Back home again, in Indiana

I'm back in Indiana.

The flight back was easier for me than the flight over - I took benedryl, and so was able to sleep a lot more - but was still really, really long. I had a burger on a whole wheat bun and steamed broccoli without strange sauces or anything not easily identifiable, all good things.

I am sad to have left Japan, but I am excited to start getting ready for Korea. To that end, I've found some on-line language programs, and am going to head to the library in town this weekend to see what I can access there. I'd like to be able to read at the kindergarten level or so, and be able to get some survival phrases down.

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One thing learned in Japan: Green tea is often an effective solution for any problem. A little hungover? green tea. Awkward pause in a conversation? green tea. Frustrated because you can't read anything? green tea. Cranky because it is hot? iced green tea or green tea ice cream. Desperate for caffeine because you can't find diet coke in a vending machine (even though there are a million of them EVERYWHERE and you can get almost anything else on the planet from one)? green tea. Perfect little diversion, good for you, and while a bit of an acquired taste, yummy.

today was my last full day in Japan. Tomorrow I fly back through Chicago to Indianapolis, then drive home.

I'm really sad and don't want to leave. I finally feel like I am at the basic level of being able to function as an adult in a place where everything is a bit of a struggle. I feel like even basic things - transportation, food acquisition, social interactions - require more thought and logic than I ever thought would be necessary. I feel like I'm being intellectually challenged all the time, and I kind of love it. I don't want to leave. It isn't that I love Tokyo - I don't - but rather, I feel like I am ready to start something new and I don't want to wait.

And I have to wait.

And while later, I know that I will appreciate having the time to learn how to read in Korean and how to navigate basic interactions in a new language, I still don't want to. I want to know where I am teaching, and exactly when I start, and I sort of don't want a month and a half in Indiana. I mean, there are people I would like to see before I go, but I feel that overall, I'm ready to get started. At least now I know what I don't know, and what I wish I knew.

This experience has been incredibly powerful and there really is no way for me to put it into words.

Tokyo underground

Tonight I sucessfully navigated the Tokyo subway system by myself.

That is most certainly an accomplishment.

There is so much more English here than in Aizu! We ended up at Indian instead of sushi (some folks were a bit sushi-ed out) and it was so easy to find where the restaurant was. Also, it seemed that almost all of the signs had enough English to be able to figure out what was going on. Menus were a million times easier in the restaurants we looked into. Funny how quickly my brain adapated to having such limited cues. Being able to understand everything in a couple of days will be a huge shock.

Actually, it is interesting to think about what culture shock will be like going back, in particular with the knowledge that I will be leaving again soon.

Aizu, last day.

Last night we stayed at a Ryokan, a more traditional Japanese inn, with hosin (hot springs) on site. Not quite what I was expecting (more like how I pictured a regular bath house would be, rather than hot spring) but incredibly, amazinging wonderful nonetheless. When I got out, I felt like I was druged or something. Had there been a cool tub, I might have refused to get out all night. Heck, I might still be there now.

Before that, we went to a studio where they make some of the crafts that Aizu is known for, particularly Red Bulls. I have a picture I'll post soon. After, the sake brewery. Konpai! there was tasting and some purchases - one bottle of a very nice sake, and a couple small bottles of a cheaper one I like just as much. This is a much different type of sake than I've had before - there isn't the harshness at the end that I've experienced. Very smooth.

Leaving Aizu was kind of sad for me. I had a great time there, and while Tokyo is okay, it isn't the greatest place in the whole world. I'm going to head out to a few neighborhoods I wanted to wander around a bit more, and a friend and I are talking about going to one of the baths in Tokyo tomorrow night. Sushi at one of the conveyor belt places in Harajuku tonight - yay!!

homestay, 2

Sunday
Futon means something rather different in Japan. It is much thinner, and on the tatami floor, wasn't the easiest thing to sleep on, but I slept and it was good, and I think it was an important thing to experience, really. I mean, how often will a person have the oportunity to stay in a more traditional Japanese house set-up? We had a huge breakfast - they made both Japanese and Western it seemed. I am of the belief that green tea can cure almost any ill. Miso, scrambled eggs (the first fully cooked egg i've seen in a long time!) bread, blueberry jam, rice, tomatoes, cucumbers pickled in salt, fruit, tofu and we were offered fermented soybeans (but she didn't seem offended that we declined - in fact, she seemed to think our reaction (trying to be polite) was rather funny. We took a couple bites of almost everything (I just couldn't do more plain tofu after the tofu in the miso, and I didn't do the pickles) and headed out for the day. Communication was dicey at best - they have about as much English as we have Japanese (basically, none) so there was a lot of gestures, pointing, and thumbing through phrase books and dictionaries. And laughing.

We went to an old Samurai village just outside Aizuwakamatsu and wandered around. There were still thatched roofs, but it seems that most of the buildings were converted into shops. I did find some pretty pottery, and the mother of the family we were staying with bought us some wooden spoons and a ladle that were made of a particular type of wood that grows around here. We tried to pay, but were not allowed to do so (which seemed to be the course of the day. We were shot down left and right). The drive to the village was incredibly beautiful - words just don't do it justice. On the way back into town, we stopped at a neighborhood craft store, and I bought some linen and some wool yarn. It was nice to have someone there who was able to tell me the fiber content for sure.

Lunch was at a local raman shop, and while good, greasy. But did I say good? Because it was pretty incredible.

Afterwards, it was back to the house for a rest, tea, and goodbyes. Obaachan (grandmother) and the mother started to cry when we left, and made us promise that if we came back to Japan we would visit.

It was so incredible. People took us into their homes, let us see how they lived and were incredibly generous with their time and their resources. I have no way to appropreraltly thank them. It was amazing.


I honestly feel like I could stay here. Well, at least in Fukushima. I wouldn't want to stay in Tokyo, but even here, where their is a tiny community of foreigners, I really feel like I would be able to live and be content. I am excited about Korea still, but also a little sad to leave Japan. I'm also worried about the amount of down-time I will have in Indiana before leaving. It will be good to have the opportunity to start gaining some language skills in Korean, but I honestly feel that in some ways I would be happy to start teaching in a school here next Monday. I know that it is mostly because I am now able to associate people and children and experiences with this place, but I really do like being here. I may fill out a JET application for next year, just in case for some reason I decide that Korean just isn't the place for me and I want to continue to live in Asia for a while. Options are never a bad thing.

Homestay!

Saturday:
Tonight was the first night of the homestay. K. and I (who get along well) found out that we had the parents (her) of the family I was staying with, and so they planned to do a lot of stuff together, which was ideal. The couple I was assigned to was about my age, and recently married. He was Japanese, and she was from Scotland and had come here through JET. He had just retuned from a contract in a neighboring prefecture, and one of her friends was getting ready to return to Australia, so it seems like the timing was rather poor at best. K.’s family didn’t speak much English, so it was great that they were able to work together. We had tea (severed by the grandmother) and an amazing lunch, and had Claire to interpret for us. It was pretty wonderful, albeit a bit difficult at first. We all are so nervous!

Afterwards, C and her husband took us up to see a volcano in the area near Mt. Bandi. The drive was incredibly beautiful, but I felt a bit like we were imposing, as people were set to arrive at C and J’s for a cook-out. We walked up these huge step-like trails to the top, and had some really lovely views. On the way back, we drove though the city where C taught while she was in JET, and met a few of their friends when we stopped for a beer run to get ready for the party.

When we got back to the house, we all kind of crashed in the tatami room floor for a while (car sickness set in for K on the way up and C on the way down) and we had a chance to talk with the mother and grandmother, which was nice. We heard the story of how the grandmother had an arranged marriage, and how the mother was pretty close to that herself, and how so many people around them had met and married in a very short period of time (I rubbed the mother’s shoulder for luck ☺ ) which seems to be a rather common sentiment for many of the people I have met within the recent past.

We went to the cookout, which was a great chance for me to talk to a rather large group of people who had taught overseas through JET, which kind of solidified my plans for next year even further. It was fascinating to hear people who have had such powerful experiences teaching, and to hear the polyglot of English and Japanese was pretty fascinating. Lots of pretty amazing perspectives, and I feel like I have a lot of ideas swirling around.

We took a taxi back to the house, (both K and I are staying with her host family) and tomorrow we will be visiting a traditional village with the mother and grandmother – neither of whom have much English at all - and may stop by a craft/yarn store. It will be a day of gestures and pointing and guesses, but the whole family is so incredibly kind and well intentioned that I’m sure it will be fine. They really have been so wonderfully gracious. I don’t think I could have asked for more.

K and I were talking about how this is kind of an ideal situation – tonight we both had the chance to talk with a group of people who have lived and taught in various places in Japan, and tomorrow we will get a chance to see a more traditional side. Best of both of our experiences, I think. I also feel like we will be less likely to put people out with this set-up. This is a far better experience than I had worried about and think that this is such a great part of the trip. I think tomorrow will be tough, but will be a good experience and will be more than a bit humbling on many different levels.

Thursday and Friday

Thursday:
Junior High. This school was piloting a "new" system for Japan - kids moving from class to class and the teacher remaining in one place. Most schools have the teachers move from room to room. This was very typical of a junior high - some of the teachers were more hands-on, while others were very lecture driven. It seemed that they were sort of not ready for us to be there, and weren't really happy to have us there at first (though once we started observing classes, most teachers were incredibly gracious.

My big take-away from this school was that when it comes down to it, kids are kids. I got a chance to spend time in the class for kids with special needs (the only one in the district) and had a blast. Their English teacher was awesome and spent a lot of time working with kids on basic skills (color identification, counting, movement) in English as reinforcment of their lessons in Japanese. She was pretty amazing.

Friday:
High school. We had studnets who were our guides and who seemed really excited to see us. I observed a health class, and the teacher asked me to talk about drug use and abuse in schools in the states and how teachers and schools were dealing with the problems. interesting. I got a chance to wander around and see other classes, inclunding the pre-caligraphy class which was a blast. The teacher was showing us examples of some post cards she and the students had made and let us try our hands at it. I had some kids write some passages in Kanji for me, and they turned out pretty well. Have pictures, will post once edited.

I had a hard time - on the one hand, the teachers in some of the electives indicated that this was a time when kids were just practicing, as they were having semester exams in content classes next week, but I felt like there were times when we were just such a huge disruption and distraction for the classes. On one hand, the teachers kept saying how great it was that kids got the chance to talk with so many native English speakers, but on the other, I was really worried about how we were distracting kids and teachers.

For dinner, we went out to a nice restaurant and order tons and tons of stuff - some of which I really don't want to know too much about the content of. Also, a somewhat insane amount of sake. But the sake was so smooth, and I think we were all a bit worried about the homestay the next day. An excellent time was had. And I'm the only one who wasn't hung over. Woo!

lots of updates!

The past few days have been really busy, but pretty incredibly wonderful. I will be posting the past few days in a couple of entries, mostly just for me.


Tuesday:
Tour of the castle in Aizuwakamatsu. So many people here are really proud of their history, and this place plays a pretty big role in that. We also met with the mayor and had lunch in an incredibly good restaurant in town. I decided I couldn't be around people for a while, and so went for run and grabbed food from the grocery down the street. Ran into a friend and crashed in their room for a while.

Wednesday:
Elementary school visit. This was kind of bizarre - kids were pretty freaked out that we were there and kept asking us to sign pieces of paper, their hands, anything. It was fun to be in an elementary school setting and see kids with so much energy.

The school was an open design, and while the kids have really long school days (grades 3-6 are there until at least 4 with required club activities) there was a huge amount of break/down time built into the day. They started out the day with an assembly (it looked like it was a daily thing) and I got to try caligraphy (very badly, i might add) When the kids couldn't figure out how to say something, they just grabbed my hand and dragged me to where they wanted me to be. Lunch was done in the classrooms, and the kids ran it like clockwork. Classes were large, but there didn't seem to be many problems with behavior, and there was a lot of multiple intelligences stuff going on. It was interesting - the image I've had of asian educaiton huge classes of students sitting in rows and listening. Not the case at all in the elementary school.

The school has a JET teacher (who had stayed past his commitment), so I got to see several examples of his English class, which was awesome. He used a LOT of Japanese in addition to English (he had been there for 5 years).

During club time, I got to try to play the koto (pictures will follow), a traditional Japanese instrument. The little girl who was teaching me was pretty pleased that I could follow directions, which was not the case of the teacher on her right.

running and dinner. plum wine and soda=tasty. Dinner is usually... interesting. I have no idea what anything on the menu says, so I'm limited to what the pictures look like things might be. Adventures in dining.

aizu

This morning we went to a presentation at Fukushima University about teacher education and got a chance to meet a bunch of students who were in their education program. With the aid of one of the interpreters and a lot of gestures, diagrams and guesses, I had the chance to talk with a woman who had been teaching special education in Japan and who was back to work on her master's degree. Awesome.

We then drove about an hour to Aizuwakamatsu City. I actually really liked the small-town feel of where we were staying in Fukushima, but this is also really nice. A lot more calm than Tokyo, there are mountains in the background, and the sun was shining! We visited the school board and were addressed by the Superintendent of schools, and I delivered the thank-you address from our side. Heck, if nothing else, I can get through a basic introduction in Japanese before having to switch to English now, which is a step in the right direction. There are a handful of JET teachers here, and they came to the program for a few minutes. This part of the discussions and lectures part are acutally interesting - real schools, real students, real communities. Having to wait for interpretation is a drag and makes the somewhat interminable speeches go on even longer, but it was amazing how happy they seemed to have us there.

I got a chance just to wander around today - alone, which was extra nice. I found an international ATM (all Japanese post offices have them, which is nice as there are a lot of banks here that won't take a non-Japanese ATM card) and a tiny little craft store with yarn and needles. Two small balls of pink silk this time. Some people remember trips through pictures. Some through t-shirts. Me? Yarn. Also explored a department store, and cannot for the life of me figure out how makeup and stuff is priced here. There is Shiseido on the main level in an area that looks kind of spendy, but there is also some down in the grocery store area. And then there are a ton of different (what I'm guessing to be) lines of the same brand. I don't get it. I want a nice shear gel blush, and I am striking out left and right. And then half the time they don't have the actual numbers written anywhere - at least not in regular numbers. Just trying to navigate basic things is kind of exhausting.

Aizuwakamatsu has excellent, albeit expensive, cherries. And they were really, really good. Not quite good enough for me to buy them at the grocery (~$10/pint) but good enough for me to grab several from the nice man offering them to us with sake and plum wine samples in the lobby. (a employee of the hotel, not a random strange man in the lobby)

Fukushima, 1

Tonight we are in Fukushima City. A fairly small area, it was really nice to get a chance to walk around and just explore in such a much quieter place. I like Tokyo, but it is SO big and busy. I like this a lot more.

The group leader is pretty awesome, and when we went out to dinner, she found an incredibly cheap, very good restaurant not too far from the hotel. The sashimi was awesome. Group dynamics are... well, interesting. I'm so lucky to be on this trip, but it is really tough to spend so much time as a group. I've noticed that I've been pretty short tempered the past couple of days, partly because I'm tired, partly because I've somehow managed to jack up my knees a little with all the walking and running. I'm also blaming my shoes. They are Earth Shoes, which are supposed to be good for walking/standing a lot, but I think that since they angle down at the heel, my knees are getting presure in a different way and they are not happy. My range of motion has been somewhat limited, so since I've been walking a lot, I've added additional walks and I haven't run for the past few days. I miss it.

But other than that, things have been going pretty well, overall. I'm tired, but in a good, experiencing things kind of way, I think. I've been spending time trying to imagine how I will react and handle situations when I have even fewer English cues, and can only imagine how long really basic things like going to the grocery store will take in a few months. It also is a reminder of how hard it must be to survive if you are illiterate or don't speak English.

I found out that the random ball of yarn I bought yesterday is 10% cashmere, 90% wool. Score. Not bad for a guess.

Next stop, Aizuwakamatsu

Today was great - a Salvation Army and a lovely shrine in a small neighborhood near Shinjuku, the massive craft store with amazing scores (over 900 meters of silk, a bag of Noro Silk Garden, and a small ball of a multi-colored Japanese yarn - I couldn't figure out the fiber content, but it was very pretty), a very quick dashes through Harijuku (with lunch at a sushi place where you pull plates off a conveyor belt - each plate has a specific cost - SO GOOD!!), Oedo, and Akihabara. If nothing else, I feel like I was able to get an idea of what these neighborhoods are like, and am making plans for where I would like to go when we get back here next week.

Oedo was amazing, and I am so glad we decided to head out there. A lot of ideas swirling about issues of peace and education and making this world better, tied in with a session about peace education). Will probably go on about this later. I could have done without Akihabara (the electronics district - not the deals I anticipated), although we found a pretty great place for dinner. Mostly a noodle shop, but it was good and cheap, the latter being something rare in Tokyo. I'm glad I saw the neighborhood, but I don't feel the need to go back.

I feel like I could spend all three weeks here and still not see all that I would like to.

Tomorrow we start to head out to Aizuwakamatsu, a fairly small town to the north-east. We will take the bullet train out to Fukushima City, be there for a night, then out to Aizu.

Baseball

Tonight we went to a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome. Sadly, the Giants lost. It was definetly an experience - navagating the Tokyo subway, trying to find something to eat when my language skills are fairly limited to "thank you," "excuse me," "how much is that?" and smiling and pointing, and trying to figure out exactly what's going on in most situations. It has been somewhat rare (and good, if challenging) to not have one of our "handlers" - people from the program or hotel staff - or be in Aksaska, a neighborhood that seems to be pretty used to idiot gaijin (foreigers). Whenever I try to say one of the maybe 6 phrases I know in Japanese, people seem to be pleased that I've made the attempt, but also look at me like I'm kind of a well-meaning idiot. I am GREAT at the smiling-pointing-smiling-thank-you-routine. Sumimasen. Arigato.

Tomorrow is our free day. I have several hundred yen on a subway pass and plans to explore several neighborhoods, including some shops in Kichijoji and Shinjuku, much of Harajuku, and possibly the electronics areas. I am headed out with some friends, but we all have the understanding that there is no expectation that it will be a group-type of day. There will be a couple of "meet up if you wanna go here" times, but other than that, time to just explore and experience.

Temples and textures

in Tokyo
Originally uploaded by .

Right now, there are festivals going on at some of the temples and shrines. This is a picture from yesterday of where we tried to go tonight (we got a little rained out) with me standing in front. If I was a smarter person, I would have stood to the side. der.

And

While this isn't anything new, I've come to the conclusion that the main problem I have with trying and enjoying new foods is based on texture. I still am a little queasy from the red bean paste thing I bit into a while ago. ugh. not unlike uncooked bread dough.


Random Japan fact of the day: You can find animal crackers in a convienience store if you look hard enough. And while there is a surprisingly large amount of English around, everything takes about two or three times as long as you would think it would.

A side note, if you click on the picture, it will take you to the flickr account I've set up for sharing pictures. I'll be uploading more soon, but you can see some of the ones I've edited so far if you are so inclined.

Kyogen masks

100_0110.JPG
Originally uploaded by jesjmurphy.

Here is a picture from yesterday's performances. I'm trying to update as I go so I don't end up with a million photos to edit and upload after I get back.

Kyogen is a traditional form of drama, with roots in song, dance, and folktale. As Noh is to tragedy, Kyogen is to comedy. Lots of physical comedy, lots of servents trying to outwit masters, and stylized movement and vocal patterns.



random Japan fact for the day: Kabuki, which is thought of now as a fairly "high art" kind of performance, got it's start as a girly show in the bath houses. Because of fighting over the women by the out-of-work samuri, women were banned from the stage. As were young boys.

details

I lasted less than 24 hours in Tokyo before breaking down and buying a diet coke from a vending machine. Considering that I plan to give up the diet coke this July, this is a Bad Thing.

Here's where detail note-type stuff begins:

Last night, we had dinner with former and current Fulbrighters living in Japan. We went out with a guy who studied in the states about 20 years ago, and who is a professor, researcher and neurologist studying the human equivalent of Mad Cow, or how that disease impacts humans, or something like that if I understood correctly. We went to a tempura restaurant here in Akasaka. Very good, and I was rather proud of myself for being less squeamish than usual. Also, I was told that I should eat eel more - something about having babies or something like that. Afterward, a group of us wandered around Asakasa for a while.

Old men love me. It seems to be a cross-cultural thing.

This morning, I ran around the Imperial Palace (and only got a little bit lost, and even then only for a minute or two) and then we had an intro to education in Japan. I took care of ordering business cards (I didn't think they would be necessary, but was told differently Sunday) and they will actually be less expensive here than they would be in the States. After, there was a presentation on traditional Japanese theatre, including a Japanese classical dancer getting into make-up, which was really, really amazing and cool, which may be the most lame description of anything ever. I have a ton of pictures, which will say more than I can.

Had enough time to dash into a bookstore to find a decent phrasebook and wander into a convience store, find where a 100 yen store is (didn't get a chance to go in, though), and get back here for the dinner/reception.

Now, I have a few minutes before a group of us head out for Karaoke. Again, I think we are staying in the neighborhood, if only because it is easy and close and none of us really want to try to figure out the subway after going out. Tomorrow is sightseeing tours, meetings with lawmakers, and something else in the afternoon, but I don't remember off the top of my head.


Random Japan fact of the day: the average kimono for a classical dancer costs in the neighborhood of at least $150,000 US. This does not include wig or makeup.

Tokyo

I am in the hotel in Tokyo, and so far things are great! I mean, I haven't actually slept for more than an hour or two at a time for the past three days or so and am a little afraid to take a nap right now due to passing out and refusing to wake up. But other than that, excellent. Caffeine, how I love thee. Hmm. I think I will start some tea now...


Yesterday was introduction to the program and to each other. Most of our time will be spent with our city-group, and I really like a lot of the folks who are going to Aizuwakamatsu. I feel like I already have a little group of friends, which is nice. After the official meetings and the welcome dinner, a couple of us hit the hotel bar for a couple of drinks, hence the drunk-blogging yesterday. Pathetic, really. I used to be able to handle a reasonable amount of alcohol with grace.

Anyway, I got up early this morning (my roommate started to get ready at 4:30. In the AM. Seriously.) and I ran a couple of miles before getting ready to head to the airport. I thought about taking drugs on the plane, but decided against - I would rather be heavily caffeinated to overcome regular sleepiness rather than play the Judy Garland uppers-downers game. I probably drove the poor Navy boy next to me crazy with the fidgeting and ended up walking loops of the cabin at a couple of points. Will probably drug myself for the return flight, as I will be going all the way to O'Hare (14 hrs).

So the flight was uneventful, and I now have my very first stamp in my passport! The Tokyo airport is so quiet!! And one of the city group handlers gave some running commentary as the bus came in to the city. We also were given cash for all of the meals that the program didn't plan. So I have some yen in my pocket, and will be heading out to dinner with friends and a Fulbrighter in about half an hour.

I think I need to stop converting money in my head, but a couple of things - first, there is a gym (of a sort) nearby that wants the equivalent of about $35/day for a visitor pass! But the hotel provides jogging maps of the area, which includes the address of the hotel and distances. So while there will be running, there will not be a lot of lifting, which is what I thought would be the case. I expect I shall be weak when I return.

Random Japan fact for the day: There is the equivalent of 1 vending machine per 22 people in Tokyo.

San Francisco

After leaving Indianapolis very early this morning, I got into San Francisco with enough time to go for a quick run along the bay before getting cleaned up for lunch and the afternoon sessions. Let's not talk about how bad I am at sitting still for long periods of time. But I will say that I will be running before I leave for the airport, as a courtesy to the others on the airplane. Also, will have knitting.

My bag was REALLY heavy. Like, really. I pulled all the cords and stuff out for the flight, and my bag checked out at 48.5lbs. I should be fine to shove all that stuff into the suitcase for tomorrow, which will be nice.

I could never have been ready to go if it wasn't for Pat. Seriously.

I leave for Tokyo tomorrow morning. I can hardly believe this is really real!

They have divided us into city-groups, so we are spending a lot of time with the twenty people we will be going to our city with, and that is basicially how we are all being managed right now. The organization has been pretty incredible, and I am excited about how everything is falling into place.

After so many years of Teach For America trips and random roommates and stuff, I came into this expecting to have a stranger for a roommate for the next three weeks. Well, I do tonight, but she is a very nice lady, and from Tokyo on out (except for the nights in the ryoken - a traditional Japanese inn) we will have rooms to ourselves! Wow! I'm pretty amazed. We will also have one night with a Japanese family, which will be a huge learning expereince.

Whirlwind

The past few days have been a little crazy. I drove a LOT (and, just so you know, find Love's to be my truck stop of choice. And if you can find Cheese-It Chips, get em!) Children in TN were adorable and adored, I attempted to re-learn how to ride a bike (with mixed success. "they" say you can't forget, but I think that may be a lie. You at least forget how to steer and stop without looking like an idiot.) and I have done more shopping than I have ever done. Ever. At this point, I don't care anymore if I'm not dressed appropriately. I would rather go naked than shop for anything else. But I think I should be fine.

I feel like I'm moving so fast that I haven't fully prepared for the experience. I mean, now I feel like I should be present and there in the moment, but I haven't done much actually planning for how best to make use of the experience. I bought a guide book to read on the plane on Sunday and Monday, and tomorrow I will be refining my follow-on plan, so hopefully that will help. I feel like I've been all about details, and I would like to be able to pay more attention to the big picture.

I DO feel like I am de-compressing from the end of the school year, and getting used to being in Indiana again. There is air here! I've taken over a minute off my mile average, and while I come back dripping from the humidity, overall my knees hurt less. I have no idea what that's about, but I'll take it!

Because there isn't a whole lot interesting about shopping a driving for ever and ever, I have a picture of the one thing in Texas I thought would be interesting. Really, it was anti-climatic, but it got me to Amarillo.
The Cadillac Ranch.


In terms of the "what's happening" - I leave for Indy tomorrow, San Francisco WAY early on Sunday morning, and Tokyo on Monday. I'll be in Tokyo until the 18th, then Azuiwakamatsu until the 26th. Back to Tokyo until we leave for the States on the 29th.

Tomorrow, I pack.

All my bags are packed...

I just finished my last workout at the gym where I have lost over 90 pounds over the course of the year. Everything is packed into my car except the odds and ends I will need tomorrow morning, my landlady has checked out my apartment and returned my deposit, and I am ready to leave in the morning.

I am leaving here far lighter physical, emotionally, and bodily than I arrived three years ago.

Then, I drove a huge u-haul, towing my car behind. I hired people to load the truck for me, and was chased out of New Orleans by a tropical storm that was headed on-shore as I drove off into the sunset. That probably should have been a clue that the next year would be a bit bumpy. Tomorrow, I will get up and run early enough to watch the sun rise over the hills and will take only my Rav4, loaded by myself, and head East. If anything, I should be blown halfway there by the wind.

Saying goodbye was harder than I expected. Which I think is a good thing, but still, hard. So many really good people. Sean, who is deserving of a medal for putting up with me all year, the people who were nice during my first year teaching, people reminding me that being healthy is important, not through words, but through actions.

I'm scared. I want to be present and really be able to fully experience Japan, but a big chunk of my head is worried about Korea. I hope this will change once the immediate get-out-of-town part is over and I have a little bit of space to breathe. Next week I'll be focusing on drafting a follow-up plan - how I will incorporate what I learn in Japan in a US classroom. I've been reading the information that was sent to me about the program, and I even know what hotels I'll be staying in both in Tokyo and Aizuwakamatsu. But I'm still scared and worried about EVERYTHING. UGH!