9:45pm Akagi National Youth Center
We spent most of today on the bus. I was very thankful to give my feet a much deserved rest. Nikko- a city containing a shrine to Tokagowa (the first shogun.... see field notes). That was very interesting, however, shrines are beginning to all look alike to me. What I noticed most during the day was the behavior of my fellow travelers. In one way they were a little Japanese: following our group and behaving according to their immediately perceived social conditions. Unfortunately, those behaviors mostly included being loud and complaining. Also, people seemed to think that the most important goal was to get themselves as individuals where they wanted to be. This manifested itself in students leaving their luggage in the courtyard and going to the bus. Also, despite warnings that sheets should be folded as neatly as possible, many were little more than balled up. We refolded many sheets because of this. Later, I heard students complaining about the time it took for "them" to sort out sheets. This, to me, reminded me that as respectful as the country we are living in is- some chose to remain simply Americans visiting a strange and often inconvenient society. People do not have the attitude that they are living in this country- but that the daily events of eating food and sleeping in unusual situations are getting in the way of their fun in another country.
Once we arrived here in Akagi I noticed the Japanese did not want to tolerate our fundamental American-ness. I felt unwelcome when the main security guard yelled at us to wear inside shoes. He looked more than aggravated at the fact that none of us brought inside shoes. We were rushed through our dinner- feeling the consequences for our bus arriving late. Students realized quickly that we are "not in Kansas" anymore at the NYC orientation. We have specific bed-making instructions, a lights out time, and a quiet time. The "rooms" are no more than partitions in a larger hallway. One girl said, "Oh my God, we're in hell." Unfortunately, I think many students feel this way tonight. Every time I hear an American voice rise above our incoherent noisiness I feel embarrassed and understand why Japanese often think we are noisy and rude: It's because we often are.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Thursday, September 7, 2017
9/3/2001
3:15pm Cafe de F.O.B. Tokyo
I got lost. All by myself, outside the museum that supposedly houses woodblock prints. Our group was split up, and, luckily, we established a 3:45 meeting place. I'm just waiting to go. I'm the only gaijin here- I pointed to order what turned out to be a delicious banana (or baname) smoothie. People are staring at me. It doesn't help that I'm soaking wet from the rain. Actually, I'm starting to get the feeling that I've sat here too long. But one story first: going to the bank to change money. We walked into a bank. No words were in romanji. People took tickets and sat down. But where did they get them? Finally a Japanese woman pointed them out. I took one and waited. Then I saw a counter with the exchange rate. I walked over, checks and passport in hand. A man rushed over to the counter waving his hands across his chest. That meant they don't change money. It was frustrating.
So we walked several blocks (about 20 minutes) and found an international office of some sort that, aside from providing international documents, changed my travelers checks into Yen. Horray! or, rather, Saikoh!
9:45pm Scruffy Murphy's
Yes- an Irish pub in Tokyo.To top it all off, there's a live jazz band playing "Summertime". They're really good. It's a keyboard, bass and drum player. The drum player is singing in English! When the 5 of us walked in he announced that he was going to play some music for us. This is an unexpected piece of home in such a far away place. We keep clapping after the songs, but no one else is. I hope we're not contributing to any stereotypes. Then again, we've all started writing in our journals now so I'm sure we look unusual.
The drummer's name is Charlie. I didn't catch who the other two were. New subject- we met new friends today. In Asakusa some other people we were with met Isabel and Yugo. Yugo is from Japan and ate dinner with us. Isabel is visiting Yugo and lives in Taiwan. After dinner (which was fun because we finally learned the correct way to order and eat) Greg and I spoke at length with Yugo. She was very interested in us and our funny stories of mistakes made in Japan. Her English got better the longer she spoke with us. She eventually became very comfortable and shared some jokes with us. On the subway Isabel gave us all some chocolate covered Chinese noodles. They were delicious. I took out my unwrapped quarters and explained collecting them. Isabel was thankful but Yugo looked like she was going to cry. Now I think I did something bad because she did not have a gift for us. Although, she showed us around and that was a great service. When they left us a bit later I almost cried. In only a few hours we became so close. She told me that there are lots of questions she has there are lots of things she wants to talk about but time was too short. Today I learned both the scholarly definition of Ichigo Ichie, and the emotional one.
I got lost. All by myself, outside the museum that supposedly houses woodblock prints. Our group was split up, and, luckily, we established a 3:45 meeting place. I'm just waiting to go. I'm the only gaijin here- I pointed to order what turned out to be a delicious banana (or baname) smoothie. People are staring at me. It doesn't help that I'm soaking wet from the rain. Actually, I'm starting to get the feeling that I've sat here too long. But one story first: going to the bank to change money. We walked into a bank. No words were in romanji. People took tickets and sat down. But where did they get them? Finally a Japanese woman pointed them out. I took one and waited. Then I saw a counter with the exchange rate. I walked over, checks and passport in hand. A man rushed over to the counter waving his hands across his chest. That meant they don't change money. It was frustrating.
So we walked several blocks (about 20 minutes) and found an international office of some sort that, aside from providing international documents, changed my travelers checks into Yen. Horray! or, rather, Saikoh!
9:45pm Scruffy Murphy's
Yes- an Irish pub in Tokyo.To top it all off, there's a live jazz band playing "Summertime". They're really good. It's a keyboard, bass and drum player. The drum player is singing in English! When the 5 of us walked in he announced that he was going to play some music for us. This is an unexpected piece of home in such a far away place. We keep clapping after the songs, but no one else is. I hope we're not contributing to any stereotypes. Then again, we've all started writing in our journals now so I'm sure we look unusual.
The drummer's name is Charlie. I didn't catch who the other two were. New subject- we met new friends today. In Asakusa some other people we were with met Isabel and Yugo. Yugo is from Japan and ate dinner with us. Isabel is visiting Yugo and lives in Taiwan. After dinner (which was fun because we finally learned the correct way to order and eat) Greg and I spoke at length with Yugo. She was very interested in us and our funny stories of mistakes made in Japan. Her English got better the longer she spoke with us. She eventually became very comfortable and shared some jokes with us. On the subway Isabel gave us all some chocolate covered Chinese noodles. They were delicious. I took out my unwrapped quarters and explained collecting them. Isabel was thankful but Yugo looked like she was going to cry. Now I think I did something bad because she did not have a gift for us. Although, she showed us around and that was a great service. When they left us a bit later I almost cried. In only a few hours we became so close. She told me that there are lots of questions she has there are lots of things she wants to talk about but time was too short. Today I learned both the scholarly definition of Ichigo Ichie, and the emotional one.
9/2/2001
10am Tokyo Youth Center
My feet hurt a lot, as do my legs. We were up early and walked to Meiji Shrine. It was in the middle of a very dense forest. We could still hear some cars and helicopters, but there were almost no people around. This was around 8am, maybe a little earlier. I was again impressed by the wide open spaces. The walkway was probably 40' wide and all gravel. There were occasionally old men sweeping the leaves out of the gravel with brooms made of sticks. They moved the leaves while hardly disturbing the rocks. We watched people pray (?) at the shrine, but did not attempt to do so ourselves. I bought 3 wooden plaque-looking things next to the shrine. I guessed they were blessings for homes- Dr. Prescott told me I was wrong. They are for special prayers. You are supposed to write your wish on the back and hang them somewhere in the shrine. I didn't see any but I did see paper shaped like lightening bolts hanging from booths.
Now we are waiting to meet Takeshi, watching Japanese television, which I do enjoy, although I can't understand the spoken words. I can still understand the main point of the programming. More later after a day with a Japanese businessman.
10:30pm
What an exhausting 12 hours! The afternoon with Takeshi was very fun. We saw so many things. He and a guy we've started calling Vollyball were in a car and drove us to the different areas of Tokyo. It was great not to have so much foot pain to get everywhere. We first went to the biggest shrine I've seen so far. In Akasaka we walked through all of these stalls selling clothes, purses jewelry, and little toys. Again, this stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. Eventually we found the shrine. We moved the incense over our heads to make us smart, then continued up to the shrine itself. We donated Y10 to the... um.... thing you throw your money into. Then we went to a fortune-telling area. For Y100 we shook an aluminum canister and chose a stick with a number. That corresponded to a drawer that had a piece of paper with a fortune in it. Mine was good fortune- the greatest. Greg's was bad- the least. We were told to tie the bad fortune to a stick thing in order to leave it behind. We walked around the marker for a while and then went for a Japanese lunch.
It was okonomiyaki- a restaurant with hot grills in the middle of each table. At first it looked like some Japanese restaurants where the chef cooks in front of a large group of people. We sat on big cushions with our feet below us on the floor. Takeshi ordered two dishes, one "hard" and one "soft". I personally couldn't see the difference. Both were mixtures of all sorts of meats, fish, vegetables, and some sauce. I didn't care for either, but the eating process was interesting. The server poured the mixture onto the gill and mixed it up. The she let it cook for a little. Finally, Takeshi's friend told us it was ready. We had tiny metal spatulas, and with them we separated sections of the pancake. We pressed the bit into the grill to cook it to our preference. The we ate the food off of the spatula. It was gooey, sticky.
After we left we continued through Akihabra, the electronics district. It wasn't too remarkable except for the people who swarmed about and the fact that very expensive computers were just sitting out on the street. Takeshi said if you buy something on the street it will "maybe" work, not "probably" work. He then told us it was coffee time. I suspect he assumes all Americans take coffee breaks in the afternoon. The Starbucks he chose was very noisy and crowded, but we ordered our drinks in English. It was funny to hear "Mocha Latte!" and "Grande Mocha Frappuchino!" yelled amongst all the Japanese we heard.
Shinjuku was next, but honestly, I don't remember much of it. By this time my brain was severely overloaded. There was a DJ store, an arcade, and other flashy things to see.
Harajuku was next: most of what I remember was finding the Condomania store and seeing tons of "Bathe an Ape" t-shirts. Some said, "Ape must not kill ape. Bathe an ape to make it great." We searched for the shirts, but could find none for sale. Finally, we were on our way home- mentally, if not physically exhausted. We gave Takeshi and Vollyball little gifts of mounted state US quarters, and thanked them a lot.
On our way in we saw a group heading out to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a truly American experience: one that proved that few students have yet grasped the Japanese way of courtesy, quiet, and respect.
My feet hurt a lot, as do my legs. We were up early and walked to Meiji Shrine. It was in the middle of a very dense forest. We could still hear some cars and helicopters, but there were almost no people around. This was around 8am, maybe a little earlier. I was again impressed by the wide open spaces. The walkway was probably 40' wide and all gravel. There were occasionally old men sweeping the leaves out of the gravel with brooms made of sticks. They moved the leaves while hardly disturbing the rocks. We watched people pray (?) at the shrine, but did not attempt to do so ourselves. I bought 3 wooden plaque-looking things next to the shrine. I guessed they were blessings for homes- Dr. Prescott told me I was wrong. They are for special prayers. You are supposed to write your wish on the back and hang them somewhere in the shrine. I didn't see any but I did see paper shaped like lightening bolts hanging from booths.
Now we are waiting to meet Takeshi, watching Japanese television, which I do enjoy, although I can't understand the spoken words. I can still understand the main point of the programming. More later after a day with a Japanese businessman.
10:30pm
What an exhausting 12 hours! The afternoon with Takeshi was very fun. We saw so many things. He and a guy we've started calling Vollyball were in a car and drove us to the different areas of Tokyo. It was great not to have so much foot pain to get everywhere. We first went to the biggest shrine I've seen so far. In Akasaka we walked through all of these stalls selling clothes, purses jewelry, and little toys. Again, this stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. Eventually we found the shrine. We moved the incense over our heads to make us smart, then continued up to the shrine itself. We donated Y10 to the... um.... thing you throw your money into. Then we went to a fortune-telling area. For Y100 we shook an aluminum canister and chose a stick with a number. That corresponded to a drawer that had a piece of paper with a fortune in it. Mine was good fortune- the greatest. Greg's was bad- the least. We were told to tie the bad fortune to a stick thing in order to leave it behind. We walked around the marker for a while and then went for a Japanese lunch.
It was okonomiyaki- a restaurant with hot grills in the middle of each table. At first it looked like some Japanese restaurants where the chef cooks in front of a large group of people. We sat on big cushions with our feet below us on the floor. Takeshi ordered two dishes, one "hard" and one "soft". I personally couldn't see the difference. Both were mixtures of all sorts of meats, fish, vegetables, and some sauce. I didn't care for either, but the eating process was interesting. The server poured the mixture onto the gill and mixed it up. The she let it cook for a little. Finally, Takeshi's friend told us it was ready. We had tiny metal spatulas, and with them we separated sections of the pancake. We pressed the bit into the grill to cook it to our preference. The we ate the food off of the spatula. It was gooey, sticky.
After we left we continued through Akihabra, the electronics district. It wasn't too remarkable except for the people who swarmed about and the fact that very expensive computers were just sitting out on the street. Takeshi said if you buy something on the street it will "maybe" work, not "probably" work. He then told us it was coffee time. I suspect he assumes all Americans take coffee breaks in the afternoon. The Starbucks he chose was very noisy and crowded, but we ordered our drinks in English. It was funny to hear "Mocha Latte!" and "Grande Mocha Frappuchino!" yelled amongst all the Japanese we heard.
Shinjuku was next, but honestly, I don't remember much of it. By this time my brain was severely overloaded. There was a DJ store, an arcade, and other flashy things to see.
Harajuku was next: most of what I remember was finding the Condomania store and seeing tons of "Bathe an Ape" t-shirts. Some said, "Ape must not kill ape. Bathe an ape to make it great." We searched for the shirts, but could find none for sale. Finally, we were on our way home- mentally, if not physically exhausted. We gave Takeshi and Vollyball little gifts of mounted state US quarters, and thanked them a lot.
On our way in we saw a group heading out to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a truly American experience: one that proved that few students have yet grasped the Japanese way of courtesy, quiet, and respect.
9/1/2001
9:10am
Last night was amazing. I'll call it my First Blind Date with Tokyo. Greg, Bob and I went for a walk to try to find a bar. We got lost in some alley, but found our way back. We continued past the subway station and past the front gate (were we walking North? I don't know). Finally we found a bar that said it was open. So we climbed the steps and bowed our way into Romi (the name of the bar). <-- 2="" a="" already="" and="" at="" bar="" be="" beer="" blue.="" bob="" burst="" but="" cleaver="" d="" electric="" everyone="" girls="" good="" got="" grapefruit="" greg="" guy="" had="" he="" i="" idea="" in="" it="" jinro="" juice="" laughing="" name="" no="" of="" on="" one="" ordered="" out="" p="" rocks="" saying.="" see="" so="" something="" strong.="" suggest.="" the="" there="" thought="" very="" was="" were="" what="" with="" would="">The girls in the corner laughed at us for a while, then courageously asked us if we spoke English... no, wait. Japanese. This kicked off 3.5 hours of the most fun I'd ever had in my life. Their English was moderately understandable and the bartender had an audio-translator for when we were really having trouble. Their names were Eri and Shiori, both 20 years old, in love with Luke Perry, Tom Cruise, and, apparently, Bob and Greg. I was their best friend. So much happened! Bob and Shiori settled into arm wrestling and impressing each other with parlor tricks. Another business man came in and he spoke with Greg about Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, Shakespeare, and other intellectual American things. Unfortunately, by this time, Greg was quite drunk and a little too loud and annoying. Anyway, time went quickly- the bartender poured us some cold sake (tastes like white wine plus vodka) and we all toasted. We also learned that "Saikoh!" means Best! and is usually shouted VERY loudly while punching one or both fists into the air. It was just so fun, I can't describe as much as I'd like to.
8:15pm
It's hard to chose between going into detail about things, or just writing about as many as possible.Today, so far, has been full of sights, sounds, and tastes. First thing in the morning we went to Ginza. Greg described it as the Mag Mile in Chicago, multiplied by 1000! Both in size, height, and space. The shops and malls seemed to go on for miles in every direction. Every street corner looked the same. It was difficult to keep track of the train station. We visited a large mall, I believe the name of it was Matsuzakaya or Mitsukoshi. Probably the latter, it's closer to the subway station. We first went into the basement and were stunned at what we saw: it was a food market with every type of food imaginable. Actually, there was nothing I could ever have imagined. Fish, cooked and uncooked, meats, fruits and vegetables, rolled sushi, pastries that looked like decorative soaps. Then we went to the top floor and worked our way down. Tons of women's clothing, and it was all very expensive.
A Ginza toy store was next, with 4 floors of pure fun: little gadgets that I don't know what they did, dolls, lots of stuffed animals and stickers, Disney music and figures. Greg bought some Flat Eric dolls and Cowboy Bebop figures. We left there and headed back, stopping at McDonalds to get a chicken and sauerkraut sandwich. We also went to the Mikimoto store. The jewelry there was amazing, so intricate, beautiful designs. The styles were different from home, more flowing. The pearls were mostly grey and huge. There was also one necklace with tiny tiny pearls all strung together. It was a very big necklace, but there were probably millions of these centimeter sized pearls. The prices were outrageous, nothing under 50,000 Yen, and mostly Y900,000 and above.
After a few minutes rest back at NYC (Yoyogi Youth Center) we headed off to Shibuya. Lots of walking! The most notable event was dinner. We were with Lindsay, Eric, and Emily. It was really embarrassing just how gaijin we were. First we practiced saying toilet- "toe-IR-ay"- and realized that it was probably an inappropriate word to be repeating at a nice restaurant. I ordered a noodle dish that turned out to be American spaghetti. And my Coke (really Pepsi) turned out to be Y480 while the mixed drinks the others had were Y360. Hopefully I won't make that mistake again.
The plan is to visit Shinjuku tonight and shrines tomorrow, as well as meet up with Takeshi.
Last night was amazing. I'll call it my First Blind Date with Tokyo. Greg, Bob and I went for a walk to try to find a bar. We got lost in some alley, but found our way back. We continued past the subway station and past the front gate (were we walking North? I don't know). Finally we found a bar that said it was open. So we climbed the steps and bowed our way into Romi (the name of the bar). <-- 2="" a="" already="" and="" at="" bar="" be="" beer="" blue.="" bob="" burst="" but="" cleaver="" d="" electric="" everyone="" girls="" good="" got="" grapefruit="" greg="" guy="" had="" he="" i="" idea="" in="" it="" jinro="" juice="" laughing="" name="" no="" of="" on="" one="" ordered="" out="" p="" rocks="" saying.="" see="" so="" something="" strong.="" suggest.="" the="" there="" thought="" very="" was="" were="" what="" with="" would="">The girls in the corner laughed at us for a while, then courageously asked us if we spoke English... no, wait. Japanese. This kicked off 3.5 hours of the most fun I'd ever had in my life. Their English was moderately understandable and the bartender had an audio-translator for when we were really having trouble. Their names were Eri and Shiori, both 20 years old, in love with Luke Perry, Tom Cruise, and, apparently, Bob and Greg. I was their best friend. So much happened! Bob and Shiori settled into arm wrestling and impressing each other with parlor tricks. Another business man came in and he spoke with Greg about Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, Shakespeare, and other intellectual American things. Unfortunately, by this time, Greg was quite drunk and a little too loud and annoying. Anyway, time went quickly- the bartender poured us some cold sake (tastes like white wine plus vodka) and we all toasted. We also learned that "Saikoh!" means Best! and is usually shouted VERY loudly while punching one or both fists into the air. It was just so fun, I can't describe as much as I'd like to.
8:15pm
It's hard to chose between going into detail about things, or just writing about as many as possible.Today, so far, has been full of sights, sounds, and tastes. First thing in the morning we went to Ginza. Greg described it as the Mag Mile in Chicago, multiplied by 1000! Both in size, height, and space. The shops and malls seemed to go on for miles in every direction. Every street corner looked the same. It was difficult to keep track of the train station. We visited a large mall, I believe the name of it was Matsuzakaya or Mitsukoshi. Probably the latter, it's closer to the subway station. We first went into the basement and were stunned at what we saw: it was a food market with every type of food imaginable. Actually, there was nothing I could ever have imagined. Fish, cooked and uncooked, meats, fruits and vegetables, rolled sushi, pastries that looked like decorative soaps. Then we went to the top floor and worked our way down. Tons of women's clothing, and it was all very expensive.
A Ginza toy store was next, with 4 floors of pure fun: little gadgets that I don't know what they did, dolls, lots of stuffed animals and stickers, Disney music and figures. Greg bought some Flat Eric dolls and Cowboy Bebop figures. We left there and headed back, stopping at McDonalds to get a chicken and sauerkraut sandwich. We also went to the Mikimoto store. The jewelry there was amazing, so intricate, beautiful designs. The styles were different from home, more flowing. The pearls were mostly grey and huge. There was also one necklace with tiny tiny pearls all strung together. It was a very big necklace, but there were probably millions of these centimeter sized pearls. The prices were outrageous, nothing under 50,000 Yen, and mostly Y900,000 and above.
After a few minutes rest back at NYC (Yoyogi Youth Center) we headed off to Shibuya. Lots of walking! The most notable event was dinner. We were with Lindsay, Eric, and Emily. It was really embarrassing just how gaijin we were. First we practiced saying toilet- "toe-IR-ay"- and realized that it was probably an inappropriate word to be repeating at a nice restaurant. I ordered a noodle dish that turned out to be American spaghetti. And my Coke (really Pepsi) turned out to be Y480 while the mixed drinks the others had were Y360. Hopefully I won't make that mistake again.
The plan is to visit Shinjuku tonight and shrines tomorrow, as well as meet up with Takeshi.
8/31/2001
6:30am Tokyo
I don't know if this is the type of experience to write about here or not but- I just took a shower... in my bathing suit. I don't know what makes me more uncomfortable: the fact that we are supposed to bathe together nude, or the fact that I couldn't do it.
2:00pm Edo Museum
Today I'm learning about space. The street shops are not on the street, they are 5-6 stories up. Stacked on top of each other. In the stalls of public bathrooms there is space just barely to turn around. On the subway we were packed in more tightly than I could ever have guessed we would be. And now I'm looking out at an enormous expanse of openness. The museum plaza is humbling to say the least. Enormous. Thousands of yards across and hundreds of feet from floor to the ceiling. Public space, including parks and museums, temples, and shrines, must be places of openness and reflection. At first I wondered why they would waste all this space when they desperately need housing. Actually, I still don't really know why. It was impressive and very moving: at once to feel so packed in with millions of people, yet stand in the middle of an "empty football field."
I don't know if this is the type of experience to write about here or not but- I just took a shower... in my bathing suit. I don't know what makes me more uncomfortable: the fact that we are supposed to bathe together nude, or the fact that I couldn't do it.
2:00pm Edo Museum
Today I'm learning about space. The street shops are not on the street, they are 5-6 stories up. Stacked on top of each other. In the stalls of public bathrooms there is space just barely to turn around. On the subway we were packed in more tightly than I could ever have guessed we would be. And now I'm looking out at an enormous expanse of openness. The museum plaza is humbling to say the least. Enormous. Thousands of yards across and hundreds of feet from floor to the ceiling. Public space, including parks and museums, temples, and shrines, must be places of openness and reflection. At first I wondered why they would waste all this space when they desperately need housing. Actually, I still don't really know why. It was impressive and very moving: at once to feel so packed in with millions of people, yet stand in the middle of an "empty football field."
8/29/2001
2pm
Only a few hours into the trip and already there are new things. I thought peanuts were universal. I know it won't be the last time I'm handed a package with absolutely no English on it- and it's just a guess about what's in it. Even the airplane smells different. It smells like the peanuts/puffed rice snacks tasted. Of course, some of the "Otsumami" tasted like shrimp. But the tastes did not seem unusual together.
Hmmm. Greg says it smells like beef. I thought vegetables. More later, I'm sure. Note to self: Chicago to Tokyo is about 6,000 miles.
8:30pm still on the airplane
There is so much new, just on the plane. I would of course like to document it all, but I know I must be selective. I could write pages about just the few samples of food I've had so far. As a snack there were tiny sandwiches. Tiny! One was egg salad- standard tasting. The other was a piece of cheese on white bread. No condiments. And, the unusual part was that the crusts were cut off. I'm not sure if an American airline would have cut the crusts off of sandwiches.
Will things like crust-less sandwiches and neon green kiwi juice become ordinary to me? I hope not. I don't want to get used to seeing new things.
Another part of the adventure I want to be aware of is how our group of Americans change over time. Right now I'm learning what it's like to be a minority: there are cartoons on, but they are not translated into English. Also, on the radio we hear Japanese talk-radio, but nothing like that in English. A little frustrating, I have to admit.
Only a few hours into the trip and already there are new things. I thought peanuts were universal. I know it won't be the last time I'm handed a package with absolutely no English on it- and it's just a guess about what's in it. Even the airplane smells different. It smells like the peanuts/puffed rice snacks tasted. Of course, some of the "Otsumami" tasted like shrimp. But the tastes did not seem unusual together.
Hmmm. Greg says it smells like beef. I thought vegetables. More later, I'm sure. Note to self: Chicago to Tokyo is about 6,000 miles.
8:30pm still on the airplane
There is so much new, just on the plane. I would of course like to document it all, but I know I must be selective. I could write pages about just the few samples of food I've had so far. As a snack there were tiny sandwiches. Tiny! One was egg salad- standard tasting. The other was a piece of cheese on white bread. No condiments. And, the unusual part was that the crusts were cut off. I'm not sure if an American airline would have cut the crusts off of sandwiches.
Will things like crust-less sandwiches and neon green kiwi juice become ordinary to me? I hope not. I don't want to get used to seeing new things.
Another part of the adventure I want to be aware of is how our group of Americans change over time. Right now I'm learning what it's like to be a minority: there are cartoons on, but they are not translated into English. Also, on the radio we hear Japanese talk-radio, but nothing like that in English. A little frustrating, I have to admit.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Step #5
Act.
Acting in this political/internet climate has NEVER been easier. Like Michael Moore said, "Wake up, brush teeth, make coffee, call Congress." Hopefully in Step #4 you journalled a little bit to help gather your resources- phone numbers, email addresses, and locations you feel connected to. And then you pull the trigger. Inhale and dial the phone (5/7 times you'll get either a busy signal or an answering machine). Print out your letters and throw them in the mailbox. Figure out which train gets you to which rally on which day. And then get in the car (or have your bff drive you to keep you accountable) and go.
Start that website that connects people to resources.
Make a date and invite people to that cool thing you want to plan.
Start checking things off the list.
And then, after lunch (haha!), take a nap. Because this is overwhelming. You'll definitely need to go back to Step #1 (self care) during and after this step. Because being around a crowd of people can be draining. And watching your calls and letters seemingly fall on deaf ears can be demoralizing. So Act, but then step back and rest, so you can Act again tomorrow (or, you know, next Tuesday).
This is exhausting. But I keep picturing the #resistance as waves that keep battering the shore. Or like shark teeth- more rows are waiting in line to take the place of people who've gotten tired and need a minute to rest. So maybe you weren't Wave 1, or even Wave 2. But when it's your time, you'll be ready. Be well friends. Keep stepping up where you are.
Acting in this political/internet climate has NEVER been easier. Like Michael Moore said, "Wake up, brush teeth, make coffee, call Congress." Hopefully in Step #4 you journalled a little bit to help gather your resources- phone numbers, email addresses, and locations you feel connected to. And then you pull the trigger. Inhale and dial the phone (5/7 times you'll get either a busy signal or an answering machine). Print out your letters and throw them in the mailbox. Figure out which train gets you to which rally on which day. And then get in the car (or have your bff drive you to keep you accountable) and go.
Start that website that connects people to resources.
Make a date and invite people to that cool thing you want to plan.
Start checking things off the list.
And then, after lunch (haha!), take a nap. Because this is overwhelming. You'll definitely need to go back to Step #1 (self care) during and after this step. Because being around a crowd of people can be draining. And watching your calls and letters seemingly fall on deaf ears can be demoralizing. So Act, but then step back and rest, so you can Act again tomorrow (or, you know, next Tuesday).
This is exhausting. But I keep picturing the #resistance as waves that keep battering the shore. Or like shark teeth- more rows are waiting in line to take the place of people who've gotten tired and need a minute to rest. So maybe you weren't Wave 1, or even Wave 2. But when it's your time, you'll be ready. Be well friends. Keep stepping up where you are.
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