an unconventional ever after: January 2008

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Doing as the Moriokans do

Well, being in the negative teens here in Morioka, walking 30 minutes to school... to and from... in the snow...ankle deep... where was my thought? Oh yeah, so being chilly and shaking, Ron and I decided to take up skiing to get us through the wintery months. We've been at it for a month now and are really starting to get the hang of it. We frequent a local ski resort that has hills that make us feel like Olymic champions. However, in the car ride shown, that is a true and very real Iwate Blizzard. We were on our way to a new ski resort, but God decided to have a snow party where we got to play the game of "I can't see." Luckily, we won. I would hate to see us lose. I would have put a video of us skiing down that mountain, but all you would experience is white, white, white, with the sound of a small Asian girl screaming and falling down the hill. I did survive.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

The sun'll come out...

I woke up to go to my far away school, the first time in a long time. I woke up at 630 ready to start my day and it was still dark outside. The days in Morioka have gotten so much shorter. The sun goes down here around 5 o'clock. It's ridiculous. When I woke up, I had to check my clock five times to make sure it was actually the time it said. Usually at 630, the sun is brightly shining, but this morning it didn't go up until 7 o'clock. If there's one thing I don't like, it's waking up while the sun gets to sleep longer than me. It's unnatural. In the caveman days, didn't they gauge waking up when the sun woke up? Why now do we have to wake up before hand? Needless to say I started the day very upset and confused. I ended up overshooting my preparation time and got to the bus 10 minutes before and getting to the station 20 minutes earlier then usual, which made me wait in the station very cold, waiting for my train. Sigh... Don't they start work later in Europe? Maybe Europe is on to something. Or maybe I just need to get back in my groove.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Reverse Culture Shock New Year

In the JET Program, many people will talk about the effects of leaving your Japanese home and re-adapting yourself to your former home. This has the term "reverse culture shock." I happened to feel this without even leaving Japanese borders. Now, in Iwate, Morioka is the mecca, the cosmopolitan of the prefecture. But that's pretty much just saying Topeka, Kansas; it's not nearly the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles or New York. Now after being here for five months, most of the city girl within me has left, except for the shopping pangs which I'm sure will never really leave.

I am now a Morioka country girl.

So now, to treat ourselves to the new year, we ventured to the world of Tokyo. Now, when we first arrived, we thought that the culture of Tokyo was the culture of Japan... our American minds were quickly changed. Being in Tokyo Station, waiting for the massive amounts of trains, reading the neon flashing signs, and trying to keep up the pace of the Tokyo power-walker, I started to feel a little... overstimulated. Luckily, just as I adapted to Morioka, I soon adapted to Tokyo, especially with the yummy food of my friend Kunino's mom. We were fortunate enough to spend the new years holiday with our college friend's family and they showed us the ropes of a real Japanese New Years. Throughout the week, we did some amazing things.

First... DISNEY SEA!

It's amazing the amount of detail that Japan puts in their amusement parks. Everything about the park was amazing and the little clothing souveniers of Mickey Mouse ears, beanies, and little clip hats, were so irritatingly cute that even I had to buy one.

Second... NAMJA TOWN.

Think of a theme park filled with food, there you will find Namja Town. Inside a shopping mall you will find Gyoza Stadium, Dessert Land, Ice Cream City, among tons of other attractions. We ate about $40 worth of gyoza and easily killed 4 hours there. It was the most magical place ever.

Third... EVERYTHING ELSE. For the remainder of our time, we enjoyed New Years OSECHI (a preserved meal with yummy symbolic food), Ueno Zoo, Beer Museum, the Science Museum and just the wonder that is Tokyo. Once we finally got home, we enjoyed our vacation with another vacation...SLEEP!