Mongolia!

Sorry this has taken so long to get up! Things have been pretty crazy since we've gotten back from Mongolia and this week its been so hot and humid, it's really hard to function. I'm actually afraid of shorting out my computer with all the sweat dripping from my fingers! (ok its not THAT bad, but pretty close!) It's only 8:45 in the morning and already its (supposedly) 84F/29C but feels like 94F/34C with about 75%-80% humidity.... kill me now please! Oh and here's the best part. My school is too cheap to turn on the A/C so what do they do? They just open all the windows and have fans blowing the hot sticky air around.... Then they all just sit here and complain about how f'n hot it is!!!!! ARRRGHHHH! Turn ON the A/C and stop whining! Every other school and institution has A/C and uses it -- at least in the teachers room! And yesterday they finally turned it on at 12:30, but they only turned it cool enough to keep us from sweating like pigs, but not enough to dry up the stickiness that coats the skin..... ugh.... fuckers....

Ok enough of that. Im sure you all want to hear about Mongolia so here it goes!

After a 1.5 hour flight to Seoul, South Korea and a 5 hour layover there, and then a 3 hour flight to Ulaan Baatar, we arrived at around midnightish. We learned right off that America is one of the only countries that DOENSN'T need a visa to enter Mongolia! Yay! Finally the Americans get a break! We also learned that flights in the summer only fly at night there due to the high chance of dust storms during the day. Apparently, at 30,000 feet there can still be a substantial amount of dust in the sky and when sucked into the engines, turns to glass... yeah, not a great idea. So, flights come in at around 11:30 - mindnight and leave around 1:30am.

Adam's parents weren't to arrive for another day so we had a whole day to spend with Alex and Chesney (Adam's older brother and his girlfriend). We took a little tour around town, and then went to the black market for some souvenir shopping. The black market was basically just an outdoor bazaar with anything and everything you could ever need, minus food. They had clothing of all kinds, modern and traditional. They had a HUGE section on ger materials. (A "ger" is the real word for a "yurt" -- the traditional tent like house the Mongolian herders live in.) It was so crowded in there, though that we all held hands to avoid losing each other. We also learned quickly that Mongolians dont like big crowds either and to get people moving along, they stick their fist in the back of the person in front of them and start pushing! So, the whole time I had someone's fist in my back... not so pleasant. I asked one of our guides later if that was normal or just cuz we were foreigners and he said, "oh, thats normal. I hate it when they do that!" Anyway, I bought a traditional Mongolian outfit called a "del". Its a long turquoise coat with little colorful flowers on it. Very cool! And it only cost me about $20! Not bad. Adam got a wide-brimmed Mongolian hat that resembles a cowboy hat and a mongolian patterned jacket. Also very cheap.

The next day, after the parents got there we bummed around town some more, bought more souvernirs, saw some temples, went to a traditional dance and music concert. That was really amazing. The dances and clothes are beautiful and the music is incredible. They use many different kinds of instruments like the "morin khuur" or the horse head fiddle. Its looks like a guitar but with only 2 strings and you have a bow like a violin. Its beautiful!
--Ok, I admit, I didnt take this picture. I didnt manage to get a good pic of the fiddle close-up so I got this off google.... sorry!--

--The family at an old Buddhist temple in UB--

Anyway, there were also some contortionists there that were fascinating! Ive never seen people twist and move their bodies like that before! They looked almost alien, like the girl from the exorcist... though not evil.


Then the next day we went to the Naadam Festival and unbeknownst to us until we go there, it turned out to be the 800th anniversary of Chinggis Khan! (Genghis Khan is a mispronunciation and a mispelling -- not sure from where.) As a result, this year's Naadam was especially big and exciting! Prince Andrew, and many dignitaries were there for the opening ceremonies and on our way to the stadium we saw one diplomatic convoy after another! All with their countries' flags on the lead car. It was pretty cool! Once in the stadium, we didnt have any seats so we stood at the very top row against the outer ledge. Fortunately, the stadium was really small and I think we actually had the best vantage point. The opening ceremony was a couple hours long but very showy and eventful! Singing, dancing, performances, and a reenactment of Chinggis Khan. Everything was so coloful too! No drabness at all in their clothes. Also, Mongolia is the land of goofy, Dr. Seuss-like hats! The royalty wore them mostly and we had loads of fun trying them on in the souvenir shops.
--The traditional flag of Mongolia. Yes it's the white pom pom looking thing.--

--The Mongolian version of a mobile home!--

After the ceremony, the games began: wrestling, archery, horse racing and ankle bones (similar to paper football where you flick a piece of wood at a pile of ankle bones to try and knock them over... keep in mind this is a serious national sport).

The wrestling was interesting for the 1st five minutes. The only rules are no punching or kicking although we saw plenty of wedgies and nut-grabbing! Once the knees or elbows of your opponent have touched the ground you're out! The archery was interesting too. They would shoot the arrows not at a circular target you would imagine but at a flat board on the ground. What struck us as odd was that their coaches or friends would stand on either side of the target AS THE PERSON WAS SHOOTING! They would then instruct them if it was too far to the left or right, etc. Crazy...

The next morning we went out of town for about an hour to where the horse races were taking place. When we got there, there were gers set up all over the place for restaurants, and then we saw about a dozen pool tables set up. Men were playing pool with their horses beside them! Funny what kinds of western things they've picked up. In Mongolia it's pool tables and copious amounts of sweets. In Japan it's egg salad and corn soup... something to ponder....


Anyway, there was no race to be seen so we asked what the deal was. "Oh the racers got here at 6am to register and then walk the 28km (about 15 miles or so) to the starting line." It was now 9:30am or so and they were already racing their way 28km back to the finish line where we were! Note: The jockeys for this particular race were about 4-6 years old. In this country they learn to ride when they learn to walk!


So we go to the finish line and wait. Finally, out on the horizon, coming over a sloping hill we see some black dots! As the first five come in everyone is screaming and shouting, I turn around to see how many people are watching and am face to face with a horse! The pool players must have just jumped on their horses and come to the finish line where everyone else was! It was a line of horses directly behind us. Kinda unnerving. Anyway, a bit later we see a kid coming in and about 100 yards from the finish line he jumps off his horse as the horse collapses and falls. Vets run over and start kicking the horse in the chest to try and get its heart beating again, but to no avail. The horse was dead. The kid was crying and the parents came over to console him -- it was most likely his favorite horse. This happened a few times over the course of the race. We saw about 5 dead horses. We even later saw some horses come in without riders! Toward the end some kids just got off and walked their horses back to save the horse's life. Supposedly this race was longer than the usual 25km. The horses train for about a month beforehand and are practically starved during that time as well to keep their weight down. I guess its a fine line... That part was really sad.

--This is a girl I saw at the horse race. She was wearing a "del" from the western area of Mongolia near Khazakhstan.--


After that we had some traditional mongolian bbq (which, by the way usually does NOT include veggies). They would heat these big black rocks until they were red hot and then dump them into a metal container with all the raw mutton,leave it there and the stones would cook the meat. It was delicious! (There were some veggies and I mostly ate those.) What was really amazing and hard to describe or even express in pictures was the sheer feeling of vastness and open space. When you get out into the country, there's absolutely NOTHING but rolling hills and grassland. It's so peaceful and astounding at the same time, especially after living in Japan for a year, where every last inch of usable land has something on it. Also, the smell of the grassland there is very different. It's very fresh and herby -- the "grass" isn't really grass. I think there's a lot of chamomile, and I saw loads of Edelweis actually (the famous flower that grows in the Alps). Anyway, I dont think I could ever get tired of the smell out there.

The next day we went and saw a Russian monument on a hill, and the Golden Buddha next to it. Not sure what we did after that. We were pretty pooped that day. But on that Friday (?) we all met at a European Cafe where we were to meet our tour guides and take an old russian jeep out into the country where we would stay at a ger camp. (by the way, at the moment Im eating a strange japanese sweet someone just gave me... a crepe thing with mochi inside... a sweet rice paste... its very odd.) Anyway, I must say the 7 hour trip into the countryside was pretty uneventful but sooooo bumpy we felt like we'd been in a martini shaker for 7 hours! It ended up giving me a headache and temporary nausea. The "paved" roads were built at the beginning of the Soviet reign and are now so potholed that most people, including us, took the dirt roads beside the highway cuz they were smoother! We saw plenty of marmot, cranes, sheep, goats, horses, herds of camels and many a ger. Some gers were getting high-tech. It wasnt uncommon to see a ger with a satelite dish and a solar panel or a wind generator beside it! Plenty of sun and plenty of wind in that country!

--Our ger camp--

The ger camp we stayed in was just beautiful! Rustic and practical. Each couple got its own ger even though there were 4 beds in each. We had a single candle for the night and the bathrooms (surprisingly with flush toilets and showers) were about 100yd away. The dinner was held in a central main ger and was also very delicious. They had been told that I was "vegetarian" and so prepared a separate meal for me (most of the time just removing the meat), which really surprised me! The fact that they recognized the concept of vegetarianism was astounding to me since the Japanese still seem to think that fish, chicken and ham are not meat... *scowl*
--Inside our ger--

That night at around 10:30pm we went to some nearby sand dunes to watch the sunset. So we took off our shoes, rolled up our pants and clambered on up to the top. We took pictures, watched the beautiful sunset and passed around a bottle of vodka in the mongolian way: in a circle, oldest to youngest. Dip your finger in, flick the vodka into the wind and then down the cup! At that moment I thought, "Wow, I'm the farthest from anything I've ever been."
--Adam and I on the sand dunes--
--Sitting on the edge of the sand dune looking at our gorgeous van and shoes. Not sure what our guide is doing there....just noticed that actually... hmmm--

The next day we drove to Kharkhorin which used to be the capital of Mongolia if Im not mistaken and also is the location of Erdene Zuu monastery -- the oldest monastery in Mongolia. I was a little templed and monasteried out when we got there so I just hung back and kept to myself. There are some gorgeous pics that Adam took in the Shutterfly account, though, if you want to look.

Later that day, as we were driving back to the camp, the guides went off the road and started driving toward some random ger. We were going to visit a herding family, but I dont think they knew we were even coming! However, Mongolians are so friendly and hospitable that they welcomed us right in and sat us down. They then poured a bowl full of "airag" for us to drink and pass around the group 3 times. Well airag is fermented horse milk, but it didnt taste as bad as I thought! It was slightly carbonated because of the yeast and had a very yeasty warm milk flavor. Sounds disgusting I know. Adam had a hard time keeping it down. What's even worse/funnier is that you had to blow on it beforehand to blow all the yellow chunks and black specks away (bugs possibly.. who knows?). Hehehehehehehe! They also passed around a bowl of cheese that they make and dry in the sun on the roof. It was so hard, that if you bit down you might break a filling! So you had to suck on it... Theeeen, they passed around "shim" which is vodka distilled from cow's milk. I thought it was gross but Adam seemed to like it... In the summer they eat only "white" foods -- so milk, yogurt, cheese, airag etc. with a little tea for their vitamins and minerals. In the winter they eat the "red" foods -- mutton mostly. How they don't get scurvy I have no idea. Supposedly mare's milk is really nutritious, though and they go days with nothing to eat, just drinking airag... interesting.

On the way back from that Chesney and I saw some camels and made a comment about how cool it'd be to ride one. Well, Agge, our 22 year old (and very cute) tour guide said "You want to ride camels? ok!". Again they just drove out to the ger farm and asked gramps if we could ride his camels. "Sure! No problem!" Well.... have you ever stood next to a camel? They're HUGE!! You have to mount them sitting down. I think their heads may reach about 10 feet (?). Anyway, we all had turns riding these grumpy double humped camels around the farm. The kids lead the camels and one was really keen on getting them to run, but luckily he didnt! The last thing I wanted was to be on a runaway camel in the middle of nowhere Mongolia! I think I'd shit my pants! Anyway, that was a lot of fun and actually they're REALLY comfortable! With the double humps you get an arm rest AND a back rest, haha!
--Gramps and his camels!--
--Chesney and I--
--Adam and Alex--
--The parents. Bob tryin' to be a cowboy... not sure if that works with camels... but hey, whatever!--

The next day was the day to return to UB and Adam and I had to take off that night/early morning. Chesney was super nice and made us some real chocolate chip cookies for the trip home! Thanks a million Ches, they were great! And thank you both for helping us with everything there and showing us a wonderful time. It was great to see Adam's family again and I really had an awesome time. Mongolia was a fantastic experience and quite possibly one of the coolest vacations Ive ever had. I would love to go back sometime!

Temporary Amusement!

Until I get my news and pics about Mongolia up and running, have fun with Saru-chan! I thought he was adorable!

Move the cursor around to see him move. If you see red arrows, you can click them and he'll swing to that spot. If you click the green he'll let go and might fall off the tree! You can also click the green on one of his other limbs and he'll switch.... Very cute... Definitely kept me amused for awhile at work!

Enjoy!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Creamy Collons Anyone?

So this last weekend was quite eventful! On Friday night we decided to go into Osaka and see our friend Zack and his girlfriend Miyuki. It was a nice night full of nomihodai (all you can drink) and interesting conversation. However..... once we ended up at the last bar the nomihodai had caught up with me and I just wanted to go to bed (yes, I know... Im lame...). So what did I decide to do? Lay down on the couch in the bar and take a nap. Well, during that little snooze I knocked over my purse, spilling the contents all over the floor. I thought I had picked it all up, but when I got home later that night/early morning I realized I didn't have my keitai (cell phone)!!

Now, I feel very shameful for admitting that Im so reliant on this stupid piece of technology, but it has ALL my contact information in it... by losing your cell phone, you commit social suicide! Anyway, I was freaking out a bit, but figured that my friend would be nice enough to call the bar the next evening to see if they found anything. Turns out a friend of Zack's had seen it, figured it belonged to one of us and took it home. Then the next day, he called and reported it, so I ended up getting it back!!! Hooray!! Thank god im in Japan! I dont know if I would have gotten it back, had I been back in the States... or even Europe. In this respect I like the fact that people are so honest here. You could lose your wallet and still have a good chance at getting it back!

The next night we were getting together with Helen (another friend... Zack's ex) and a few other friends: Aaron, Tsukasa (his boyfriend), Vinh and Laura. We got some dinner and then went for karaoke and it was an overall blast! Helen, Aaron, and Tsukasa all came back to crash at our place where we played the game "Never have I ever..." and learned all sorts of interesting things about each other, hehehe....

Here are some pics from that night.


Aaron and I just being goofy.


Laura, Adam (just being himself...), and Vinh


The boys.... hehehe (Tsukasa, Vinh, Aaron)


Helen, me, Adam


And the best picture of the night! An excellent example of how funny Engrish can be!



Creamy Collons Anyone???

Golden Turds and Funky Costumes!

Yeah it's been a little while... sorry! Im not nearly as bad as Sam and Aaron, though. But hey, they're getting ready to leave the country -- packing up your whole life from the past 2 years and saying goodbye to everyone doesnt leave much time left for updating blogs I guess! Oh well!

So, this last weekend we went to Tokyo to hang out before we had to go to meetings on Monday and Tuesday for our duties as TOAs (Tokyo Orientation Assistants). The weather was crap the whole time, but that didnt keep us from having a fabulous time! The first day we go there, we were pretty tired from the 3-4 hour bullet train (shinkansen) ride, but we wanted to have an interesting night, so we headed an hour and a half south past Yokohama to Yokosuka where there's a huge Navy Base. Why in the world did we want to go to a military base??? Well, for one, it was a guaranteed interesting time. Number two.... well Angie was craving some non-Japanese eye candy and a little touch of home (however twisted that sounds!). Sure enough, there was PLENTY of yummy eye-candy... I just wasnt gonna touch any of it... them being sailors and all, you never know where theyve been! We ended up talking to a couple guys who then agreed to show us around and show us a good time. We would have had to catch an early train (10:45pm) back to Tokyo but since the guy offered his living room to us we said, what the hell! So yeah, we stayed all night! We had some interesting conversations and experiences to say the least and ended up catching the 1st train back to Tokyo in the morning at 5am.

We were planning on sleeping a bit since we hadnt gotten any, but since we'd booked a super cheap hostel where the rooms were separated by cubicle walls and you could hear the person at the other end of the building breathing, no sleep was possible! So we got up and decided to spend the day sightseeing! First thing I did was call home and congratulate my little brother on graduating!!! Yaayy Kirk! We took some pics of the building with the so called "Golden Flame" on top... more commonly called the "unnko biru" which means "shit building" for obvious reasons... Although Im not sure if its biru for building or biiru for beer. Either one would make sense and would be funny since the building is owned by the Asahi beer company (I think...!).



Here are a couple other pics... the rain really wasn't bothering me that day!





After that, we decided to visit the Sensoji Temple which is supposed to be really cool. However, the main gate which is the main attraction was completely covered in a white tarp and under renovation... darn!



But there were other cool things to see. This lantern was incredibly huge!



Here's a pagoda in the temple area. Too bad Adam's face is so dark. Although, it does give him a goofy yet mysterious look....

As we were walking away, we heard screaming and shouting coming from a tent near the temple so we decided to check it out. We were surprised and delighted to find out that it was a kids sumo tournament!! It was fun to watch even though some of the kids were really scrawny!


This was one guy who wasn't quite sumo sized but had a little meat on him...



Unfortunately, this was his opponent... there's no weight categories I guess. Tough luck for him!



The lil' guy tried his best but was no match for the sheer "whale-ness" of his opponent....

We also wanted to check out the Harajuku Bridge where young (japanese) people dress up in all sorts of strange costumes and just chill all day. There weren't very many there that day, though, since it was raining. But here are a couple (very tame) examples.




Hopefully, when we go back to Tokyo we'll be able to get away for a little while and see some other, more wild, costumes!

Later on, we met up with our friends Kotaro, Yuji and Quinn. Kotaro was a good friend from college and Yuji was also there (although I was in Germany that year). Quinn is a good friend from back home. He grew up on Vashon too.


This is Kotaro and his friend Ivonne. She wasnt there that night... this is an older pic. I didnt get a pic of any of us that night... oops!

Here are some pics of Shibuya in Tokyo.... lots of people and sensory overload in every sense of the word!!






And here's a Kebab vendor... I like the red cowboy hat. Gives him a distinct "only in Japan" look!


Latest news: I've decided to switch phone companies and, therefore, my phone as well. Ill be getting an ECO phone which is NOT made out of plastic in the conventional sense (ie out of oil) but instead plastic rendered from plant fiber -- more specifically, corn! Pretty cool, huh? AND 1% of my bills will be donated I guess to certain conservation activities! Im pretty excited about it! The only unfortunate thing is that it comes in only one color and design: pink with silver leaves... I think its very cute but Adam thinks it might send people the wrong message or just plainly insult his manhood if he got one... Even though he'd like to get a phone made out of corn too, he does have his limits. In this case, I dont blame him!

Here's the link. Check it out!

http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/product/foma/701i/n701ieco/index.html

Family Issues...

No, no, no... I wont bore you all with issues with my personal family back home. No worries guys.

The "family" issue is that Adam and I have been accepted to be Tokyo Orientation Assistants (I think I mentioned this before???) in July for the newbies coming in. For this we have to give conferences on a certain topic that we choose, supposedly. Well, apparently our choices mean jack since neither one of us got any of the conferences we'd asked for (and you get to pick 3). Instead, we must have been the ONLY couple that applied so they stuck us with giving a conference on Family JETs... uh excuse me, whaaat??? Yeah.... needless to say we were a little less than enthusiastic to hear this. At first I didnt really comprehend this since I read the email after just waking up from a long night of karaoke and singing Madonna and ABBA to death... (no shitty comments from the peanut gallery on this please... we were getting really into it!)

Anyway, we both had the same reaction: "Shit... how the hell are we, of all people, supposed to advise people on what to do with their kids??? We must be the least informed and worst people to ask about this subject. We're not even really engaged!!!!"

However, after our freak-out moment had passed, we figured that since we're stuck with it anyway, we might as well learn as much as we can and give a kick-ass conference despite our personal situation. Soooooo... instead of reading at work I've been researching! I joined the yahoo groups FamilyJETs and posted a message asking for help and advice from anyone who actually has a family. One lady emailed me back saying that she was doing the same conference but for the second group of newbies coming in, so we will meet her in person! YAAAAY! She's already brainstormed an outline and thought of some great ideas. Ive also read previous posts on the site and well, Ive learned wayyyyyyy more than I ever thought I would about babies, baby food, and foreign kids in a japanese school. So, I figure this is a very good educational experience for me even though I dont think I'll ever have kids here... She also mentioned that since we're in the interesting position between singlehood and parenthood and since NOT ALL of the people at our conference will have kids, that we bring a good situation to the table. We can also connect to some of the younger couples without kids a lot better. So, I guess Im feeling a lot more confident about it now than I was initially, which is good. Im just dreading the Q&A session afterwards...

This weekend we're heading to Tokyo for the Planning Meeting for this whole thing. It doesnt actually start til Monday but we figured we'd sightsee and hang out with friends this weekend as well... why not? The government is paying for our transportation, so we might as well come earlier! We're taking the bullet train, oh baby, oh baby!

In other news, Adam and I have been brainstorming (yeah, lots of brain work going on for a change, haha!) about our future and career options etc. We DONT want to be executives or work behind a desk like we do here -- at least not permanently. We'd like to study more practical things like horticulture (both of us), carpentry (him), medicinal herbs and energy work (me). Sooooo, we've been trying to find different community colleges around the Seattle-ish areas that offer these courses. Actually, and I never thought I would say this, we're thinking about moving to Sequim or Port Angeles (where most of my extended family has migrated to)! The reason is because first of all, its cheaper than Seattle, my family is there so I'd get to see them more often, its beautiful, and well.... its not Vashon -- but close enough so Id get to see my parents more often too. It's also close to Canada -- I think there's a ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, right?? We are also tossing around ideas for jobs and such but havent really landed on any firm decisions yet, dont think we could.

Eventually, though, we'd like to live in an intentional community, a self-sustained community where everyone works for the good of the whole and its completely eco-friendly. There are loads of them popping up all over the place. Originally I was thinking somewhere in British Columbia and although thats not totally out of the question yet, Costa Rica has been calling our attention more and more. We've found a few places there that are forming and needed new members. To do this, though, we need more practical skills to bring with us other than just having travelled a lot and speaking multiple languages.... doesnt get you very far when trying to build a community. Sooo, thats why we'd like to get into carpentry, horticulture, medicinal herbology, energy work etc. We'd like to have something practical to bring to the table. Also, Costa Rica is one of the most progressive countries in central and south america. It has the highest percetage of expats, and well, we think it'd just be really cool. Adam's been there before and is all for it.

I was thinking about wanting to work for a Salem Children's Village somewhere in the world (http://saleminternational.org), but we'll see about that. Its still a good possibility... Id still need some more practical skills first, though. I guess I just want to do something that makes a difference -- that makes the world just a little bit better.

Other than all that, Ive just finished "The Prophet's Way" by Thom Hartmann and even though it mentions God all the time, I really enjoyed reading it and becoming more spiritual myself. I guess I just have a hang-up on the word "God". It just conjures up pictures of an old white guy sitting in the clouds and/or reminds me of all the oraganized religions and how corrupt they've become which just saddens me. Soooo, every time I saw the word "God" I just replaced it in my head with "holy spirit", "great spirit", "the great consciousness" or something like that which convey my feelings a lot better. After that, Ive been reading "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore which is also VERY good, but I learned most of it all in "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" by Thom Hartmann (which my mom enthusiastically recommended to me, by the way :) happy now mommy-dear?? haha!). This book has loads of pictures and graphs, though, which are always nice. Im a very visual learner so it all sticks in my head more this way!

Ok well Ive babbled on enough for now, so I will write again when we get back from Tokyo -- hopefully with some interesting news and pictures! Love to all!

Inspiration?? Hello? Are you out there???

OK fine..... according to the comment Aaron just posted about my last blog, I need to stop posting pictures of an extremely gorgeous baby that no one but my family knows. Fine. I get it. Ive just been extremely uninspired lately, as we all have apparently and so I figured posting those pics was better than nothing.

Whatever. Nothing much interesting has happened since we came back from Kobe, which turned out to not be very interesting in itself. However, last night I went to Karuna's house (indian lady i visit every Weds and Thurs) and we had a very interesting discussion about homosexuality. Since shes from a village in southern India, there are a surprising number of things she just hasnt been exposed to but is very curious about. Luckily, she feels comfortable enough around me to be able to ask questions about certain potentially touchy subjects. Weve talked about religion, divorce (couple times), marriage, homosexuality and dating to name a few. Its really interesting to see how she views these subjects and how interested she is in knowing my opinion. Anyway, as one could imagine, she grew up in a pretty conservative society where dating was forbidden and arranged marriage the norm. She had an arranged marriage like everyone else she knew but she wishes things could have been different. She sees many marriages that would benefit from a divorce, but in that society a divorce is rather taboo and only for special cases. In India you can only get divorced for a certain 12 reasons if I remember correctly, not just because you dont love each other anymore. You dont love each other to begin with so this concept is completely foreign. Also, when a couple gets divorced the man is required by law to continue supporting the ex-wife for the rest of either of their lives! Pretty harsh. Its probably because a divorced woman in India is usually severely looked down upon and might not be able to remarry.

Anyway, her views about homosexuality were pretty much well.... non-existant. She had never met anyone who was gay and had never really had any contact with the society. Its also most likely a taboo subject in India so she probably hasnt heard much of anything positive about it. So I gave her my opinions and told her I had many friends who were etc. She seemed very surprised that I had so many gay friends and that I knew so much about the subject.... Anyway, I did my best to show her that being gay is really no different except that you happen to like the same sex and that politically in the states they still dont have as many rights etc. Of course she asked me all the questions one would expect (I guess...) like "why cant they just change or try to be straight?", "do they really like having sex with the same gender?", "why would they chose something like that?", "What? Theres a gay district in Osaka???" etc. And of course, I told her that it wasnt a choice. I said that to them, being with the opposite sex would be as uncomfortable and strange in some cases as straight people being with the same sex. Its not in our genetic make up and therefore doesnt feel... right I guess. I did my best to ease her discomfort about it all and hopefully with another few discussions (there are always a few) she'll relax about it.

I guess the only other thing new thats happened is that on Tuesday I came home all excited to try out the new pilates style aerobic dvd Id ordered off amazon. So as I was doing this routine which is based on squatting a LOT, I realized that despite my excellent toilet-squatting technique that Ive gotten down to an art, that my thighs are WAAAAAAAY out of shape!! Result = Ive been barely able to walk any faster than a hobble in the past 2 days cuz every, I mean EVERY muscle in my upper legs and butt scream at me every time I move a milimeter! Needless to say the longer Im idle, the more it hurts when I decide to move again. Ive never felt so old in my entire life! Not only to I look 90 years old as I hobble down the hallway to my classes but I have to hold the railing as I descend or my legs just might buckle underneath me! But I have to say the absolute torture is having to squat over the squatter toilets here. And if you know me and my miniscule bladder, you know I must endure this torture every hour almost.... if not more often! I guess the only good thing about all this is that, well, I actually did something that should turn out to be productive, AND since the video is so damn hard, I actually have something to work towards!

AH!! I also have now moved on to the intermediate pilates AND Karuna now wants to begin pilates as well!! woohoo! OK iijo desu!

OK Sam... Ive done my part! Now its your turn!

More baby pics!

I know, you must all be thinking "jeeeeez... more baby pics? You'd think the kid was hers!!".... and yeah, I admit that even though I havent met the kid yet, Im enormously proud and excited every time I get a new installment of pictures and updates. Its weird, especially for me. Im NOT the type of person to go "ga-ga" over babies at all, but Julia just warms my heart! Maybe its her smile and her incredible blue eyes! I think the fact that shes related to me also helps, haha!


Here is my mom and Julia. At 6 months she really likes to practice standing up!


Ok, let's hear it! "Awwww..."


So, Heather (her mommy) says that she's outgrown the infant bath and the laundry room sink is now her bath haven!


I hope she doesn't find out that Im posting her baby bath pics online! It could be some serious blackmail material later on... hehehe....


Like I said... her eyes are gonna stop people in their tracks!


She learned how to wave "hi" and "bye bye"!


Im told that those are prunes on her face.... Glad I wasnt the one to change THAT diaper!!

New developments!

So after the enormous excitement that was Thailand, we're now back to the same old hum drum that is a normal working person's life. However, there are a couple interesting tidbits worthy of a blog post!

The weekend after we got back some friends and us all got together to go celebrate my bday in Osaka for the night. There was nothing especially spectacular but it was a great time anyway!

This weekend a friend from college who lives and works in Tokyo, Kotaro, came down to the Kansai area with a friend of his! We havent seen him since last August so we decided to take a trip to Kyoto and see him. They'd just arrived on the overnight bus, which Ive heard is a total nightmare, and so were sleeping the day away and would meet us for dinner. Well Sunday was a gorgeous day -- blue sky, sunny and upper 70s (I think) so we didnt want to miss it and decided to go see the Fushimi-inari Temple. In English I think it would be Temple of 1000 Gates (??). Anyway, its a couple stops out of the city so its kinda secluded. The most famous thing about it is the fact that there are trails all through the forrest all covered in torii gates (the red gates that are always at the entrances to shinto shrines). Its also the temple featured in the movie of Memoirs of a Geisha when Sayuri is running down through all those arches. Anyway, it was by far my favorite temple to date. There were a lot of tourists there but we kept climbing up the mountain and took trails that not many others were taking so at times we were the only ones around! It was so peaceful, serene and, in a sense, spiritual to be in the forrest and just hear the birds chirping and the river gurgling. It really made me long for a place of my own, or our own -- somewhere ideally in the forrest but near the water as well. Who knows if thatll happen, but its my dream! It would be the perfect place. I actually just wanted to cop a squat somewhere and lay back, relax and meditate.... but I dont think Adam would have wanted to wait around.... oh well. I took loads of pics which I will try and get up ASAP. Another unique thing about these temple grounds was that people had tiny little restaurants and shops along the way. There were also shrines where you could light candles and be blessed. The restaurants sound like theyd be tacky, but they werent. People actually lived along these trails and just set up shop there to provide refreshments for the visitors.... which, I might add, was very nice! These trails weren't flat. In fact, they were up hill/stairs most of the time, so refreshments were very much needed! It was such a pleasant experience I didnt notice how much we were climbing.... however, my calves have been letting me know each day since!

After the temple, we decided to go back to Gion and see if we could see any geisha since this time I had my real camera with me. We saw a few, and snapped a couple pics, but then had to leave to meet up with Kotaro. It was really nice to see him again and meet his friend (whose name I cant remember for the life of me. shes chinese-australian, like Liv, and very nice). We went out for falafel and then to our favorite bar in Kyoto, A-Bar. Its teeny tiny, looks like a log cabin inside with just a bunch of big tables. They place you next to anybody and its a great place to get to know people. Its really cheap and has great food, two big plusses in our book!

Anyway, tonight we're meeting up with Kotaro and his friend again, and then tomorrow we're heading to Kobe for the Re-contracting Conference being held from Weds through Fri. It should be a lot of fun.... at least thats what we're told. Although, since most of our friends are leaving this year, we wont know many people. I guess this is a chance to make some new friends! (I hope!)

We also were accepted for the Tokyo Orientation Assistant positions which is really exciting! It means we're in charge of all the Group A Nara JETs coming in in July. We tell them how great Nara is, how wonderful the JET Program is (Ill have to embellish a bit...) and then take them out drinking one night. Besides that, though, we're required to give presentations on certain subjects and help them get to and from the airport and then back to Nara. So.... its a free trip to Tokyo and will be loads of fun!!! We also get to go up in mid-June for a planning meeting and then again in July so Im super happy about that!

This year, since all the current AJET managers are leaving Adam and I have decided to take over with a couple other people. AJET is the Association of JET and there's a group in each prefecture who plan events and activities for JET members in that prefecture. It should be a lot of fun but also a ton of work. Ill probably end up being the Nara AJET Prefectural Representative who is in charge of getting all the emails from the national AJET and distributing them and then visa versa. Also... I dont know... Im not entirely sure what I will be doing, but it should give my life here an extra kick so maybe I wont be as bored as I was before. It will also keep us connected and in tune with everything going on. Who knows? It might even look good on a resume! And no, its not a paid but a voluntary position :)

I think thats about it... Ill try and get some pics up soon!

Quick Overview of Thailand

Here is the first half of our trip to Thailand... a quick and dirty overview! Like I said before, Aaron did a much better job at summing up our adventures pre-Bangkok, so I will still advertise for it! (link on the right "Aarons blog"). However, I felt like I should still write a bit about it! Sorry if its a repeat! As for pictures..... well....... Im really exhausted from this weekend, and honestly, Im feeling kinda lazy, so if y'all could just go to the pictures link and see for yourself, itd be wonderful! Thanks!

Adam, Aaron and I all decided we needed a little break from the Japanese life and what better place to do that than Phuket! As it was the beginning of the rainy season in Thailand we were expecting it to be rainy, of course, but to our pleasant surprise it hardly rained at all! However, it was super hot and humid, pretty much like Japan in August.... yay.... But, we spent most of our time on Patong Beach where we lazed around on the beach, tried to get tan but ended up getting very, very burned! Aaron slathered on oil while I slathered on sunblock, but after playing in the very warm water and jumping in the waves, I promptly forgot all about my skin and forgot to reapply the sunblock.... Payback for being stupid I guess! Adam was the smart one, always under the shade of the beach umbrella!

Anyway, we took a few excursions! One day we decided to rent a car and go exploring. We went to a national park area (aka jungle) where there was supposedly a waterfall that we hiked for over an hour to find and couldnt! Aaron is accostumed to driving in Japan, so for him driving on the left side was no problem at all. However, as this was a new experience for Adam and I, it was a bit nerve-racking! With Aaron in the passenger's seat playing driving instructor, and me feeling like I was 15 all over again with a tendency to hug the outer line, things got a little interesting! I think I almost took out a biker, a pedestrian and ran over the curb a couple times while turning left.... luckily, nothing bad happened, but there were a LOT of close calls. It was a good thing we opted for the automatic. Had we gotten the manual I would have either been doing all the driving myself or have had to teach both the boys how to drive stick... on the left side. Honestly, I think it would have been a bit too much!

We also took an island tour around the Phi Phi Islands which included snorkeling! That was my favorite part, since every time Id been snorkeling before, it was either too dark, too murky or there just weren't any cool fish! This time, though, was fantastic.... especially for those of us who don't need glasses to see farther than 3 feet (sorry guys!).

The boys also went to a Muay Thai (aka Thai Boxing) match, which they said was really interesting. I guess there were a few matches at the beginning with little kids fighting! Supposedly they start out early and stick with it for life. They said the kids were even more vicious than the adults!

While we were there, we ran into a dutch guy who has owned a restaurant there for awhile. We ended up talking about the tsunami and how it impacted the island. He said that the residents themselves dont talk about it much and dont seem as affected or sad as we might think they would. According to him, Patong Beach was getting really dirty and trashy with all the tourists and the food carts all over the beach. When the tsunami it, it washed everything away and, according to the people there, its actually cleaner and better now than before. I guess it just needed a good washing! He told us that some people died, and of course that was sad, but that the residents accept the tsunami as something natural that just happens sometimes. I thought that was really interesting. Im sure the situation was different in other places, though.

Over all, and despite our adventure in actually getting to Thailand (we got stuck in Beijing for 24 hours... nightmare to say the least) and the atrociously hot and humid weather in Bangkok, the trip was glorious and a much needed and much appreciated vacation!

My Ring!

A one carat ruby set in a silver band, with cubic zirconium on the sides. I was told you NEVER EVER set diamonds in silver.... interesting. Whatever. No one but an expert would be able to tell that they arent diamonds set in white gold, so Im happy! By the way, this is NOT an engagement ring. Its just a birthday present from Adam. Although I do wear it on my ring finger since its the only finger it will fit on, and people at work already think we're engaged so its convenient in that sense...

The reason this all came about is because on our last day in Thailand (Bangkok), we decided to go to the Grand Palace to check it out, take pics etc. But as we were nearing an older gentleman walked up and asked me if thats where we were going. I replied that it was and he said that unfortunately the palace was closed in the morning because it was a national buddhist holiday. However it was to be open at 1pm for tourists and foreigners. In the meantime, we should take advantage of the holiday cuz all the other temples were free to visit (where they would cost on other days). We should take a government sponsored "tuk tuk" (ie. glorified motorcycle that carries 3 people in the back) for 40 Baht (about 1 dollar) that would take us to all the temples we wanted for as long as we wanted. He then told us about how this one week was the week that the export jewelry shops had a special deal going on. This one week they were selling not to companies, but opened their doors for personal buyers.... ie, normal people for promotion. What they would do is sell it to you at cost, before the 200% - 500% tax was put on them to sell to companies. This means you could get jewelry for about a 5th of the price sometimes!!! So what people do is come and buy a nice set for about $3,000 and when they get back home, sell it to a jewelry store for up to $7,000! Not only did they just get a free trip, but they made money on top of it!! Some Thai students who study abroad pay for their education this way as well. Its incredible! We're definitely thinking about saving up some cash for the next time this happens. We could make a lot of money, or just get a free vacation. Anyway, we hadnt really planned on buying any jewelry, but the tuk tuk driver would get gasoline coupons for bringing us there, so since he was really nice and helpful and he needed the gas, we said ok.

Ok, Im getting ahead of myself. That happened to be our last stop, so Ill back up and fill you in on the inbetween events. The nice guy who stopped me at the beginning happened to be a law professor at the Bangkok University, spoke excellent English and not only mapped out the whole day for us, gave us information, but also made sure we got into a governmnent sponsored tuk tuk (they were only out that day specifically for taking tourists around and showing off the temples!). It was awesome! When we got to another temple a Belgium guy started talking to us and giving us loads of information about the temples, different areas of the city, and ALSO told us about the export stores.... then at the next temple ANOTHER middle aged thai started spouting off all this info and told us about the export stores.... we were a bit creeped out in the end by all this, especially since it was all completely unprovoked! We were starting to wonder if we had giant signs on our foreheads that said "Stupid Tourist. Please Educate." It was really weird...

Anyway, like I said, we ended up at the jewelry shop only planning to look at stuff and make sure our tuk tuk driver got his gas coupons. However, when we started looking at the stuff, a lot of it was absolutely gorgeous and when they mentioned they had stuff in silver too and that it was much cheaper, my ears perked up! Thailand specializes in rubies and sapphires since theyre mined there and so that was their largest selection. I loved both but when I saw this one ring, I fell in love. we looked at the price and it was about 6,000 Baht which is about $150. The guy then told us that it would sell for about $500 in America! Adam then turned to me and said, Happy Birthday, and paid for it right there! I was so surprised!! And very very happy! Aaron also bought a ring for his boyfriend, Tsukasa, which was also really nice.

The tuk tuk driver then wanted to take us to a silk export shop since he got coupons there too, and we agreed. I didnt get anything there, but Adam got about 3 silk ties for about $12!

Anyway we had a great time, ended up with awesome pictures and some cool gifts! All in all it was an incredible day.

The flight back was all in all uneventful, mostly due to the fact that Adam shared a couple of his sleeping pills with Aaron and I so we all slept like the dead on the way back. For sure the fastest flight Ive ever been on!!! Although, I was still recovering from my terrible sunburn (basically an outline of my bikini top... ie the cleavage area, and my shoulders too) so I was flaking off all over my clothes and was extremely itchy. The boys kept making fun of me for looking dangerously diseased and even more so when I would scratch at it and flakes of skin went fluttering all over (seriously disgusting!). Aaron said that if I was a super hero, my flaking ability would be an excellent super power.... a couple scratches and POOF! Id disappear in a cloud of dead skin and could make my getaway! We giggled about this for awhile in our exhausted delirium and when I asked then what my super hero name would be Adam blurted out "super crinkly ass......" ewwww.... I personally thought "super flake" would be better... or maybe "super crinkle".... whatever. It was funny at the time and kept us amused for the rest of the waiting period before our flight.

And now here I am at work, with a mound of homework to correct, the warm sping breeze blowing lightly in from the window behind me, and things are back to normal. Ill fill you all in on some of the middle of the trip (ie. parts Aaron didnt mention) and put pictures up as soon as I get the rest from him.

So stay tuned!

Thailand News Coming Soon!!

Hey all! Well Ive been thinking about writing a blog about our adventures here in Thailand while we're here, but Aaron beat me to it and his is acutally much funnier than I could have ever made it! Sooooo, Im promoting his instead. Please go to his link on the right side of this page titled "Aaron's Blog" or go to this site http://furio1981.blogspot.com

WARNING!! He uses colorful language at times and I would NOT recommend it for anyone disapproving of raunchy subjects. Its hilarious though and I love it. So, there's my disclaimer.

By the way, Adam bought me a gorgeous ruby ring for my birthday!!! Ill post pics up as soon as I get back!

Easter Pictures of My Lil' Cousin!

Julia with her mommy (Heather)!


















With her daddy (Bill)!












Tryin' out her legs??















I sure hope my future baby is this cute!















Big smile!!




















"Ahhhhh.. Wait.... what was that again?"

Sakura, Sakura, la la la la...

Unfortunately, I dont know the rest of the words to the song above... Oh well. Anyway, March did not cease to be interesting and in fact, it continued right on into April! The first few days we had a couple of visitors from Ishikawa come and stay with us. I met Shaffer in the Seattle orientation and we became friends there. He brought his friend Scott with him for a few days of spring vacation to enjoy Nara and go sight seeing.

So the first day they got here we went on the "temple tour" of Nara which of course included the Todaiji Temple and the famous (yet quite mangy) deer. Shaffer felt the urge to feed these creatures and then realized why that wasnt such a splendid idea after all! They're like goats in the sense that they'll eat ANYTHING, and I mean that literally. We found one deer chewing methodically on a plastic bag... and then another knawing on the metal chains... It was very sad and evident that something was wrong in the deer community, especially considering how much they get fed by tourists and how fat they are. Strange...



Anyway, we had a lot of fun with them and are now determined to visit them in Kanazawa up on the Ishikawa penninsula. Shaffer will most likely have a house party soon, which should be a lot of fun since he lives pretty much on the beach!!

Classes are starting this week and I'll be starting on Monday! Finally! I have all new JTE's and I think it will be a wonderful year. In Japanese schools teachers can be switched to different schools with no more than a couple days notice. Usually this isnt a huge problem, but sometimes they'll be switched to another city a few hours away. In these cases, I think they have to just pick up and move, they dont really have a choice in the matter. Kind of strange to me. And every year teachers teach a different grade level and are in charge of different activities etc. (always within the same subject of course). However, since the arrangement in the teachers room (staff room) is arranged according to which grade level you teach, they have to switch desks as their assignments are different. One would think that they would jsut pack up their things and switch desks with someone else, but no, thats not how it happens. They actually MOVE THEIR DESKS! It was the craziest thing Ive every seen! A whole half hour of utter chaos as desks were moved into the hall, vacuum cleaners were sucking up dust bunnies left and right, and other desks were scooted from one end of the room to the other. I tried to take a picture with my cell phone camera, but it didnt turn out so great.

So, after all that, I have a new neighbor sitting next to me! He's a big guy with 70's style glasses, and thinning hair. Definitely does not look like a standard math teacher! His English though, is really good which is a nice change, although I kept thinking he sounded exactly like the Godfather when he talked (even kinda looks like a japanese godfather..). This was even funnier when he told me that his favorite English movie was The Godfather! He told me he watches them all the time and practices his English etc. I think hes watched the movies a little too often.

Last weekend we celebrated Hanami which literally translates to "flower viewing" in honor of the cherry blossoms that are now in full bloom! We first went to Yoshino Mountain in southern Nara which is really famous for its Sakura blossoms. But, it was too cold there and they werent in full bloom... darn. That didnt stop us from having a good time though and we rented a little platform overlooking the whole mountain. It was still beautiful and the weather was really nice. We had a huge spread of food and drink. Unfortunately, as the drink was consumed the voices got louder, our laughter more raucous and I think we drove away the couple next to us.....oops! They also have special icecream this time of year. Cheery blossom flavor, mountain vegetable flavor, chestnut flavor, which were all delicious believe it or not! (Yes, I splurged and tried them all.... hey, it was a special gastronimic experience I couldnt pass up!) I forgot my camera that day, though, so I bought a disposable one which I will develop, put on a CD and then transfer to my shutterfly... Ill let you all know when that happens!


But, I did bring my camera on Sunday, our second day of Hanami! This time we went to the Takada River which is lined with Sakura trees! It was gorgeous and Ill put some pics up to show. Aaron went a little nuts with his picture taking, so there are many "artistic" ones of me, and of Adam and I.


Most of them turned out good, and the others just made me feel pale and fat...ugh...oh well! Anyway, the weather was nice and warm and the people-watching was EXCELLENT!! I dont think Ive laughed so hard in months!! There werent as many people there that day, only Adam, Sam, Aaron and I. But whatever! I think it was better that way!




Sam and Aaron looking as cute as always!!









OK, just look at this guy... Adidas jacket with cowboy boots?? We dubbed him Green Sock guy... He had on green striped socks underneath these cowboy boots!







This lady... I dont know... I think she was going for the Cher look with her pants... Ridiculous!








One of the few artistic pictures Aaron took of my and my favorite! Im laying my back under the sakura tree--very happy and at peace!







One of the many trees that look like cotton candy! Breathtaking! Too bad the sky wasnt very blue!







Lit up at night, they had more of a mysterious beauty.