end of oct + all of nov

hey hey ya'll! long time no updates. after a several nudges from my mom another blog post is here! (although i think she is the only one who reads this and she already knows what goes down here in nagoya but i digress...) the fall in japan has been rather nice. the weather went from hot to cool, the rains are rare, i had two wonderful visitors, i turned 27 and celebrated my first thanksgiving away from family. 

towards the end of october my old roomie/bestie sara came to visit me in nagoya after completing an acupuncture program in china. it was so fun to have a good friend with me. i got to show her around the city. we shopped and ate lots of good food. she was here over halloween so we got to celebrate together as hello kitty and a nerdy librarian. good times had by all. the apartment is definitely not designed for two but we had some great fun reliving some of our fun pdx times! 

sara and i out for halloween!

on sara's last night in town, my boyfriend charles arrived in nagoya. let's just say the apartment is definitely NOT designed for three! ha ha, i kid, we got along just fine for the one night but all the suitcases really did make for a tight fit, that is for sure! charles' arrival was a few days after his birthday so i made him a donut cake as a late birthday present and i got to give him his birthday presents in person which was fun. we spent a lot of time relaxing, looking around the city and trying new restaurants. we also visited the aquarium, went shopping for electronics and japanese toys and squeezed in a little bit of birthday celebrating. 

charles and i out in nagoya!

charles was here on my actual b-day (i had planned to take the day off from work but that didn't work out...) and we went to outback for my birthday dinner. it was nice and i got lots of potatoes so i was definitely a happy camper. it was also great because my wonderful fam sent me birthday packages that i got to open with them over skype. i had fun and it wasn't so bad being far from home on my birthday.

charles and i at the nagoya port aquarium with our buddy, the groper fish! look at that face!!

when charles was here i experienced my first real sickness in japan and it was bad. the "new flu" (as it's called at my school) has been passing around and wiping out whole classes at a time so i guess i was lucky to not get any kind of flu. i woke up one morning with an extremely sore throat, so sore that i was unable to swallow even water. it was absolutely miserable and it felt as severe as when i had tonsillitis several years ago. i had to call in sick for the first time and visit the doctor. after a long wait and about 5 seconds of examination i was told i had a common cold. well boy, it was sure some common cold! i have never felt like that from a cold before. i ended up taking two days off work and felt crappy for nearly two weeks. it was not fun! i have heard the colds in asia effect foreigners differently than the kind we are used to and i for sure agree with that. here's to staying healthy for the rest of the year!

things at school have been... boring as usual. i rarely am given anything to do but i manage to pass each day somehow (thank you internet and trash magazines sent from home!). in the beginning of november quite suddenly it got extremely cold. and by extremely cold i mean like 55 degrees which feels freezing especially when all the buildings here my apartment included, have zero insulation. i would say the standard construction here is similar to what a warehouse or almost shed like structure would be made of in america. the school is basically a frame of concrete with very thin partition like walls and single pane glass windows on metal sliders (with no sort of seal). the school gets incredibly cold and drafty (and they LOVE to keep the windows open). at my desk in the teachers room it is 62 degrees. after sitting idle for a while, i get extremely chilled, uncomfortably so. my standard outfit is two layers on the legs and four layers on top, often times topped off with a scarf. i wear a red northface fleece pretty much everyday over the top of whatever i wear to work. when the temperature first dropped i asked one of my teachers if there was a heating system (because there are visible no vents or ducts). she said they have portable space heaters they move into the classrooms but not until december (no matter the conditions) and that it was a "test of tolerance" for the students to basically suffer through the cold. keep in mind, the girl students are required to wear skirts and knee high socks compared to my 6-something layers i don't know how they manage. i feel so bad for them and i wonder how they can concentrate on school when they are freezing! my apartment is usually only a few degrees warmer that outside. i often wake up to my room being 55-59 degrees, which is darn cold. after a few weeks of these cooler temperatures i am getting used to it a bit and know how to keep myself more comfortable but the whole no heat and inadequate insulation thing is one of those things i will never get about japan. it's a developed country, i do not understand why a public building like a school would not have modern equipment, especially since nagoya does has climate extremes. it just seems like this is how it's always been and no one is going to make a stand to change it. tradition i guess...blahhh.

new scarf and beanie to help combat the japanese cold!

thanksgiving was rather uneventful. i was a little bummed out being alone on it but i made myself a make-shift dinner of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. i had to use chicken cause turkey is pretty unheard of over here. my potatoes were super tasty so all in all it wasn't so sad. i will never take another family holiday for granted though that is for sure. i will always have a different appreciation for family celebrations from now on! 

check out my gourmet kitchen! LOL!

dinner for one! 

the official countdown until my christmas oregon return is on. in 21 days i time travel (fly) home on saturday, december 19th. i leave nagoya at noon and arrive in portland at 8 am on the same day. weird, huh? let's just say this trip could not come soon enough. i miss everything about home very much and i miss everyone at home even more. i am so looking forward to being with my people and my city! =D it will be grand. until then i am keeping warm and doing lots of shopping so i can bring home some nice christmas gifts for everyone from japan. 

miss everyone. xoxo!

typhoon + kimono

this was a very japanese week here in nagoya for me. this past thursday a typhoon rolled in. it was expected to be the worst in 10 years and i will admit i got a bit freaked out over it but it turned out to not really do much damage in my area. from the news it was more severe in other parts of the country. here it just sort of blew and rained hard and then it was clear skies and a super sunny nice day, just with a little extra wind. what a relief!!! 

today my friend kim invited me to an event she found in a local newspaper advertising events for foreigners. this one was put on by a little group of older japanese ladies. they call themselves YY Club which means japan and kimono. they offer the chance for foreigners to try on traditional japanese kimono. 

the day was super fun albeit a tad uncomfortable. i was slightly concerned that the kimono would be too small for me and well, i was right but these ladies tugged, pulled and cinched me right into that baby. at one point there were 5 ladies assisting me. i did feel like a giant! not only am i literally 2-3 times wider than them but they all stood under my shoulder. they did a good job though and pretty much got me into it right. and boy, it is a process. first you wear an inner lightweight robe like kimono thing, then the actual kimono, a couple belt tie thingies, then a cinched thing and finally the middle big ribbon thing and a few ropes/ties over that! fewww, it took about 20 minutes to get it all settled. you also wear little bright white socks for sandals with the big toe separate. it sure was an experience.

after kim and i were in the kimonos, we went with three of the ladies to the shiratori japanese gardens next door. it was awesome and as a couple white girls in kimonos we did get a bit of attention and a few people even taking our photo! the gardens were a real treat. i didn't know ahead of time that we were visiting but it was great. the pond had the most koi/carp i've ever seen in all colors and they were super big. awesome, cause i love to watch koi. they were ruthless for the fish food people were feeding them. quite a thing to see. the gardens were beautiful and the weather today was absolutely perfect! 

after visiting the gardens, we returned to their meeting room for tea and sweets. the ladies were so nice and kind towards us. they even offered to show us more japanese things. i made a request to find out more information on where i could try traditional japanese taiko drums. i've seen it a few times and it looks awesome. i also said i wanted to learn how to make onigiri (rice ball) and they all laughed because basically it is the simplest japanese food to make. 

it was such a great day! i hope to see the ladies again for more japanese culture!

student + poem

today i was asked to look over some poems written by the third year students (9th grade). it was supposed to be 5 lines. 1 word for the first line, 2 words for the second line, 3 words for the third line, 4 or 5 words on the 4th line, and one word on the final fifth line. as i was marking them, checking spelling, helping with tenses and grammar i came across this sweet little poem:

feces

very smell

smell smell smell

have a bowel movement

happy

i literally burst out laughing in the middle of a silent teacher's room! 

mom + japan

blog hiatus. since my last post, i have returned from my philippine summer, started up the second semester at school and had my mom visit for 12 days! 

check some photos out on facebook in my albums titled "i'm in the philippines" [ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2259001&id=11500924 ] and "mom in japan" [ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=11500924&aid=2269795 ] if you would like to see more of what i have been up to.

mom arrived on a wednesday evening in japan! it was so good to see her walk out of the arrival gate at the airport. we took the train into town and taxi from the main station to my litttllle apartment. i don't think mom was quite prepared for how small it really is. she had her first experience sleeping on my futon. it is *hard* but she was so tired, she slept and rested okay. on thursday, i worked and mom hung out. friday mom came to school with me. it was fun to have her meet everyone and see how my days are like here. i happened to have five lessons that day (i usually have 3, maybe 4) so we were tired at the end of the day.

i had mom come the dates she did to take advantage of a 5 day weekend. on saturday we travelled to osaka by shinkansen (bullet train) and it was awesome. we stayed at a ramada and wow! it was a lovely change from the apt. we felt like queens in a real bed and i even got to take a few baths where i could stretch my legs out! score. 

we visited the tennoji temple and i took mom to my favorite store LOFT. she didn't really seem all too impressed but bought a few little things anyway. on monday we took a 30 min train ride to kyoto to see some more temples and shrines. we met a very nice japanese lady on the train who ended up sharing a taxi with us (refused to let us pay) and toured us through a shrine. she was there visiting graves of her grandparents. she spoke pretty darn good english and it was fun to felt taken under her wing for a bit. after she had to head to another grave, mom and i jumped on a bus to see a few more things. we got a japanese lunch and took the bus around the town to sightsee. the bus system was so easy and good to use. the people in kyoto were SUPER nice as well. for instance, when we got of the bus one time and started walking along, the driver honked at me and waved me directions to go the other way for sights. i nodded and followed him, but he waved me down a few more times to be sure i was getting it. he was really going out of his way to help us.

we didn't try too much japanese food mainly because menu reading is impossible but we did have some. in osaka we also treated ourselves to hard rock cafe and that was nice, especially for me! we returned to nagoya and spent some more time in my city. mom took my friends and i out to a nice dinner the night before she left. it was nice! 

mom flew out yesterday and is home safe and sound now. it was so nice to have a visitor! i cannot wait until my winter vacation visit! counting down the days already! mom is gone but she left me some good treats from home (bagels, annies mac n cheese, chocolate covered raisins, whole wheat bread, candies, luna bars, peanut butter, my favorite red raspberry smuckers and even some tillamook cheese). i am set for a while! :)

busuanga + coron

right now i am sitting at the open air restaurant of the hotel we are staying at in coron town on busuanga island of palawan. (not to be confused with coron island, which is the whole reason for this trip.) we will day trip to the island tomorrow hopefully although we have yet to arrange our island hopping as the booking desk was closed this evening and will open bright and early at 7am.

the flight here from manila was just an hour and upon landing offered some beautiful scenery just off the main island of little islands lined with white sands and clear aqua waters. just seeing that i knew i would like it here!

what spurred the mission to coron island were a few photos i had seen in travel mags and on travel adverts in the airport. i knew i just HAD to see this place and hopefully tomorrow it will happen. if you google image search "coron island" or "cayangan lake" you will see why i had to see it for myself.

photos of course to follow! been having loads of fun testing out all the functions of my G10 and can't wait to share them soon.

hope all is well with everyone. xoxo.

puerto princesa + el nido

this week charles and i ventured to the island of palawan. it is off the southwest side of the philippines and is an amazing grouping of over 1,000 islands. the plane ride into the capital of puerto princesa was just over an hour flight. our hotel was so cute and had hot water and a/c. we were so happy. we just had one full day so we took advantage by taking an island hopping tour in honda bay for swimming and snorkeling. my fears of fish have continued. i just don't like when they get near to me, i hyperventilate and start to feel claustrophobia or something but it was such a gorgeous setting i still enjoyed the trip.

(honda bay, puerto princesa, palawan)
(bangkas of the coast of el nido town, palawan)(an island off of el nido, palawan)
(big lagoon, el nido, palawan)
(pondering a cloudy el nido sunset)

the next day we decided to skip the public bus and take an air conditioned shuttle to el nido on what was said to be a 6 hour ride. well... the shuttle was so cramped and hot it was pretty miserable. to make it even more lovely, 6'3" charles and 5'8" me (two of the tallest people aboard) were stuffed in the very back row, very back corner of the van. we had no room at all and the a/c we paid extra for didn't even hit us... but in the end the ride that turned into 9 hours was so worth it after arriving in el nido. it was gorgeous and lovely and we (sort of) forgot about the bad van ride.

after we got to town we found a nice room at a guest house, we even had a view of the bay from the balcony. the next day we did an island hopping tour and stopped at 5 different sights off the coast of el nido. it was so pretty. i took many photos although, in my opinion they don't quite capture the magnificence of it all or the scale of the huge limestone islands jutting out of the aqua clear waters. we snorkeled and swam and got plenty of sun. the tour included a fish, rice and veggie bbq lunch on a litle beach which was a bit castaway-ish. i ended up getting super burnt on my face and back but it was still so fun!

the next day we wanted to get a sea kayak but the weather was too windy outside the main cove so we got a half day island hopping tour to get back out on the water, this time with me fully blocked from the sun in a t-shirt and hat.

the town of el nido itself was so cute and quaint. there are tourists but it doesn't feel toursity, yet. with the 9 hour ride and only expensive tiny air connections it is a bit off the beaten trail but i'm sure that will soon change so i am so happy to have seen a plain little beach town before it changes too much. a weird thing about el nido is that the power is shut off from 6am until 2pm, random, huh? a bit annoying as we paid for an a/c room to have it not work for a chunk of the day. overall though el nido was awesome.

our original plan was to take a boat from el nido to coron but we learned it was in a small 20 passenger boat and since this is monsoon season i was worried about the safety of it all so we bit the bullet and took the shuttle back to puerto princesa (only 6 hours for real this time :). we are planning to fly directly into coron from manila in a week or so because i just have to see coron. we're on a real mission now!

i posted ton more pics here:
facebook album

manila + boracay

i made it to manila last tuesday and have since had a fun-filled time in the philippines! i have been taking lots of photos and have even tried some really crazy filipino foods here (pork and chicken intestines and ox tail soup). my first impressions of the philippines were very friendly. charles family is very welcoming and friendly. everyday some one offers to take us out and show us around. my first day there charles and went to a fancy mall (where you have to pass thru security to enter) for lunch and once i saw taco bell, i absolutely could NOT pass it so it was TB for lunch and i was a very happy camper. philippines reminds me a lot of latin america mixed with asia mixed with american culture. i love it!

here are a few photos so far:

charles and i on white beach on boracay island (one of the two sunny times we got!)
the sun setting outside charles' family's house in quezon city, a suburb of manila.
white beach, boracay.
charles, me, tito boy (uncle) and cousin boom
yep, that's me eating chicken intestines! wasnt too bad really!