March Blur

Yes... I'm still alive out here! And yes, I know... I really suck at this whole blog thing. Nearly a month has passed without a word from me. Once you hear all I’ve been up to this month, though, you might begin to understand why I haven’t been able to find a spare moment to post until now…

Here’s a little taste of what March had in store from me.... Believe me, I will be happy when April arrives... March has left me spinning. I’ve decided to recap each weekend and try to break it up a bit. (Of course, the weekdays have also been equally busy so there wasn’t a chance to catch up with anything then either…)


1.)1st weekend in March: HOST FAMILY'S VISIT
I have a Japanese host family from when I visited Japan in the summer of 2002, before I even went to Korea. (They are from Kagawa on the main island of Shikoku, about 5 hours from where I live now, and their city is a “friendship city” to Lansing, Michigan, which is where I was living at the time… that’s the long-short version of this.) Anyway, I have kept in touch with them and have visited them several times in Shikoku. However, they finally came to visit me for the first time in Kumamoto. They brought their two little girls, and after visiting the famous castle of Kumamoto together, we rented a car and drove to Amakusa. It turned out to be a HOT day, record-setting, in fact. Almost 80 degrees F on March 3rd! We stayed in a hotel overlooking the sea, which was really beautiful and relaxing but a bit of a long drive.

2.) 2nd weekend in March: SAYAKA’S WEDDING IN CHICAGO

This may have been the craziest trip I have ever taken considering it was so far and for such a short time (but wait, I have done long weekends to Europe before so I thought it was along the same lines.) My good friend Sayaka (who I met while living in MN when I needed a Japanese tutor, and who I have kept in touch with and visited her rich family near Tokyo during the last 3 Christmases while she was home on break) was getting to married to her American fiancée, Jesse, and I really wanted to go back for her wedding. It happened to be a time at school that I could take time off, and so I found myself doing a very “Japanese style” trip.. meaning, arriving there on Friday afternoon, returning on Monday.
Crazy indeed. Still, I’m glad I went back for the wedding because it meant a lot to her and it was interesting to see the mix between Japanese and American traditions. For example, her and Jesse changed into Kimonos after dinner, and then danced the “Chicken Dance” in them. Classic. I was supposed to sing a song at the reception (karaoke-style) but it somehow fortunately got forgotten in the mix of other speeches and activity… The next day, I spent a little time in downtown Chicago, watched the sun set from the top of the Hancock Building over Chicago, and met my friend Matt (an avid reader of this blog, who also happened to visit me a year ago in Japan so certainly deserves mention) for dinner and drinks before heading back to Japan on Monday.

2.) 3rd weekend in March: TOKYO WITH TARA

I’d barely been back in Japan (and right back to school) for exactly 2 ½ days when I flew to Tokyo to meet my friend Tara who was coming to visit me for 10 days. Tara and I got to know each other when I was living in Minnesota because we were in the same TEFL Course Program. We decided Tokyo was a good meeting place because (although on the other side of the country from where I live) it was a “new place” for both of us. (I’d been there a few times before, but never really spent much time sightseeing in the city.) On Saturday morning, we set out to get our bearings by visiting Tokyo Tower (looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower, actually) for a view of the city from 333 meters high. Here we were greeted by one of the “mascots” of the Tower. The Japanese love their mascots and so do we. For lunch, we met my friend Kathy (who used to live in Kumamoto) for lunch in the fish market. Kathy is a sushi connoisseur and she speaks awesome Japanese and knew the owner well so we got quite a special lunch (cheap and plentiful and great service.) As it was St. Patty's Day, we thought we'd share a little bit of "Western culture" with the sushi man so we gave him a shamrock sticker to adorn his doorway... probably the only sushi restaurant in Japan to have an Irish touch. Afterwards, Tara and I went to a Japanese park and later met up with Kathy for a St. Patty's Day drink. We happened to pick the most popular Irish bar in all of Japan, it seems... It was packed with Japanese and foreigners. I guess everyone likes a holiday that celebrates the art of drinking. Anyway, we settled on a British pub, which wasn't exactly the same, but we at least had elbowing room to drink! The next day, Tara and I went to check out Harajuku, a famous part of Tokyo where "anything goes" as far as fashion. You may have heard Gwen Stefani singing in admiration of these "Harajuku girls" because there is certainly attitude & unique style on display here. It's quite a place for people-watching on a Sunday afternoon. Later, we did a bit of shopping in Shibuya, one of the busiest shopping areas in Tokyo. It was absolutely packed with shoppers. From a distance, the people look a little like ants on the crosswalk. It's pretty overwhelming. We were more than ready to get out of the crowds and head for my "country town" of Kumamoto after that.

3.) Last weekend in March: SICK AND IN ASO
Everything finally caught up with me, and I woke up last Wednesday (a holiday, of course… Serves me right to be sick on a holiday) with a fever and the cough of death. I called in sick the next two days, which would have been my last days of classes for the school year.) Meanwhile, Tara wisely esecaped my germ-infested apartment and went to Hiroshima for two days. By the weekend, I was feeling a little better but not healthy by any means.
Still, I wanted to show Tara around a bit more, so we went to visit two of my friends (Jess and Xina) living in the Mt. Aso area, where we checked out the largest caldera in the world and she got to try her first onsen (geothermal hot springs bath) in the buff. We had a cup of coffee outside and enjoyed the nature and had kaiten sushi (served on a revolving, conveyor-belt) for dinner.

Tara went back to the U.S. on Monday, and I went to work, where my horrid cough still made random outbursts, loud enough to trouble some. Chill, people… it’s not the bird flu! My supervisor was quick to hand me my very own mask to "protect myself and others," which I have worn dutifully since. At least people can take one look at me and know that I’m sick although you will NOT see me walking around downtown with it onl. I guess I’ve been living in Asia too long since just put it on without considering how freaky I would look. Actually, the mask doesn’t make me stand out much more than I usually do. Maybe I’ve just been here long enough to know that masks are actually the key to the illusion that you’re working hard in spite of some major setback or hardship (in my case, this awful cold) looks even better to all your co-workers and superiors because it’s all about perseverence in the name of work! So, I am NOT freaky. I’m hard-working and dedicated to my job! (And yes, I am smiling freakishly behind this mask.)

Now the students are on Spring Break, but many teachers are still at school doing last reports, etc. Yes, it sucks that I have to come to school when it is technically Spring Break, but I have no choice but to be here. If I want to stay home, I have to use a vacation day, and since I only have ONE more left until August, I'm stuck putting in time at my desk. At least I can read, listen to music, watch DVDs on my computer, or maybe even study Japanese or plan future lessons... if I feel REALLY ambitious. Nah, think I'll save the latter for mid-April when the new school year will start all over again... Think I'll enjoy a little "vacation at school" for now. It's nice to have a little "inaction" after this blur of a month.