Japan_Bound
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Watashewa ni jeu nana desu (I'm 27) . . .
****** Update: I forgot to mention some great news!!! Ali called me yesterday to tell me she'd been accepted at UBC, which means she's moving to Vancouver on August 16th! Woo hoo!! She may be able to head over to Vic the weekend Jess and I get home. Natsue and Ali in Victoria - who'd-a-thunk-it?!! :O)
As most of you know, my Birthday was last week, so yours truly is now even closer to pushing 30 (ha ha). On Wednesday, my actual birthday, I had Voice last period (free conversation where we give students a topic and they go for it in English) and 5 of my very favourite students were there, so as a topic I asked them to take what they know about me and plan the perfect birthday party. What they came up with was soooo amazing that I almost cried - I was really touched that they remembered so much about me. I told them they had to plan the food, the drinks, the location, the decorations, the theme, the music, celebrity guests, attire, and gift - here's what they "planned":
FOOD- mainly Italian food, especially carbanera (they know it's my favourite)
DESSERT- cheesecake flown in from New York (they know I don't like Japanese cheesecake as it's not very sweet and skimps on the cream cheese)
DRINKS- champagne and mixers (they know I love rum and coke)
LOCATION- Versailles Palace in Paris, mirrored hallway (they said it must be fitting for a princess)
DECORATIONS- thousands of candles and red roses (how they remembered that I'll never know)
ATTIRE- period costumes circa early 1600s (they knew I love Shakespeare)
THE THEME- a party fit for royalty (they said candles and roses only as they remembered I don't really like balloons everywhere and am very romantic)
THE MUSIC- The New York Philharmonic Orchestra would be flown in to play 20s jazz during dinner (how did they remember about the 20s jazz???) and orchestral pieces appropriate for dancing after dinner
CELEBRITY GUESTS- Angelina Jolie and Richard Gere (they said Richard Gere because they know Pretty Woman is one of my very favorite movies)
THE GIFT- after dinner I'd be given a white gown to change into, Jesse would propose and they party would turn into a wedding; the ceremony would take place on the palace lawn under white tents lit by thousands of candle lanterns
*** Seriously guys, I was so touched. They'd learned all of this about me in passing over the past year and somehow managed to remember all of my favorite things. It made me realize what I'll be missing when I go home and I'll never forget that day. As an endnote to this story, at the very end before the bell went I asked them who would be paying for all of this and they said they assumed I'm a princess because I'm an only child, so they were going to put all of it on my dad's credit card. I laughed soooo hard at that one . . . ha ha . . . Versailles Palace on a credit card . . . he'd kill me.
That night Jess had to work until 2 so we had made prior plans to celebrate on the Thursday. We got up early and went to the gym then headed into Kyoto to meander (every now and then I actually feel like window shopping these days and Jesse HATES shopping, but he put up with me because it was my day - btw, I didn't buy anything). At dinner time we went to our favorite Indian restaurant and had a yummy dinner (if I could choose only one thing to eat for the rest of my life it would be curry and naan bread - I'm hooked and can't believe I had to come all the way to Japan to try Indian food for the first time) and then went and saw Batman in the theater (questionable really, going to see a comic book movie on MY birthday, but it was actually a really good movie - really good). That was followed by a trip to the Haagen Daaz shop for some ice cream cones (in lieu of cake; I'll take ice cream any day), and more wandering around in this godforsaken heat. We decided to go to J.J. Club which is the most fun place on the planet for big kids - it's about 10 floors of floor-to-ceiling entertainment; you pay by the hour and can go anywhere in the building you want. There's bowling, a ball pool (so cool even though I'm 27), tons of video games you don't have to plug with money, billiards, darts, ping pong, air hockey, basketball, batting cage, mini golf, soccer, etc. etc. You get the idea - we were like two kids in a candy store. We figured it was probably time to leave when our competition over who's the best air hockey player got a little out of hand ;), and caught a cab back to our 'hood where we had a few drinks at a local shot bar and then headed on home. It was a great birthday. I missed all of you, but it was so much better than last year when I had no family around.
The past week since then has consisted of very little besides hiding in front of the air conditioner as much as possible (it's sooooo hot and humid this year; much worse than last year - 36 Celcius the past few days and nearly 100% humidity). Sunday evening a few schools in my area got together and had a barbecue by a river; it was really fun but soooo hot. One of the girls had brought Oscar Meyer dogs from Costco - I was very happy; hadn't had a real hot dog in over two years (Japanese hot dogs are very thin, very tough and mostly fat - gross, really). The other night Jess finally got to go on his commando raid with his friends to the top of (I think it's called) Mt. Fushimi - highlights included one guy taking off his pants because he was too hot, forgetting where he'd put them, and eventually in a drunken stupor, peeing on them, and a group shot of the guys mooning the camera (I think a frontal one was taken as well, but Jess hasn't shown me that one yet ;) ).
In other news, due to the humidity we've been having raging thunderstorms for the past 3 days, which suits me just fine. I wish you guys could see what they're like here - nothing like the pansy, half-ass ones I get all worked up about at home. Really incredible storms, so Meeg is a happy camper.
Today we got up pretty early and caught a train into Osaka. Perhaps I haven't told any of you this, but I've been designing a tattoo for several months. I knew all along that I'd want to get one to commemerate being here and everything I've accomplished. I've been doing hours and hours and hours and . . . well you see what I mean . . . of research, and finally decided on what I want. I sat on the idea for about a month just to make sure it's what I want, and now I'm very excited. It's actually a Confucian quote: "They must often change who would be constant in happiness and wisdom." I want it done in black kanji (Japanese characters) rather than the original Chinese characters, found the layout for the kanji that I want, and finally went to the shop today. They have a great American tattoo guy there who was really helpful and I feel really good about what we've come up with; he was able to have it translated almost literally for me which is perfect; all I cared about was that the kanji for happiness and wisdom were the most ancient kanji possible and I got what I wanted. I'm going next Thursday to get it done. They're veerrrrry expensive here - ridiculous really - but totally worth it to me. No more details; not even going to tell you where it's going (although obviously it'll be discreet; you know Meegan). Will send a pic when it's done. I can't can't can't can't wait! When we finished up at the tattoo shop (a funky little place in Amerika mura called Chopstick Tattoo) we went to El Pancho, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Shinsaibashi where I proceeded to get really drunk after 3 margueritas. In my defense, it's really hot and I hadn't eaten much - just a small plate of nachos we shared (mmm...they were so good - such a treat after months and months of not eating stuff like that). After lunch we caught a train back home and arrived in the middle of another great thunderstorm. As much as I want to come home this country definitely has its merits.
That's it for now - I'm off to find refuge in front of the air/con. Take care!
****** Update: I forgot to mention some great news!!! Ali called me yesterday to tell me she'd been accepted at UBC, which means she's moving to Vancouver on August 16th! Woo hoo!! She may be able to head over to Vic the weekend Jess and I get home. Natsue and Ali in Victoria - who'd-a-thunk-it?!! :O)
As most of you know, my Birthday was last week, so yours truly is now even closer to pushing 30 (ha ha). On Wednesday, my actual birthday, I had Voice last period (free conversation where we give students a topic and they go for it in English) and 5 of my very favourite students were there, so as a topic I asked them to take what they know about me and plan the perfect birthday party. What they came up with was soooo amazing that I almost cried - I was really touched that they remembered so much about me. I told them they had to plan the food, the drinks, the location, the decorations, the theme, the music, celebrity guests, attire, and gift - here's what they "planned":
FOOD- mainly Italian food, especially carbanera (they know it's my favourite)
DESSERT- cheesecake flown in from New York (they know I don't like Japanese cheesecake as it's not very sweet and skimps on the cream cheese)
DRINKS- champagne and mixers (they know I love rum and coke)
LOCATION- Versailles Palace in Paris, mirrored hallway (they said it must be fitting for a princess)
DECORATIONS- thousands of candles and red roses (how they remembered that I'll never know)
ATTIRE- period costumes circa early 1600s (they knew I love Shakespeare)
THE THEME- a party fit for royalty (they said candles and roses only as they remembered I don't really like balloons everywhere and am very romantic)
THE MUSIC- The New York Philharmonic Orchestra would be flown in to play 20s jazz during dinner (how did they remember about the 20s jazz???) and orchestral pieces appropriate for dancing after dinner
CELEBRITY GUESTS- Angelina Jolie and Richard Gere (they said Richard Gere because they know Pretty Woman is one of my very favorite movies)
THE GIFT- after dinner I'd be given a white gown to change into, Jesse would propose and they party would turn into a wedding; the ceremony would take place on the palace lawn under white tents lit by thousands of candle lanterns
*** Seriously guys, I was so touched. They'd learned all of this about me in passing over the past year and somehow managed to remember all of my favorite things. It made me realize what I'll be missing when I go home and I'll never forget that day. As an endnote to this story, at the very end before the bell went I asked them who would be paying for all of this and they said they assumed I'm a princess because I'm an only child, so they were going to put all of it on my dad's credit card. I laughed soooo hard at that one . . . ha ha . . . Versailles Palace on a credit card . . . he'd kill me.
That night Jess had to work until 2 so we had made prior plans to celebrate on the Thursday. We got up early and went to the gym then headed into Kyoto to meander (every now and then I actually feel like window shopping these days and Jesse HATES shopping, but he put up with me because it was my day - btw, I didn't buy anything). At dinner time we went to our favorite Indian restaurant and had a yummy dinner (if I could choose only one thing to eat for the rest of my life it would be curry and naan bread - I'm hooked and can't believe I had to come all the way to Japan to try Indian food for the first time) and then went and saw Batman in the theater (questionable really, going to see a comic book movie on MY birthday, but it was actually a really good movie - really good). That was followed by a trip to the Haagen Daaz shop for some ice cream cones (in lieu of cake; I'll take ice cream any day), and more wandering around in this godforsaken heat. We decided to go to J.J. Club which is the most fun place on the planet for big kids - it's about 10 floors of floor-to-ceiling entertainment; you pay by the hour and can go anywhere in the building you want. There's bowling, a ball pool (so cool even though I'm 27), tons of video games you don't have to plug with money, billiards, darts, ping pong, air hockey, basketball, batting cage, mini golf, soccer, etc. etc. You get the idea - we were like two kids in a candy store. We figured it was probably time to leave when our competition over who's the best air hockey player got a little out of hand ;), and caught a cab back to our 'hood where we had a few drinks at a local shot bar and then headed on home. It was a great birthday. I missed all of you, but it was so much better than last year when I had no family around.
The past week since then has consisted of very little besides hiding in front of the air conditioner as much as possible (it's sooooo hot and humid this year; much worse than last year - 36 Celcius the past few days and nearly 100% humidity). Sunday evening a few schools in my area got together and had a barbecue by a river; it was really fun but soooo hot. One of the girls had brought Oscar Meyer dogs from Costco - I was very happy; hadn't had a real hot dog in over two years (Japanese hot dogs are very thin, very tough and mostly fat - gross, really). The other night Jess finally got to go on his commando raid with his friends to the top of (I think it's called) Mt. Fushimi - highlights included one guy taking off his pants because he was too hot, forgetting where he'd put them, and eventually in a drunken stupor, peeing on them, and a group shot of the guys mooning the camera (I think a frontal one was taken as well, but Jess hasn't shown me that one yet ;) ).
In other news, due to the humidity we've been having raging thunderstorms for the past 3 days, which suits me just fine. I wish you guys could see what they're like here - nothing like the pansy, half-ass ones I get all worked up about at home. Really incredible storms, so Meeg is a happy camper.
Today we got up pretty early and caught a train into Osaka. Perhaps I haven't told any of you this, but I've been designing a tattoo for several months. I knew all along that I'd want to get one to commemerate being here and everything I've accomplished. I've been doing hours and hours and hours and . . . well you see what I mean . . . of research, and finally decided on what I want. I sat on the idea for about a month just to make sure it's what I want, and now I'm very excited. It's actually a Confucian quote: "They must often change who would be constant in happiness and wisdom." I want it done in black kanji (Japanese characters) rather than the original Chinese characters, found the layout for the kanji that I want, and finally went to the shop today. They have a great American tattoo guy there who was really helpful and I feel really good about what we've come up with; he was able to have it translated almost literally for me which is perfect; all I cared about was that the kanji for happiness and wisdom were the most ancient kanji possible and I got what I wanted. I'm going next Thursday to get it done. They're veerrrrry expensive here - ridiculous really - but totally worth it to me. No more details; not even going to tell you where it's going (although obviously it'll be discreet; you know Meegan). Will send a pic when it's done. I can't can't can't can't wait! When we finished up at the tattoo shop (a funky little place in Amerika mura called Chopstick Tattoo) we went to El Pancho, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Shinsaibashi where I proceeded to get really drunk after 3 margueritas. In my defense, it's really hot and I hadn't eaten much - just a small plate of nachos we shared (mmm...they were so good - such a treat after months and months of not eating stuff like that). After lunch we caught a train back home and arrived in the middle of another great thunderstorm. As much as I want to come home this country definitely has its merits.
That's it for now - I'm off to find refuge in front of the air/con. Take care!
Friday, June 17, 2005
It's never forget, forever . . .
(That's the slogan for our hotel in Okinawa; I couldn't make it up if I tried)
I've been so lazy about updating since we got back from Okinawa, but at long last, here's a summary of what we did on our awesome beach vacation.
Sunday, May 29th
I had packed the night before (very un-Meegan-like behaviour, as I usually pack weeks in advance) but only got about 2 hours of sleep because I was so excited. Jess worked until 2 and went out with his work crew, finally rolling in and packing at about 5:30. We left the house at 6:40, caught a train to Shin-Osaka station, and then a bus to Itami Airport (as it was our first time at Itami, we got lost once; I know Kansai airport better than any airport in Canada now, but not this one). At Itami there were several groups of hundreds of teens going to Okinawa on class trips - they seemed so excited, and I thought back wistfully to what it was like to be a teenager and on your way somewhere . . . ah, nostalgia . . . Anyway, the flight was about 2 hours and uneventful, apart from my taking a picture from the air of my first ever view of tropical water - I'll NEVER forget that moment. Upon arriving at Naha airport in Okinawa we had 2 hours to kill until our bus came, so we wandered around, read, and in general couldn't wait to get the show on the road. The bus ride along the coast was absolutely beautiful. The first thing that struck me was all the vegetation; lush, tropical trees and plants EVERYWHERE - after living in Osaka, the concrete jungle, this was definitely a sight for sore eyes. There were thousands of palm trees and amazing resorts along the way, not to mention the gorgeous tropical beaches I woke Jesse up every 5 minutes to see (why he is soooo patient with me, I'll never know). After about an hour and 45 on the road, I saw a BEAUTIFUL beach in the distance - the most amazing one so far - and was thinking to myself that it would be sooo nice if that were ours and, lo and behold, it was! Stepping into the lobby was so exciting - it looked exactly like the pics I saw on the internet, and through the huge bay windows was the beach I was dying to get to (it was VERY hot in Okinawa). When we checked in at Kise Beach Palace I kept getting excited because this was our first vacation away together where we booked a trip together, took a plane together, and checked in just the two of us. We were given breakfast coupons for the 3 days we'd be there, free drink coupons, and discount coupons for the gift shops (which we never bought anything from because the selection was pretty limited). Our room was great - top floor, with an amazing view of the beach; I was so excited I immediately emailed pics to some of you from my phone. After oohing and aahing, I changed into my bathing suit and ran down to the beach for my first ever swim in tropical sea water - it was so incredible to be in the ocean and be so warm. Every now and then I had a mini-panic about the possibility of sharks, but otherwise enjoyed myself thoroughly. Jess is not much of a swimmer, so he waited patiently on the beach for me, after which we got changed then went on a long, romantic walk along the ocean. Well, romantic apart from the copious amounts of sweat dripping off of us. Later we went back to the hotel and had the buffet dinner (expensive, but good), then had after-dinner drinks on our patio while watching the sunset - that was incredibly romantic too. When the sun went down we flicked on the tube and discovered an English channel (for all the American forces living in Okinawa). We fell asleep to the sound of the ocean, having left the patio doors open (actually, they were open the whole time we were there as I wanted to take as much advantage of being near the ocean as possible).
Monday, May 30th
I woke up at 8; tried to sleep in as I was on vacation, but I guess I was too excited. I read on the patio while waiting for Jess to wake up, thinking to myself every 2 minutes "I can't believe I'm here." When Jess woke up we headed down for our breakfast buffet which was good but all the food was cold. As it was a bit cloudy and chilly that morning, we hung out in the room for a couple of hours waiting for the sun to come out (by the way, the weather forecast said it was supposed to rain the entire time we were there, but it only rained while we were waiting to leave Naha airport for Osaka - we totally lucked out and had sun and blue skies almost the entire time). While waiting, we watched T.V. and I got to see Oprah for the first time in over a year - believe me, it's thrilling when your only options for two years have all been in Japanese. At about 11 we decided to head out and explore, so we went for a long road up the beach to the next resort over, called "Busena Resort." My God, is it ever beautiful. Way out of our league/budget, and so posh. We went to the underwater observatory (total ripoff) and took a glass bottom boat ride (totally worth it) where we got to see many different kinds of tropical fish and coral reefs. After that we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. I got drunk off of one Moscow Mule - due to the heat maybe? - and laughed during the entire walk back to our hotel. Once there we decided to stay out of the sun for a while and read/watched TV/napped until later in the day when I decided to go for another swim. It was quite windy at that point so no one else was on the beach; I got a little spooked being in the water by myself, so switched from the ocean to the pool. Afterward I showered and we walked along the beach in the opposite direction of Busena Resort and found a quaint little restaurant with 60s Hawaiian decor. In fact, the entire island was like a version of Hawaii complete with palm trees, Hawaiian music, flower leis etc. Later we had drinks on the patio and went to bed early to the sound of the waves once again.
Tuesday, May 31st
We were up at 9 and went down for the breakfast buffet, then back to our room where Jesse spent a couple of hours hemming and hawwing about whether or not he wanted to go diving. I'd been trying to convince him for weeks, but that day decided I was going with or without him (although I knew, undoubtedly, that it would be more fun with him). I went down to talk to the staff of Kise Marine Sports (when you click on this link you'll get two rows of Japanese characters/links surrounding a picture of the beach - to get a rundown in broken English of what our diving experience consisted of, click on the top right link), got the info I needed, then went up to the room when Jess finally agreed to go with me. We went back down at 12:40 to sign up and promise that we don't have any health concerns. Then we were fitted for masks, flippers and wet suits. I'm an idiot; seriously. I put my wet suit on backwards. Everyone was laughing at me. I had to go back and put it on the other way around, but at that point I was so sweaty and sticky that I couldn't pull the bleepin' suit up. Once that fiasco was dealt with, we had a dive lesson in the hotel pool; we learned how to breathe with the ventilator, clear our ears, clear our mask, and what hand signals to use (left, right, get me the $&*% outta here - those kinds of things). Then we got on the boat for a 5 min. burn out to the reef where we'd be diving. I got so nervous about flipping backwards out of the boat that everyone had to encourage me over and over until finally I did it. OK, so then each of us had our own instructor working with us who took us one at a time down to the bottom to feed fish. We were kneeling on the ocean floor feeding the fish, having lots of pictures taken of us with the waterproof camera we'd purchased, and one of the guides handed me a sea cucumber. You guys, the thing is very pink and very phallic, and it's very hard to laugh when you're breathing with a ventilator. I was trying to be mature, but come on! Then off we went for a toodle around the reefs, when my biggest fears came to play. As most of you know, I'm terrified of snakes. Well, Okinawa has sea snakes, and we saw several (Okinawan sea snakes can kill a grown man in under 10 seconds, that's how deadly their venom is - but I wasn't scared of being bitten, just of having one come anywhere near me, venom or not). Very big, very long, very fast snakes. I put claw marks in my guide's arms trying to indicate that I wanted to get the $%&* outta there. I had told them beforehand that I'm scared of snakes, so they were prepared for hystrionics. Even Jess kept asking if I was OK. I wouldn't say OK, perse, but I got through it because I knew if I panicked they'd take me back to the boat and I'd miss out on my dive, and ruin Jesse's in the process. So I got through it (had a few follow-up nightmares about snakes, but I survived!). Apart from the snakes, that was one of the best experiences of my life. At one point we were allowed to let go of our guide's arm and kneel by ourselves and take pictures of eachother for about 5 mins; after the fact we told eachother how we'd both used that time to reflect and relax, and consider how amazing and life-altering the experience was. In fact, for all his hemming and hawing, once it was over, Jess told me that was the BEST experience of his life so far. So, ahem, he apologized. And then told me he doesn't know if I'm an angel or the devil, as now we're hooked and it's going to be mighty expensive. We are going to get certified when we get home so we can dive all over the world on our big adventure. After we got back to shore, we spent an hour hanging out with the Kise guys and really hit it off with Taku, who speaks really good English (his father is Aussie, so he spends 1/2 the year in Australia and 1/2 the year in Okinawa). He ended up inviting us to go out with everyone that night, so we agreed to meet him in the lobby an hour later. I went for a swim and showered, then we met Taku, his girlfriend Miku and their dog Tam, and they drove us to a great restaurant where I finally had shrimp tempura for the first time in 2 years here. Later we went to their favourite bar, "What's Up" and played pool, darts and ping pong with everyone. We got along so well with Miku and Taku that they ended up inviting us to go back and stay with them in August. It would be an experience of a lifetime, so money permitting, we'll definitely do that before leaving Japan. Later Miku, who doesn't drink, drove us home where we watched T.V. until passing out.
Wednesday, June 1st
We were up early to have breakfast, then spent the rest of the morning packing and watching T.V. The hotel staff called at 11:45 to remind us that check-out time was at 11; I knew that but was loathe to give up watching my last episode of Oprah for a very long time! We ended up leaving our bags at the front desk and went down to the beach to spend some time with Taku, Miku and the Kise guys. Taku was using a metal detector and joked that it's a lucrative career as there is lots of money to be found on the beach apparently. When they had to take a group of divers out, Jesse and I caught a cab into Nago (northern Naha), the town nearest to our hotel, and had A&W for lunch. It's now called the "Great A&W Fiasco," as lunch and the roundtrip cab ride back to our hotel ended up costing about $60. Oh well, you only live once. When we got back to the hotel everyone was still out on the boat, so we left our contact info with the gift shop girl for Taku and waited in the lobby for our bus, which arrived at around 2. The bus ride back to the airport was a little sad; I didn't want to leave at all, or come back to the rat race that is Osaka. The Kise guys lead the perfect life; they spend all day every day on the beach, hang out together at night having fun, and don't have any big city stress. Maybe some day we'll have to buy a house in Okinawa . . . Anyway, it just started to rain as we were taking off from the airport. After an uneventful flight, a long bus ride from Itami to Kyoto, a train ride from Kyoto to our home station, and a cab ride to our house later, we were exhausted and hit the hay right away.
I miss living in a sarong and tank top all day. Jesse says he misses going Commando and sockless, and not having to shave. But when I got back to work everyone said how happy and refreshed I looked. Too bad I had to kill the buzz by going back to work at all!! Anyway, I had an amazing time and will cherish those few days of paradise forever. Hopefully we can go back and hang out with our newest batch of lifelong friends!
Since coming back, we've said goodbye to Dom and Julia (our Brit friends) who flew home last week; it was sad but we'll see them in London next year, so it's not a forever kind of goodbye. Last Wednesday we went to Jesse's work to sing karaoke with Natsue and her best friend Ai. Later we went to a dance club in Kyoto, where Natsue danced and got drunk for the first time in her life (she said she wanted a final hurrah and to pull an all-nighter, which she did! before crashing at our house at around 5). The next morning I cooked a big breakfast and then she and Ai left to catch a train back to Osaka. I didn't know it at the time, but that would turn out to be the last time I see Natsue until I get home in September. I took Saturday off to see her off at the airport (she's doing a 2 month homestay/language program in Van before moving to Vic) and she had told us to be there at 4:30, but that ended up being her actual departure time, so we didn't get to see her off at the airport. I did speak to her on the phone and was really upset about the mix-up, but atleast I'll get to see her soon enough. I'm a bit sad though that I'll probably never hang out with her in Japan again. :( But time to make new memories!
Now all of our close friends are gone which means we'll be able to save some money by not going out!! We've been going to the gym every day (except Tuesdays, when it's closed) since May 1st and are feeling fantastic. And we're looking forward to coming home - my God, is it ever time!
And that's about all she wrote! Take care.
(That's the slogan for our hotel in Okinawa; I couldn't make it up if I tried)
I've been so lazy about updating since we got back from Okinawa, but at long last, here's a summary of what we did on our awesome beach vacation.
Sunday, May 29th
I had packed the night before (very un-Meegan-like behaviour, as I usually pack weeks in advance) but only got about 2 hours of sleep because I was so excited. Jess worked until 2 and went out with his work crew, finally rolling in and packing at about 5:30. We left the house at 6:40, caught a train to Shin-Osaka station, and then a bus to Itami Airport (as it was our first time at Itami, we got lost once; I know Kansai airport better than any airport in Canada now, but not this one). At Itami there were several groups of hundreds of teens going to Okinawa on class trips - they seemed so excited, and I thought back wistfully to what it was like to be a teenager and on your way somewhere . . . ah, nostalgia . . . Anyway, the flight was about 2 hours and uneventful, apart from my taking a picture from the air of my first ever view of tropical water - I'll NEVER forget that moment. Upon arriving at Naha airport in Okinawa we had 2 hours to kill until our bus came, so we wandered around, read, and in general couldn't wait to get the show on the road. The bus ride along the coast was absolutely beautiful. The first thing that struck me was all the vegetation; lush, tropical trees and plants EVERYWHERE - after living in Osaka, the concrete jungle, this was definitely a sight for sore eyes. There were thousands of palm trees and amazing resorts along the way, not to mention the gorgeous tropical beaches I woke Jesse up every 5 minutes to see (why he is soooo patient with me, I'll never know). After about an hour and 45 on the road, I saw a BEAUTIFUL beach in the distance - the most amazing one so far - and was thinking to myself that it would be sooo nice if that were ours and, lo and behold, it was! Stepping into the lobby was so exciting - it looked exactly like the pics I saw on the internet, and through the huge bay windows was the beach I was dying to get to (it was VERY hot in Okinawa). When we checked in at Kise Beach Palace I kept getting excited because this was our first vacation away together where we booked a trip together, took a plane together, and checked in just the two of us. We were given breakfast coupons for the 3 days we'd be there, free drink coupons, and discount coupons for the gift shops (which we never bought anything from because the selection was pretty limited). Our room was great - top floor, with an amazing view of the beach; I was so excited I immediately emailed pics to some of you from my phone. After oohing and aahing, I changed into my bathing suit and ran down to the beach for my first ever swim in tropical sea water - it was so incredible to be in the ocean and be so warm. Every now and then I had a mini-panic about the possibility of sharks, but otherwise enjoyed myself thoroughly. Jess is not much of a swimmer, so he waited patiently on the beach for me, after which we got changed then went on a long, romantic walk along the ocean. Well, romantic apart from the copious amounts of sweat dripping off of us. Later we went back to the hotel and had the buffet dinner (expensive, but good), then had after-dinner drinks on our patio while watching the sunset - that was incredibly romantic too. When the sun went down we flicked on the tube and discovered an English channel (for all the American forces living in Okinawa). We fell asleep to the sound of the ocean, having left the patio doors open (actually, they were open the whole time we were there as I wanted to take as much advantage of being near the ocean as possible).
Monday, May 30th
I woke up at 8; tried to sleep in as I was on vacation, but I guess I was too excited. I read on the patio while waiting for Jess to wake up, thinking to myself every 2 minutes "I can't believe I'm here." When Jess woke up we headed down for our breakfast buffet which was good but all the food was cold. As it was a bit cloudy and chilly that morning, we hung out in the room for a couple of hours waiting for the sun to come out (by the way, the weather forecast said it was supposed to rain the entire time we were there, but it only rained while we were waiting to leave Naha airport for Osaka - we totally lucked out and had sun and blue skies almost the entire time). While waiting, we watched T.V. and I got to see Oprah for the first time in over a year - believe me, it's thrilling when your only options for two years have all been in Japanese. At about 11 we decided to head out and explore, so we went for a long road up the beach to the next resort over, called "Busena Resort." My God, is it ever beautiful. Way out of our league/budget, and so posh. We went to the underwater observatory (total ripoff) and took a glass bottom boat ride (totally worth it) where we got to see many different kinds of tropical fish and coral reefs. After that we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. I got drunk off of one Moscow Mule - due to the heat maybe? - and laughed during the entire walk back to our hotel. Once there we decided to stay out of the sun for a while and read/watched TV/napped until later in the day when I decided to go for another swim. It was quite windy at that point so no one else was on the beach; I got a little spooked being in the water by myself, so switched from the ocean to the pool. Afterward I showered and we walked along the beach in the opposite direction of Busena Resort and found a quaint little restaurant with 60s Hawaiian decor. In fact, the entire island was like a version of Hawaii complete with palm trees, Hawaiian music, flower leis etc. Later we had drinks on the patio and went to bed early to the sound of the waves once again.
Tuesday, May 31st
We were up at 9 and went down for the breakfast buffet, then back to our room where Jesse spent a couple of hours hemming and hawwing about whether or not he wanted to go diving. I'd been trying to convince him for weeks, but that day decided I was going with or without him (although I knew, undoubtedly, that it would be more fun with him). I went down to talk to the staff of Kise Marine Sports (when you click on this link you'll get two rows of Japanese characters/links surrounding a picture of the beach - to get a rundown in broken English of what our diving experience consisted of, click on the top right link), got the info I needed, then went up to the room when Jess finally agreed to go with me. We went back down at 12:40 to sign up and promise that we don't have any health concerns. Then we were fitted for masks, flippers and wet suits. I'm an idiot; seriously. I put my wet suit on backwards. Everyone was laughing at me. I had to go back and put it on the other way around, but at that point I was so sweaty and sticky that I couldn't pull the bleepin' suit up. Once that fiasco was dealt with, we had a dive lesson in the hotel pool; we learned how to breathe with the ventilator, clear our ears, clear our mask, and what hand signals to use (left, right, get me the $&*% outta here - those kinds of things). Then we got on the boat for a 5 min. burn out to the reef where we'd be diving. I got so nervous about flipping backwards out of the boat that everyone had to encourage me over and over until finally I did it. OK, so then each of us had our own instructor working with us who took us one at a time down to the bottom to feed fish. We were kneeling on the ocean floor feeding the fish, having lots of pictures taken of us with the waterproof camera we'd purchased, and one of the guides handed me a sea cucumber. You guys, the thing is very pink and very phallic, and it's very hard to laugh when you're breathing with a ventilator. I was trying to be mature, but come on! Then off we went for a toodle around the reefs, when my biggest fears came to play. As most of you know, I'm terrified of snakes. Well, Okinawa has sea snakes, and we saw several (Okinawan sea snakes can kill a grown man in under 10 seconds, that's how deadly their venom is - but I wasn't scared of being bitten, just of having one come anywhere near me, venom or not). Very big, very long, very fast snakes. I put claw marks in my guide's arms trying to indicate that I wanted to get the $%&* outta there. I had told them beforehand that I'm scared of snakes, so they were prepared for hystrionics. Even Jess kept asking if I was OK. I wouldn't say OK, perse, but I got through it because I knew if I panicked they'd take me back to the boat and I'd miss out on my dive, and ruin Jesse's in the process. So I got through it (had a few follow-up nightmares about snakes, but I survived!). Apart from the snakes, that was one of the best experiences of my life. At one point we were allowed to let go of our guide's arm and kneel by ourselves and take pictures of eachother for about 5 mins; after the fact we told eachother how we'd both used that time to reflect and relax, and consider how amazing and life-altering the experience was. In fact, for all his hemming and hawing, once it was over, Jess told me that was the BEST experience of his life so far. So, ahem, he apologized. And then told me he doesn't know if I'm an angel or the devil, as now we're hooked and it's going to be mighty expensive. We are going to get certified when we get home so we can dive all over the world on our big adventure. After we got back to shore, we spent an hour hanging out with the Kise guys and really hit it off with Taku, who speaks really good English (his father is Aussie, so he spends 1/2 the year in Australia and 1/2 the year in Okinawa). He ended up inviting us to go out with everyone that night, so we agreed to meet him in the lobby an hour later. I went for a swim and showered, then we met Taku, his girlfriend Miku and their dog Tam, and they drove us to a great restaurant where I finally had shrimp tempura for the first time in 2 years here. Later we went to their favourite bar, "What's Up" and played pool, darts and ping pong with everyone. We got along so well with Miku and Taku that they ended up inviting us to go back and stay with them in August. It would be an experience of a lifetime, so money permitting, we'll definitely do that before leaving Japan. Later Miku, who doesn't drink, drove us home where we watched T.V. until passing out.
Wednesday, June 1st
We were up early to have breakfast, then spent the rest of the morning packing and watching T.V. The hotel staff called at 11:45 to remind us that check-out time was at 11; I knew that but was loathe to give up watching my last episode of Oprah for a very long time! We ended up leaving our bags at the front desk and went down to the beach to spend some time with Taku, Miku and the Kise guys. Taku was using a metal detector and joked that it's a lucrative career as there is lots of money to be found on the beach apparently. When they had to take a group of divers out, Jesse and I caught a cab into Nago (northern Naha), the town nearest to our hotel, and had A&W for lunch. It's now called the "Great A&W Fiasco," as lunch and the roundtrip cab ride back to our hotel ended up costing about $60. Oh well, you only live once. When we got back to the hotel everyone was still out on the boat, so we left our contact info with the gift shop girl for Taku and waited in the lobby for our bus, which arrived at around 2. The bus ride back to the airport was a little sad; I didn't want to leave at all, or come back to the rat race that is Osaka. The Kise guys lead the perfect life; they spend all day every day on the beach, hang out together at night having fun, and don't have any big city stress. Maybe some day we'll have to buy a house in Okinawa . . . Anyway, it just started to rain as we were taking off from the airport. After an uneventful flight, a long bus ride from Itami to Kyoto, a train ride from Kyoto to our home station, and a cab ride to our house later, we were exhausted and hit the hay right away.
I miss living in a sarong and tank top all day. Jesse says he misses going Commando and sockless, and not having to shave. But when I got back to work everyone said how happy and refreshed I looked. Too bad I had to kill the buzz by going back to work at all!! Anyway, I had an amazing time and will cherish those few days of paradise forever. Hopefully we can go back and hang out with our newest batch of lifelong friends!
Since coming back, we've said goodbye to Dom and Julia (our Brit friends) who flew home last week; it was sad but we'll see them in London next year, so it's not a forever kind of goodbye. Last Wednesday we went to Jesse's work to sing karaoke with Natsue and her best friend Ai. Later we went to a dance club in Kyoto, where Natsue danced and got drunk for the first time in her life (she said she wanted a final hurrah and to pull an all-nighter, which she did! before crashing at our house at around 5). The next morning I cooked a big breakfast and then she and Ai left to catch a train back to Osaka. I didn't know it at the time, but that would turn out to be the last time I see Natsue until I get home in September. I took Saturday off to see her off at the airport (she's doing a 2 month homestay/language program in Van before moving to Vic) and she had told us to be there at 4:30, but that ended up being her actual departure time, so we didn't get to see her off at the airport. I did speak to her on the phone and was really upset about the mix-up, but atleast I'll get to see her soon enough. I'm a bit sad though that I'll probably never hang out with her in Japan again. :( But time to make new memories!
Now all of our close friends are gone which means we'll be able to save some money by not going out!! We've been going to the gym every day (except Tuesdays, when it's closed) since May 1st and are feeling fantastic. And we're looking forward to coming home - my God, is it ever time!
And that's about all she wrote! Take care.
