Peachy Keen

Flower-viewing? Really? People actually do this? You wouldn`t think much of it right? Set up a (usually) blue tarp/mat (or banig for you fellow Filipinos holla), sit, drink , eat nomnoms and watch...well..flowers, or sakura to be specific. What fun can be had in that?

I think Kyoto and `crowded` should go hand in hand. We were sardined packed tight on the bus on the way to Ginkakuji, right next to an old man who spoke to us with this gross, orange blob on his lips (we`re thinking it was uni) that also made his spit orange and UGH GROSS きもい！

...Anyway. The path towards the Silver Pavilion is beautiful. As if Kyoto`s mash of old and new architecture wasn`t awesome enough, there`s mini forests to boot that made me think I stepped into the forests in Princess Mononoke...

I`m expecting kotodama to come out aaany second now...

And maybe I was so enchanted of the path *to* the temple that when I actually saw the Silver Pavilion my first thought was, `That`s it?`. Seriously. I didn`t even think it was Ginkakuji. I thought it was a random temple before the main attraction, but then I realized it had to be since a lot of people were taking pictures in front of it...well, at least it was a nice walk. After that we walked some more and took a stroll through the Philosopher`s Path, 哲学の道 for more pink awesomeness. And cats.

Cats seem to be everywhere in Japan...

After a brief stop at the Heian Jingu shrine we then headed over to the Gion District and Maruyama Park to get our Hanami on. The park definitely had the party vibe that night. Lots of Japanese people nomnoming, drinking and just letting loose just really set the fun tone. This is when I realized that Japanese will use any excuse, like the changes of the seasons to get their drink on. Sadly all good things must come to an end so we stumbled to the 9h capsule hotel in Gion (which is the most amazing capsule hotel *evaromg*).

Forget the sofa bed, can I have this instead?

The following day we got our hanami on again in Arashiyama, a place I`ve always wanted to visit after seeing pictures of the place during the spring and fall. Beautiful. Although it was packed, it was still pretty relaxing and we were able to snag a spot and nomnom on more delicious matsuri meat-on-a-stick and sakura flavored soft serve ice cream. We only saw a glimpse of what Arashiyama had to offer because sadly we all had a long way to travel back to our part of Japan that we call home.

Hanami in Kyoto is AMAZING and I definitely recommend going to Kyoto during that time, crowds be damned. But of course hanami can be done *anywhere* in Japan. As long as you have the 3 F`s: Food, Flowers, and most important Friends then you too can get your flower power on.

Tasty of the day:

sakura ice cream with actual sakura blossoms

Brought to you by PanRa at 7:00 PM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, friends, hanami, kyoto, matsuri

The title more or less translates to happy/energetic exercise....GO!

Today was...interesting.

...guess I better back up a bit. The story starts in October during the Ibara Sports Festival. After parading around the track all the participants gathered in the center of the field and lined up to do a warm-up. What us unsuspecting ALTs didn't know was this wasn't the usual, every-morning-radio-taisou the salarymen do. It was a mix of some warm up karate punches, marching, line dancing and jazz hands (okay the jazz hands were our addition). Of course, we thought the weirdness was AMAZING so we kind of...well, we were *genki*. We started to aim the punches at each other, do jazz hands, make weird faces, etc. Then it was finished; we had a laugh and the sports festival continued. We really didn't think anyone paid attention to our shenanigans.

Man, were we wrong. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago where one of my supervisors comes to me and lets me know that the city saw us do the Genki Taisou so *well* that the local broadcast wants to record us and air it. 5 of 6 pretty much screamed at him to let us do it. And so today, we did just that.

I have to say there was just a teeny, tiny moment where I felt...irked over what the instructor said. While we were practicing and asking questions of 'where does our arm go, which direction,' etc. she tells us that mistakes are okay (funny coming from a Japanese person) and the main point is for people to laugh. At first I thought well, to laugh *at* us? Sure, let's look at the silly foreigners do a taisou, dance, monkey dance! Because there are quite a few moments, both inside and outside the classroom where I do feel like the 'monkey' and perform for the kids/community. And well, let's face it, most of the time, I have no idea what's going most of the time anyway so I just go with the flow and do it. Besides, dancing is fun.

Regardless, the irked feeling went away because well, it was our fault for acting silly at the sports festival in the first place and come ON! We're being taped doing a warm-up exercise that the whole town will see!! How awesome is that?! Of course we all requested copies when it's finished. We ended the day with dinner (and DRINKING) at Champloo aka Champs. Even our supervisors came by for a drink to pat us on the back.

The taisou will air in January for who knows how long. Once I get my copy I'm immediately sending it stateside because otherwise I might end up setting fire to it.

Brought to you by PanRa at 5:44 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, day in ibara, JET

Oh noes! The last day of my awesome European vacation! Well, we didn't waste it, that's for sure! In the morning we went to the Villa Borghese, which was the gallery that my cousin REALLY wanted to see in Rome. She's already been to Rome, so this was pretty much the only thing on her to-do/see list. The park was nice and nearly empty in the morning. Sadly I couldn't take pictures once inside the gallery, but you're just going to have to take my word that it's pretty awesome. The collection is amazing. This is where I discovered my love for Bernini's work. Apollo and Daphne? The Rape of Proserpina? Wow.

Afterwards, my cousin wasn't feeling well, so it was pretty much me exploring the Colosseum while my cousin sat somewhere. She was well enough to walk around the Palatine/Roman Forums at least. Then, as a spur of the moment, we decided to go to the Bocca della Verita, the Mouth of Truth. Much love to Roman Holiday!! Alas, my cousin has the shot (1 picture per person damnit). We almost didn't get to take a picture because it was almost closing time and there was a pretty long line. After a quick walk around the church (yes, it's more than just a face with a gaping mouth that you stick your hand in. The Mouth is in front of the entrance to a church).

And so, we had our last dinner in Italy. And gelato. Never forget the gelato.

Brought to you by PanRa at 5:39 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, family, rome, vacation

The highlight of my trip: the day tour of the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii!! Typical American that I am, I am ashamed to admit I didn't know anything about these 2 amazing places. My very generalized summary/thoughts?

-If you ever want that vacation house by the ocean, Amalfi Coast would be the place.
-Amalfi Coast: famous for linen, fashion (the town of Positano), and home of limoncello (the hardest lemonade you'll ever have in your life)
-I want to live in the Amalfi Coast.
-Pompeii: lolz at the penis markers pointing the way to the brothels
-Damn those Pompeiians sure were smart. So many things we use in our everyday lives *they* thought of. That's CRAZY.
-Pompeii was the first party town (suck it Vegas!)

The tour was through Viator and it was one of those small, 10 person tours. We just winded our way through the coast in a little van. Our guide was awesome: funny, nice, and knew his stuff. During the trip through the coast he would point out which star has what villa. He mentioned Bill Gates, Denzel Washington and a couple more stars.

Brought to you by PanRa at 4:25 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, family, rome, vacation

Today was the day we took the tour of Vatican City. Of course before the long day ahead my cousin and I had to fuel ourselves!

Brought to you by PanRa at 6:05 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, family, rome, vacation

Today I went with a couple of JETs to Bitchu-Takahashi to see Matsuyama Castle, the highest castle in Japan and one of the original 12 castles in Japan still standing. Although it was raining a bit, it was really warm and the hike made us work up a sweat (which was kind of gross in the rainy, kinda muggy weather). The view from above made it worth it.

Brought to you by PanRa at 7:20 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, food, Japan

Ha, this day was an...interesting day.

Today was the day we decided to take a day trip to Tivoli to see the Villa D'Este. The day we went, August 15 just happened to be a holiday, Ferragosto or Assumption Day. Italians take their vacations seriously, because honestly it was almost a ghost town when walking around Tivoli. Thankfully, the villa was open as were some restaurants so it wasn't like we were stranded or anything.

To think that someone can live in place like Villa D'Este boggles my mind.

Brought to you by PanRa at 8:19 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, family, rome, vacation

Day 8 was a sad day indeed. London was so much fun. I loved the history, the shopping, the PLAYS. I would go back to London in a heartbeat. I almost wished, ALMOST, that we spent the whole time in London.

I swear after the bus turned and I saw this, my mind was blown away. Has to be one of my favorite landmarks in Rome.

Piazza di Spagna @ night

During the day we discovered there was going to be a huge event at the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps for you non-Italian speaking folk). Apparently our first day in Rome happened to be the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. In that light, it's kind of interesting that unified Italy is younger than America. The event was pretty sweet: opera singers busting out popular(?)/famous pieces and dancers finished with a fireworks display. Not bad for a first night in Rome.

Tasties of the day: Limoncello (holy. crap.)

Brought to you by PanRa at 5:12 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, family, rome, vacation

And so here is the wrap-up of my week in London. Day 6 and 7 was more last minute shopping, geek stuff and of course, the reason why we had this trip in the first place: Much Ado About Nothing. Day 6 was spent in the National Portrait Gallery, the Sherlock Holmes Museum and the Beatles Store. Honestly, having the Beatles store next to the Holmes museum was a bad idea. Well for me anyway.

Brought to you by PanRa at 8:26 AM 0 comments  

Day 4:
Another jam-packed tourist-y day. I remember my cold being at its worst this day. Anyway, we started off with the Tower of London. Ignorant child that I am, I didn't really know much about the tower, so I found it really cool to see the bloody tower and the places where they tortured and kept prisoners. Seeing the crown jewels was a major plus too. Afterwards we headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral (holy moley the price to get in! Though if you go during mass it's free >_>), crossed the Millennium Bridge to go to the Globe Theater (another slightly expensive thing we cheaped out on. Shopped around the gift store though). Lastly we headed over to Harrod's. The main reason I wanted to go was for the food department. Japan has enough expensive department stores/malls thankyouverymuch.

Day 5:

This was our England-in-one-day trip with Viator. We took a bus from Victoria Station and went to Stonehenge, Bath, a drive through the Cotswolds towards Stratford-upon-Avon. For some reason, in my mind I expected Stonehenge to be bigger, not that it wasn't cool to see, it was. I think my highlight and also regret was Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon. I couldn't tell you how shocked I was to see Bath. One moment we're just driving through the Cotswolds, then after a bend you just see an amazing panoramic view of the town and it was just...magical. When I go back (notice WHEN not IF) to London, I'll definitely do a day trip of just Bath. It would've been nice to explore more of Shakespeare's hometown. We just had time for the Birthplace and a quick walk on the main street. The champagne and scones at the museum was a sweet bonus. When we returned we just had a pub dinner and I had my first fruit-flavored cider. Which was like drinking a chuhai.
The tour was jam-packed, but it was a nice way to see as much of outside London as you can in one day. It just made me want to see MORE.

Brought to you by PanRa at 11:41 PM 0 comments  

Today was the day we decided to hit Kensington Palace for the Enchanted Palace exhibition. Since the District and Circle lines were going under maintenance in that area, we decided to just walk it from Earl's Court.

Brought to you by PanRa at 7:21 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, family, london, vacation

The day started with my cousin and I finding this right outside Earl's Court station:

Brought to you by PanRa at 5:53 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, family, london

 Parliament and Big Ben!

 Rode the London Eye! Which was really slow!

Saw a bunch of Bieber freaks fans try to spell something!

Westminster Abbey!

My first British meal, Yorkshire Pudding! (never again)

Brought to you by PanRa at 5:22 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011, family, london

March is a time of great change in Japan; not only the changing of the seasons, but for the students and teachers as well. Students graduate and some teachers get transfered to another school. I was invited to my high school's graduation since it was on a Saturday. Not really sure what I was expecting, but what I experienced really wasn't what I had in mind for a high school graduation.

First of all, the only people allowed to the graduation is immediate family, teachers, and students of the school. Yes, it is mandatory to see your sempai off (that would kinda suck in my book to HAVE to go to my senior's grad). Students just wear their school uniform (and pretty much look how they would like a normal school day) while teachers/parents wear the awesome celebratory color black. Everyone filed in like it was a military drill: teachers and the lower years were first, then the graduating class, then the teachers from colleges/middle school to show support which I thought was kind of cool. Oddly enough the presentation of the certificates is the FIRST thing; then are the speeches from the officials and student reps. I kept getting antsy in my seat because I couldn't really move: apparently I wasn't allowed to even cross my legs. I was wearing pants too!! Weird. During the speeches the silence was broken by the sniffles of classmates and parents. Mean of me, but I was kind of amused by this. I guess it was because it was so *quiet* that the sniffles were so obvious and *loud*...

It was the most somber graduation I have ever been to. I think I prefer the gaudy loud graduations back home.

That was Saturday. March 3rd was Hina Matsuri so I really wanted to go someplace that displayed a lot of the dolls. Sadly I couldn't go to Katsuyama due to the lameness of the train schedules, but me, Rachel and Jessica decided to see the Bikan district in Kurashiki instead. Totally worth it, despite the rain. I definitely want to see the district on a sunny day and when the flowers are blooming.

Brought to you by PanRa at 1:37 AM 0 comments  

Labels: matsuri, okayama

Argh, apologize in advance on how out of order this blog is. I'll (eventually) blog about my spring vacation, but for now I just wanted to talk about the 'changing of the guards' so to speak that's been happening all over the Japanese workforce. It's called 人事異動 (jin-ji-i-dou) and it's pretty much when new employees come in and the regulars are rotated to a different position, department, or in a teacher's case, a different school altogether. Apparently they do it to keep the employees "on their toes" and gives people to go up the ladder. Or down. >_> For example, the principal from my middle school is now head of the Education department in City Hall.

I knew about this for a while now, but for the past couple of days it was really evident: employees in the education division were cleaning their desks, and today I was bowing to a whole bunch of new people, including a new supervisor (which sucks because I REALLY liked my previous one, she was SO sweet). It felt like the first day all over again when I was greeting and giving self-intros left and right.

Pretty interesting, since well America definitely doesn't do that. The only transfer you do is A) when you specifically request it or B) you're getting transfered home because you're getting FIRED. Man, Japanese employees must be the most well-rounded workers ever. Then again, if they suck in that position then they're kinda stuck there for the next couple of years.

Yay for Japanese work culture shock!

Brought to you by PanRa at 4:02 AM 0 comments  

Labels: JET, random thoughts

Today I spent the day with Mariko in Okayama City. We wanted to spend a couple of days in Kyoto/Osaka, but because of the last minute hotel booking and the mass exodus to the Kansai area due to the earthquake, we couldn't find a place for the 20th. We ate lunch at The Market, a cute little shop that sells *actual* sandwiches. Not the sandwich stuff you find in the conbini. Like, Panera/deli type sandwiches. Mariko was happy with it so that made me happy.

Brought to you by PanRa at 6:32 AM 0 comments  

Labels: friends, okayama, Tohoku Jishin

Being in Okayama all this time, I find it surreal at times to know that all the crazy things that have been happening: the quakes, tsunamis, the reactor explosions, all of it is happening in the same country. As much as I feel for the Japanese who are suffering, all I can think of are my fellow JETs; my FRIENDS, who are in the Kantou/Tohoku area going through all the things I can only see in the news.

For some reason I particularly feel emotionally drained today. It breaks my heart to know that while I'm in the clear, I read tweets from friends saying that they felt another quake, or they can't find what they need at the grocery store because of the shortage of supplies. I feel so helpless. I look at the AJET volunteer doc sheet to see if there's anything that can be done here in Okayama, but for now the best thing is to donate or give blood. I have donated, and I plan on donating １万 (1 man) for relief funds (Man up for Japan!)

I count myself lucky that everyone I know in the affected areas are safe though I know others have experienced otherwise. One of my friends, an exchange student at Yokohama University, actually has to return to the US.

It's so hard to concentrate on work when all this is going on. I don't want to say it's frustrating, but it's just hard to see everything/everyone here in Okayama go on while s*it's hitting the fan elsewhere in the country. I guess it hits closer to home for me since I actually know people in these areas and that it's especially worrisome for me since I'm a foreigner in a country. To have all this happen in a country you just came to is pretty freaky to me. My close friends and family, my support are miles away, although thankfully technology makes it seem closer. It would be nice right now to get a hug from my Dad or to see my girlfriends.

Ugh, this post is so scattered; it's hard to put my feelings down. I guess all I can do is continue to pray for everyone's safety and that all this ends soon and we can start again. Pray For Japan. A little quote I've seen on Twitter from people who're posting art to show their support for the victims: がんばれ日本。必ず明日来る。I watch the #newday_GEISAI to cheer myself up a bit. Here's one of my favs:

Brought to you by PanRa at 7:32 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Tohoku Jishin

I have a draft on my Hana Matsuri trip, but I just wanted to make a quick post about the earthquake.

This afternoon there was a huge earthquake in the Tohoku region of Japan. I've seen a few numbers, but it looks like it hit 8.8 on the Richter scale. Yeah. It's pretty huge. Enough that even people in Osaka were feeling the aftershocks. Then there's the 10-m tsunamis....and fires in Odaiba. And apparently flooding in Tokyo Disneyland...Geez the footage in Sendai is horrifying. Now there's a nuclear warning in Fukushima due to a cooling malfunction so now people have to evacuate.

Fortunately I live in Okayama-ken which is quite a ways away, but I've been worrying non-stop since I know people in that area. It's times like this where I praise technology because everyone was checking in via FB, or Twitter to let people know how they're doing. Of course, this also meant within the hour my family back in the US started flipping out and asking if I was okay.

As I type this there is a death count of about 60 people from the earthquake. They're still counting bodies being found after the tsunami... I just hope that it ends soon and people get out of this as safely as possible.

Here's a live blog from CNN on the earthquake and tsunami.

Japan earthquake live blog

Brought to you by PanRa at 6:10 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Tohoku Jishin

aka The Naked Man Festival in Saidaiji. Or, The Big One. In my eyes, the festival is about a bunch of dudes wearing nothing but a fundoshi (that white cloth that seems like they're wearing diapers) and beating the crap out of each other to get the 'lucky stick.' Oh the dirty jokes are too many to count...

Brought to you by PanRa at 6:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: friends, matsuri, okayama

Funny what you can accomplish when you're sick: a blog post! I think I'll be switching to this blog for my living-in-Japan experience, then going back over to LJ for my otaku tendencies. Hehe~

I won't cover everything I did during my holidays, but to sum it up from Dec. 17-23 I was back in the states for my sister Niki's catillion and spent Christmas weekend in Tokyo and visited friends. I'm so glad I spent a few days in Tokyo with my friends who I haven't seen in FOREVER. I think it helped me adjust to me being in Japan again and helped me lose my homesickness. I guess I didn't feel so alone? Something like that.

Brought to you by PanRa at 3:40 AM 0 comments  

Labels: friends, newyears