recovery is a long process

I feel like I still haven't recovered from my trip to America three weeks ago. Of course, I had soccer the first weekend I was back in Japan. Then last weekend was filled with two birthday parties and a WU/TIUA reunion. It's now Thursday and I (thankfully) have no classes today, and all I want to do is crawl back into bed.

Last last Friday I went out to Omiya to celebrate Cristina's birthday. We all generally had a good time. Of course, there was karaoke (Emma and I were inspired to sing a Mariah Carey song about everyone leaving us. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Emma sounded a lot better than me.) We ate potluck style and a a lot of people brought noodles and salads. I suppose I'm used to the Hawaiian-style of potluck (that usually has rice, tons of meat, and several different types of macaroni and potato salad). As a result, I think this was the healthiest potluck I've ever attended.

On Saturday I met up with Katie in Ikebukuro. While we were drinking coffee, the nice lady who used to work with me ran up to say hello. It's always so shocking for me to run into people I know in Tokyo since it's such a huge city. Anyway, Katie and I had gyoza for lunch at Gyoza Stadium in Namja Town, then ice cream in Ice Cream Stadium (on a side note, I recently discovered that I may be lactose intolerant. booo). We then headed over to Shibuya to meet up with WU and TIUA people for a reunion, then up to Omiya to celebrate Shane's birthday party at the George.

Sunday was a day for sleeping early and cleaning my apartment.

Liz has been talking about the same bar for as long as I can remember. Since she's leaving so soon, I decided to go with her this past week. Apparently there's a big group of regulars who go every Wednesday. We met up with some of our friends for dinner, then hit the bar. It was a pretty eventful night, two people were leaving Japan (thus it was their last night at the bar), and it was someone else's birthday. The birthday boy turned three that day. He's an adorable little boy with poofy hair, he speaks French, Japanese, and a little English, and he probably outdanced everyone in the bar. Seriously. We sang Happy Birthday, then those that could sang Bon Anniversaire (I probably spelt that incorrectly). I met some pretty awesome people before I had to catch the last train home (because I'm hardcore like that). I finally stumbled into bed around 1:30 in the morning, which would be a problem if Thursday was a normal school day. However, it wasn't. Half the school was away for JHS sports tournaments. The only reason everyone wasn't gone is the outdoor sports games were postponed due to rain. I spent half the afternoon reading "The Giving Tree" with my kyoto-sensei. It was awesome.

Anyway, I've been fighting off a cold for a week now, and sleep is calling to me. I'll write about this weekend later.

Dasai in Nagano

I'm in a lot of pain.  Not as much as some of my teammates (notably poor Emma with a severely sprained (and thus colorful) ankle, but still.  My right 足 (in the Japanese sense meaning foot and leg) goes from being completely fine (in my sense, meaning perpetually semi-sprained) to being so sore that it hurts to move at all.  My right ring finger (the one next to the finger I broke watching basketball in high school for those of you who know) is not broken (just got it checked today).  Okay, too many parentheses... moving on...

I played lots of soccer this weekend.  It was awesome even though we didn't win any games.  I managed to get kicked in the arm (while standing and reaching overhead for a ball.  Don't ask me how it happened).  I also have a new dislike for a prefecture and an overwhelming sense of dread that many of my friends are leaving.  I also have an awesome "kit" with my name on it and a great new vocabulary that includes words like "kit," "pitch," and "ice lolly (lollie?)."  Anyway, it was fun, now I'm sore.

Oregon and Colorado (aka crazy week of traveling)

Wow, last week was probably the most insane traveling I`ve ever experienced.

 

I left Japan last last Saturday afternoon.  I returned yesterday night.  In the span of a week I met up with over 20 people, met two previously unknown facebook friends, attended a wedding, and spent over 24 hours in the air.  I`ll attempt to condense the trip into something interesting and readable, but I`m not sure how successful I`ll be.

 

I arrived at PDX bright and early on Saturday morning (which was a really weird feeling since I left Japan on Saturday night).  After helping some Spanish-speaking visitors from Hawaii find "yoyd center," I rode the MAX to meet Jaris for lunch.  We had amazing pastrami sandwiches, then he dropped me off at Liz`s apartment.  Dana, Liz, Kath, and I then went shopping for a few hours.  After a rather successful shopping trip, Cliff picked me up at Liz`s apartment and drove me down to Salem where I stuffed myself on bread and prime rib at Best Little Roadhouse.  

 stopped by and witnessed the sadness of the house formerly know as Beta before he dropped me off at Sara`s house where I felt incredibly old for knowing the occupants of the house four years ago.  We celebrated Sara`s boyfriend`s birthday, with the help of some of my DG sisters, then fell asleep around 1:30am. 

 

On Sunday, Jeff picked me up at Sara`s house and we had Mexican food for lunch.  After an hour-long trip to Starbucks, he dropped me off at the UAps where Daniel let me into to Tami`s apartment.  After dropping off my suitcase, the three of us met Dan at the movie theater and saw Prince Caspian (awesome movie!).  After the movie, I met Jasmine at Thai Orchid, then we wandered towards campus and gossipped under the star trees.  We then moved on to the Ram where we ran into Zane.  After (not much) coercing, we ended up at his apartment for some dancing and MarioKart.  Finally, Tami and I stumbled back upstairs and fell asleep.

 

Tami and Melissa woke up early the next morning, and I planned to get up at the same time (which I did, but then subsequently passed out for a two-hour nap on their couch).  I finally woke up around 11:30 and left with the intent of visiting offices around WU.  Unfortunately, it was lunchtime.  Fortunately, Zane and Tami were also on their lunch break, so I spent a quality hour lounging by the Mill Stream.  Amusingly, three DGs were also spending their lunch by the stream including my little little little (yeah, I felt old).  After lunch, I visited the Admissions office and (the retiring) Nancy Norton.  Meanwhile, I was trying to contact Bethany for lunch.  The phone lines had issues and caused major stress.  Eventually I met up with Erica and Bethany found us at Salem Center.  We ate Cinnabon and decided to see the Sex and the City movie (also awesome).  Finally, Erica and I headed back to her house for some cocktails and (my favorite) Ranch Doritos before falling asleep on her pull-out couch.

 

Tuesday morning arrived, and we met up with Jaspers and Ashley for lunch at the Cat.  Erica and I then ventured over to the gelato place for dessert before parting ways at the Greyhound bus station.  After a simultaneously hilarious and disturbing hour-long ride, I met Yen in Portland.  We had Thai food for dinner, then saw Iron Man (yet another amazing movie.  I have a thing for RDJ aka Larry Paul).  We then went back to her parent`s place and came up with a new nickname for Yen.

 

We left Yen`s parents house bright and early on Wednesday morning and had breakfast at a cute little restaurant that had huge pancakes.  We then headed into downtown Portland where we explored Powells and discovered an amazing picture book.  After navigating around a parade, we made it to the airport.  I flew down to Denver where I met Julie`s aunt and she drove me to the hotel where we found the bachelorette party group.  After shots and dinner at Dave and Buster`s, we went to a nearby bar and I made friends with our (possibly gay) server named Rudy.  We finally called Julie`s dad to pick us up, then passed out at Julie`s apartment.

 

Early Thursday, a small group of us left Julie`s apartment; me to meet Anna and Katie, and everyone else for a bridesmaid`s brunch.  Anna, Katie, and I had breakfast, then went back to Anna`s house (I slept in the car), then back to the airport for Katie to rent a car.  We said bye to Anna, then made our way back to Julie`s apartment with the help of Garmin (which attacked me when I called it a bad name).  We picked up Jenny at the apartment, then went on another successful shopping trip where I dressed the tomboy-ish Jenny in a skirt.  After dinner at CPK, we headed back to the apartment and watched Kamikaze Girls (it seems this trip was just full of great movies).

 

Friday, wedding day.  I finally got a chance to sleep in.  Somewhere around noon, Katie, Jenny, and I left the apartment in search of the Tattered Cover bookstore.  After one failed attempt, we found it near the 16th Street Mall.  I found Isaac Asimov`s Guide to Shakespeare on sale (hooray!), and we all had some amazing Chai.  We then hunted down Julie`s hairdresser, picked up the bride, and dropped her off at the Chateaux.  After a quick change at the apartment, we went to the ceremony where we met up with Dayl.  It was simply amazing.  Everyone looked beautiful, and Julie looked stunning in her dress.  I flirted and danced with Julie`s cousin and a bunch of my new friends before going back to the apartment with Katie and Ali, packing, and falling asleep. 

 

We left early the next morning, before Julie and Andrew returned from part one of their honeymoon in a nearby hotel, and made our way to the airport.  Katie and I said bye and I started my long journey home.  Two flights and nearly 20 hours later, I arrived at my apartment and fell asleep.

 

Now I`m at work typing up this summary of my crazy week before I forget it all. 

Birthday recap

So... the birthday went well.  I think everyone had fun and I've yet to receive a letter from my neighbor, so it was a success.  We stayed up until 4ish watching Grease and talking, then stayed in pajamas for most of Saturday.  

Also we randomly ran into someone I used to work with.  I'm still really lazy, so I'm just copy/paste-ing this from facebook:

"So, random story... while we were walking to the karaoke place from the restaurant, I heard someone calling my name. I turn around to see this woman waving at me from across the parking lot. She used to work with me at Takahagi JHS. Me, being in a celebratory mood, invited her and her husband to come along to karaoke with us. Shockingly, they said yes."  

Honestly it didn't take much to convince them.  It was pretty funny because her husband was really drunk and he jumped at the chance to go to karaoke, speak English, and drink more.

Otherwise, I'm just trying to figure out what my schedule is for the week I'm back in America.  I'm super excited!  There are a ton of people I'm trying to see, so I just hope I can fit everyone in.  Also, I need to buy jeans (buying pants in Japan is depressing because sizes range from 0 to 6) and underwear (there's no Victoria's Secret in Japan and there's no point in paying $30 for shipping if I can help it).  Thirdly, I promised my co-teacher I would show him an American L-size fast food soft drink.  I'm writing this down in the hopes that I don't forget and if I do, I can look here and "remember."

In other travel news, I've scheduled my flight home for Christmas.  The blame simultaneously lies with my mother and rising fuel costs.  Anyway, I'll be in Hawaii between the 20th and 27th of December and in Hilo from the 24th to the morning of the 26th.

In other Hilo news, I've been watching random videos on youtube lately and I stumbled across nigahiga.  If you know Hilo at all, you can tell these are Hilo boys really quickly.  Plus, their latest video is called "Hilo Puppets."  Anyway, they're really popular (like #2 most subscribed comedians as of this posting).  Yay Hilo!

In other other Hawaii news, Punahou has lately been ranked #1 for high school sports by Sports Illustrated.  Yay Punahou!

better

I feel 100% better than when last I posted. I credit the weather for the turnaround. I suppose four days of rainy, cold weather in the middle of May just brought out the grumpies. Also, the weekend is definitely looking like it`ll be fun. At this point, my main worry is that my crazy neighbor might call the police. As of now, the plan is dinner at a restaurant in my city, then karaoke if we feel like it, otherwise, just going back to my apartment.

Furthermore, details are starting to fall together for my trip to Portland and Colorado in June. If you`re reading this and you want to meet up, send me an email :)

Time-out

I feel like time is on hold.  You know how when you're really tired, everything that's happening just feels like it's going on around you and you're just kinda floating along?  That's how I feel.  Nick caught some sort of flu thing, so he's been passed out in my living room for the past four days.  Meanwhile, I went to work on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday while simultaneously ducking out of social engagements (none of which I actually wanted to go to).  I have soccer practice today, but the triple whammy of Nick's flu, the terrible weather, and my still not completely recovered ankle has kept me at home.  

My birthday is this weekend and I'm not quite sure what to do about it.  I have this increasing paranoia that I'll either be stricken with the flu or I'll just be so exhausted that I won't want to do anything.  Of course, chances are that Dan will be right and I'll be completely fine.

Golden Week quick re-cap

I'm exhausted and achy (metaphorically and physically).  Here's a quick summary of the past week:

Nick came to visit before going to Thailand.  We went to Ueno with his friend from Sapporo and some of the other JETs.  Then he left and Jen A came.  We went to Nikko, Kamakura, and Yokohama and they were awesome.  Peter and his brother came.  We went to Shinjuku in the rain, then an art museum in Ueno, then met up with Aki and Chika (PAs when I was a JSP participant at TIU) for okonomiyaki.  Peter and his brother left.  Jen A and I went to Harajuku on the day everyone else in Tokyo decided to go there, then de-compressed at a public bath.  Then we went to Asakusa, the Imperial Palace, Ginza, Akihabara, and Shinjuku before hitting Gyukaku near TIU.  Then we went to Ikebukuro, and finally Narita Airport.  

All that in one week and one day.  It was amazing.  

As if the karma gods are punishing me for having so much fun last week, I fell down some stairs on the lonely ride home from the airport and my left ankle is now swollen.  I'm going to bed, but I'll post more later.