Have a pretty good day.Still can't really sleep at night.I hate when the insomnia comes back.I have been slacking in school but that is the same as always.I have been really excited about becoming a midwife and found out that there is a big midwifery conference next spring in King of Prussia.I really wanna go even though it's really expensive and someone needs to teach how to drive before then so that I have a way to get there.
Things are going pretty well here even though I am more of an obnoxious American than I have ever been in my life. When ever I am with any of the other black students people stare us down.Especially the women...I am pretty sure that people are used to seeing less black women than men.At this point we are all pretty sick of it.So that is annoying but not unexpected. My Japanese still sucks which is facilitated in part by my slacker tendencies, my english speaking university, my english speaking house, the incompetence of my Japanese teacher, and the fact that when I speak Japanese to people or try to they answer me in English.Blimey!Except for like two days ago.I can ask for the time very clearly and so I say it very naturally which meant someone started a conversation with me that I had no clue how to finish.Good times.
On a more positive note I had my first Hot Yoga class today and it was cool.Well you know what I mean(corny). I really liked it and didn't really worry about the woman next to me who was beyond flexible.Flexibility isn't my strong point and I am hoping this helps.I am gonna go two times a week cause that is all my schedule allows for but it should be good. Tuesday/Thursday used to be solo adventure days but that got pricey and I have trips to pay for.
The teacher was really great and used hand signal and demonstration to communicate what was happening.I guess languages develop out of need to know basic things and then evolved because of the desire to know and share more.
Back to my goals.So getting to Japan was quite a feat and took some planning. But I am having a good time and more importantly I feel like I can plan any trip I want.So I got invited to Venezuela in January to visit the Abster, I have some standing invites for Cali, and I got invited to Kenya for soring break.I am gonna make at least one of those things happen. But the really big goal is something Brian had talked about after I googled it and got excited as I do often...an around the world trip.I've decided that I am gonna go in 2010.The term is used loosely most people on round the world tickets don't actually go all the way around. But there is a whole online community built around this stuff.My plan is to start in south asia, head to southeast asia, then head overland to China, take the trans-Mongolian to Ulan Bator and then The trans Siberian to mOscow. From there work my way through Europe.In Europe I would stay with friends, friends of friends, and family of friends. Africa deserves it's own trip because as I keep reminding people here AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY!
It is easy for me to map things like this in my head because I am psycho and have spent so much time looking at map and thinking that I could pull any number of routes out of my head but couldn't place the countries on the map.I am off to look at a southeast asai travel guide when I should be studying
Also i know I still need to put up those pictures.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Okay so this from last week and quite long
9/18
Yesterday I twisted my ankle falling out the supermarket(typical).The night before I slept in a park(not typical). The park was part of the Yokohama Ferry Terminal.My friends Nick,Joe,and Paula re all architecture majors and Nick really wanted to see this building.Nick is a really chill dude who doesn't talk when he doesn't have anything to say and is generally not very excitable but this building was exciting to him.The building was really cool...it was a man made landscape next to the Tokyo bay it looked like a sea a wooden waves with grass islands.We didn't get there until like 9pm after putting out stuff in lockers and then having one of those great dinner conversations where you are closer afterwards if for no other reason than the amount of dirt you have on each other.
We were intially gonna sleep in McDonalds which are so clean here that you can do that and we have seen quite a few people do it. In fact I see people sleep in public here all the time in part because trains stop running and many people live far from the city center.
When we got to the park there were so many people there. Lots of young couples but also friends hanging out and a few people having some alone time.We mostly walked around and looked at the building and took pictures.At soem point everyone but Nick fell asleep.We got cold because it was right by the bay and Paul wanted to book a hotel but we all disagreed.In par because it was already 3 in the morning. Also Nick seemed so happy that we wanted to stay and support him so in the end we move to an alcove lit with blue lights next to the bathroom. Once we relocated we were mostly awake and argued about international politics, domestic housing policy, urban planning , and institutionalized racism and the suburbs.
Finally it was time for the sun to rise and we got to watch it rise over the bay. Somewhere around 4am most of the people left the park but around 5am joggers and some photographers started to show up.We also took the time to notice that it wasn't the sun that was moving but the earth and by extension ourselves.It was one of those sweet introspective moments that means a lot to you but maybe not much to others.
We never did make it to Chinatown for Dim Sum...Yokohama has Japan's biggest Chinatown. Instead we went to McDonalds where they served us at our table.
As of today my ankle is still swollen bu doing better.
This past weekend I went o Hakone and while it was too crowded to see Mount Fuji I have a good time.I ate an egg that is cooked in a hot spring and is supposed to extend my life seven years and got naked and bathed in the onsen. We also did karaoke and had kakesei dinner.That was all pretty great I recommend it to anyone.
Most of the kids from my dorm really disliked the kids from the other dorms who were pre-occupied with getting drunk and trying to act cool.The bus drivers was like two hours late because of an accident and then it took a long time to get there and back and these obnoxious little shits treated him like it was his fault.US citizens are the most impatient people on the planet.It is a gross generalization but I am gonna go with it.
There is one kid in the other dorm who is really obnoxious and I had to stop my friend from kicking the shit out of him.The kid totally deserved it though.Apparently he threw a bottle into the woods when we were at the Buddhist Temple and drew on people's prayers with a magic marker.We have a group pact to catch him on the street and whip his ass.
I'll post a link to pictures in a little while but there will be a lot of them
Yesterday I twisted my ankle falling out the supermarket(typical).The night before I slept in a park(not typical). The park was part of the Yokohama Ferry Terminal.My friends Nick,Joe,and Paula re all architecture majors and Nick really wanted to see this building.Nick is a really chill dude who doesn't talk when he doesn't have anything to say and is generally not very excitable but this building was exciting to him.The building was really cool...it was a man made landscape next to the Tokyo bay it looked like a sea a wooden waves with grass islands.We didn't get there until like 9pm after putting out stuff in lockers and then having one of those great dinner conversations where you are closer afterwards if for no other reason than the amount of dirt you have on each other.
We were intially gonna sleep in McDonalds which are so clean here that you can do that and we have seen quite a few people do it. In fact I see people sleep in public here all the time in part because trains stop running and many people live far from the city center.
When we got to the park there were so many people there. Lots of young couples but also friends hanging out and a few people having some alone time.We mostly walked around and looked at the building and took pictures.At soem point everyone but Nick fell asleep.We got cold because it was right by the bay and Paul wanted to book a hotel but we all disagreed.In par because it was already 3 in the morning. Also Nick seemed so happy that we wanted to stay and support him so in the end we move to an alcove lit with blue lights next to the bathroom. Once we relocated we were mostly awake and argued about international politics, domestic housing policy, urban planning , and institutionalized racism and the suburbs.
Finally it was time for the sun to rise and we got to watch it rise over the bay. Somewhere around 4am most of the people left the park but around 5am joggers and some photographers started to show up.We also took the time to notice that it wasn't the sun that was moving but the earth and by extension ourselves.It was one of those sweet introspective moments that means a lot to you but maybe not much to others.
We never did make it to Chinatown for Dim Sum...Yokohama has Japan's biggest Chinatown. Instead we went to McDonalds where they served us at our table.
As of today my ankle is still swollen bu doing better.
This past weekend I went o Hakone and while it was too crowded to see Mount Fuji I have a good time.I ate an egg that is cooked in a hot spring and is supposed to extend my life seven years and got naked and bathed in the onsen. We also did karaoke and had kakesei dinner.That was all pretty great I recommend it to anyone.
Most of the kids from my dorm really disliked the kids from the other dorms who were pre-occupied with getting drunk and trying to act cool.The bus drivers was like two hours late because of an accident and then it took a long time to get there and back and these obnoxious little shits treated him like it was his fault.US citizens are the most impatient people on the planet.It is a gross generalization but I am gonna go with it.
There is one kid in the other dorm who is really obnoxious and I had to stop my friend from kicking the shit out of him.The kid totally deserved it though.Apparently he threw a bottle into the woods when we were at the Buddhist Temple and drew on people's prayers with a magic marker.We have a group pact to catch him on the street and whip his ass.
I'll post a link to pictures in a little while but there will be a lot of them
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Who Doesn't Love a Fake rickshaw?
Last night I introduced to more people to New Jack City(which was good) and then went to an Izakaya with Nick and Joe(iffy). Drunk on a Tuesday is definitely a college thing.Except there were tons of people there and this one Japanese guy dropped his pants and then cursed me out when I asked what he was doing.After we left I dropped my wallet and didn't realize it until we were almost home and at that point we sauntered back to get it.Cause unlike in the state when you lose your shit in Japan it will be there when you come back.My wallet was sitting right on the busy street where I had dropped it undisturbed.
I had sort of a crazy weekend.Some of it is covered in the letter I wrote to my grand mom which I will post most of here but going to sumo wrestling is not covered. So I went to my first ever sumo match/tournament and it was really pretty interesting.On the way into the stadium we passed by some wrestlers and we were unimpressed with there girth and decided that we or at the very least Tyler could take them...but we didn't try. Before that we went to the Edo museum which I really liked but everyone else was lukewarm about.It had a bunch of re-creations(is that a word) inside and I really liked them.It was also useful to go with architects and get info about the buildings and why they were constructed in particular ways and where the influences cam from.A fascinating perspective that I didn't even know I was missing.I may come back knowing more about architecture than anything else.Ask me about the difference between and cable and suspension bridge!
But I liked the Edo museum because it was so damn practical and you could touch things and hold things.I am not a great visual learner so the museum experience is largely lost on me if I can only take things in visually.
Now everyone could agree that sumo was cool.Idris and Tyler got the best pictures.So I'll post mine which will be blurry until I can photoshop them and all but you get the idea.I didn't get a chance to read about Sumo like I wanted to before I left but once I started picking a wrestler things were so much more fun. Some of the matches were really amazing with dudes getting flipped out of the ring and inevitably onto the first row.Miraculously no one was hurt.
And now a little info from Wikipedia...
here are six divisions in sumo: makuuchi (fixed at 42 wrestlers), jūryō (fixed at 28 wrestlers), makushita (fixed at 120 wrestlers), sandanme (fixed at 200 wrestlers), jonidan (approximately 230 wrestlers), and jonokuchi (approximately 80 wrestlers). Wrestlers enter sumo in the lowest jonokuchi division and, ability permitting, work their way up to the top division. Wrestlers in the top two division are known as sekitori, while lower division wrestlers are generally referred to by the generic term for wrestlers, rikishi.[6]
Later Tyler,Joe , and I went to a party for a woman I am making friends with who is from Turkey. They got wasted and I spent much of the walk home saying sumimasen(kind of like excuse me but not quite) to other people for them. Tyler is a big guy ...bout 6'3, rugby player, blond, blue-eyed and he gets no shortage of stares here.He is also a filmmaker,photographer, and sculptor.People are so complex. I am actually friends with quite a few photo geeks and they are teaching me that stuff.I think at this point we are both sort of sick of being stared at but it was a good time and I got them home safe.
So I'll post the pictures I have whe I egt back from school and write about the weekend.
I had sort of a crazy weekend.Some of it is covered in the letter I wrote to my grand mom which I will post most of here but going to sumo wrestling is not covered. So I went to my first ever sumo match/tournament and it was really pretty interesting.On the way into the stadium we passed by some wrestlers and we were unimpressed with there girth and decided that we or at the very least Tyler could take them...but we didn't try. Before that we went to the Edo museum which I really liked but everyone else was lukewarm about.It had a bunch of re-creations(is that a word) inside and I really liked them.It was also useful to go with architects and get info about the buildings and why they were constructed in particular ways and where the influences cam from.A fascinating perspective that I didn't even know I was missing.I may come back knowing more about architecture than anything else.Ask me about the difference between and cable and suspension bridge!
But I liked the Edo museum because it was so damn practical and you could touch things and hold things.I am not a great visual learner so the museum experience is largely lost on me if I can only take things in visually.
Now everyone could agree that sumo was cool.Idris and Tyler got the best pictures.So I'll post mine which will be blurry until I can photoshop them and all but you get the idea.I didn't get a chance to read about Sumo like I wanted to before I left but once I started picking a wrestler things were so much more fun. Some of the matches were really amazing with dudes getting flipped out of the ring and inevitably onto the first row.Miraculously no one was hurt.
And now a little info from Wikipedia...
here are six divisions in sumo: makuuchi (fixed at 42 wrestlers), jūryō (fixed at 28 wrestlers), makushita (fixed at 120 wrestlers), sandanme (fixed at 200 wrestlers), jonidan (approximately 230 wrestlers), and jonokuchi (approximately 80 wrestlers). Wrestlers enter sumo in the lowest jonokuchi division and, ability permitting, work their way up to the top division. Wrestlers in the top two division are known as sekitori, while lower division wrestlers are generally referred to by the generic term for wrestlers, rikishi.[6]
The topmost makuuchi division receives the most attention from fans and has the most complex hierarchy. The majority of wrestlers are maegashira and are numbered from one (at the top) down to about sixteen or seventeen. Above the maegashira are the champion or titleholder ranks, called the sanyaku. These are, in ascending order, komusubi, sekiwake, ōzeki and, at the pinnacle of the ranking system, yokozuna.[6]
Now my only association with Yokozuna was as the WWF wrestler who put the Undertaker in is own casket during a steel cage match.I realize now that this was culturally insensitive on the part of the WWF but then again so was every wrestler they had. All in all I had a really good time with my friend and then we headed home.Later Tyler,Joe , and I went to a party for a woman I am making friends with who is from Turkey. They got wasted and I spent much of the walk home saying sumimasen(kind of like excuse me but not quite) to other people for them. Tyler is a big guy ...bout 6'3, rugby player, blond, blue-eyed and he gets no shortage of stares here.He is also a filmmaker,photographer, and sculptor.People are so complex. I am actually friends with quite a few photo geeks and they are teaching me that stuff.I think at this point we are both sort of sick of being stared at but it was a good time and I got them home safe.
So I'll post the pictures I have whe I egt back from school and write about the weekend.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Pics from Asakusa
Sorry this is the best way I have figured out pictures.I'll keep working on it.You're gonna have to copy and paste this link it's not working right for some reason
http://templefacebook.com/album.php?aid=2138774&1=5c982&id=8209356
http://templefacebook.com/album.php?aid=2138774&1=5c982&id=8209356
The Prime Minister resigned...but hey so did Karl Rove
When to Asakusa today by myself and that was pretty cool.I also used the squat toilet for the first time today after looking at them for a while.It was a short day at school and I felt like it I peed on my pants well I was already on my way out the door.There are some cool toilets here.My favorite has a seat warmer, a bidet,a sort of light enema, and a flushing sound that you can have perpetually on to cover the sound of doing your business.I am not gonna lie this seems most useful if your business is throwing up since one you're in the stall it's sort of established that you've got some sort of bodily function to perform.Or you are like me and the bathroom was the only really private place in your house cause as your mother said "You didn't buy any doors so don't close any doors" then it is a place of comfort.
Anyway I found my Shabu Shabu pictures and at Asakusa ran into the woman who helped us out at Shabu Shabu cause we couldn't read the menu and we exchanged info.Asakusa is pretty cool.I like the idea that all the shops peddling things are part of a tradition of peddling to pilgrims.Unlike last time I did waft myself with the breathe of the gods cause my roommate is a little sick and I needed some help.Generally i don't fool with other people's god but getting sick with your momma on the other side of the ocean and a continent is no joke.
The strangest thing that happened is that while I was trying to size up a picture of the market strip some Japanese woman asked me if she could take a picture with me.It was a little bizarre and it was definitely cause I was black and then she gave me a present as is customary and she looked so pleased that it was kind of whatever.But still really quite strange.I mean people stare at me all the time here, it was fine for a while but now it's just kind of annoying.So i have adopted a very Philly attitude and I stare them down.Today I stared down a five year old...I'm not proud,especially because he won.
Anyway I found my Shabu Shabu pictures and at Asakusa ran into the woman who helped us out at Shabu Shabu cause we couldn't read the menu and we exchanged info.Asakusa is pretty cool.I like the idea that all the shops peddling things are part of a tradition of peddling to pilgrims.Unlike last time I did waft myself with the breathe of the gods cause my roommate is a little sick and I needed some help.Generally i don't fool with other people's god but getting sick with your momma on the other side of the ocean and a continent is no joke.
The strangest thing that happened is that while I was trying to size up a picture of the market strip some Japanese woman asked me if she could take a picture with me.It was a little bizarre and it was definitely cause I was black and then she gave me a present as is customary and she looked so pleased that it was kind of whatever.But still really quite strange.I mean people stare at me all the time here, it was fine for a while but now it's just kind of annoying.So i have adopted a very Philly attitude and I stare them down.Today I stared down a five year old...I'm not proud,especially because he won.
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