japan - noelle for 3 weeks

right now i am waiting in narita airport in tokyo about to board my long haul flight over the pacific ocean. isn't flying awesome and amazing?! i am so excited to be coming back. i look forward to seeing everyone and enjoying good old oregon. 

when i wake up, i will be home! yay! i can think of nothing i want more right now! :) 

see everyone so soon. happy holidays! 

hot chocolate + heated vending machine

i will admit japan does have some very cool things (among all the weirdness) that i have never seen anywhere else. one of these seemingly simple amazing japanese inventions is the heated vending machine. it's just so cool. well first off there are tons of beverage vending machines here (snack machines not so much) everywhere. on random street corners, in front of stores, by train stations and sometimes in a random residential area there will be one, two or even three vending machines in a line waiting to be fed with a few coins and spit out a drink for you. it's very convenient!

sometimes if there is a bank of machines there will be one that serves soda, green tea, water, sports drinks, juices - a nice variety of cold drinks. then another machine will have hot drinks - hot tea, many coffee varieties, milk tea and hot cocoa. and some machines have a hot and cold section, the coolest! the hottie bevs come in plastic bottles (not exactly sure how that works) or in (adorable, if i do say so myself) little baby cans. it's just such a genius idea to offer hot and cold. i love it.

coming on 9 months here i finally got my first hot vending machine drink this evening on the way home from school. i knew i had about ten minutes until my train came and as i got to the station the red marked hot vending machine beckoned me. i was debating between a warm milk tea in a short bottle and a hot chocolate in a baby tin can. hot choc won. i put in my 120 yen and out came this little piping hot hand warmer. it felt so good and as i sat down on the platform, drink in hand, i was just so pleased. kind of a novel idea but its so good! it heated my hands right up and once i cracked it open the drink was the perfect not-too-hot-but-hot-enough temperature. it was grand - cheap and convenient. and it actually tasted as good as, or maybe even better than starbucks - score!

me + homecoming

the departure for my christmas return to oregon is fast approaching. i’ve had my eyes set on my-december-19^th-flight-out-of-here prize for quite some time now. i am so excited and it feels weird to be traveling home for christmas. since this is the first time i have not lived oregon during this time of year it has been a very different pre-holiday season for me. thanksgiving was a tad lonely and completely incomplete due to the lack of turkey on my plate and the absence of anyone else at the (coffee) table with me! christmas time in japan, and yes, i do say christmas time in japan is strange. there is actually christmas crap all over the place, which i never really expected at all (and i don’t really understand since few japanese people are even remotely from a christian background). the decorations and lights do help to get in the spirit a bit but also really drives home the fact that i’m indeed 5,000 miles away form home during these weeks leading up to the holidays. i am so thankful the “i’ll be home for christmas” lyric is true for me this year. i am lucky to be able to travel home and spend the holidays where i belong. i think staying in japan for christmas alone would be absolutely terrible...

 i look forward to returning to my hometown in just 9 days. this is the longest i have ever been away from home (coming up on 9 months out of the country). i have such high expectations for how great being back home will be but i wonder if i could have romanticized portland a bit – what if i have made everything a wee bit shinier in my head? what if it isn’t as i remembered it? what if i am different than i was the last time i was there (cause know this is true) and it doesn’t feel the same anymore? what if my favorite portland things are different now since life has changed a lot in the last several months? what if? what if? what if?

well, i know for sure its impossible for me to be disappointed because even if the town fell to complete shit since my departure for japan i know my friends (less charles and sara (sad face)) and family will be there and that, is indeed enough to make me happy - this i know. it’s the people i miss most and that’s what i like least about my life here in japan... i feel weird here, out of place and then at the end of the day, i come home to a miniscule $700 per month, freezing, empty apartment – it can be (is) annoying and depressing. but like most things – however good or bad - it is only temporary. i will be back in oregon by the end of march, maybe sooner depending on how things play out. i know i can finish what i started here, i want to finish what i started and then i want to go back to oregon and see where a life surrounded by the people i care about takes me. i guarantee no plans for a japanese vacation are anywhere in my near future...

december + thoughts

december has arrived and it couldn't come soon enough. i will head home for christmas on december 19th and i am so so so excited. my time here in japan has been an experience and i am glad i came here but i still really miss home, even after nine months away. japan is full of amazing things and i have enjoyed many things here but i am ready to be back in oregon for the holidays and shortly thereafter for good! i have learned a lot since being here. i have realized that i enjoy and appreciate experiences when i can share them with someone close to me that i care about. while i do have a couple nice friends here, it's just not the same as having my friends and family around me. anyone who knows me knows that i am a people person and i love being surrounded by people but here i have sort of turned into a hermit a bit. i really like alone time now. i spend all of my evenings and sometimes the whole weekend by myself and that's how i like it. i think i just get overwhelmed being surrounded by japanese people all day everyday and i just need a break from it. i also hate being illiterate here; it is very weird to never really have any clue what is going on. i never know what's happening at school cause they all chatter around me and rarely tell me what is up. grrr! it's also really annoying to never be able to read anything! it was a little fun at first, everything being in japanese, but it has definitely lost its charm now! somethings still have their charm - biking around, taking the subway, the 100 yen shop and loft. i will be read to be home upon my return for the holidays and soon after for good. it's definitely going to be interesting to be back in portland and i can't wait.