Ciao, Konnichiwa, and Hello:
I looked out the window this morning and, besides the Japanese signs and scraggly trees lining the street (not to mention a boxy car or two), thought it could have been Seattle. It's POURING rain and the black umbrellas are out and about. I'll admit, since we don't get much rain at this season I'm kind of enjoying it. From indoors.
This blog is about our experiences in Japan but also a few unrelated thoughts of my own (though everything's related, I dare say). I was reading the letters of women writing to their 20-something selves and found their advice truly inspiring.
In case you have no idea what I'm referring to, you can read the letters here:
http://cassieboorn.com/20-something-self-letters/
There is a shared theme running through these letters I felt spoke loudly: Your 20s are yours and should be savored. They should be beautiful and intrepid, full of exploration and sampling, a surrender to an infinitely valuable and fleeting freedom. These years are gems. Unfortunately, many ambitious 20-somethings grow distracted by the self-inflicted pressure to map our their futures. As we struggle to define ourselves and what's next we forget to "enjoy the ride." Unwillingly yet self-prophesied, I've fit this prototype.
Yet at the three month and one week mark in Japan, a steady calm has washed over the cranes floating in the window, the simple tatami mats, the plants supple and plump from watering. Urgencies have begun to quiet, worries slip gracefully out the cracked windows. Our glass doors, etched with flowers, have begun to speak the language of the pink clouds drifting across the ceiling of Robertino's cafe, my Mom's homemade pesto pasta, Palmer Lake in all seasons. Like the letters to the twenty-something selves, my surroundings are beginning to offer comforting handfuls of calm and tranquility.
There is no rush, no deadline to meet. I was Skyping with my Mom yesterday, and she told me something valuable (as usual): that ultimately, when you stop worrying about the future and allow yourself to experience life, the next steps will reveal themselves organically. What a relief! This philosophy reflects Stephen's as well as those of the letters: fill life with as much goodness and pleasure as possible (have I mentioned how fortunate I am to be with the most contagiously happy person I know for this adventure?).
Japan is helping me, and I am so grateful. This experience is teaching me, day by day, to release myself from worry, from guardedness, from hesitation. Life is simple. You get what you give, you are what you think, and you'll become what you emit. A fresh pot of tea, a bright bouquet, or a good book will saturate the daily palette with color if only you'll allow it to. It's your choice. The present is oozing with sweet offerings... accept them.
I also feel infinitely fortunate to live in an age when remaining connected to loved ones all over the world is easy. To my wonderful family: I think about you every day. To my twenty-something friends, let's not let these years escape us under-appreciated.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
February Findings
Hi Everyone!
It's a morning of sunshine and hot coffee. The construction occurring next to our apartment is as loud as ever (yet Stephen can still sleep right through it) and the plants are happy. The market below now has strawberries in season. The local elections ended over the weekend so the random and mysterious loud-speaker announcements (of which we only understood "please" and "thank you" repeated ten times in the highest level of formality) have finally ceased.
Today is a quiet week at work for EM sub teachers. It's "adjustment" week so there are no kids classes and a fresh batch of teachers are starting their training at Kanayama headquarters. We're officially no longer the newest people at ECC (that feels good)!
The weeks here are flying past already, cushioned between busy weekends full of interesting discoveries. We visited the English library stocked with books and DVDs at the International Center (where we also watched some of the events unfolding in Egypt on a big flat screen in English) and have recently checked out two museums, one with ancient and modern Japanese art and the other a Monet/French Impressionism exhibition. A friend introduced us to the best Indian food in Nagoya and we've discovered a Japanese-lunch joint with amazing sushi for after our language lessons on Thursdays. I've also found a craft store that tempts me (and my wallet) back with its beautiful origami paper and fabrics. My crane-mobile is nearing completion! This weekend we enjoyed a hot-pot with various veggies and chicken, good Japanese beer, and UFC fights on pay-per-view at our friend's apartment.
We recently had the ultimate ramen experience. A friend took us to a popular pork-ramen shop in Fushimi. Upon entering the dimly-lit bar style restaurant, you select your bowl size, noodle and meat quantity on a machine and receive a ticket. You are then seated in a private booth, complete with wings that fold out (to isolate the ramen-eater into the intense palatable experience) and complete a questionnaire regarding your desired spice level and fat-content. You must submit to deep sensory concentration as you slurp your ramen, hence the individual booths. You can always press a button to summon a waiter and request extra noodles or pork. As soon as you stand up a loud, conspicuous bell sounds to alert the staff that a seat has opened. Since, we've eaten a lot of ramen but nothing has compared to those personalized bowls!
Hmmm, what else? We watched a fascinating sake documentary and now want to visit a brewery- the cyclical process of sake production truly reflects Japan's history and traditional economic mindset (which Stephen been reading and telling me about in his history book). Everything has always been with the season, respecting and reaping nature's benefits year-round to create an autonomous (and isolated) economy. Japan's rich geography and supportive climate, complete with a promised monsoon season, has made this possible. Sake rice is tended with upmost care and awareness. In the spring the rice is planted, the summer tended, and the fall harvested for winter production of sake. I think that the process exhibits a beautiful mindset and shows the importance of living and appreciating the present moment (or season)!
Japanese classes are progressing slowly but surely. This past week we skipped because I had a bad cold and lost my voice (what a week it was for teaching!), but we study at a new cafe every weekend. Learning and writing the Hiragana alphabet is an enjoyable, tricky endeavor... and it's so pretty!
We have Friday off for a national holiday. On Thursday night we're going to karaoke (don't worry Mom, only two hours this time) and on Friday taking a free tour of a brewery about 20 minutes from Nagoya with friends. On Saturday we're attending a chocolate exchange party (yummmm) and Monday is Valentine's Day, so Stephen and I will enjoy the day together. In Japan, only women give their lovers presents, usually chocolate, on Valentine's Day. Come March 14th, "White Day," the men give women presents. I have some lovely plans up my sleeve! :)
In other spectacular news, my parents are visiting come April, and Sarah and DK are visiting come May! There is so much to look forward to. We're also buying tickets for a trip to Thailand in August once we receive our schedules for next year! I hope everyone is doing wonderfully at home and keeping warm. Happy February, the shortest month of the year- I hope it's filled with love and loved ones!
:) Claire
It's a morning of sunshine and hot coffee. The construction occurring next to our apartment is as loud as ever (yet Stephen can still sleep right through it) and the plants are happy. The market below now has strawberries in season. The local elections ended over the weekend so the random and mysterious loud-speaker announcements (of which we only understood "please" and "thank you" repeated ten times in the highest level of formality) have finally ceased.
Today is a quiet week at work for EM sub teachers. It's "adjustment" week so there are no kids classes and a fresh batch of teachers are starting their training at Kanayama headquarters. We're officially no longer the newest people at ECC (that feels good)!
The weeks here are flying past already, cushioned between busy weekends full of interesting discoveries. We visited the English library stocked with books and DVDs at the International Center (where we also watched some of the events unfolding in Egypt on a big flat screen in English) and have recently checked out two museums, one with ancient and modern Japanese art and the other a Monet/French Impressionism exhibition. A friend introduced us to the best Indian food in Nagoya and we've discovered a Japanese-lunch joint with amazing sushi for after our language lessons on Thursdays. I've also found a craft store that tempts me (and my wallet) back with its beautiful origami paper and fabrics. My crane-mobile is nearing completion! This weekend we enjoyed a hot-pot with various veggies and chicken, good Japanese beer, and UFC fights on pay-per-view at our friend's apartment.
We recently had the ultimate ramen experience. A friend took us to a popular pork-ramen shop in Fushimi. Upon entering the dimly-lit bar style restaurant, you select your bowl size, noodle and meat quantity on a machine and receive a ticket. You are then seated in a private booth, complete with wings that fold out (to isolate the ramen-eater into the intense palatable experience) and complete a questionnaire regarding your desired spice level and fat-content. You must submit to deep sensory concentration as you slurp your ramen, hence the individual booths. You can always press a button to summon a waiter and request extra noodles or pork. As soon as you stand up a loud, conspicuous bell sounds to alert the staff that a seat has opened. Since, we've eaten a lot of ramen but nothing has compared to those personalized bowls!
Hmmm, what else? We watched a fascinating sake documentary and now want to visit a brewery- the cyclical process of sake production truly reflects Japan's history and traditional economic mindset (which Stephen been reading and telling me about in his history book). Everything has always been with the season, respecting and reaping nature's benefits year-round to create an autonomous (and isolated) economy. Japan's rich geography and supportive climate, complete with a promised monsoon season, has made this possible. Sake rice is tended with upmost care and awareness. In the spring the rice is planted, the summer tended, and the fall harvested for winter production of sake. I think that the process exhibits a beautiful mindset and shows the importance of living and appreciating the present moment (or season)!
Japanese classes are progressing slowly but surely. This past week we skipped because I had a bad cold and lost my voice (what a week it was for teaching!), but we study at a new cafe every weekend. Learning and writing the Hiragana alphabet is an enjoyable, tricky endeavor... and it's so pretty!
We have Friday off for a national holiday. On Thursday night we're going to karaoke (don't worry Mom, only two hours this time) and on Friday taking a free tour of a brewery about 20 minutes from Nagoya with friends. On Saturday we're attending a chocolate exchange party (yummmm) and Monday is Valentine's Day, so Stephen and I will enjoy the day together. In Japan, only women give their lovers presents, usually chocolate, on Valentine's Day. Come March 14th, "White Day," the men give women presents. I have some lovely plans up my sleeve! :)
In other spectacular news, my parents are visiting come April, and Sarah and DK are visiting come May! There is so much to look forward to. We're also buying tickets for a trip to Thailand in August once we receive our schedules for next year! I hope everyone is doing wonderfully at home and keeping warm. Happy February, the shortest month of the year- I hope it's filled with love and loved ones!
:) Claire
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