Asuka Photos

These are the photos I took the night I went to the light up at Asuka in Nara.

Takayama Photos

Photos from my trip to Takayama

Photos!

A Selection of England and Paris photos.

England and Paris Photos

Here is an album of most of the photos I took in England and Paris.

Takayama

So I’m hanging out in New Zealand now. It’s much warmer than where I live in Japan was when I left that’s for sure!!! Christmas and Boxing Day have been awesome and I am not less than a little sunburnt, oh well, we live and learn and wear sunscreen don't we?

But like I’ve said before I’ve got a thing or two to tidy up before I can describe my current travels.

A few weeks ago I went to Takayama with my wonderful Jamaican friend, Fay. Again, we went on yet another public holiday. We got up early in the morning for our 2 hour train journey there. Takayama sits just beyond Gifu’s border with Toyama on the Gifu side. It’s a very picturesque town famous for its beauty and its beef! I got me some amazing tasting beef and couldn’t be happier.

Takayama is a very traditional style town with rows of terraced houses come shops and the usual shrines and temples which is to be expected of any traditional Japanese town. As you can imagine I wasn’t only drawn there by the beef, though that was a huge part of it. I went there to engage in some temple-ing and some shrine-ing and some learning. I also went there by recommendation of my previously mentioned wonderful host family.

Takayama is an historical town on the Gifu side of the Gifu-Toyama border. It appears to have been one of the last bastions of the shogunate in the area at one stage and has some pretty awesome examples of traditional Japanese architecture, as well as being foreigner friendly. It was fantastic to be wandering around a town that had lots and lots of signs in English and where explanations in important places were written in both Japanese and English.

There is also, of course, the beef, oh the beef! It isn't as high quality as the wonderful and apparently extremely delicious Kobe beef but Hida beef is pretty darn good and I was quite willing to pay through the nose for it. The local rice balls on a stick coated in some sort of soy based sauce were also to die for. Food glorious food, that's all I am going to say just now.

I think the best way for me to describe Takayama is to put photos up. Coming soon once I work out how to do so from my Mac.

I am going to sign off there and go work out the photo situation.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and was neither lonely, nor cold, nor bored.

Happy Holidays!!!

Raewyn

Written 20 December 2009: Nara

I’m publishing this from NZ but am writing about my trip south from Toyama to Nara for part of what’s known in Japan as “silver week” a string of 2 or 3 public holidays in September that can become a decent long weekend if the weekend falls just before or during. As it happened this year Japan managed to get a 5 day weekend this year. I decided to use it to maximum effect and took a break to see my host family and decompress a bit.

I stayed at Grandma and Grandpa’s house again. A beautiful old style place in the Nara countryside, just gorgeous. I really love it there. It has a real “Japan” feel about it.

One of the holidays was Respect for the Aged Day, of course I knew that but didn’t really care. I think one should respect one’s elders at all times rather than needing a specific day to remember to do it. However, as per my usual manner on that day I got up and chatted to Grandma over breakfast while I waited for the others to arrive so that we could “respect the aged” by giving them their space. I hear that the simple act of me chatting with Ayako on Respect for the Aged Day made her day. My personal belief is that if you are staying with someone, using their toilet paper, you should at least talk to them!!! But she appreciated it, so all good. I also won by learning a small amount of Nara-ben (Nara dialect of Japanese) from Grandpa who seems to think I understand 100% of what he says. FYI I do not! But, I do my best, I guess from context and I pick out important key words. Generally I find that if I don’t at least try to figure out what they are saying I will never learn anything and I am all about learning from grandparents since I only had one and she only lasted 8 years of my life (God rest her soul).

That day was spent shopping. But the best part of my trip was on the first night of my 2 night stay. My host brother goes to high school in a really historic part of Nara and it happened to be having an illumination evening that night. The whole place was lit up with candles and lights. I got insight into ancient Japan!!! Heck I’m gonna go ahead and say it I went to ancient Japan. Asuka is the site of the former capital of ancient Japan. The oldest Japanese coin was found there. On the site of where the oldest coin was found they built a museum about the period which is immortalized (in a rather unreadable way) by the Manyo-shuu. The museum is largely devoted to the Manyo-shuu and the emperor has been there. I stood on the exact spot that he stood on and did what I always do, posed for a photo. I now have a record of me having stood where the emperor stood on the one night of the year that the Manyo Museum in Asuka is open to the public and free too. :D

We went to a famous temple or two along the way and visited the “Stone Stage”, actually a massive tomb, possibly for an ancient emperor.

I learned soooooo much about the history of Japan that night. No better way to learn about events and the importance of historical events than to go to the places where they actually happened. Just like there is no better way to learn a language than to immerse oneself in it and feel one’s way through.

I cannot stress enough how grateful I am to that family. They are always there for me. I know I can count on them if I ever need culture advice or just someone to keep me company in Osaka for the afternoon while I wait until an appropriate time to head off to the airport to catch a plane. Though, I do have to say that I have made the error of asking my host sister for advice on whether or not to buy an expensive item of clothing twice now, I really must learn that she will not stop me from buying it!

I do admit to being the proud owner of a Hello Kitty tartan scarf and a Hello Kitty hoodie. To quote the hoodie, “I love Hello Kitty and she loves me!”. There I said it, don’t dis me, Hello Kitty is the only name brand I can never resist. And that is a tangent for another day…

It’s Christmas in New Zealand for me. I hope everyone who reads this has an awesome Christmas wherever you happen to be.

Of Museums and My Sister's Cooking

23 July 2009

The last full day of my first trip to London. I say that because I know I will be going back.

I spent the day with my sister's boyfriend doing what he and I seem to do best museums and historical stuff. Being a bit of a history buff, especially when it comes to science and knowledge acquisition (as in how the ideas that we now consider conventional came about), going to the 3 major London museums (there are A LOT of museums in London!) was a must do while I was there.

We went to the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the British Museum (BM).

When we arrived at the Natural History Museum it was erm, incredibly crowded because it was school holidays and where better to spend your time than looking at dinosaurs really?? So we proceeded down the road a bit to the Science Museum.

The Science Museum was a bit of a children's playground despite being really well laid out and what could be seen as quite complex ideas being well explained. My sister's boyfriend is a primary school teacher and he questioned how much kids get out of a place like that if parents or teachers don't take the time to teach kids about the stuff they're looking at or playing with. I think he might be right. There seemed to be two types of parents, the ones that just let their kids look at stuff and the ones that were constantly talking to their children explaining things as they went, much like Dad used to do with my sister and I.

There was lots to interest me in that museum. DNA, Microscopes, old MRI Machines, Aero stuff, medical stuff, everything! It was awesome! There was a medical museum on one of the top floors which was largely empty. It had some of Lister's stuff and Pasteur's stuff and I went a little nuts. There were all sorts of microbiological artifacts that caused me to go a little geeky. However, I stumbled into the gaenecological (sp?!) section and decided that perhaps my cue to be less interested was upon me, some of that stuff looked painful! I found myself feeling lucky that I didn't live my adult life in the early 20th century or before that, that's for sure. Anyway, I got a little disturbed and decided it was better to get out.

Next was the Natural History Museum where another discussion about my non-commital views on evolution almost broke out. It was really crowded and quite full in there so we decided to skip the dinosaurs. It had everything you'd expect, Geology, Astronomy etc etc etc Biology and being the 150th Anniversary of Darwin's Theory of Evolution there was the obligatory exhibit about him. Very interesting. I even found a sign that said 'we are evolving' on the screen covering the area where they were creating a new exhibit.

The final destination for the day was the British Museum. It is the oldest public museum in the world having been opened to the public in 1759. It houses the Rosetta Stone and many many other ancient artifacts from all over the world. There was sooo much in it that was so amazing. The Rosetta Stone was much smaller than I imagined it would be learning about ancient history as a kid. Cleopatra was tiny! There were bits and pieces from all over the ancient world as well as from all over modernity. There was even an exhibition on Japan which allowed me to impart some of my own knowledge on the superb tour guide that is my sister's boyfriend.

However, the highlight of the whole day was the artifacts found in the Roman rubbish dump found at the border between England and Scotland. My sister's boyfriend had told me how incredibly interesting the pieces of 'paper' they had found in it were and I have got to say that he was right. They were incredible. Just reading the translations of some of the things written was enough to give more of an insight into Roman life, how they actually lived, their culture. It was just amazing!

I came away from the British Museum knowing that I have to go back there one day and thinking that I couldn't have asked for a better final full day in London. At least that's what I thought until dinner time.

Gosh darn it if anyone in my family can cook it has got to be my sister. We came home to a spectacular dinner of Wild Alaskan Salmon and Roast Vegies. They were as usual amazing. I do not know where she learned to cook but she sure does have a feeling for what goes well together and how to make it taste good. I think it is partially due to her having discovered organic veges since her move back to the UK but I'm not sure that's entirely it. I dunno, I just feel like she is just such a better cook than me. I bake, she cooks. That seems to be how it works. I make (and eat) cookies and cakes, she creates amazing meals. I'm the one who will get type 2 diabetes, she's the one who runs half marathons and will still be able to manage her weight effectively for as long as she lives. And yet I still sit here munching on rice crackers flavoured with sugar and plum...

My sister and I talked for ages that night. My flight was in the afternoon the next day while she was at work so I would say goodbye to her in the morning not being entirely sure when I will see her again. Such is the way our relationship works. We haven't lived in the same house as each other for more than 3 months at a stretch since I was thirteen but that doesn't mean that there aren't times when I wish she wasn't on the opposite side of the world to her. Time zones are interesting things.

My trip to the UK was amazing. Returning to Japan in time for the anniversary of my move here was also amazing. The jetlag was not cool but that's life. I don't think that trip to is going to be something that I forget easily, especially not that last dinner. Gosh darn it, my sister's cooking is just too good. Best part of the whole trip: Spending time with my family (yes that does include the boyfriend of the sister!) and eating the food my sister cooked for sure!

UK trip series over and out! Photos coming soon.

Raewyn

Of fantastic catching up with UK friends.

22 July 2009

I caught up with 2 of my awesome friends. One of whom had come down from to London from Liverpool to see me. The other who took his lunch late to catch up with the both of us.

It was a fantastic day. We met for lunch in a really pretty park and had this great catch up. Sounds like my friend who lives and works in London is determined to see as much of Europe as he can while he's on the visa that he has for 2 years. It was really cool to catch up and see someone who left NZ just after I did and has seen so much more of the world than me in the same amount of time. Though, it is easier and cheaper to get places from London than it is from Toyama so I'm not entirely surprised that he can do as much traveling as he does.

My other friend that I caught up with is a medical student in Liverpool who was in my Human and Medical Genetics class at uni, not to mention a really good friend before that too. She cruised on down to London for a day and a night mostly because I was there I do believe. So after lunch she and I headed off to Covent Garden to buy a present for my sister. On the way to Covent Garden this 22 year old guy working for World Vision as his summer job managed to flirt us into sponsoring a child, actually just my friend. I used to volunteer for them doing his job so I wasn't about to buy into it, besides I don't live in England and have suspended my donations to World Vision Children in Crisis indefinitely while I am in Japan. I do have to admit though that remembering that makes me laugh soooo hard. I wonder how that's going actually. Finally, I got her to sponsor a child, even if it took an English dude who was being paid by WV to actually convince her. ;-)

So, in Covent Garden, we went to the NZ grocery store and got some potato chips and L&P. The chips were for later with my sister but the L&P was for the drinking there and then. It was heaven and yet incredibly strange. There we were in one of the places that is seen as "quintessential" London drinking something that is "so" New Zealand. Very odd. I've got the coolest photo of the pair of us with our cans of L&P . L&P seems to be one of the things that I really miss from home. That and decent coffee but that is a story for another day.

It was a really chilled out day, reminiscent of weekends at uni when we either had no study to do or were procrastinating our butts off.

My sister really liked her gifts too which made me really happy. That lot was not cheap!

Of Boats and Bards

20 July

Today, my sister's boyfriend and I decided the weather was too nice not to go to Greenwich.

We checkout the old Naval School, 'The Queens House' which is an 18th century house near where Elizabeth the first had her palace.

We also looked at the Maritime Museum and Observatory. I learned a lot about England's Naval History, and through that quite a bit about NZ's as well. I also stood on the Prime Meridian with one foot in the East and one in the West. I learned about the history of time, navigation and space at the Observatory too. We managed to be both too early and too late at the same time for a show at the Planetarium so we grabbed some lunch. We also debated my non-commital beliefs over the history of the universe. I go by evidence yes but there are some things for which there is more than one hypothesis and both have their valid points ok! Lol.

After lunch, in a bid to evade the crowds, we decided to head to the Bank of England Museum. The Bank of England Museum is actually really awesome. It's about the history of money and banking which is of course really important to all of us. They have a real gold bar in there that you can try to lift up, weakling here could not do it one handed. They had exhibits about the economy and inflation too and we managed to win my sister a pin for being able to answer some questions to open a safe. Yay.

Fresh Pasta for dinner with homemade sauce by my sister. Oh my goodness amazing. Shame I can't get fresh pasta in Japan!

21 July

Today was Shakespeare Day.

After I went to see some books at the British Library I went to the Globe Theatre for As You Like It then Royal Albert Hall for an opera based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.

First up was the British Library. Home to a copy of every book ever published in the English language. They even have copies of misprinted bibles. The misprints completely change the meaning, for example in the "Sinner's Bible" where is says that 'thou shalt commit adultery' or the "Unrighteous Bible" which may have some truth in it to an extent when it says 'the unrighteous shall inherit the Earth'. There are also Bibles in the original Greek. There are originals of Shakespeare's manuscripts, Captain James Cook's diaries, King James' private library, not to mention my favorite thing in the whole place JANE AUSTEN'S WRITING DESK. It was amazing!!! The whole place was amazing. I could have spent all day there to be honest.

Alas though, I was booked for a play on the other side of the Thames at The Globe. As You Like It performed by the Globe Company was amazing. My seat was really good too. Right at the back of the lower gallery to the right hand side of the stage if you were facing it. People would have sat there for 2 pence in the 1600s. I sat there for 16 pounds I think. I had an uninterrupted view of the stage, apart from a pole which didn't block all that much. The play was really well done. I admit to having known nothing about As You Like It before I went but thoroughly enjoying it anyway. The principal actors really brought their characters to life and were brilliant with the witty puns and other jokes threaded throughout the work. The dude playing Touchstone was amazing with the speed at which he could crank out the jokes that his character constantly made. I was absolutely floored by the whole experience and can understand why a play at The Globe is a must do in London after that. I can also understand why I saw a rather famous and not quite so great looking in real life actor there too, brushed past him in the shop, ever so slightly star struck still.

After my Globe experience was 4 hours of A Fairy Queen at The Royal Albert Hall, one of 2009's BBC Proms. It was based on a Midsummer Night's Dream an included the whole of the play plus dancing and arias. It felt like it took forever. We had balcony seats with amazing views but it was hot up there. We got home at 1130pm and my sister was starting her new job the next day. Needless to say the length of it left her a little stressed and the rest of us exhausted. It was definitely worth the 13 pounds for the seats though and I would go to one of the BBC Proms again, provided I hadn't already had an amazing 2.5 hour play before hand.

My day of being literary was over all a very awesome day and I hope that I can have another day like that sometime. I'd love to spend more time in the British Library for sure and maybe go back to The Globe. It left me thinking, this is a place definitely worth visiting again. :D

Back to the Japanese study I go now.

Ciao.

Rae

Of Coffees, Shows and Oxford...

Hello,

I have realized once again how much money I don't have so am spending my weekend at home this weekend contemplating some cleaning and study but mostly catching up on Japanese Dramas online (to keep myself in the loop with my students, hello Tokyo Dogs and Samurai High School this afternoon) and on some British television which I have acquired thanks to an amazing friend. I was staring at my computer and TV screens most of yesterday doing very little so today I thought I would catch up another few days at a time of my UK and Paris trip which I returned from more than 4 months ago!

17 July

On the 17th of July I was still on my Paris high. It was time to get a haircut, purchase the world's best hair straighteners and see an awesome show.

The hair cut went really well I must say. She gave me a style that has worked for the whole of the last four months and still looked fabulous even when I can't be bothered styling it and as it has gotten longer. I only recently discovered some split ends but that can be blamed on more than 4 months of not having cut it. Hello hairdresser in NZ when I'm there.

I also had my first real coffee in a year. Yes, yes, I did. What a mistake! I had it after I'd had another coffee so it wound up being the second coffee in the space of 2 hours. Now everyone knows what effects coffee can have on people. In my case that day it had that effect and well let's just say I was in a crowded place and got just a little freaked out by the crowd, as can happen and had myself a minor melt down that my amazing sister helped me through. I got just a little bit over anxious I think. Too much coffee does that to me which is why I try to limit myself to one NZ strength coffee in a 4 hour space. The result was that my sister and I had the heart to heart that we'd been needing and worked out a thing or two about where I want to go and what I want to do with my future which was really really cool.

The place I got the coffee from Sacred Cafe in Covent Garden was amazing though. It was like stepping into a cafe from home. Seeing the salads that look (and taste) just like the ones in NZ supermarkets was awesome. The coffee, soy mochaccino (I can never work out how to spell that!) was perfect and I was in heaven! There was just something about that taste of home. Needless to say I went back that place just about every one of the remaining days I spent in London.

We had Italian for dinner just before the show we had tickets for. We went to see Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. It was amazing. Much better than the movie and I do have to say that the leads did the drag queen thing pretty well. It helped me get over my anxiety attack, by getting me singing along with the music and redirecting my panicky-ness to the very real fear of falling from the Gods where we were sitting, oh my goodness those seats were on one heck of a slope.

I definitely recommend going to see Priscilla, though, if you're in London, it's running and you can appreciate that kind of thing. We're talking Abba, Aretha Franklin and other showy music from that era.

The next day was up early to go to Oxford for the day.

July 18

We got up early to catch the train to Oxford from Paddington Station to catch up with my sister's friend from when she lived in China, someone whom I got to know when I was living in Wellington. She lives near Oxford and her father and sister both went there for university. It kind of made the University of Otago seem a little, well, not Oxford maybe.

The four of us had loads of fun attempting to punt before lunch. It's really hard. I eventually got the hang of it but was not so good at turning and kept almost falling into the water. Winner on that day was my sister's lovely boyfriend who managed to push us back to safety without landing in the drink. :D

I learned the rule in the UK about not being cheap when it comes to food. We ate at some random cafe and the steak, oh my goodness I have never had such a dry steak in my life. Eeew!

So we walked around Oxford a bit. It was around graduation time so there were a few people here and there taking photos for their graduations but not much else really. The buildings are amazing and I could really sense the history of the place. I really liked it. It especially liked stumbling upon an anti-research on animals protest. I'll admit to having considered arguing with them but then realised where I was and how many times my high school debating team used to win and how many times I'd given up on arguments of that nature since, so didn't. Would have been interesting though.

The protest was right outside a free science museum so we went in. My sister got horribly bored after 5 minutes but her boyfriend, our friend and I were really enjoying ourselves. I found a replica set of Leuwenhoek's (again not quite sure how to spell that off the top of my head) microscopes and got a little bit microbiology/microscope geekish on it. We then tested our abilities to draw a circle. Microbiologist/Political Scientist me scored 80%; Historian/Primary School teacher my sister's boyfriend also scored 80% and the winner on the day was our Zoologist friend who managed a stunning 85%. Well done to her!

We went for a drink at a tiny pub with another friend of my sister's briefly and then headed back to London for Thai Fusion for dinner.

Oxford is a really beautiful place. I really liked it and would love to visit again so long as it isn't the height of tourist season. The streets aren't really designed for loads of people and if you've been getting annoyed by tourists for the last week anyway it can be a bit much. I felt a little sorry for the people who live and study there to be honest. I remembered what it was like when people came to see Otago's clocktower and felt a little sorry for them because this was thousands of times worse and constant. But it is well worth a visit and a really nice place. And only an hour on the train from London.

19 July

Rest day.

Went to see Bruno at the movies with my sister. Biggest mistake ever! Do not watch it! It is not particularly funny. 'Nuff said.

And on that happy note I shall end this entry here and watch a movie about Salavador Dali, which I hear is actually good, to help me get rid of the bad memory that was Bruno, shudder! then do some Japanese study... maybe

Paris for a day!

Hi,

It's pretty chilly in Takaoka today, so I thought I'd write about a day where it was the complete opposite. 30+ degrees Celcius in Paris on July 16th. :-D

16 July

Today I went across the English Channel (actually under it) to continental Europe for the first time ever. I went to Paris for the day. :-D

My sister wrote me an itinerary so that I got all of the important bits in.

I left the house in London just before 6am and took a train from St Pancras International train station bright and early arriving in Paris 3 hours later at 11amish. I think hot footed it to the Notre Dame which I dared not enter due to a) time constraints and b) crowds! Nortre Dame was spectacular and Paris felt just like a painting.

The next stop was the Louvre where I spent 9 Euros to see 2 things, the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, and get annoyed with crowds. Sadly, I am just like my mother and cannot stand hordes of people. I don't know what it is. But anyway needless to say the Louvre, the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo were all spectacular as one would imagine. The experience was one of pure amazement.

After the Louvre I wandered through Jardine de Tuileries, a bunch of gardens, where I stopped for a crepe made in France by an English, French and Hindi speaking Indian. You can imagine my surprise right?? The chocolate, banana crepe was one of the best crepes I've ever eaten made all the better by the fact that I was sitting on the grass doing what I do best, people watching. People watching and eating, love it!

I then proceeded to walk up the Champs Elysses to Le Arc du Triomphe via Sephora, a cosmetics shop and I didn't not buy something but I didn't want to spend all my money either so I only spent 5 Euros. :-D That's pretty good for me in shopping heaven. So then I did the been there done that took the photo of the big arch and proceeded off to the most magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower that Paris has to offer from Le Trocadero. I got someone to take a photo for me.

I then wandered down to the Eiffel Tower and waited in line for over an hour to get my Youth Ticket up, I was still 24 for 2 more weeks so I was lucky there. Rushed up to halfway, bought some souvenirs took a few photos and got the heck outta here because I was on a time budget and needed to catch my train which ended up being nearly an hour late!

The sore feet and mild heat stroke that came from power walking around Paris was totally worth it. I'm so glad I decided to take a day out of my London holiday to go to Paris.

It occurred to me on the train on the way back that I've eaten on 6 continents. I think that's pretty cool. Only Africa to go. I even beat my sister who has been to a crazy number of countries. That made me feel good at the time but it's kind of made me just a tiny bit determined to go to Africa at some stage... 'tis only a matter of when I've paid off my student loan and save enough money I guess.

And with that I'm going to go and find a nice warm spot in Starbucks at the mall to study some more Japanese. Such is the life of the girl who has realized how tight she needs to be over the next few weeks if she wishes to enjoy her trip home and treat some of her friends in 4 weeks' time, darn you money!

Science and Politics, strange combo???

Hello Everybody,

Long time no write.

I have gotten slack again and there is no excuse! That trip was 4 months ago for goodness sake but I am not interested in talking about that today. There's a three day weekend this weekend and I intend to send a lot of money home for my next trip so erm hopefully over the next 4 weeks I will be too poor to leave my hour and get organised studying and getting this blog up to date.

What I've been thinking about a lot lately, since someone close to me is working right at this interface as of late, is this idea that science can be affected by politics. People who know me know that I was one of the few crazies at my university to combine the two. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology with a Genetics minor and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies with no minor but certain an Asia-Pacific focus given my background and where I come from. But I do think that science and politics are topics that for all intents and purposes should remain seperate. However, as we all well know, from both history and the current series of debates regarding stem cell research and such like, will never be able to remain so for very long even if we were able to find some way to split them up. No matter how hard we try the are that couple that shouldn't be together but can't stop getting into each other's affairs.

To attest to this I'd like to point to Galileo, persecuted for heresy by the Catholic Church (no offence to my Catholic friends intends!), the major political (no matter how much they tried to deny it) power at the time. I recent times The Vatican has apologised for such short sighted accusations, but as often happens with science it takes a while for a hypothesis to become the accepted theory.

To further attest to this I'd also like to point to Sir Joseph Banks, botanist, head of the Royal Society in the late 18th century and champion of all who wished to pursue knowledge. He and his mates at the African Society (I'm not 100% sure that's what it was called) pushed exploration into the heart of Africa for knowledge gaining purposes. Unfortunately, the French and the King of England got involved and they had to change their stance on not exploring for political gain. Banks firmly believed that science needed to remain free of political influence but, sadly, was unable to shy away from the occasional use of public funds and/or prevent the use of knowledge, gained for the sake of knowledge, for political gain in the long run.

Throughout history those with the knowledge, especially in terms of Defence Science, have been able to control the political landscape. The man with the best ability to blow things up has the higher chance of getting the victory he seeks in war. This is something the Japanese can well understand, though they learned the hard way, and something that may or may not (depending on what side of the fence you sit) have led to the Cold War.

Then, of course, there comes public opinion, moratoria, the GMO debate, the Birth Control debate, the Abortion debate, the MSG debate (I sit in the anti camp on MSG, I think I might be allergic and am getting sick of becoming Ms Tomato Cheeks whenever I eat school lunch!), the euthanasia debate and many many others all of which spring from science developing the ability to do something that can be applied to real life.

Let's not also forget Climate Change. Whether a politician champions it or sticks their head in the sand they always have an opinion. I am a biologist so I shall make no statement here. I will say this, though, at the Polish research outpost, Arktowski Station on King George Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, I was told the the incredibly hospitable wife of the base commander that the bay used to freeze 4 of 5 winters, as at 2001/2002 New Year that figure stood at 1 in 5. At the up coming Copenhagen Conference I'd like to see the politicians and scientists present have productive dialogue but I remain unconvinced that even if a politician is personally convinced by the science that they will act according to that, they do after all have constituencies to answer to.

This whole thing is something that intrigues me.

I stand firmly in the camp that says "we should learn what we can". I also stand firmly in the camp that adds "within reason" to that line. But, who decides reason? How do they decide reason? Can reason be freed from human absurdity?

I find myself desperately hoping that the person who decides what the reasonable limit should be is not Pope Benedict XVI, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Yukio Hatoyama, Vladimir Putin, Helen Clark, Kevin Rudd, John Key or any other world politician.

I'd like to think that modern scientists are able to restrict themselves on what ultimately is ethical and where the line should be drawn. Unfortunately, though, I'm just not sure. Politics and science, like politics and religion, have played uncomfortably together for a very long time, I might even venture to say far to long. But as long as public funding is needed or the public has an opinion politics and science will continue to play together and fight with each other and indeed enhance the humour of each other.

But let's not forget that there is also politics within science, one of the most famous stouches being that between Rosalind Franklin and Watson and Crick who until late in their lives and long after her death refused to acknowledge publicly the role she played in the elucidation of the structure that gives us all life, DNA. But perhaps that is a story for another day.

The interplay that occurs between the two, science and politics, is something that fascinates me. Anyone wanting to offer me a Masters in it can feel free to pay me to do so. ;-P

I think for now though my ponderings shall remain ponderings because realistically I am not going to find any answers here just now am I? Though I suspect the answer is that it's not as strange a combo as one might think.

I hope you're all well.

My feet are cold so I'm off to stick them in a bowl of hot water to defrost them. :D

Rae

Photos from the first part of England

I hope you like these, they're photos from the first part of my trip. Before my day in Paris.

One more day of Vacation

15 July

I had quite a slow day that day.

I decided to go to Hampton Court Place in the morning and walked around in some of the same places that Henry the Eighth once walked. I generally had a really lovely time. It was beautiful out there.

Hampton Court is 30 minutes by train from Waterloo Station. It takes you through Wimbledon (I took a photo of the station for my Japanese friends) and out to the countryside. When I got out of the train at Hampton Court Station I was awestruck by the country village feel of the place. It was, what I would deem, quintessential England. I really liked it.

The palace itself was pretty awesome by 16th/17th century standards. To me, it looked just like Knox College in Dunedin but maybe that's just me seeing something that isn't because it was built from red brick? It's massive too. There's 2 huge courtyards and Henry VIII's apartments were not exactly small either. Neither were Mary the 2nd's or William the 3rd's. The gardens were fantastic and immense. They also have a royal tennis court in there. The court was allwed in and they used the walls to bounce the ball off as well. It was really interesting to watch whatever match was going on in there for the short time that I did. I thought it looked a little bit like squash.

I was at Hampton Court Palace for about 3 hours-ish then I decided to call it a day and go back to my sister's house. I got home about 4pm and just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We went to Tesco and got some NZ Lamb Steaks (cost a bomb but tasted AMAZING) and roasted veges on a bed of spinach for dinner. It was so so very good. My big sister is an amazing cook.
I've really missed eating NZ meat in Japan. That day I was liking England because you can buy many many things from home there.
Sadly, though, I recently had to throw out half a box of vitaweat because I'd let it get past it's use by date and the packet was open so they'd gone soft and icky anyway.

2 more days of London

Now, I am going to follow on from my previous post chronicling my adventures in London and Paris.

13 July

I got up at about 8:30ish. Took my time getting ready then headed out to the Tube station. First stop was Topshop to get my nails done. Oh my goodness that felt good. Problem was that I am gullible! and I realised after I'd already bought the nail treatment stuff that my nails aren't actually in that bad a condition and that I didn't need to buy it! Argh!!!!

After Topshop I went off to the Tower of London, beautiful nails for a hellish location. I got there around 1230 so I waited for the 1pm Yeoman tour and proceeded to have a grand ofld time learning about the history of the place from someone who lives there. The "Beefeaters" are all ex-military and seem to have quite the sense of humour. Actually, both of the Yeoman warders that I encountered reminded me a lot of my Dad, must be something about the military that brings out the funny side of people, I dunno.
The Yeoman warders and their families live inside the tower and get locked in at 10pm every night after what is known as the Ceremony of the Keys. I couldn't believe it, 10pm curfews for adults, I felt a little sorry for them. The guy leading the tour said it's good for keeping his teenage daughter in line. ;-)
I also saw the crown jewels there. I was pretty cool although the put you on a travelator that doesn't move slow enough to get a good look. I must say though that that is a serious amount of jewels.

After the Tower I took off to St Pauls Cathedral where I was totally over awed. I had every intention of going back but didn't make it. It was a beautiful church and I can imagine it being quite the place to attend services.

I tried to go to The Tower Bridge exhibition but didn't quite make it. So, I sat and read the paper for a while before meeting up with my sister and her boyfriend for dinner at Wagamama's which really did turn out to be 'just another noodle bar' but at least the steak was good. :D

14 July

I cruised out of my sister's place at about 9am and took the Tube to St Pauls. From there I walked across the Millenium Bridge to the Southbank and went to The Globe Theatre where I took the guided tour, looked at the exhibition and bought the book that I wrote my travel diary in.

I walked along the Southbank to St Thomas's Hospital which houses the Florence Nightengale Museum which was almost empty but really good. Not much that I didn't already know though.

Then I braved the crowds down by the London Eye and ended up spending 14 Pounds to go the Dali Exhibition mostly because I wanted to go to the bathroom and find a quite cafe to hide out in for a bit. Not that Dali isn't a genius too though. His work is so outlandish and out there and he tackled everything! I liked most things that I saw in the exhibition. It was actually quite cool but I'm not 100% sure if it was worth the 14 Pounds. It was really empty in there, perhaps if they lowered the price they'd get more people through.

After the Dali exhibition I went in search of the Winston Churchill Museum and The Cabinet War Rooms. It was fantastic. I learned a lot about WW2 and was amazed by a room that had been done up to look like a locked toilet cubicle but had infact housed the InterContinental Phone that Churchill used to communicate with the President of the United States during the war. I thought it was quite inventive. It reinforced for me just how smart a crew he had and how tough things must have been living underground. It was an experience to say the least. Really impressive but I got rather annoyed when I heard a group of younger women complaining that it was boring. I was thinking to myself 'why in God's name would you go to a war museum if you have no interest in the war?!' I got really annoyed then went in search of a post office and then to meet my sister at Foyles Bookshop which was, frankly, a disappointment. There are other much better bookshops.

On the way to dinner with a couch surfing friend of my sister's we walked past a bunch of society people on the way to Camilla's birthday. I was not impressed with the fashion. I think society people need to learn that ruffles went out with the 90s.

Dinner was awesome too. Gotta love that thai fusion food. :D
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Beautiful day in Japan today. Am off to a festival in the country side this afternoon and off to see my host family in another prefecture tomorrow for 3 days out of the 5 days that we have off this weekend. :D

More Death and Dying

This post was going to be more of my travels to London back in July but unfortunately there is another poignant topic that I've been pondering over the last week.

Last Friday morning, I arrived at work and did my usual attempt to listen to the Japanese and try to pick up on important words to figure out what's been happening and will happen at school during morning meeting. Once again I heard the word for passed away a few times and got horribly confused. My supervisor had first period free, not technically free but it was her office time. Anyway, she's sitting there doing whatever it is she does as a home room teacher while I set to work on a worksheet/looking at game ideas online, when all of a sudden she says to me 'so....'. I'm wondering what's going on and she finishes the sentence, 'one of our students' mothers passed away in a fire yesterday and XZY sensei (teacher) lost his father in completely different circumstances'. Umm whoa! My reaction was one of not knowing what to think or where to go from there really. I chatted to her about the circumstances surrounding the death of the mother of one of our students because I had heard that there was a big fire near my house from a friend.

It turns out that she, a woman in her 40s with a family and a good life, got trapped in the house when fire engulfed 6 houses. She was the only person who lost their life. She leaves behind at least a Junior High School aged son.

The other death connected to my school was that of a teacher's parent, I presume he died of old age.

That made 3 deaths connected to my school in 2 weeks-ish which got me thinking a lot. 3 deaths, 3 completely different circumstances. 3 almost entirely unconnected people (from what I gather) aside from my base school as a connection. It made me wonder why death had struck us so hard lately and what lesson I had to learn from all of this madness, because it honestly felt like madness.

I spent the weekend by and large in my apartment watching Sailor Moon, which I have now finished and am not ashamed to say that I love, and thinking about this whole idea of death again.
I sat and looked around my room, at my Toshiba Regza flatscreen TV, at my clothes, at my shoes (Lord help me!), at my crane machine catches, at my books, at my STUFF. I have TOO much STUFF! It is all crap and if I died tomorrow I wouldn't miss it. I mean I like a lot of it, I despise some of it (most of that stuff is slowly getting given away as prizes to my students as of this week) but I don't require it. It is not essential to my existance to have a Hello Kitty handbag or a map of Japan in 2 languages. None of this actually matters. But then I had to ask myself what does matter?

What does matter? Those of you who've known me long enough know that in my 2nd year of university working at a hospice made me ask that question as well. What actually matters? What of all the things on this planet actually matters? That question changed my life before and I think the string of deaths lately has had an impact there again. Even if it is only to remind me of that question and of how materialistic living in a materialistic society is making me, it is having an impact.

The loss of 3 people connected to me through my base school has jogged something in my memory, in my soul even. What matters? What matters to me is the people around me who I care about and who care about me. What matters is the world that I live in, the people and animals in this community that deserve a world where their rights are protected. What matters to me is how I live my life and how I serve others.

I've been so selfish lately. My move to Japan was me me me, all about how I could satisfy myself and my love of Japan, how I could improve my Japanese and get a 'better' job when I go home. It wasn't for entirely selfish reasons that I came here but a large chunk of those reasons were. The recent spell of deaths related to my school reminded me of that.

I've had to think about how I serve my community best. How I support my friends here and back home. How I live my life in a way that would make my family and friends proud of me. How I live my life in a way that will make myself proud.

I spent a lot of time this weekend, in between the start of an annoying cold and Takaoka's 400th Anniversery Celebrations, thinking about this idea of "what if I died tomorrow?". I came up with quite a few blanks actually. The people that I haven't been in touch with in ages. The things I haven't thought about for a while. The things I wish I hadn't said and the things I wish I had said. The things I am yet to do and the places I am yet to go. There's so much to this idea of 'being finished' and stuff that I don't know if I'll ever be ready to die, so it's a darn good thing that I don't have cancer (touch wood!) because I wouldn't know where to start.

So!..... I shall start with this anyway, just in case, because unfortunately, as shown in the past few weeks for me, you just never know when your number or someone else's number is going to be up.

If you're my family reading this, I love you! xxxxxxxxooooooooooxxxxxxxxx

If you're my friend and I haven't told you how much I care about you and love you lately, take it as read that I do care about you and do love you because I just said it! I love you all!

If you are my acquaintance and I haven't told you that I care about you then take it as read that I do.

If I don't know you at all and you are reading my blog, nice to meet you and thanks for reading it, sorry it's a bit boring.

And that's me done for today. Off to see my host family in a different prefecture to tell them that I love them this weekend, because you just never know.

I'm going to borrow something from a dear and trusted friend now (thanks bro).
Rae Recommends: Telling the people around you that you care, because you just never know.

**Raewyn**

I'm so behind! London: Days 1-2

Hi all,

So as promised I'm going to blog my travel diary from my trip to London.

But first I must congratulate myself on finishing all 200 episodes of the Japanese version of Sailor Moon. It was a most enjoyable experience and I have now moved onto the English dub of Samurai Pizza Cats which is nothing if not funny. :D I have been influenced by some awesome anime geeks that live in my building. :D

OK back on task. This is copied directly from my travel diary which I kept while in London. It's amazing how much I have forgotten more than a month on, thus the need to copy out of le book.

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11 July

I traveled ALL day! It was exhausting but it's all good. Long days happen in life. To get to London, Leytonstone specifically [fyi this is where Alfred Hitchcock was born], I had quite an ordeal.

Osaka to HongKong was no problems mate. Except for the ahving to dispose of my just purchased frappucino at security, argh, how much more annoying can you get. They made me stand there and drink it, bad brain freeze!!

Hong Kong Airport was interesting. Yay for Ben and Jerry's! I'd written a note on a piece of paper and put it somewhere but I don't know where I put it so cannot add it in here. I think it was something about it being so incredibly cosmopolitan and multicultural in comparison to Japan maybe.

Hong Kong to London: LOL!!!! 'Ladies and gentlemen, we're just having a few problems getting engine number 1 started...' it was the bloomin' starter motor. We had to sit in the plane for AGES in the heat and humidity while they changed it because the air conditioning does not come on until the engines do! Meanwhile I'm sitting there swearing left and right that if the group of boys seated near me is like that [aka noisy as heck] for the entire flight shoes might start to gly. They were annoying on and off for most of the flight and I got very little sleep as a result.

Then (!) I arrive in London and jump on the tube to get to my sister's place in Leytonstone. Not gonna happen! Sorry, ah ah, nope. We actually, I thought it might happen but due to 'person under train' I had to get a cab as the line was delayed indefinitely that night. Argh! Bye Bye 50quid. It was in fact only 40 but in my 'I've been traveling for more than a day' state I gave him a 20% tip not thinking, I am a genius! Anyway, finally got 'home' and went straight to (air)bed.
Lucky.

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12 July

I woke up about 11am (properly) having been in and out of sleep since about 7am. My sister made waffles with lemon curd for breakfast, YUM! Then we both got ready to go for high tea with her friend from way back.

High Tea was A-mazing! But of course I can't get into that yet...
Dressed in our most fabulous outfits we went to Harrods with our shoes in our bags and flip flops on our feet... haaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahaha, it was funny.
I didn't realy enjoy Harrods, it's just like a place I used to work and didn't really do it for me. But High Tea in the Caramel Room at the Berkley was fabulous.

We looked stylish. The cakes were all based on designer outfits or shoes and when they found out that I'm allergic to yeast and can't eat sandwiches they brought me out an even more fabulous fruit platter (I regretted that later, a year without loads of fruit in Japan, oops). The cakes looked and tasted amazing as did the champagne and the tea. It was all a little rich though so the fruit was a nice refresher. The cakes all looked like the things they were based on and the green mint marzipan and chocolate handbag looked exactly like my big green bag. It was well worth the 43pounds that it cost, that's for sure.
My sister's friend and I made a few mistakes though. We tried to order tea before we'd finished our champagne (oops) and my airplane toothbrush managed to fall out of my handbag onto the floor only to be picked up by the waiter. OMG, how embarrassingly funny. There were so many laughs!

On the way home we walked past the NZ War Memorial, Buckingham Palace, through St James' Park, past Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, along the Northbank and past St Pauls to the Central Line tube station. We even took photos of the oldest monument in London, Cleopatra's needly. It was an awesome walk and an awesome day.

After 2 and a half years of them dating, I finally got to meet my sister's boyfriend too. He's a great guy and probably reads this blog so I am going to cease now before foot goes into mouth through me talking him up too much.

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And so ends the first 2 days of my trip. More good times to come.

Raewyn

This is reality!

Hi!

So, I've been meaning to write about my trip but the last month since I got back to Japan has been so hectic that I haven't had time.

I will publish my travel diary soon. Promise!!!

This is about death and dying across cultures, namely my reaction vs the Japanese reaction to the sudden death of my colleague in the small hours of Friday, August 28, 2009.

My school secretary had been having a constant headache since last Monday morning and had used annual leave to go the doctor three times before she collapsed on Thursday night and was no longer with us come 2am Friday. It was a brain aneurism.

On Friday morning I arrived at school, where I hadn't been for 2 days whilst visiting my primary schools, only to find the school principal on the phone in the teachers' room. I had barely sat down when he called us all to attention and talked about how she had died. All I understood was sore head so I assumed she'd had the flu or something and that we all needed to be on alert. But no when it was translated for me by the head of English who was told as soon as she entered the school I found out that the most happy go lucky member of staff in the school had died suddenly from what my mother tells me is quite the quick way to go.

For me, Friday was spent with my tissue box and bumbling around in a state of shock, I was almost catatonic apart from the sudden leakage of tears every time I thought about it. I also spent the day trying to find someone who would give me a ride to the pre-funeral.

For my colleagues it was spent holding it together after the initial look of shock. I think for them it was deciding which to go to, the pre-funeral or the funeral. The funeral is so formal and intimate that only the closest people and most high ranking, I guess, go. I had to find myself an English teacher to take me to the pre-funeral because I loved that lady even though I had little interaction with her. I believe my reaction to the lack of emotion shown by my colleagues that were at school that day was one of anger 'why aren't they showing any emotion?!' etc, but I now realise that they have their way and I have mine and the students didn't know yet so it was better not to wear their hearts on their sleeves in that instance.

I was on my way to another event, where I did my best to hold it together while I hung out with some Japanese friends of mine, when the call came that I could go to the pre-funeral with my old supervisor who is very good at teaching me about the cultural stuff. I was allowed to go to the 2nd most intimate and solemn event these people have and I felt incredibly honoured.

Yesterday, I was numb. I had some things I needed to prepare for the funeral. 5000yen in an envelope with my name on it and some other kanji that I couldn't read. A black shirt to wear with my suit and a belt because I thought my suit pants looked terrible without. I needed to mentally prepare myself.

At 6pmish I was picked up by my colleague. She asked me if I'd gotten the envelope. I said 'yes and Mama in Nara told me on the phone to put the money face down, but I need you to help me write the kanji, I got a plain one because I didn't know what kanji was best'. She wrote on for me when we parked at the venue.

The ceremony was short, only about 40 minutes. 15 minutes of incomprehensible chanting and singing by 2 priests followed by a couple of eulogies, one by her husband who talked about what a wonderful person the deceased was. Then it was everyone in the room's turn to file past the coffin, pray and place incense in urns in front of it. Then we filed out, receiving gifts of tea and rice crackers as we left.

It was so solemn and so calm. It was nothing like a western wake where you drink to the deceased and get rowdy to check that they're good and dead. It was a wonderful experience and I told my colleague how grateful I am to her for taking me. I found it very therapeutic and think, hope, it has helped me to process the sudden death of someone very special.

On the way home my colleague and I talked about what would happen at the actual funeral and then talked about western funerals. She then told me what when I get in the house I should throw salt on myself to keep the evil spirits away. I did that when I got in and feel better now than I have in days. May it worked. Who knows whatever at least I know that the pre-funeral helped me get over the death of my colleague and am feeling much better about it all now.

Suppressing one's emotions seems to be the Japanese way and it seems to work for them. I don't think it would work for me but I'm a heart on sleeve kinda girl.

Now, for the next couple of weeks, no more drama, no no no more drama. ;-)
Please!

I love you all, life is too short not to.

**Rae**

London is BUSY!!

So, I've been in London a little over a week now and have done a heck of a lot. However, it is incredibly busy. Busy both in terms of what I've been up to and in terms of the number of people that are around London at that this time of year. The weather is nice so it's tourist season. There are people everywhere!

It's been busy almost everywhere I've been. Last week I went to The Tower of London; Tower Bridge; St Pauls Cathedral; The Winston Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms; The Florence Nightengale Museum; The Globe Theatre Exhibition and Hampton Court. The only 2 places that weren't busy were The Florence Nightengale Museum and Hampton Court. In saying that everything was amazing and it was fantastic being in these places where so much has happened that has influenced the way we live today. Be that influence on architecture, lifestyle, language or just plain freedom; London and the places nearby is a place that is full of influence. It has and will be for centuries and it's amazing to see the places where that influence has been formed or played out.

Last Thursday I was in Paris for the day. It was also busy, so I rushed around and did what I needed to do then came back to London. I saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, Le Arc du Triumph, Notre Dame, Le Trocadero and The Eifel Tower. I went by Eurostar so I also saw some of the French countryside by train. It looks really cool.

Friday I got my haircut, shopped, shopped, shopped, had an NZ style coffee, shopped some more, then went to a show. Priscilla was awesome. Drag queens, music, dancing, fantabulous. We had crappy seats but that's ok because the music was actually fantastic anyway and so long as we could see the shoe.... I was happy.

Since then I've had a few relaxing days. We went to Oxford to catch up with a friend for the day on Saturday. We went punting and checked out a science museum there. Sunday was just a chilled out day. Went and saw a movie but wished we hadn't. That movie should not be allowed to screen in theaters... eeeeew. Bruno was one of the worst movies I have ever seen!

Yesterday it was back to walking in the footsteps of historical figures in Greenwich and at the Bank of England Museum. I stood one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one foot in the west. I held a gold bar. I saw the clock that made navigation possible and enjoyed spending the day with my sister's boyfriend.

I've been having loads of fun and have a busy day planned so I am off to eat my breakfast now. :D

Holiday!!!

Hi all!

It's been a while since I last wrote something here because I am a lazy bum.

The past few months in Japan have been really hard on me. I was in a show for charity in which I had a speaking role, minor but significant enough to make me just a little stressed. It also got really hot in Japan all of a sudden about the time I last wrote something here. I kid you not the temperature lept up from about about 24 degrees celcius to 28 with much more humidity within the space of a week. It took its toll on my health and am now very much so enjoying the relative cool of London on my 2 week vacation.

Needless to say, the show was a success. Reports from other ALTs indicate that it may have been the best one in a while so that's good.

Before I came on holiday school was winding down for the summer break and not much was going, except my stomach but that is another story that shall be resolved in due course, roll on September when temperatures will be approximately what they are in the UK again.

Currently, I am on the holiday that I had been planning for months before I came here. It is a relief I can tell you to finally be on holiday in a place where English is the principal language and where things are at least similar to home. The temperature here is much more like what I'm used to and I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to returning to the heat in 10 days time but I might be sick of my sister by then and actually want to go back, who knows.

I've been in London for 4 days now and have successfully managed to be a tourist.

On Sunday, my sister took me for high tea with her close friend. It was one of the most extravagant things I have ever done. £43 for champagne, a fruit platter and an assortment of cakes designed based on actually dresses, shoes or handbags. For example there was a green handbag made from mint marzipan with chocolate something inside. It was amazing. We also got tea on top of all that. I had the chocolate mint, it was divine I tell you! So there I was in London all dressed up with nothing to do, so my sis and I took some random photos and went for a random walk past Buckingham Palace, through St James's Park and on to Westminster. I had been in London less than 24 hours and was in complete awe of the place. These were places that I'd seen on TV and are significant for anyone from a Commonwealth country but that I had always just assumed were on the other side of the world and too darned expensive to get to. 4 days on I still can't believe that I am here.

In the last 4 days I have managed the amazing feat of doing a few things in depth as opposed to a million things superficially. Bearing in mind that all but one of these things was included in my London Pass I shall give you a run down on where I've been in the last few days and possibly, though unlikely, will elaborate later.

I have been to: The Tower of London; St Paul's Cathedral; The Globe Theatre; The Florence Nightengale Museum; The Dali Exhibition (not on the London Pass!); The Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum; and last but most certainly not the least, in fact I'd say one of the most important to have seen, Hampton Court Palace.

It was all 100% worth it and I really recommend the London Pass. Not sure if I recommend the Dali Exhibition so much, though, it was £14, if you like Dali but don't love him it might not be worth the money. That's just my honest opinion.

So far I am loving London and sitting here eating corn thins is doing wonders for my sanity. :D

Hope all is well for all of you. I'm going to go and watch English TV now. :O

Photos to come later!

Of sports days and charity shows…

I remembered what else I was going to write about that I forgot in the last entry. The other reason why I’ve been so busy lately, Charity Show. But I will have to write about that after I write about Sports Day because Sports Day is interesting.

Sports Day for my school is held in May when the weather comes into one of the most stable times of the year. A lot of other schools hold it in September too but most of the primary schools hold it in May, as does my Junior High and a couple of other Junior Highs in my town.

This past weekend I was rudely awoken by the sound of the mega-phones and announcement system of the nearby primary school holding its Sports Day. Apparently, my friend’s child was supposed to be running but it rained in the afternoon and I missed it. I am a little bit gutted but at least I got a shed-load of sleep on Saturday and was vaguely productive this weekend.

What’s been interesting me about sports day lately though is the sheer amount of practice these kids do for it. Also the sheer amount of classes that get cancelled so that they CAN practice for sports day. This week I have taught a total of 6 classes at Junior High and erm only 2 at Elementary School (but that’s because I got a stomach bug and spent much of the day sleeping in the nurse’s office after I nearly collapsed trying to teach the little ones). I was due to teach 4 classes at elementary but only wound up teaching the 2 because one class was cancelled for sports day practice. At Junior High not much has happened this week but Sports Day practice, and we’re all praying that it doesn’t rain on Saturday! These kids practice so hard for Sports Day and I guess I’ll find out on Saturday what the fuss is all about.

As for Charity Show…
Every year for the last 18 Toyama’s JETs have put on a show to raise money for charities in Toyama, Japan, as well as international charity, Heifer International.

This year is the 19th time JETs in Toyama have put on a show such as this and I convinced in the week leading up to auditions to do so.

The show we are putting on this year is called Alice in Wonderland but it has a twist. Alice is from Toyama and wonderland is Tokyo. It’s all in Japanese, written by some local ALTs (ie not Japanese people) and translated into Japanese by some friends of ours, or translated by said writers, I’m not 100% certain. The songs are new takes on old favorites from back home and are awesome. I play Cat Maid, a maid at a maid café in Akihabara. I get to wear one of the best designed costumes I have ever seen and prance about the stage like the ditz that I am. :D It really is the perfect role for me. Now, if only I hadn’t gotten sick with whatever it was that has caused me to feel vile for the past couple of days and been able to make it to rehearsal.

Rehearsals are more or less every Thursday night and Sunday afternoon for the past month or so and is really putting my body through its paces, all this dancing and singing and remembering lines, phew, it’s a bit of a mission really. At least I’m not the girl playing Alice, she has to attend absolutely every rehearsal and remember her lines for the WHOLE show in Japanese when she doesn’t really speak much of anything Japanese really.

So anyway, this year’s charities are really awesome and I think it’s a great cause. If you live in Japan and wanna come… wink wink, come check out Toyama in the process! … the shows are on the 13th of June and the 20th of June. Tickets are selling now!

Hope all is well with all of you!

R

Family comes then 6 weeks later bike accident!

>

It be update time!

I seem to be becoming my slack old self. But all good. I do in fact have reasons for that. One is that I have been incredibly busy lately and the other is that I had a bicycle accident last week (car vs me on my little pink bike).

So, I’ve been meaning to write about Mum, Dad and the big sis coming but to be honest, I think they’re the only ones that read this and they know what happened when they were here. :-P But anyway that was in March. They came to primary school with me one day and were treated like royalty. The next day we headed up to Nagano for a spot of the ol’ skiing, which resulted in a tiny bit of wind related stress and a couple of bruises on Mum. We also cruised off to the snow monkeys and Nagano City, that was a day trip from Hakuba well worth it. It was great having them in the country and I do miss the free calls to the Softbank cellphone that Dad rented for their 12 days in Japan!

Here's a photo of me teaching when they were here. I wish I had a photo of the whole family here but unfortunately the closest I have is four snow monkeys in a hot pool and that's not on my computer, it's in my phone, sorry.

I decided last night that my darling big sister deserves a decent present when I go to see her and am working on it. She’s going to be getting an email from me soon asking exactly which suitcase she wants and which doll it was that she saw in Tokyo and wanted. Or at least she was, I just found pics on her facebook page…. Kat those Blythe dolls are expensive but I shall see what I can do!!!!!!

Now to my ‘jiko’ (accident). Hit by a car on my way to work when I was already running late and was horribly damp because a friend of mine had told me that it wouldn’t rain and I went for a cycle in the rain didn’t I.

So, what happened? I was going straight. I had right of way, same rule on that here as the rest of the world I do believe, unless Japan completely has no common sense. She was pulling out of a side street and only looked right; I was coming from the LEFT and could so easily have been a pedestrian. I was also carrying my big green bag on my right shoulder. Yes, my green bag, the same green bag that I had my eye on for 6 months before leaving Wellington and bought only a few days before I left from Fruitti (see above picture from September 08 in Kanazawa). The green bag protected me and is now known as ‘protector’. It left a big dent on her bonnet and a green line. The bag fought the car and won! I fought the pavement and came off with a few nasty bruises, a grazed elbow and more adrenaline flowing through me than I care to think about. I also got ordered by a doctor not to drink coffee for 3 days… a fate worse than death? I though so, but no, I survived that too! That was a week ago and I’ve had little time to rest since but all good, I’m a Kiwi, I can handle anything!

The latest on the accident is that the insurance company of the lady who hit me is going to handle everything and give me some extra moolah for having been hit, how nice of them, not expected at all, I love Japan! They did not HAVE to do that! Actually, I think that legally they don’t, my colleagues are like ‘wow, you’re lucky, I bet it’s coz your foreign!’ (Yay for being a different colour in Japan!). Or maybe it’s because I’m just such a wonderful person and they love me enough to just give me money. ;-P

Seriously though, all I wound up with was a big bruise on my hip, that graze on my elbow and a slightly munted up, now replaced, bike. I’m tracking the bruise with photos and am thinking of buying myself a helmet, I don’t care what the Japanese would think of me, it’s about time someone set a new fashion trend and since my students all live in the areas that I cycle in and (mostly) they love me why not let it be me? I want a helmet from the oh so incredibly fabulous UK based Cycle Chic (google their online store, they are amazing!).

Bicycle law in Japan is something that intrigues me greatly and I am yet to find a decent (English) source of information on it. It seems to be that the basic rule of thumb is:

"behave like you would if you were driving a car (watch out for hazards, avoid them and what not) and exercise caution and common sense. If you are over junior high school age a helmet is not necessary, you will not hit your head on any pavement if you follow the above rule about common sense.'

"Oh and you can ride on the footpath too, it's safer than the road, mostly. "

"If you do have an accident you must go the hospital for a CT Scan of your head and x-rays of places on legs and arms where it hurts even if you can move everything." :S

I had something else that I wanted to write about but I can’t remember what it was just now. Will remember later and write it up tomorrow, maybe.

Until then... don't forget to wear your bike helmet!!!!

Rae

A week of drama!

And so here I sit.

It’s raining outside, snowed yesterday and it will snow again tomorrow.

It’s been ages since I wrote one of these because I’ve been run off my feet and/or extremely tired.

My family came a few weeks ago and that was awesome. I will write about that in a later entry, however, because this entry is about the past 2 weeks.

Oh my goodness!!! These last 2 weeks have been INSANE!!!!!!

Last week consisted of graduation ceremonies, post graduation parties and lots of tears. It was a display of nationalism and perfectionism like nothing ever seen in New Zealand. Those kids practised hard for their graduations and when they finally happened they cried the whole way through. It was an amazing, if extremely emotional, week of firsts for me. I had no idea what graduations in Japan were like prior to coming but now I know and I was amazed. I was also highly impressed. Those kids worked hard, tried hard and put on a good show.

Public holiday for the vernal equinox on Friday, nice.

Saturday, went to Himi, found New Zealand in Japan. I love that place and that beach and am going to be going back as soon as I get the chance.

Church on Sunday, awesome! Didn’t understand a thing. :D In saying that I did understand what the old ladies were saying to me after church which was quite the feat. I am most pleased, though, because it means my listening is getting better.

Monday, uneventful, spent it colouring some things for school.

Tuesday, sigh, Tuesday. Closing ceremony closely followed by the announcement of the teachers who will no longer be working at my base school from next month and the names of the teachers they are being replaced with. One of my favourite teachers has been switched out and a few others of my colleagues are leaving that can speak English, that makes me sad but, hey, can’t do anything about it right, the Japanese system is the Japanese system. I went to Yacchin’s that night to have them cheer me up. It didn’t work. I got a message from my friend saying that she had been switched out of my favourite school along with 4 other teachers and one more retiring. I burst into tears and sat there staring at my okonomiyaki for a long time, it got stuck to the hot plate. I felt like someone had died and proceeded to devise a plan to make presents for those who were leaving from that school.

Wednesday, rather uneventful apart from a slight cut created somehow in the A/C Adaptor of my laptop which I noticed in the evening after I had been shopping for the final touches to my gifts.

Thursday. Dear goodness! My adaptor is still broken, I thought that was a dream. HP New Zealand told me that they can’t send a replacement adaptor to Japan, I was not happy, but what made me more angry was that they suggested that I try the Japanese HP website. I tried that! It was all in kanji, I can’t read kanji, I’m not Japanese and I am not that good at Japanese. I later got the phone number for HP Japan and found out that they actually do not stock my adaptor here anyway.

So, I go to school and spend the day looking at the newly introduced English Note (notebook/textbook) thing the primary school 5^th and 6^th graders will be using from the start of the new school year in a couple of weeks time. It’s mostly review for my students so they’re going to have a great time, they may even get through it in just 2 weeks if they’re onto it.

I got taken out for lunch by one of my favourite teachers who is retiring with 2 other teachers which was lovely. Later on I got driven home an hour early by the vice principal who’s been switched into an office job. Sho asked me if I will stay for three years. I’m really not sure. I’m not sure how badly people back home want me to come home and I’m not sure how strong the pull home will be when it comes to signing that form in January next year. The next question was ‘what will you do if you do go home?’. Ummm…! Mum has her ideas, I have my ideas, I really don’t know. It’s not really something I want to think about right now, though I did think about it a lot on Thursday evening when I was cycling all over town trying to find a way to fix my adaptor.

Today was a normal day at work. Just plodding along. One of the science teachers fixed my adaptor for me. Who knew a science teacher could solder? I was soooooo scared when he chopped the cord off the adaptor, but he did it, it’s fixed now and I am incredibly happy.

Tonight, though, that was tough. We had the ‘sayonara’ party for the 15 teachers for whom this week has been their last week at Shikino. I was doing fine with the not crying until I gave the vice principal who is leaving to become a primary school principal a DVD that I’d made with the video from my first day at the sushi restaurant on it. I started crying and couldn’t stop. She also asked me what's next after being an ALT, if I knew I'd have told her but I really have no idea. So, due to crying and the tough questions, I didn’t go to the second half of the party. I thought it’s safer for my emotions that way. Came home and bawled my eyes out instead. I still am a bit emotional but that should settle down with some good sleep.

27 March 09 2330

28 March 09

I slept till 10 this morning. I am happy! But, I did kind of forget something, Mum understands... that forgetfulness means that I need to go out asap though so I best get onto it.