a commercial for Asahi beer (I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THAT HAPPENED) …. but yea, apparently i will now be in a japanese beer commercial. Kyoko had another dress change into a gorgeous black full-skirted number with big flowers all over it and in her hair.  After the lunch there are a few hours break, while the older guests head home and the younger guests get changed and head to another hall for the next party.

This hall is much less fancy, and more like something a stag and doe would be held at or a 50th wedding anniversary or something. here the guests play a flat rate of 3,000 yen, (like 30 bucks) for all you can eat and all you can drink. the dress is much more casual and the crowd consisted mainly of 20 somethings and early 30 year olds. The food was buffet style and like japanese style pub food. I had to give the initial kompai toast, which was absolutely humiliating seeing as pretty much nobody there knew what the hell i was saying.. but i did it and they all cheered and toasted and drank. Kyoko of course had ANOTHER change of dress, to a bit of a more casual traditional white wedding dress.

This finished early, around 8 or so, and there was apparently antother party afterwards at another location, but none of my coworkers were going, so i reluctantly headed home. Having been drinking casually since about 11am, it was not time to call it a night, so Susannah and i met up in Nagoya and had ourselves a night on the town.

After my very expensive week of visiting with Jarek and going to okinawa, i was left pretty much penniless and so the following few weekends were spent in okazaki. i Was able to convince beth to come down for the next weekend where we drank wine and ate cheese and a baguette by the river and then watched movies and drank more wine in my apartment. The weekend after i hung out with Brett, an okazaki aeon teacher who i met out in nagoya with susannah the weekend before, and him and i watched some movies and hung out for a while.

that is all i will leave you with for now, and i will hopefully catch you up with more soon.

but i will end with a couple thoughts:

I’ve realized that you never really miss hanging out with people until it’s made virtually impossible to. There are so many people i had the chance to see while i was at home, but for one reason or another we didn’t, or at least didn’t enough, and now it’s almost painful to not be seeing them.

Also, in 6 days it will be exactly 4 months until my contract ends. That feels like the perfect amount. If it was less than that, i think i would be stressing out about all the things i want to do, and dont have the time for. At the same time, if it was more than that, it would be too much. I look more and more forward to coming home, with every passing week, but at the same time i grow increasingly sentimental about leaving this place i’ve grown so accustomed to.  Being here has made me feel like i am something extraordinary. im afraid to go back and be ordinary again.

music: rilo kiley- with arms outstretched

i am the worst blogger ever. sorry friends. let me try to sum up the last month or so as best as i can. I met Jarek and family in tokyo, we ended up missioning to their hotel in kyoto, meeting up with susannah and her friend from home there, having an insanely intense evening, spending way too much money and so on and so on.

eventually, i made it to okinawa. my first day there was utter bliss. i arrived, met off the monorail by sweet adorable maibashi jon, we went for a stroll through the okinawa market place and then met up with ashleigh and some others and took a taxi to the closest beach to our hostel. it was a manmade beach, pretty much, with lifeguards and a sectioned off swimming area, but the water was blue and the sand was white, and the chu-hi’s, friends and spirits were at an alltime high. we spent the day meeting those in our group of 15 who we didnt know yet, rekindling friendships with those we dont see enough, soaking up sunshine and my skin touching the ocean for the first time in my 22 years of life.

we all returned back to the hostel in early evening to scrub the sand from our crevices and feel refreshed for an evening on the town. we separated into two groups and headed for dinner. we found a traditional japanese style restaurant serving up traditional okinawa recipes and cheap nama biru’s (draft beers) and had ourselves a time. we met up with the rest of the group and found a great club, where girls’cover was only 500 yen and there was a free drink menu. we began the night with a round of tequila shots, and so our evening began. we dance like there was no tomorrow, and when the entire club broke out into a synchronized dance routine that only our group didnt know the moves to, there was no stopping us from participating regardless.

the following day was a bit of a write off but i was able to drag myself from the top bunk in my hostel room to go out with the group to a lounge called the penguin bar, where a tank with two adorable live penguins lived dominated one wall of the bar. penguins, being my favourite animal in the world, made me very excited for this. we got to feed them, and it was just extremely cute and wonderful. only in japan.

the following day, we broke up into several small groups and ashleigh, katt, jon and masa and i all travelled to sunset beach where we lazed around in the sand and build sandy starfish and watched the sun  go down. we stumbled upon our friends leah and andy who ended up on the same beach and then we went back to the hostel to clean up and found ourselves at a foreign food restaurant entitled “rehab”where they sold nachos and cheese burgers and poutine. you dont understand how exciting it is to find a restaurant in japan serving up such delicacies. basically those were the best nachos i have ever had in this country and we all left highly satisfied. our whole group then headed to a park to partake in some highschool styled park drinking. a good night.

the next day was one of my favourites. we all dragged ourselves out of bed bright and early after being up until the wee hours of the morning the previous night, packing delicious picnic lunches to take on our journey. we caught an early ferrie to a small island off naha, the mainland of okinawa, and then caught a bus ride through goat fields and country sides i’ve never seen anything like before. soon enough we pulled up to a parking lot and as we treked off the bus (which all 15 of us pretty much dominated as our own private bus) to approach the most beautiful thing i’ve ever witnessed in my life. here was a beach you see in movies. an almost deserted, completely white sanded, bright aqua blue watered beach. no barriers, no manmade anything, just sand and water. i fell asleep on the beach and woke up feeling so absolutely alive, i stripped off my coverup and dove headfirst into the amazing water. it was invigorating. i felt so alive. i went snorkling for the first time, and though interesting, the massive amount of giant tropical fish swimming directly towards me and into my body parts creeped me out.

after a good seven hours in tropical heat and sunlight, we took the ferry back to naha where we all realized we were all burnt to crisps and unable to move, wear clothing or feel anything besides extreme unpleasantry. we went to a hawaiian style steakhouse for dinner where the chefs cooked your meat at your table and through the shakers and meat around in a fancy manner and i ate the best garlicy steak i’ve had in almost a year. we were all too burned to party it up that eveing so we headed back to the hostel to casually drink beers to rid ourselves of the firey skin pain and fall asleep.

the next day beth and i did some souvenir shopping then caught out airplane back to honshu.

its strange how different okinawa was, i mean, its japan, but at the same time, it entirely is not. i didnt see a single business suit. the business suit which is the basic uniform, was nonexistant. everyone, train conductors, airport workers, taxi drivers, wore hawaiian shirts. the people were so laidback and outgoing. not the uptight, down to business professionals of the mainland. the people dont even look japanese. it was a very unique experience. i’m so happy i got to go there.

more to come soon. i promise