Straight Hair

Hard to believe that two short weeks ago, for about 36 hours, my hair looked like this:

That's Yasu on the right, the man with the magic (a.k.a. a professional straight iron and about four times as much patience for straightening hair than I have.)

And now it's back to it's normal nest-y appearance. I think once the summer sweat fest is over, I am going back to chin length or so again. What's the point of long hair if I am never going to do anything to it except sleep on it wet and then put it up when I see the resulting mess the next morning?

News Flash!!

At 5 PM on July 7th, 2008 the current temperature in Kurume is 91 degrees Farenheight. With 63% humidity, Yahoo Weather says it feels like 104 degrees Farenheight!

No wonder Allison said she felt like she was in Mexico while we were biking home.

No wonder I was a sweaty mess after teaching four classes of "actions" (stand up, sit down, walk, run, stop etc) in un-airconditioned classrooms on the 3rd floor.

It's officially hot now, and don't want anyone trying to tell me otherwise.

おたんじょうび おめでとう アメリカ！！

Happy Birthday America!!! How 4 Americans, one New Zelander and one very out-numbered Japanese person celebrated the 4th of July.


It all started several months ago--I was over at Dave's apartment, and he was showing me the newly cleaned grill sitting un-used on his patio. We were both thinking the same thing, that it was about time for a barbecue! However, many weeks passed and it took the combined birthdays of my glorious motherland (July 4, 1776)



and the handsome Keizo (July 7, 1981) to actually make it happen.



Last Thursday I sent Dave a text message asking if had plans for the weekend, and if not, would he be interested in a 4th of July barbecue? I had also causually mentioned the barbecue to Allison and Jamie, so it's a good thing that Dave wasn't busy. We decided that after a tiring week at school, it would be better to have our little potluck on Saturday rather than Friday; and hey, with the 16 hour time difference, we would be partying right along with heartiest of the 4th of July revelers at home! I had already made tentative plans to celebrate Keizo's birthday with him on Saturday, but why not just combine the two?

Preparations got underway in my apartment Friday night, when I went out in search of ingredients for "Mocha Ooey Gooey Cake." I found most of them, although the box of chocolate cake mix was much smaller than the ones I know from home, and there was no instant chocolate pudding mix to be found. I substituted regular pudding mix and added some melted chocolate bar. These ingredients with some butter and eggs form the bottom layer of the cake. The top layer consists of cream cheese, more butter, more eggs, strong coffee and powdered sugar. These were all readily available at "Amusement Food Holes," one of the more upscale grocery stores on the main road near my apartment.

I started baking on Saturday morning after being rudely awoken at 7:45 AM by an army of landscapers. I am awake and practically out of the house by 7:45 AM on any other day of the week...WHY DID THEY COME ON A SATURDAY?? I was not a happy camper, but in retrospect it probably was for the best, as there is a lot to do to get ready for a party. I had the first layer of the cake in the pan and had blended the second layer into creamy goodness when I realized that the proportion of bottom to top was way off--nor would all of the top layer fit in my small pan without serious overflow. So I used about half of it, and the rest is sitting in my fridge, waiting for another half of a cake to cover. I haven't baked in ages, so I was a bit worried about the results, but how could so much sugar and fat taste bad? Plus, I made sure to serve it with ice cream, so that any unsavory parts could be covered up by more sugar and fat. No one complained.

Going into the oven. Unfortunately, I was too slow to capture the few moments the finished product was adorned with glowing candles.


After the cake, I started on the potato salad. Nothing too extraordinary there, just good, old American barbecue side dish. I am pretty excited to eat the leftovers this week. Then it was lunch, a trip to the 100 yen store for some decorations, and some vaccuuming. Keizo told me he was going to come over at 5; but he walked in the door at 4:30. As a result, I wasn't quite ready for him and he had to decorate for his own party. Kinda lame. But at least the party itself was a surprise!

Everyone was told to come over around 6 for delicious eating. Jamie was there, but Allison, Dave, and Dave's downstairs neighbor Murray, were all missing. Jamie left and came back, Allison returned from an afternoon of shodo, and around 7:30 Dave and Murray came over with the burgers and to rescue Keizo from the intimidating trifecta of hungry, noisy girls. Let's just say, the burgers were definitely worth the wait!

OMG! Delicious!!


After the burgers, cake and ice cream, it was time for the fireworks. When Dave went out to buy charcoal for his grill, I asked him to see if he could find some sparklers. He came back with what looked a bit like sparklers, but packed a whole lot more punch. The picture on the back of the bag showed them sticking out of an empty bottle, but we had not ventured outside prepared. Jamie stuck one in the ground and lit it. It shot up, over Keizo's car and straight towards the neighbor's window with a shower of sparks and incredibly lound BANG! at the end. We decided to move to an area with more room for the rest of the pack, which we split between the rice fields and a nearby park. As far as we know, fireworks are completely legal, hence the relative ease Dave found them, but I am still surprised no police were called to investigate.

The night ended with some hose spraying, and watching the New Zealand/South Africa rugby match in Murray's apartment. I asked Keizo what he thought of the party and my friends. His only comment was directed at Jamie and Allison, and it was "Are they always like that?"

Yes, yes they are. Happy Birthday!!

Rain, rain go away...

There’s hardly any point in reading the weather report for the whole month of June. It’s pretty much guaranteed that you will get rained on everyday. Welcome to tsuyu! Hope you have a kappa (condom-like, non-breathable, rubber suit to wear while biking, which may or may not keep you dry)

With rain coming down in sheets, severely limiting visibility and flooding the roads, it may seem like a less than opportune time to rent a car and test one’s ability to drive on the opposite side of the road. Blame our soggy brains, but the usual trio of intrepid explorers thought otherwise. True, I was very reluctant at first---but two wet weekends confined in my apartment made me change my mind. There’s only so much poorly whitewashed wall and tatami mat that can be appreciated before going insane. Let’s go!! Anywhere but here…

Starting out, looks like it's going to be a wet one to me!!
Luckily, Japan as a whole and Kyushu to an even greater extent, is pretty small. A few hours drive can take you to an entirely different prefecture and offer a glimpse of a completely different way of life.

Small car for a small country with small roads.
Different Area 1: Miyazaki-ken. In a nutshell--hilly, redicuously green, rivers at full capacity and swollen waterfalls, a random hostel and delicious cuisine.

Our main destination in northern Miyazaki-ken, Takachiho Gorge. What we might have seen in nicer weather...

...and the brown sludge we actually did see. The biggest disappointment? No boat rides. Next, we drove around to get a feel for the area. We stopped for a brief snack and consulted a poorly drawn tourist map to determine the next sights on the agenda. We picked a waterfall and senic overlook called something like "Sea of the Clouds." Since it was rainy, we thought it would be pretty impressive. The waterfall turned out to be way better.

The road to the watefall trail head was narrow and wind-y. I felt like I manuevered our little car over at least 2 huge mountains in the process. We chose Justin Timberlake for the soundtrack during this portion of the adventure, and thought we were probably the first people ever to listen to his music on this particular stretch of road. Taking "internationalization" to a whole new level.

We parked in a deserted parking area and took our umbrellas along for the very soggy hike to the waterfall. Water was running down the concrete stairs and it was rather slippery. Luckily no one slipped, and the somewhat precarious trip was definitely worth it. The waterfall, which looked pretty in the brochures was swollen from all of the rain and shooting out of its crevasse with a loud roar.

Not your typical hiking look.

This picture hardly does the watefall justice. Imagine an intense roaring sound and lots of spray.The "Sea of Clouds" lookout was the next stop. It was pretty, but nothing like the photos which showed thick blankets of clouds at sunset.

Yay for the self timer on Jamie's camera.Lots of driving, and a few u-turns later, we arrived at our odd little hostel at the edge of an odd little town that was already in the middle of nowhere. The building reminded me of my summer camp counselor days. The entrance opened up into a huge common room with a long table down the middle and a basketball hoop on the wall. There was an industrial kitchen behind the front desk and two hallways leading back to the rooms. The room looked like every other Japanese style hostel room I have ever stayed in, but the bathroom was an odd configuration and had the tiniest sink I have ever seen. The lovely proprietors, recommended a local izakaya for dinner and we set out to enjoy chicken namban, the local specialty of the region. A simple description is chicken tempura. I think the plate below cost 600 yen and tasted like twice that much.

After dinner we took in a odd play at the local shrine and headed back to the hostel for an early night. I think we were all showered and in bed before 10. There's really not that much to do in the inaka.

A final view of picturesque Miyazaki-ken before we head to Oita.

Totally different area 2: Beppu, Oita-ken--touristy with tacky themed steam vents.

Stop #1. Somewhat surreal monkey mountain. We hopped on a tram that took us up into the forest. We hadn't stopped yet when we saw the first "wild" monkeys. From what I understand, these monkeys are wild in the sense that they can walk away any time they want, but when you get fed three times a day by a man with a microphone, no one is going anywhere. The monkeys are very accostumed to humans, and you can get really close to them, as Jamie demonstrates below.

When it was feeding time, the monkeys came out of the forest in a disgusting rat-like surge, screaming and running all over one another and some small children that stood too close. It was a little disturbing in my opinion. The babies were incredibly cute though!!

Monkeys weren't the only animals we saw in Beppu. In the heart of the city are the famous "Hells" or natural steam vents that draw people from all over Japan to soak in their warm fabulousness. Since every steaming pond looks pretty much the same, enterprising people have added themes to a bunch of them, and for a special price, you can buy a booklet of tickets that admits you to each of them. We started out at the Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell) which had a lovely turquoise color and a quaint basket for boiling eggs sticking in it. While some hot springs are acutally this color, Lonely Planet informs me that the Sea Hell is dyed.

There were some mud spurting hells...

...and the graphically named Chi-no-ike Jigoku (Blood Pool Hell).

Even more shameful than dyeing the water were the "hells" which claimed the steamy temperatures were ideal for breeding exotic animals. It was really unfortunate to see very large animals like a hippo and an elephant in impossibly small quarters, but at the same time, I don't know when I will get to feed them again. That was kind of fun and really disgusting at the same time.

Hungry, hungry, hippo for real.

At the completely rediculous Oni-yama Jigoku (Devil's Mountain Hell) only trained professionals (i.e. a local high schooler earning minimum wage) were allowed to feed the animals, which were a variety of sullen looking crocodiles, caiman and alligators. The kid who feed them clearly loved his job and putting on a show, dangling raw chicken over a pool full of about 30 huge animals, causing them to climb on top of one another and smash into the concrete walls to get at a piece of the action. I could hardly watch the whole thing, convinced that he was going to lose an arm in the process.
We also made a brief stop at the Sex Museum, which was...an experience. The whole building was lit in soft pink light, and various dioramas and the porn theater made for an interesting soundtrack. The first floor was dedicated to small ceramic figurines in various positions, a large collection of wooden dildoes, and a section with life size replicas of large mammal genitalia. Upstairs was a collection of erotic prints with all of the crotches blurred out. If you are in Beppu and want to experience something other than the onsens, stop by. Do not however, make a special trip.

Thus concluded our brief weekend adventure that took us to two completely different areas of Kyushu via a completely different mode of transportation than we are used to. While we were in possesion of our little car with its fancy navigation system, we felt so adult and free!! Bad weather? Dark out? No problem!! We can conquer it all. As soon as we returned it to the rental place (conveniently within walking distance of the jutaku) we were reduced back to our normal, less glamourous and at times severely limited, bicycle riding selves. Sigh.