Musings today

Ahoy, 

Gotta love these shoddy Chinese contractors. There is a certain degree of affection/endearment I intend when I speak of the shortcomings/flaws of my people. Can I call them my people? Is that silly? I can't say I belong, but I can't say it doesn't feel familiar to hear this foreign tongue yet be able to understand the meaning to some degree. 

Also, the anti drug ads remind me of my uncle, whom I'm told had quite the colorful past running with the wrong crowd in hk as a youth. Everywhere we've been, I wonder if my mom walked these steps, or saw these sights. I know so little of our family's past, I wonder if I'll discover anything useful in being here, if I'll make any connections to the past. I wonder where my popo lived, and what she interacted with. I wonder if my mom and her sisters visited and how often. My gong gong and the girls lived in mainland, while my uncle and popo lived in hk. My mom tells me I cut up all her pictures from her days before me. But who leaves scissors accessible to a baby? 

Hong Kong is large on such an entirely different scale than anywhere else. It is playing another game all its own. Hk cannot be measured in any degree of large I ever imagined, or learned about. To be global is a label I feel like hk has come to epitomize unlike any other place I've been, reaching far beyond the urbanity of NYC or London (these three often considered the trifecta of international economies). 

Soyfully peaked,

Jt

Nozomi

Ahoy,

We accidentally got on the nozomi bullet train and escaped unfazed! It was a glorious moment as we stepped off, relieved that there was no conductor to catch our truancy. It was the most stressful hour of the trip. Every time the doors opened, we prayed to Thomas the tank engine that it wasn't the conductor checking for tickets. Everything was pleasant up until I realized we were somewhere we weren't supposed to be. And then it was pleasant again after we got off. 

On the plus side, we got to take the bullet train from Nagoya to tokyo. Our jr passes don't allow us on the bullet trains, but the second fastest one which isn't too far off of bullet train fast is okay. The conductor told us the track number and we blindly got on just as the doors closed behind us. I briefly saw nozomi flash across the sign, and promptly began to panic. I'm sure we weren't on that train for more than an hour, but it felt like eons. We passed mt Fuji, which was majestic and far away. A says he could feel the g forces on the bullet. We got off at Yokohama and high fived. 

Briefly enroute,

Jt

Final destination

Ahoy,

We made it to hk! It really is like ny on steroids. And a giant ashtray, but not so bad as Madrid. People here are rude, pretty much the opposite of japan. Chinese people very obviously stare, and i know this to be true, but I'll never be used to it. They clip their nails in public, this is normal (a was appalled). They spit on the street and on the floor inside (I saw this happen). This is a markedly different culture than where we just came from. I knew this, and I know it more from just the first night. 

Chinese people are rude. There are stereotypes because this is true. Their volume is loud, and only loud. They are pushy and unapologetic. I see why my mom has always offered cleanliness for the reason she stays in the states. 

Washedly foreign,

Jt

Brownie points

Ahoy,

Nagoya is between kyoto and tokyo. On the way back, we decided to stop at Nagoya. Everybody had been telling us there is nothing of interest there. It is the Detroit of Japan. I have always wanted to visit Detroit, so to see the Detroit of Japan, I felt would be equally valid. We made the decision over much deliberation to go to the toyota automobile museum. It wasn't like it was closed, so I had no choice. Toyota has 2 museums in the area, and their other one was closed. 

The auto museum is like an auto show, but also with old cars. It goes through kind of the history of cars in japan with cars from all over the world and how they impacted Japanese car culture and grew toyota to become a premier car company today. So many cars. 

I don't even like cars, so I feel like I should get lots and lots of bonus points for enduring this field trip. Even when we're on vacation I have to deal with his mistress(es), cars. 

Oppositely roaded,

Jt

Never been so lost

Ahoy,

I realize addresses are useless here. There are no numbers, and I can't find the street names, even if I do I can't read the kanji. Our best bet has been wandering around the vicinity of the point and counting blocks from major streets on google maps and asking people. People are very nice. We do usually approach a location just shy of blind. Never have I been so unaware of where to go and how to get there. Also, I'm often not ever positive if I'm where I think I am on the map in my mind. It's even better if we are looking for something that doesn't have a sign. 

We are very grateful for our reluctant tour guide. We've been following him like a line of ducks. It's been convenient, and probably detracting from the being lost aspect of travel. I'm so sure we wouldn't be able to do so much without him, nor communicate outside of gesturing. It's really rather pathetic - to be so utterly disconnected from the places we visit. 

Visited pretty much where matcha was invented and continues to be produced today, uji, south of kyoto. Got some fantastic matcha ice cream. Everything from here on out is bonus. 

Dryly matcha'd,

Jt

Wet dog

Ahoy, 

Rain or shine, the show must go on! We rented bikes in kyoto with the distinct optimism that it wouldn't rain. We were eventually defeated by the weather. Though our will was as large as American Starbucks sizes, our clothes were not weatherproof enough. We had an incredibly ambitious path and made the decision later to be less so. Our first smart choice of the day. 

Doggedly soaked,

Jt

Toilets

Ahoy,

Heated toilet seats are the best invention ever!!! I feel like I've been shafted my whole life. You don't even know the terror that would strike my heart when I had to pee in the middle of the night during a cold Chicago winter. I would dread my morning routine, but there was no way around that. Even worse would be the toilet seats when I had to go while we were camping. Bathrooms are so nice here. I contemplated purchasing a heated toilette seat cover to bring back, but a thinks that would be ridiculous. But he doesn't even know what a revolution this is. 

Efficiently flushed,

Jt

getting there

Ahoy,

Getting to Japan is a breeze. We flew Malaysia airlines, and we experienced the best service. Maybe because we are used to American standards of service, which I am now realizing is way below par for Japan. 

Getting through customs in Tokyo is a breeze. We pretty much just walked through. There weren't many others and no lines anywhere. We got on the Keisei Bus to Tokyo Station to meet our friend. He was lost in tokyo station and late to get us. We waited and people watched. We noticed a lot of men, no women, all wearing long black coats of the same age group. We waited a few minutes more and went to ask at the family mart to use their phone. No phone, and they either didn't understand or chose to not understand my request to use their phone. We went outside to figure out the pay phone. These things always make me apprehensive because I've never gotten how to use one very easily in foreign countries. I've probably spent more time trying to figure them out than getting a successful call. And sometimes they look like they are an incubator for infectious disease. 

After looking confused at the phone booth, a's friend found us. We weren't expecting him and it was a complete pleasant surprise. I felt like lost cattle at that point. He was such a relief. And he called my late friend, who was 5 minutes away. So far, our first hour in tokyo was an absolute delight, not at all like Europe. We got dinner close by at this place I don't remember, but our friends ordered everything and said they were all the classic dishes. Everything was delicious. It was perfect. 

We walked back to h's place to tuck in for the night. We didn't sleep much on the plane. We watched 4 films. Needless to say, we were ready for bed. H took us on this windy path to his house and we had no idea how we got there, but I'm so grateful he retrieved us. 

Courteously mannered,

Jt

grooming

Ahoy,

I recently had a dream in which he let me cut his hair.

A spends more time on his hair than I do. I think it's funny. But there really isn't much you have to do to out-do me given that I spend no time grooming my mop, which is why it looks like a mess mostly. I probably haven't used a grooming implement since high school, and a hair dryer even before that. Occasionally I get frustrated with my bangs and hack at them with scissors. A always finds that funny. He doesn't supervise so I always cut too much before I know it.

Occasionally we have to stop somewhere to get him more hair product. He'll spend some time mulling over the possibilities and I spend some time looking at packaging of products imagining the hassle but actually will never use. I'm a sucker for packaging. And our bathroom cabinet continues to burst with containers of his partially used hair products.

Most of my life I, and my family, was plagued with finding my long strands of hair everywhere. I used to leave hairs in my textbooks because I didn't want to keep getting up to throw them away. My brother's friend who received one of those textbooks the following year noted one day he would clone me with all my hair in his book. Now that I live with a boy, I find his little hairs everywhere as well. I didn't know that one day my mate's hair would plague me as much as my hair.

hairlessly furry,
jt

find me here

Ahoy,

Setting sail (haha, I wish) for Asia! I've never been to Asia, except for the Asian side of Istanbul, which doesn't actually count. So I'm super duper excited to get lost be immersed somewhere foreign again.

Our intended schedule:

Dec 16 LAX-Tokyo
Dec 19 Tokyo-Kobe
Dec 20 Kobe-Osaka
Dec 21 Osaka-Kyoto
Dec 24 Kyoto-Nagoya
Dec 25 Nagoya-Tokyo
Dec 26 Tokyo-Shanghai
Dec 27 Shanghai-Hong Kong
Dec 31 Hong Kong-LAX

Stay tuned! I'm sure there will be some great tales of delirium.

blazingly holidazed,
jt

25 things before 25

Ahoy,

1. sky-diving
2. swam with sharks
3. got lost in Europe
4. learned how to sail
5. climbed on real rocks
6. changed a diaper
7. walked across the Brooklyn Bridge
8. walked on the Golden Gate Bridge
9. SCUBA certified
10. purchased alcohol 
11. snorkeled in the Bahamas
12. got lost in Africa
13. visited a Greek Island
14. Eiffel Tower, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, London Bridge, Pyramids
15. road tripped
16. lived on a boat
17. been camping
18. shot a gun
19. zip-lined
20. flew a plane
21. baked bread from scratch
22. witness falling snow
23. milked a cow
24. cliff jumped
25. fell in love

I realize how fortunate I am to have gotten the opportunities to do all these things by my ripe old age of 25. The world is such a big, big place and I am such a small, small person but adventures are there for the taking. I like to think I've never been one to shy from something new and risky, and I'd like to think I'll continue this philosophy over the next 25 years. I hope you'll join me.

wittingly hallmarked,
jt

having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card

Ahoy,

I'm a sucker for book sales. They're like my kryptonite. Library book sales are the best because they often have a surprisingly good selection. The books are sometimes donated and still new, or quality sturdy hardcover library copies that are only slightly used. It's great. You should check a library book sale near you. There are too many ways to buy books.

Also, it's difficult to only check out only one library book when there is a whole entire library full of books I can check out. And there are always new books coming in, but I haven't read all the old books. There are so many books to read, and so little time.

Does anyone else have this problem?

literally bamboozled,
jt

height differential

Ahoy,

Sometimes when I get in bed before the RRS, I like to occupy his side of the bed to warm it up for him because he is incapable of producing and insulating his own body heat.

A: What are you doing over there? You want to switch sides?
Me: I'm warming your side up for you. [roll over to let him on his side]
A: Oh, boy. This is so warm down to my knees!

And we chuckle about how much shorter I am than him and how his feet stick out over the edge of the bed and mine only reach down to his knees.

cozily covered,
jt

addictive

Ahoy,

In preparation for our trip abroad this winter, we have been watching David Chang's Mind of a Chef on Netflix. You should too even if you have no adventure to study for. It is such a drool worthy show, we have to be eating something while watching it. This show, like the narrator (Anthony Bourdain) says about Japan, will either make you a better cook or you will stop cooking altogether.

David Chang is such a character. It is a mix of food travels, David cooking in his NY kitchen, and field trips to other kitchens. There's the occasional science bit about a certain technique or product. I love it, so does the RRS. You will too.

plumingly pumped,
jt