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.  

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!