only 15 more minutes to go.  i'm getting exciiiiiited.

see you all in 36 hours.

In the last 9 minutes of work before the last day of work for the next three weeks during which I will return to Canada, the excitement is building. I CAN'T WAIT!!! I know it will be over in a flash but I can't do anything about that so I might as well enjoy every minute. Vacation, family, friends, and vegetarian friendly restaurants, here I come.....

I remember arriving in Tokyo, terrified and starving: two small town prairie folk in the geographic centre of the biggest city in the world, surrounded by thousands of restaurants we didn't know how to work.  Sushi, ramen, okonomiyaki, sashimi, udon, yakitori, yakiniku, unagi, umeboshi, onigiri - we didn't even know the words, let alone the vegetarian option.  There was McDonald's, of course, but I refused to let us eat there, so we walked and starved until finally we managed to order some crappy noodles which had fish sauce on them in spite of Nancy's best effort otherwise.

That was a year ago.  Now we know all those words, what they are, and that Nancy can eat almost all of them if done right.  We've learned to play taiko drum, done tea ceremony and origami, been to matsuri, visited serene waterfalls and insanely, retarded cities.  We've made friends from all over the world, experienced a life that simply does not exist in Canada.  We've drank coffee in the mountains of Vietnam, lounged on the beaches of Indonesia, shopped in the department stores of Osaka. 

The past year has a dreamlike quality to it.  It's hard to believe that it was me and Nancy at the top of that volcano, in the middle of that shipwreck, motorbiking through those coffee plantations.  I feel really lucky right now, and even though I'm glad to be coming home, I'm glad its not for good.  Not yet anyway.  Not until it sinks in that this is real, that its because we got on that plane, went out there and got terrified.

What a great weekend! I finally learned how to surf.  With the help of a friend of a friend, I stood up and road a wave all the way into shore.  It's like riding a bike, I think.  Now I'll never forget.  Nancy isn't far behind, either.  I figure three more days and she'll be in like Flynn. 

We went camping with a bunch of Japanese people.  Mari-chan from drumming invited us.  We brought our djembe and there were three or four madahls down at the beach, so we had a few jam sessions.  We had a bbq and surfed and slapped mosquittoes. 
 
We spoke Japanese the entire weekend.  There was an English teacher there, but she spoke Japanese to us, which was really cool of her.  It gave me more confidence with my Japanese.  

I am trying to study kanji right now, but every time I learn one I just turn around and forget it.  In one ear and out ther other, or rather, migi kara hidari.  Its hard, but I have to stick it out.  Just like riding a bike.

I haven’t told a crazy Japan story in a while, so here goes.

Yesterday’s school lunch was a big bowl of rice, a big bowl of cold ramen (or reiman, as it’s called) a salad and a piece of watermelon. Holy carbohydrates Batman! Am I right?

It was way too much food for me to eat. I stuffed in as much as I could, told the kids I couldn’t eat anymore, and dumped the leftover rice into the garbage. A few minutes later the homeroom teacher came in and started in with the ganbattemashos.

“Come on kids, try your best! You can do it! Stuff that face! Eat that rice!”

The poor kids could barely look at their food, let alone eat it, but eat they did, until every last grain of rice was gone. I’ve seen this happen before where the kids go and throw up into the toilet afterward. I don’t think anyone threw up this time, but there were a lot of stomach aches going around.

Anyone else think this is a little bit strange?

It’s the final countdown, da da da da, da da da da da, da da da da, da da da da da da daaa daaadada da da da daaaaaaaa da da daaaaaa.

Next week me and Nancy will be taking yasumi from all our clubs in order to prepare for the big trip. It’ll be a much needed break. All this Japan is making me thirsty. Then its off to the airport, followed by 28 hours in air transport hell, followed by – yee ah hoo! – Canada.

Friends, family, bbq, steak, baked potatoes, deer sausage, frisbree, grass, open space, more than one species of tree, cheap fruit, forks, knives, big salads, no mayonnaise where there shouldn’t be mayonnaise, edible pizza, normal people, a language I can understand, football, ice hockey (I sure hope someone remembered to tape the flames games), swimming in the lake, the big, muddy South Saskatchewan, blazing sunsets, cowboy hats, oversized tires on trucks that don’t look like wind-up toys, golf, Wranglers, people who don’t wear polka dots and stripes at the same time, sidewalk cafes, Mexican food, dance clubs, the wind in my hair and the sun on my face and lots more stuff that I can’t wait for.

Ya! Only 8 more sleeps until we leave. Because of the time difference, we will arrive on the same day that we leave even though the trip totals 28 hours. I am not looking forward to the never-never land of airplane travel. Plus, I get so carsick, trainsick, and planesick. Since our adventure home includes all of those means of transport, I may not be in the best of shape when we arrive. Just a warning to those of you who will be picking Jon and I up at the airport.

We are busy packing and preparing our gifts and things. I am feeling slightly stressed out as we have a lot to do and not so much time to do it in. At least it makes the time go by faster. See you really soon!

I don't know if we told anyone this yet, but Nancy and I have retired from taiko drumming. It was fun while it lasted, but we were starting to get the feeling that we didn't belong. One of these things is not like the other, you know? Mainly they were all frumpy, grumpy middle-aged women, and we weren't.

So now we're in a new drumming group, with the cool dude from the coffee shop in Togano. Mind you, he's middle-aged as well, but he isn't frumpy (in fact, Nancy thinks he's hot) and he isn't grumpy and he goes to Indonesia every year to buy drums. The taiko ladies probably never did that.

Our new drumming group has singing, too. So we get to learn a little bit of the culture and speak Japanese. The one song goes "anta gata doko sa..." and the other one goes "shabondama tou unda..." They're nice folk songs about rabbits and soap bubbles and stuff.

Drumming also has cute Japanese boys (for Nancy to look at) and cute Japanese girls (for me to look at). Jokes, jokes, all jokes (^_^). I only like to look at Nancy.

What else, what else?

Well, it's hot and humid as shit (ew, wierd mental picture there, sorry). My hair is poofy and curly as shit (whoops, there I go again) and I'm sweating like crazy (lets end the shit jokes now, before things get out of hand). Which is to say its perfect beach weather. Nancy and I are going to head down to Irino tomorrow night, try to sleep a little in our furnace - oops, I mean Japanese tent - then get up early and catch some waves. When it gets too hot we'll have a nap in the shade, maybe read a book and cook some food, then back for more waves. After that is anybody's guess. Anybody?

i had an amazing time this last weekend. jon and i went to the beach and surfed until we couldn't surf anymore. we even have the sunburns to prove it. however, with a little aloe gel, that should be cleared up in no time. after surfing and swimming for hours, we had a bbq with great food and great friends. it was followed up by falling asleep to the sound of the waves and waking up to more heat, sunshine, and swimming. what is greater!?! i love being at the ocean. i can't wait to do it again next weekend!

by the way, now we know if you are really reading our blog or not.

ha ha ha ha ha

Great news...

The air siren that rings everyday promptly at 6 a.m., 12 p.m., and 5 p.m. and in any other country would signal an evironmental emergency, has been changed to this 5 minute rendition Japanese traditional song. In Canada, it would be like playing a slow version of Old McDonald for 5 minutes at an insanely high volume.

At least I won't have a heart attack every morning at 6...

The blog has a new look. You can add comments by clicking on the comment link at the end of each entry. Soon we'll be firing crappy pictures onto the blog from our cell phones, decent pictures from the digital camera. The matrix is good, Neo. Go with it.