There's no place like home

Where to even start…maybe a little over a week in the office with very few things which actually need to be done will provide me with the just the opportunity I need to catch up. It would be really nice to start the “new year” (as far as my JET contract is concerned) up to date and all ready to chronicle the next adventure. [**That plan sort of worked. I wrote all of the text and uploaded it. I didn't add any photos or publish it until now, September 19, 2008. School started and I have been too distracted by past seasons of Project Runway to finish what I started so diligently almost a month ago.]

August 2-16, 2008 already feels like a distant memory. My time at home was such a nice, clean break from my life in Japan. The differences were immediate after stepping off the plane in San Francisco. The immigration official didn’t even bother to answer my “good morning,” and I waited almost an hour for my bag to appear on the conveyor belt. Once I had my bag, customs went quickly, until I rounded the corner to re-check my bag to Phoenix. There was a Disneyland-esque line snaking in front of the four open check stands. The line took another hour, preventing me from catching my scheduled flight. The whole time, the baggage handlers yelled across the crowd and stood around idly. Welcome home!!

The gorgeous Sonoran desert, home sweet home.

Phoenix looked almost exactly as I left it. Riding home from the airport, I felt like I had just woken up from a strange Rip Van Winkle nap, rather than actually having spent a whole year in a foreign country. The presents in my bag assured me that I was indeed conscious and living in Japan for a year. Phew.

Things got off to a good start with a late lunch at Chipotle. I didn’t eat nearly enough tortillas while I was home. Jet lag hit hard my first night, and I was passed out on the couch at 7:30 PM. I moved to my bed and slept for 14 hours. The next night, I fell asleep a little bit later, but woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. Just when I was getting used to Arizona time, we left for my cousin’s wedding in New Hampshire.

Friends and family aside, the three best things about going home:

1) Clear blue pool to swim in.

2) Huge fridge full of food that I didn't have to buy. (Really, what kind of nerd takes a picture of a fridge?)

3) La comida de Mexico!

The wedding and New Hampshire were both really lovely. It was the first time in about 10 years that almost all of my mom’s side of the family was together. And the cake was delicious.
New Hampshire was much the same as when we were last there, sometime when I was in high school. The weather cooperated for the most part, and we did some nice hikes, stargazed, ate homemade ice cream and scrumptious pancakes, and enjoyed all of the greenery. Everyone was feeling nostalgic and talks of a reunion every 5 years or so are in the works. Count me in.

ハイキング！

My family cleans up pretty well, don't you think?

チョウ　カワイイ　church where my cousin got married.

The beautiful bride, Anna and her husband, Mike. Congradulations!!!

Andrew and I reliving the old times on Trot-Trot. We used to fit a bit better than we do now.

Back to AZ. Less than a week to go shopping in stores with sizes to accommodate curvy persons, eat all the food I missed with all the people I missed and swim in the pool. That may not sound like a whole lot, but I was really busy. Linda came to see me, and we spent quality time scouring the sale racks of our favorite bargain haunts, Target and Old Navy, and working on our tans. Before I knew it, I was crying at the airport on the morning of the 16th. I wouldn’t get back to Japan until 8 PM on the 17th, and I was not looking forward to the trip. Once again, SFO proved to be a problem, and I spent an additional two hours there waiting for the plane to take off.

Linda and I conquer hiking in the desert in August and the self timer on my new camera. Is there anything we can't do? I think not.

Initially, I was not too excited to be back in Japan. But since Monday [8/18], I have mostly recovered from my jet lag, eaten Naoko-sensei food, and experienced some of the outstanding customer service that I missed so much while at home in the States. I have also mapped out my vacation days, and the weather has been eerily nice the last two days. I think these are all good signs, which confirm my initial reaction about being back: the weirdest thing was how not weird it felt to be here.

Yukata

My last weekend in Japan before my trip home, I went to a festival in Omuta with Keizo and Allison. While we all wanted to see the dragon floats and mullet-ed denizens of Omuta, I think the main reason we went was to eat all of the great festival food--takoyaki (battered octopus balls), yakinikku (grilled meat on a stick), potato fry (French Fries) and kakigori (shave ice). I also wanted to wear my new yukata that I had bought with Jamie a week or two before.

Yukata, or summer kimono, are very popular during the summer festival season. Naoko-sensei, calligraphy teacher/cook extraordinare taught me how to tie the belt and Allison helped me get the bottom all even before we headed out. While it looks nice, you can only imagine how hot it gets with your legs wrapped together, mummy style. And since you have to mince your steps, not a whole lot of air flow is created when you walk. It was fun for a night, but I am quite relieved I don't have to wear something like this all the time.

The End of an Era

Allison left Japan for the foreseeable future on July 28th, bringing the tremendous trio down to a dynamic duo. While Jamie and I may find new people to share our dessert and purikura passion, it will never be the same.

We needed to finish strong, so after the “Sayonara Party” for Allison and Johnathan, we went to Hagen-Daz for ice cream and ended the night with two sets of commemorative purikura. The mad skillz (multiple poses, sultry expressions, and fast draw decorating) acquired over the course of the year really help take these to a whole new level.

Baby Rice

As soggy and moldy June is, it is essential to the Japanese way of life because it is when the rice is planted. After biking past fallow fields since the harvest in late October, it was nice to see little green shoots sticking out of the ground again. But they did not stay little for long! I experienced a strange sense of pride at their growth; strange because I had absolutely nothing to do with the planting.

When the rice is young, you can see the muddy paddy and standing water between the plants. The fields become tiny eco-systems, full of snails and frogs, and of course the long-legged birds that like to feed on them. At night, the frogs are audible from my apartment.

When it is sunny, the water reflects the blue sky and clouds.

Sunsets are twice as nice, mirrored in the standing water.

[Note: Before heading home at the beginning of August, there was still some space between the plants. Upon returning however, the paddies closest to my apartment are solid green, and the rice is about 6 inches higher than I remember it being last year!]