Be patient (unlike me)
Life in Japan is suddenly jam-packed. The term has started with it's whirlwind of classes and events and little dramas. Upon exposure to my students (or, dirty little carriers, as I'm referring to them now), I came down with a wicked cold that I am still fighting. I was invited to the hyper-glam wedding of two internation super-models, which was surreal enough in itself. But attending while suffering a fever of 102 turned the whole thing into a real fear and loathing kind of experience. The bride draped me in her diamond chains and spun me around the room and I felt as though all of Osaka was twirling with us, and didn't bother to stop even after we sat down for fois gras and champagne sherbert.
But, no more diamonds for me. I'm back in the reality of gradebooks, wrinkled homework papers and cold cups of coffee. Now this is glam.
The longest lunch
Lunch at Megumi's parents house in the country took about five hours. We sat in their shaded carport, around hot little grills covered in juice dripping meats and vegetables.
Yakiniku. My favorite way to eat in Japan. As soon as the meat stops showing red, or as soon as the vegetables threaten to burn, you pluck them off the grill with your chopsticks, dip them in your bowl of sweet seaseme sauce and pop it in your mouth. Megumi's father also presented us with giant grapes the size of golf balls, which we peeled and ate like plums.
We ate so much. As soon as the food on the grills was getting low and I'd think we'd eaten all that we could, Megumi's mother would come outside with more platters of raw meat and chopped vegetables and cover the grills again. Our kids gave up on stuffing themselves and instead spent the rest of the afternoon using the garden hose to turn the dirt drive into a mud pen. The water rushed to the street and filled the deep gutters, which Kio and Masaki deemed their "pool" and jumped right in.
We sat in the shade eating and drinking tea and sipping beers and watching the kids run circles around us.
Eventually, we roused ourselves for a short walk to the kiwi vines to pluck some fruit, but returned quickly to the shady carport. By then the kids had discovered a new use for the rubber boots we gave them to keep their feet dry. They would fill them to the brim with hose water, then slide their feet and legs into the cold water. They chased each other around in those water-filled boots - squish squish squish!
Megumi's English is still at a very beginner level, and her parents don't speak any at all. Kiomye had no problem, but I had to strain my brain to use Japanese to communicate. I managed fairly well, but there were definitely moments when I had no clue what we were talking about.
Late in the afternoon, the flow of food finally stopped. We dried off our kids, took a couple group pictures, then stuffed ourselves into Megumi's little car. We drove back in the papercuts between the mountains listening to the kids sing nursery rhymes in their native tongue. Dreamy and beautiful.
Under the Japanese sun
Kiomye and I were treated to a trip to the country yesterday by my friend Megumi. Megumi was in the English class I used to teach at the local community center and has been wonderful about keeping in touch and acting as host to her country. She drove us (along with her two kids Masaki and Miki) out to Tanba to pick grapes and kiwis on her parent's land.
The day was very hot, but much cooler once we ducked under the vines and walked deep into the vineyard. The grapes were wrapped in white bags while still on the vines to keep the bugs and birds from eating them. Pre-packaged! We selected some bunches and held our kids up so they could cut the stems with rusted scissors. We laid out gray tarps on the ground and sat down right in the vineyard and ate grapes until we could burst. (tabe-hodai!)
Megumi's daughter, Miki, squealed in horror when she saw that Kiomye and I were popping the grapes into our mouths and eating them whole. Megumi explained that Japanese people NEVER eat grape skins. "
Why?" I asked and Megumi got that look I get when someone asks me something about my language that I have never noticed or thought about before, but used on a regular basis.
Why do words that are spelled exactly the same sound different?What is the difference between capitol and capital?Why can't I say the "blue big house" instead of "big blue house"?uhhhh...... blink blink blink
Finally Megumi said, "
Because we are Japanese." and nodded her head to show her pleasure with her logic and the resoluteness of her answer. Kiomye and I stopped eating the skins.
Grape flavored kisses
a haiku:
sunbeams sliced through vineslight upon my pale skin likegrape flavored kisses
Sex in Milwaukee
(Well, Waukesha actually, a little bit West.)
This is my lovely friend Jenny whom I visited during my visit back home. She will be rightly horrified to see her picture under the title I gave this post. I had a great time visiting her, partially because she introduced me to four new best friends: Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte.
Yes, I am now a believer. I had never see this show before, but Jenny and I staged a major "Sex in the City" marathon and now I'm an addict. We spent almost an entire day in our pajamas, splayed out on comforters thrown on the floor, drinking a pitcher's worth of cosmopolitans and watching the first two seasons. This show is brilliant. And yes, Jenny is SO Charlotte, despite her weak arguments to the contrary. And yes, I am SO Carrie, except for when she's whiny and I find her annoying. Now that I'm back in Japan, I have to find a video store that carries the DVDs so that I can get my fix.
Also in the exotic city in Milwaukee, I met up with the famed blogger Brettanicus for some walking and talking and memory making. Delightful, but so brief.
